Florida bar: Illegal immigrant meets moral fitness test

An illegal immigrant seeking admission to the Florida bar has met its requirements to become a lawyer, the bar said in a filing this week to the Florida Supreme Court in a case being watched closely by both sides of the immigration debate.

Jose Godinez-Samperio is one of a few illegal immigrants in different states trying to get law licenses after passing the local bar’s two-pronged test: an exam and a moral character review.

Godinez-Samperio passed the exam portion of the test last year, and he was notified recently that nothing in his background would be considered “disqualifying” for the character portion. That notice was cited Monday in legal correspondence posted on the Florida court’s website.

Read the rest here.

Consumers making progress paring down debt

Five years after the bursting of the borrowing bubble, American households are getting a better handle on their debt.

The latest sign came in reports this week showing that homeowners are doing a better job keeping up with their mortgage payments. So far this year, the number of mortgage holders who are behind by two monthly payments or more has fallen 9 percent, according to TransUnion, a consumer credit rating agency. A separate survey By the Mortgage Bankers Association showed that, despite an uptick, in the second quarter, mortgage delinquencies are tracking lower than this time a year ago. 

The improved mortgage numbers come as American households generally whittle away at debt.

Read the rest here.

A Golden State train wreck

State Sen. Joe Simitian’s district office near Stanford’s campus is nestled among shops sporting excruciatingly cute names (A Street Bike Named Desire,Mom’s the Word maternity wear) intended to make the progressive gentry comfortable with upscale consumption by presenting it as whimsical. This community surely has its share of advanced thinkers who think trains are wonderful because they are not cars (rampant individualism; people going wherever and whenever they want, unsupervised).

Nevertheless, Simitian was one of just four Democratic state senators who recently voted — in vain — to derail plans that eventually may involve spending more than $100 billion on a 500-mile bullet train from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Simitian makes the obligatory genuflection: He favors high-speed rail “done right.” But having passed sixth-grade arithmetic, he has doubts. At one point, an estimate of 44 million riders a year — subsequently revised downward, substantially — assumed gasoline costing $40 a gallon.

Read the rest here.

Disabled Spectator Arrested for Not Visibly Enjoying Olympic Event

Mark Worsfold, 54, a former soldier and martial arts instructor, was arrested on 28 July for a breach of the peace shortly before the cyclists arrived in Redhouse Park, Leatherhead, where he had sat down on a wall to watch the race. Officers from Surrey police restrained and handcuffed him and took him to Reigate police station, saying his behaviour had "caused concern."

    * * *

Worsfold … claims police questioned him about his demeanour and why he had not been seen to be visibly enjoying the event. Worsfold, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2010, suffers from muscle rigidity that affects his face. He was released after two hours without charge or caution.

Read the rest here.

Words fail me.

The ultra-Orthodox tighten their grip in Israel

BEIT SHEMESH, Israel

The rock hit Nili Philipp on the side of her helmet as she biked last year along the main road in this Jerusalem suburb. A few years earlier, the spitting had begun, as Philipp jogged on a road bordering an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood. Men called her names: Shikseh, the derogatory term for a Gentile woman. Prutzah, whore.

But Philipp’s story is not one of conflict between the defiantly secular Israeli majority and an increasingly assertive ultra-Orthodox minority. She is an observant, modern Orthodox Jew, dressed, on the day we speak, as she is for her runs — a kerchief covering her red hair, a skirt that falls modestly below the knee. It speaks volumes about intolerance among the ultra-Orthodox that Philipp has become enraged, even radicalized, by the behavior of her neighbors.

“Whenever people tell me, respect their society — their society doesn’t respect me,” Philipp says, voice quivering as she describes a recent incident in which a woman with an infant was pelted with stones while shopping here. “We all see ourselves as vulnerable, and we’re all scared.” The latest skirmish involves signs instructing women here to stay off certain sidewalks so as not to brush up against men.

Read the rest here.

In France "Les Riches" prepare to vote with their feet

 PARIS — The call to Vincent Grandil’s Paris law firm began like many others that have rolled in recently. On the line was the well-paid chief executive of one of France’s most profitable companies, and he was feeling nervous.

President François Hollande is vowing to impose a 75 percent tax on the portion of anyone’s income above a million euros ($1.24 million) a year. “Should I be preparing to leave the country?” the executive asked Mr. Grandil.

The lawyer’s counsel: Wait and see. For now, at least.

“We’re getting a lot of calls from high earners who are asking whether they should get out of France,” said Mr. Grandil, a partner at Altexis, which specializes in tax matters for corporations and the wealthy. “Even young, dynamic people pulling in 200,000 euros are wondering whether to remain in a country where making money is not considered a good thing.”

Read the rest here.

The Fight Between Rome and Peru's Leftist (anti) Catholic University

LIMA, Peru — To its critics in the church, the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru is not deserving of its name. It has spurned the pontiff, they say. It is far from Roman Catholic orthodoxy, they argue. In their minds, the school ought to be called something else entirely.

“It’s false advertising,” said Fernán Altuve, a conservative legal expert who supports a recent order by the Vatican that the school change its name by eliminating references to the pope and the church. “It’s as if I sell you a bottle that says Coca-Cola but what’s inside is Pepsi.”

Read the rest here.
HT: T-19

Loughner pleads guilty to murder

TUCSON, Ariz. — Jared Lee Loughner agreed Tuesday to spend the rest of his life in prison, accepting that he went on a deadly shooting rampage at an Arizona political gathering and sparing the victims a lengthy, possibly traumatic death-penalty trial.

His plea came soon after a federal judge found that months of psychiatric treatment for schizophrenia made Loughner able to understand charges that he killed six people and wounded 13 others, including his intended target, then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Read the rest here.

Frankly I am disturbed by this. If he needed to be heavily medicated just so he could understand what was happening in court, how could he possibly be responsible for killing six people?

Obama Administration tightens detainees' access to lawyers

The Obama Administrati0n conceded to a federal judge on Monday that it is cutting back on the legal rights of Guantanamo detainees who have had one chance to challenge their imprisonment, but said it would consider relaxing the limits on a case-by-case basis — at the government’s discretion, not by court order.  The 52-page filing spells out in full for the first time the changes that military and civilian officials have worked out to govern access to detainees by their volunteer lawyers.  A federal District judge is weighing whether to allow the changes.

Since the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in Boumediene v. Bush,  guaranteeing Guantanamo prisoners a right to go to court to test their detention, the issue of lawyers’ access has been within the control of federal District judges in Washington.  Under the new regime that began to be unveiled this summer, the Administration intends to shift that process entirely to the military and government intelligence agencies. The commander of the Naval base at Guantanamo is to gain full veto power, beyond review, over the access question, and the intelligence agencies would have the final veto power over access to classified information — even if that information comes from the detainees themselves.

Read the rest here.

Emails suggest Obama Administration was behind loss of pensions by non-union workers

Emails obtained by The Daily Caller show that the U.S. Treasury Department, led by Timothy Geithner, was the driving force behind terminating the pensions of 20,000 salaried retirees at the Delphi auto parts manufacturing company.

The move, made in 2009 while the Obama administration implemented its auto bailout plan, appears to have been made solely because those retirees were not members of labor unions.

