Another One Bites The Dust

Another ginned-up effort by the WaPo to invent scandal where none exists has been promptly squashed:

So Obama’s rate was 30 basis points better than the average. However, the amount of the loan and the nature of the property are not the only factors that determine a mortgage rate. Another major consideration is the creditworthiness of the borrower. According to current rate quotes from myFICO.com, a borrower with very good credit can expect a mortgage rate about 30 basis points better than someone with pretty good credit, and a borrower with excellent credit can expect about a 50 basis point discount.

Unless the Washington Post has access to Obama’s FICO score — and unless it has rented an apartment to him, it probably doesn’t — it is missing a pretty important piece of information on what Obama’s mortgage rate ought to have been. What was Obama’s FICO score? I don’t know, but considering that…
* Obama had just gotten a $2.27 million book deal from Random House — about $1 million more than the value of the mortgage.

* The Obamas each had exceptionally secure jobs that paid them a combined annual salary of about $500,000 per year.

* The Obamas had just sold their condo, on which they had realized a $137,500 profit.

* The Obamas were prominent public figures whose political futures depended in part on maintaining a reputation for responsibility and trustworthiness.

* The Obamas are known to be relatively thrifty and have no credit card debt but substantial savings.

…I would think that the Obamas were exceptionally creditworthy. So indeed, Obama received a “discount” — the same discount that any borrower in his position would have received.

I suspect this is all about trying to gin up a FauxGate around Obama to try and drown out the icky news about McCain: Most notably, the news from Thad Cochran that John Sidney McCain III, during a 1987 diplomatic mission to Nicaragua with several other Republican Senators led by Bob Dole, actually physically slammed around a Sandinista associate. Just the kinda guy I want holding the briefcase with the launch codes. NOT.

This Looks Pretty Cool

Let the wind charge your batteries while you ride your bike.

Funny How I’ve Only Seen This At Salon

You’d think that the toppling of the alleged Cable News Ratings Leader would, y’know, be news.

But I only know about this because I happened to be reading Steve Benen at Salon this morning:

In the first quarter of 2008, Fox News, after six years of cable-news ratings dominance, saw itself slip into second place behind CNN in the so-called money demo — viewers in their mid-20s through mid-50s, whom advertisers care about most. The shift came thanks to a series of competitive primary nights and debates among Democratic candidates, after the Republican nomination had already been settled.

As it turns out, in the second quarter, as the Democratic race quieted down and the general election campaigning began, Fox News reclaimed the lead, but just barely. The New York Times reports that the “back-and-forth these last few months masks a more ominous trend for Fox News.”

[...]

Clearly, the Democratic race, and the fact that the Democratic candidates wouldn’t debate on Fox News, had something to do with the shift. But as the Times noted, “Disproportionate interest in the Democratic campaign alone cannot explain the struggles of Fox relative to years past, and the gains of its competitors.” The paper suggested Fox News’ competitors have caught up thanks to an “emphasis on sharp opinions, glitzy graphics and big personalities.”

Maybe. I’d offer an alternative explanation: As the conservative movement falls apart, and the country is ready to move away from the Bush/Republican status quo, Fox News’ shtick has grown pretty tiresome. Time’s James Poniewozik argued recently that the network “has to figure out how not to seem like yesterday’s news.”

Thing is, even the non-FOX mainstream press are invested in the idea that conservatism such as what FOX promotes is the default “center” nowadays.

I wouldn’t fret too much. FOX will still be the site of choice if you want to see key Bush Administration figures being shown in what they and FOX execs think is as flattering a light as possible.

Flood exposes threadbare American underside

Andrew Stern, Reuters (via t/o):

The worst Midwest flooding since 1993 has generated images of swamped towns, cracked roads, washed-out bridges, overwhelmed dams, failed levees, broken sewage systems, stunted crops and water-logged refugees. The losses are in the billions of dollars and still mounting, as the costs of crop losses alone send shocks through the inflation-wracked world food system and threaten insurers.

The disaster has reminded policymakers of the decrepit state of U.S. infrastructure…

Even before the latest flooding, a group representing engineers said the United States needed to spend about $1 trillion more than it does now to bring infrastructure up to par with modern needs and standards.

Will we hear about this or about Barack Obama’s bowling score?

McCain’s Tax Problem

John McCain has a problem with taxes, and it’s not just that Cindy McCain neglected to pay property taxes for the last four years on a California condo.

The IRS is going after suspected tax evaders at the Swiss bank UBS AG. McCain’s economic adviser Phil Gramm is the vice chairman of the bank’s U.S. division.

