Eyes on the prize, guys. Play nice.
Archives for 2008
House? What House?
Happy days are here again:
As home prices plummet, growing numbers of borrowers are winding up owing more on their homes than the homes are worth, raising concerns that a new group of homeowners — those who can afford to pay their mortgages but have decided not to — are starting to walk away from their homes.+
Typically borrowers who turn in their keys are those who have run into financial trouble or need to relocate but can’t sell their homes. But mortgage-industry executives and consumer counselors say they are starting to see people who aren’t in dire financial straits defaulting on their mortgages because they don’t want to pay for properties that have negative equity.
Many are speculators who had planned to quickly flip the home, but others appear to be homeowners who had second thoughts about their purchase.
I blame Pelosi.
I’m Shocked. Shocked, I Tells Ya!
I know, I know. You are, too. Are you sitting down? Because I know it will come as a complete surprise to each and every one of you that Michael Mukasey will not ask a Federal Grand Jury to investigate Josh Bolton and Harriet Miers on contempt of Congress charges.
Pelosi said the two were unresponsive to Congress’ inquiry, while the White House argues that contempt laws don’t apply to the president or any of his staffers who invoke executive privilege.
Mukasey, a Bush appointee, agreed.
“The department has determined that the noncompliance by Mr. Bolten and Ms. Miers with the Judiciary Committee subpoenas did not constitute a crime,” Mukasey wrote in a letter to Pelosi.
…which, of course, is bullshit.
Every person who having been summoned as a witness by the authority of either House of Congress to give testimony or to produce papers upon any matter under inquiry before either House, or any joint committee established by a joint or concurrent resolution of the two Houses of Congress, or any committee of either House of Congress, willfully makes default, or who, having appeared, refuses to answer any question pertinent to the question under inquiry, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 nor less than $100 and imprisonment in a common jail for not less than one month nor more than twelve months
I see no exemption for “friends of or advisors to the President.” But then, laws are for little people and January 2009 cannot come fast enough.
Ask Not Who Your Country Can Torture For You
When you’re a national politician, it must be a great feeling when the country starts to unambiguously follow your lead.
A supervisor at a motivational coaching business in Provo is accused of waterboarding an employee in front of his sales team to demonstrate that they should work as hard on sales as the employee had worked to breathe.
In a lawsuit filed last month, former Prosper, Inc. salesman Chad Hudgens alleges his managers also allowed the supervisor to draw mustaches on employees’ faces, take away their chairs and beat on their desks with a wooden paddle “because it resulted in increased revenues for the company.”
Dear wingnuttia – torture isn’t about who they are, it’s about who we are. It’s about who we become. It’s about how torture eats away at a country’s soul. Take notes next time.
via.
Ask Not Who Your Country Can Torture For YouPost + Comments (49)
Friday Night Open Thread
I had fried chicken for dinner and will be on the couch. You are on your own, and no diving in the shallow end.
No running, either.
Courage
Obama spoke to a crowd of around 2,000 people in Beaumont yesterday. What I found interesting is not the fact that he was the first candidate to personally visit in over 30 years, but rather the tone of his speech. Speaking to mostly an African American crowd, (and a religious one at that), Obama didn’t fill his speech simply with empty promise of a perfect future, but rather challenged his supporters to rethink their own values.
That takes courage, every bit as much as the Sista Souldjah moment of 16 years ago. East Texas is not particularly gay friendly, and the African Americans among them are no exception. This is also not the first time he has done so. Obama has shown he is willing to tell crowds what they need to hear, rather than pandering.
DISCLAIMER:
The first link is to a video of the speech, the text beside of which reads:
This is the almost complete “short” stump speech for the many folks who couldn’t attend the “sold out” (tichets were free) town hall meeting.
I haven’t had a chance to watch the 17 minute clip, and there is a chance the part of the speech referred to is edited out. I’ll let everyone know when I have a few minutes, but until then, I do not assume verification of the speech in the first link.
UPDATE:
I listened to the video, and the comments referred to are apparently edited out. Numerous campaign reporters refer to them, though, and the Martin Luther King day speech is further evidence that the point of my post stands.
The Wilhelm Scream
Remember that weird noise that a guy made falling into the tentacle pit in Return Of The Jedi? Maybe it sounded familiar. A few years ago I told my wife that every action-ish movie I saw seemed to squeeze that exact same sound sample in somewhere.
Finally, proof! You’ll be surprised to learn how long this has been going on.