After well over a year of demonization, prosecution, being banned from entering the UK, the litany stretches on--Wilders' prosecutors ended up arguing for his acquittal.
This story did not receive much attention in the US, but it should. It was an attempt by a government to use the criminal justice system to silence a political opponent.
Thankfully, it failed. But who knows what it cost Mr. wilders, financially, physically, and emotionally? Where does he go to recover at least the money expended on what the prosecution admits was an unjustified case?
Shouldn't a few resignations, or at least apologies, be in order, by someone, somewhere?
Anyone?
Does OldSouth once again hear the sound of crickets chirping?
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
The First Lady And The Chicago Polling Place: The Law Is For All You LITTLE People
Disappointing, but completely unsurprising.
Every state in the union has a law against anyone attempting to campaign or influence voters inside the polling place. It's off limits, a place where the voter and his/her conscience enter unmolested. It's quiet, orderly, calm. In Tennessee, signs forbidding campaigning are posted 100 feet from the poll entrance.
Like, it doesn't take a law degree from Harvard to read and understand this stuff, ya'll.
Unless you're The One's Main Squeeeeezzze, Mizz Michelle. Wait a minute, she has a Harvard law degree, right?
But that's OK. She's one of the Big People. Those signs are for the Little People.
Like you.
First lady Michelle Obama appears to have violated Illinois law -- when she engaged in political discussion at a polling place!
The drama began after Mrs. Obama stopped off at the Martin Luther King Center on the south side of Chicago to cast an early vote.
After finishing at the machine, Obama went back to the desk and handed in her voting key.
She let voters including electrician Dennis Campbell, 56, take some photos.
"She was telling me how important it was to vote to keep her husband's agenda going," Campbell said.
According to a pool reporter from the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES at the scene, the conversation took place INSIDE the voting center, not far from the booths.
Illinois state law -- Sec. 17-29 (a) -- states: "No judge of election, pollwatcher, or other person shall, at any primary or election, do any electioneering or soliciting of votes or engage in any political discussion within any polling place [or] within 100 feet of any polling place."
A top Ilinois State Board of Elections official tells the DRUDGE REPORT that Mrs. Obama -- a Harvard-educated lawyer -- may have simply been ignorant of the law and thus violated it unintentionally.
"You kind of have to drop the standard for the first lady, right?" the official explained late Thursday. "I mean, she's pretty well liked and probably doesn't know what she's doing."
WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS ELECTIONEERING
When questioned about the brazen nature of Mrs. Obama's campaigning, press secretary Robert Gibbs defended the action.
"I don't think it would be much to imagine, the First Lady might support her husband's agenda," Gibbs smiled.
That's OK, ObamaBob. Keep smiling. No worries. Nobody's gonna notice, or conclude that your bosses despise both the law and the citizenry.
No worries, ya'll.
Every state in the union has a law against anyone attempting to campaign or influence voters inside the polling place. It's off limits, a place where the voter and his/her conscience enter unmolested. It's quiet, orderly, calm. In Tennessee, signs forbidding campaigning are posted 100 feet from the poll entrance.
Like, it doesn't take a law degree from Harvard to read and understand this stuff, ya'll.
Unless you're The One's Main Squeeeeezzze, Mizz Michelle. Wait a minute, she has a Harvard law degree, right?
But that's OK. She's one of the Big People. Those signs are for the Little People.
Like you.
First lady Michelle Obama appears to have violated Illinois law -- when she engaged in political discussion at a polling place!
The drama began after Mrs. Obama stopped off at the Martin Luther King Center on the south side of Chicago to cast an early vote.
After finishing at the machine, Obama went back to the desk and handed in her voting key.
She let voters including electrician Dennis Campbell, 56, take some photos.
"She was telling me how important it was to vote to keep her husband's agenda going," Campbell said.
According to a pool reporter from the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES at the scene, the conversation took place INSIDE the voting center, not far from the booths.
Illinois state law -- Sec. 17-29 (a) -- states: "No judge of election, pollwatcher, or other person shall, at any primary or election, do any electioneering or soliciting of votes or engage in any political discussion within any polling place [or] within 100 feet of any polling place."
