enlarge

Credit: Twitter

Sigh.

Open thread below....

Another sad night as R&B legend Nick Ashford has passed of throat cancer. Ashford and his wife Valerie Simpson were both songwriters and artists whose songs were recorded by the likes of Ronnie Milsap and Ray Charles. As artists they had many hits including tonight's selection, which was a favorite of mine as a boy. R.I.P.

Is he a liar? Is he just clueless? Or does he live in a parallel universe?

From Center for Economic Policy and Research:

"Greenspan also said he believes that the sharp rise in gold prices is due to market concerns about inflation taking off in the long run. He noted how there has never been such a major expansion of credit in U.S. economic history."

Let's look this one up. There is an organization called the "Federal Reserve Board" that puts out really good data on credit. If we look at its most recent Flow of Funds accounts, we see that credit for the economy as a whole expanded at a 3.0 percent annual rate in 2009, a 4.2 percent annual rate in 2010, and a 2.3 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2011, the most recent quarter for which data is available.

Has there ever been "such a major expansion of credit in U.S. economic history?"

Well, actually credit expanded more rapidly than the 4.2 percent rate in 2010 in every single year that Greenspan chaired the Fed. In fact, it expanded more rapidly in every year in this series (going back to 1976) and probably every year since the Great Depression. In other words, for Alan Greenspan night is day, up is down, he is looking at an extraordinarily slow pace of credit expansion and telling reporters that is the fastest on record...read on

The media built him up for some reason. Maybe it was the glasses or his love of Ayn Rand, but usually they then tear you down after you get everything wrong. However, Alan escapes that path and still hangs around to sprout off nonsense that is usually listened to by the confidence fairies.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (43)

PLAYS: (484)

Embed

It looks like Jack Cafferty decided to carry a little water for the AstroTurf "tea party" with a bit of fearmongering over our debt and deficit with this dishonest bit of editorializing on CNN's The Situation Room. First of all, repeat after me Jack -- there is no tea party. The so-called "tea party" is nothing more than the far right-wing of the Republican Party that's been with us for ages now, with big monied corporate interests along with your sorry excuse for a "news" channel along with Fox promoting them.

And all of your attempted re-branding here is not going to change that. And if Cafferty wants to blame the problems with our debt and deficit on the current administration, I've got a couple of charts and an article at the New York Times he needs to read -- How the Deficit Got This Big.

Continue reading »

This is very sad news for a great women's college basketball icon.

Tennessee's Pat Summitt plans to coach "as long as the good Lord is willing" despite recently being diagnosed with early onset dementia.

In a statement from Summitt released by the university on Tuesday, the Hall of Fame coach said she visited with doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., after the end of the 2010-11 basketball season ended and was diagnosed with early onset dementia – Alzheimer's type – over the summer.

"I plan to continue to be your coach," Summitt said. "Obviously, I realize I may have some limitations with this condition since there will be some good days and some bad days."

The Knoxville News Sentinel and Washington Post first reported Summitt's condition. The coach did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Continue reading »

While much about the future of post-Qaddafi Libya remains murky, some things are already quite clear. For starters, Republican leaders and GOP White House hopefuls simply cannot bring themselves to credit President Obama in any way for the apparent success of the rebellion. Unsurprisingly, the same conservative echo chamber which cheered as the United States spent over $1 trillion, losing 4,500 American soldiers and wounding 30,000 in Iraq is furious over the $900 million price tag for the operation in Libya. And now, the right-wing's supposed democracy promoters are denouncing the role of sharia law in the draft Libya constitution. As for the virtually identical place of Islam in the Iraqi constitution the U.S. helped craft under George W. Bush? Not so much.

On Monday, the Heritage Foundation was quick to sound the alarm about sharia in the early draft of a new Libyan Constitution.

Much of the document describes political institutions that will sound familiar to citizens of Western liberal democracies, including rule of law, freedom of speech and religious practice, and a multi-party electoral system.

