The Kroog Versus Banging Our Heads Into A Wall

Second quarter GDP numbers have once again summoned Mighty Krugthulhu from the depths, beard tentacles of sanity clutching charts for all to behold.  How'd we do?

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 1.5 percent in the second quarter of 2012, (that is, from the first quarter to the second quarter), according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 2.0 percent.

Better than having our faces kicked in, I guess.  Kroog comes along with his comprehensible glare and injects reason into your mind.

Here’s a chart. It shows changes since the second quarter of 2009, which was both the bottom of the recession and the earliest point at which you can plausibly say that Obama had any influence on actual policy. I show nonresidential fixed investment — basically business investment — and government purchases of goods and services:

Business investment has actually gone up a lot; maybe you think it should have gone up even more, but it’s not the heart of the problem. On the other hand, we’ve had a lot of cutbacks in government — mainly at the state and local level, but federal aid could have avoided that.

This isn’t a picture of an economy hobbled by Big Government; it’s a picture of an economy hobbled by premature austerity.

Like I keep saying, the economy is pretty much doing what the Republicans say the economy should be doing, that is cut government spending (down $120 billion or so) and let the private sector do its invisible hand thing (up about twice that).  The result:  exactly what you would expect, a mehburger GDP report because we're, you know, wiping out a whole bunch of private sector economic activity stimulus by wrecking government spending.  This is the stated GOP plan in action right now as we speak, and gosh it kind of sucks.

You think we would then ramp up government spending, but Republicans are all insane and need to have anvils dropped on them.

There Are Bad Decisions...

...and then there's Power Line's Paul Mirengoff, defending Joe Paterno.  Well, one of his lawyer friends does, at least.

The only evidence of Mr. Paterno’s involvement is a passing reference in an email from [former Athletic Director] Curley to [former university President] Spanier and [former university Vice-President] Schultz that says that Curley “touched base with the coach. Keep us posted.” Freeh Report at 20, 48. A second email from Curley to Schultz that says “Coach is anxious to know where it stands.” Freeh Report at 20, 48. There is no other information about Mr. Paterno’s involvement in the incident. In fact, the Freeh Report does not even establish that the references to “Coach” refer to Joe Paterno. The most it can and does say is that “[t]he reference to Coach is believed to be Paterno.” Freeh Report at 49. The Freeh Report cites no evidence to support this assertion, but even if “Coach” refers to Coach Paterno, what do these emails prove? The answer is: nothing. At most, these emails suggest that Mr. Paterno was concerned and wanted to know whether Sandusky was guilty of any wrongdoing.

Of course, if Mr. Paterno did express concern about the matter, then the question becomes: what did anyone tell him about the allegations and the investigation?

The Freeh Report provides no answer to this question. The Report does not provide any evidence about what Joe Paterno knew about the 1998 allegations against Sandusky. The Report does not provide any evidence about what Mr. Paterno did or said, or what anyone said to Mr. Paterno. Indeed, the Freeh Report suggests that both law enforcement and the University police agreed that nothing improper happened and that the allegations lacked merit. Did anyone tell Joe Paterno about those findings?

OK, at this point, may I say that Joe Paterno, as Jerry Sandusky's manager, had a decade-plus to do something and didn't.  Does that make him legally culpable?  That's arguable, and that's why we have courts of law.  Does it make him the worst head coach in any sport ever?  Pretty gorram much. But by all means, explain your theories to Sandusky's victims and their families.  I'm sure the'll be glad to listen to why Joe Paterno probably didn't break any laws in covering up more than ten years of sexual assault of kids, so it's okay.

Right?

A Gallery Worth Viewing

I normally don't like photo galleries or slides.  This is an exception to the rule, and I think it's worth sharing.  Faces of Addiction takes photos and stories of addicts that really do tell a story.  Photographer Chris Arnade will challenge our ideas on who addicts are and how they became addicts.  From the death of a loved one to an unexpected windfall leading to a coke binge, he touches on such a wide section of people that we can see how devastating and destructive addiction really is.