A top Ilinois State Board of Elections official tells the DRUDGE REPORT that Mrs. Obama -- a Harvard-educated lawyer -- may have simply been ignorant of the law and thus violated it unintentionally.
"You kind of have to drop the standard for the first lady, right?" the official explained late Thursday. "I mean, she's pretty well liked and probably doesn't know what she's doing."
WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS ELECTIONEERING
When questioned about the brazen nature of Mrs. Obama's campaigning, press secretary Robert Gibbs defended the action.
"I don't think it would be much to imagine, the First Lady might support her husband's agenda," Gibbs smiled.
That's OK, ObamaBob. Keep smiling. No worries. Nobody's gonna notice, or conclude that your bosses despise both the law and the citizenry.
No worries, ya'll.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
A Grin After The Chilean Rescue From Homer Hickam
If ya'll aren't familiar with Homer Hickam, author of Rocket Boys, which became the movie October Sky, OS invites you to enjoy a wonderful treat.
He is amongst the best of the very best to emerge from the South (this best of places) in the past hundred years.
A wry story from his hometown paper in Hunstville, Alabama.
It appears his dad, a mine foreman back in his childhood home in West Virginia, had experimented with a rescue device similar (much cruder, but effective) than the fabulous piece of engineering that helped rescued Los Treinta y Tres yesterday.
Great ideas are immortal. Let's all hug an engineer today, ya'll.
Firm But Fair: Georgia Board Of Regents Sets A New Policy On Illegal Alien Students
As in: No, you can't enter our universities.
A final report presented today to the Board of Regents finds that only 501 undocumented students – all paying out-of-state tuition – are among the 310,000 students enrolled in University System of Georgia (USG) institutions this fall. While the numbers are small, beginning in fall 2011, all applicants will undergo new steps designed to strengthen the ability of USG institutions to properly classify students for tuition purposes.
These steps are outlined in four recommendations by the Residency Verification Committee approved today by the Board of Regents. They will go into effect for the fall 2011 semester. These include:
*The addition of language on all applications that outlines the legal penalties for “false swearing,” or knowingly providing incorrect information on the forms. USG officials indicate this will better educate individuals about the process of applying to college.
*The addition of language on all applications that, for the first time, will require applicants to state whether they are seeking in-state tuition. This will help institutions in making a decision on whether or not additional residency verification is necessary.
*A policy requirement that USG institutions verify the lawful presence in the United States of any applicant that is admitted. Students who note they are seeking in-state tuition will, if not applying for federal financial aid (which has its own stringent verification processes), be subject to additional verification by the institution.
*A policy that any person not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible for admission to any USG institution which, for the two most recent academic years, did not admit all academically qualified applicants.
“We are an educational agency in the business of preparing individuals for careers requiring knowledge and skills; we are not in the immigration business, nor are we equipped to serve as the immigration authorities,” said Regent James Jolly, who chaired the Residency Verification Committee. “However, these new policies do strengthen our ability to ensure proper tuition classification for all students – a process and a commitment the System has undertaken and met since being formed in 1931.”
No, 501 students out of 10K is not many, but one is too many. Even for a student paying the full load of fees, a state university education is heavily subsidized by the taxpayer. The taxpayers and voters make that decision--you know, citizens of the state.
The screams from the left have already begun, (see the comments at this article), and the lawsuits will fly, and the charges of racism will fill the air.
Here's hoping the Regents stand tall, have a good legal staff, and refuse to back down. It's time to finally begin to address the illegal immigration issue, one institution at a time, one state at a time, one county and township at a time. The Federal Government(under the administration of both parties) has abdicated its duty, while demanding control of the question. They can't have it both ways. Normal people like us have to live here with the consequences of their venality. Time to push back.
