Saturday Morning Open Thread

Nervous breakdown coverage continues.

I will add that the Dems papered over a lot of divisions by uniting in opposition to the war in Iraq.  What are they going to do next - unite in opposition to the war in Afghanistan?  Why not?

Comments

[Pagar]

The thing the Democrats care most about is unlicensed school bake sales.

"
To be a member of the modern Democrat Party, you have to be exceedingly stupid."

Every thing you need to know about the Democrats in one sentence.

[Cancun't.]

L!ink U!nder N!ame.
===================

[Oh what fools we morbid be.]

Scroll to the fourth thread about the Wikileaked stuff.
=========================

[BR]

Oh, this is great. I'm telling ya,
Wikileaks is a modern day Robin Hood.

And the Cancun Climate Clowns say: Shhhhhh.

[Pagar]

Good Link, Kim!

[BR]

Kissinger stashed his records
with his Rocky mentors
Come on, DJ, play me some chords
so we don't have to wait 50 years
till after the devil scores

[BR]

Oe, oe, oe, I'm making French Toast with eggnog and rum.

[peter]

Inherit the Wind textbook excerpt at LUN. Wonder what Steve Sailer has to say about this.
You see the big problem for liberals and New York Times editors, and their ilk, is to be a modern liberal you have to be obsessed with race, and you also have to feel smugly superior to middle Americans who have doubts about evolution, but these two requirements are not always compatible.

[Pagar]

Rage Inducing: Iowa High School Removes Christmas Tree After People Complained it Was “Offensive”.

The Anti-American leftists win again!

[Extraneus]

What's the solution when the complainers are offensive?

[Janet]

Peter...great link. Thank you so much!

[Melinda Romanoff]

Kim's Wikileaks link on the admin's -ahem- largess.

[hit and run]

TM:
I will add that the Dems papered over a lot of divisions by uniting in opposition to the war in Iraq.

And hatred of Bush. And while they certainly have Palin to hate on now -- it doesn't quite unite the community-based reality coalition of the swills governance-wise to hate a private citizen as compared to a sitting president.

And obviously it doesn't exactly get the troops fired up and ready to go with the fierce urgency of having a cow to simply continue to hate a now ex-president -- especially one that the rest of the country (including even some of that highly vaunted formerly untied front) is starting to long for in comparison to the current occupant.

Jackasses.

[Cecil Turner]

Loved this bit of self-awareness from Halperin:

Democrats are [. . .] frustrated that they lost an election [. . .] based on criticism of their apparent lack of concern over the deficit, by a party that has shown no past or current seriousness about deficit reduction and the hard choices involved.

Nice try selling that one, with a couple-trillion dollar albatross still settling on the neck-strap.

[narciso the harpoon]

Charles Blow shows his ignorance, yet again. 'removing all doubt'

[Melinda Romanoff]

And my Hugh Hendry link from last night.

Use the controls at the top of the pdf to read all 12 pages (if you don't have Adobe Reader, you won't be able to see it).

[anduril]

And now for a dissident voice:

Wikistink

Over a quarter of a million diplomatic cables, marked – “secret” , “confidential”, or “unclassified” – to and from the US State Department have been “leaked” to the public, presumably by a whistleblower. On the surface, it seems like the sort of thing that restores power to the people. It arms us all with knowledge and reminds those in power that they must answer to the public.

Then you pause to think. And that’s when the holes in this narrative become obvious.

Although WikiLeaks claims to provide a counter balance to the decades of disinformation served up in heaps by the “old media”, it chose to allow the vetting of these documents by these same outlets. Other highly respected media outlets, like al Jazeera and various independent media, were excluded. I find that odd, for starters.

If we take a look at the content of the cables themselves, the most remarkable thing to come out of these secret and confidential memos is what they do not contain. Granted, only 290 have actually been released so far. But it seems far from a coincidence that nearly every cable to and from Arab states released thus far has to do with villainizing Iran and mum’s the word on most major diplomatic hooplas of the past few years.

Take for example the bombshell briefing by a senior military officers to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen earlier in the year. The team was dispatched by Commander General David Petraeus to brief the Pentagon on intelligence that Israeli intransigence in the peace process was jeopardizing American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and that America was perceived as weak, ineffectual, and unable to stand up to Israel. Such political commentary from the highest echelons of the military was unprecedented and when news of this briefing broke, you can bet there was a significant diplomatic flurry. Yet a simple search of Petraeus’ name in the cablegate database on the Guardian website only turns up cables indicating that Arab countries were eager for an attack on Iran, which coincidentally happens to bolster Israel’s drumming for more war.

You can’t even find Vice President Joe Biden’s name in the keyword search even though Israel’s announcement of the construction of more illegal Jewish-only settlements in East Jerusalem on the eve of Biden’s visit to Tel Aviv amounted to an epic public spanking of Obama. Subsequent statements from the White House were as harsh as America ever dares to be with Israel, although they did not approach Obama’s reported ire over the matter. Thus far, there is not a single cable on the matter.

If you search cables originating in Dubai, all you’ll find are those denouncing and accusing Iran in titles like “Arab states scorn ‘evil’ Iran”, “AbuDhabi favors action to prevent nuclear Iran”, or “Emiratis fret over Iranian meddling”. This is quite amazing considering that the biggest diplomatic crisis this year occurred after a senior Hamas leader was assassinated in Dubai. The evidence and the world’s collective finger pointed at the Mossad and several diplomatic fallouts ensued when it was confirmed that Israel had forged foreign passports of the hitmen. And yet, there is not a word about this in any of the cables released so far. Instead, everything referencing the UAE or originating from Dubai only discusses “evil Iran”, much like the cables referencing Gen. Petraeus.

