Archive for 2011
January 13, 2011
REPORTING FROM A “nonpartisan” hatefest in Oakland. “Note carefully what happens at exactly 1:20 in the video. You’ll notice that the lights which had been illuminating Roy Wilson are suddenly turned off, right when it becomes obvious that he’s going to continue his inappropriate political rant. What you’re seeing at that moment is a TV camera crew, which had been filming Roy Wilson’s speech for possible use as a soundbite in that evening’s news broadcast, realizing that the guy was going off-message — so they simply switched off the camera’s photo lights and stopped filming him because his speech no longer fit the media’s predetermined narrative.”
YOU WENT TO LAW SCHOOL, YOU RAN UP A LOT OF DEBT, and now you can’t get admitted to the bar because having huge debts and no plan to pay them back fails the “character and fitness” test.
What the hell kind of legal education system are we running where we charge people more than they can afford to get a legal education, and then prevent them from being lawyers because they can’t pay off their debts?
Because it’s not like Hassan Jonathan Griffin was in a particularly unique situation when he went before the Ohio bar. A year and a half ago, we wrote about a man who was dinged on his character and fitness review because he was $400,000 in debt. That’s an extraordinary case. Hassan Jonathan Griffin owes around $170,000. He has a part-time job as a public defender. He used to be a stockbroker. He’s got as much a chance of figuring out a way to pay off his loans as most people from the Lost Generation.
If Griffin can’t pass C&F, Ohio might as well say that half of the recent graduates in the state don’t have the “character and fitness” to be a lawyer…
Yeah, that’s pretty lame. But it’s also a cautionary tale for people thinking of borrowing their way through law school.
VIDEO CHART: Watch China’s fertility rate fall off a cliff.
JAMES TARANTO: Big Lies And Little Ones: Paul Krugman’s Only Example Turns Out To Be Fraudulent. “If the broader claim–that the ‘rhetoric’ of Republican politicians and the nonliberal media was to blame for last Saturday’s act of mass murder–is true, why can’t it be presented without false factual assertions? Krugman’s little lie undermines the big lie he and his newspaper are attempting to purvey.” Plus, Jonathan Alter’s monstrous opportunism. “Alter seems to be lacking in any sense of decency.” And is refudiated by Rahm Emanuel. (Bumped from yesterday, because it’s important that people understand what’s going on at the Times with Krugman.)
WHY THEY’D RATHER TALK ABOUT SARAH PALIN (CONT’D): How a housing slump will slow the jobs train.
It seems impolite to ask, what with employment growth sucking wind already. Companies added just around 100,000 jobs a month over the past year, a rate Fed chief Ben Bernanke dismissed Friday as “insufficient to materially reduce the unemployment rate.”
Not a pretty picture.
But it gets worse. Economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch say one key to a jobs recovery is an improvement in housing — because so much job creation is driven by new businesses that have in recent years been financed in part by home equity borrowing.
This sort of job creation has been missing the last couple years, thanks to the housing crash. If U.S. house prices embark as expected on a new decline, the long-awaited hiring renaissance could be put on hold yet again.
“There has been an adverse feedback loop where low home prices lead to tight credit, hurting jobs and prolonging the housing recession,” writes economist Michelle Meyer.
Much of the concern about another housing downturn revolves around the banks. A sharp house-price decline could lead to more foreclosures, hammering profits and reducing lending, such as it is.
But Meyer points to another effect that could be equally powerful for the jobs market. She notes that falling house prices hit home equity, preventing small business owners from tapping a key source of financing.
It’s a reverse “wealth effect.” Hope and change!
UPDATE: Reader John Murrey emails:
I’ve been a real estate agent with my own business and now work for a Top 10 national bank. The other problem that’s going to occur is a drop in labor mobility that will limit job growth and full employment as workers are trapped in homes they can’t afford, can’t sell in areas where job growth is non existent or negative. This will go a long way towards making lending even tighter as people walk away from those homes or are locked in with few affordable resources to finance a business.
Yes, it’s a vicious spiral.
