Yes, we are now seeing hand wringing from the pampered self-centered Washington press corps.
The example given is when Adam Nagourney and Megan Thee write a piss-poor article on polling about Obama, Poll Finds Obama Isn’t Closing Divide on Race, and he’s offended, when the Obama campaign launches a point by point rebuttal that makes him look like a complete pratt.
If you don’t want to look like a pratt, stop being one.
The press needs to get over itself.
It sounds like good news, durable goods orders went higher in June, but it was almost entirely due to defense related purchases.
Real estate is pretty much bad news too, with 2nd quarter foreclosures up 120% year over year, and new home sales down, though not as crappy as expected.
Meanwhile, the National Australia Bank is writing down 90% of its mortgage backed securities, which is a realistic, if somewhat alarming valuation of these instruments.
In the world of retail, we have Rumors that Boscov’s is near collapse. They’re local, so maybe there will be some deals as a result.
More generally, oil and retail gasoline are down, and the dollar is mixed against world currencies.
Courtesy of WallStreetJackass:
CEO –Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO— Corporate Fraud Officer.
BULL MARKET — A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET — A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.
….
Read the rest at the site…It’s a hoot.
Well, it looks like someone has finally noticed that granite actually contains small quantities of Uranium which decay into Radon gas.
Ummm…I’ve know that for years, but I went to school in New England, where granite is a major source of Radon.
Had a discussion with Harry Stubbs, pen name Hal Clement, where he said that his being in a trench about a mile from a nuclear blast in the 1950s exposed him to less radiation than hanging in his basement..He ran the numbers for us, actually.
The amount of radiation is small, but it might effect resale value, so if you are getting the counters installed, you might want to have a technician measure the radiation level before installation.
This has been a problem for over 5 years, and they are finally addressing it.
My guess is that someone ran the numbers, and determined that enough of them had fled to other countries, or had been killed, that they would not have too much demand.
Well we have Izvestia claiming that Russian bomber crews were surveying sites in Cuba for suitability, and we have a Russian defense ministry spokesman denying the reports.
My guess would be that there are no plans, but someone in the Russian establishment wants there to be some.
Well, it appears that Senator Patrick Leahy has merged two draconian IP bills to create a bill that combines the worst of both.
I think that the problem is two fold:
So, we now have
Bad law, bad policy, and a fundamental misunderstanding of the reasons behind copyright and patent protections.
CQ politics 14 districts have shifted in a Democratic direction. Good stuff, though I could deal without Melissa Bean.
It looks like the worm is finally turning on the antedeluvian Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy of the US Military,with Congress looking at changing the law.
Of course, Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, a right wing group, claims that it will drive away too many allegedly straight soldiers, but honestly this is not likely to be the case, and as the people most likely to leave are those who are attempting to make the US military an explicitly Evangelical Christian institution, it’s a net win for everyone.
We get needed skilled soldiers, and the religious whack-jobs who are creating a religiously hostile institution in contravention of good military order.
Matt Stoller Reports that every major Senate Democratic challenger supports network neutrality:
| Candidate | State | Contributions fromTelecom/Cable | Position | |
| Allen | ME | $2500 | Favors | |
| Begich | AK | $0 | Favors | |
| Franken | MN | $62,650 | Favors | |
| Hagan | NC | $0 | Favors | |
| Kleeb | NE | $0 | Favors | |
| LaRocco | ID | $4,600 | Favors | |
| Lunsford | KY | $0 | Favors | |
| Merkley | OR | $0 | Favors | |
| Musgrove | MS (B) | $0 | Favors | |
| Noriega | TX | $0 | Favors | |
| Rice | OK | $0 | Favors | |
| Shaheen | NH | $0 | Favors | |
| Slattery | KS | $2,800 | Favors | |
| Udall | CO | $54,450 | Favors | |
| Udall | NM | $0 | Favors | |
| Warner | VA | $45,050 | Favors |
Cool.
(No link to her, not ever)
It appears that Michelle Malkin is screaming * about the fund raising success of a challenger to John Murtha for congress, one William Russell.
The guy hasn’t campaigned, but he’s raised nearly $1 million, so Michelle Malkin is jumping around like a cheerleader with cerebral palsey.†
The kicker is that this money has come from a corrupt Republican direct mail fund raising outfit called BMW direct, which has a history of raising lots of money for long shot candidates, and then eating up pretty much all of the money raised through their fees, and for fees from consultants close to the firm:
In the most recent quarter Russell raised $669,534, almost all from out-of-state donors who presumably are on BMW Direct’s list of self-styled conservatives with a good track record of responding to direct-mail fundraising.
At the same time, he spent $442,990, almost all of it on expenses related to the direct mail effort and paid to BMW Direct and its affiliates (some of which share the same downtown Washington office).