The list goes on. For all of Israel’s well known subterfuge (to put it mildly) – their espionage against the US; their persistent requests for money, weapons, special favors, and political cover; their well documented crimes against Palestinians; their mafia tactics of assassinating leaders, intellectuals, and scientists across the globe; and their US-based powerful lobby, AIPAC, which was the center of an FBI investigation that found their senior officers passing sensitive and classified US intelligence to Israel – there is nothing referencing any of this in the memos to and from the US State Department in the cables thus far released.

Something else to note.

Someone with access to hundreds of thousands of classified communications and with the ability to move them without detection must have exceptionally high security clearance. He or she must be on the far upper end of the ladder. Why would individuals like that risk their careers, possibly their lives, just to embarrass the US, presumably their own country?

Whistleblowers tend to be people who obey the call of their conscience and moral codes to expose crimes and injustices committed. But there is nothing of the sort in this “leak”. Even more absurd is the notion that Manning, a soldier, leaked all these documents while in custody and under surveillance.

Finally, does anyone find it odd that while most world leaders are quietly bracing themselves for embarrassment and diplomatic repercussions, Benjamin Netanyahu is confidently speaking and gloating about how Saudia Arabia has urged attacking Iran? I sure do.

There are still thousands more cables to be reviewed and redacted by the good old boy network of ‘old media’ and I hope that the cables they release in the coming days and months will prove my suspicions moot. I’m willing to keep an open mind until we’ve seen the full leak. In the meantime, what we know so far does not add up and frankly smells rotten.

[anduril]

Let me be quite frank: I haven't been following the Wikileaks flap closely and haven't heard anything that was released that would spark my interest--nothing surprising in what was released. OTOH, Susan Abulhawa raises some troubling issues, like the old Holmes conundrum of the dog that didn't bark. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I mean, thoughts--not just the standard vituperation.

[Cecil Turner]

Ah, so Assange is actually an Israeli mole. Who knew? [/eyeroll]

[Melinda Romanoff]

Also from ZH, some procedural issues seem to have arisen in Florida and Pennsylvania, and lookie here, B of A comes up in the filings, again.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Cecil-

Hah! Good one!

[Gmax]

What was the rolling stones hit about nervous breakdowns? Maybe we can play it in the background while Combustible Claire McCaskill ( did Missouri really think she was best to represent them ) and the disgusting Menendez/Schumer I 95 duo continue to call us names. I am so ready for January and there will be some adults in charge.

[anduril]

I'm not jumping to any such conclusions--Assange takes what he can get. As I indicated I was looking for thought, not vituperation but not mindless jumping to conclusions, either. Did I come to the wrong place?

[narciso the harpoon]

They've never cared about the Palestinians, otherwise most of these countries would have integrated the diaspora into their respective
populations. The proverb about diplomats, 'willing to go forth, and lie for their country' was never more apt. And Biden no one takes him seriously

[Clarice]

Cecil, I coulda told you. The absence of evidence proves it.

It's a lot easier than conceding error.

[Gmax]

Melinda

I have a real problem with these lawsuits alleging "fraud" in judicial foreclosure states. None of these "victims" can answer the first question that you would need to answer to get me the least bit interested in this nonsense, that being, have you made your payments? The answer is of course not for months, and in Fla perhaps YEARS ( yes with a S, years )!

If the chain of ownership was not prperly documented, that is an issue but it should not benefit the deadbeat. Not for one more day.

And foreclosure should be handled nonjudicially. In Texas after proper notice, the foreclosure is handled on the Courthouse steps on the first Tuesday of the next month. Government does not need to create a huge mess, and then whine about how this backlog in the courts is impacting the housing market. Flush the folks out who should never have been qualified for the mortgage in the first place, get the home sold at a market clearing price and address FNMA and FHLMC underwirting in January 2011.

Problem solved.

[anduril]

No one spoke of proof. I should have added: please, no AIPAC talking points. Lets have as informed a discussion as is possible. I know that's asking a lot when discussants include people who pontificate about the Espionage Act without first reading it.

[Pagar]

From the NC version of Mel's link @09:50

"The practice of law by non-lawyers is a far more serious matter. In Pennsylvania it is a crime"

I would think that will get some lawyers upset. Many of whom don't seem to think there is anything wrong with foreclosure fraud as long as someone gets to take the house away from the borrower.
LUN

[peter]

Good old classy Claire McCaskill. (it's old, but still disgusting)
LUN

[Danube of Thought]

Your mother, who neglected you
Owes a million dollars tax
And your father's still perfecting ways
Of making sealing wax
You better stop, a-look around

Here it comes, here it comes
Here it comes, here it comes
Here comes your 19th nervous breakdown

[anduril]

They've never cared about the Palestinians, otherwise most of these countries would have integrated the diaspora into their respective
populations.

So, if I break into your house and kick you out, when you protest and demand to be let back in I should stone wall and blame the neighbors for not taking you in? Bizarre.

[Janet]

A good book on the Scopes trial is Summer for the Gods by Edward J. Larson.

I copied that linked article Peter...& tucked it in my book.

[Gmax]

Who let the Palestinian Authority spokesman into the discussion? Gosh I guess the fact that King Herrod once ruled there is another myth? I am so confused, or someone else is.

