Month: July 2008

And the Always Reliably Clueless Michelle Malkin Strikes Again

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(No link to her, not ever)

It appears that Michelle Malkin is screaming * about the fund raising success of a challenger to John Murtha for congress, one William Russell.

The guy hasn’t campaigned, but he’s raised nearly $1 million, so Michelle Malkin is jumping around like a cheerleader with cerebral palsey.†

The kicker is that this money has come from a corrupt Republican direct mail fund raising outfit called BMW direct, which has a history of raising lots of money for long shot candidates, and then eating up pretty much all of the money raised through their fees, and for fees from consultants close to the firm:

In the most recent quarter Russell raised $669,534, almost all from out-of-state donors who presumably are on BMW Direct’s list of self-styled conservatives with a good track record of responding to direct-mail fundraising.

At the same time, he spent $442,990, almost all of it on expenses related to the direct mail effort and paid to BMW Direct and its affiliates (some of which share the same downtown Washington office).

The only expenses that appear to be spent on an actual campaign totaled about $20,000 for Web site design, a low-budget video and a campaign consultant based in Pennsylvania rather than Washington.

He reports having $269,953 in cash on hand. But he also reports debts totaling $242,521 — almost all for direct mail expenses to BMW Direct and its vendors.

So that leaves him only about $27,431 ahead — not much for a guy who’s raised a total of nearly $1 million this election cycle.

Of course, if Ms. Malkin really thought about what would benefit the Republican party, though she’s not paid to think, she would realize that folks like BMW direct are a cancer on her party, and direct some of her venom against them.

*Yes, I know, she’s always screaming.
†Actually she does “jumping around like a cheerleader with cerebral palsey” bit a lot. Have you seen the video of her in a cheerleader outfit‡ cheering “Defeatocrats”?
‡As to why she has a cheerleading outfit when it’s clear that she was never a cheerleader, that’s between her and Jesse Malkin, her husband, and I really don’t want to know the details.

Just in Case You are Wondering How Serious Congress is About Corruption, We Have an Answer

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That is clear from the appointments made to the so-called ethics review board in the House of Representatives, where Nancy Pelosi has made Porter Goss co-chairman of the board.

If you recall, Goss was forced to resign from the CIA when a hooker/lobbyist scandal tied into the Randall “Duke” Cunningham affair hit the news, and tied him to those involved.

Un-fracking-believable.

DAP to be Eliminated in Housing Bill

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About f$@#ing Time

I’ve mentioned the Downpayment Assistance Program before, and it’s one of the worst scams in real estate, and the housing rescue bill shuts it down.

The FHA requires a down payment of 3%, and “non-profit” agencies will front the money to the buyer. That money, plus what is typically a $500 fee, comes from the seller, who raises the price of his house to cover it, effectively meaning that the buyer pays an additional $500 (plus taxes and commission) to create a phony downpayment.

Huzzah!

Why the Home Inventory Situation is Worse than You Think

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Care of Barry Ritholtz’s The Big Picture

Now for the really scary part: Shadow Inventory. The glut of homes for sale is likely much larger than reported. Inventory counted by the Realtors group only includes foreclosures that have been listed on the multiple listings service. The enormous number of REOs, auction properties, defaults and foreclosures not listed ARE NOT IN THIS DATA.

Ouch. Note that as foreclosures sore, this shadow inventory will become a larger part of the total inventory.

The Problem With Pakistan

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Is that the entire country resembles the German Imperial Navy circa 1913. The Kaiser’s naval officers would end each meal with the toast, “Der tag,” meaning “The Day,” referring to the day that a final epic confrontation with the British Grand Fleet.

Well, if we look at the problems with Pakistan, whether it’s misappropriation of funds intended for anti-terror operations, or the support given by the Pakistani security service, the ISI, which continues to support the Taliban in order to ensure that the influence of India in Afghanistan is minimized.

It’s why Pakistan is fundamentally unreliable as an ally in the war on terror. The Pakistani military, and to a lesser extant Pakistani civilian leadership is fixated on the prospect of war with India, even though, as both are nuclear powers, anything beyond fierce border clashes is unlikely.

Well, it looks like Bush and His Evil Minions™ have decided to double down with the “War with India” dead enders who have been supporting the Taliban and preventing meaningful action against al Queida. They are proposing that $230 million in anti-terror aid, roughly 2/3 of all anti-terrorism funds, be transferred to upgrades of the Pakistani F-16 fleet.

These F-16s have no role in operations against the Taliban or against al Queida. They are purposed almost exclusively for use against India.

By releasing this money for upgrades, we are reinforcing bad behavior, and encouraging the Pakistani military to provide a safe haven to al Queida and for elements of the Pakistani security apparatus to act as the primary sponsor for the Taliban.

IP Legislation Gone Insane, Chapter LVXXIII

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Armin Meiwes, who killed and ate a voluntary victim Christmas in 2001, has succeeded in obtaining an injunction against the release of a horror film, because it is based on what he did.

He claimed that the film infringed on his, “Personality Rights”, which in Germany is something in between privacy rights and the “right of publicity” that is used against Elvis impersonators:

The Court looked into the degree to which the pursuit of artistic freedom interfered with the personality rights of Meiwes. It found that artistic freedom was not so powerful a right that it allowed for someone’s life to be made into a horror film.