Lissen'-up, ya'll: Obama and His Home-boy Eric Holder, and their homeboys in all those 'public-interest-groups' can't sue everyone, everywhere, 24/7/365. Hell, let 'em try! Members of Congress who are pissed off about litigation against OldStateU back home (or whose constituents let them know how pissed off they are), won't be co-operatin' with no new 'Obama 2.0' proposals. OldStateU loyalists, and the citizen parents of citizen children who want to attend OldStateU won't be casting that vote for nobody even remotely associated with Himself and His Home-boy if they sue the board of OldStateU, or the vo-tech in the next county.
And, likely, HisEminence and Home-boy won't be around to see the litigation through past January 2013, anyway. They be toast, all crispy and stuff...
Go git'em, ya'll! Go Dawgs!
Number 33 Emerges: The End Of The Rescue
They're singing, cheering, applauding, and waiting for the final miner.
What a moment. The foreman was the last man to leave, and was greeted as a hero, complete with a speech from a beaming President, followed by the singing of the Chilean national anthem, in one of the most heartfelt monotone renditions heard in history.
Let's do keep a good thought for these gents and their families. Nothing is ever the same for anyone who goes through a major life event. Ask your friends who are cancer survivors, or widows of those who didn't survive, or soldiers who make it back after hellish experiences. Everyone will have some adjustments to make.
We have a lot to learn from them, when they choose to tell their stories.
In the meantime, they and their families deserve their privacy and dignity.
God bless them all, and their rescuers from around the world.
What a moment. The foreman was the last man to leave, and was greeted as a hero, complete with a speech from a beaming President, followed by the singing of the Chilean national anthem, in one of the most heartfelt monotone renditions heard in history.
Let's do keep a good thought for these gents and their families. Nothing is ever the same for anyone who goes through a major life event. Ask your friends who are cancer survivors, or widows of those who didn't survive, or soldiers who make it back after hellish experiences. Everyone will have some adjustments to make.
We have a lot to learn from them, when they choose to tell their stories.
In the meantime, they and their families deserve their privacy and dignity.
God bless them all, and their rescuers from around the world.
St. Michael And All Angels Still In Cranmer's Crosshairs, And In Boris Johnson's As Well
Oh, my.
Not a good thing. And it can't be fun walking into work everyday, knowing the boss hates you for breathing, is looking for any hint of a reason to not only fire you but make you unemployable in perpetuity. Hang in there, Ms. Katharine.
After all, today marks the day the Washington, D.C. teacher's union managed to obtain the resignation of Michelle Rhee, the superintendent who insisted that success is the only option. The D.C. schools are amongst the best-funded and worst-performing in the nation. Obviously, they are happy for that state of affairs to continue a while longer.
Boris Johnson weighs in on the larger debate via an article in the Telegraph.
And along the way, he offers words of support to the young lady:
That is why the most important voice in the great university debate belongs this week not to Lord Browne or any of the politicians – but to Katharine Birbalsingh, the deputy head of a south London school. She has now become the latest great martyr to what I can only call political correctness. She was sent home from her school after having the effrontery to suggest that Lefty thinking in education was inhibiting discipline, standards and competition. But isn't she right?
Isn't she right to point to the central importance of discipline and the authority of teachers in driving up educational standards? She strikes me as being a principled person who has reached the end of her tether, and I welcome the move to reinstate her.
His essay is well worth a read, anywhere in the world, because OS thinks we all face the same challenges at bottom. Teaching kids is really hard work, and success is not guaranteed.
Here's hoping she is not just tolerated, but embraced, if not at this rather obviously failing school, then at another where the leadership believes success is more desirable than failure.
Here's hoping...but in the meantime, let's not allow her to be quietly isolated and eviscerated later, when ThePeopleInChargeOfSuchThings believe no one is looking.
Not a good thing. And it can't be fun walking into work everyday, knowing the boss hates you for breathing, is looking for any hint of a reason to not only fire you but make you unemployable in perpetuity. Hang in there, Ms. Katharine.
After all, today marks the day the Washington, D.C. teacher's union managed to obtain the resignation of Michelle Rhee, the superintendent who insisted that success is the only option. The D.C. schools are amongst the best-funded and worst-performing in the nation. Obviously, they are happy for that state of affairs to continue a while longer.
Boris Johnson weighs in on the larger debate via an article in the Telegraph.