[Captain Hate]

So, if I break into your house and kick you out

Can you be any more of a dickbag with your historical fairy tales? I realize by responding to you I'm giving in to your attention-whoring; kind of like anybody that watches those exhibitionists at the Folsom Street Fair in Pelosiville. But by writing such disingenuous nonsense you lose any credibility which I've given you at times in the past when you've sanely discussed a topic.

[Janet]

and your link Pagar about the "offensive" Christmas tree. Let's just do away with ALL the religious holidays. No time off, no special sales or marketing, no decorations at all in public...for Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter,...
None of it. I will celebrate these days in my church with fellow Christians & the rest of America can go to work/school & shut the hell up.

[Gmax]

I typed "spokesman" but on reflection I want to retract that. I really meant, apologist and revisionist. There now I like it.

[boris]

"when you've sanely discussed a topic"

Using the word "sanely" in that context is quite a stretch.

[narciso the harpoon]

So, could this SVR mole in the NSA be the one who provided leaks on the terrorist surveillance program to the press, namely
Priest, Risen, et al

[Danube of Thought]

Equating the victims of a home invasion with people who lost a war in which they were on the aggressor side is argumentation at the pre-teen level.

[Janet]

from Pagar's link - "that they received several calls that the tree was “offensive.”

Again I gotta ask, WHO???? Is there some "Ellie Light" person that calls all these businesses & schools saying the trees are offensive? Do these unnamed complainers even go to the school or frequent the business?

[Clarice]

Surprise the editors of the Washington Post call Plame and Wilson liars and "Fair Game" a crock..they still don't name Armitage by name though they note a state dept official, not the WH leaked her name which they note had no real consequences anyway. And they don't think Fitz was another Elliott Ness .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/03/AR2010120306298.html>Ambassador and Mrs Munchausen get kicked in the butt

Although they continue the reluctance to name Richard Armitage as the leaker, they do note that the leaker was a state department official. And the editors spare no one involved in this project:

[quote]"Fair Game," based on books by Mr. Wilson and his wife, is full of distortions - not to mention outright inventions. To start with the most sensational: The movie portrays Ms. Plame as having cultivated a group of Iraqi scientists and arranged for them to leave the country, and it suggests that once her cover was blown, the operation was aborted and the scientists were abandoned. This is simply false. In reality, as The Post's Walter Pincus and Richard Leiby reported, Ms. Plame did not work directly on the program, and it was not shut down because of her identification.
The movie portrays Mr. Wilson as a whistle-blower who debunked a Bush administration claim that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from the African country of Niger. In fact, an investigation by the Senate intelligence committee found that Mr. Wilson's reporting did not affect the intelligence community's view on the matter, and an official British investigation found that President George W. Bush's statement in a State of the Union address that Britain believed that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger was well-founded.

"Fair Game" also resells the couple's story that Ms. Plame's exposure was the result of a White House conspiracy. A lengthy and wasteful investigation by a special prosecutor found no such conspiracy - but it did confirm that the prime source of a newspaper column identifying Ms. Plame was a State Department official, not a White House political operative.[/quote]

[narciso the harpoon]

In addition, had backed the losing side of the previous war, re Haj Amin Husseini, Hitler's beturbanned Circasian penpal.

In the LUN, the real heart of the Wikileaks matter

[hit and run]

Fair Game held on to http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2010&wknd=48&p=.htm>the #12 spot last weekend,grossing $1.5M.

Through Thursday,it has grossed a total of $6.3M domestically and $6.0M internationally for a total of $12.3M.

I still haven't found verification,but I've read that it cost $22M to produce. Having been released for four weeks,it appears the movie might break even some time in January or February.

On the website http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fairgame10.htm>boxofficemojo,users can grade movies. Here's how users have graded Fair Game to date:

Grade Breakdown
As: 38 41.8%
Bs: 20 22.0%
Cs: 7 7.7%
Ds: 3 3.3%
Fs: 23 25.3%

For an overall average of C+

[Ignatz]

--Let me be quite frank-

Twould be an improvement over being anduril.

--Did I come to the wrong place?--

You truly still don't know the answer to that?

[narciso the harpoon]

They're grading on a curve, mostly because Naomi Watts is in it, btw, in the LUN

[Threadkiller]

If the chain of ownership was not properly documented, that is an issue but it should not benefit the deadbeat.

Improperly handled evidence always benefits the crook. In this case it is tough to figure out who is the crook. The people didn't qualify but the bank's qualified them anyways. The asset-stripping scheme is coming to its end and the banks have their pants around their ankles. Even though the banks improperly foreclosed, they still have unsecured loans on these borrowers. If the borrowers get the houses, free and clear, they will get sued into bankruptcy, and the houses will get sold at the new market price.

The MBS fraud equally should not benefit the banks.

[Gmax]

If the borrowers get the houses, free and clear, they will get sued into bankruptcy, and the houses will get sold at the new market price.

Correct (so who wins in this but the lawyers ?) well that and why should a deadbeat get the benefit of living rent free. Dont forget your tax dollars are going into FNMA and FHLMC at a prodigious rate, you are paying their rent! Without a tax benefit for the donation either...

A lot of these folks did qualify, they just lied to do so. "NO Doc" loans were approved by the solons at FNMA/FHLMC. You cant fault banks for adopting the program. Who thought that the quaint idea of verification needed to be jettisoned without the very predictable results. Well that would be folks like Franklin Raines, and Jaime Gorelick and their ilk plus their lefty brethren in Congress.

[Elliott]

narciso,

It was in Tblisi in 2005 that someone had grenade, right?

[Rick Ballard]

Mel,

I did not find the few seeds to be found in Hendry's piece to be worth the effort of picking through his literary manure pile.