The internal government emails contradict sworn testimony, in federal court and before Congress, given by several Obama administration figures. They also indicate that the administration misled lawmakers and the courts about the sequence of events surrounding the termination of those non-union pensions, and that administration figures violated federal law.

Read the rest here

Note: The Daily Caller is an independent news source that claims ideological neutrality. This however is not universally accepted. In any case they seem to have the emails to back their story up.

A Year in the Hermitage of The Holy Cross (WV)

A great video on Orthodox Monasticism.

US to drop silver manipulation case

(Reuters) - U.S. regulators are set to drop a four-year investigation into the possible manipulation of the silver market after failing to find enough evidence to support a legal case, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing three people familiar with the situation.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission first announced that it was investigating "complaints of misconduct in the silver market" in September 2008 after a group of precious metals investors alleged manipulation, the FT reported.

It said that while the CFTC has not yet formally determined the outcome of the investigation, leaving the possibility that staff could be instructed to dig deeper, the agency does not currently have sufficient evidence to bring a case.

Read the rest here.

Harry Reid's Gutter Politics

In “The Godfather Part II,” a senator from Nevada is portrayed as corrupt. His name is Pat Geary. In real life, a senator from Nevada is a jerk. His name is Harry Reid.

Reid is where he loves to be: the center of controversy. He has accused Mitt Romney of paying no taxes for 10 years. Romney denies the accusation and challenged Reid to put up or shut up. In an apparent response, Reid repeated the charges on the Senate floor. Countless aides have echoed their boss. They and he attribute their information to a source they will not name.

Whether such a source exists, really, is beside the point. It could be that someone did indeed tell Reid that Romney paid no taxes for 10 years. Journalists get that sort of tip all the time, and their responsibility is (1) to check it out and (2) identify the source. Reid has not done the latter and apparently has not done the former, either. The truth is that Reid doesn’t really care if the charge is true or not. He would prefer the former, but he’ll settle for the latter.

 For Reid, this is yet another brazen and tasteless partisan attack. As majority leader, he has managed to sink the public image of the Senate even lower than it would otherwise be. He contributes to bad feelings, gridlock and the sense — nay, the reality — that everything is done for political advantage. Reid is a crass man, the very personification of the gaudy and kitschy Las Vegas Strip.

Read the rest here.

At Olympics, British pride surges with medal count

LONDON — In a nation known for cool reserve and a tendency to expect the worst, the opening days of the London Games brought a period of national self-flagellation as early gaffes plagued organizers and not a single British athlete struck gold. But in a story of perseverance, redemption and surging pride, Britain is starting to believe.

After an initial drought in Olympic medals, the last couple of days may just be the greatest in the history of British sports. This host nation of 62 million had claimed 16 gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze medals after a wildly gilded weekend, including a victory by runner Mo Farah, the first British man to win the 10,000-meter race, that sent a panel of normally calm BBC commentators into fits of raucous screams.

Read the rest here.

U.S. Officials Brace for Huge Task of Operating Health Exchanges

WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials are getting ready to set up and operate new health insurance markets in about half the states, where local officials appear unwilling or unable to do so.

 The markets, known as exchanges, are a centerpiece of President Obama’s health care law, and running them will be a herculean task that federal officials never expected to perform.

When Congress passed legislation to expand coverage two years ago, Mr. Obama and lawmakers assumed that every state would set up its own exchange, a place where people could shop for insurance and get subsidies to help defray the cost.

But with Republicans in many states resisting the creation of exchanges or deterred by the complexity of the task, federal officials are preparing to do the job, with or without assistance from state officials.

Read the rest here.

Israel Bars Foreign Envoys From Traveling to West Bank Meeting

JERUSALEM — Israel on Sunday barred the delegations of five countries from attending a diplomatic conference in Ramallah, in the West Bank, upending plans by the Palestinian president to announce his intention to renew the Palestinians’ bid this September for enhanced status in the United Nations.

Read the rest here.

Another mass shooting

 A gunman opened fire Sunday morning at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee, killing six people and wounding at least three others, including a police officer, before being shot to death, police said.

Read the rest here.

A lonely job

JOEL K. GOLDSTEIN, a law professor at St. Louis University, is a leading authority on the United States vice presidency. People seem to respect him anyway.

Read the rest here.

Fr. Z On The Great Nun Controversy

Friends, no matter what the nuns claim, this whole mess with the CDF and American bishops is not about bishops having power over nuns, or men being over women.

The problem is that the LCWR types are “moving beyond Jesus”.  They are drifting out Christianity.

That looks like hyperbole when I state it this starkly, but this is really where they are going.

I don’t think these nuns even realize where they are going.

When you come right down to it, their problem is – ironically – with the documents of Vatican II!  They really have a problem with Lumen gentium on the constitution of the Church.  They don’t know who the Church is and who they are in the Church.  They no longer understand what consecrated life is (they think they are “prophetic” and therefore are allowed to “question” any teaching and are free from the “institutional” Church and hierarchy) and they have forgotten who their Lord is (they are moving beyond Jesus).

And their real enemy is Vatican II.  They have more problems with Vatican II than the Lefevbrists have.  We will probably reach an accord with the SSPX before the LCWR is squared away.

I know where they are going.  The LCWR gals are on a train, zooming down the track straight toward a canyon, and the bridge is out.

From here.

I think that is a pretty insightful summary of things.

OK so I'm a bum

Sorry about the non-posting today. I had the day off and did not stir from my bed until almost 9AM. I did not even bother to shower until almost noon. The only productive thing I have done all day was spend 20 minutes cleaning the bathroom. Other than that, I have read, played chess online and I watched the 1950's version of Sabrina on Netflix (Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Bill Holden). A much better film than the 90's remake. As of this moment I am trying to keep tabs on the Mets-Padres game (tied at zero in the bottom of the 3rd). The Mets have been in a brutal slump since the All Star Break. Sigh...

A House For The Big Guy

$13.5 million will buy you the house built for Jesus Christ in 1928.

HT: Archer in the Forest

Crime Report

Somethings you just can't make up.  Floating while drunk...

Is an attack on Israel an attack on individual Jewish identity?

...Free speech is also facing a crucial test on American campuses. Last month, a University of California advisory council on Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion published a report on “Jewish student campus climate.” Requested by UC President Mark Yudof, the report calls for the dietary needs of Jews on campus to be adequately met. It also recognizes the need to accommodate students who wish to observe Jewish holidays.

Just as important are the distinctions that the report draws between Jewish identity and support of Israel’s current policies. The authors rightly point out that “the Jewish communities on the [UC] campuses are very diverse, making generalizations difficult.”  They state that “this is especially true when it comes to the issue of Israel.” They therefore describe “holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel” as “anti-semitism.”

However, the authors also emphasize that “for many Jewish students, their Jewish cultural and religious identity cannot be separated from their identity with Israel,” and that “pro-Zionist students see an attack on the State of Israel as an attack on the individual and personal identity.” The report makes no effort to discuss the validity of these “attacks.” Instead, it calls for “policies that give campus administrators authority to prohibit such activities on campus,” as well as “education” to address “the root causes of harassment.”

Since one of the authors of the report is a member of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization which opposes even criticism of Netanyahu, these recommendations could lead to unprecedented restrictions on students’ free speech.

Read the rest here.

Gary Johnson; could a Libertarian swing the election?