But despite the Lockean tenor of much of the constitution, the inescapable clause lies right in Part 1, Article 1: "Islam is the Religion of the State, and the principal source of legislation is Islamic Jurisprudence (Sharia)." Under this constitution, in other words, Islam is law. That makes other phrases such as "there shall be no crime or penalty except by virtue of the law" and "Judges shall be independent, subject to no other authority but law and conscience" a bit more ominous.

If this verbiage all sounds familiar, it should. After all, the language is strikingly similar to the Iraqi Constitution the U.S. helped birth in October 2005. As it turns out, Tripoli's new Article 1 bears an uncanny resemblance to Baghdad's Article 2:

First: Islam is the official religion of the State [of Iraq] and it is a fundamental source of legislation:

A. No law that contradicts the established provisions of Islam may be established.

B. No law that contradicts the principles of democracy may be established.

C. No law that contradicts the rights and basic freedoms stipulated in this constitution may be established.

Continue reading »

First, read John's post from earlier today on why raising the retirement age for Social Security is the worst idea ever. He's exactly right, it is. But it's not just a terrible idea for Social Security recipients; it's a terrible idea for business. Especially small business.

What many don't know is this: When tweaks are made to Social Security, they ripple through the entire benefits universe, including private pension plans, union pension plans, 401k plans, and related deferred compensation benefits. When the Social Security retirement age was raised in the '80s, it required every employer and union plan to be redesigned and amended at considerable expense.

Worse yet, it required that benefits earned by employees through the old retirement age be retained, with benefits earned after the new retirement age kicked in to be added on as a new "layer," which actually increases costs for many employees.

Continue reading »

enlarge

Credit: Newsweek

Obama's Book List

Most of my book reading since I became a blogger back in 2004 has been of the non-fiction variety, not only because I love the subject, but it helps me with my work here on C&L. I think studying history is essential in politics and in researching my own book with David Neiwert, I discovered works that I would never probably have read like The Gang of Five, written by current Fox News contributor Nina Easton of all people. I bring this up because The LA Times has picked up on some Obama family book purchases while The Daily Beast posted the list of books our reader in chief has read since the last campaign. I love Pelecanos and have read Alter, Kearns, McCullough, Le Carre and Cannon on his list. As you might imagine, Obama's Book Club will lead to some over the top form of conservative outrage---kinda like this.

Fictional Outrage

But speaking of Obama's reading habits, apparently some wingnuts are very, very unhappy because he's not seriously boning up on important issues while he's on vacation and reading all the wrong books. Alyssa Rosenberg writes:

Tevi Troy’s insistence that the president’s reading list “constitute the oddest assortment of presidential reading material ever disclosed” because “the near-absence of nonfiction sends the wrong message for any president, because it sets him up for the charge that he is out of touch with reality,” merits singling out for how uniquely grasping and bizarre it is, and how simultaneously snobbish and anti-intellectual.

Aside from "sending the wrong message about reality" he's reading a novel that might give some people the wrong idea about his stance on Israel and one about claustrophobia that can only lead to the conclusion that he's "trapped in the White House." Seriously.

Rosenberg makes all the right points about this nonsense but I think her conclusion absolutely nails it:

Finally, it’s pretty depressing that Troy can look at a reading list that includes novels about the victims of horrible crimes, the parents of war victims, and people who give their lives to healing others, all experiences that the President hasn’t had directly but that have implications for his job, and see only Troy’s own paranoia about Obama’s mindset. People need to read fiction precisely as a tool to expand their moral imaginations, certainly a quality I think most of us would hope for in presidents, or columnists.

That's exactly right.

I find myself reading so much non-fiction these days that I forget sometimes that reading good fiction is the way I get out of my head and into the head of someone else (which, believe me, is a vacation in itself.) It's one of the ways we expand our empathy toward other people. I used to argue with a religious pal over the idea that the Bible should be taught in school. She felt it was the only way that children could get a moral education. My argument was that they could get the same moral education by reading great plays and novels. It's all there.

