Verizon finally performs, connection back as of Saturday PM. Keep your fingers crossed. I’ve kept threatening thin links. It is 5:00 AM and I need to turn in, so I hope the charitable among you will provide links in comments. We should be back to normal programming tomorrow.
EU central bankers ponder Greece euro exit BBC (Abe, NYC)
Is Europe on a Cross of Gold? Barry Eichengreen, VoxEU
Merkel faces tough election test BBC
U.S. may scrap costly effort to train Iraqi police New York Times
At JPMorgan, the Ghost of Dinner Parties Past Gretchen Morgenson, New York Times
Bitter origins of the Sicilian Mafia VoxEU
The Myth About Marriage Garry Willis, New York Review of Books
Antidote du jour:
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“U.S. may scrap costly effort to train Iraqi police.”
Well, knock me down with a feather. Different cultures are different.
“Costly” may be the understatement of the new millennium. Nice to see the terrorists (USA) lose. I suppose now, we need a new foreign war/occupation or we will continue to turn upon ourselves.
Actually, it turns out that PowerPoint training is offensive in every culture.
Am I the only one that sees a connection to the earlier post on the cost of higher education? Hrm, billion$ for training Iraqi (and also presumably Afghan) security forces but only cutbacks at public universities. We can afford this but not that. Ok then.
…to the tune of a billion dollars a year for that failure.
To hell with different cultures, whose palm was or was not greased to keep that large $1billion contract going? This is all a load of crap, meaning, youve had since 2003, and you still havent “trained” the police? For or against the war at the beginning NO ONE IS IN FAVOR OF THIS BULL$HIT WAR PROFFITEERING!!!
how many were aware Iraqi police recruit numbers were seriously inflated, as “government” was paid by candidate “signed up”..?
And, seeing what was possible, the NBC peacock petitioned GE for more “spots” on the network ….
you will have to give back the ‘time difference artifact’ to Middle Ages:) fucking japan, and USA
They are all ipso fatsos..
Ah the arrogance, hypocrisy and incompetence of yet another Bankster, Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase. “Who will rid me of these surly dogs?”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-13/ireland-s-declan-ganley-to-urge-fiscal-no-vote-post-says.html
“Ireland’s Declan Ganley, who led the country’s campaign against the Lisbon Treaty in 2008, is to join the ‘no’ side in a May 31 referendum on the European fiscal treaty, the Sunday Business Post reported. Supporting the treaty while it didn’t cut Ireland’s bank debt is “beyond unacceptable,” Ganley wrote in the Dublin- based paper today, adding that he would urge voters to reject the treaty”
May 31 is also the Deadline for Greece to Detail its 5.5% Deficit Reduction Plan for 2013-14 – Failure to meet the deadline means the EU & ECB will begin to halt further payments.
Unfortunately, right now it looks like the Irish are ready to modify their constitution in order to embrace austerity.
The “63% to 73%” is a typo in the article. It should read “63% to 37%”. Also, this, from the BBC, is interesting:
They want to embrace austerity?
I don’t know if the Irish want to embrace austerity. But if they vote to amend their constitution to join the fiscal stability compact, that is what they will be doing.
Sounds like the US States who we are regularly told have to balance their budgets. Not sure where this bit of ideological bondage comes from but it is certainly going to tested pretty soon in CA.
Yves,
I was wondering if you (or any commenters) have read ‘Engineering the Financial Crisis’ by Jeffrey Friedman & Wladimir Kraus. In it, they essentially claim that the crisis was caused by regulation.
While it sounds like a poor argument that is trotted out by right wingers who can’t face reality, it’s supposedly well researched and fairly free of ideology. Anyone have any thoughts?
http://www.amazon.com/Engineering-Financial-Crisis-Systemic-Regulation/dp/0812243579
I haven’t read it.
Jeffrey Friedman, Libertarian.
Here is Wladimir Kraus‘ page at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.
The idea that these fellows might write something that is fairly free of ideology amuses me.
~
Whoops.
That second link.