Our story in Aug. 1 paper, “Obama advisers see hope in 3rd parties,” highlighted Gary Johnson, the nominee of the Libertarian Party. By coincidence, Johnson was in Seattle that day, and I spent 45 minutes with him.

The point of the story was that Johnson and another third-party candidate could draw away Romney votes in key states and hand the election to Obama. That is possible. It is what Ralph Nader did to Al Gore in Florida in 2000.

I asked Johnson if the prospect of being the Nader of 2012 bothers him.

“It doesn’t bother me a bit,” he said.

Read the rest here.

Russians are deeply divided over Pussy Riot trial

Russians have indeed split into two camps. The apologies the three young women made to all the believers whose feelings were insulted by their punk prayer that took place in the country's main cathedral did not cool down the wild passions around the case. In his interview to The Guardian, Father Vsevolod Chaplin said that the apologies did not change anything and blamed the West for attempting to divide Russian society.

There are few people left who feel indifferent towards Pussy Riot. A poll taken by the sociology research group Levada Center right before the beginning of the trial showed that over the last month the number of those who have not heard about the case has dropped by half. Currently, only about 21% of those polled have no knowledge of the case. The decision to broadcast the court hearings, which was unprecedented in Russian court history, was related primarily to the high profile of the trial.

Now the young women are charged with hooliganism. Such criminal charges can carry punishment of two to seven years in prison. Few people in either camp believe that they are being tried as hooligans. Of the Levada respondents, 32% believe that the women are being prosecuted for blasphemy and for insulting churchgoers' feelings, almost 13% believe that they are on trial for the calls to throw Putin away, and 6% think it is for both counts.

Read the rest here.

I would love to say that this was just the iron fisted hand of Putin at work. But it is more than that. Putin is crushing critics in the name of, and on behalf of, the Orthodox Church. And that is extremely disturbing.

US War Plans Irk China

When President Obama called on the U.S. military to shift its focus to Asia earlier this year, Andrew Marshall, a 91-year-old futurist, had a vision of what to do.

Marshall’s small office in the Pentagon has spent the past two decades planning for a war against an angry, aggressive and heavily armed China.

No one had any idea how the war would start. But the American response, laid out in a concept that one of Marshall’s longtime proteges dubbed “Air-Sea Battle,” was clear.

Stealthy American bombers and submarines would knock out China’s long-range surveillance radar and precision missile systems located deep inside the country. The initial “blinding campaign” would be followed by a larger air and naval assault.

The concept, the details of which are classified, has angered the Chinese military and has been pilloried by some Army and Marine Corps officers as excessively expensive. Some Asia analysts worry that conventional strikes aimed at China could spark a nuclear war.

Read the rest here.

I honestly don't have a problem with military contingency plans. China can whine all they want but they have people planning the exact same war for their military. It's pretty much SOP for any national defense force. You have to be prepared and that means thinking unpleasant things and planning for them.

In line with the previous post... 1916

I never thought I would post a tissue box warning for a song by Motorhead, but here you have it. Forewarned.

98 Years Ago: The world blows up (II)

On August 2 1914 following German declarations of war on Russia and France and and the issuance of its ultimatum demanding free passage through neutral Belgium the first major combat operations of the war begin.

German troops invade Luxemburg very early.

France is entered at four points.

A patrol kills French soldiers 10 km over frontier near Belfort.

Poland is invaded by Germans, who occupy Kalish, Chenstokhov and Bendzin.

East Prussia is entered by Russian raiders near Schwidden.

Libau is bombarded by the German light cruiser "Augsburg".

Additional German Note is handed to Belgium at 7 p.m. alleging that Germany must violate her soil in order to "anticipate" a French attack in Belgium; demands that latter should remain passive; answer required in 12 hours.

England assures France that British fleet will stop German fleet if latter attacks French shipping in Channel.

Obama orders 'secret' aid for Syrian rebels

Once again, this country simply cannot mind its own business.

Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Bishop: "It might be time to leave"

- Coptic Christian Bishop Paul of Tanta will tell Copts to leave Egypt if the Church is not guaranteed religious jurisdiction. Bishop Paul, a representative of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the Constituent Assembly, is also threatening to leave the Assembly if Article II is not modified to his liking.

Read the rest at ByzantineTexas.

Economy may be stuck in slow-growth mode for a long time

Central bankers are considering more steps, including possibly buying more long-term bonds to keep interest rates low. But those measures are not expected to be announced when the Fed issues a policy statement Wednesday. So for now, it's wait and hope.

The latest data on gross domestic product highlight the Fed’s long-term quandary. Though growth has slowed sharply from a burst late last year, the expansion continues to chug along at an anemic 1.5 percent annual pace.

That growth avoids the technical definition of recession. But the sluggish pace of hiring makes it feel like a downturn for the 12.7 million American workers still sidelined.

And some experts believe the economy may be permanently stuck in slow-growth mode.

Read the rest here.

Supporters call for 'Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day'

Supporters of restaurant chain Chick-fil-A, which has come under fire for its president's anti-same-sex marriage stance, are planning a "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" on Wednesday.

According to news reports, Christian conservatives have promised to buy the Atlanta-based chain's waffle fries and chicken sandwiches to show their support of  President Dan Cathy, who recently told a Baptist publication that he was "guilty as charged" in his support of the "biblical definition" of the family as being between a man and a woman.

The statement sparked a firestorm of criticism from gay marriage supporters and politicians, turning Chick-fil-A into a lightening rod for the debate over same-sex unions.

Read the rest here.

Of course they would pick a Wednesday...

It's a tough time to be a moderate

These days, this isn’t a great time to be a moderate in Congress. And as we found out in Texas last night, it isn’t a great time to be perceived as a moderate, either. In announcing yesterday that he won’t seek re-election in November, Ohio GOP Rep. Steve LaTourette -- one of the most pro-labor Republicans in Congress -- bemoaned the partisanship on Capitol Hill. “I have reached the conclusion that the atmosphere today, and the reality that exists in the House of Representatives, no longer encourages the finding of common ground,” he said, per NBC’s Frank Thorp. A day earlier, fellow GOP Rep. Richard Hanna of New York told the Syracuse Post-Standard’s editorial board that his party is too willing to cater to the ideological extreme. “I have to say that I’m frustrated by how much we — I mean the Republican Party — are willing to give deferential treatment to our extremes in this moment in history,” referring to Michele Bachmann’s political witch hunt against a top State Department aide.

Read the rest here.

Fed says US economy has slowed, takes no new steps

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the economy is losing strength and repeated a pledge to take further steps to stimulate growth if the job market doesn't show sustained improvement.

The Fed took no new action after its two-day policy meeting. But it acknowledged in a statement released after the meeting that economic activity had slowed over the first half of the year, unemployment remains elevated and consumer spending has weakened.

Read the rest here.

Colleges freeze, reduce tuition as public balks at further price hikes

After three decades of tuition hikes that have outpaced inflation and increases in family income, students, families, legislators and governing boards are demanding a halt.

“Enough is enough,” says Anne Mariucci, a member of the Arizona Board of Regents, which for the first time in 20 years has frozen in-state tuition at the University of Arizona and Arizona State University after increases over the last five years of 84 and 96 percent, respectively.

Some private universities, too, have agreed to stop raising their tuition, or even cut it, after being alarmed to discover their enrollments starting to slip.

Read the rest here.