And along the way, he offers words of support to the young lady:
That is why the most important voice in the great university debate belongs this week not to Lord Browne or any of the politicians – but to Katharine Birbalsingh, the deputy head of a south London school. She has now become the latest great martyr to what I can only call political correctness. She was sent home from her school after having the effrontery to suggest that Lefty thinking in education was inhibiting discipline, standards and competition. But isn't she right?
Isn't she right to point to the central importance of discipline and the authority of teachers in driving up educational standards? She strikes me as being a principled person who has reached the end of her tether, and I welcome the move to reinstate her.
His essay is well worth a read, anywhere in the world, because OS thinks we all face the same challenges at bottom. Teaching kids is really hard work, and success is not guaranteed.
Here's hoping she is not just tolerated, but embraced, if not at this rather obviously failing school, then at another where the leadership believes success is more desirable than failure.
Here's hoping...but in the meantime, let's not allow her to be quietly isolated and eviscerated later, when ThePeopleInChargeOfSuchThings believe no one is looking.
A Great Week For South America: The San Jose Mine Rescues And The Nobel Prize
As OS types away, the rescue operation is rounding the far turn and heading for the wire--but no one should rest easy until EVERYBODY is out.
But, what inspiration. These events show us, in the most positive manner, what we are capable of, and how we get these great things accomplished. OS hopes there will be a sober and detailed analysis of the whole story, as there has been a lot of valuable knowledge gained--in engineering, medicine, psychology, medicine, etc.
Also, within the week, the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Mario Vargas Llosa is most notable.
An English-language Swedish blogger weighs in on the reaction from the Swedish left, which was, shall we say, not amused. After all, if you ain't no socialist, you don't deserve you nooooo prizes, ya heah'?
People who never voiced any concerns about the politics of other Nobel Prize winners – like Wisława Szymborska, who wrote poetic celebrations of Lenin and Stalin; Günter Grass, who praised Cuba’s dictatorship; Harold Pinter, who supported Slobodan Milošević; José Saramago, who purged anti-Stalinists from the revolutionary newspaper he edited – thought that the Swedish Academy had finally crossed a line. Mario Vargas Llosa’s politics apparently should have disqualified him from any prize considerations. He is after all a classical liberal in the tradition of John Locke and Adam Smith.
O.M.G.! Just totally inexcusable!
But before you get carried away and conclude that Vargas Llosa deserves the prize: did I forget to tell you that he is not a socialist? Well, he was. He was a convinced Communist who supported the Cuban revolution. He moved on not because he was no longer able to sympathise with the poor and oppressed, but because he still did when others began to identify more with the revolutionaries than with the people in whose name they made the revolution. He saw that Castro persecuted homosexuals and imprisoned dissenters. While other socialists kept quiet and thought that the dream justified the means, Vargas Llosa began to ask himself the difficult questions about why his ideals looked more like prison camps than socialist utopias when realised.
That is when the author began to think that the centralisation of power and wealth to the government led to authoritarianism, and that trade barriers, regulations and the absence of property rights protected the powerful and made it impossible for the poor to start businesses and build a life of their own. He became a classical liberal, forever fighting against the corrupt and the authoritarian, no matter how they disguised themselves – whether as military juntas, mercantilist right-wingers or socialist dictators – and he took up the fight for the rule of law and property rights for the poor and oppressed.
It's a great article, ya'll. And thanks to the good buddy, who escaped from the clutches of academia in the nick of time, for sharing it with OS.
But, what inspiration. These events show us, in the most positive manner, what we are capable of, and how we get these great things accomplished. OS hopes there will be a sober and detailed analysis of the whole story, as there has been a lot of valuable knowledge gained--in engineering, medicine, psychology, medicine, etc.
Also, within the week, the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Mario Vargas Llosa is most notable.
An English-language Swedish blogger weighs in on the reaction from the Swedish left, which was, shall we say, not amused. After all, if you ain't no socialist, you don't deserve you nooooo prizes, ya heah'?
