January, 2012 archive
Running Mitt Secrets 0
David Shuster analyzes Mitt the Flip’s required disclosure forms and divines why the Flipster won’t release his tax returns.
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 0
It’s supply and demand. Foreclosures provide supply; cheap mortgage rates provide demand. Such bankster genius.
(snip)
Increases in the sales volume can be attributed in part to distressed sales, which played a major role in Hampton Roads in the past year. Last month, foreclosures and sales by homeowners whose homes are worth less than their mortgage balances – known as short sales – accounted for 33 percent of all sales.
“The market these days is being driven by distressed sales,” said Vinod Agarwal, an economist at Old Dominion University. “They’re selling faster and the non-distressed are not selling as fast.”
![[Two smiling people at a table. One is saying “I’m so happy we live in a world without slavery and imperialism.” There are boxes pointing to various objects around and on the people. They read:
COTTON: Picked in Uzbekistan where 2 million children as young as 7 are forced to pick cotton for 3p a kilo.
APPLES: Picked in California by Mexican migrant workers, not being paid minimum wage nor provided housing.
LAPTOP: Made in China by adults working 18 hours a day at 32p an hour. The laptop will end up back in China’s landfills, where children will dismantle it for its valuable metals including lead.
MOBILE PHONE: Gold, tantalum, tin, and tungsten mined in Congo in abysmal working conditions, causing disease and the regional conflict responsible for the deaths of over 5 million people and systematic rape of women.
ORANGE JUICE: Picked in Chile by women working 60 hours a week, below minimum wage.
FACE: Detoxed with Dead Sea salts sourced in occupied West Bank; land stolen by Israel from Palestinians, who are subject to continual and severe human rights violations.
COFFEE: Picked in Guatemala where entire families with children as young as 6 are forced to pick a 100-pound quota in order to get the minimum wage of less than £2/day
SHIRT: Sewn in India under forced labour conditions by people earning less than 25p an hour, for 16 hours a day, while being unable to send their children to school.
DIAMOND: Mined in Sierra Leone by children as young as 7, working in dangerous conditions for 10p an hour, six days a week.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxp6bd9syN1qfu6vwo1_500.jpg)
Fumble Fingers 0
Offered without comment:
That’s what police say 19-year-old Alisha M. West did Wednesday while repeatedly texting messages to a wrong number. The day ended with her arrest.
Droning On 0
The FLOSS way:
Ground control systems at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, which commands the killer unmanned aircraft, became infected with a virus last September. In a statement at the time the Air Force dismissed the electronic nasty as a nuisance and said it posed no threat to the operation of Reaper drones, but the intrusion was nonetheless treated seriously.
Follow the link for details and links to screenshots.
Story found on LQ.
Living History, Reprise 0
Romney’s Bain (Updated and Kicked to the Top) 0
Attack of the Newts.
Even considering the source, it’s worth watching.
Via Andrew Sullivan.
Addendum:
Shaun Mullen has excerpts. If you don’t want to watch the video, hop over and read them.
Crawling with Cats 0
This is sad.
“Before the foreclosure crisis, we had 200, 250 in care,” Pierantozzi said. “Now we’re close to 400. … It’s not just a Delaware problem. It’s nationwide.”
When I was moving two years ago, Faithful Friends helped me find a home for one of my dogs. They do good.
The Invisible Hand (That One in Your Pocket) 0
E. J. Dionne meditates on the different types of capitalists, as different at Romney fils and Romney pere.
Which leads to this observation from Mr. Gingrich: “I think there’s a real difference,” he said, “between people who believed in the free market and people who go around, take financial advantage, loot companies, leave behind broken families, broken towns, people on unemployment.”
Yes, there are different kinds of capitalism.
I’m including the Gingrich quote to illustrate what my old boss used to say
Even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes.
You can follow the link for the rest.
Winning Isn’t Everything. Winning Is the Only Thing. 0
Football uber alles:
“It grieves me very much when I hear people say that thus is the Penn State scandal,” Erickson told one questioner last night. “This is the Sandusky scandal. This is not Penn State.”
Except perhaps for the small thing of that ten-year long cover-up.
I understand that next year there will be a new college football betting pool in Lost Wages, Nevada.
The Cess Pool.
The Fee Hand of the Market 0
An example of how the three-card monte works and of the integrity of our Galtian overlords, courtesy of a whistle-blower:
When BNY Mellon learned its practices might be scrutinized by investigators, Mr. Wilson alleged, the bank moved to hide its deception by altering its website, removing the words “free of charge” from the description of its foreign currency services.
At one point, Mr. Wilson told prosecutors, the bank was concerned that one client was about to hire someone “smart” . . . .
Read the rest at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
America’s Concentration Camp Turns Ten 0
In the Guardian, Michael Ratner reviews the genesis of the shame of Guantanamo.
Remember, President Obama has tried since taking office to close the concentration camp. It’s that lily-livered sidewinder Congress that walks in fear.
No Accounting for Taste 0
I never have understood the whole Michael Jackson “King of Pop” thing. Sure he was a good singer, but no more king than Frankie Valli, Frank Sinatra, or Bing Crosby before them.
I also don’t get Elvis idolatry.
Similarly, I don’t understand this court filing. Then again, it was filed in France, and the French think that Jerry Lewis was high theatre.
Tony Hicks reports in the San Jose Mercury-News:
In November, Murray was found guilty of administering the fatal dose of propofol that ended Jackson’s life. But Murray’s four-year sentence doesn’t satisfy members of the Michael Jackson Community, which is based in France. They’ve filed a lawsuit against him for causing them pain and distress.
Pain and distress? If that’s the justification, I should sue every sports team that calls Oakland home.
Pondering Paulistas 2
Last night, a couple of us started wondering about Ron Paul’s fan base among the twenty-somethings. (The other person in that conversation is of that generation.)
We wondered at their inability to see the big picture of his destructive radicalism, which is founded in the states rights credo that has served as a smokescreen for exploiting minorities, women, and the poor throughout the sweep of U. S. history.
(The cynical suggest that they hear “legalize drugs,” at which point their brains cease to function. I doubt it’s quite so simple. I think it more likely that, upon hearing the Galtian credo, “Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost!” they fail to realize that many of them will end up amongst the taken.)
Bob Cesca, whom I cite here often because he is a realist (he knows that, to attain the ideal, you must start by attaining the doable), just posted an excellent piece on Paul and the Paulistas. A nugget:
Follow the link for his answer to that question.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Teaching politeness to teens:
The Toyota Corolla, seven gangly boys squished inside, rolled to the curb outside Barreto’s house on Luzerne Street near Castor Avenue in Juniata Park about 10:30 p.m. Within seconds, Barreto burst out the front door.
The young driver sped around the corner and approached Barreto’s house from the rear.
But this time, Barreto didn’t let them get away. He began blasting into the sedan, firing 10 to 12 times, homicide Capt. James Clark said.
Two of them will never be rude again.
Also, teenagers being polite:
Beside her, a 13-year-old boy – whom police would take into custody later Tuesday and charge with manslaughter – was kneeling, refusing to leave as Buksha told the kids to get to the other side of the street.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
A turnaround. Of sorts.
The experts who could not predict this reckon it was the temporary Christmas help being let go.