I wouldn't entrust someone engaging in that type of persiflage with a penny.

YMMV, of course.

[Rick Ballard]

Mel,

I did not find the few seeds to be found in Hendry's piece to be worth the effort of picking through his literary manure pile.

I wouldn't entrust someone engaging in that type of persiflage with a penny.

YMMV, of course.

[Gmax]

Having been released for four weeks,it appears the movie might break even some time in January or February.

Movies like oil wells, have an expected decline, and sometimes it steep and quick. I doubt this one breakeven until it goes to bargain bin Walmart DVD distribution, which is just rewards for the mendaciousness, I guess.

[anduril]

I guess the fact that King Herrod [sic] once ruled there is another myth? I am so confused...

Uh-huh. Honesty points credited.

[PDinDetroit]

A sad day, the Vinsetta Garage has closed down and will be razed. It had been in business since 1919 on Woodward Avenue.

LUN

[narciso the harpoon]

If one actually reads Russian history, the outlines of what they were doing is quite clear, Czar Paul craved Georgia as Catherine
the Crimea, something Melinda would know well, they never cared about the Ossetians,
to any great extent. The insight provided by a character in WEB Griffith's last BYOP series, (voiced by a SVR colonel) is that Russia hasn't changed fundamentally since the time of the Oprichniki in Ivan's time, they've had their brief glasnost periods, like Dostoevevsky recalls in Crime and Punishment, in the Alexander era. The Third Department, the Okhrana, the Cheka, the SVR
'a dog with different fleas' as the saying
goes. In that light, Golitsyn, the much maligned associate of Angleton was also right

[hit and run]

Movies like oil wells, have an expected decline

Yeah,I don't follow this stuff closely enough to know what the rate of decline would be. The last two weeks have each been on 396 screens -- and receipts went from 2.1M to 1.9M over that time. I doubt it will be a linear decline of 200K per week,and it may well level off at some average amount at some point. Assuming some decline was why I said Jan/Feb,giving it as many as 12 weeks to get there,an average of ~800K/week.

But,yeah,remember how quickly Wilson's The Politics of Truth could be found for $0.01 at amazon?

[Clarice]

hit,think how much time it must take Ambassador and Mrs to keep logging in under different names to vote.

[Gmax]

Who appointed you the distributor of honesty points? Oh the same one who appointed you as ditributor of the jihadi talking points ignoring the fact that within days of Israeli creation by the UN, it was attacked by the Arab nations surrounding it and of course at least twice more in subsequent wars.

Your antisemetic slip is showing! Bigot much or do you just need a scapegoat for your arian views?

[anduril]

Your antisemetic slip is showing! Bigot much or do you just need a scapegoat for your arian [sic] views?

LOL

[Threadkiller]

A lot of these folks did qualify, they just lied to do so.

You got me there. When I go over a job application, for a potential new hire, my system does not reward a liar. He is ass-out if his story does not jive. The lenders, despite federal pressure, knew these were perjured documents. It did not matter to them because the asset value kept increasing.

[Gmax]

If the govt tells you they dont care if you verify, and you are going to sell the assets to the govt entity I am still saying you are allocating the blame in the wrong direction. If you dont verify, you dont "know" anything other than you have a signed affidavit with an assertion.

If you did verify anyway, the borrower would just go down the street and your competitor would get the loan and the sale.

[Threadkiller]

It is the Catch-22 of the blame game. I don't believe someone who does not pay for something deserves to keep it. I do know that if my competitor is stealing to increase revenue I still won't feel compelled to become a crook. That being said; I don't have an insurance plan for my profit generation that is guaranteed by the Fed. If it was win-win to behave poorly, in my industry, I might change my tune.

Gmax, I am going to out to build a tree house for my kids right now. I will come back to this later. I have questions about Texas for you also.

[Elliott]

Certainly, one does wonder whether a major intelligence service is involved in wikileaks. Following on the heels of Stuxnet, one also wonders whether there were any extra-special goodies in the encrypted "insurance" files 100,000 people downloaded?

[Gmax]

Hell I'd rather be building a treehouse and playing with kids than listening to Anduril mouth flotilla talking points to bash Israel! Can I come over?

[anduril]

Sadly, there hasn't been a single serious comment. So, in the interests of educating, here are several links to wikipedia, with a few selective quotes. Anyone who cares to educate themselves--or to at least make a start of it--can read the linked articles:

United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine

Re Zionist intentions and planned aggression (see below for more documentation):

During the Congress, Ben Gurion supported the proposal to partition Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state.[10] At the same time, he delivered speeches in which he said that no Jew is entitled to give up the right of the Jewish nation to the land.[11]

During the debate on partition in November 1947, Mr Husseini (of the Arab Higher Committee) referred to Ben Gurion's previous contention that no Zionist could forego the smallest portion of the land of Israel, and suggested that the Revisionists were being more honest about their territorial aspirations than the representatives of the Jewish Agency.[19]

Re the actual vote

On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions, in favour of the Partition Plan, while making some adjustments to the boundaries between the two states proposed by it. The partition was to take effect on the date of British withdrawal from the Mandate Territory of Palestine.