People who never voiced any concerns about the politics of other Nobel Prize winners – like Wisława Szymborska, who wrote poetic celebrations of Lenin and Stalin; Günter Grass, who praised Cuba’s dictatorship; Harold Pinter, who supported Slobodan Milošević; José Saramago, who purged anti-Stalinists from the revolutionary newspaper he edited – thought that the Swedish Academy had finally crossed a line. Mario Vargas Llosa’s politics apparently should have disqualified him from any prize considerations. He is after all a classical liberal in the tradition of John Locke and Adam Smith.
O.M.G.! Just totally inexcusable!
But before you get carried away and conclude that Vargas Llosa deserves the prize: did I forget to tell you that he is not a socialist? Well, he was. He was a convinced Communist who supported the Cuban revolution. He moved on not because he was no longer able to sympathise with the poor and oppressed, but because he still did when others began to identify more with the revolutionaries than with the people in whose name they made the revolution. He saw that Castro persecuted homosexuals and imprisoned dissenters. While other socialists kept quiet and thought that the dream justified the means, Vargas Llosa began to ask himself the difficult questions about why his ideals looked more like prison camps than socialist utopias when realised.
That is when the author began to think that the centralisation of power and wealth to the government led to authoritarianism, and that trade barriers, regulations and the absence of property rights protected the powerful and made it impossible for the poor to start businesses and build a life of their own. He became a classical liberal, forever fighting against the corrupt and the authoritarian, no matter how they disguised themselves – whether as military juntas, mercantilist right-wingers or socialist dictators – and he took up the fight for the rule of law and property rights for the poor and oppressed.
It's a great article, ya'll. And thanks to the good buddy, who escaped from the clutches of academia in the nick of time, for sharing it with OS.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Harvard Business Review And The Chilean Miners: Happiness Is Overrated
OS tripped across this a few days back, and ran it past some friends, who all applauded it. So, here 'tis.
Tony Schwartz, writing for Harvard Business Review, muses that 'happiness', or what we may call happiness--a state of unmolested contentment and well-being--may well be over-rated.
Some years ago, I spent time with a guy who I typically greeted in the most ordinary way: "How are you?" I'd ask.
"I'm WON-DER-FUL," he'd respond, rapturously, and every time I asked. Talk about a conversation stopper. What do you say back to that?
Suffice to say this wasn't a guy with whom I was eager to share a long meal. Here's the paradox: "Happy" people are some of the dullest people I know. And yet happiness is the state to which so many of us doggedly aspire.
Schwartz continues further:
Paradoxically, when we seek happiness as the ultimate state, we're destined to be disappointed. Absent unhappiness, how would we even recognize it? If we're fortunate, happiness is a place we visit from time to time rather than inhabit permanently. As a steady state, it has the limits of any steady state: it's not especially interesting or dynamic.
To seek happiness as a permanent state derives from two primitive evolutionary impulses: avoiding pain (which we associate with danger and the risk of death) and seeking gratification (which helps ensure that our genes get passed on).
But it also turns out that pain and discomfort are critical to growth, and that achieving excellence depends on the capacity to delay gratification.
When we're living fully, what we feel is engaged and immersed, challenged and focused, curious and passionate. Happiness — or more specifically, satisfaction — is something we mostly feel retrospectively, as a payoff on our investment. And then, before very long, we move on to the next challenge.
Engaged and immersed, challenged and focused, curious and passionate. Now that's a definition of happiness, of well-being.
OS hopes his readers don't get bored with him returning to the subject, but he thinks everyone everywhere should view the BBC series 'The Choir'. It isn't about people making great music, although sometimes that occurs. It's about people discovering that they can be engaged and immersed, challenged and focused, curious and passionate about something as wonderful as music, and their lives are thereby transformed. That 'happiness' they may have longed for arrives, because they weren't seeking it per se; they were seeking to tune that chord, memorize that alto line, remember that bit of movement.
The Chilean miners, with much help from their rescuers, kept themselves on a routine, kept their surroundings as neat as they could, kept their minds and hearts engaged, kept about the work of co-operating with their rescuers--they kept themselves engaged with life in horrible circumstances. OS was surprised to see Mr. Sepulveda arrive last night with his bag of souvenirs, and leading the gallery in football cheers.
