Culture of Corruption

I just don't understand why some people are so distrustful of our elected officials.

The Definition of Evil

George W. Bush caught a lot of criticism from the high-minded set when he described Iran, North Korea and Saddam's Iraq as the "Axis of Evil." But I can think of no more apt description of this than "evil."

He said he had been a highly regarded member of the [Basiji] force, and had so "impressed my superiors" that, at 18, "I was given the 'honor' to temporarily marry young girls before they were sentenced to death."

In the Islamic Republic it is illegal to execute a young woman, regardless of her crime, if she is a virgin, he explained. Therefore a "wedding" ceremony is conducted the night before the execution: The young girl is forced to have sexual intercourse with a prison guard - essentially raped by her "husband."

"I regret that, even though the marriages were legal," he said.

Why the regret, if the marriages were "legal?"

"Because," he went on, "I could tell that the girls were more afraid of their 'wedding' night than of the execution that awaited them in the morning. And they would always fight back, so we would have to put sleeping pills in their food. By morning the girls would have an empty expression; it seemed like they were ready or wanted to die.

"I remember hearing them cry and scream after [the rape] was over," he said. "I will never forget how this one girl clawed at her own face and neck with her finger nails afterwards. She had deep scratches all over her."

Via John Hinderaker and Mark Steyn.

Oh, Boy

Earlier tonight I was sitting with my daughter and we were watching the random pictures pop up on the computer. It really wasn't that long ago that my hair was dark.

Taxes Really Do Affect Behavior

The author of this WSJ article seems perplexed as to why new home starts were up in June. Employment was down. Sales in May were down.

June sales numbers won't be out until next week but don't be surprised if they're not spectacular. Expect July starts to be high as well and then August to decrease - likely by a lot. What could explain this?

The $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. This tax credit expires on December 1. In order to have a house completed by November, it needs to be started by about mid-July or sooner. Builders are not going to want to be caught short with nothing to sell when sales pick up in October and November as buyers try to take advantage of this tax credit before it disappears.

It's Not An Option

The editorial staff at IBD reveals that the new health care bill would "mak[e] individual private medical insurance illegal."

When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.

It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill clearly states:

"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.

So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.

Conservatives who pointed out that this sort of thing would be part of the Democrats' health care bill were dismissed as scaremongers. Yet, when the actual proposal comes out, there it is. With a bill this size there are certain to be many such outrageous provisions. The way to reform our health care system is not to push out private providers in favor of the government but that is exactly what this type of "reform" would do.

Oh, I'm Shameless...

Shameless as a man can be.

This now must be Barney Frank's theme song. The architect of the mortgage meltdown was at it again, this time on The Daily Show. Part 1:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Barney Frank Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

He began by deflecting blame for the failure of the stimulus package. (The quoted portions are all direct quotes except that I've removed any ums, uhs, stutters, etc.) At about 2:45, he told us why the stimulus has been unsuccessful.

On the stimulus, in fairness to us and the President, when the House passed the stimulus bill it had about $40 billion more than was there that would have gone to states. Because the states are in a position now where they’ve had to cut back and to fire people. We needed to get 60 votes in the Senate and to do that we needed to get 3 Republicans and they said we’re not voting for this bill unless you reduce it by $40 billion, which would have gone to the states. So I think that the stimulus bill was inadequate. It was the best we could do given the political situation.

I hope that Senators Snowe, Collins and Specter are comforted knowing that, after selling out the Republicans to pass the stimulus, at least one Democrat now blames them for its failure.

Frank continues with his, uh, creative recollection in Part 2, where he reminded us how the Republicans encouraged Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to become involved in loans to low-income borrowers and how he fought valiantly but, alas, unsuccessfully to stop it. You remember that, don't you?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Barney Frank Extended Interview Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

At about 0:30,

I wanted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be very active but in building affordable rental housing…The Republicans had this view that rental housing is bad for the soul, that people who live in rental housing aren’t good citizens and they don’t collect the garbage. And they had this view, it was part of compassionate conservatism, their view was let’s make them homeowners.

When, at 1:00, Stewart asked, "But you were for homeownership, I mean, that's...," Frank interrupted,

No, no. I was not for homeownership…In 2004 when Bush wanted Fannie and Freddie to do more homeownership I said that was a mistake, we wanted affordability.

Approximately a half minute later, he reiterated the point,

I wanted Fannie and Freddie to be active but in affordable rental housing. I was very critical of this effort to make people into homeowners when they couldn’t afford it.

Shortly thereafter, these exchanges (if only we had listened to the wisdom of Barney!):

Stewart: Well, 2005, it’s this whole thing where you say, “Those who argue housing prices are at a bubble, they’re missing the point…and, we’re talking about homeownership, homes, they’re not leveraged you’re not going to see the collapse of the housing market and those of us on our committee, in particular, will continue to push for homeownership.” That sounds like pretty big support for homeownership.

Frank: Yeah, but not for low-income people.

[…]

Stewart: Wouldn’t regulation of Fannie and Freddie have been the answer?

Frank: Yes, and I voted for regulation of Fannie and Freddie in 2005.

The remainder of the interview continued in the same vein. It was those evil Republicans who kept Frank and the Democrats from implementing the necessary reforms of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and who pushed them into the subprime market. The brave Democrats have been doing all they can since they took over Congress but are being thwarted by the wicked Republicans, the selfish bankers and the stupid voters.

I'm shameless...

The Most Effective Stimulus

Since it doesn't matter what stimulus money is spent on only that it is spent, the best stimulus of all? Legalize counterfeiting.

It would inject a tremendous amount of money into the economy. The purchase of goods and services would skyrocket as everyone would be able to buy virtually everything they wanted. Businesses would have to pay more to pry people away from the printers and get them to work, so wages would necessarily increase. On top of all that, it wouldn't increase the debt by a single penny. In fact, with all of the additional transactions created, government revenues would go through the roof! So long, budget woes! So long, debt! For the federal government and the states. It's a win-win-win-win!

What's not to love?