These people want a reality TV show, give them one. It’s called ‘Dealing With the Federal Prosecution System of the District of Columbia."Now that sounds like compelling television," chimes CJR's Alexandra Fenwick.
It’s asymmetrical, it’s unfair, and it’s about time that homeowners started being informed that a ding to their credit score is not the end of the world; that no one would expect a capitalist company to behave in the way that individuals are being told to behave; and that their options are in fact broader than they might believe.
H.M. EMBASSY
MOSCOW
Lord Pembroke
The Foreign Office
London
6th April 1943
My Dear Reggie,
In these dark days man tends to look for little shafts of light that spill from Heaven. My days are probably darker than yours, and I need, my God I do, all the light I can get. But I am a decent fellow, and I do not want to be mean and selfish about what little brightness is shed upon me from time to time. So I propose to share with a tiny flash that has illuminated my sombre life and tell you that God has given me a new Turkish colleague whose card tells me that he is called Mustapha Kunt.
We all feel like that, Reggie, now and then, especially when Spring is upon us, but few of us would care to put it on our cards. It takes a Turk to do that.
(Signed)
Sir Archibald Clerk Kerr,
H.M. Ambassador.
I've been a prisoner of war since December 19th, 1944, when our division was cut to ribbons by Hitler's last desperate thrust through Luxemburg and Belgium. Seven Fanatical Panzer Divisions hit us and cut us off from the rest of Hodges' First Army. The other American Divisions on our flanks managed to pull out: We were obliged to stay and fight. Bayonets aren't much good against tanks: Our ammunition, food and medical supplies gave out and our casualties out-numbered those who could still fight - so we gave up. The 106th got a Presidential Citation and some British Decoration from Montgomery for it, I'm told, but I'll be damned if it was worth it. I was one of the few who weren't wounded. For that much thank God.
Regrettably, the Court has been unable to find even so much as a scintilla of good faith on the part of Plaintiff. Plaintiff comes before this Court with unclean hands yet has the insufferable temerity to demand equitable relief against DefendantAhhh... poetry.
...if you want to be a strict constructionist, fine, but be one even when it’s inconvenient. Imagine if the Second Amendment read as follows: “A woman’s ability to survive childbearing being necessary to a free state, the right to abort a fetus shall not be infringed.” Now, do you think the anti-choice movement would simply ignore the leading clause and resign themselves to the idea that a woman has an unconditional right to abortion? Not a chance, and they'd be right to fight because the language clearly implies a conditional right.
And yet we almost never hear gun rights advocates mention the actual Second Amendment’s leading clause, “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state….,” which at least suggests a collective right—indeed, obligation—to an armed defense of the state, rather than an individual’s right to use arms to protect himself and his property. For the record, I support gun rights with some restrictions, but that’s besides my point, which is that you can’t be so selective in citing the language in the Constitution that you chop off inconveniently ambiguous parts of the same sentence upon which you base a categorical claim.
A Swiss court has accepted film-maker Roman Polanski's plea to be freed on $4.5m bail from a Swiss jail where he is being held for a US child sex case.
The court said Polanski could stay at his chalet in the Swiss Alps. He would be monitored by an electronic tag.
It is highly unusual for extradition subjects to be granted bail in Switzerland, says the BBC's Imogen Foulkes, adding that Polanski's first application was refused.
It is thought Polanski will remain in jail until the Swiss Justice Ministry decides whether to appeal against the ruling.
...the compromise that ended up in the House bill is to have a mere public option, open only to the 6 million Americans not otherwise covered. The Congressional Budget Office warns this shrunken public option will have no real bargaining leverage and would attract mainly people who need lots of medical care to begin with. So it will actually cost more than it saves.Yet this is the provision that will be filibustered by the right wing. Because it will destroy private health insurance and turn us into a socialist state.
But even the House's shrunken and costly little public option is too much for private insurers, Big Pharma, Republicans, and "centrists" in the Senate. So Harry Reid has proposed an even tinier public option, which states can decide not to offer their citizens. According to the CBO, it would attract no more than 4 million Americans.
...the Reid bill's fiscal strategy, and its vision of how to "bend the curve," almost completely follows Baucus' path from September. Baucus' bill was the first to establish the principle that Congress could expand coverage while reducing the federal deficit; now that's the standard not only for the Senate but also the House reform legislation. And, perhaps even more importantly, the Reid bill maintains virtually all of Baucus ideas' for shifting the medical payment system away from today's fee-for-service model toward an approach that more closely links compensation for providers to results for patients. In the Reid bill, there is some backtracking from Baucus' most aggressive reform proposals, but not much.That post heaps praise onto Sen. Reid's bill for a host of measures that are not part of the current media scream fest.