In retrospect, it should not have been such a surprise. Mr. Sepulveda wasn't a victim per se: he was a miner, a pro, and he stayed engaged with life during his entrapment. He was ready to give out hugs and gifts and lead cheers when he got to the surface. He was one happy guy, not just because he had been rescued, but because he had something to share with everybody on the surface, even if it was just a bag of rocks and a round of hugs and cheers.
Engaged and immersed, challenged and focused, curious and passionate.
Happy.
Tony Schwartz, writing for Harvard Business Review, muses that 'happiness', or what we may call happiness--a state of unmolested contentment and well-being--may well be over-rated.
Some years ago, I spent time with a guy who I typically greeted in the most ordinary way: "How are you?" I'd ask.
"I'm WON-DER-FUL," he'd respond, rapturously, and every time I asked. Talk about a conversation stopper. What do you say back to that?
Suffice to say this wasn't a guy with whom I was eager to share a long meal. Here's the paradox: "Happy" people are some of the dullest people I know. And yet happiness is the state to which so many of us doggedly aspire.
Schwartz continues further:
Paradoxically, when we seek happiness as the ultimate state, we're destined to be disappointed. Absent unhappiness, how would we even recognize it? If we're fortunate, happiness is a place we visit from time to time rather than inhabit permanently. As a steady state, it has the limits of any steady state: it's not especially interesting or dynamic.
To seek happiness as a permanent state derives from two primitive evolutionary impulses: avoiding pain (which we associate with danger and the risk of death) and seeking gratification (which helps ensure that our genes get passed on).
But it also turns out that pain and discomfort are critical to growth, and that achieving excellence depends on the capacity to delay gratification.
When we're living fully, what we feel is engaged and immersed, challenged and focused, curious and passionate. Happiness — or more specifically, satisfaction — is something we mostly feel retrospectively, as a payoff on our investment. And then, before very long, we move on to the next challenge.
Engaged and immersed, challenged and focused, curious and passionate. Now that's a definition of happiness, of well-being.
OS hopes his readers don't get bored with him returning to the subject, but he thinks everyone everywhere should view the BBC series 'The Choir'. It isn't about people making great music, although sometimes that occurs. It's about people discovering that they can be engaged and immersed, challenged and focused, curious and passionate about something as wonderful as music, and their lives are thereby transformed. That 'happiness' they may have longed for arrives, because they weren't seeking it per se; they were seeking to tune that chord, memorize that alto line, remember that bit of movement.
The Chilean miners, with much help from their rescuers, kept themselves on a routine, kept their surroundings as neat as they could, kept their minds and hearts engaged, kept about the work of co-operating with their rescuers--they kept themselves engaged with life in horrible circumstances. OS was surprised to see Mr. Sepulveda arrive last night with his bag of souvenirs, and leading the gallery in football cheers.
In retrospect, it should not have been such a surprise. Mr. Sepulveda wasn't a victim per se: he was a miner, a pro, and he stayed engaged with life during his entrapment. He was ready to give out hugs and gifts and lead cheers when he got to the surface. He was one happy guy, not just because he had been rescued, but because he had something to share with everybody on the surface, even if it was just a bag of rocks and a round of hugs and cheers.
Engaged and immersed, challenged and focused, curious and passionate.
Happy.
Barney Frank May Have Reason To Worry: Greg Mankiw's Newest Blog Post Tells It All
For the record, for when the White House decides to defame Dr. Mankiw as a Tea-Baggin-Astro-Turfin-Racist-Nutter:
I am a professor of economics at Harvard University, where I teach introductory economics (ec 10) among other courses. I use this blog to keep in touch with my current and former students. Teachers and students at other schools, as well as others interested in economic issues, are welcome to use this resource.
OK, that's out of the way.
Dr. Mankiw's latest post simply points to the public record, showing that the Bush Administration in 2003 had urged Congress to help them reign in Fannie and Freddie, lest a crisis occur. Barney Frank vociferously opposed the idea.