Passage of the resolution required a two-thirds majority of valid votes (i.e. not counting abstaining and absent members). Prior to the final vote, when countries indicated their voting intentions, it was evident that the required majority was not available. The vote would have been: for 30, against 16, abstaining 10 - one short of a two-thirds majority. Both sides put pressure on member countries to vote for or against the partition. President Truman later noted, "The facts were that not only were there pressure movements around the United Nations unlike anything that had been seen there before, but that the White House, too, was subjected to a constant barrage. I do not think I ever had as much pressure and propaganda aimed at the White House as I had in this instance. The persistence of a few of the extreme Zionist leaders — actuated by political motives and engaging in political threats — disturbed and annoyed me."[102] Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru spoke with anger and contempt for the way the UN vote had been lined up. He said the Zionists had tried to bribe India with millions and at the same time his sister, Vijayalalshmi Pandit, had received daily warnings that her life was in danger unless "she voted right".[103] Three countries — Haiti, Liberia, the Philippines — were persuaded to change their positions, which enabled the required majority to be reached. Liberia's Ambassador to the United States complained that the US delegation threatened aid cuts to several countries.

One can imagine that in 1947, even less than today, Haiti, Liberia and the Philippines were in no position to buck the US. And the Philippines certainly had no illusions about Muslims, based on their own long experience.

1948 Palestinian exodus

Initial positions

In the first decades after the exodus, two diametrically opposed schools of analysis could be distinguished. In the words of Erskine Childers:[95] "Israel claims that the Arabs left because they were ordered to, and deliberately incited into panic, by their own leaders who wanted the field cleared for the 1948 war", while "The Arabs charge that their people were evicted at bayonet-point and by panic deliberately incited by the Zionists". Alternative explanations had also been offered. For instance Peretz[96] and Gabbay[96] emphasize the psychological component: panic or hysteria swept the Palestinians and caused the exodus.

[edit]Changes after the advent of the 'New Historians'

Israel opened up part of its archives in the 1980s for investigation by historians. This coincided with the emergence of various Israeli historians, called New Historians, who favored a more critical analysis of Israel's history. The most famous scholar of this group, Benny Morris, concludes that Jewish military attacks were the main direct cause of the exodus, followed by Arab fear due to the fall of a nearby town, Arab fear of impending attack, and expulsions. The traditional Israeli version was replaced by a new version stating that the exodus was caused by neither Israeli nor Arab policies, but rather was a by-product of the 1948 War.[22][97] The Arab version hardly changed[98] but did get support from some of the New Historians. Pappé calls the exodus an ethnic cleansing and points at Zionist preparations in the preceding years and provides more details on the planning process by a group he calls the 'Consultancy'.[9] Morris also says that ethnic cleansing took place during the Palestinian exodus, though Morris considers that to have been justified. In an interview with Ari Shavit, Morris says that "there are circumstances in history that justify ethnic cleansing. … when the choice is between ethnic cleansing and genocide—the annihilation of your people—I prefer ethnic cleansing."[10]

1967 Palestinian exodus

A 1971 United Nations report claimed that:

The continual pressure applied by Israeli authorities on the Palestinian population created a climate of fear within the civil population leading to a cycle of resistance and Israeli reprisals.[5] The Israeli Government carried out a policy of the destruction of Palestinian society by harassment (parts of the rural population were transferred from their homes) and arbitrary deportation of leaders and intellectuals from among the inhabitants of the occupied territories (judges, barristers, advocates, doctors, teachers, religious leaders).[6]

David Ben-Gurion

David Ben-Gurion was quite frank about Zionist intentions and the means to their preferred end:

in 1956, Ben-Gurion stated: "Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country ... There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that? They may perhaps forget in one or two generations' time, but for the moment there is no chance. So it is simple: we have to stay strong and maintain a powerful army."[3]

...

The British 1939 White paper stipulated that Jewish immigration to Palestine was to be limited to 15,000 a year for the first five years, and would subsequently be contingent on Arab consent. Restrictions were also placed on the rights of Jews to buy land from Arabs. After this Ben-Gurion changed his policy towards the British, stating: "Peace in Palestine is not the best situation for thwarting the policy of the White Paper".[5] Ben-Gurion believed a peaceful solution with the Arabs had no chance and soon began preparing the Yishuv for war. According to Teveth 'through his campaign to mobilize the Yishuv in support of the British war effort, he strove to build the nucleus of a "Hebrew army", and his success in this endeavor later brought victory to Zionism in the struggle to establish a Jewish state.'[6]

...

Ben-Gurion had stated to the Mapai Council on February 8th, 1948 that "From your entry into Jerusalem, through Lifta, Romema [East Jerusalem]. . . there are no Arabs. One hundred percent Jews. Since Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, it has not been Jewish as it is now. In many Arab neighborhoods in the west one sees not a single Arab. I do not assume that this will change. . . . What had happened in Jerusalem. . . . is likely to happen in many parts of the country. . . in the six, eight, or ten months of the campaign there will certainly be great changes in the composition of the population in the country." (Benny Morris, Expulsion of the Palestinians,p.180-181)

Furtherly he had stated in a speech addressing the Zionist Action Committee regarding the 'Arab Demographic Problem' that "We will not be able to win the war if we do not, during the war, populate upper and lower, eastern and western Galilee, the Negev and Jerusalem area, even if only in an artificial way, in a military way. . . . I believe that war will also bring in its wake a great change in the distribution of Arab population." (Benny Morris, p. 181 & Expulsion Of The Palestinians, p. 181)

[anduril]

Certainly, one does wonder whether a major intelligence service is involved in wikileaks.

Well! A civil, intelligent comment. Maybe we can move on from here to a dispassionate consideration of Abulhawa's arguments.

[Gmax]

Fruitcake is a sign of the season!

[anduril]

It is the Catch-22 of the blame game. I don't believe someone who does not pay for something deserves to keep it. I do know that if my competitor is stealing to increase revenue I still won't feel compelled to become a crook. That being said; I don't have an insurance plan for my profit generation that is guaranteed by the Fed. If it was win-win to behave poorly, in my industry, I might change my tune.