In Texas A Big Win For The Tea Party

Onetime long shot Ted Cruz won the Republican nomination in a U.S. Senate race in Texas on Tuesday, providing tea party activists with renewed momentum in what they said was their biggest victory of the year.

Cruz, a 41-year-old former Texas solicitor general and a first-time candidate for elective office, is the tea party’s first bona fide star of the 2012 campaign: a charismatic speaker with an up-by-the-bootstraps biography who upended the Republican establishment in the nation’s largest red state.

Read the rest here.

Admin Note: Commenting on old posts

Every now and then I get comments for posts that are old. Sometimes really old. Someone tried to post a comment yesterday on a post I put up in 2006! For sometime I have had comment moderation on for posts that are older than 10 days. The main reason for this is that most comments on old posts are SPAM. But some are quite legitimate and even good. The problem is that once a post disappears from the front page of the blog, the odds of anyone besides me reading your comment are negligible. And if you are responding to someone's earlier comment it's not very fair if they don't even know you are talking to them.

So in general I would prefer that people not post comments on older threads. If you think yours is really insightful by all means drop me a line. But once a post drops off the front page I am probably going to treat the comments as closed.

South Carolina Episcopal Bishop Hints At Secession

The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina has released a letter in the wake of the mass apostasy that was their sect's General Convention. In it they state that before walking out of the convention Bishop Mark Lawrence addressed his fellow bishops [sic] and told them that by their actions they were crossing a line that he was not sure he could follow. It also states that he is entering a period of prayerful reflection over the next several weeks as he decides what to do.

Read the letter over at T-19.

Prop 8 Supporters Ask For Supreme Court Review

Backers of California's Proposition 8, intended to ban same-sex marriage in the state, asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to take up their appeal after two lower federal courts found the measure unconstitutional.

The justices now face two gay rights issues: the Prop 8 appeal and two challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Voters in California approved Prop 8 in 2008, less than six months after the state’s Supreme Court approved same-sex marriage. The measure was immediately challenged.

Read the rest here.

It has long been my belief that the government should get out of the marriage business entirely and require everyone who wants their particular domestic arrangements recognized to do so via a civil union and leave "marriage" as an entirely religious institution. But that aside; the matter is clearly a state's rights issue from a constitutional perspective. As such Prop 8 is fully legal and constitutional. And by the same rational DOMA is an unconstitutional usurpation of non-delegated powers by the Federal Government.

Prop 8 should be upheld and DOMA should be struck down. Moving on...

98 Years Ago: The world blows up

July 31 1914 was the last day of technical peace. Austria had already declared war on Serbia but frantic negotiations and trading of telegrams were still underway. Although by the end of the day all of the major powers except Britain had ordered general mobilization, none had as yet declared war on one another. That would end the next day.

Michael Phelps Wins Record 19th Olympic Medal

LONDON — Michael Phelps broke the Olympic medals record Tuesday with his 19th as the United States romped to a dominating win in 4x200-meter freestyle relay at the London Games.

With 19 career medals spanning three Olympics, Phelps moved one ahead of Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, who got her haul in 1956, 1960 and 1964. And he finally got his first gold of these games, bouncing back from the disappointment of settling for silver when he glided at the end of the 200 butterfly earlier Tuesday.

Read the rest here.

Congratulations to Mr. Phelps!

Congressman Steve LaTourette:Announces Retirement - Blames Partisan Extremism

Rep. Steve LaTourette, a key ally of House Speaker John A. Boehner and one of a dwindling number of congressional GOP moderates, issued a broadside against an increasingly polarized House on Tuesday, as he formally announced he will not seek a 10th term.

News of the Ohio Republican’s decision had leaked on Monday and he acknowledged at a news conference in his Painesville district that he was leaving local Republicans in the lurch by stepping out with only 100 days left before the November election.

Read the rest here.

Race Hucksters

I read, with the joy that I usually reserve for recurrent migraines, that Precedent Obama will establish an Office of African-American Education, thus furthering the racial Balkanization of the country, providing makework jobs for useless bureaucrats and, predictably, accomplishing nothing. I read also that the NAACP has filed complaint with the Department of Education against Fairfax County, Virginia, just outside of Washington, because its high school for the very bright, Thomas Jefferson High, doesn’t have enough blacks.

Probably I should give up reading.

It never ends. Charges of discrimination, demands for special privilege, endless laws, wringing of teeth and gnashing of hands, lowered standards, no positive results, and start over again.

Read the rest here.

Caution: As usual brother Fred does not mince words or pull punches. This essay WILL offend some people.

Indian Court Nullifies Some Arranged Marriage Contracts

Arranged marriages remain fairly common in various parts of the world including India. The Delhi High Court has now said that such contracts made on behalf of minors are voidable by the bride or groom under certain circumstances.

'Hobbit' movie adaptation to be a trilogy

Peter Jackson's film adaptation of "The Hobbit" will be split into three movies, the director and the studios behind the venture said on Monday.

Jackson said that given the richness of the story -- which is set 60 years before "The Lord of The Rings" -- he decided after wrapping up shooting recently in New Zealand that what was originally planned as two movies would now be a trilogy.

Read the rest here.

It's all about the buck.

Defining Religious Liberty Down

THE words “freedom of belief” do not appear in the First Amendment. Nor do the words “freedom of worship.” Instead, the Bill of Rights guarantees Americans something that its authors called “the free exercise” of religion.

It’s a significant choice of words, because it suggests a recognition that religious faith cannot be reduced to a purely private or individual affair. Most religious communities conceive of themselves as peoples or families, and the requirements of most faiths extend well beyond attendance at a sabbath service — encompassing charity and activism, education and missionary efforts, and other “exercises” that any guarantee of religious freedom must protect.

Read the rest here.

Another outstanding article by Mr. Douthat. I seriously cannot believe this guy writes for the NY Times.

The Son of Kenya's Prime Minister Is Baptized And Then Married

Read the story at Mystagogy.

Quote of the day...

“In Orthodoxy, communicants in the sacramental mysteries are not only obliged to be steadfast in the Christian faith and perpetually repentant over their failures, they are also obliged to take full responsibility for the Church’s teachings and practices, and to be ready, at least in intention, to defend them unto death. For this reason, those who publicly affirm and promote homosexual behavior (like those who publicly advocate abortion) cannot be sacramental communicants in the Orthodox Church”

Fr Thomas Hopko (Christian Faith and Same-Sex Attraction, 108)
HT: Fr. Peter

Parents Ask State to Oust 5 Orthodox Jews on School Board

SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. — In the East Ramapo Central School District here, the children of Caribbean and Latin American immigrants have filled the classrooms in recent years. About 85 percent of the students are black or Hispanic, and only 7 percent are white.

But on the school board, seven of the nine seats are held by Orthodox Jews.

Now, after years of increasingly bitter discord between parents and the board, the parents are trying to force the state to intervene.

A public-interest law firm, acting on behalf of 14 residents, filed a petition last week with the State Education Department, seeking the removal of five of the Orthodox Jewish board members and the appointment of a special monitor to oversee the district. The parents say that the five Orthodox Jewish board members have improperly aided private schools, which are mostly Orthodox yeshivas.

Read the rest here.

Is Algebra Necessary (for everyone)?

A TYPICAL American school day finds some six million high school students and two million college freshmen struggling with algebra. In both high school and college, all too many students are expected to fail. Why do we subject American students to this ordeal? I’ve found myself moving toward the strong view that we shouldn’t.