SLOPPINESS AGAIN: Krugman Should Have Read NYT’s Own Series on Rampage Killers Before Making An Ass of Himself. “Maybe if someone there had taken the time to reflect on their own study, they would have reached a different and more even-handed conclusion.”
January 12, 2011
OOPS: Politico: Obama speech undercuts federal charge for judge’s murder.
It may have been inadvertent, but a passage in President Barack Obama’s speech to a memorial service it Tucson Wednesday night could undercut a criminal charge federal prosecutors have leveled at suspect Jared Loughner for the death of U.S. District Court Judge John Roll in a shooting rampage Saturday.
“Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain 20 years ago, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and rose to become Arizona’s chief federal judge,” Obama told the crowd at the University of Arizona. Roll’s “colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit. He was on his way back from attending mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say, ‘Hi,’ to his representative.”
In the complaint supporting Loughner’s arrest, federal prosecutors argue that Roll wasn’t simply seeking to pay a social call on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) when he showed up at the community outreach event where the shooting spree took place Saturday. Prosecutors and the FBI insist that Roll “was engaged in official duties” because he wanted to talk to Giffords and her staffers about problems with a surging caseload in federal courts in Arizona, particularly along the Mexican border.
Loughner’s alleged killing of Roll may only be a crime under federal law if Roll was on business and not merely stopping by to say hi to a friend. . . . As a legal matter, Obama’s view (which tracks with the public narrative offered by Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik) may be irrelevant, but it probably doesn’t help to have the President of the United States emphasizing the social aspect of Roll’s stop to see Giffords on Saturday, rather than the reason prosecutors claim drew him there.
Should’ve run it by legal.
MICHAEL MOYNIHAN: The Assassin Who Would Save America From The Extreme Right. “But it is often forgotten, in the swamp of conspiracy theories and lurid fantasies of Sam Giancana and Judith Exner, that prior to shooting President Kennedy, Oswald made an attempt on the life of Gen. Edwin Walker, the far-right Birch Society activist who had denounced the Kennedy administration . . . That extreme political environment in Texas, in which representatives of the paranoid right warned of Moscow plots to fluoridate the water supply, so worried Lee Harvey Oswald that he attempted to murder one of its most vocal and recognizable advocates. Allow me to co-opt the logic of the ‘dangerous rhetoric’ brigades and suggest that this type of thinking must be bidirectional; we should therefore warn against too much vilification of those on the talk radio right, lest someone attempt to rid the United States of the pundit extremists that are threatening the very foundations of democracy.”
OH, THAT’S RICH: Person Tweeting Death-Wish for Palin Now Wants Privacy.
There are two principles at issue. First, there is no expectation of privacy as to death wishes. Second, there is no expectation of privacy on Twitter.
Sorry lady, you’ll have to live with the consequences of your Tweet, because even if YouTube takes down the video, we all have screen shots.
Have you noticed how these people are all about the airbrushing? Plus, from the comments: “Twitter seems to be very effective, in a raw Darwinian sort of way, at identifying the true morons, doesn’t it?”
Related: Palin Getting Death Threats At Unprecedented Levels. I blame Paul Krugman. When will he apologize for his eliminationist rhetoric?
UPDATE: Reader Paul Stinchfield writes: “The Dutch libertarian Pim Fortuyn was assassinated by a Green Party member. The murder was the direct result of an intense campaign of lies by the European Left to demonize Fortuyn as some sort of neo-Nazi who institute a fascist state and a campaign of ethnic cleansing.” Yes, you’d think Europeanists like Krugman would be paying attention.
ILLINOIS: Death By Taxes.
NPR REPORTER very relieved Arizona shooter was a gringo. Commentary here.
AND WHERE WAS DUPNIK? Campus Records on Loughner Detail Disturbing Incidents.
OKAY, I DIDN’T WATCH THE TUCSON MEMORIAL, but the Tatler has a positive take from Charlie Martin (“This one time, Obama managed to sound like he thought he was President, not of his constituency, but of everyone.”) and a disgusted take from Bryan Preston. (“The entire spectacle has been repugnant and unpresidential.”) Diversity of opinion!