Not all addicts look like addicts.  Not all addicts are criminals, or would be criminals if they could just kick their habit.  Some destroy themselves on purpose, others are blind to what they are doing.  But photos don't lie.

It's easy to write these people off.  That is a shame we all should bear.

Modern History

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. --   A disagreement over a gambling debt and a pocket watch led to what some call the first true Wild West showdown.  It was on July 21,1865, when Wild Bill Hickok shot Davis Tutt dead in Springfield's town square.

The feud became the stuff of legend -- retold and embellished in magazines and dime store novels, and re-enacted throughout the years.  Now the city is bringing this 147-year old tale back to life.

The recordings, which are voiced by Springfield employees, are linked to a series of YouTube videos.

The videos are linked to nine QR codes located around the square where it all happened nearly a century and a half ago.  Using any Smartphone with a QR code scanner -- there is one on the KY3 app -- place it over the code, click on it, and learn about the dispute between Hickok and Tutt.

Springfield's square has actually seen a remarkable amount of history, most of it sad.  However, this has been local legend for years, with rural schools even doing an occasional field trip to the area to see where Hickok made us famous.

What is extra exciting is the QR code approach and the video connection that can use downtown's free WiFi to show the videos.  This is big news for a city that a few years ago was determined to remain in the dark ages.  I can't wait to check out the videos.  Of course it has to be dramatized, but it would seem attention was paid to as much history as can be verified.  There are enough local historians to keep them honest, I would imagine.

I had to share this, my sweet city is making me proud!

Eat Mor Vile Speech

You have no idea how much it galls me to agree with Glenn Effing Greenwald on anything, but he's right about Chicago Mayor Rahmbo going after Chik-Fil-A and denying them a permit to operate a franchise in the city for the sole reason that their President is a homophobic asshole.

Obviously, it’s perfectly legitimate for private citizens to decide not to patronize a business with executives who have such views (I’d likely refrain from doing so in this case). Beyond that, if a business is engaging in discriminatory hiring or service practices in violation of the law — refusing to hire gay employees or serve gay patrons in cities which have made sexual orientation discrimination illegal — then it is perfectly legitimate to take action against them.

But that is not the case here; the actions are purely in retribution against the views of the business’ top executive on the desirability of same-sex marriage:

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has said Chick-fil-A “doesn’t belong in Boston” because of [Chick-fil-A President Dan] Cathy’s discriminatory stance.

On Wednesday, the tag team of Emanuel and Moreno joined the chorus, citing Cathy’s anti-gay views.

Yes, Chicago, Dan Cathy is a homophobe, a bigot, and an unapologetic assclown.  I refuse to eat at Chik-Fil-A for the sole reason that Cathy is a continued hateful bigot.  But the Constitution is pretty gorram clear about what constitutes free speech, and the Supreme Court recently issued a ruling on that fact in March of 2011 saying that our old friends, the anti-gay bigots of Westboro Baptist Church, have the Constitutional right to say awful things about people.

You can't deny Chik-Fil-A a permit because Dan Cathy is a bigot.  Period.

As my Salon colleague Mary Elizabeth Williams noted when writing about the controversy in Boston: “Aside from the fact that Chick-fil-A is always closed on Sunday, there’s no evidence those beliefs have been institutionalized in any way. There’s no record of refusing service to gay patrons, or unfair hiring practices, or a hostile work environment.” Indeed, Joe Moreno, the Chicago alderman who represents a “hipster ward” and who initially blocked the business’ expansion, made clear that he was motivated not by any alleged discriminatory business practices but solely by “bigoted, homophobic comments”: namely, the Chick-fil-A President’s view that the Bible mandates marriages be between men and women only. And as Williams noted, the company oversees a “foundation that’s contributed financially to” numerous right-wing groups: Eagle Forum, Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, among others.

That's awful of them.  But it is not illegal to have that opinion.  Defense of free speech in the United States requires that clear cases of vile speech like this are protected and cannot be used to punish an organization.  It requires accepting that fact.  It requires vigilance and swift legal action should those opinions become discriminatory action, but the opinions themselves are valid.  You have the right to have those opinions, and I have the right to disagree with them.  That's how America works, people.

