Tuesday, September 30, 2008

What Should the Federal Government Do?

One of the best discussions of the Great Depression (to my mind) is historian Paul Johnson's in Modern Times (see especially chapter 7, "Degringolade"). This might be a good time for us all to read it or re-read it.

Here is a key passage:

“Business downturns serve essential purposes. They have to be sharp. But they need not be long because they are self-adjusting. All they require on the part of governments, the business community and the public is patience. The 1920 recession had adjusted itself within a year. There was no reason why the 1929 recession should have taken longer, for the American economy was fundamentally sound. . . .If the recession had been allowed to adjust itself, as it would have done by the end of 1930 on any earlier analogy, confidence would have returned and the world slump need never have occurred" (Paul Johnson, Modern Times, 240).

I agree with Johnson

Headlines: September 30, 2008

Report: U.S. attorney Ryan's firing justified

Those who remember the Depression fear its return

Obama's McKnight In Shining Armor

Lack Of Confidence, Not Capital, Is Issue

Shocking Video Unearthed Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam that caused our Economic Crisis (video)

Pelosi Punks America... Stocks Lose $1.1 Trillion (video)

Pandora's Bailout

McCarthy: I respectfully dissent

In Times of Crisis, Trust Capitalism

Monday, September 29, 2008

Headlines: September 29, 2008

O'S DANGEROUS PALS: BARACK'S 'ORGANIZER' BUDS PUSHED FOR BAD MORTGAGES

Bailout Plan in Hand, House Braces for Tough Vote

Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis? (video)

Venezuela to build nuclear technology with Russia

Saddest Thing About This Mess: Congress Had Chance To Stop It

You won't believe where that $700-billion bailout figure came from

The Rescue Package Will Delay Recovery

The Bailout Reader

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Headlines: September 28, 2008

Partners at the Destruction: Fannie, Freddie and just about everybody.

Wash Mu Bondholders Were Not Paid-- Consequences Could Be Devastating... Warnings of Monday Crash

The Fannie Mae testimony that will make you scream in anger

The Real Costs of the Bailouts

Deal reached on financial markets bailout

Lawmakers Reach Accord on Huge Financial Rescue

Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis

Behind Insurer’s Crisis, Blind Eye to a Web of Risk

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Headlines: September 27, 2008

Scientists say carbon dioxide emissions up 3%

Iran on Way to Atomic Bomb Capability: ElBaradei

Richard Nixon's Revenge

In Too DeepWorking away from a “stunningly irresponsible” bailout.

Why play by the rules?

Devastating!... Dems Refuse to Reform Freddie & Fannie in 2004 (video)

Media Mum on Barney Frank's Fannie Mae Love Connection Democratic House Financial Services Committee Chair promoted GSEs while former 'spouse' was Fannie Mae executive.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Headlines: September 26, 2008

Wild day, no deal

Bailout Baloney

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

WaMu is largest U.S. bank failure

Russia may launch nuclear cooperation with Venezuela: Putin

Material on Community Reinvestment Act and Clinton-era Changes:

1. Assault on the mortgage lenders: in the name of racial justice, the Clintonites want the power to decide who gets a home of his own - efforts to impose regulations on banks to make loans even if applicants are not creditworthy

2. The Trillion-Dollar Bank Shakedown That Bodes Ill for Cities

3. Andrew Cuomo and Fannie and Freddie: How the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history gave birth to the mortgage crisis

4. The CRA Scam and its Defenders

5. How A Clinton-Era Rule Rewrite Made Subprime Crisis Inevitable

6. Commentary: Bailouts will lead to rough economic ride

7. THE REAL SCANDAL: HOW FEDS INVITED THE MORTGAGE MESS

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Headlines: September 25, 2008

House clears $25bn for carmakers

Pastors plan to defy IRS ban on political speech

The U.S. Global Insurance Company

Judgment Day

Four Palestinians arrested at checkpoint

Figures. When Your Candidate Has a Record of Supporting Infanticide You Do What You Can to Redefine "Values Voter"

Barack Obama and Alinsky's Rules for Psychopaths

Russia grants Venezuela $1B to buy arms

Sharia Law: Coming to a Western Nation Near You?

