Deep fried butter?

Nobody doesn't love a butter soaked croissant or other butter-laden goodies from Normandy or Brittany but this? Sounds disgusting and as unhealthy as it could get though heart doctors may find it great for business.

That’s right. This artery-clogging, heart-stopping dish is among eight new deep-fried concoctions that will be unveiled to the public at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas later this month. Each year, fair concessionaires try to outdo themselves by dreaming up recipes that could send you racing to your cardiologist if they became regular staples of your diet. The friendly competition has become so intense that fair officials have dubbed the fairgrounds the “Fried Food Capital of Texas.”

This year’s fried butter entry is the brainchild of 39-year-old Dallas resident Abel Gonzales Jr., winner of past state fair competitions for his Texas Fried Cookie Dough, Fried Peanut Butter, Jelly and Banana Sandwich and Fried Coke recipes.

Read the rest of this post...

Prime borrowers increasingly defaulting on mortgages

The subprime problem was bad enough but now the banks are facing problems from traditionally prime borrowers who are struggling to keep up now that unemployment is increasing and staying high. (The banks are also facing commercial real estate issues.) Chances of a double-dip recession look much higher when prime customers are becoming part of the problem.

The rate of mortgage delinquency among prime borrowers is accelerating and could mean that banks will soon be suffering more losses from the usually safe customers than from their less-reliable ones, the report said.

The number of subprime borrowers falling down on their mortgage repayments reached 25 percent in the first quarter, but has now leveled off, with only slight increases in the second quarter, the Journal said.

Prime loans make up 80 percent of US banks’ exposure to mortgages and credit cards, and so could quickly overtake subprime borrowers in causing the biggest financial headache as the recession bites, the report added.

"The subprime pain is in the rearview mirror," Sanjiv Das, head of Citigroup's mortgage business, told the Journal.

Read the rest of this post...

Maine's Bishop invited NOM's Maggie Gallagher for a meeting tonight

Yes, Maggie Gallagher, one of the leading voices of hatred against gays in the nation, is the guest of the Bishop of Maine tonight. (Hat tip, Jeremy Hooper)

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, the state that the anti-gay conservatives love to vilify, the divorce rate is the lowest in the country.


If the Bishop of Maine was really worried about divorce, he'd support same-sex marriage. But, the Bishop is more interested in gay-bashing.

If you want to beat the hate, donate to No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, via our ActBlue page. Maggie Gallagher and the Bishop of Maine are on the wrong side of history and equality -- they must lose.

I'm often reminded of the very moving post written by Steve Kleinedler, who lives in Massachusetts, wrote following the death of his husband, Peter Dubuque. It's worth a read, but here's one of Steve's key points:

Just how far marriage equality has become a regular component of society here has been made clear to me while interacting with people I didn't know. What was once unheard of is now commonplace and, frankly, ordinary.

One day soon marriage equality will be ordinary. Read the rest of this post...

White House now drafting its own health care bill, which it may or may not offer

Every day brings something new. Yesterday we were told that the Obama was only going to present general guidelines next week during his joint address to Congress. Now he's going to draft legislation, but he may not propose it. While the constant daily changes in the White House's position don't exude confidence (or competence), at least the President may actually be willing to take a position on his own signature issue if he actually drafts the bill and if he actually decides to release it publicly. Oh, and the report says that Obama is leaning towards dropping the public option, even though it remains popular in the polls.

Then there's this:

Sources expect the president to emphasize the message: If Congress passes something now, it will serve as a foundation to pass further reform in the future.

Yes, better luck next time. And when exactly will that future be? The next time we win control of the White House, and both houses of Congress, while the Republicans have been absolutely decimated after having destroyed the economy and the military, and our president has a 70% approval rating that he refuses to use?

It's rather amazing that President Obama is now suggesting that we should wait until next time, when he hasn't even tried this time yet. They are going to split the baby in half on every issue for the rest of their presidency, and then tell the folks they betrayed to take it or leave it, because at least it's better than the Republicans would have done. I remember a time when Democrats aspired to do good, rather than simply aspiring to be better than the Worst Republican President Ever. Read the rest of this post...

A reader writes

Joseph writes:

I took the advice of one of your commenters and unsubscribed from the Obama email list. I think you should use your platform to encourage others to do the same. Look we never expected the gays in the military issue would be the first thing tackled on day 1, but I expected action by now and I don't want to be bothered by them anymore. I happen not to be gay, but take civil rights for all very seriously and just happen to expect people who preach hope and change to act on their promises, particularly when they took a lot of my time and money.

Read the rest of this post...

Roubini sees "U-shaped" recession

Meaning a longer low point than a "V-shaped" recession. The problem now is that Roubini also sees an increased risk of a double dip or "W-shaped" recession. It's slim, but the fact that more economists are talking about it is a concern. Reuters:

"I believe that the basic scenario is going to be one of a U-shaped economic recovery where growth is going to remain below trend ... especially for the advanced economies, for at least 2 or 3 years," he said at a news conference here.