~
The is the coauthor of Engineering the Financial Crisis, from the University of Pennsylvania Press. Both my coauthor, Wladimir Kraus, and I are ex-libertarians. If ifthethunderdontgetya had actually read the Wikipedia page to which he or she linked, he or she would have found out that I am most notorious for having written an article called “What’s Wrong with Libertarianism.”
People who are actually interested in what the book says can get an idea by consulting our blog, “Causes of the Crisis.” There we present corrections and updated data–and I will say this: whether our book turns out to be right or wrong, it is based on data.
Jeffrey Friedman
Department of Government
University of Texas, Austin
Editor, Critical Review
Causes of the Crisis blog: http://causesofthecrisis.blogspot.com/
Both my coauthor, Wladimir Kraus, and I are ex-libertarians.
I saw that your “What’s Wrong with Libertarianism” was written well over a decade ago, while this review of Thomas E. Woods’s Meltdown by your co-author was done in April of 2009.
So perhaps I should have used “Free Market Triumphalists”, instead? Some of us are not accustomed to making such distinctions.
I might get around to reading your book. I’ll be interested to see what it has to say about credit default swaps. And the evolution of the mortgage-backed securities market over the last two decades.
I will say this: whether our book turns out to be right or wrong, it is based on data.
The data that is ignored might be far more important than how rigorously that which is included is analyzed.
~
Perhaps you should not have used any labels at all. The only purpose is to bias people against a book you haven’t read.
If there is to be any hope of achieving a free and prosperous society, one of our top priorities must be to get rid of a monetary system that contributes to artificial money creation and credit expansion and thus to recurring boom-bust episodes in production and employment. Abolish the joint partnership of private fractional-reserve banking and central banking and establish in its stead a genuinely free-market monetary system that is both economically sound and morally defensible. Wladimir Kraus from http://mises.org/daily/3396/Austrian-Theory-for-Everyone [emphasis added]
What is free market about a single choice in money?
Nothing? Exactly.
Yeah, “based on data.” red flag.
If you go to the book related site, it says up at the top”
“Probably the most controversial claim of the book will prove to be our suggestion that the behavior of bankers before the crisis was actually risk averse, at least in the aggregate”
It makes this claim based on the amount and kinds of mortgage related instruments the banks retained: bonds and CDOs. Of course, this misses the point that the banks passed on a lot of the risk to downstream bagholders through the securitization process. It doesn’t address the issue that a lot of what the banks held on to was dreck regardless of its AAA rating or provenance. Or all the seconds/HELOCs that were written on top of this crap. I wonder if the book gets into the failure of the banks to secure and validate the paper trail on both the mortgages it wrote and those it funded with mortgage underwriters, or doing the same with regard to securitization process itself and the proper recording of transfers and final conveyance into trusts.
Off hand, much of this seems to be like taking a gambler who is millions underwater but arguing that if we only look at what he/she played and lost on slots, and not those from poker and roulette, and if we don’t look at all the bets, and potential losses still floating out there, plus the likelihood that almost everything this gambler did involved various frauds, well, if we take all that in, then we can say that overall this was a very risk averse gambler.
Looking at “data” presupposes you have the right data. You don’t.
Read Chapters 7 and 9 and Appendix II of ECONNED. You are flat out wrong on your thesis and have engaged in classic “drunk under the streetlight” analysis. Or Charles Ferguson’s Predator Nation, coming out the week after next.
Thanks Yves for the heads up on the book by Charlie Ferguson. I am sure it is a must read. They can only deceive the uneducated consumer.
F. Beard–You are quoting my coauthor from three years ago, before he researched the financial crisis and *changed his mind.* What part of “ex-libertarian” don’t you understand?
Hugh–Read more carefully. As the blog post notes, triple-A and double-A privately issued MBS, and agency (Fannie and Freddie) MBS, both of which banks held in much greater concentrations than any other mortgage bonds, paid minuscule yields compared to the other mortgage bonds (lower rated) that banks could have acquired. You seem to be positing reckless, greedy bankers, but reckless, greedy bankers would not have bought the safest, least lucrative mortgage bonds–they would have bought the least safe, most lucrative bonds.