Republicans are trying to divert attention by pointing out that one of Barack Obama’s fundraisers is CEO of UBS Americas. But raising money for a candidate is not in the same category as being an official member of the campaign to advise the candidate on economic issues. And this isn’t the first financial scandal in which Phil Gramm is embroiled.

When will John McCain fire the scandal-tainted Phil Gramm from his campaign? Or at least disavow the rumors that he’d make Gramm his Secretary of the Treasury?

More Media And Religion Silliness

Barack Obama made a major announcement about the role of faith-based groups in the Federal government’s social-welfare efforts. The AP muffed it, making it sound as if Obama was going to follow Bush’s policy in this regard — and that set off a fresh feeding frenzy among those already inclined to see Obama as Bush with a suntan.

Meanwhile, all but unnoticed, Steve Benen posted an article at Salon that the feeding-frenzy folk have yet to see, being that it only has ten letter responses, which is one-tenth of what the frenzy folk have dropped over at Greenwald’s Salon shop. The article of Benen’s sets forth the following facts:

1) Prior to Bush, religious organizations and local, state and Federal governments had worked together for a very long time without much incident, largely because of the heavy-duty strictures and safeguards that existed.

2) Bush ripped out or ignored those safeguards.

3) Obama intends to restore them.

4) The AP botched the reporting to make it sound as if he wasn’t.

I also want to mention another fact: Since we’re not likely going to soon get a tax structure of the sort that obtained during Eisenhower’s presidency, then the only way that Obama can start to restore major portions of the frayed social-programs safety net (a net frayed because of Republican tax cuts for the rich and Grover-Norquist-prescribed deficits that he advocated “curing” by destroying the safety net) is with the aid of religious charities.

When Religion And Media Mix…

…the end results are seldom very pretty.

Charles links to James Wolcott’s disbelieving takedown of the scandal surrounding Sally Quinn’s bizarre near-blasphemy centered around an apparent effort to start Tim Russert on the path to canonization. There have been some odd ducks rushing to Quinn’s defense, too. Who needs The Onion when you have The Anchoress?

Ah, but The Mighty Quinn has some competition in the Misuse of Christianity Department. A longtime local repeat offender in that category has been none other than the StarTribune’s very own sop to the Republican Party of Minnesota, Katherine Kersten.

Spotty over at The Cucking Stool does chapter and verse on Miss Gulch’s latest abomination, and does it quite well. I’m going to discuss it too, though only a small fragment thereof.

Iraq Contractor Contradicts Rosy Surge Scenarios Spun By Bush, McCain, Media Enablers

We knew that Bush lied us into war. It shouldn’t be surprising to hear that they’re lying about alleged ‘progress’ in Iraq:

But rather than security improvements being “substantial over the past nine months,” an assessment today from a leading private security and intelligence contractor in Iraq shows that the security picture hasn’t changed significantly since October 1, 2007.

Don’t expect to hear the name “GardaWorld” come up in any of Bush’s briefings.

Tim Russert as the face of Christ?

That’s what the Anchoress says. James Wolcott can barely pack all the atrocities recently committed in the name of St. Tim into one post(thanks to Avedon)

Tell me again, why was Gray Davis recalled?

Michael Marois, Bloomberg:

As the most populous U.S. state, with a gross domestic product that’s No. 8 in the world, California is so strapped for cash that it must consider a short-term, $10 billion loan to cover its bills. The widening deficit means the financing may be about 0.85 percentage point more expensive than five years ago, when Davis lost his job over a budget gap twice as large as the $17 billion deficit the state now faces. That’s an added $8.5 million on every $1 billion borrowed…

At the same time inflation is quickening, the Treasury and local governments are stepping up borrowing amid expanding budget deficits. The U.S. government’s shortfall for May totaled $165.9 billion, more than in all of fiscal 2007.

California, as the biggest borrower in the $2.66 trillion municipal market, bears the brunt of investor discord.

The state sold $1.5 billion of bonds last week, paying 5.3 percent on the portion due in 30 years, up from 4.78 percent on similar securities issued a year ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg….

Under Schwarzenegger, a 60-year-old Republican, California began 2007 without a budget deficit for the first time in six years. By the end of the year, he was forced to declare a fiscal emergency.

The state borrowed $7 billion through short-term notes last October. Three months later Schwarzenegger ordered mid-year budget cuts and $3.2 billion of further borrowing to plug a gap that swelled to $14 billion in one year.

California has done horribly under Republicans. Reagan and the anti-taxers destroyed the fiscal foundations, Wilson and the nativists undercut education and filled the prisons, and Schwarzenegger has borrowed the state into near-bankruptcy. What’s not to like?