The case against a federal bailout

Questioning King Henry: The rush to pass the government’s bailout plan will cause more problems than it will solve.

GOP conservatives present rescue alternative

Betrayal and the True Believer

Scientists Find Way to Regress Adult Cells to Embryonic State: Researchers Hopeful That Recent Breakthroughs Could Lead to Clinical Applications

Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Headlines: September 24, 2008

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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Headlines: September 23, 2008

Surprise spring snowfalls blanket KZN

Obama and Ayers Pushed Radicalism On Schools

Conservatives Try New Tack on Campuses

Financial meltdown, 2008: What would JP Morgan do?

McCain Lacks Presidential Temperament

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Triumph

LaBruzzo considering plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have tubes tied

Monday, September 22, 2008

Old Truck


Headlines: September 22, 2008

The Wall Street Bailout Plan, Explained

Free nursery for two-year-olds will help parents climb ladder, says Labour

Military intelligence: Iran halfway to first nuclear bomb

Sexually active girls get depressed more than virgins

A Career Working Behind Enemy Lines

Greenspan’s sins return to haunt us

Fury at $2.5bn bonus for Lehman's New York staff

Radosh: The End of a Lie

Hope, Change, & Lies: Orchestrated "Grassroots" Smear Campaigns & the People that Run Them [Updated]

Luther Martin: Uncouth, Unheeded

Everyone Needs to Worry About Iran

Chants in Iran: Death to America, the infidel (video)

Stadium leaves night to remember | MLB.com: News

Stadium leaves night to remember MLB.com: News

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Headlines: September 21, 2008

Is Wired Magazine’s ‘Military Correspondent’ a Kremlin Dupe? (Part 2)

Pit Bulls attack, kill 4-month-old

4 ways to turn a recession into a depression

British ethicist: Senile should be “put down”

Drunken-driving crash changed lives of Irving couple, man who hit them

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Headlines: September 18, 2008

Old Media Helps Obama Push False Rush Limbaugh Immigration Quotes

Democratic Congress May Adjourn, Leave Crisis to Fed, Treasury

CNN's Crowley: Obama Team Wanted 'Horrific' Wall Street Headlines

Russia ratchets up US tensions with arms sales to Iran and Venezuela

Wall Street's Unraveling

What's Behind the Financial Market Crisis?

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Windfall Tax on Oil Companies

Video: Senator Obama's “Pocket TV Ad

"Obama says he doesn't take money from oil companies. We say that's a little too slick."

"Obama's Overstatement: An Obama ad says McCain's campaign got $2 million from "Big Oil." The total is actually $1.3 million."

Exxon's 2007 Tax Bill: $30 Billion

“Currently, the United States has the second-highest corporate tax rate of all industrial societies, after economically anemic Japan. The U.S. federal rate of taxation is 35 percent, and when the average state and local corporate tax rates are added, American corporations pay, on average, a 39.27 percent tax on their incomes. China is at 25 percent; Mexico is at 28 percent; socialist Sweden is at 28 percent; and prosperous Ireland is at a mere 12.5 percent.” ("It's Still the Economy, Stupid," A Commentary by Tony Blankley, Rasmussen Report, September 3, 2008)

Taxes - Federal excise taxes are 18.4 cents per gallon, and state excise taxes average 18.2 cents per gallon. There may also be some additional taxes, such as applicable state sales taxes, gross receipts taxes, oil inspection fees, underground storage tank fees and other miscellaneous environmental fees. Add that to the state excise taxes, and it can average 27.4 cents. It could be worse. In Europe, gas prices are far higher than in America because taxes on gas are much higher.”

Headlines: September 17, 2008

Case closed: The Rosenbergs were Soviet spies

Walter Williams: Stubborn Ignorance

Khrushchev's Shoe Returns to Russian Diplomacy

Are Fannie and Freddie Too Big to Fail?