Yves–Have you read the blog, or the book?
I should not have gotten into a discussion here about a book nobody on this blog seems to have read. I am a scholar, and scholarship requires reading *before* forming an opinion–not slapping a political label on someone as an excuse not to read what he wrote. If you want to have your preconceptions challenged read the blog and the book. If you want to wallow in self-righteousness about the obviousness of your preconceptions, don’t.
There can be no such thing as a free market if people are not allowed to move freely the way capital and goods do.
Who was bribing politicians to deregulate derivatives, eliminate Glass-Steagall, cut taxes, allow increased leverage, constrain SEC/FBI budgets while financialization expanded, etc? Wasn’t the “deregulation crowd” pushing this agenda?
Yes, there are still laws/regulations on the books. Must there be no laws/regulations on the books whatsoever before the deregulatory crowd accepts responsibility for the deregulatory steps they pushed?
And who was taking the bribes? Democrats and Republicans alike.
Democrats talk about regulation, but what they DO is take the money and deregulate every chance they get.
Yes, Clinton and many Dems were/are on the deregulatory bandwagon. That’s where the campaign contributions are. And it seems that’s what enough of the voting public keeps demanding, because various actors and circumstances convinced them it’s the better thing to do.
Rubin had the Rhodes Scholar on a short leash, just taking orders.
Anyone have any thoughts? UnlearningEcon
So long as banks have government privileges they SHOULD be heavily regulated – that’s the price for the privileges. For banks to be unregulated, then ALL government privileges for them must be abolished.
To insist on the privileges without the regulation is hypocrisy.
Very concise, Beard.
• Microsoft Funded Startup Aims to Kill BitTorrent Traffic
Glenn Greenwald often points out that once the government gains a new power, it always expands its use of that power beyond the original target. Any technology that disrupts the sharing of copyrighted works can also be used to disrupt the sharing of any information. BitTorrent is an economical way to share large files; it is vital to Wikileaks, which has limited funding for bandwidth. In the future, when there’s another leak from a whistle-blowing group, the government and private industry will have another tool to disrupt and stop the sharing of the leaked information.
Copyright as the thin edge of the wedge for increasing intensities of speech control could be a fruitful angle on one facet of government power.
“Unitary Executive” power of absolute dictator takes the cake.
Love Peas. If you will allow me the pleasure of comparing tail feathers, Meet Krishna.
http://eurekasprings.smugmug.com/Animals/Critters/15593510_BRS8nc#!i=1168348355&k=igL7r
On Barry E’s Cross of Gold question –
Ultimately, it will be better if the European central bankers move together to solve their present deflationary problem, requiring acknowledgement and agreement on the nature of the problem.
Listening to Chief Economist Praet last month at the Levy-Minsky conference, it is clear that today their policy options consist of choosing how much more of the same.
Any beneficial outcome will require a candid pondering of the options available to overcome the potential monetary disruptions offered on why the EMU might continue.
This would include an exit strategy that will shorten the 3 week currency normalization time period Barry identifies, so as to effect the most orderly transition possible?
But first, agreement on the ultimate cause of the Euro crisis requires, I am afraid, the hugest Pogo moment for our modern monetary internationalists.
The people are never consulted because individuals in power can write down better hypothetical ideas of how to fleece those people (for their own good of course) while lining only the pockets of the benefactors of a rigged system.
When you write it down, you can pretend it is complete. The only thing written in the streets is advertising and blood.
Here’s a good link describing JPMs heavy handedness in gutting the Volcker rule:
JPMorgan Used Political Influence With Fed and Treasury to Create London Loss Loophole In Volcker Rule
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2012/05/jp-morgan-used-political-influence-to.html
Jesse, you gotta cut it out with these quotes, lol, they’re simply too good.
