Open Thread

Posted by BooMan | Dec 28, 2005 | 41 |

What’s on your mind?

About The Author

BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.

41 Comments

ask on December 28, 2005 at 3:31 pm

Since I’ve just posted a ‘happy story’, I should be entitled to link to some bad news now;

We have all seen bonddad & al post about the economy and how it is home re-financing that has boosted consumer spending over the last few years. Looks like those home equity loans have hit a big bump:

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. mortgage applications fell to a more than 3-1/2-year low last week amid a sharp drop in demand for loan refinancing even as interest rates held steady, an industry trade group said on Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications for the week ended December 23 decreased 6.8 percent to 554.1 from the previous week’s 594.6. Volume was at its lowest level since the week ended May 24, 2002, when the index hit 516.9.

I’m no expert on this, but the above sounds like bad news for those counting on economic recovery.
- dada on December 28, 2005 at 3:41 pm
  
  Commerce Dept data show 11.3% decline in new housing sales in Nov. The largest decline in nearly 12 yrs., since Jan 1994.
  
  Not good news.
  
  More Here
  
  Peace
- boran2 on December 28, 2005 at 3:43 pm
  
  A slowdown in refinancing, particularly the conversion of home equity into cash or “cash-out refis,” could lead to less U.S. consumer spending in 2006, analysts said.
  
  “Less refinancing activity should dampen consumer spending — although that has not yet occurred,” said Steven Wood, chief economist at Insight Economics, in a report.
  
  If people are finally getting wise to the idea that spending funds arising from a refinancing of an overvalued residence is not really a good idea (and it isn’t), I’m not sure that this is a bad thing. Yes, business may suffer, but I know too many people that have gotten into trouble going on spending sprees after refinancing. Does every house need granite counters in the kitchen and a new SUV in the driveway? But then again, some would see restraint on spending as unpatriotic. It’s our god-given obligation to carry huge debt, isn’t it?
- growthrate on December 28, 2005 at 5:05 pm
  
  A couple of things drive mortgage refi applications. Most US consumer mortgages have two important features: you can prepay them without penalty at any time, for any reason (which means you can refinance whenever rates fall), and they usually have a “due-on-sale” clause, which means the first thing that happens when you sell your house is that the proceeds pay off your mortgage, so the buyer has to get a new one.
  
  Mortgage refi rates usually drop when interest rates rise, for the simple reason that you can’t save money by refinancing your mortgage at a higher interest rate. So that’s no big surprise. To a lesser extent, borrowers whose houses have appreciated also refi to cash out some of that equity. The potential effect on consumer spending is in the drop in cash-out borrowing, which is bound to happen as rates rise and refis in general dry up.
  
  Conclusion: the drop in mortgage refi applications is just a result of rising rates (the longer-term trend, not the weekly fluctuations). What we don’t know, but seem to be about to learn, is how much a drop in cash-outs will translate to a drop in spending.
soj on December 28, 2005 at 3:40 pm

hey i’m just glad to be “back in the saddle” with the internet at home… feels like I’ve got my arm re-attached or something 😉

Other than that, looking forward to a 2006 that’s a lot shinier than 2005 was 😉

Pax
anna in philly on December 28, 2005 at 3:42 pm

road trip…florida…long drive…car isnt ready…im not ready….one more holiday family dinner tonite then im off to a real vacation.
- boran2 on December 28, 2005 at 3:45 pm
  
  You sound a tad, umm, agitated.
ejmw on December 28, 2005 at 3:48 pm

Tonight the Cornhuskers will be embarrassed on national television. I’ve been looking forward to this since their theft of one half of the 1997 national championship.

Combine that with their enabler’s fall from grace (Phil Fulmer), and it will make one damn good football year, 4 losses or not.
- its simple IF you ignore the complexity on December 28, 2005 at 5:33 pm
  
  I’d say you were petty and bitter….
  
  but I’m still made about the tripping call in the 1981 playoffs…
  and I’m talking indoor soccer 🙂
  
  THAT’S petty and bitter!
  - ejmw on December 28, 2005 at 6:17 pm
    
    THIS is Petty and Bitter =)
    - Cali Scribe on December 28, 2005 at 6:47 pm
      
      the face on that bitter looks too much like Bill O’Reilly to me… shudder
      - ejmw on December 28, 2005 at 6:52 pm
        
        Yikes. You’re right, there is definitely a resemblance.
        