 My question extends beyond algebra and applies more broadly to the usual mathematics sequence, from geometry through calculus. State regents and legislators — and much of the public — take it as self-evident that every young person should be made to master polynomial functions and parametric equations.

There are many defenses of algebra and the virtue of learning it. Most of them sound reasonable on first hearing; many of them I once accepted. But the more I examine them, the clearer it seems that they are largely or wholly wrong — unsupported by research or evidence, or based on wishful logic. (I’m not talking about quantitative skills, critical for informed citizenship and personal finance, but a very different ballgame.)

Read the rest here.

Where was this guy 30 years ago when I was daily slitting my wrists before algebra class?

San Francisco Catholics Get A Jolt

Pope Benedict XVI sent tremors through a city known for sitting on an earthquake fault line when he today appointed Salvatore Cordileone, 56, as the new head of the San Francisco Archdiocese. Cordileone is currently the head of the diocese of Oakland and has a reputation as one of the more conservative Roman Catholic bishops in the United States. As the bishop of Oakland he has been a staunch champion of Roman Catholic doctrinal orthodoxy and tradition including the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass. He was also a vocal supporter of Proposition 8 and has characterized homosexual marriage as being of demonic origin.

The new archbishop, who is known for running a tight ship in matters of church discipline, will be taking the helm in one of the most culturally and politically left leaning cities in the United States. That liberalism has on multiple occasions manifested itself at the parish level in San Francisco with a widespread tolerance of doctrinal dissent.

It goes without saying that the reaction in San Francisco has been less than enthusiastic and in some cases downright chilly.

If I believed in karma I would say the man must have done something especially horrible in a previous life to deserve such a podvig. May God support him in his new assignment.

Olympics Open Amidst Pageantry And Royal Humor

The opening ceremonies in London included lots of very British pageantry and a little royal spoof with The Queen heading off to the games escorted by James Bond, the iconic super spy.

Obama and the lunatic fringe

There are Obama doubters and haters out there who claim with righteous anger that they are “vetting” the president, something they say the mainstream media never did. Some of them have said that my new biography — unwittingly, they argue, for I am too dumb to understand what my research has unearthed — proves that Barack Obama’s defining memoir is phony and that his entire life is a fraud. My intent is not to defend Obama or his book; he can take care of himself, and I have my own questions about “Dreams From My Father,” which I make clear in my book. But when comparing the liberties Obama took with composite characters and compressed chronology — which he acknowledged in the introduction to his memoir — to the stretches his most virulent detractors have taken in building their various conspiracies, I believe that they are the frauds and fabricators.

Not all of them are “birthers,” but the notion that the president was not born in the United States remains at the epicenter of the anti-Obama mythology. Here is the conspiracy that would have had to exist if Barack Hussein Obama II were not born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Aug. 4, 1961:

Read the rest here.

As longtime readers of this blog will know I have little use for Mr. Obama's politics. But I have less for the right-wing conspiracy nuts out there who think he is the anti-Christ or something similar.

Many (more) Years

A few months after the Titanic sank in 1912, Monsignor Vincent J. Topper was born.

Like the Titanic, Topper came across as charming, strong and unsinkable.

Unlike the Titanic, Topper never sank.

A century after his birth, Topper is the oldest and longest-serving priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg.

Read the rest here.

Facing election, Hugo Chávez ruthlessly consolidates his power

NOT FOR THE first time, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has declared himself cancer-free and ready to resume a full schedule. The announcement should be treated dubiously; the government has refused to release details of the strongman’s illness, and numerous reports have said he suffers from an incurable malignancy. But Mr. Chávez’s claim does make clear that he intends an all-out push to win reelection in an Oct. 7 vote.

Having the caudillo at the top of the ticket makes a big difference: While most polls show Mr. Chávez leading opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski, they also indicate that the opposition would trounce any of Mr. Chávez’s potential successors. The president’s personal popularity lingers with some Venezuelans, who do not fault him for the soaring inflation, power and food shortages and world-beating murder rate that have emerged during his 13 years in office.

Read the rest here.

Orthodox - Catholic Ecumenism Done Right

It is a contrast evident not only in the capital; it is a part of the system. The poverty in Moscow and St Petersburg is glimpsed only from afar, guessed at in the giant concrete slab apartment blocks. But just a few kilometres outside Moscow the roads end in tracks, then lead through alleys of wooden houses. Even in the rich and glittering Saint Petersburg, with its golden domes and magnificent buildings, the Hermitage and the splendid cathedrals – even here there are the soup kitchens. Down a winding back alley in a narrow courtyard, aid workers of the Maltese Cross provide 300 to 400 people with a hot meal each day. Open, friendly faces, clean benches and tables – here the poor can experience the warmth of a practical, living Christianity. "We can learn from the experience of the Catholic welfare organisations, from their work in social issues", says the rector of the Orthodox seminary in Saint Petersburg, Episcopal Vicar Ambrosij (Ambrose) of Gatshina. Certainly, in the new social issues there are many major challenges for the Orthodox Church in Russia. They have begun to approach them systematically. Seminarians help to care for the poor and the handicapped, and visit prisoners in the jails. And marriage and family issues will now find a place in the general curriculum for their training. "Almost four out of five families break up", Bishop Ambrose estimates. Another related social problem is that of single mothers.

Read the rest here.

Lots of emphasis on charity without the push for inter-communion. That is refreshing and helpful.

7 habits of highly ineffective government

Stephen Covey, the management guru who died this week, would have had a hard time selling his books in Benjamin Franklin’s America, or Abe Lincoln’s. His bestseller 7 Habits of Highly Effective People would have been considered a self-evident truth, one drummed into earlier Americans by schools, churches, and the Puritan ethic.

Read the rest here.
HT: Bill (aka The Godfather)

Some Excellent Posts

From the Young Fogey...

Pius XII and the sedia gestatoria. Theological differences aside, Catholics had a definite class in the 50's that is now sadly gone.

Otto von Bismarck remarked at the end of the 19th century that the most significant event of the 20th century would be “The fact that the North Americans speak English”.

The road less travelled: Anglo-Catholics who consider converting to Orthodoxy

It is just possible that reports of the death of chivalry may have been premature. Men who took a bullet for their women.

Patriarch Kyril announces new information on the murdered Imperial Family

Kiev, July 26, Interfax - The Moscow Patriarchate might reconsider its attitude toward what is widely believed to be the remains of Russia's last Emperor Nicholas II and members of his family and entourage, which were found at the site of their shooting near Yekaterinburg and were buried at the Imperial Burial Vault at the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg in 1998.

"I would like to announce very important information we have received from New York, which is related to the circumstances of the royal family's death. I believe these circumstances will help us determine our position, among other things, on the so-called Yekaterinburg remains. I will provide you with the relevant materials, and we will have to discuss this and make the necessary decision," Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said in opening a conference of the Russian Orthodox Church's Holy Synod in Kiev on Thursday.

Patriarch Kirill also said that the participants in the conference should consider the convention of the Bishops' Council. "We are approaching a time when it is desirable to hold a council assembly," he said.

Eleven people, including members of the Russian Imperial Family and people from their entourage, were shot at the Urals regional council presidium's order in the early hours of July 17, 1918.