And, once again, haha,
Barney the Frank is even urging discretion,
“J.P. Morgan Chase, entirely without any help from the government, has lost, in this one set of transactions, five times the amount they claim financial regulation is costing them.”
http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/2B-loss-rocks-D-C-3553261.php
It’s a common misconception the Italian’s have a corner on the mafia.
Apparently the Jewish mafia, Murder Inc, is considered more powerful and dangerous than the Italian Mafia.
Don’t get hung up on the word “mafia,” they’re gangs and they exist the world over.
Like, say, the New York Fed, vampire squids, etc. The key distinguishing mark is the giant blood funnel.
I think the polite term is “extragovernmental institution.”
Murder Inc. was a phenomenon of the 1930s and 40s, ending when a host of its members were electrocuted @ SingSing. It was primarily Jewish, with a few Italian members, most notably Albert Anastasia.
The structure of organized crime in the US was first ‘envisioned’ by Arnold Rothstein. Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Lucky Luciano were all his proteges–all were leaders in the ‘rationalization’ of crime from 1925-35
or “Mafias” Sicilian, Calabrian, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, etc.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-13/syriza-says-it-won-t-join-greek-national-unity-government.html
“Syriza won’t betray the Greek people,” Syriza’s Alexis Tsipras said in statements televised on state-run NET TV after a meeting brokered by President Karolos Papoulias between the party and the leaders of the New Democracy and Pasok. “We are being asked to agree to the destruction of Greek society.”
It seems to me that most “social conservatives” who oppose same-sex marriage do so not because they think homosexuality is morally wrong or a cancer on society, but because they don’t want gay couples to have the same privileges and that straight couples have under the law. They see marriage as a privilege that should only be reserved for the heterosexual population. This means, at least to me it does, that greed and selfishness, not religion and morality, is what’s driving them to oppose same-sex marriage and they should be called on the carpet and openly ridiculed for it.
One surefire way to put an end this ridiculous war on same-sex marriage is to get the government out the business of licensing and regulating marriage. And since “social conservatives” despise government so much, they should support this idea of making marriage a private affair without any interference from government whatsoever.
Then if someone who is married wants their spouse to be covered under their health insurance plan or to have special access to their bank account or retirement savings, and if married couples want to retain any tax advantages with regards to income or estate taxes, they can do so using contract law. This would enable rights, privileges, and entitlements between spouses to be spelled out in a way that’s legally binding.
“but because they don’t want gay couples to have the same privileges and that straight couples have under the law”
Examples? My experience has generally been the opposite. Many want to arrogate the word “marriage” in its traditional sense, while they are indifferent or even favorably inclined towards a “civil union” designation that allows partnerships to be recognized by community and society, and ensures those rights and priviliges for all that want them.
If you have evidence that suggests otherwise, I’d love to see it.
Tertium Squid,
I was talking about the way social conservatives view marriage, not the way people such as yourself view it. Maybe I’m wrong, but I imagine that most posters here including yourself, and Lambert Strether, view most social issues more or less through a libertarian lens.
I actually agree with the libertarian critique. What the government should handle is “civil unions” for everybody of all genders.
The churches should then perform whatever rituals strike their collective fancies, including marriage.
It used to be said that the ‘institution’ was the problem. Now that it is being offered as the solution, is that a gaining of some sort or a failing ?
We need tangible, officially recognized records of births, marriages, deaths. it may be that the most meticulous running record in the USA is made and archived by the Archdiocese of New Orleans (RC the “State religion” in NOLA since the French founders of the “Metropole” arrived).
My RWNJ sis gets exercised about this, but I can’t figure out why. She’s one of those who asserts that gays marrying will “take something away” from her marriage, but she refuses to say what. She seeks authoritarian solutions to problems, and believes that the State has an “overriding interest” in marriage due to legal issues over progeny (as property), so she would never advocate the State relinquishing that “interest”.
I read one commenter who put the consternation over gay marriage more or less like this: It’s about ownership… An owner marrying an owner doesn’t make sense, nor does property marrying property.
All hail the London Whale for accomplishing what our ‘regulators’ and Congress did not: taking down Jamie D.