Reconsiderations: Betty Friedan's 'The Feminine Mystique'

Attack on US Embassy in Yemen Kills 16

Female Suicide Bombers Are Latest War Tactic

Pakistan Is the Problem: And Barack Obama seems to be the only candidate willing to face it.

Corporations Know U.S. Has Uncompetitive Tax Rates

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Headlines: September 16, 2008

Judge: Riviera Beach 'saggy pants' ban unconstitutional

On Sex-Ed Ad, McCain Is Right: What was that Illinois sex-education bill really about?

At least 100 rapes in Karachi a day

EGYPT: ONE CONVERT’S NEVER-ENDING STRUGGLE: Snares abound as Christian seeks to protect wife, baby and future faithful

SAUDI ARABIA: POLICE ARREST FOUR EAST AFRICAN CHRISTIANS: Detainees held at Jeddah’s deportation jail.

How to Manage Savagery

No Oil for Blood Thanks to three American senators, China will be pumping Iraqi oil.

The American Spectator

The American Spectator

Black Sunday on Wall St.? Someone Who Knows What They're Talking About Explains it to Us - mediabistro.com: FishbowlNY

Black Sunday on Wall St.? Someone Who Knows What They're Talking About Explains it to Us - mediabistro.com: FishbowlNY

SCSUScholars

SCSUScholars

Monday, September 15, 2008

Headlines: September 15, 2008

Hazlitt: Is Ethics a Science?

A battle over 'God's will': People of faith line up for and against a ban on same-sex marriage

Blackstone: On Offenses Against the Law of Nations

Video on Obama and Ayers

Bruce Walker's The Swastika against the Cross

Spengler: Lehman and the end of the era of leverage

My Favorite 40 Blogs For 2008

Lesson from Ike: Nobody does evacuations like Cuba

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Headlines: September 13, 2008

Russo-Georgian War and Balance of Power

Moscow’s Sinister BrillianceWho wants to die for Tbilisi?

A few thoughts on the Russian invasion of Georgia

Krauthammer: Charlie Gibson's Gaffe

48 Liberal Lies About American History

Friday, September 12, 2008

In Response to Bovard

I have long admired FEE, but I must take exception to James Bovard's "Torture and Liberty" (Ideas on Liberty--July 2008).

The most glaring mistake in this article is Bovard's statement that the U.S. Constitution guarantees the rights of alien combatants. The U.S. Constitution establishes a government to protect the American people from those who would harm them and places limits on that government to make sure that it will not harm the people it was designed to defend. When the Second Amendment speaks, for example, of "the right of the people to keep and bear arms," it guarantees the right of the American people to bear arms, not the right of all the people of the world. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court shares Bovard's misunderstanding of whom the Constitution is designed to protect. In Rasul v. Bush, for example, the Court extended the protection of habeas corpus to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay on the grounds that the English common law extended it to "all ... dominions under the sovereign's control." The Court fails to note, however, that the right to challenge one's detention was only enjoyed by "the King's subjects" (see the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 and Blackstone's Commentaries).

Bovard is also wrong to assert that the detainees at Guantanamo are entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions. Common Article 3 protects prisoners of war and Common Article 3 protects civilians in the case of a conflict "not of an international character" (that is, a civil war). The detainees do not fit either description. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court wrongly extended the protections of Article 3 to the detainees in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld on the grounds that al-Qaeda is not a nation and the conflict between the US and al-Qaeda is, therefore, "not of an international character." Apparently this was the first time that anyone had understood the treaty in this way, because the Court could only cite Jeremy Bentham's definition of the word "international" to support its decision.

This is not to say that the U.S. government can treat the detainees in any way it pleases. As men, the detainees enjoy the rights with which all human beings are endowed by their Creator. But the U.S. is well within its rights to balance the rights of the detainees against the rights of those it was designed to protect. As for the alleged atrocities that Bovard cites, the only sources that I could find to support them were publications such as Mother Jones and the Guardian--hardly friends of liberty in the sense that FEE understands it.

