Evening Views

New Evidence on the Foreclosure Crisis  : Zero money down, not subprime loans, led to the mortgage meltdown.

 the important factor is whether or not the homeowner currently has or ever had an important financial stake in the house. Yet merely because an individual has a home with negative equity does not imply that he or she cannot make mortgage payments so much as it implies that the borrower is more willing to walk away from the loan.

The difference in policy implications is enormous: A significant reduction in foreclosures will happen when and only when housing prices stop falling and unemployment stops rising

In Political Ads, Christian Left Mounts Sermonic Campaigns

Notice the source of the Spin : besides being Hack H.Q., WSJ wouldn't know a Leftist if they fell over one...hmmm...retract that...since their 'Leftie' is another figment of their overactive brainwashing agenda

Don’t Believe The Pundits On This Being China’s Century

China has asked rather politely, that the U.S. maintain its creditworthiness. No kidding? That plea was less a wish that the U.S. not skip town on its debt (devalue the dollar dramatically), than it was a declaration of a deep desire for a return to excessive U.S. borrowing

The Galloping Beaver 

A tail dragging romp through the swamps of the world : Kucinich on Canadian Health Care . . . .

The United States is moving to develop its own source of medical isotopes as the lagging repair of a Canadian nuclear reactor leaves Americans “critically short” of the radioactive material.

Canada's nuclear research reactors will go cold and a $4 billion industry which Canada has dominated for the better part of half a century will vanish. Forever

An expert panel set up by the federal government to explore ways of securing a long-term supply of medical isotopes plans to meet for the first time on July 16.
They might want to include the passport office on that panel. As the Harper crowd ships another industry off to the United States they'll also be looking at the backs of Canadian nuclear specialists trip across the border.

Want your combat team to have an edge? Add women.

In both Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Army and Marines found it useful to send a female soldier along on raids, as it was less disruptive to have a woman search the female civilians. There was no shortage of volunteers for this duty. The marines, as is their custom, saw more opportunities in this. Thus the marines began sending a team of women on such missions.

Iraqi women were surprised, and often awed, when they encountered these female soldiers and marines. The awe often turned into cooperation.

The marines also noticed that the female troops were better at picking up useful information in general.

Iraqi men were also intimidated by female soldiers and marines. In the macho Arab world, an assertive female with an assault rifle is sort of a man's worst nightmare. So many otherwise reticent Iraqi men, opened up to the female troops, and provided information. Women also had an easier time detecting a lie

Aspirations

 a macho facade, no matter how poorly orchestrated and shallow, still whispers 'leader' in the minds of many of the public as if contests of privilege are still decided with clubs and spears. 10 000 years and were 10 feet out of the cave. But also because it puts us on a path of choosing deeply conservative (in the literal sense) leaders beholden to obsolete social and economic orders at a time when we need the exact opposite.

Impolitical : The buck stops...elsewhere

With Chalk River's production of isotopes now delayed until late this year or perhaps next (or never) and no operational domestic backups capable of filling the void left by Chalk River, Canada must rely on other nations' facilities. This is an essential weakness of the nuclear medicine "strategy" that the Harper government has decided to adopt: seeking to privatize AECL, getting out of the isotope business eventually and mothballing the brand new MAPLE reactors that we do have and that experts say can work.