And this time when Jamie heads down to DC for his candy-coated bailout we will hear more from OWS. They are organized and ready to go…and the weather is so nice and warm…
And for only $2 billion! That’s chump change!
Putting on my tinfoil hat, I suspect Dimon is being measured for the drop, possibly even by the administration. It’s expedient that one bankster be hung out to dry for the good of the people, even though, if you think about how accounting control fraud works, an entire stratum of society is guilty, and not just Dimon.
That is the “tell” in Morgenstern’s story; the dinner party shows that even Dimon’s own class is turning against him, so he’s vulnerable. And by scapegoating Dimon, they will immunize themselves. It’s a two-fer!
So, even if it is summer, Obama’s out in the White House garage, checking out the ol’ Russian sleigh and musing over symbolic gestures…. (See here at “Off the droshky”, which I picked because the article is a nostalgic look at the newspaper trade when reporters actually investigated stuff…)
Ina Drew is out: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/14/business/jpmorgan-chase-executive-to-resign-in-trading-debacle.html
Lambert, your interpretation could well be the whole story. However my eye caught a interesting bit of movement at the dealers sleeve as the cards were being dealt—.
http://www.doomsteaddiner.org/blog/2012/05/10/whales-sniffing-glue-at-jpmc/
CH, yep. “Dog eat dog” soon at a multiplex near you.
Yes…the commies are hiding behind the scenes dictating policy in the US. It is being done under the guise of money lending and investment ..to that I say….SHOW THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THE RECEIPTS THAT PROVE YOU LENT US ANY MONEY…! THEY CANT….! Globalization was another scam to ship our jobs overseas…so if you hate the economy the GLOBALISTS created…don’t pay the fraudulently induced debts and dont buy their foreign made crap. Take the money out of everything.
A classic example of MSM misdirection, in an article about New York:
Stopping violent crime has very little to do with stop-and-frisk searches. This is the War on Drugs at the street level.
In New York, possessing less than an ounce of cannabis is a summons offense. But ‘public exhibition’ of cannabis is an arrestable offense.
When cops feel something suspicious during a frisk, they order the victim to empty his pockets. If drugs are present — bingo! — arrested for public exhibition of same.
If they could afford one, an attorney would advise Bloomberg’s minority targets not to cooperate with an order to empty their pockets. In the real world, noncooperation would get their head smacked to the sidewalk, and a ‘resisting arrest’ charge added to the drug charge.
This is your ‘liberal’ ‘progressive’ New York City, keepin’ the N-words in they place.
Interesting they are frisking young black men way out of proportion and only 3% Asian (I assume thats young Asian men and women).
This is in contrast with the way they handle #OWC where they target women if I remember correctly.
JH, “War On Drugs” on the cheap = Prison Plantation labor + vig for the1%.
Some links, as requested.
New Potential Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods Found http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/05/11/prweb9500191.DTL
Farming Groups Supporting Dow’s Controversial Genetically Modified Corn Have Financial And Executive Backing From Agricultural Biotech Industry http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/340342/20120512/trade-groups-dow-agent-orange-corn-usda.htm
If GM seeds land on the front lawn of the White House, can they be arrested by Homeland Security or will their owner sue the WH for patent violation?
Although I already posted this link in the comments to the student debt thread, it may be more appropriate here:
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/8694-permaculture-visionary-we-dont-need-to-wait-for-permission-to-transform-our-societies
And another:
Saudi Arabia Unveils $100 Billion Plan To Make Solar ‘A Driver For Domestic Energy For Years To Come’ http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/05/11/482660/saudi-arabia-unveils-100-billion-plan-to-make-solar-a-driver-for-domestic-energy-for-years-to-come/
Current energy usage from oil emits certain amount of heat.
If you replace that source with solar, the emitted heat remains the same from that usage (unless you use you AC less often, for example).
When you cover the entire Arabian Penisula with solar panels , does it lower the average temperature of the peninsula by a few degrees and if so, what will that do to the global weather patterns?