"Within that U scenario I also see a small probability, but a rising probability, that if we don't get the exit strategy right we could end up with a relapse in growth ... a double-dip recession," he added.

Roubini, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, said he was concerned economies which save a lot, such as China, Japan and Germany, might not boost consumption enough to compensate for any fall in demand from "overspenders" such as the United States and Britain.

"If U.S. consumers consume less, then for the global economy to grow at its potential rate, other countries that are saving too much will have to save less and consume more," he said.

Read the rest of this post...

Gee, I guess the left of the left does matter

Washington Post's Dan Balz:

Obama can do little at this point to mollify his harshest critics. To win this battle, he now must satisfy proponents, many of them liberal Democratic activists who are increasingly energized and hungry for him to make good on his promise of real change. But he also must reassure those in the middle, who see flaws in the current system but who worry about the cost and scale of government involvement in the changes that might be coming.

That is how August changed the health-care debate.

Does Obama get this? Read the rest of this post...

Despite unrelenting attacks from GOP, public support for the public option stays strong (although Team Obama ignores the numbers)

Despite the hammering the issue has taken from Republicans and too many Democrats over the summer, the public option still polls strong according to the latest Research 2000 poll for DailyKos. When asked "Do you favor or oppose creating a government-administered health insurance option that anyone can purchase to compete with private insurance plans?" 58% responded yes. 34% responded no and eight percent were undecided. From Markos:

The public option remains popular, by a nearly 3-2 margin. Seems like people like the idea of competition in the insurance market, that would help lower premiums and keep currently unaccountable insurance companies honest.

What's more, the public option is favored by over a quarter of self-identified Republicans, which is more "bipartisanship" than you'll ever see in DC.

Yep. Strong public support. Imagine if we had a president who actually used his oratorical skills and bully pulpit to push for something that most Americans want. Just imagine that.

Forget what the public wants. We've got a President who is caving to conservative Democrats and the intransigent Republicans. In fact, we learn via Greg Sargent, that the White House sent a memo to the Hill on health insurance reform with all kinds of polling info., but left out the good numbers on the public option:

Okay, so the White House is circulating an upbeat polling memo citing a bunch of public surveys showing that public opinion still tilts heavily in Obama’s favor on health care.

The memo, by Obama pollster Joel Benenson, doesn’t mention the public option (the White House may not be committed to it) and largely cites general numbers showing support for action and for Obama’s plan.

But here’s the funny thing: We went back and checked, and virtually every poll cited in this memo also found strong support for the inclusion of a public plan.

Funny thing, indeed. No mention of the public option. What a coincidence.

The public option polls at around 60% and Obama won't fight for it. There's a pattern here. The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell polls well, too, but Obama won't fight for it.

What does it take to get this White House to fight for something? Apparently, instead of checking public opinion or Obama's campaign commitments, one has to see what Republicans and conservative Democrats think. Because if Republicans don't like it, it's not bipartisan. And, we're learning that's what sets the agenda for the Obama administration. Read the rest of this post...

Unemployment hits 9.7% - 26 year high

The positive news in this disaster of a report is that the pace is slowing and it was somewhat less than expected.

U.S. employers cut a fewer-than-expected 216,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate rose to a 26-year high, the government said on Friday in a report showing a still fragile labor market.

The Labor Department said the unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent after dipping to 9.4 percent in July and the decline in payrolls was the smallest in a year. The department revised job losses for June and July to show 49,000 more jobs lost than previously reported.

Analysts had expected non-farm payrolls to drop 225,000 in August and the unemployment rate to rise to 9.5 percent.

Read the rest of this post...

Lehman collapse gave us President Obama, too

In a column today, Steve Pearlstein notes that the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which happened almost a year ago, while widely criticized might have unwittingly saved the economy:

Far from being a mistake, letting Lehman fail may have turned out to have been the best thing Paulson and Bernanke could have done. Although they certainly didn't plan it this way, the events of that weekend not only accelerated a financial crisis that was inevitable, but accelerated a global policy response that would eventually prevent the total collapse of financial markets and save the world from a second Great Depression.

That collapse also helped elect Barack Obama president.

It's easy to forget, but right around this time last year, Obama wasn't doing so well in the polls. The Democratic convention didn't result in a huge bounce. The campaign had a really haphazard and lackluster summer. Look back at the polls from a year ago, courtesy of Pollster.com. Scroll down to the polls in early September, when most had the McCain/Palin team in the lead -- and with momentum. Then, over the weekend of September 13-14, came the Lehman collapse and McCain's infamous utterance that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong." Around that same time, people started taking a closer look at Palin, aided by the work of the progressive blogs (who had been told by the D.C. brain trust to ignore her as V.P. candidates really didn't matter.)