Continue reading »

More on our little former Goldman Sachs VP. Of course, I'm sure he would never have anything to do with trying to set up Elizabeth Warren:

ThinkProgress has now obtained more evidence that suggests that Haller’s employment under Issa is more akin to a bank lobbyist than a public servant entrusted with protecting the public interest. In May, GOP members on the Oversight Committee invited Professor Elizabeth Warren, then a special advisor working on the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to testify about the new agency. The hearing quickly became a media sideshow, with Republican lawmakers trying to trip Warren up and embarrass her.

One congressman, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), became infamous overnight for berating Warren and accusing her of lying about her scheduling with the committee. It turns out that Haller, again carrying water for financial corporations afraid of new regulations, was behind the scheduling controversy at the heart of the McHenry confrontation with Warren.

According to e-mail correspondence obtained from Judicial Watch, Haller oversaw the scheduling of the Warren testimony. According to Flavio Cumpiano, a congressional liaison for the CFPB, Haller reportedly changed the time of the hearing at the last minute, then misled Warren staffers by promising to end the testimony by 2:15 pm that day. In the emails, Haller denies ever agreeing to 2:15. But, Haller had been informed that Warren could not go beyond 2:15:

– Monday May 23 8:43pm: Haller writes to Flavio Cumpiano, a congressional liaison for the CFPB, the night before the hearing to make “an [sic] late change to 1:00.” At 11:00pm, Cumpiano responds to figure out a better time.– Tuesday May 24 morning: After Haller and Cumpiano go back and forth with e-mails about which time would be best, a phone conversation occurs between Haller and Adewale Adeyemo, chief of staff to the CFBP implementation team, and a schedule is set. At 10:11am, Cumpiano e-mails Haller: “Hi Peter. I understand from Wally -copied here- that you both spoke and she’ll [Elizabeth Warren] testify from 1:15pm to 2:15pm. Thanks, Flavio.”– Tuesday May 24 afternoon around 2:15pm: McHenry, with Haller sitting behind him, accuses Warren of trying to evading the committee by trying to leave at the agreed-upon time. When Warren noted that McHenry’s aides had agreed upon the schedule, McHenry elicited audible gasps in the room by declaring Warren a liar: “You’re making this up, Ms. Warren. This is not the case.”– Tuesday May 24 2:32pm: As Warren leaves the hearing room, Haller fires off an e-mail to Cumpiano demanding that he “please confirm” that he did not “confirm the end time.” Later that afternoon, Cumpiano responds by reiterating that Haller had confirmed the 2:15pm end time, and had even told Adeyemo that he would inform McHenry of the schedule during the call.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (82)

PLAYS: (1988)

Embed

Within hours of an earthquake striking the eastern U.S. Tuesday, a rabbi that has spoken for the anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage (NOM) was already blaming homosexuals.

In a video posted to YouTube, Rabbi Yehuda Levin asserted that "one of the reasons God brings earthquakes to the world is because of the transgressions of homosexuality."

"An email went out in my community just a few hours ago, 'How long will it take Rabbi Levin to tie this earthquake in with homosexual marriage?'" he began. "Not very long at all. I'm happy to see that people -- even if some of them are scoffers -- are starting to see the connection."

"Yes, there is a direct connection between earthquakes and homosexuality. There was in Haiti and it is here, in New York, in Washington, D.C., where they passed homosexual legislation ordinances, in New York City and state, where they opened, especially on Sunday early, where they passed the homosexual marriage law."

Levin continued: "We want everyone to understand that if this kinds of activities continue and are legislated into the moral fiber of the country and are forced down the throats of the religious people, it's a revolt against God. And literally, there's hell to pay.

The blog Good As You noted that in June, Levin had spoken during a NOM press conference.