Air conditioning creates heat+ — go figure the desert heat with AC full blast (an excessive example would be Dubai before the bust).
Neutral, if the energy is used in Saudi.
If you replace that source with solar, the emitted heat remains the same from that usage
That’s right. The equation has to balance, but that is beside the point. The point is that the useful work was supplied without adding CO2 to the atmosphere.
There’s no arguing with the gist of the Mafia article, however of the Sicilian cities listed, Messina and Syracuse were outside of Mafia domination until the 1950’s. So grouping them with the other area dominated by the “Honored Society” is problematical. Sources are Luigi Barzini’s “The Italians” and the more reliable “King of the Mountain” by Professor Billy Jaynes Chandler.
As an aside, today the ‘Ndrangheta is richer and more powerful than the Mafia.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/do-you-know-about-the-most-powerful-crime-syndicate-in-europe/
If free competition produces the best mafia, regulation ought to slow that down.
‘Ndrangheta + Chinese mafia in Naples: organized crime paradise/hell
From Der Spiegel
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-attitude-toward-barack-obama-s-healthcare-reform-a-832002.html
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/promising-carbon-capture-facility-launched-in-norway-despite-doubts-a-832284.html
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/fear-of-inflation-in-germany-after-bundesbank-comments-a-832648.html
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/bundesbank-signals-germany-would-accept-higher-inflation-a-832457.html
The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal prosecution contends Bush was guilty of war crimes:
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v6/newsindex.php?id=664938
[The prosecutor] said since the September 11 attacks against American targets, the US was in denial over the existence of the Geneva Convention, wanting others to follow their way and being subjected to their laws.
Dimon should be doing the perp walk in an orange jumpsuit for accounting control fraud.
Warren is useful rather in the way that the “Spirit of Ecstasy” is useful on one’s Silver Cloud; a splendid, shining “mascot” that in no way affects the direction of the vehicle.
About ‘The Myth of Marriage’. Hmmmm. A point seems to be missed in this. To say that the use of the word marriage as a religious term only started in the 13th century, therefore Christians can’t really claim it, is a bit silly as a justification for all this. Last I checked the 13th century predates the current conversation by a wide margin.
Think of the term ‘gay’. It’s only been an alternative lifestyle phrase for what, less than 50 years. But that doesn’t keep the gays from fully ‘owning’ that word by current understanding. What happens if someone tries to use the word gay in any other way than the current usage? Wrath, that’s what.
So to say that because the religious definition of marriage does not go all the way back 2000 years, is a pretty weak rebuttal to those claiming the word marriage has a meaning that predates the current conversation about it.
Sure, the marriage fanatics are being stubborn and hypocritical, but remember how important the word gay has come to be for gays, and maybe one can get a sense of where they are coming from.
If same-sex partners would be willing to choose a different word, most of the struggle would dissolve, I reckon. It seems making it about just one word, keeps it as political fodder. IMO.
I think you minimize the importance of the symbolism involved in the word “marriage”. People on both sides of the debate care a lot about that symbolism, and that’s just fine to care.
Not that I disagree in general. For me, the fact that conflict is to a large extent centered around the word “marriage”, shows that there is precious little else to argue about. Nobody in the mainstream is talking any more about whether they should be murdered or jailed, for example.
From either side, merely accepting gays’ right to exist isn’t exactly the mark of enlightenment, but it sure beats the alternative. And even in states like California where legislative steps have restricted homosexual choice in “marriage” partners, there were robust civil union alternatives already in place. I don’t know a lot about Proposition 8, but for as much as it was demonized, as far as I am aware the main change was the words at the top of the “marriage” license.
That’s important for people to remember, as the rhetoric becomes ever more gassy, spicy and overblown. The disagreements certainly matter, but so do the agreements, and there is a lot for both sides to agree upon.
“…precious little to argue about.” Maybe. But part the intelligent design of the President’s evolution is that it puts Mormon sexual radicalism on the agenda for discussion this fall.
