About that "Fuck the UAW" Tax
In honor of Steve Rattner's revelation that Rahm Emanuel wandered around during the auto bailout saying "fuck the UAW," I've renamed the "Cadillac tax" the "Fuck the UAW" tax.
Which is appropriate timing given that the Kaiser Family Foundation…
Elizabeth Warren Drops Harvard Course at Last Minute
Following closely on the reporting that Wall Street has resigned itself to having Elizabeth Warren recess appointed to head the Consumer Finance Protection Board, the WaPo reports that she has backed out of teaching a Harvard class at the last…
Letter to Earl Blumenauer Re: Indemnification Agreements
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bmazNow that Earl Blumenauer has exposed the craven indemnification agreement the US government under the Bush/Cheney Administration gave to Halliburton/KBR, he should pursue the same types of agreements secretly given to telcom companies participating in the illegal wiretapping program.
What Changes Did Obama Just Make to Courts Martial?
In 30 days, changes to Part II (Rules) and IV (Punitive Articles) of the Courts Martial Manual will go into effect. Only, we don't know what those changes are because the annex that describes them appears to be classified.
All we get is this…
SEC to Ratings Agencies: Really, We Mean Business
Yesterday, the SEC told ratings agencies they mean business. They will prosecute agencies for fraud.
In the future.
It did so in a report of investigation into explicit fraud on the part of Moody's in which the SEC declined to prosecute…
Shorter DC Circuit: Yeah, Rogers Brown and Kavanaugh Are Extremists
Charlie Savage noted an interesting part of yesterday's DC Circuit ruling upholding the detention of Ghaleb Nassar al-Bihani: it explicitly disagreed with earlier assertions made by Janice Rogers Brown and Brett Kavanaugh that international…
Nothing To Be Done But Blame Republicans
Jake Tapper hammered Robert "a recovery that got our economy moving again" Gibbs yesterday on whether the Administration is not doing more for the economy because of political paralysis. After four attempts to avoid answering the question or…
ACLU and CCR Sue to Stop Targeted Killings
From a joint press release:
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) today filed a lawsuit challenging the government's asserted authority to carry out “targeted killings” of U.S. citizens located…
More Stupid Housing Policy on the Way?
Great news! My house goes on the market today — at the same price the house next door sold as a foreclosure a few years ago.
Okay — it's mostly good news insofar as I don't have to drive back to Ann Arbor every weekend and instead can…
Sparky Takes a Dump, Produces Turd Named McCain and Other News and Notes From Wingnut Hell In Arizona
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bmazYes, that is Sparky the Sun Devil and the small turd next to him is John McCain. As you may have heard, the Arizona primary was last Tuesday and McCain squeaked by the "serious challenge" of gasbag extraordinaire J.D. Hayworth. McCain beat Hayworth by 25 points; this and other news and notes from the Arizona primary election.
Obama Administration Tries to Get Out of Its Khadr Problem
Add this to the list of things I might laugh about if it weren't so damned sad and awful. The Administration has now realized trying a Canadian accused of murder for killing someone in an active battlefield as a teenager exposes the Gitmo show…
Trash Is Back!
I'll admit it. I've got ulterior motives for posting trash two weeks before the regular season begins.
First, I will once again be mostly away from the Toobz this weekend as I continue to experience the joys of moving. So I wanted to leave…
CIA: Money Is Fungible, Except When It Is Our Money
Keep in mind as you read these four paragraphs from WaPo's follow-up on NYT's story on Mohammed Zia Salehi that the person quoted is almost certainly from the same CIA that profiles terrorist organizations that, regardless of the charitable…
Extend and Pretend about to Bite the Banksters in the Butt
I would be laughing my ass off at this if I weren't about to put my home on the market for what the house next door sold as a foreclosure several years ago. (h/t CR)
By postponing the date at which they lock in losses, banks and other investors…
Military Commissions Good Enough for Teen Acting in Self-Defense, But Not Alleged Cole Bomber
The WaPo reports that the Administration has shelved plans to try Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in military commissions.
The decision at least temporarily scuttles what was supposed to be the signature trial of a major al-Qaeda figure under a reformed…
Chris Dodd's Newfound Concern about Management Experience
Federal bureaucracies which, according to the confirmation hearing questions he asked of prospective directors, Chris Dodd believes require no management experience to run:
Securities and Exchange Commission
Housing and Urban Development
Federal…
Dexter Filkins' Busy Week
Dexter Filkins' story reporting that a top, corrupt, Hamid Karzai aide is on the CIA payroll is not, by itself, all that interesting.
Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for the National Security Council, appears to have been…
New Wikileak: CIA Admits US Exports Terror
Wikileaks has posted a single new document--a CIA Red Cell report contemplating what would (will?) happen if other countries begin to see the US as an exporter of terrorism. The document admits several cases where the US has exported terror--such…
What Irrational Exuberance Looks Like
Go read this Kevin Drum post. The important takeaway is this picture, showing that home prices had been, except for the last decade, utterly flat since World War II.
Kevin spends his post providing a bunch of reasons why people are so silly…
"It was the privatization of warfare."
I owe ROTL a hubcap, apparently, because while I've been distracted with the joy of moving in a historically bad housing market, the US won its long extradition battle over Viktor Bout.
Coincidentally, I actually found Douglas Farah's book…