In short, Bovard's article confirms what I have long suspected, that there is a great difference between libertarianism (which is essentially anti-government) and a love of liberty, which recognizes that an essential part of liberty is "to be free from restraint and violence from others." Thank God that the Bush administration understands what James Bovard does not.

Headlines: September 12, 2008

Young black men at high risk for HIV, CDC says

Palin 'governed from the center,' went after big oil

Global warming may bring cooler summers near coast

Look HereTragedy in Britain.

Austrian court unfreezes $10m of Palestinian terror group Abu Nidal's funds

What Exactly Is the 'Bush Doctrine'?

Is Wired Magazine’s ‘Military Correspondent’ a Kremlin Dupe?

Mises, the FDIC, and the Last Bubble of the American Empire

Terrible, but not a crime: Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be remembered for the suffering which was brought to an end

Total War in the Pacific: A Relentless Campaign Against a Foe That Preferred Death to Surrender

How the Atomic Bomb Saved 4,000,000 Lives

Harry S. Truman's statements after the dropping of the first atomic bomb

Iran is a threat, but the West can't afford to have Israel bomb it - yet

Campaign commercials 1952-2008

Hugo Grotius, The Rights of War and Peace (2005 ed.) vol. 1 (Book I) [1625]

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Headlines: September 11, 2008

Bush Said to Give Orders Allowing Raids in Pakistan

Georgian breakaway 'will join Russia'

Greenwashing a jury

Video: John Stossel on gas prices

Foiled Terror Plots Against America Since 9/11

Clinton Impeachment Precluded Forceful Response to Terrorism, Filmmaker Says

The Other 9/11 Story: What has and hasn't happened in the seven years since September 11, 2001.

US troops already out of cities of most Iraqi provinces: Petraeus

Red Meat... McCain Releases the Wolves Ad Against Palin Bashers

“CIA & FBI in the hot seat,” June 4, 2002

Don't Bail Them Out

Oil Profit Margins vs. Other Industries

In defense of oil companies

More Pain in the Gas

Letters from Al Qaeda leaders show Iraqi effort is in disarray

Figure in Rosenberg Case Admits Spying for Soviets

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Headlines: September 10, 2008

Trucks Power China’s Economy, at a Suffocating Cost

Bomb plot - the al-Qaeda connection

Homeland Security goes on special alertAgents watching for al-Qaida op involving Turkish terrorists, homegrown jihadists

Two top al-Qaida operatives killed in Pakistan

Russia threatens to target US missile shield sites: reports

OPEC decides to curb overall output; prices rise

Revolution you can believe in

How to Avoid Another Depression

Torture and Liberty

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Headlines: September 9, 2008

Russia agrees troops pullout from Georgia heartland

Ohio: Life Term for Microwaving Baby

Top Lawyer Is Selected As U.S. Mulls Google Suit

Who Is Sally Quinn?

Venezuela Plays The Russia Card

Spengler: “The fact is that there won't be any Georgians or Ukrainians in the not-too-distant future. By coincidence, Washington's two favorite beacons of liberty happen to be the two countries with the world's fastest rate of population decline.”

Spengler: Americans play Monopoly, Russians chess

“Big music, big ballets, big books: Russian culture deals in big things - from Tchaikovsky's Life of Man symphony to Tolstoy's block-busting two-tome epic War and Peace.”

Spengler’s suggested reading list and fiction here

The Middle of Nowhere: Western analysts are forever bleating about the strategic importance of the middle east. But despite its oil, this backward region is less relevant than ever, and it would be better for everyone if the rest of the world learned to ignore it

A Truman for our times: The received wisdom is that President Bush has been a foreign policy disaster, and that America is threatened by the rise of Asia. Both claims are wrong—Bush has successfully rolled back jihadism, and the US will benefit from Asian growth

Spengler: Putin for US president - more than ever

Monday, September 8, 2008

Headlines: September 8, 2008

Russia opposes EU monitoring in Georgia

Russia Sets War Games in Caribbean

Bible is Palin's professional guide, friends and pastors say

Fill-in-the-Blank Article About Price-Gouging Laws

A stark choice on abortion

“Currently, the United States has the second-highest corporate tax rate of all industrial societies, after economically anemic Japan. The U.S. federal rate of taxation is 35 percent, and when the average state and local corporate tax rates are added, American corporations pay, on average, a 39.27 percent tax on their incomes. China is at 25 percent; Mexico is at 28 percent; socialist Sweden is at 28 percent; and prosperous Ireland is at a mere 12.5 percent.”