A grave with nine bodies was found on Staraya Koptyakovskaya Road near Yekaterinburg in July 1991. The remains were identified as those of Emperor Nicholas II, his 46-year-old wife Alexandra Fyodorovna, their daughters Olga, 22, Tatyana, 21, and Anastasia, 17, and their servants Yevgeny Botkin, 53, Anna Demidova, 40, Aloizy Trupp, 62, and Ivan Kharitonov, 48.

The remains of two more people were discovered during archaeological excavation works 70 kilometers south of the first grave on July 26, 2007. The remains have still not been buried, but numerous expert analyses indicate that the remains were most likely those of Crown Prince Alexey and his sister Maria.

The Presidium of the Russian Supreme Court ruled to rehabilitate Nicholas II and his family members on October 1, 2008.

The Investigative Committee said in January 2011 that it had completed an investigation into the death of Nicholas II, his family members and entourage and closed the criminal case.

The Russian Orthodox Church has still not recognized the remains interred in Sts Peter and Paul Cathedral as those of Nicholas II and his family members and entourage, claiming that it was not convinced by the proof of their authenticity that was presented.

Source.

News Flash

Bishop Williamson of the SSPX is a nut.

In Defense of Israeli Imperialism

WHATEVER word you use to describe Israel’s 1967 acquisition of Judea and Samaria — commonly referred to as the West Bank in these pages — will not change the historical facts. Arabs called for Israel’s annihilation in 1967, and Israel legitimately seized the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria in self-defense. Israel’s moral claim to these territories, and the right of Israelis to call them home today, is therefore unassailable. Giving up this land in the name of a hallowed two-state solution would mean rewarding those who’ve historically sought to destroy Israel, a manifestly immoral outcome.

Read the rest here.

Caveat: I vehemently disagree with this twaddle. But I am posting it for a contrary opinion and discussion purposes. Israeli occupation of the disputed territories and its claimed annexation of East Jerusalem are illegal under international law. There is nothing moral or just here, unless your idea of moral and just is reflected by the Treaty of Versailles. And we all know how that ended.

ECB Chief Vows Action To Save The Euro

NEW YORK — Stocks soared in the U.S. and Europe Thursday after the European Central Bank president vowed to “do whatever it takes” to keep the continent’s monetary union intact.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 211 points, or 1.7 percent, to 12,887 as of 3:20 p.m., following European markets sharply higher. Benchmark stock indexes surged 6 percent in Spain and Italy and 4 percent in France.

Read the rest here.

Translation: The ECB chief is threatening massive monetary intervention.. in other words money printing.

Rapidly Spreading Drought Grips Much Of US

The drought ruining crops, shrinking water supplies and exacerbating wildfires intensified dramatically over the last week, U.S. forecasters reported Thursday.

The weekly Drought Monitor shows "widespread intensification" in the central U.S., the National Drought Mitigation Center said in a statement.

Across the contiguous U.S., the total area under all kinds of drought grew only slightly but the most severe categories -- extreme and exceptional -- rose from 13.5 percent to 20.5 percent -- the highest level since 2003.

Read the rest here.

Scientology is not a religion; it is a dangerous authoritarian cult

...In 1952, Hubbard decided to merge his bunk scientific claims with his science fiction and market the mixture as a religion. He called it Scientology, or, “the science of knowing how to know answers.” According to Church defectors, and now infamous thanks to South Park, Scientology’s theology is essentially a discarded Hubbard novel. Human beings are the composition of spirits (“thetans”) cast off from the bodies of space aliens detonated 75 million years ago in volcanoes on the planet Teegeeack (also known as Earth) by a galactic warrior named Xenu. Man’s problems today are attributable to “engrams,” or the mental memory of painful experiences caused by the presence of thetans on our humanly bodies, which one can get rid of only through a process of spiritual “auditing,” a sort of counseling session performed on a low-rent lie-detector machine called an “E-Meter.” Those who join Scientology often end up spending vast sums on auditing and other Church gimmicks, leading detractors to characterize Scientology as a pyramid scheme in which members pay ever-vaster sums of money to ascend the Church’s “Operating Thetan levels.” A typical story involves the grief-stricken, 73-year-old widow who took on a $45,000 mortgage to pay for auditing after Scientologists preyed upon her following the death of her husband.

A 1972 directive from Hubbard titled “Governing policy,” cited by the German government in its position against the Church, clearly characterizes Scientology as a commercial enterprise. “MAKE MONEY. MAKE MONEY. MAKE MORE MONEY. MAKE OTHER PEOPLE PRODUCE SO AS TO MAKE MONEY,” Hubbard wrote. In 1967, the IRS revoked the Church’s tax-exempt status, a decision reasserted by each and every American court to which the Church brought challenges over a subsequent 25-year-period. A 1984 U.S. Tax Court ruling, for instance, found that the Church “made a business out of selling religion” and that Hubbard and his family had diverted millions of dollars to their personal accounts. The Los Angeles Superior Court, meanwhile, deemed Hubbard “a pathological liar” driven by “egotism, greed, avarice, lust for power and vindictiveness and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile.”

Desperate for legitimacy, in 1973 Scientology launched Operation Snow White—a covert operation aimed at infiltrating governments. Scientology agents broke into IRS headquarters, bugged its offices, and dispatched private investigators to spy on individual agents—all in hopes of blackmailing officials. All this was permitted under Scientology’s “Fair Game” doctrine, which, according to Hubbard, demands that Church critics “be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.” The plot was uncovered in 1977, and Hubbard’s wife and 10 other Church officials were sentenced to jail. Hubbard was named an unindicted co-conspirator.

But in 1993, Scientology finally did achieve tax-exempt status from the IRS—a massive victory in the Church’s quest for mainstream acceptance. It did so, according to the New York Times, only “after an extraordinary campaign orchestrated by Scientology against the agency and people who work there” that included the hiring of “private investigators to dig into the private lives of I.R.S. officials and to conduct surveillance operations to uncover potential vulnerabilities.” Scientology even set up a front group, the National Coalition of IRS Whistle-blowers, to battle the agency. As if to emphasize the capriciousness of the IRS’s decision, just a year before the agency’s reversal, a decision by the U.S. Claims Court rejected Scientology’s case for tax-exemption, citing “the commercial character of much of Scientology,” its virtually incomprehensible financial procedures” and its “scripturally based hostility to taxation...”

...Around the world, a handful of politicians have urged their governments to prosecute Scientology as a criminal conspiracy. Three years ago, a Paris court found the Church guilty of fraud and fined it $900,000. That same year, a member of the Australian Senate, Nick Xenophon, delivered a speech in which he described Scientology as “criminal organization that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs.” After calling for an investigation into the Church’s tax-exempt status during a television interview, he began to receive letters from ex-Scientologists across Australia detailing what he described as “a worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality,” including torture, forced confinement, and coerced abortions. (Xenophon’s call for a parliamentary inquiry into the Church was ultimately rejected by the Australian government.) In 2007, following a 10-year investigation, a Belgian prosecutor called for the Church to be labeled a criminal organization and recommended that up to 12 Church officials face charges for the illegal practice of medicine, violation of privacy, and use of illegal contracts. The State Department criticized the move, stating that the United States would “oppose any effort to stigmatize an entire group based solely upon religious beliefs and would be concerned over infringement of any individual’s rights because of religious affiliation.”