What complicates the picture, of course, is when we discover that the government--abetted by both political parties--was implicitly encouraging the bad behavior. I'm not defending bad behavior, just saying that realistically it was being encouraged by government policies. And there are plenty of other examples, too.

[anduril]

Hopefully commenters are digesting the above documentation. I neither expect nor desire apologies--the knowledge that I've done some little bit to bring facts to the discussion of these issues is sufficient reward.

[jimmyk]

The MBS fraud equally should not benefit the banks.

The banks made loans under the assumption that they were secured by the value of the real estate. Borrowers similarly knew that if they didn't make the payments they would lose the house. I don't see how keeping the deadbeats in their homes that they can't afford is the right outcome here. The goal should be to figure out who gets the homes.

[Janet]

A picture of the garage in PDinDetroit's link

[daddy]

Bon Soir. Just pulled into Paris.

Big snow storm and very icy Runway, followed by a slick drive into town. Winds aloft were 60 miles stronger than forecast almost the whole way across the Atlantic. I think belief in the meme of Global Warming is going down over here almost as fast as the value of the Euro.

Todays book was ">http://www.amazon.com/Animals-Make-Us-Human-Creating/dp/0547248237/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291484694&sr=1-1"> Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals by Temple Grandin. She's that autistic Professor of Animal Husbandry out in Colorado who I always enjoy reading, as her autism makes her perceptions of things so out of the ordinary and interesting. She believes her autism makes her view the world more like an animal than an average human, so this time out she was trying to explain my puppy-dog. Enjoyed that chapter, and believe it or not, I actually enjoyed the following chapter in which she tried to explain the best way for an owner "to try to meet the intellectual needs of a cat."

Believe it or not, an interesting read, but now it's beer drinking time, so off to a favorite watering hole just down the block, ">http://www.lesamisdelapero.fr/paris/bars/411-le-falstaff"> Le Falstaff Beer joint, to ponder meeting the intellectual needs of kitty cats. And don't even get me started on her chapter about the emotional needs of a chicken. Ciao!

[Janet]

She can write about cats as long as she doesn't write about Christmas trees...now THOSE are offensive. Someone get me a phone....

[jwest]

Cruising Woodward Ave and having a hot pastrami and Swiss at the Onion Roll.

Good times.

[anduril]

I'll dump this into the mix without comment. Go to the original for links:

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2010

Grayson Calls For Big Banks to Hold Extra Capital Against Title Insurance Indemnifications

We’ve noted that title insurers have been refusing to eat the risk in foreclosure sales when they can’t verify the chain of title from local records. Of course, the idea that title insurance was ever really intended to be insurance in the first place is questionable: the title insurers only step up when they can verify that there appears to be absolutely no risk. A one-time client, a major NYC developer and Forbes 400 member, established a title insurer for his own residential deals because he saw the premium as free money.

Some have taken the route of writing qualified policies, but buyers appear to be waking up to that. So the industry response increasingly appears to be to have the bank selling the real estate indemnify the title insurer. Since the biggest servicers also happen to be the biggest banks in the US, this effectively means that the risk of clouded title in foreclosures is being absorbed by TBTF banks, and hence by taxpayers, a point we’ve raised in earlier posts (see “Title Insurance Woes Illustrate Liabilities of Foreclosure Mess Concentrated in TBTF Banks” and “Latest Real Estate Time Bomb: Title of Foreclosed Properties Clouded; Wells Fargo Dumping Risk on Hapless Buyers“).

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/11/grayson-calls-for-big-banks-to-hold-extra-capital-against-title-insurance-indemnifications.html

[hit and run]

Daddy:
Big snow storm and very icy Runway, followed by a slick drive into town. ... I think belief in the meme of Global Warming is going down over

It's snowing here too! I thought there would be just a few flurries tonight -- but it's coming down good and even sticking.

And speaking of global warming,here's my http://thevimh.blogspot.com/2010/12/your-climate-change-forecast-for-cancun.html>fun with the Cancun conference. No,it's not snowing there.

[anduril]

Well, here's one of those links:

Title Insurance Woes Illustrate Liabilities of Foreclosure Mess Concentrated in TBTF Banks

There are so many fronts to the foreclosure crisis that it’s now becoming difficult to stay on top of all of them.

One development Monday that didn’t get the attention it deserved is the fact that Bank of America is now eating title insurance liability on foreclosed properties sold by its servicer. Per Bloomberg:

Bank of America’s agreement with Jacksonville, Florida- based Fidelity National calls for the lender to cover the title insurer’s costs in the event of an error in the company’s processing of foreclosure documents, Sadowski said. The bank will notify the insurer in each case that the foreclosure complies with state laws and regulations.

Bank of America is in talks with other title insurers for similar agreements, said Richard Bramhall, the bank’s chief title officer. He declined to name the other companies.

This is a big deal for several reasons:

1. The liability in case of a wrongful foreclosure is large. There is no way for the wronged borrower to get his house back, so title insurance is the only recourse. As Bob Lawless explained in Credit Slips:

…most every (or maybe even every–I’ll let someone else do the 50-state survey) state provides the strongest possible finality protections for deeds obtained through foreclosure sales. We also see similar rules for other judicially supervised sales in other contexts such as sales of personal property subject to a security interest or bankruptcy sales….