        Good thing I haven’t ever tried that beer. If it were one of my favorites, I’d be crestfallen.
Cali Scribe on December 28, 2005 at 3:49 pm

choice of Clinton or McCain…Canada is looking better and better…
alohaleezy on December 28, 2005 at 4:48 pm

I hear ya Cali. Only I just cannot take cold anymore. How about Fiji? Or Costa Rica where land is still relatively cheap? If enough of us go we could start our own little township!
- Our Man in Redmond on December 28, 2005 at 6:42 pm
  
  It doesn’t get much colder than Seattle, considering that it’s only 140 miles north as the Pierce-Arrow flies. Or you could live in Victoria, which is even closer. They’re both moderately expensive, though.
  
  Unfortunately I’m not sure they’d take me. I consistently come up short on their self-evaluation immigration test, and I don’t have a metric bucketload of money to invest in the country. So far my backup plans — getting BC to annex Seattle, or barring that, having my daughter marry a Canadian and then bringing us into the country as relatives — haven’t worked out that well either. 🙂
  - Cali Scribe on December 28, 2005 at 6:49 pm
    
    at one point; they’ve got a halfway decent transit system so the spouse could be gainfully employed.
    
    Unfortunately, with the spouse within spitting distance of retirement I think we’re stuck here… 🙁
  - ghandi on December 28, 2005 at 6:51 pm
    
    I am moving to Brazil – partially – in a few weeks. It’s a long story but I will be posting from Pernambuco from a five bedroom house 20 meters from the beach which costs a shade over US$200 a month for rent and I can buy it for less than US$30,000. I lived in Brazil for six months last year and enjoyed it tremendously – great people, great weather, relaxed culture that is not uptight and strict, socialised medicine.
    
    Okay, it has huge problems too. I can go on how bad it is but I can do that about Vancouver since I was born there or Holland where I live now. Home is what you make of it. With an Internet connection I can be anywhere – as can more and more people these days.
    - Arcturus on December 28, 2005 at 7:11 pm
      
      the journey itself is home
      
      –Matsuo Basho (c. 1689)
    - Our Man in Redmond on December 28, 2005 at 7:24 pm
      
      There are plenty of people who would die for a chance to live in a house on the beach in Brazil. I’m not one of them. I’d simply die. Nine years of Austin, Texas showed me that I can’t handle the heat. People ask me why I moved to a place that’s famous for its rain; I tell them part of the reason I moved here was the weather.
      
      Sounds like you got yourself a pretty nice deal, though.
      - ghandi on December 28, 2005 at 7:42 pm
        
        I rusted away my most of my youth in Vancouver. Lovely city – but I’m a sun guy. However, it wouldn’t be so green if it didn’t rain so much.
        
        Nice quote that one tucked away back there.
        
        Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.
        
        – Alan Keightley
      - alohaleezy on December 28, 2005 at 8:13 pm
        
        Need company? I lived on Kauai for eight years and I adore the tropics. Hate the cold(34 years of Chicago winters)and the only reason I am in SoCal right now is my beautiful grandaughter(and of course my son and daughterinlaw).Keep us posted on Brazil ghandi. Loved your diary today!
StrayRoots on December 28, 2005 at 5:40 pm

and moonchild proved it!
ghandi on December 28, 2005 at 5:52 pm

Anybody been on the NSA site lately? I just picked this up on my RSS Wiretap Headline Grabber online.

USA TODAY
NSA used banned data-tracking "cookies" on website

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Security Agency’s Internet site has been placing files on visitors’ computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them.

These files, known as "cookies," disappeared after a privacy activist complained and The Associated Press made inquiries this week, and agency officials acknowledged Wednesday they had made a mistake.

