Month: May 2009

The Missing Photographs

Matthew Schmitz shares:

Of the hundreds of photos from Abu Ghraib obtained by the Washington Post,  only a representative handful was ever released. When a reporter on the original Abu Ghraib story visited my journalism class at Princeton, he showed us some of the pictures that were never released to the public. Among many sickening sights, I was struck by a  folder that contained pictures of the head from a decapitated cat. The head that had been stuck on a soda bottle and given a cigarette. as if it were the effigy of a disposable, death-dealing culture. Now  more than ever, that image symbolizes  to me a nation gone mad.

Where are those unreleased photos? Why wasn't everything made available to the public? There are some more due out at the end of this month but, from my understanding, they will show nearly identical abuse in prisons far away from Abu Ghraib, further proving that Abu Ghraib was active Bush-Cheney policy. Has the WaPo prevented this information from coming out? (Schmitz's ruminations on how BDSM porn paved the way for Abu Ghraib seems silly to me, I might add, but the revelation of MSM withholding information that might embarrass the government is disturbing, if not surprising.)

Quote For The Day II

"We can't have a single philosophy. The most dangerous thing in the world is to have a judicial philosophy. And the reason is there's no one philosophical system, at least in my experience, for the interpretation of statutes–and God knows, for the American Constitution–that is going to be able to work regardless of all circumstances," – David Souter, over the weekend.

Paul’s Converts

Ronpaultruck

Dave Weigel reports on Ron Paul's growing clout in the GOP and his weekly luncheons:

[Rep. Michele] Bachmann “goes to these luncheons on a weekly basis,” said Debbee Keller, Bachmann’s press secretary. Keller noted that Bachmann was reading “Meltdown,” which argues that the New Deal failed and that the Federal Reserve is responsible for the current economic crisis. “Just as Austrian theory suggests,” wrote Woods, “the Fed’s mischief was responsible for the Great Depression.”

[…] Paul didn’t take credit for turning Bachmann on to Austrian theory (”He’ll give credit to everyone on the planet except himself,” laughed Woods) but said he was pleased to see more members of Congress delving into economics. “She’s very open to studying,” said Paul. “In fact, she’s been working really hard to get me back to Minneapolis. She says, ‘You’ll get such a great reception there!’”

Quote For The Day

"The greatest and most terrible of wars ended, this week, in the echoes of an enormous event—an event so much more enormous that, relative to it, the war itself shrank to minor significance. The knowledge of victory was as charged with sorrow and doubt as with joy and gratitude. More fearful responsibilities, more crucial liabilities rested on the victors even than on the vanquished," -James Agee, Time, Aug. 20, 1945.

Not All Bubbles Are Equal

Jim Surowiecki says that past banking bubbles have set the stage for economic expansion. Now the bad news:

The same can’t be said, though, of the boom of the past decade. The housing bubble was unique, and uniquely awful. Each of the previous waves had come in response to a profound shift in the real economy. With the housing bubble, by contrast, there was no meaningful development in the real economy that could explain why homes were suddenly so much more attractive or valuable. The only thing that had changed, really, was that banks were flinging cheap money at would-be homeowners, essentially conjuring up profits out of nowhere. And while previous booms (at least, those of the twenties and the nineties) did end in tears, along the way they made the economy more productive and more innovative in a lasting way. That’s not true of the past decade. Banking grew bigger and more profitable. But all we got in exchange was acres of empty houses in Phoenix.

Ryan Avent adds his own two cents. I have to say that in trying to get a mortgage these past eleven months myself (I'm trying to buy a distressed property in a short sale and it's taken for ever), the process is getting more and more difficult, not less. From my data point, the banks are still retracting. They don't want to do anything, lend any money or take even solid risks. They seem as irrationally risk-averse now as they were insanely risk-happy not so long ago. Zombies is a good term for them. They seem to have no brain.