Glenn Greenwald is someone I rarely agree with and in fact his transgressions against logic, discourse, reason, and propriety are well documented.  But he is right here, this is Constitution 101, folks.

And as far as Rahmbo goes, you screwed it badly, man.  Let these guys open their restaurant.  Then don't eat there.  But you treat them in accordance to the letter of the law.

I have an opinion too:  screw Chik-Fil-A, and screw the people who eat there.  Constitution allows me to say that right here.  Your mileage may of course vary.  By the way, Facebook?  That means Dem strategist Karl Frisch gets to post this.





Do we understand the whole "vile speech is protected under the Constitution" thing now?

Good.

London Mitt Is Falling Down

The plan was simple:  Mitt Romney goes over to the London Games to tout his own Olympic organizer credentials in Salt Lake in 2002, and to burnish his foreign policy credentials with our closest European ally.  Instead, yesterday's Mittastrophe performance was so staggeringly pathetic it got to the point where Romney's multiple-day series of gaffes has the British press now openly mocking him.

First, Romney insulted his hosts Tuesday:

Strictly speaking, this one isn't Romney's fault, but still, the media loves a narrative, and this comment certainly plays into it. Before the trip had even begun, a Romney "adviser" was quoted as saying the Republican contender would be better placed than Barack Obama to sustain the transatlantic relationship with the UK because of a shared "Anglo-Saxon heritage. 

Then he did it again on Wednesday:

On Wednesday, the day he arrived in London, Romney was interviewed by NBC's Brian Williams. In a softball warm-up question, Williams asked Romney about his wife's horse, Rafalca, which will be in competition in the dressage, and whether Britain looked ready to host the Olympics. Easy, surely? Not for Romney.

"There are a few things that were disconcerting," Romney said of the event which has been 15 years in the planning and is expected to cost over £9bn.

"The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials – that obviously is not something which is encouraging."

Then he stepped in it, forgetting the name of Labour party opposition leader Ed Miliband.

On to a meeting with the leader of the opposition Labour party, Ed Miliband – a man often criticised for being awkward and lacking a common touch. They should have got on famously. But Romney seemed to forget Miliband's name. "Like you, Mr Leader, I look forward to our conversations this morning," Romney said.

Then he botched it by admitting he met with the head of Britain's super-secret MI6, another no-no.

The existence of MI6, the international arm of the British secret service, was not officially acknowledged until 1994, 82 years after it was established. But the organisation is still shrouded in secrecy, and its operations – and the diary schedule of its chief – are rarely acknowledged. But here comes Romney, in fully open mode: "I appreciated the insights and perspectives of the leaders of the government here and the opposition here as well as the head of MI6". 

After that, he bobbled a comment about backsides.

There are two things you should know before you "look out of the backside of 10 Downing Street", as Mitt Romney did on Thursday.

Firstly, in Britain, "backside" means "ass". As in the part of the body. Secondly, "10 Downing Street" is often used in political reporting as a synonym for a press spokesman for the prime minister, in the same way as "the White House" can say things or have opinions.

And it got so bad, London Mayor Boris Johnson called him out at the city's pre-Olympics rally yesterday.

"The Geiger counter of Olympo-mania is going to go zoink! off the scale! People are coming from around the world, and they're seeing us, and they're seeing the greatest country on Earth, aren't they? There are some people who are coming from around the world who don't yet know about all the preparations we've done to get London ready in the last seven years. I hear there's a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we're ready. Are we ready?"

Even Prime Minister David Cameron politely told Mittens to bugger off back to Utah.

Promising London would deliver, the Prime Minister said it had been challenging to host an Olympics in one of the world's busiest cities rather than the “middle of nowhere”, where it would be easier.

And now this morning, Mitt faceplanted again on his geography.