UPDATE: Throwing Krugman, et al. under the bus?
ANOTHER UPDATE: “It was pretty close to a rebuke to his liberal supporters. He was telling them, and everyone, that the entire process of casting blame for a lunatic’s crime is foolhardy and simply wrong. He deserves credit for that. This sounded like much of what I and others have been writing since Saturday.”
MORE: Reader Eric Beeby writes:
The memorial was both a spectacle and a successful speech by Obama. The whistles and hoots at Obama’s introduction from a section of the audience was distasteful – a memorial after all – but Obama’s speech was presidential though he went just a little too long. He missed the point where a Reagan would have stopped, and stuck to finishing his speech. The high point indeed was the nearly audible “thump -thump” of both axles going over Krugman.
He’s got a lot of company under that bus.
STILL MORE: C.J. Burch emails: “The Republican party is in big trouble. Palin pushed Obama to the right today. Palin did. Not the Republican beltway class, not the Republican commentariat. Not the Republican brain trust. They might as well admit it. Without the tea party they’re nothing. Does that mean Palin should be the nominee? No. The primaries will settle that. But it does mean this. Whoever the beltway crowd wants they won’t get. And no one cares if they pack up and go home any more. No one at all. After they’re gone Palin will still be here.”
MORE STILL: Reader Jeff Barnes is unimpressed:
Call me cynical, but the fact Obama condemned the finger-pointing only on Wednesday (after his allies had lost the battle over it and were facing a backlash) and not on Sunday or even Monday is telling.
As is the fact he didn’t mention that he had any personal responsibility in the heated tone in politics today.
He had an opportunity to take substantive action. He instead decided to take the old “above the fray” scold tone he always does. I can’t see this changing anyone’s mind about him.
And another reader emails:
Krauthammer asked, “What are the origins of Krugman’s (delusions)?
Was it a set-up from the start to make Obama look like he’s moving to the center? Way to take one for the team, Krugman.
People are so cynical these days.
Plus, thoughts from The Anchoress.
Will the speech change anything? Charles Krauthammer, in post-speech remarks, said he thought it would put a stop to the insane, Palin-heavy rhetoric of the past few days. I hope that is true but I have my doubts. On twitter, I watched a number of journalists (Andrea Mitchell, Dave Weigel and others) immediately begin either talking about or snarking about Palin, and I couldn’t help thinking, “the president–your president whom you love–just gave the speech of his presidency and not five minutes later you’re on Palin again? Conservatives are here praising the president, and instead of joining in, you’re obsessing on Sarah Palin? Does that seem like normal, rational, healthy behavior or sick obsession?
She’s living in their heads, rent-free, 24-7.
MORE: Reader Akiva Eisenberg writes: “Ayup, but those are unfurnished apartments…”
MEGAN MCARDLE: The Future of Foreclosure.
Plus, more on that Massachusetts foreclosure decision. People used to make fun of — and sometimes even criticize — bankers for being stingy with their money and punctilious about legal formalities. That sort of thing doesn’t look so bad nowadays . . .
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED REPUBLICAN, WE’D SEE PEOPLE BUYING GUNS RIGHT AND LEFT. And they were right! “Liberal TN congressman to get carry permit: After Saturday’s shootings in Tucson, Ariz., U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said that he plans to apply for a permit to carry a handgun.”
Related: Left Gives Up On Gun Issue, Moves On To Mental Health. “It is fair to say that many liberals have become unenthusiastic about pursuing the gun issue. Yes, there are still advocacy groups and certain lawmakers who push for gun control, but, as a party, the Democrats have essentially thrown in the towel. Maybe it was the shock of the Heller decision, which confirmed that the Second Amendment is an individual right. But, more likely, reality has dawned that this is simply a loser politically for them. Bill Clinton famously mused that it was the gun issue that cost Democrats the House in 1994 and Al Gore the presidency in 2000. . . . And, thank goodness, we are finally on to something that has something to do with the Arizona murders, rather than babbling on about something that has nothing to do with the incident.”
