When the US accepted the Karzai government it snatched defeat from jaws of victory. There is not point in continuing the war in Afghanistan unless we start by killing Karzai and everyone near him. A government that executes people for converting to Christianity is always going to be a safe place for people to organize terror against infidels.
Egypt a test case for war with Islam
Is there a difference between “Islamic extremismâ€, and Islam? The British prime minster proposes Egypt as a test case: This highlights, I think, a significant problem when discussing the terrorist threat that we face. There is so much muddled thinking about this whole issue. On the one hand, those on the hard right ignore this distinction between Islam and Islamist extremism, and just say that Islam and the West are …
Muslim democracy is dangerous
The reason there are so few Islamic democracies is that the majority of Muslims vote for war, rape, murder, and terror, with the result that democracies with substantial Muslim populations tend to be short lived. Muslim democracy is dangerous because Muslim voters are dangerous, and should not be permitted. Egypt looks like it will produce more of the same – the winners will likely be the Muslim Brotherhood, which will …
The financial crisis inquiry report
“Best practices†required that the lender accept “non traditional†evidence of ability to pay – and the reason such evidence was non traditional is that it is not evidence. If a mortgage business followed HUD “best practicesâ€, as in practice it had to do, it meant they were allowing borrowers or their loan officers to make $#!% up.
Ambac argues fraud committed for profit caused the crisis
I of course, argue that government pressure to make mortgage loans caused the crisis. After all, the specific examples bad loans that Ambac lists in its lawsuit against Bear Stearns, are all loans that were made to poor people, though Ambac provides no information that would identify the race of these poor people. Ambac, however, argues that Bear Stearn made bad loans, lied that the loans were fine, and sold …
Who called the financial crisis before it happened?
Among others, Ron Paul, in his speech to the house, proposing amendments to the laws that caused the crisis … the government’s policy of diverting capital into housing creates a short-term boom in housing. Like all artificially created bubbles, the boom in housing prices cannot last forever. When housing prices fall, homeowners will experience difficulty as their equity is wiped out. Furthermore, the holders of the mortgage debt will also …
Brad De Long explains he was wrong
Wrong, that is in that he failed to appreciate his own his immense genius, and wrong in that he failed to appreciate that the progressive left wing account of economics was ever more staggeringly true than he thought it was: According to him, he was wrong to think that: highly leveraged banks had control over their risks. With people like Stanley Fischer and Robert Rubin in the office of the …
Europe crosses the Rubicon
Ireland has started to issue its own Euros, or rather counterfeit its own Euros, since it has no legal authority to issue Euros – not that anyone worries about legal authority these days. If any one country of Europe can get away with issuing Euros, then the political benefit is captured by the one country issuing Euros, while the inflationary effect is experience by all of Europe. This guarantees over …
The New Civility
“There would be torture and then an ear necklace, with [Minnesota US Rep.] Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin’s ears toward the end, because they’re small, female ears, and then Limbaugh, Hannity and the biggest ears of all, Cheney’s, in the center,” Fuller said.
Creeping progressivism
Mc Cain is horrified when a bunch of progressive lawyers demand that banks have their paperwork in order before foreclosing. He does not realize that he has implicitly conceded everything that matters to those progressive lawyers. He complains that this will have a detrimental effect on the availability of credit: this action could have a catastrophic impact on home values and mortgage lending … … lenders are discouraged from offering mortgages …