Mr Romney was asked in his interview on Thursday evening whether he had been aware of his roots in northern England, where his great-great-grandfather, a carpenter from Preston, was one of the first Mormons in Britain some 175 years ago.

“I knew that my ancestors came from here,” he said. “I know Miles Romney and Miles Park Romney – these are the folks that came and helped settle the West.”

Asked whether he felt “partly English” as a result, a chuckling Mr Romney replied: “Well, I’m married to a girl from Wales, and I’m a guy from Great Britain. So I feel like this is home too, I guess.” 

Great Britain is the island, Mittens.  United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the country.  And I'm betting between bouts of massive laughter that the residents want you to toddle off back to your Aspen mansion and stop being such a complete wanker.

Folks, if Mitt Romney can't handle a trip to the effing Olympics without making America look like a bunch of morons, how can he possibly handle real foreign policy situations involving China or Pakistan or North Korea or Israel?  He's actually made Sarah Palin look competent here.  I mean, it was bad for Mitt before, but now he has no credibility in foreign affairs at all.

And we've got another day of fantastic blunders to go.  God save the Queen.

StupidiNews!

• The opening ceremonies at the London Olympics get underway today with the proceedings helmed by "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle.
• A Florida man has shot and killed a door-to-door salesman for being on his property and has been charged with second-degree murder.
• The USDA has squashed the idea of "Meatless Monday" at its cafeterias after lobbyists for various meat and fish producers have rallied against the plan.
• Spain's unemployment has risen to a record 24.6% as Prime Minister Rajoy has made it significantly easier for employers to fire workers without severance.
• Psychologists have come up with a way to measure just how awful your "boss from hell" is with the Workplace Arrogance Scale.

Last Call

It's good to know that our old friend StrangeAppar8us is back among the living at Rumproast.  He's been through hell...literally...and is back.

The good news: while Strange was fully committed to dying on a night some eight months past, the allure of Death now escapes him, and he is fully committed to reassembling the motives and tools that once made him one of the most dedicated writers in any arena. StrangeAppar8us wants to live. He wants to live more and better than he ever lived before. And above all, he wants to spend more time with you—my fellow ‘Roasters, who expressed their sadness at my absence, and web chums like Michael Berube and Mr. Wonderful and John Cole and Roy Edroso and Tbogg and Thers and asiangrrl and meep-meep (and endless others), who praised my work and wished me luck, and, in many cases, gave generously to the welfare fund that is currently helping to rebuild my life with talking computers and recording devices that can turn a blind man back into a writer.

Do drop by and say hello.  The world was getting dimmer without your wit, man.  Good to have you back.

Why Aurora Will Accomplish Nothing

Our politicians are not just beholden to special interests, they are completely terrified of the power they wield in Washington, Republicans and Democrats alike.  The NRA controls your Congress utterly, America.  GQ's Reid Cherlin interviews the mysterious Anonymous Democratic Hill Staffer:

We do absolutely anything they ask and we NEVER cross them—which includes asking permission to cosponsor any bills endorsed by the Humane Society (the answer is usually no) and complying with their demand to oppose the DISCLOSE Act, neither of which have anything to do with guns. They've completely shut down the debate over gun control. It's really incredible. I'm not sure when we decided that a Democrat in a marginal district who loses his A rating from the NRA automatically loses reelection. Because it's not like we do everything other partisan organizations like the Chamber [of Commerce] or NAM [National Association of Manufacturers] tell us to...

Pandering to the NRA is the probably worst part of my job. I can justify the rest of it—not just to keep the seat, but because I believe most of the positions he takes are consistent with what his constituents want. But sucking up to the NRA when something like Colorado happens is hard to stomach.

And so it goes.  And while Democrats are making excellent inroads in states like Arizona and Colorado, the NRA can and will shut down any Democrat without a built-in 15 point lead.  That's why nothing gets done on gun control.  Fear.

Mitt's Making Friends

At least he didn’t use the phrase “You people”.

Mitt Romney’s Anglo-Saxon Disaster Tour 2012 rolls on as the Telegraph reports on Romney’s efforts at diplomacy in advising the Brits on how to run an Olympics.