Nonetheless, the issue raises questions about privacy at a spy agency already on the defensive amid reports of a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States.

"Considering the surveillance power the NSA has, cookies are not exactly a major concern," said Ari Schwartz, associate director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a privacy advocacy group in Washington, D.C. "But it does show a general lack of understanding about privacy rules when they are not even following the government’s very basic rules for Web privacy."

Until Tuesday, the NSA site created two cookie files that do not expire until 2035 — likely beyond the life of any computer in use today.
- ghandi on December 28, 2005 at 7:26 pm
  
  This is rather promising… from the Huffington Post. The vultures are at the gate George. Covering this up now is like putting a band aid on a compound fracture.
  
  Impeachment is Now Real
  
  …Because we shall soon see the consequences of those warrantless searches, the consequences of the government’s five years of secrecy, and even the citizens of the “Red States” will be outraged. Firstly, the warrantless taps will infect hundreds of “terrorist” and criminal cases throughout the country. Not only future cases, but past and present cases, even if there were convictions or plea bargains after the survellance started.
  
  The defendants in “terrorist” and other infected criminal cases, the Court must find, must get access to everything, or very close to everything to make sure they were never improperly surveilled. The Bush Administration, in these cases will refuse, as did the Nixon administration, to divulge information on national security grounds. Many alleged critical cases must then be dismissed. It will include Organized Crime and drug cases.
  
  The entire criminal process will be brought to a standstill. Cases that should take six months to a year, will take three times as long, as motions go up and down the appellate ladder – as federal judges trial disagree with each other. Appellate Courts will disagree on issues so novel and so important that the Supreme Court will look at them.
  
  Secondly, there will be an endless amounts of civil suits, that we can see will result in substantial damage awards. Commentators claimed there cannot be suits because no one has standing to challenge the surveillance. They are wrong. They do not remember the history of the Palmer Raids in the 1920’s, the surveillance in the Sixties and Seventies. The future will show both the enormous information the new technology has gathered but also the dishonest minimization of the extent of the surveillance.
keepinon on December 28, 2005 at 6:02 pm

Real jobs for our young people.
A government in Iraq that can unite all the factions, and calm the chaos.
Our Military out of there ASAP.
Public Schools that are equally funded and level the playing field for all Americans.
Affordable Health Care for all Americans.
A reconstructed safety net for our citizens.
An energy policy that makes sense.
No more torture.
No more spying on our own citizens without just cause and a court order.
Enforceable limits on election campaign funding.
Paper ballots.
A government that I can trust to put people first.
A free press that will do its job.
New Orleans and the gulf coast rebuilt, so displaced citizens have a chance to go home again.
A Democratic Congress in 06.
Bushco out of business by 07.
A Democratic President in 08.
Stuff like that.
sbj on December 28, 2005 at 6:09 pm

I’m looking for some computer related stuff and am having a hard time getting proper direction from store personnel so I’m hoping someone here might be ableto advise me.

I want to be able to capture audio and video from TV and also from other analogue and digitial devices and download it to my computer. (I’d also like to be able to watch/listen to tv in a small window on my computer screen sometimes, though this isn’t absolutely necessary).

Then I’d like to be able to edit the video so I can make either DVD’s or send it back to a VCR to make tapes which I can then distribute to friends.

I have a Toshiba laptop with usb and firewire ports and a 60gig hard drive.

Does anyone know if there’s one product I can buy that wil do all the things I mention above? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
- ghostdancers way on December 28, 2005 at 6:30 pm
  
  video capture
- ghostdancers way on December 28, 2005 at 6:32 pm
  
  video capture
  - sbj on December 28, 2005 at 8:50 pm
    
    Thank you for the links ghostdancer.
- ghostdancers way on December 28, 2005 at 6:33 pm
  
  or these video
- ghandi on December 28, 2005 at 6:42 pm
  
  I use PCTV to great success – and it works with both NTSC and PAL.
  
  http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/PCTV/PCTV/
  - ghandi on December 28, 2005 at 6:43 pm
    
    Missed Link…
    
    http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/PCTV/PCTV/
    - sbj on December 28, 2005 at 8:50 pm
      
      Thanks ghandi!
- rumi on December 28, 2005 at 7:00 pm
  
  All of the ones g-d linked look pretty good. I went with an ATI video capture card (internal) a looooong time ago with glitched success. It was relatively new then but the basics were good.
  