Totten: Russia’s Kosovo Precedent

The dumbest things Obama and McCain have said

Creation Myth by John B. Judis: What Barack Obama won't tell you about his community organizing past.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Headlines: September 7, 2008

Barack Obama — Magna Cum Saudi?

SHOW US THE BODIES: AFGHAN DEAD-CIVILIAN LIES

Vladimir Putin set to bait US with nuclear aid for Tehran

Nurses' Participation in the Nazi Euthanasia Programs

Iran's inflation tops 27%

Treasury to Rescue Fannie and Freddie

The Tribe of Sarah: A Guide for the Perplexed Media

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Headlines: September 6, 2008

Russia accuses West of warship provocation

EU moves to loosen Russia's 'energy stranglehold'

Dick Cheney tells Ukraine's leaders to unite in face of Russian threat

Video: Obama gaffe

Friday, September 5, 2008

Headlines: September 5, 2008

Al-Qaeda commander threatens Denmark

Jobless rate at 5-year high

Wilson row over green 'alarmists'

In the Bronx, a Parting Shot: Only 2,700 Fans Saw Lou Gehrig's Last Home Run, But It Left an Echo

Unnatural Selection: Peter Pringle pays tribute to a scientist whose life and work were sacrificed on the altar of Soviet ideology.

A Letter From the Editor: The Future of the Sun

The Mansourian Candidate

31000 scientists sign Oregon GW Skeptic Petition

Barack Obama with Edward Said

Bummer... Obama Is Losing Jewish & Evangelical Voters

The Law of Human Nature

Great and Imperfect: Einstein's Mistakes

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Headlines: September 4, 2008

Pentecostalism obscured in Palin biography

Cheney slams Russia for war against Georgia

Biden Asked About Bush 'Crimes'

Obama Ad: McCain Will Outlaw Abortion

Second Russian journalist in three days killed

Biden Was Wrong On the Cold War

Exxon's 2007 Tax Bill: $30 Billion

Heritage Foundation on Russia’s Invasion of Georgia

Returning to Russian Valuations: Politicophobia

John Ortberg on Religion AND Politics: Why the human race needs an administration of another kind.

Comment on High IQ and Depression

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

2000 Election

2000/2004 Elections by county

MEDIA RECOUNT: BUSH WON THE 2000 ELECTION

Florida recount study: Bush still wins

"Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector" (Article II.1)

Video: George W. Bush steals 2000 Election

Headlines: September 3, 2008

"Governor, Who's the Leader of Angola?"

Stalin's mass murders were 'entirely rational' says new Russian textbook praising tyrant

US poised to announce $1B in aid for Georgia

History starts again

Two covers, one conclusion

Pakistani neuroscientist is indicted in U.S.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Headlines: September 2, 2008

U.S. hands back a quieter Anbar Province

Dutch intel: US to strike Iran in coming weeks

Diggers defended over dog cage jail

Video: Anna Eshoo on Bush's Warrantless Surveillance Bill

Obama's Years at Columbia Are a Mystery

Leftist Protesters Attack, Throw Poison & Spit On RNC Delegates!... 80 Year-Old Connecticut Delegate Injured!!!

Pakistani women buried alive 'for choosing husbands'

Report: Gonzales mishandled classified data

Europe Warns, and Warns Again

Slight Hope in Pakistan

Putin’s Useful Idiots

How Obama lost the election

Stalin makes a comeback with Russian teachers

Monday, September 1, 2008

Headlines: September 1, 2008

US hits al Qaeda safe house in North Waziristan

More Milwaukee Voter Fraud... Name that Party?