Evening Edition is an Open Thread

Now with 43 Top Stories.

1 Canadian ex-child soldier pleads guilty at Guantanamo

by Virginie Montet, AFP

1 hr 12 mins ago

Joe Sudbay rocks.

Reporter told Dem. running for RI Gov. that Obama won’t campaign for him

by Joe Sudbay (DC) on 10/25/2010 08:57:00 AM

So, we’re all supposed to be urging Democrats to vote, you know, not whine and gripe and groan. Then, we see something like this:

President Obama will not endorse the Democratic candidate for governor, Frank T. Caprio, when he comes to Rhode Island to support other Democratic candidates, the White House said Sunday.

Monday Morning Open Thread

by Joe Sudbay (DC) on 10/25/2010 07:53:00 AM

The President is heading to Rhode Island today. First, he’s doing an event on small business and the economy at the American Cord & Webbing in Woonsocket. Then, he’s heading to Providence to do two events for the DCCC. There’s an open seat in Rhode Island and the Democrat is the gay mayor of Providence, David Cicilline. There’s also a three-way race for Governor in Rhode Island. According to the Providence Journal:

President Obama will not endorse the Democratic candidate for governor, Frank T. Caprio, when he comes to Rhode Island to support other Democratic candidates, the White House said Sunday.

Monday Business Edition

H/T to letsgetitdone of Firedog Lake and Corrente for pointing out this 2 part piece by Bill Black and Randall Wray over at Huffington Post.

It’s rather long but well worth the read as is letsgetitdone’s commentary on it-

Democratic politicians profess to be puzzled about why people don’t recognize all the current Democratic Congress has done for them. But, if, in fact, they are puzzled, and not just lying about it, then this only reflects on how out of touch they are.

There is not one big issue area in which Congress has acted in the past two years where their legislative outcomes have been fair to the middle class and to working people generally. And that’s why people are so unhappy. Not because they’re stupid. Not because they’re ignorant. And not because their understanding of Washington is deficient.

It is just true that Administration and Democratic efforts in bailing out the banks, passing the stimulus bill, passing the credit card reform bill, passing its health care reform and its finreg bills, and continuing unemployment insurance for the long-term unemployed, have all ended in unjust legislative outcomes. People know that. They can sense and see the basic unfairness of the system and its bias toward those who are wealthy and powerful at the expense of other Americans.

Foreclose on the Foreclosure Fraudsters, Part 1: Put Bank of America in Receivership

William K. Black and L. Randall Wray

Posted: October 22, 2010 02:08 PM

Our first proposition is this: The entities that made and securitized large numbers of fraudulent loans must be sanctioned before they produce the next, larger crisis. Second: The officers and professionals that directed, participated in, and profited from the frauds should be sanctioned before they cause the next crisis. Third: The lenders, officers, and professional that directed, participated in, and profited from the fraudulent loans and securities should be prevented from causing further damage to the victims of their frauds, e.g., through fraudulent foreclosures. Foreclosure fraud is an inevitable consequence of the underlying “epidemic” of mortgage fraud by nonprime lenders, not a new, unrelated epidemic of fraud by mortgage servicers with flawed processes. We propose a policy response designed to achieve these propositions.

…

This nation’s most elite bankers originated and packaged fraudulent nonprime loans that destroyed wealth — and working class families’ savings — at a prodigious rate never seen before in the history of white-collar crime. They created the worst bubble in financial history, echo epidemics of fraud among elite professionals, loan brokers, and loan servicers, and would (if left to their own devices) have caused the Second Great Depression.

Nothing short of removing all senior officers who directed, committed, or acquiesced in fraud can be effective against control fraud. We repeat: Foreclosure fraud is the necessary outcome of the epidemic of mortgage fraud that began early this decade. The banks that are foreclosing on fraudulently originated mortgages frequently cannot produce legitimate documents and have committed “fraud in the inducement.” Now, only fraud will let them take the homes. Many of the required documents do not exist, and those that do exist would provide proof of the fraud that was involved in loan origination, securitization, and marketing. This in turn would allow investors to force the banks to buy-back the fraudulent securities. In other words, to keep the investors at bay the foreclosing banks must manufacture fake documents. If the original documents do not exist the securities might be ruled no good. If the original docs do exist they will demonstrate that proper underwriting was not done — so the securities might be no good. Foreclosure fraud is the only thing standing between the banks and Armageddon.

The second piece deals with 3 objections.