But [Romney] told US television there were “disconcerting” signs about Britain’s readiness. “It’s hard to know just how well it will turn out,” he said. “There are a few things that were disconcerting: the stories about the private security firm not having enough people, supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials, that obviously is not something which is encouraging.”

G4S, a private security company, provided thousands fewer staff than were expected, forcing the armed forces to fill the gap. British immigration officers had threatened to go on strike during the Olympics, but this ultimatum was called off on Wednesday. The Government insists that all preparations have been made and the event will be a success.

Nonetheless, Mr Romney questioned the enthusiasm of the British public. “Do they come together and celebrate the Olympic moment?” he asked. “That’s something which we only find out once the Games actually begin.”

What a mensch, our Mittens.  It’s a good thing the GOP has a presumptive nominee who didn’t go over to the London games and embarrass the country or anything, trashing the President while overseas, making mildly racists remarks or insulting one of our oldest allies.  That was certainly close.

Next time, can we just send Rafalca Romney on over?

That's One Clever Little Kid

I bet this little guy has a bright future ahead of him, as long as he doesn't let his ability go to the dark side.  From USA Today:

At least five members of the British airline Jet2.com have been suspended after an 11-year-old runaway managed to board a flight to Rome without a passport, boarding card or ticket, theManchester Evening News reports.

The boy, named Liam, apparently slipped pass five control points at Manchester Airport on Tuesday by latching onto another family.

Britains's Transport minister, Justine Greening calls the incident 'incredibly concerning," the Evening News reports.

The newspaper says Liam apparently ran away from his mother while she was shopping near the airport and passed through security checkpoints without being asked for documents.

The newspaper says Liam then headed for a departure lounge and followed a family boarding the Jet2.com flight LS791 to Rome.

He charmed a few passengers, but eventually they figured out what was going on and alerted staff.  For as many things that could have gone wrong with a kid leaving his mom near an airport, this is a relatively good ending.  

Running From The Cops With Kids Underwear, Prescription Pills And A Wig Is No Way To Go Through Life, Son

Springfield, Mo. - A man wanted by The Greene County Sheriff's Department on a felony forgery charge was busted in Iowa with children's underwear, prescription pills, a wig, a ski mask and more than 4-thousand dollars in cash. 

The new information is in a probable cause statement filed in Greene County. The filing says Ronald Richard Reed was living in Strafford under the name of Stanley and/or Gary Wills last November. The man born in 1944 or 1945 lived and worked on a farm in Strafford. Law enforcement started looking into his background after Reed's employer asked him to fill out a W-4 form for tax purposes.

It happens that he has previous crimes on his record, related to indecent behavior towards kids.  He is a non-compliant registered sex offender in Colorado.  The best authorities can release, he is currently in jail in Iowa, which is hunky dory with me.

Whatever he was planning, it wasn't good.  I hope he cools his heels for a long time.

Inside Job, Outside Reality

The deadly Aurora, Colorado massacre that claimed 12 lives and destroyed dozens more last week is all just a plot to allow Obama to murder your family because TREE OF LIBERTY or some crazy nonsense, or so the nutjobs on the right believe.  MoJo's Tim Murphy:

All indications from the Aurora Police Department are that Batman gunman James Holmes acted alone, for reasons that have yet to be established. But Larry Pratt—the president of Gun Owners of America, a far-right Second Amendment group that's backed by prominent people like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)—has a different theory. Pratt believes the timing of Holmes' rampage, which left 12 people dead and 58 wounded, seemed designed to coincide with the upcoming negotiation of the United Nations Small Arms Treaty. A press release sent out to radio bookers on Tuesday advertising Pratt's availability noted that, "In an article posted at The New American…one expert even outlined a theory that Holmes didn't act alone, but was possibly 'enlisted' to carry out his violent act." Pratt, the publicist stated, was free for interviews on Holmes' "impeccable" timing.