Read the rest here.
HT: T-19

Europe is sleepwalking towards imminent disaster

 The euro has completely broken down as a workable system and faces collapse with “incalculable economic losses and human suffering” unless there is a drastic change of course, according to a group of leading economists.

Europe is “sleepwalking towards disaster”, according to the 17 experts, who warned that over the past few weeks “the situation in the debtor countries has deteriorated dramatically”.

“The sense of a neverending crisis, with one domino falling after another, must be reversed. The last domino, Spain, is days away from a liquidity crisis,” said the economists. They include two members of Germany’s Council of Economic Experts and leading euro specialists at the London of School of Economics, all euro supporters.

“This dramatic situation is the result of a eurozone system which, as currently constructed, is thoroughly broken. The cause is a systemic failure. It is the responsibility of all European nations that were parties to its flawed design, construction and implementation to contribute to a solution. Absent this collective response, the euro will disintegrate,” they added in a co-signed report for the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

Read the rest here.
HT: T-19

Former Citigroup CEO Weill: Break up the banks

Sandy Weill, the former Citigroup chairman and CEO credited with building the bank into a financial superpower, now says big banks should be split up.

In a wide-ranging CNBC interview, Weill suggested investment banks should be split from banks that provide retail and commercial banking services.

That’s an unusual outlook from Weill, who pushed the government to overturn the Glass-Steagall law that requires deposit-taking institutions to separate from risky investment banks.

The law was put in place after the 1929 stock market crash.

Citigroup became one of the nation’s problems during the financial crisis -- a poster-child for “too big to fail” with the government spending $45 billion trying to keep it afloat.

Read the rest here.

George Orwell and the N.C.A.A.

On Monday, the National Collegiate Athletic Association made a remarkable — and disturbing — decision. As one of the sanctions against Pennsylvania State University, it determined that all of Penn State’s football victories from 1998 to 2011 were to be “vacated.” Whoosh! As a result, Joe Paterno no longer holds the major college coaching record for career wins. Someone else now has that honor. George Orwell would be amused.

In his magnificent dystopia, “1984,” Orwell understood well the dangers of “history clerks.” Those given authority to write history can change the past. Those sweat-and-mud victories of the Nittany Lions — more points on the scoreboard — no longer exist. The winners are now the losers.

One might wonder whether the N.C.A.A.’s rush to judgment — a rush that ignored its own procedures of examining each case through the sanctions committee — was truly necessary. And one might question a set of sanctions whose human victims were not involved in the crimes. But let us put aside these niceties. Surely Penn State the institution deserves sanctions for the deplorable actions of authorities. Sometimes organizations are treated as people.

The more significant question is whether rewriting history is the proper answer. And while this is not the first time that game outcomes have been vacated, changing 14 seasons of football history is a unique and disquieting response. We learn bad things about people all the time, but should we change our history? Should we, like Orwell’s totalitarian Oceania, have a Ministry of Truth that has the authority to scrub the past? Should our newspapers have to change their back files? And how far should we go? Should we review Babe Ruth’s records? Or O. J. Simpson’s? Should a disgraced senator have her votes vacated? Perhaps we should claim that Joe McCarthy actually lost his elections. Or give victory to John Edwards’s opponent?

Read the rest here.

Is The Fed Warming Up The Printing Press?

WASHINGTON — A growing number of Federal Reserve officials have concluded that the central bank needs to expand its stimulus campaign unless the nation’s economy soon shows signs of improvement, including job growth.

The question is expected to dominate the agenda when the Fed’s policy-making committee meets next week, with some members pushing for immediate action while others seek to delay a decision at least until the committee’s next meeting in September, so they can see a few more weeks’ worth of economic data.

The Fed’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, told Congress last week that the options under consideration included a new round of asset purchases, or “quantitative easing,” often described as QE3. As part of any such program, officials increasingly favor expanding the Fed’s holdings of mortgage-backed securities for the first time since 2010.

Read the rest here.

RIP: Sherman Hemsley

NYC: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Stores Impose Dress Codes

If your visiting New York City, especially in some of the very Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn, you better tighten up on your manner of dress. A lot of the businesses run by Ultra-Orthodox Jews are getting a bit tired of people walking into their establishments half naked and are starting to require would-be patrons to dress modestly. Some of the locals are irritated by the very idea of a dress code, though I hasten to add that New York is also one of the last cities where one can still find restaurants that require a coat and tie after six.

It goes without saying that my sympathy level is pretty low.

If you don't like the dress code then the answer is simple, DON"T SHOP THERE! Just take your business elsewhere. This is a good opportunity for a little free market correction. If the dress code is unreasonable in the minds of most of the patrons then they will lose business or be forced to modify their rules.

There is no law against a dress code provided that it is not being erected in an effort to discriminate on the basis of race, gender or ethnicity which is clearly not the case here. If an effort were being made to extend a dress code to public venues or streets and sidewalks that would obviously be a different story. In Israel that has been a problem in some of the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. But this situation applies to privately owned businesses. In such a case the owners are, within reason, free to do as they wish...

Just as patrons are free to take their money and skimpy dress elsewhere.

French City Demands Britain's Crown Jewels For Executed Royal

A French city which produced 14 English kings is demanding the Crown Jewels as compensation from the Queen for the murder of its last pretender to the throne.

Angers, which is in the Loire Valley west of Paris, was once the capital of the Anjou province and the House of Plantagenet.

It ruled England from 1154 until 1485, providing some of the greatest monarchs in British history, including Richard the Lionheart and Henry V.

Read the rest here.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair: Hanging bankers won't help

 Public anger over the financial crisis is wrong and must not lead Britain to “hang bankers at the end of the street,” Tony Blair says today.

 In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the former prime minister launches a defence of the free market and liberal economic rules established by the Thatcher government.

The approach promoted by Baroness Thatcher’s government is not to blame for the recent financial and economic crisis, Mr Blair says, warning against taking vengeance on bankers and increasing State intervention in the private sector.

We must not start thinking that society will be better off “if we hang 20 bankers at the end of the street”, Mr Blair says.

Read the rest here.

I don't know anyone arguing for a lynching. But strict enforcement of the law and the criminal prosecution of persons and entities (banks) publicly known to have engaged in fraud, price and rate rigging, and securities manipulations needs to happen if confidence in the integrity of the financial system and markets is to be restored. To the best of my knowledge there has not been a single significant criminal prosecution of any of those responsible for the vast mortgage frauds, manipulation of commodities markets, rate fixing, and rampant naked short selling. The only significant criminal prosecutions against bankers over the last four years that I can recall have been a handful of truly egregious insider trading cases.

Eurozone danger mounts as Spain spins out of control

 Spain is battling to avert a fully-fledged sovereign rescue after borrowing costs spiralled out of control, with dangerous knock-on effects in Italy and Eastern Europe.

 The yields on closely-watched two-year debt surged by 78 basis points to a modern-era high of 6.42pc, leaving it unclear how long the country can continue funding itself. Italy’s two-year yields vaulted to 4.6pc.

“We can’t keep going like this for another 15 days,” said Prof Miguel Angel Bernal from Madrid’s Institute of Market Studies. “The European Central Bank has to bring out its heavy artillery.”

Read the rest here.