Foreclose on the Foreclosure Fraudsters, Part 2: Spurious Arguments Against Holding the Fraudsters Accountable

William K. Black and L. Randall Wray

Posted: October 24, 2010 11:53 PM

Who is Guilty?

Let us deal with the “borrower fraud” argument first because it is the area containing the most erroneous assumptions. There was fraud at every step in the home finance food chain: the appraisers were paid to overvalue real estate; mortgage brokers were paid to induce borrowers to accept loan terms they could not possibly afford; loan applications overstated the borrowers’ incomes; speculators lied when they claimed that six different homes were their principal dwelling; mortgage securitizers made false reps and warranties about the quality of the packaged loans; credit ratings agencies were overpaid to overrate the securities sold on to investors; and investment banks stuffed collateralized debt obligations with toxic securities that were handpicked by hedge fund managers to ensure they would self destruct.

…

Macro Effects and Culpability

What is important to understand, however, is that the financial sector is largely culpable for the generation of speculative frenzy, the creation of the “financial weapons of mass destruction”, and the transformation toward financial fragility that finally collapsed in 2007. In the aftermath we lost 10 million jobs and millions of homeowners lost their homes. The “collateral damage” inflicted by the SDIs (Systemically Dangerous Institutions) is now endangering tens of millions of American families — most of whom played no role in the speculative euphoria. Almost half of American homeowners are already underwater or on the verge of going under. In short, it was Wall Street that turned our homes over to a financial casino — and so far virtually all the losses have been suffered on Main Street.

…

Can the Frauds be Foreclosed?

The assertion that the SDIs cannot be resolved because of their size is unsupported. Very large institutions have already been resolved both in this country and abroad. The “too big to fail” (TBTF) doctrine has always been unproven, dangerous, and counter to the law. An institution that is not permitted to fail faces obvious adverse incentive problems. It also destroys healthy competition with institutions that are not considered TBTF. It encourages risk-taking and fraud. And it subverts the law, which requires that insolvent institutions must be resolved.

Business News below.

While Krugman kind of wienies out.

What Happened to Change We Can Believe In?

By FRANK RICH, The New York Times

Published: October 23, 2010

No matter how much Obama talks about his “tough” new financial regulatory reforms or offers rote condemnations of Wall Street greed, few believe there’s been real change. That’s not just because so many have lost their jobs, their savings and their homes. It’s also because so many know that the loftiest perpetrators of this national devastation got get-out-of-jail-free cards, that too-big-to-fail banks have grown bigger and that the rich are still the only Americans getting richer.

This intractable status quo is being rubbed in our faces daily during the pre-election sprint by revelations of the latest banking industry outrage, its disregard for the rule of law as it cut every corner to process an avalanche of foreclosures. Clearly, these financial institutions have learned nothing in the few years since their contempt for fiscal and legal niceties led them to peddle these predatory mortgages (and the reckless financial “products” concocted from them) in the first place. And why should they have learned anything? They’ve often been rewarded, not punished, for bad behavior.

…

The real tragedy here, though, is not whatever happens in midterm elections. It’s the long-term prognosis for America. The obscene income inequality bequeathed by the three-decade rise of the financial industry has societal consequences graver than even the fundamental economic unfairness. When we reward financial engineers infinitely more than actual engineers, we “lure our most talented graduates to the largely unproductive chase” for Wall Street riches, as the economist Robert H. Frank wrote in The Times last weekend. Worse, Frank added, the continued squeeze on the middle class leads to a wholesale decline in the quality of American life – from more bankruptcy filings and divorces to a collapse in public services, whether road repair or education, that taxpayers will no longer support.

This is the real “moral hazard”.  Krugman misses the point-

Falling Into the Chasm

By PAUL KRUGMAN, The New York Times

Published: October 24, 2010

If Democrats do as badly as expected in next week’s elections, pundits will rush to interpret the results as a referendum on ideology. President Obama moved too far to the left, most will say, even though his actual program – a health care plan very similar to past Republican proposals, a fiscal stimulus that consisted mainly of tax cuts, help for the unemployed and aid to hard-pressed states – was more conservative than his election platform.

…

What we do know is that the inadequacy of the stimulus has been a political catastrophe. Yes, things are better than they would have been without the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: the unemployment rate would probably be close to 12 percent right now if the administration hadn’t passed its plan. But voters respond to facts, not counterfactuals, and the perception is that the administration’s policies have failed.