The only expenses that appear to be spent on an actual campaign totaled about $20,000 for Web site design, a low-budget video and a campaign consultant based in Pennsylvania rather than Washington.
He reports having $269,953 in cash on hand. But he also reports debts totaling $242,521 — almost all for direct mail expenses to BMW Direct and its vendors.
So that leaves him only about $27,431 ahead — not much for a guy who’s raised a total of nearly $1 million this election cycle.
Of course, if Ms. Malkin really thought about what would benefit the Republican party, though she’s not paid to think, she would realize that folks like BMW direct are a cancer on her party, and direct some of her venom against them.
*Yes, I know, she’s always screaming.
†Actually she does “jumping around like a cheerleader with cerebral palsey” bit a lot. Have you seen the video of her in a cheerleader outfit‡ cheering “Defeatocrats”?
‡As to why she has a cheerleading outfit when it’s clear that she was never a cheerleader, that’s between her and Jesse Malkin, her husband, and I really don’t want to know the details.
Obama in Germany
McCain in (I think) Ohio
That is clear from the appointments made to the so-called ethics review board in the House of Representatives, where Nancy Pelosi has made Porter Goss co-chairman of the board.
If you recall, Goss was forced to resign from the CIA when a hooker/lobbyist scandal tied into the Randall “Duke” Cunningham affair hit the news, and tied him to those involved.
Un-fracking-believable.
I’ve mentioned the Downpayment Assistance Program before, and it’s one of the worst scams in real estate, and the housing rescue bill shuts it down.
The FHA requires a down payment of 3%, and “non-profit” agencies will front the money to the buyer. That money, plus what is typically a $500 fee, comes from the seller, who raises the price of his house to cover it, effectively meaning that the buyer pays an additional $500 (plus taxes and commission) to create a phony downpayment.
Huzzah!
If the PCAOB is ruled unconstitutional, because there is no severability clause, all of Sarbanes-Oxley would be ruled unconstitutional, and it would mean a return to mythology based accounting practices.
It’s before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, and there is a fairly good chance of it losing, which is not a good thing.
By a company called Optiver Holdings. Only it appears not to have had much of an effect:
The alleged manipulation was attempted 19 times on 11 days in March 2007, the agency said. In at least five of those 19 times, traders succeeded in driving prices higher twice and lower three times, according to the CFTC.
Five out of Nineteen, about 26%…not so effective.
Care of Barry Ritholtz’s The Big Picture
Now for the really scary part: Shadow Inventory. The glut of homes for sale is likely much larger than reported. Inventory counted by the Realtors group only includes foreclosures that have been listed on the multiple listings service. The enormous number of REOs, auction properties, defaults and foreclosures not listed ARE NOT IN THIS DATA.
Ouch. Note that as foreclosures sore, this shadow inventory will become a larger part of the total inventory.
His campaign is creating a massive number of field offices.
The numbers:
|
State |
Barack Obama |
John McCain |
|
AK |
4 |
0 |
|
MI |
40 |
No Data |
|
MO |
30 |
10 |
|
MT |
6 |
No Data |
|
OH |
18 |
8 |
|
PA |
18 |
No Data |
|
VA |
20 |
6 |
Alaska and Montana???? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot???
I don’t know about you but I’m crushed that they feel that Bush betrayed them.
This has been your daily dose of schadenfreude.
Is that the entire country resembles the German Imperial Navy circa 1913. The Kaiser’s naval officers would end each meal with the toast, “Der tag,” meaning “The Day,” referring to the day that a final epic confrontation with the British Grand Fleet.
Well, if we look at the problems with Pakistan, whether it’s misappropriation of funds intended for anti-terror operations, or the support given by the Pakistani security service, the ISI, which continues to support the Taliban in order to ensure that the influence of India in Afghanistan is minimized.
It’s why Pakistan is fundamentally unreliable as an ally in the war on terror. The Pakistani military, and to a lesser extant Pakistani civilian leadership is fixated on the prospect of war with India, even though, as both are nuclear powers, anything beyond fierce border clashes is unlikely.
Well, it looks like Bush and His Evil Minions™ have decided to double down with the “War with India” dead enders who have been supporting the Taliban and preventing meaningful action against al Queida. They are proposing that $230 million in anti-terror aid, roughly 2/3 of all anti-terrorism funds, be transferred to upgrades of the Pakistani F-16 fleet.
These F-16s have no role in operations against the Taliban or against al Queida. They are purposed almost exclusively for use against India.
By releasing this money for upgrades, we are reinforcing bad behavior, and encouraging the Pakistani military to provide a safe haven to al Queida and for elements of the Pakistani security apparatus to act as the primary sponsor for the Taliban.