Italy: Ten cities at risk of bankruptcy

Italy's financial outlook darkened on Monday amid warnings that 10 cities are at risk of bankruptcy and schools may not be able to open in the autumn because of drastic spending cuts.

The cities at risk of running out of money include Naples, Palermo in Sicily and Reggio Calabria, on the toe of the Italian boot, according to the Italian press.

"The situation is becoming worse by the day," said Graziano Del Rio, the president of a national association of municipal councils.

Read the rest here.

NCAA Slams Penn State With Crippling Sanctions

The NCAA on Monday announced a series of unprecedented sanctions against the Penn State football program for its involvement in the sexual abuse scandal that centered on former coach Jerry Sandusky.

The penalties include a $60 million fine, a four-year postseason ban, an annual reduction of 10 scholarships over a four-year period and five years of probation.

Read the rest here.

Greek Prime Minister Compares Economy To The Great Depression

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece is in a "Great Depression" similar to the American one in the 1930s, the country's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Sunday.

Samaras was speaking two days before a team of Greece's international lenders arrive in Athens to push for further cuts needed for the debt-laden country to qualify for further rescue payments and avoid a chaotic default.

Read the rest here.

LIBOR scandal: What is it and why you should care

The latest banking fraud is centered in Britain, where the financial firm Barclays will pay half a billion dollars in fines for efforts to manipulate a benchmark interest rate. Other banks must have been involved, though, and the full range of the scandal has yet to emerge. Here's a quick look at what is known and why it matters.

What is LIBOR?

LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offered Rate. It's supposed to measure the average interest rate that banks charge when they lend to each other. LIBOR is also used as a foundation for other rates (such as the reset of adjustable rate mortgages) and a reference point for complex financial derivatives.

By one measure, some $300 trillion in loans or derivative contracts are pegged to LIBOR. That's 20 times the size of one year's economic output in the United States.

The LIBOR rates are determined by major banks. The banks report interest-rate estimates to the British Bankers Association, and the firm Thomson Reuters averages them to provide daily LIBOR numbers. The catch: The banks provide the numbers on an honor system. That's different from gathering data on observable transactions.

Read the rest here.

Banks are the enemy.

China Ratchets Up Military Tension In South China Sea

 BEIJING – The Central Military Commission, China’s most powerful military body, has approved the deployment of a garrison of soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army to guard islands claimed by China in the South China Sea, the state-run Xinhua news agency said Sunday.

 The announcement came as Chinese authorities told state media that 45 legislators elected over the weekend to govern the 1,100 people who live on the island groups of the Spratlys, the Paracels and the Macclesfield Bank — known in Chinese as the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha islands — met for the first time on Monday.

The new legislators would not only govern the island groups, many of them consisting of rocks and atolls, but also two million square kilometers of the South China Sea over which China claims jurisdiction, according to state media.

Read the rest here.

San Francisco Mulls Tax On Driving

A California transportation agency recently proposed what could become the most unpopular tax of all time: A tax for simply driving your car.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission of San Francisco is behind the idea and has said that the tax would work by installing GPS units into cars to track the miles that they travel. The vehicle owners would then be charged accordingly, with low-income drivers exempted.

The hope is that a VMT (vehicle miles traveled) tax would cut down on pollution and traffic congestion, while raising funds for things like road construction and surface repair.

Read the rest here.

A New York City hotel room sign, circa 1890. Click to view full size.

Is there a right to plead "insanity?"

There’s no doubt John Joseph Delling knew what he was doing. His carefully planned 2007 crime spree lasted weeks, covered 6,500 miles and culminated in two people dead and one seriously wounded.

He had his reasons, too. Delling, then 21, had become “a type of Jesus,” he later explained, and the men he attacked, two of them former classmates he had not seen in years, were stealing his “energy.” An MRI of his brain would have revealed the damage the men had already caused, he told authorities.

Read the rest here.

If it is possible for a human being to be so mentally ill that he/she really doesn't grasp what they are doing or the morality of it then yes, I do think that they or their lawyers have the right to raise that in court. Insanity is a very rare defense and it is almost always an "affirmative defense." By which the law means that the burden of proof shifts to the defense. I don't know of any jurisdiction where the prosecution is required to prove the defendant was sane.  Normally as a condition of pleading insanity the defense has to first in effect concede that their guy did it and then they try to prove that he was several fries short of a happy meal and didn't know the difference between right and wrong. Since this is a very hard thing to prove usually an insanity defense only comes into play when when the evidence of guilt is so overwhelming that the defense basically goes for a legal "hail marry" pass. Or in those extremely rare cases where the defendant really is completely off his nut.

The insanity defense is a popular bugaboo. But the reality is that it is rarely attempted and then its success rate is extremely low.

NCAA Prepared To Impose Severe Sanctions On Penn State

It looks like the NCAA is getting ready to come down hard on Penn State in the wake of the child molestation scandal. IMHO it would have been better if Penn State showed some class and voluntarily shut down their football program for a few years while they get their priorities straight. On a positive note though, at least one prime symbol of Penn State's idolatry has come down.

12 Dead Scores Wounded In Movie Theater Massacre

Twelve people were killed and at least 50 others wounded early Friday when a gunman wearing a bullet-proof vest opened fire during a midnight screening of the latest Batman movie near Denver, authorities and witnesses said.

The victims being treated in at least six hospitals included a 6-year-old. The youngest person treated was a 4-month-old baby, who has been released. The oldest reported patient is 45.

Authorities said the gunman had appeared at the front of the theater during the film and released a canister of tear gas. Witnesses told reporters that the gunfire erupted during a shootout scene in "The Dark Knight Rises."

Read the rest here.
Note: This is breaking news so the text at the linked site will likely change as the story is updated.

Prayers for all involved.

I didn't know...

...that the Lutherans (ELCA) were marrying homosexuals too. I must have missed that doctrinal revision. But there have been so many it's really hard to keep up.

Years of Unraveling, Then Bankruptcy for a City

 STOCKTON, Calif. — This inland port on the San Joaquin River recently became the largest city in the country to declare bankruptcy, but evidence of its unraveling has been mounting for years.

 It is visible in the rising domestic violence rates, booming private security businesses and a seemingly unstoppable stream of foreclosures. And it can be seen in smaller form too — at a struggling piñata shop, on the once-yellow fire hydrants faded to gray, in a case of stolen koi.

“The police don’t respond to anything unless there’s blood involved,” said Marlene Hinson, 51, who, after living here for 22 years without incident, was burglarized three times in four months, including the fish theft from her pond in a neighborhood of lush lawns and towering shade trees.

Read the rest here.

NBC: Is liberal Christianity signing its own death warrant?

The Rt. Rev. Mark Joseph Lawrence, the Episcopal bishop of South Carolina, fears for the future of his church.

One week after the U.S. Episcopal Church overwhelmingly voted to approve a provisional rite for blessing gay unions and the ordination of transgender people, Bishop Lawrence said in an interview with NBC News that his denomination is moving too far out of the mainstream.

"Do I think that these two decisions will cause further decline? I believe they will," Bishop Lawrence said. "I think we've entered into a time of sexual and gender anarchy."

Lawrence's comments come amid a growing debate over the future of so-called mainline Christian churches: Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, some Lutherans and more. These denominations, which are generally more liberal than their evangelical counterparts, have been in decline for decades, a trend some observers attribute to their supposed leftward drift.

Read the rest here.