Almost everything Baucus proposed to control long-term costs have survived into the final bill. And, with only a few exceptions, that's just about all the systemic reforms analysts from the center to the left have identified as the most promising strategies for changing the economic incentives in the medical system. (The public competitor to private insurance companies championed by the Left would affect who writes the checks in the medical system, but not what the checks are written to pay for.)
[it's] one of those pesky details embedded in both the House and Senate bills—a clause that lets insurance companies cross state lines to sell their wares. Way before last year’s election, Ronald Williams, the CEO of Aetna, told the Senate Finance Committee that allowing cross-state purchasing of health insurance was a necessary ingredient for reform. The Senate Finance Committee, along with the House, heard his plea.This is the same crap McCain tried to sell in the election. The same notion that candidate Obama dismissed as something that would lead insurance to follow the pattern of credit cards: a race to the bottom of customer service and value.
The provision, euphemistically named the Health Care Choice Compact, would work like this: Two or more states could join together and allow insurers selling health coverage to be governed by the laws and regulations of the state where the policy was issued, not the rules of the state where they’re sold. So a company wanting to sell in, say, Wyoming or South Carolina—which may have weak regulations—could choose to issue its policies in those states but actually sell them in New York or California—where the rules are tougher. If policyholders have problems with their coverage, too bad: the rules of the weaker state would apply, and they could be out of luck.
Insurers, looking toward lucrative new markets, want to fashion their new policies without having to deal with the restrictions and consumer protections required by some states. In other words, the current definition of market reform will mean they have to insure sick folks; in return, they will offer policies with less coverage and fewer protections. Think of it as back-door underwriting—a process that limits these companies’ liability for high-cost claims.
This is the core of the insurers’ business strategy, wrapped in the guise of consumer choice. Remember, this is the Health Care Choice Compact we’re talking about. If consumers want a policy with few benefits or no protections, that’s their choice. It’s kind of like letting a U.S. toy manufacturer sell yo-yos that conform to Chinese—not American—regulations. Take your choice: a yo-yo with lead, or one without?
Officials of The Philadelphia Inquirer National Sudoku Championship have disqualified the third-place winner of the Oct. 24 tourney after an investigation, which included a retesting at The Inquirer last week.
Eugene Varshavsky of Lawrenceville, N.J., was stripped of his $3,000 prize after doing poorly in the retest.
...first AIG contributed $5 billion to Maiden Lane III and the New York Fed gave it a $24.3 billion loan. Then Maiden Lane III gave all $26.8 billion to the banks in exchange for the CDOs. (The banks accepted $26.8 billion because they already held $35.0 billion in collateral; together that makes $61.8 billion — as I said, I can’t get $300 million to reconcile.) Then Maiden Lane III gave $2.5 billion right back to AIG (this is the amount by which AIG had overcollateralized). As part of the deal, the banks agreed to tear up the original CDS on the CDOs, so AIG couldn’t lose any more on the CDS (which, remember, are separate from the CDOs).
The controversy is not over paying $29.3 (or $29.6) billion for the CDOs, since that was the market price. The controversy is over whether AIG should have agreed to settle the CDS at 100 cents on the dollar (meaning that the banks get the difference between the face value of the CDOs and their current market value). Bloomberg reported a while back that prior to the government bailout, AIG had been trying to negotiate a settlement at 60-70 cents on the dollar, but that that portion of the term sheet was crossed out in the final agreement. The implication is that paying the swaps off in full was a back-door, off-the-books way of funneling cash to banks that we didn’t want to fail.
"I will not answer that question."Now, that's according to an interview with Rep. Peter DeFazio - and the NY fed is disputing this - but don't you think we should have a firm answer on this question?
About 200 European football games are under investigation in a match-fixing inquiry, German prosecutors have said.
...
On Thursday police carried out about 50 raids in Germany, the UK, Switzerland and Austria, making 17 arrests and seizing cash and property.
[Following a German scandal in 2005] Uefa has since introduced an early warning system which flags up unusual betting patterns.
The betting fraud detection system monitors real-time betting, giving investigators an immediate idea of whether there are irregular patterns.
The recent arrests would seem to indicate the detection process is working, but the scale of the manipulation must be a concern...
[The witness] said he was walking in a roadway between the main building, known as the Sportsdome, and five smaller buildings. Major Hasan was headed toward the main building, the witness said, when Sergeant Munley came around the corner of a smaller building. Major Hasan wheeled on her and shot her several times, the witness said. It was unclear whether she squeezed off a shot or not, but she fell over backward, with wounds in her legs and her wrist, the witness said.
Major Hasan then turned his back and began to shove another magazine into his pistol. He did not appear wounded, the witness said. A few seconds later, Sergeant Todd came around another corner of the same building, raised his weapon and fired several times at Major Hasan, who pitched over backward and stopped moving.
“He shot her, turned away from her and was reloading when he was shot,” said the witness, who was nearby.