…

Is there any hope for a better outcome? Maybe, just maybe, voters will have second thoughts about handing power back to the people who got us into this mess, and a weaker-than-expected Republican showing at the polls will give Mr. Obama a second chance to turn the economy around.

So more “but the Republicans are worse” Obama/DNC bullshit.  How motivating.

What evidence is there that, without holding Democrats accountable, their policies will change?

None.  Zip.  Zilch.  Nada.  Zero.

What about those “negative consequences” from Democratic losses?

• Fear Factor
• Fear Factor II

With about a week to go before Election Day, what signs do you see that Democrats or Barack Hussein Obama and his Administration intend to implement policies any different at all from the Bush Lite ones they tried in the last 2 years that have already failed?

Faux says they have Phillies/Giants, but that ain’t true.  No more Baseball ’til Wednesday.  There is Throwball, a grudge match if you like, the Favres @ Green Bay.  New Amazing Race.

• ABC Family– The Spiderwick Chronicles x 2
• AMC– 28 Days Later
• Bravo– Real Housewives marathon
• Comedy– Futurama, Into the Wild Green Yonder
• Disney– Sonny With a Chance, Good Luck Charlie (premiers), Halloweentown
• Food– Challenge, Next, Iron Chef America
• FX– Shutter (re-make of a 2004 film), Cloverfield
• History– Ice Road Truckers, Swamp People (premiers)
• Lifetime– Saved! (reads good), One True Thing x 2
• Sci Fi– Identity, The Reaping
• TBS– Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Meet the Browns
• Turner Classic– The Pleasure Seekers, Viva Las Vegas (Ann-Margret night)
• TNT– Gladiator x 2 (Joey!)
• Toon– Sym-Bionic Titan, Clone Wars, Delocated (this week’s repeats)
• USA– 50 First Dates, Pretty Woman x 2

Later-

• AMC– Jeepers Creepers 2, Ghost Ship
• FX– Premonition
• Sci Fi– The Rapture, Dread
• TBS– Guess Who
• USA– Over Her Dead Body
• Turner Classic– Nosferatu (shhhhh)

Adult Swim– new Childrens Hospital and Metalocalypse.  New Venture Brothers, The Silent Partners (last week’s episode, Assisted Suicide summary).

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Epidemic fears grow as cholera hits Haiti capital

by Clarens Renois, AFP

2 hrs 42 mins ago

There’s no sugar coating it.  Mclaren needs some Red Bull DNFs and especially Hamilton needs some Webber DNFs.

There are only 3 races left (including this one).

Scuderia Marlboro UPC I expect will blow up, their ’10 powerplants have proven entirely unreliable at least for the non-factory customers.  Renault on the other hand has proven exceptionally durable and also highly successful with the right chassis (that last R in RBR stands for Renault) and the factory team has been competitive.  Webber is using a brand new engine, his last.

A Fail Team is Mercedes.  They’re blaming it on the Brawn chassis (which *ahem* won last year) and Michael Schumacher who may or may not be back, but they also power Mclaren so the engine is good enough.  Not that I have any complaints about the times they’ve parked, things happen.  Mechanical failures are part of the game.

At least they’re not Marlboro.

If Webber parks, and that’s not the evil eye, and Vettel wins you’ll have some chat about team orders.  I don’t think Alonso can hang but he’s pretty fast in the short run.

Otherwise you might just start developing your 2011 car to the extent you can.  I think a big problem with Formula One today is the lack of development time, which I think penalizes the less experienced teams.  If you had track time and data to measure you’d be able to make your car competitive more quickly.

Petrov has a 5 position Grid penalty for booting Hulkenberg on the first lap at Suzuka.  It’s reflected below in the pretty tables.

• Yeongam Qualifying (about that new track)
• F1 Official Site
• Speed Racecast

Repeat @ 4:30 pm on Speed

Well, there’s some kind of College Throwball tonight, TTBA.  Phillies back in Philadelphia which may improve their fortunes, or not.  It’s not a place that you want to be, one game away from elimination.

I’m kind of amazed.  There’s very little coverage of the Senior Circuit, maybe the Yankees loss sucked up all the Oxygen.  What there is focuses on the Phillies lack of offense which has been puzzling though I think it unfair to focus on 1 or 2 individuals.  They haven’t been able to put together innings.  It’s not a team that plays long ball anyway.

I fully expect all my brackets to be blown and be exposed for a sentimental fool in any event.