Looking back a year ago provides some perspective. A year ago at this time, an Obama victory was far from a sure thing and the campaign didn't seem to be helping itself. In retrospect, we're all supposed to believe that the Obama campaign was the smartest, savviest group of political pros ever assembled. And, there was a lot of talent. But, their victory was aided enormously by the economic collapse and McCain's inability to deal with it. Palin helped, too.

My point is that we shouldn't be surprised that Team Obama has screwed up the health insurance reform debate -- and it is screwed up. They've got a track record for this kind of dissembling. Yet, that crowd seems to think they're invincible, always right and really don't listen to anyone. That's not working. Look at where the President is in the polls. There's a problem and the problem starts at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW.

During the campaign, Obama appealed to his liberal base for help. He needed us. He actually needs us now more than ever, but no one at the White House seems to get that. Instead of asking for our help to pass his agenda, Obama is telling us to cave on his key principles and making us the enemy. All we're asking is that Obama enact the agenda of change and hope that he promised. Instead, the White House has chosen a different path, which has seriously damaged the Obama brand. The White House is seriously underestimating the anger and frustration on the left -- or maybe, under the guidance of Rahm Emanuel, they truly don't care. But, they will.

A year ago, it took the collapse of Lehman Bros. to shake things up on the campaign. Something has to shake up this White House now. Read the rest of this post...

Who told Obama not defend the stimulus seven months ago?

Washington Post:

With the Obama administration under fire for what critics call unrestrained spending and polls showing the American public ambivalent about the impact of the stimulus plan, officials are pushing back, seeking to highlight the role played by their polices in fueling a recovery.

This is good news that the administration is finally defending the stimulus package. But unless we get some answers as to why this wasn't done earlier, we risk the White House making the same mistake in the future, and losing control of the message on issue after issue, like we're now seeing with health care. It's time we were told who is advising the president on these matters. Who didn't think it was important to defend the stimulus package until now, seven months after it was passed, when the Republicans were berating it from day one? Lots of us have been begging the White House for months to defend themselves on this issue, and they didn't. And now the public has turned against them.

It's the same story over and over again. President Obama sits back, gets pummeled for months, does nothing, then when the damage becomes too great, and possibly irreversible, he suddenly wakes up and decides to fight back. The presidency is not a high school book report. And pulling last minute all-nighters, regardless of how effective they were during the campaign, is not a long-term strategy for success. But what's truly galling is how obvious all of this is to everyone outside this White House. Read the rest of this post...

Al Sharpton Tweeted Michael Jackson's burial, live

Beyond tasteless.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who gave a eulogy at the public event and at Thursday's service, also extolled Knight's earlier performance of "His Eye is on the Sparrow."

"Gladys Knight sang her heart out. Now we prepare to lay him to rest," Sharpton posted on his Twitter account during the service that was held outside and then within the marble mausoleum.

Then again, perhaps Sharpton's behavior was in the spirit of the moment:

A large, blimp-like inflated light, the type used in film and television production, and a boom camera hovered over the seating area placed in front of the elaborate marble mausoleum. The equipment raised the possibility that the footage would be used for the Jackson concert documentary "This Is It," or perhaps the Jackson brothers' upcoming reality show.

Read the rest of this post...

Stiglitz doesn't see a strong recovery; predicts malaise or another recession

Not a surprise - at least among the liberal wing or the "left of the left" as liberals are now called - but still not great news. Even worse, Stiglitz is also sees a high likelihood of a "W" shaped recession. Years of poor policy won't be solved overnight. Failing to tackle the problems that triggered the recession and failing to deliver real change that voters wanted last autumn could easily push the US down again. There was so much momentum heading into this year but the fear of change took over and squandered the moment. Moving forward with the same economic team including some of the architects of this economy has never made much sense outside of the White House. They may learn a hard lesson soon enough if the economy moves forward the way Stiglitz believes.

Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz on Thursday gave a gloomy assessment of a rebound in the U.S. economy, saying he does not see a resurgence in the strong consumer spending that has been a key driver of growth.

"The prospects of a robust recovery are very, very weak," Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor and winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001, told reporters at a roundtable held at Columbia.

Some of the more recent U.S. economic data has been surprisingly upbeat, especially on the housing, services and jobs front.

But Stiglitz said the U.S. economy faces the possibility of low economic growth over a long-term period or the possibility of a "double-dip" recession whereby a recovery is not sustained.

"It is not possible to predict whether we have a malaise or a W (shaped growth pattern). But there is a significant chance of a W," he said.

Read the rest of this post...

