Author: Matthew G. Saroff

Would Cardinal Walter Kasper STFU

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Obviously, I have made comments regarding the problems in the Anglican church over whether or not to ordain out gays. I feel that it involves me for two reasons:

  • The Christian Dominionist religious right (not Anglican) has aggressively spewed lies and hate on this issue as a part of a their larger agenda of establishing a fundamentalist theocracy in the US, which I consider a personal threat.
  • Because in the 3rd world you have people who not only object to ordination, but they also call for bigoted crusades against gays that are arguably genocidal under UN definitions, which we are obliged as human beings to oppose.

That being said, on the matter of whether or not to make women Bishops in the chruch, it’s not my business, and neither is it the business of the Catholic Church, where Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, has officially condemned this decision.

I understand his perspective, that this might be an impediment between the future reunification of the churches, but the schism between the Church of England and the Church of Rome is 474 years old. There will never be a reunification. Not only has it been to long, but the people of England would never put themselves under the authority of Rome again out of nationalism.

So please, would people in all religions other then the Church of England who feel inclined to make official statements on this matter shut the F@#$ up! It’s none of anyone else’s damn business.

Fed Partially Closes Barn Door, Cows Still Missing

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They are adopting new rules to protect home buyers.

A promising sign is that the mortgage industry hates the proposal.

Bullet points:

  • A requirement to show that borrowers could realistically afford the mortgages.
  • Disclosure of all fees.
  • Restrictions on advertising.
  • An expansion of loans to whom the regulations apply. It had been more than 8% above T-Bills, and it will more than 3% above T-bills.

I agree with the consumer advocates who think that it’s not enough, but it’s a start.

Indian Communist Party Withdraw Support Over US India Nuke Deal

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The arrangement is odd, the Communists are not formally a part of the government, but they have supported the government on confidence votes, but they are now withdrawing their support because of the US-India nuclear deal, which they feel violated Indian sovereignty.

They don’t object to the nuclear cooperation. They object to signing the NNPT and negotiating with the IAEA.

It looks like both the Bush and His Evil Minions™ and the Indian Congress party are rushing to get this deal signed before January 21, 2009.

Background here, here, here, here, and here.

Fair’s Fair: Obama Has Been Consistent, and Consistently Right on Bankruptcy Laws

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He is now proposing reversing some of the more draconian portions of the 2005 bankruptcy law.

Specifically, he is talking about specific fast tracking for medically caused bankruptcy, military deployments, predatory lenders, and people over 62.

I think that he should come out in favor of applying bankruptcy law to primary residences too, but it’s a nice first step.

Another Couple of Seats Become Competitive

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This time, it’s the brothers Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, the wingnuttiest of the anti-Castro wingnuts, who appear to be vulnerable.

Remembering that undecided tend to break for the challenger 2:1 ratio:

Lincoln Diaz-Balart leads former Hialeah mayor Raul Martinez 41 percent to 37 percent in the poll, with 22 percent undecided. Mario Diaz-Balart leads Joe Garcia, former chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, 44 percent to 39 percent, with 17 percent undecided.

Margin of error is 5% which puts both candidates within the margin of error.

I would also say that the undecides are likely to break even harder against them than the normal trend, as the Diaz-Balart’s are the unelected royalty of the right wing Cuban emigre community, and that community is likely already fully plumbed, while the undecideds are likely non-Cuban Hispanics and whites who have increasingly become, particularly since the Elian affair, disgusted with the anti-Castro whack job community.

The FISA Vote is Tomorrow

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Contact your Senators, any friends of the Senators, any pets of the Senators, and tell them that a vote for this bill is a betrayal of the basic values of this nation.

Note that in addition to an amendment to strip immunity, there is also an amendment to make immunity contingent on the final Ispector General report as to whether government agencies broke the law, which Mukasey and McConnell say is worth vetoing the whole bill.

Also, please give to the Blue America/FISA fund, which will punish Dems who capitulate on basic American rights and value when no capitulation is necessary.

They are running this full page ad in the WaPo today.

Also help Regina Thomas defeat John Barrow, one the most reactionary Democrat in Congress, and one of the most prominent supporters of the FISA capitulation in the primary a week from today in Georgia’s 12th Congressional district.

The Bush Blue Dogs need to be shown that their votes against America have consequences.

No more Vichy Dems.

raise-your-voice-blue-america.png

New York Times Slams Senate and Obama Over FISA

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Mostly it’s the Senate, that they condemn, though the distinguished Senator from Illinois is mentioned. It is a remarkably full throated condemnation of Senate, and Democratic cowardice:

Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy, Russ Feingold, Christopher Dodd and Jeff Bingaman plan to offer amendments to do that, but there is little chance they will pass. The Senate should reject this bill and start over with modest legislation that makes the small needed changes and preserves Americans’ fundamental protections.

Senator John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee for president, has supported the weakening of FISA. Senator Barack Obama vowed in January (when he was still fighting for the Democratic nomination) that he would filibuster against immunity. Now he says he will vote for an “imperfect” bill and fix it if he wins. Sound familiar?