NARRATIVE FAIL (CONT’D): USA Today: Poll: Conservatives not to blame for Ariz. shooting.
Most Americans reject the idea that inflammatory political language by conservatives should be part of the debate about the forces behind the Arizona shooting that left six people dead and a congresswoman in critical condition, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.
A 53% majority of those surveyed call that analysis mostly an attempt to use the tragedy to make conservatives look bad. . . .
And there is little sense that stricter gun control laws in Arizona might have averted the tragedy. Only one in five say they would have prevented the shooting; 72% say tighter controls wouldn’t have prevented it.
Apparently, it’s not 1995 any more.
GOV. JERRY BROWN ORDERS 48,000 CELLPHONES CONFISCATED.
New Gov. Jerry Brown today ordered the collection and return of 48,000 state government-paid cell phones – half of those now in use – by June 1.
The Democratic governor estimated that cutting the use of cellphones by state employees in half will save the state $20 million a year.
“It is difficult for me to believe that 40 percent of all state employees must be equipped with taxpayer-funded cell phones,” Brown said in a written statement.
$28 million saved. Only a couple thousand more things like this, and California’s budget will be under control! Still it’s useful symbolism — but symbolism is only useful if it leads to substance.
ILLINOIS: Quinn congratulates Democrats on income tax increase.
A triumphant Gov. Pat Quinn congratulated fellow Democrats early today after the Illinois Senate and House sent him a major income tax increase without a single Republican vote in favor.
Quinn smiled and shook hands on the floor of the Senate around 1:30 a.m. after the Senate voted 30-29 for the bill, which would raise the personal income tax-rate by 67 percent and the business income tax rate by 46 percent.
The House passed the bill hours earlier Tuesday night — likewise without a vote to spare and with nary a Republican in support.
A reader emails: “Isn’t it comforting to know that the Administration is loaded with people from bankrupt Illinois?”
I also agree that this may be a tipping point in Krugman’s disgraceful career as a columnist. For one thing, he is intellectually lazy and seems to operate on the principle that a Krugman assertion is, ipso facto, an established fact. He rarely buttresses his assertions with evidence. His one bit of evidence that ”eliminationist rhetoric” in American political life is overwhelmingly on the right was to quote Rep. Michelle Bachmann as saying that people who oppose the Obama agenda should be “armed and dangerous.”
Far worse, however, he is intellectually dishonest. Even the Times’s first public editor, Daniel Okrent, said that Krugman has a “disturbing habit of shaping, slicing and selectively citing numbers in a fashion that pleases his acolytes but leaves him open to substantive assaults.” He is no less cavalier with quotes. As John Hinderaker at Power Line shows, complete with a recording of the entire interview, Michelle Bachmann was merely using a metaphor. She was holding a town hall meeting with constituents regarding the cap-and-trade bill and said, “I’m going to have materials for people when they leave. I want people armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax, because we need to fight back.” She was arming them with information, not bullets, so they could successfully oppose a terrible bill, not shoot politicians.
On June 19, 1954, Joseph Welch asked Senator Joe McCarthy, “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” It turned out to be the tipping point in McCarthy’s career, the moment when public opinion turned decisively against him. By the end of the year, he had been censured by the Senate. He died a few years later, the object of public scorn, which he remains for most.
I hope that Krugman’s column on Monday, when he shamelessly used a tragedy to smear his political opponents, will be his have-you-no-decency-sir moment. He deserves one. He is the Joe McCarthy of our times.
Ouch.
UPDATE: Christian Science Monitor: As portrait of Jared Loughner sharpens, ‘vitriol’ blame fades. But, so far, apologies are not forthcoming.
JENNIFER RUBIN ON THE ADL AND false claims about the Arizona shooting . “By tying the shooting to its own expertise in combating rightwing extremism, the ADL is promoting the view — and certainly feeding the left’s storyline — that conservatives are to blame for the tragedy.”