Obama at 29% in Ablog reader survey

We conducted a poll of our readers yesterday to find out the president's approval rating. The results were interesting, especially when you look at the results of a similar survey in July of this year, two months ago. While Obama only dropped 8 points in his approval rating - though he started low - his disapproval rating jumped 45 points. The increase in "disapprove" votes came from those who were undecided in July. I take this to mean that our readers weren't thrilled with him in July, but were willing to give him a chance. Today, they gave him his chance, and he blew it.

Both surveys had around 2,500 responses. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

This weekend marks the official end of summer. Next week, Congress is back. And, of course, next week, we'll get the big speech where the President finally tell us what he really supports and wants on health insurance reform. The Obama campaign only spent two years developing its health care plans with quite a team of experts working on the issues. And, they've only had 10 months to work on this top issue since the election. And they apparently still haven't decided where they stand on the issue.

On the TODAY Show this morning, David Gregory just said that Obama is going to "tell liberals in Congress it is time to be a good soldier here" and we have to take what we can get and build on it over time. First off, nobody would need to be a good soldier if the White House actually did its job and fought for something, anything, before it was too late. But putting that aside, how come the Blue Dogs are never told to be "good soldiers" for the good of the country? How come Joe Lieberman never has to be a "good soldier" for the good of the country? How come Obama never tells the Republicans to be "good soldiers"? And, when will the President meet with the leaders of the House Progressive caucus? The team running the re-election campaign should start to understand soon that there is a growing problem with the base...and, by the way, Joe Lieberman campaigned against Obama.

I really didn't expect to be this cranky this year. And, I know a lot of people who feel the same way.

Let's get rolling...

NOTE FROM JOHN: Perhaps it's time, for the good of the country, that Democrats told President Obama that enough is enough. If he doesn't change the way he does business, we're going to have these kind of epic fails on issue after issue for the next four years. And at some point, if we keep following bad orders, it's all of our fault for empowering poor leadership. Read the rest of this post...

Failing the environment is not just for Republicans

The gray wolf hunts are back thanks to Obama continuing the irresponsible Bush environmental policies. What a disappointment and waste of years of recovery efforts by the federal government. After being on the endangered species list for years and wolf populations coming back, it's all gone. Obama sided with the Bush team to allow hunting again. At least Obama can wrap up those critical rancher votes which are so coveted.

Melanie Stein, a Sierra Club spokeswoman, said that the wolf populations "are just on the cusp of recovery and that we are almost there." But she says the hunts represent "a step backward and away from recovery" of the wolf populations.

Defenders of Wildlife, one of several groups urging the court to stop the hunt, detailed the ecological role of the wolves on its Web site.

"In what is known as the cascade effect, wolves are exerting influence over a multitude of species within the park's ecosystem. Elk, wary of the reintroduced top predator, have altered their grazing behavior.

"With less grazing pressure from elk, streambed vegetation such as willow and aspen is regenerating after decades of overbrowsing. As the trees are restored, they create better habitat for native birds and fish, beaver and other species."

Read the rest of this post...

Gordon Brown on the ropes, again

By some miracle, Gordon Brown survived the last round of ministers leaving and now he may be bracing for another rough patch. The UK Defense Miniter's key aide for the war in Afghanistan resigned yesterday due to a lack of faith in the mission and the increasing death toll on British soldiers.

Eric Joyce, a former major in the Black Watch, announced that he was standing down as the parliamentary private secretary to Bob Ainsworth. He attacked the treatment of UK forces and protested that Nato allies were doing "far too little", leaving British troops to shoulder more of the strain of combat.

Mr Joyce, who had been regarded as an ultra-loyalist Labour MP, said he could no longer justify the growing death toll in Afghanistan by arguing that the war would prevent terrorism in Britain.

He called on the Prime Minister to make clear that the UK's deployment in Afghanistan, where there are 9,100 troops, was "time-limited". His criticism – which follows protests from military commanders over the lack of support for British forces in Afghanistan – carries extra weight given his army background and his role as Mr Ainsworth's parliamentary aide. Mr Joyce quit as two more British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, bringing the number of UK deaths to 212. Forty-one British troops died in July and August alone, and polls have shown a slump in public support for involvement in Afghanistan.

On top of the ongoing Afghanistan problem, the OECD released a report that suggested a longer recession/stagnation period for the UK. Prior to the recession, Brown took full credit for the booming UK economy which he ran during the Blair years. At this point it's difficult to remove himself from ownership of the sagging UK economy.

The OECD forecast that the British economy would contract by 4.7 per cent over 2009, compared with its earlier forecast of a 4.3 per cent fall in output. The UK was the only major-economy country to have its forecasts for growth reduced by the economic think-tank, which was relatively upbeat about the prospects for the rest of the world. America is expected to return to growth in the third quarter of this year. Japan, however, may see a fall in output again next year.

Read the rest of this post...