Well, maybe you’re right that the President wants to run against “mormonism” as opposed to any specific candidate. But I should point out:
As far as I know, the LDS church has not officially opposed any notion of civil unions for homosexuals, nor the rights commonly associated with marriage.
Their main political action to this date on the issue has been advocacy of a specific proposition that switched out gay marriages for gay civil unions, in a state where lots of LDS live. As far as I know that’s it. There’s no doubt about how they want LDS members to conduct their romantic lives, but they have no intent to export those teachings via force. If there’s evidence to the contrary, I am not aware of it.
The individual members of the church are of course a different story, but their views run the gamut from militant traditionalism to militant equality, with most (like me) somewere in between, though probably leaning strongly towards traditionalism.
So yes, in the end it IS only about the word “marriage”, and not your curious notion of “Mormon sexual radicalism”. Being LDS has certainly not been sexually radical for me.
Well look how many children Romney has. Mormons want to maintain marriage as a heterosexual institution because they are natalists. That is the radicalism and the problem.
It’s nice to see Barry standing up for same-sex marriage, despite it is being largely irrelevant as most social issues are and not having a legislative leg to stand on. Then I remembered, he did something very similar in 2008, then sold us down the river on healthcare and financial reform, all the while assassinating anyone that gets in his way (think about it, if he so casually orders the death of people in the international arena, what’s keeping him from doing it here?)
Orwell would be proud.
Then again, if Barry really and truly wanted to see same-sex marriage the law of the land, he would use his executive authority to do so. If he is willing to use his executive authority to incarcerate and even kill those whom he deems a national security threat, he should be more than willing to use this authority to give gays and lesbians the constitutional right to marry.
What a fascinating kind of radicalism. Romney’s an establishment private-equity parasite who thinks we’re being too NICE to Iran. Are his five kids really the worst thing about him? If the president really wants to run against FATHERHOOD he’s welcome to it, though I don’t think it will help him much. Perhaps he will, just because child count is one of the few genuine differences between them.
If birthrates were going up anywhere in the world right now, I’d be more inclined to agree with you.
Anyway, historically speaking, you don’t have to go too far back the family tree to realize that it’s US and our 2.1-kids-or-less-per-family that is radical, and not eight or ten or twelve. We’re the ones outside the norm. Way outside it.
How about the common phrase: “marriage of corporations” for merger?
Push from Mississippi Kept Deepwater Horizon Oil Slick Off Shore
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120510225001.htm
“We noticed that there was a big disconnect between the forecasts of where the oil was going to be the next day and where the oil actually was the next day,” Jerolmack said.
I bet. Due to the use of spotter planes for locating the slicks and dosing them at night w/the Corexit spray planes “discernably” catalogued countless time on FloridaOilSpillLaw .
And that “mound” they measured ? Heh, doubtless coordinated to the moment by FAA Houston, the coordinators of the Coast Guard/ANG Corexit flights.
Lots of links, sorry if they’re repeated anywhere else:
http://exiledonline.com/israeli-supremacist-watch-palestinian-history-is-officially-illegal-in-the-holy-land/
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/nyregion/new-york-police-data-shows-increase-in-stop-and-frisks.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2012/05/11/on-bloomberg-radio-discussing-greece-europe-and-the-us/
http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2012/05/11/on-bloomberg-radio-discussing-greece-europe-and-the-us/
From Counterpunch:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/11/how-the-times-of-india-colluded-with-monsanto-in-fake-reports-of-bt-cotton-successes/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/11/the-insanity-of-austerity/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/11/epa-to-fracking-victims-drop-dead/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/11/intolerable-opinions-in-an-age-of-secret-tribunals/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=intolerable-opinions-in-an-age-of-secret-tribunals
AlterNet
How the Ayn Rand-Loving Right Is Like a Bunch of Teen Boys Gone Crazy: http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/155393
Chicago Police Ready for NATO Summit Protesters With ‘Sound Cannon’
https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/05/11-8
More protests in Madrid: http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=8314
Exposed: The US military’s ‘anti-Islam classes’
http://therealnews.com/t2/component/hwdvideoshare/?task=viewvideo&video_id=73664
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-rejects-fracking-to-tap-natural-gas-a-831764.html
“This is what I call a fracked society.