Yeongam Qualifying.  Yeongam @ 1:30 am on Speed.  Sorry for stepping on you last night Doc, but Dad was headed for bed and I wanted him to have a chance to read it.  Repeat @ 4:30 pm.

• ABC Family– The Goonies
• A&E– Remember the Titans x 2
• Animal Planet– Pit Boss marathon (with premier)
• Disney– Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Discovery– Storm Chasers marathon (with premier)
• E!– Heartbreakers
• ESPN– College Throwball, Alabama @ Tennessee, Washington @ Arizona
• ESPN2– College Throwball, North Carolina at Miami
• Food– Kid in a Candy Store (premier)
• FX– V for Vendetta
• History– Apocalypse!
• Lifetime– Her Sister’s Keeper, Accused at 17
• Nick– The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (World Premier?)
• Oxygen– Monster-in-Law x 2
• Sci Fi– Saw III, Saw IV
• Speed– World of Outlaws
• TBS– Why Did I Get Married?, I Think I Love My Wife
• Turner Classic– Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Captain’s Paradise (Alec Guinness night)
• Toon– Monster House
• USA– NCIS marathon
• Vs.– PBR Bullriding World Finals

Later-

• ABC Family– Bridge to Terabithia
• AMC– House on Haunted Hill, Return to House on Haunted Hill
• Bravo– House marathon
• Disney– Fish Hooks (this week’s), Phineas and Ferb
• FX– It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (I certainly hop so)
• Lifetime– Project Runway (repeat of this week’s Part 1 Season Finale)
• Oxygen– While You Were Sleeping
• Sci Fi– Kill Theory, Autopsy
• Spike– GoodFellas
• TBS– Deliver Us From Eva
• Turner Classic– Last Holiday, The Horse’s Mouth (more Alec)
• TNT– American Gangster
• TV Guide– Wolf (useless)
• USA– Burn Notice, 50 First Dates

SNL- Emma Stone, Kings of Leon.  GitS: SAC– Scandal, Equinox (Episodes 22 and 23).

I want to talk to you for a minute. If you make a noise, I shall blow your head off at once. By the time anyone has heard the shot I shall be running back toward the castle shouting for help. I shall say that you stepped on the trap and your gun went off as you fell. So be quiet.

When I’ve finished I shall kill you. You will the the sixth D’Ascoyne that I’ve killed. You want to know why? In return for what the D’Acoyne’s did to my mother. Because she married for love instead of for rank or money or land. They condemed her to a life of poverty and slavery, in a world for which they had not equipped her to deal. You yourself refused to grant her dying wish, which was to be buried here, at Chalfont. When I saw her poor little coffin underground, saw her exiled in death as she had been in life, I swore to have revenge on your intolerable pride. That revenge I am just about to complete.

I made an oath that I would revenge the wrongs her family had done her. It was no more than a piece of youthful bravado, but it was one of those acorns from which great oaks are destined to grow. Even then I went so far as to examine the family tree and prune it to just the living members. But what could I do to hurt them? What could I take from them, except, perhaps, their lives.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Leaked Iraq war files detail torture, civilian killings

AFP

Sat Oct 23, 2:31 am ET

I’ll admit that 2 weeks ago I didn’t think they’d run this.  As it is, the place is raw.

That green stuff?  Spray painted dirt.

It’s marshland they’re building an industrial/residential development on around the racetrack (like condos around a golf course) which is eventually going to integrate with the street grid so it becomes a true street circuit like Monaco.  Artifacts of this include the non-existent elevation change and the high walls at 16 & 17.

They literally laid down the surface 2 weeks ago and had to use a fast curing asphalt.  The track is really bumpy, especially in Turn 16 and in some sections they have *ahem* “low curbs”, which are essentially paved ditches where you can drop straight off the road.

Some fun eh?

There may be some logic to it that escapes the analysts, it’s 3.5 miles with just 3 straights none of which seems long.  The rest is twisty bits.  It’s very tight without a lot of obvious passing opportunities.  Some drivers are complaining about the tightness of the pit entrance and pit lane.  F-Ducts are reported to confer an advantage, but it’s not clear which teams will be running them.

In competitive news Mercedes is blaming its non-competitiveness on the inherited Brawn chassis and McLaren is not giving up and came with all kinds of fiddly new aero bits that all had to be replaced on Button’s car when it caught fire near the end of practice.

There’s a chance of rain which would wipe away all the rubbering in they’ve done.  The track seems to be hard on tires, particularly the right front, so people won’t want to be out on Softs for long.

Observations and surprises below.