Suppose Henry and Helen Homeowner lost their home in foreclosure proceeding, and it has since been purchased by Bill and Betty Buyer. Now, Henry and Helen discover the affidavits in their foreclosure proceeding had some of the very same apparently fraudulent signatures reported in the media. When Henry and Helen complain to the court, the answer should be: “Your complaint is against Deutsche Bank (or whoever foreclosed) and not against Bill and Betty. You can recover damages from Deutsche Bank but not eject Henry and Helen from possession.” In turn, this will mean that that Bill and Betty (or their lender) will not have to look to the title insurer for recovery.

2. This means the large banks now effectively have direct exposure to borrowers for screw ups in foreclosures (note that they did earlier, in theory, but this move shortens the process of the money coming from the bank).

3. The liability is via the bank servicer. Note the Bank of American is now the largest servicer in the US (Wells is a close second) by virtue of having bought Countrywide.

4. Some contend that the risk of clouded title means that title insurers may come to require warranties from banks for all properties sold that has securitized mortgages. As Adam Levitin indicated in a Citigroup report, documentation lapses could “cloud title on not just foreclosed mortgages but on performing mortgages.”

It isn’t hard to see that other banks are likely to be required to take the same step as Bank of America, at least if they want to unload foreclosed property.

It isn’t hard to see where this is going. The biggest servicers are part of TBTF banks. The biggest trustees (the folks who were supposed to make sure that the loans all got to the securitization trust properly) are part of TBTF banks. The major structurer/packagers are now all part of TBTF banks.

Isn’t a concentrated financial services industry grand? Any time they screw up, they are too large to be made to pay for their crimes. The die was cast at the beginning of the Obama administration. It was a critical window of opportunity to take over and put new management in the weakest of the big banks (and probably force them to shed operations too) and they instead were coddled and sent back on their merry way.

I guarantee that the losses, between extend and pretend that will no longer be viable (in particular, the unrealistic marks on second mortgages) and the liabilities resulting from this colossal mess, at least one major bank will be insolvent. But the odds of the new special resolution authority being used? I put the odds at pretty much zero.

[Rick Ballard]

"The goal should be to figure out who gets the homes."

I vote for the "qualified" pension fund suckers who relied upon the credit rating agencies and purchased the MBS. I understand that, theoretically, with some MBS issues, they can put the "fraud" mortgage back to the bank until the bank becomes insolvent but I believe that many of the fraudulent MBS deals also included a tolling mechanism which makes the "put" unavailable.

DoT has it right - this is going to make Jarndyce v Jarndyce look like a ticket for jaywalking.

[anduril]

The banks made loans under the assumption that they were secured by the value of the real estate. Borrowers similarly knew that if they didn't make the payments they would lose the house. I don't see how keeping the deadbeats in their homes that they can't afford is the right outcome here.

What would you say if someone argued that the banks made many loans that they wouldn't ordinarily have made under pressure from the government and under the assumption that they'd be bailed out by the government if things went wrong? Does that complicate the moral equation or simplify it? And then there are questions about the process through which buyers were talked into these mortgages... Government involvement at that end, too, of course.

[Cecil Turner]

I want more from the Pallywood propagandist (hey, at least her subject corpse didn't reanimate).

The idea that SA might be more two-faced on Iran than Israel is simply inconceivable. [ahhhh, I sprained my eyes on that one!!]

[Clarice]

Hit will cry when he reads this from the Daily Mail (UK)

While thousands braved the cold to begin their Christmas shopping, seven people in North Yorkshire are praying for better weather after being snowed into a pub for eight days and counting.

Heavy snow showers and strong winds have left the group stuck in the Lion Inn pub in Blakey Ridge, Kirkbymoorside since last Friday, with little chance of an escape.

Drifts of up to 16ft blocked the inn's doors and windows, with the surrounding roads impassable, and to make matters worse, the stranded seven's cars are buried under nine foot of snow.

The group's predicament in the fourth highest pub in England continues as forecasters warned Britons to expect icy conditions for at least another week, with temperatures falling as low as -10C in the South East of England overnight.

Katie Underwood, 18, who has been a waitress at the Lion Inn for four years, said: 'It was really novel at first, and quite exciting.

'The snow is immense. Most of the windows in here are blocked up, but we've got a door open at the back to get some air when we need to.' Enlarge Blocked: A window at the Lion Inn pub is barely visible after huge snow drifts

She added: 'The boys that are here have been skiing on trays down the massive slopes, and we've made snow angels but the novelty is definitely starting to wear off.'

'Now they're all out trying to dig their cars out of the deep snow. It's been absolutely freezing, but we've been lucky that it's a pub and B&B we're trapped in.'

[hit and run]

::sob::

Did this Delingpole piece get linked here?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100066594/signs-that-show-man-made-global-warming-is-definitely-still-happening/>Signs that show Man Made Global Warming is Definitely Still Happening

As your boiler breaks down, your pipes freeze, your car won’t start, your Ocado delivery fails to arrive, your train is cancelled, your neck is broken after slipping on black ice and you lie in an emergency ward waiting for a doctor to turn up only to learn that they’re all off today because of the weather, you might be forgiven for thinking that all this has something to do with global cooling, changes in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and the decline in sunspot activity perhaps auguring a new Maunder minimum.

But you couldn’t be more wrong.

“It’s all actually a sign that man made global warming is very much a live issue and that there’s more of it happening than ever,” says a top scientist, who holds the British record for securing grant-funding for global warming research projects so he must know what he’s talking about.

It gets better after that...

[anduril]

Very amusing, Cecil. In fact, I came close to LOL. However, that constitutes neither a refutation of the historical record nor even an intelligent discussion of it. What are you afraid of?