Awesome.   Oh, it gets worse:

…In other words, this has all the signs of Fast & Furious, Episode II. I wouldn't be surprised to discover someone in Washington was behind it all. After all, there's no quicker way to disarm a nation and take total control over the population than to stage violence, blame it on firearms, then call for leaders to "do something!" Such calls inevitably end up resulting in gun confiscation, and it's never too long after that before government genocide really kicks in like we saw with Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao and other tyrants.

You know, I'm personally getting sick and tired of the binary view on firearms that there's no possible middle ground between "unlimited access to lethal weapons" and "your family will be murdered."   I'd love for these Second Amendment morons to hang out in the inner city of any major American urban center for 24 hours and then tell me that what they need on the bad side of MLK Boulevard is more firearms.  Aurora massacres happen daily in this country, they're just not reported because the victims aren't fresh-faced (and caucasian) teenagers at the suburban cineplex.

Besides, the same people who are screaming that "We need more guns!" are the first to say "Well, the thug-ass punk deserved it" to the victims whenever there's the police actually shooting and killing people.  They have no problem with those particular incidences of "government genocide".

If a law was passed tomorrow that automatically limited gun ownership to registered Republicans, none of these cats would blink an eye, ya know?

Keystone To The Election, Part 2

The Justice Department is looking into Pennsylvania's voter ID law, with every day important now as Republicans there are trying to eliminate as many valid Democratic voters as possible in order to win by default.  The impact in urban Philadelphia could be far worse than previously thought as potentially more than 40% of the voters there could lose their right to vote this November.

The number of Pennsylvanians who might not have the photo identification necessary to vote this November has more than doubled: at least 1,636,168 registered voters, or 20 percent of Pennsylvania voters, may not have valid PennDOT-issued ID, according to new data obtained by City Paper. In Philadelphia, an enormous 437,237 people, or 43 percent of city voters, may not possess the valid PennDOT ID necessary to vote under the state's controversial new law.

“Those are the numbers we sent,” says Nick Winkler, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, when asked to confirm the data. “If you want to add them together, I think it's misleading.”

The new data, received and processed by the AFL-CIO, for the first time includes voters who had PennDOT licenses that have (as of Monday) been expired since Nov. 6, 2011 or an earlier date. If those people do not renew their licenses, the licenses will be expired by at least one year on election day and thus invalid under the new law. And because the AFL-CIO's voter file (which shows the already-publicized large number of voters with no PennDOT record) is seven months old, it could actually represent an undercount since it does not address whether those who have registered as voters since January have valid ID.

In other words, as many as 1.6 million Pennsylvanians could be forced to cast provisional ballots, ballots that will almost certainly not count and will be thrown out.  Only 62% of those ballots were counted in 2008, and that was when the number of provisional ballots cast nationwide was 1.7 million.   There's no way that all those voters reasonably could comply with getting their ID shown in person at the election board office within six business days, all but guaranteeing that hundreds of thousands of provisional ballots will be rejected and these voters will lose their right to vote.

More importantly the loss of hundreds of thousands of votes in urban areas will hurt Democrats far more than Republicans, all but assuring Republicans maintain permanent majorities in these states.  But "protecting the integrity" of a handful of votes is more important than taking the right to vote away from millions across the country in 2012, millions of Democratic votes, especially.

This is how Republicans plan to win it all in November and all but eliminate the Democrats from power.

StupidiNews!

• For the first time since last week's deadly massacre in Aurora, Colorado, neighbors of suspect James Holmes are being allowed to return to their apartment building.
• The USDA is predicting this summer's drought could raise prices on meat and dairy by 5% or more this year as feed harvests wither in the fields.
• The FBI will investigate the shooting of an unarmed man Friday by police in Anaheim, California that continues to spark violent protests and demonstrations in the city.
• Banking giant Citigroup is now predicting a 90% chance that Greece will leave the euro currency by the end of 2013 as the country's finances continue to deteriorate.
• Some 97% of Greenland's ice sheet is thawing this year as scientists warn repeated summers like this could accelerate ocean levels rising.