No one seems to know how to behave.
Least of all the EPA. ”
And GE. How must they feel about dredging the Hudson while not able to openly decry fracking in NY.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/11/epa-to-fracking-victims-drop-dead/
“High-frequency trading firm accuses rival of defrauding customers”
oh say it aint so….one HFT firm accusing another or fraud and and front running eh? – [insert snarky comment here]
http://www.jsonline.com/business/highfrequency-trading-firm-accuses-rival-of-defrauding-customers-155a9ui-151216325.html
Will they hire robots for the prosecution and the defense?
Standing on principle? Not life as we know it. Dirty commies.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120513-700908.html
The Irish are not all in the tent.
http://farmersforno.eu/2012/05/12/farmers-group-wants-ireland-to-follow-iceland-and-burn-the-bondholders/
Clever approach, I think. It’s hard to develop an immunity to being ripped apart, me thinks.
Superbug Killers: Magnetic-Like Coating Attracts and Kills Bacteria Without Using Traditional Antibiotics
Vewy intewesting …. Thanx!
Interesting that the Propaganda Ministry needs to dump on the actual concept of human rights and push the bowdlerized half-assed US version.
http://humanrightsdoctorate.blogspot.fr/2012/05/samuel-moyn-peng-chun-chang-and.html
Gee, I wonder why the US press would dismiss international standards requiring state protection against predatory abuses in housing, health, food, and education?
http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=24821&count=0
New warnings by homeland security and the FBI on new DVDs.
Property rights trump all in 19th-century capitalism of C21.
Mrs Merkel, your time is up:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/merkels-party-humiliated-by-shock-election-defeat-7743508.html?printService=print
It’s Angeladämmerung!
Noted Friday that Jamie Dimon was vulnerable on the latest JPM ugliness, and that vigorous scrutiny right now could topple him. Well, based on what he said on Sunday, I’d upgrade that to “He’s desperate to stop this here.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/13/jp-moragn-wrong-trading-2bn-loss
And I ask again: how did people with this level of expertise put on a position so easily detected by opposing sharks? You’d almost think it was deliberately so clumsy it couldn’t be missed.
I’m 100% in favor of gay marriage. Why shouldn’t gays be allowed to be as abjectly miserable as the rest of us?
It should be Quite entertaining to watch how Family Courts handle these arrangements.
Family Court being a pillar of the ‘institution’, of course.
Have at it, cluster away !
:)
Men Can Rest Easy: Sex Chromosomes Are Here to Stay
Science daily… an ivillage network… cough… a division of NBCUniverssal… cough…. GE.
Skippy… or the belly of the beast.
PS. beardo are you sure you don’t work for these folks… so much drum beating ie. I read science daily – daily… beardo,
I like Science News and National Geographic too but they don’t update so often.
Its science daily, not news, and you broadcast their wares as often as you can.
Skippy… Preacher of fog.
http://www.sciencenews.org/
It appears that you are the one in fog.
“Too” was the hint that I might be referring to another science website though the sentence is admittedly a bit ambiguous. Still, it was no cause for you to “correct” me.
but they [Science News and National Geographic] don’t update so often[as Science Daily]. FB
No, I take it back; the sentence is NOT ambiguous.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120508103911.htm
Your link fun boy.
I was simply saying that I have no particular love for Science Daily EXCEPT that it updates often.
Stop feeding the beast fog boy. Its the nith time you linked to that crap site and you were made aware of its origins long ago.
Skippy… now go apologise to defiant for spanking the his fog… as if it was a lesser fog than yours.
“I was simply saying that I have no particular love for Science Daily EXCEPT that it updates often. ”
Their wide range of coverage is good, but they do seem to have perfected the art of telling you as little as possible while implying the authors of their pages understood much more. [ ?? ]