[Gmax]

Did anyone catch the guest editorial in the Wa Po by Rabbi Michael Lerner? Its a rant, nay its a screed. He wants a list of likes of Alan Grayson, Bernie Saunders or Jim McDemott or even RACHEL MADCOW to run against Zero! Its almost as funny as laughing at Cleo flailing away! Look for it in today's WaPo and know that there is not enough Prozac to medicate the left!

[Gmax]

From the same Screed:

Sens. Russ Feingold, Bernie Sanders, Barbara Mikulski or Al Franken; or Reps. Joe Sestak, Maxine Waters, Raul Grijalva, Alan Grayson, Barbara Lee, Dennis Kucinich, Lois Capps, Jim Moran or Lynn Woolsey. Others include Jim McGovern, Marcy Kaptur, Jim McDermott or John Conyers. We should also consider popular figures outside of government. How about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.? Why not Rachel Maddow, Bill Moyers, Susan Sarandon or the Rev. James Forbes?

Now I know Zero sets the bar pretty low on what it takes to be President, but does anyone see even one diamond in the rough out of that porridge pot?

[Janet]

My Rep. is in that screed...Jim Moran...how embarrassing. :(
So some Rabbi wants to be led by a crazy, drunken, mean, fist fighting anti-semite?

[narciso the harpoon]

Michael Lerner, the former SDS man, behind Tikkun, who was caught astroturfings letters to his own publication, who had the startling
insight that Hillary discovered there were things greater than her self, pass the butter

[narciso the harpoon]

In the LUN, what I was referring to earlier

[narciso the harpoon]

Sorry wrong LUN

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/5319/tikkun-editor-calls-letter-writing-policy-a-mistake/

[Clarice]

Hush,GMax, I m starting a letter writing campaign to Tikkun praising this nincompoop and his ideas..Don't want to shut him off..Maddow! Now that would be one fine candidate..

[Janet]

Great link narciso...thanks.

[narciso the harpoon]

Forbes would be an ironic choice, maybe somebody is sockpuppeting Lerner,

[Gmax]

This Rev Forbes? Why would he be any different than the other nutjobs?

Speaking to Power: A 'NOW With Bill Moyers' Special Edition, PBS, 26 Dec 2003

[Captain Hate]

I'd like to congratulate my good friend daddy's Tarholes beating that steaming pile of garbage that Calipari brings to college basketball. I don't think the Holes are that good this year but the Methcat's completely disorganized excuse for an offense was ideal to hide Carolina's inability to run halfcourt sets.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Gmax-

I have no warm spot in my heart for deadbeats and CRA fraudsters. But I am taking grinch-like glee in the intractable legal, as well as financial, mess that the bailed out banks have created for themselves in their earlier greed. I merely wish them to die.

The deadbeats mortgagors can go suck off some other mother's...

Anyway, that's my point, it's about the money center banks and the lies they've been telling themselves while stealing.

Only.

[Gmax]

Melinda

While I do fully understand the schadenfreude, the longer lawyers are allowed to tie this up in court, the more uncertainty you and I have about the value of our humble abodes. Then there is the small matter of 70% of the deposits in the banking system now reside in these 8 - 10 institutions, and unless and until they get back to lending, we are likely to be stuck in the mud jobswise.

[Melinda Romanoff]

They can't lend when they're being told they need more capital than they have on hand.

A viscious cycle and a political punching bag at the same time, how convenient for the administration.

Bust 'em up into regionals and be done with it.

[hit and run]

Just went out and played in the white fluffy global warming here. Fun! And cold!

Man the fireplace feels good. Wonder how much CO2 it's producing.

Answer: not enough!

[Melinda Romanoff]

Lastly, the MBS problem exposed by the fraud will need a political solution.

How to negotiate that without taking the banks under is probably a bridge too far.

[Ignatz]

--Hopefully commenters are digesting the above documentation.--

Get back to us after you deed your home and any other real estate you own back to the Injun's whose anscestors were expelled from it by yours.

[anduril]

Statistics can be useful in injecting some sense of realism into a debate:

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, 2009 (a) 1.0%

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3709436,00.html

Regrettable statistical error

B. Michael says Independence Day report that Jews comprise 75% of Israel’s population inaccurate

B. Michael

On the eve of the recent Independence Day, the Central Bureau of Statistics maintained the tradition of publishing the number of Israeli residents at this time. The total figure provided was 7.4 million people.

There was also some happy news on the occasion of the holiday: The overwhelming Jewish majority in the country has been maintained. According to the statistics provided by the Bureau, 75.5% of Israel’s residents at this time are Jewish, while only 24.5% of the country’s residents are not Jewish.

However, it appears that these figures were tainted by a regrettable error. The source of the error has to do with the strange existence of what is known around here as the Green line. Yes, that same Green Line , which has seemingly passed away a long time ago, has reemerged from its grave yet again (and perhaps it was even pulled out of the grave by force) – this tends to happen every time the country’s statistical or public relations needs require it.

Real figures paint different picture, So here are the real figures, below:
According to the data provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics and by the CIA, the Israeli government rules over 11.43 million people at this time.

Of those, 5.6 million people are Jewish, while 5.83 million people are not Jewish (2.46 million Palestinians in the West Bank, 1.55 million Palestinians residing in the Gaza Strip, 1.5 million Palestinians who are citizens of the State of Israel, and another 0.32 million people characterized as “other non-Jews.”)

Therefore, the accurate figures are in fact as follows: A total of 49% Jews and 51% non-Jews currently live across the territory of the Israeli empire.

Indeed, we may start referring to ourselves as “members of the minority.”