Proponents of the FISA deal say companies should not be “punished” for cooperating with the government. That’s Washington-speak for a cover-up. The purpose of withholding immunity is not to punish but to preserve the only chance of unearthing the details of Mr. Bush’s outlaw eavesdropping. Only a few senators, by the way, know just what those companies did.

Restoring some of the protections taken away by an earlier law while creating new loopholes in the Constitution is not a compromise. It is a failure of leadership.

We know that the Times is right about this, because Fred Hiatt, the editor of the end worst OP/ED page in the nation™*, finds flip flopping by Obama, specifically on Iraq, to be laudable, , and believes that the FISA bill is just ducky thank you, which proves the NY times correct.

If you go against the WaPo editorial pages, you will be right an embarrassing amount of the time., and the Times is right this time; there is far more to hate about the bill than telco immunity.

*The undisputed champion of wanktacular OP/ED pages, by a knockout, is still the Wall Street Journal.

Bank Deathwatch: Indymac

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The nation’s 7th largest mortgage lender is no longer classified as “well capitalized”, and it appears to be unable to raise additional capital. As a result regulators are pressuring them to shrink their loan business, and they have laid off half their staff

Indymac currently has a Texas ratio* of 140%, where a number at or above 100% means likely failure

Note that Indymac was cofounded by the “Tanned One” Angelo Mozilo, who also founded countrywide financial. He’s just the gift that keeps on giving.

*Quoting wiki, “The Texas ratio is a measure of a bank’s credit troubles, developed by Gerard Cassidy and others at RBC Capital Markets. It is calculated by dividing the value of the lender’s non-performing loans by the sum of its tangible equity capital and loan loss reserves.”

There’s Not Guilty, There’s Innocent, There Is Pure as the Driven Snow, and Then There is:

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So f&^%ing innocent that half your jury goes tailgating with the former defendant to a Pittsburgh Pirates game.

Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, former Allegheny County coroner, who was harassed by a political hack US attorney over a few phone calls and faxes from his office.

Note that they did this after said US attorney sent goons to intimidate them after the hung jury (last link).

See here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Banking Losses to Hit $1.6-Trillion

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Paul Kedrosky finds an article in a Swiss paper on a study by the 2nd largest hedge fund in the world, Bridgewater, that estimates the final hit on the credit crunch at $1.6 trillion.

Yes, that’s trillion with a T, and my guess is that the number is too low.

Why, because even the most bearish of bears, Noriel Roubini, has admitted that he underestimated the size of the bubble and the resulting size of the collapse.

A Spinster on Marriage

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Yes, it’s the New York Times’ finest, Maureen Dowd, writing on desirable qualities for a husband.

There are many women out there who can lead fulfilled lives without being married.* These are simply unmarried or single women, or whatever they wish to be called.

There are also those who can never find fulfillment without the ring. These are spinsters or old maids.

Dowd is the latter.

*And thanks to California, same sex couples can argue over community property now!!!

Canadian Court Orders Review of US Deserter Refugee Status

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The judge ruled that officially sanctioned brutality, even when it does not rise to the level of a crime against humanity, is sufficient to merit refugee status:

…..

While the immigration board concluded that some of the alleged conduct by the U.S military included a “disturbing level of brutality,” it said the conduct did not meet the definition of a war crime or a crime against humanity.

Barnes said the board erred “by concluding that refugee protection for military deserters and evaders is only available where the conduct objected to amounts to a war crime, a crime against peace or a crime against humanity.”

Citing a case from the U.S. Federal Court of Appeal, Barnes said officially condoned military misconduct could still support a refugee claim, even if it falls short of a war crime.

“The authorities indicate that military action which systematically degrades, abuses or humiliates either combatants or non-combatants is capable of supporting a refugee claim where that is the proven reason for refusing to serve,” Barnes wrote.

Barnes said the board imposed a legal standard that was “too restrictive” on Key, who lives in Saskatchewan.

Key’s lawyer, Jeffry House, said the ruling expands a soldier’s right to refuse military service.

…..

(emphasis mine)

They broke this man, the story mentions debilitating nightmares, and I’m sure that an examination would find more evidence of damage, and they wanted to send him back.

For us as a society, what should bother us is the broken men who go back to Iraq, and then, one day, they come home, because this will come home with them.

Economics Update

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Well, the Employment Trends Index is down again. That 11 down over the past 12 months.

In energy, oil prices briefly brok $140/bbl on the downside before settling at $141.37, but the price of retail gasoline continues upward unabated.

Unsurprisingly, the dollar strengthened today, though I am unclear why. The fundamentals underlying the dollar, trade and budget deficits, would seem to point further down.

I wonder what happens when we run out of Dutch boys’ fingers to put in the levee.*

Meanwhile, I think that all those folks who said that it was only residential real estate that was crashing are now desperately trying to find their happy place, because we just saw the the worst Q2 in commercial rentals in 30 years.

*No, I’m not going there.