Skip forward to this week. He's campaigning to keep his seat, opposed by Republican Sean Bielat, and claims:
Frank, a leading liberal who has represented the state’s Fourth Congressional District for nearly 30 years and became chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in 2007, said he and other Democrats fought to curb predatory lending practices before the recession but were thwarted by Republicans. He said he had supported efforts to help low-income families rent homes, rather than buy them.
“Low-income home ownership has been a mistake, and I have been a consistent critic of it,’’ said Frank, 70. Republicans, he said, were principally responsible for failing to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants the government seized in September 2008.
Time to put us all out of his misery. Here is Mr. Bielat's campaign donation page. Let's all throw a few shekels his direction, and see if we can't retire Barney for good.
Bye, bye, Barney!
Thanks, Dr. Mankiw, you radical nutter, you.
I am a professor of economics at Harvard University, where I teach introductory economics (ec 10) among other courses. I use this blog to keep in touch with my current and former students. Teachers and students at other schools, as well as others interested in economic issues, are welcome to use this resource.
OK, that's out of the way.
Dr. Mankiw's latest post simply points to the public record, showing that the Bush Administration in 2003 had urged Congress to help them reign in Fannie and Freddie, lest a crisis occur. Barney Frank vociferously opposed the idea.
Skip forward to this week. He's campaigning to keep his seat, opposed by Republican Sean Bielat, and claims:
Frank, a leading liberal who has represented the state’s Fourth Congressional District for nearly 30 years and became chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in 2007, said he and other Democrats fought to curb predatory lending practices before the recession but were thwarted by Republicans. He said he had supported efforts to help low-income families rent homes, rather than buy them.
“Low-income home ownership has been a mistake, and I have been a consistent critic of it,’’ said Frank, 70. Republicans, he said, were principally responsible for failing to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants the government seized in September 2008.
Time to put us all out of his misery. Here is Mr. Bielat's campaign donation page. Let's all throw a few shekels his direction, and see if we can't retire Barney for good.
Bye, bye, Barney!
Thanks, Dr. Mankiw, you radical nutter, you.
Chi-Chi-Chi! Le-Le-Le! Mario Sepulveda Emerges From The San Jose Copoiapo Mine, With Souvenirs And Cheers
Endless streams of words will be written about the events of this evening and morning, so OldSouth will be brief.
If you're looking in from some other part of the world at this late hour in the Western Hemisphere, the live feed is here.
So far, things have gone well. Let's keep a prayer going until everyone is safely out.
This is an inspiring moment for everyone, everywhere. Expertise, resources, cooperation, thought, and no small amount of love were applied to this situation. If everyone emerges, what could have been a terrible tragedy will have a happy ending.
Mr. Sepulveda emerged in high spirits, with a small bag of rocks from the mine floor to hand out as souvenirs, hugged one and all, and then went to the gallery and and began leading cheers: Chi, Chi, Chi-Le,Le,Le. Here's hoping everyone else emerges as healthy and happy.
Conratulations in order to the nation of Chile, who pulled together, and are in the process of pulling off a miracle.
N.B. The third miner just emerged in good spirits. They're going a pace of about one per hour, it appears. Keep a good thought, 'cuz it ain't over til it's over.
If you're looking in from some other part of the world at this late hour in the Western Hemisphere, the live feed is here.
So far, things have gone well. Let's keep a prayer going until everyone is safely out.
This is an inspiring moment for everyone, everywhere. Expertise, resources, cooperation, thought, and no small amount of love were applied to this situation. If everyone emerges, what could have been a terrible tragedy will have a happy ending.
Mr. Sepulveda emerged in high spirits, with a small bag of rocks from the mine floor to hand out as souvenirs, hugged one and all, and then went to the gallery and and began leading cheers: Chi, Chi, Chi-Le,Le,Le. Here's hoping everyone else emerges as healthy and happy.
Conratulations in order to the nation of Chile, who pulled together, and are in the process of pulling off a miracle.
N.B. The third miner just emerged in good spirits. They're going a pace of about one per hour, it appears. Keep a good thought, 'cuz it ain't over til it's over.
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