Meiwes advertised online for someone to be killed and eaten by him. Bernd Jürgen Brandes responded to his advert and tried to join Meiwes in eating his own severed penis before being killed and eaten.

Meiwes was arrested and in 2004 convicted of manslaughter. Prosecutors then changed their case and asked for a retrial in 2005, questioning whether Brandes was in a fit mental state to have given his consent to the killing.

Meiwes was convicted of murder and is serving an eight and a half year jail term. Reports have emerged that in prison he has become a vegetarian.

I guess it’s refreshing to know that the internet doesn’t have a monopoly on really sick sh#@.

Drug Warrior Call For War On Drugs in Afghanstan, Damn the Consequences

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Thomas Schweich, the former enior counternarcotics official in the United States Embassy in Kabul, is claiming that the Afghan government is hopelessly corrupt and that Afghanistan is nearly a narco-state.

The allegations as reported are alarming, but when you read his essay on the his experiences there, it becomes far less concerning.

It’s clear that this guy is a hard core drug warrior. He opposes payments in lieu of growing poppies, supports aerial spraying of defoliants, military operations for poppy eradication, etc.

This is precisely the sort of crap that pushes peasants to the Taliban, but he sees everything through the lens of “drugs bad”, and ignores secondary effects, so he’s now writing a tell-all.

It is this myopic view that created the disaster of prohibition, and is fostering the disastrous ‘war on drugs” now.

Cuba Playing Russian Bomber Rumor Close to the Vest

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Fidel Castro wrote an online column saying that, “Raul did very well keeping a dignified silence.”

Both Russia and Cuba have everything to gain from ambiguity, and so I think that they will continue to be ambiguous.

That’s part of Teddy Roosevelt’s idea behind the hole “talk softly” foreign relations.

I would note that the rumor is not about a permanent base, just a refueling base, but that would still give NORAD fits.

Economics Update

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While the Federal Reserve is afraid to say the word, it appears from their latest report that we are seeing stagflation.

Jobless benefit claims just spiked above 400,000, up 34,000 from last week to 406,000, the highest reading since March.

Again, let me note that the weekly numbers have a lot of noise, but this news still sucks.

What’s more we have increasing evidence that the downturn is not “decoupled”, but is effecting other economies, with consumer and corporate confidence in Europe coming in well below expectations.

Not surprisingly, the bad news out of Europe, which points to interest rate moderation there, has bolstered the dollar.

Some real estate numbers came out today, and they are not good.

home sales fell 2.6% from may, and are now at an annual rate of 4.93 million/year, the lowest rate since 1998.

If you are wondering what might happen when mortgage rates rise, you should break out the popcorn, because it looks like that show might be starting soon. Rates went up 0.37% last week to 6.63% for a 30 year fixed mortgage.

Because of all this, I am not surprised thatthe number of vacant homes has remained at more than 2.2 million.

Energy was flippity floppity today, with oil up by about a dollar, and retail gasoline prices down again.

Why John Sidney McCain Didn’t Talk to the Exorcist

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I mentioned that the sick old man was going to Louisiana to talk with Bobby “The Exorcist” Jindal, and the scuttlebutt was that he was sizing him up as a VP running mate.

Well, he also intended to fly to an oil rig, to talk about the safety of oil rigs, and to falsely state that there was not a single oil spill post Katrina:


Dennis Knizley looks out on an oil rig beached just off of Dauphin Island, Ala., Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 30, 2005, a day after Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the island and brought the enormous structure a few hundred yards from shore. (AP Photo/Birmingham Post-Herald, Jan-Michael Stump)

In fact, there were somewhere between 146 and 595 oil spills, depending on whose numbers you use, that spewed 9 million gallons of oil.

In any case, the McCain campaign canceled the flight to the oil rig, claiming that the “weather” was to blame, though the weather was actually pretty good, it further south, on the Tex-Mex border where Dolly was hitting.

More likely what stopped him from giving the speech was the fact that there was a barge accident on the Mississippi that day, which spilled 419,000 gallons of oil, and it would have made the campaign stop look like a clown show.

Come to think of it, the entire campaign is starting to look like a clown show, and I’m beginning to wonder if God hates the John McCain campaign.

Novak’s Hit and Run Victim Still in Hospital

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It appears that the victim, 86 year old Don Clifford Liljenquist, is in worse shape than previously reported, and is still in the hospital, though this may be complicated by his age and history of homelessness.

All Novak has gotten out of this is a $50 fine.

Considering the reports of witnesses, there should be further investigation…but there won’t be, because Bob Novak is above the law.

The Plame-Wlsons have issued a statement which bears repeating:

Our sympathies go out to the victim of Novak’s action. Once again Novak has demonstrated his callous disregard for the rights of others, as well as his chronic inability to accept responsibility for his actions.

We have long argued that responsible adults should take Novak’s typewriter away. The time has arrived for them to also take away the keys to his Corvette.

Indeed.

More Media in the Tank for John Sidney McCain III

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Well, in the aftermath of CBS’s selective editing, we have Howie Kurtz, “Mr. Conflict of Interest”, alibiing for CBS deliberately mis-editing the interview.

Seriously, someone is in the tank for McCain…Hell, everyone in the media has this “man crush” for McCain, which is why this is not wall to wall 24/7 news right now, because they “know” McCain, and they “know” it’s not fair to hold him to his word.