  Depending on what you need to do you have to look at the analog-digital capability. The Pinnacle software is really good and I saw that listed. If all you have is a laptop then an internal card might be trickier to find, not sure about that. It would save dragging stuff around and they usually come with a tuner built in.
  - sbj on December 28, 2005 at 8:56 pm
    
    Thank you for the input Rumi.
- rumi on December 28, 2005 at 7:14 pm
  
  TigerDirect List of items compared
Arcturus on December 28, 2005 at 6:58 pm

A developing story about AP reporter in Haiti, Regina Alexandre, who appears to be a part-time ‘consultant’ (?) or ‘field presence’ for the State Department funded NED. One NED grantee in Haiti was quoted saying that Alexandre is the NED contact person in the country. She has written 10 articles on Haiti since May 2004, but apparently has no previous reported bylines. The latest article is dated Dec 25. There’s also at least one article from June 2004 in the NY Times listing her as a contributor. She denies working for NED. No comment yet from AP or the Times.

The story aired yesterday on Dennis Bernstein’s Flashpoints Radio program; the reporter working the story is Anthony Fenton.

direct link

Lebanese-American blogger As’ad Abu-Khalil (AngryArab) was on another segment. Flashpoints has had some great interviews of late, w/ people like James Bamford, Robert Parry, Norman Solomon & Michael Ratner (Center for Constitutional Rights)
growthrate on December 28, 2005 at 7:05 pm

Any suggestions for dancing in San Francisco or the South Bay?
- Cali Scribe on December 29, 2005 at 1:38 am
  
  but spouse and I just decided to actually go out this year for New Year’s! Going to see Christopher Titus at the San Jose Improv, and booked a room at the Homestead Studio Suites on N. 1st Street so spouse doesn’t have to worry about driving (it’s right on the light rail line). Not just because of possible DUI either (which would be deadly to his career); driving and parking in downtown SJ is a bitch on a non-holiday Saturday…
Arcturus on December 28, 2005 at 8:56 pm

Police use rape to terrorize women and girls in Haiti

Since the Feb. 29, 2004, coup overthrowing the democratic government of Jean Bertrand Aristide, reports have surfaced of a growing problem: politically motivated mass rape. Women in the popular neighborhoods – which are known for their support of Aristide and the democratic movement – have accused members of the police force and U.N. soldiers, as well as members of the demobilized Haitian army, of targeting them for sexual attacks.

Bay View reporter Lyn Duff spoke this week with Estelle, a resident of Port-au-Prince’s Bel Air neighborhood about the attack on her family by police:

<snip>

One had his police identification out and said, “See what this is? It means that I can do with you whatever I want.” But it was too dark for us to see the name on the card, even though we recognized it as a policeman’s identification card.

Four police officers stayed behind after the others took my husband away. The way they were looking at me, I knew I was in trouble . . .

But one police officer said to me, “Don’t worry, you’ll enjoy it.” I think you can imagine what happened next. All of the police officers raped me, both in the natural place for having sex and also in the unnatural way, in my rear.

The whole time my children were there watching. When the police officers finished with me, they went for my oldest girl, the one who is here with me today. They wanted to violate her as well but she is too small. One police officer put his fingers up inside of her and she bled.

Radio interview with Lyn Duff.
- DuctapeFatwa on December 28, 2005 at 9:11 pm
  
  The atrocities in Haiti since US has spread democracy on it are largely ignored by the west, and to be fair, by the east.
  
  This is a grave mistake, as Haiti is an excellent example of what citizens in a number of countries, including the US, may expect, as the policies are implemented more widely. Or as Mr. Danger calls it, “excellent progress.”

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