Greenspan Says He Knew About Abuses in Subprime Lending
drudgereport.com ^ | 09/13/07 | Unknown
Posted on 09/13/2007 10:28:30 AM PDT by Froufrou
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan admits he "didn't really get it" that the subprime lending trend was significant enough to hurt the economy until very late 2005, but still defends his lowering of interest rates from 2001 until 2004 that critics say caused the crisis in the first place.
Greenspan, who led the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank through 18 years and four presidents, speaks to Lesley Stahl in his first major interview, to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Sept. 16 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Greenspan says he knew about the questionable subprime lending tactics that gave loans to homebuyers and investors with low adjustable interest rates that could rise precipitously, but not the severe economic consequences they posed. "While I was aware a lot of these practices were going on, I had no notion of how significant they had become until very late," he tells Stahl. "I really didn't get it until very late in 2005 and 2006."
Even though one of the Federal Reserve governors raised a red flag on those lending practices, Greenspan says there was little he could do. "Well, it was nothing to look into particularly because we knew there was a number of such practices going on, but it's very difficult for banking regulators to deal with that," says Greenspan.
Several of Greenspan's former Federal Reserve governors have since said that Greenspan's policy of lowering interest rates for three consecutive years early in the decade was wrong because it opened the door for the subprime lenders. They think he kept rates too low for too long. "They are mistaken," Greenspan tells Stahl. "It was our job to unfreeze the American banking system if we wanted the economy to function. This required that we keep rates modestly low," he says.
Some believe today's market slide -- U.S. stocks have lost significant ground over the past few months -- could have been slowed had the current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke lowered interest rates like Greenspan did early in the decade. Would he act as dramatically and quickly now as he did then if he were the current chairman as some believe? "I'm not sure that's true," says Greenspan. "We were dealing in an environment back there where inflation was easing. We could have acted without the fear of stoking inflationary pressures. You can't do that anymore... I'm not certain I would have done anything different [if he was the chairman today]," he tells Stahl. "I think [Bernanke] is doing an excellent job."
Filing isn't learning (Using students to help teachers and giving the students academic credit)
LA Times ^ | 13 September 2007 | Editorial Staff
Posted on 09/13/2007 10:22:45 AM PDT by shrinkermd
Of all the useless classes foisted on California's high school students, few are as academically irrelevant as service class. Never heard of it? Maybe it's called "teacher's assistant class" at your neighborhood school, or perhaps it's listed as "independent study."
Students' duties in these electives are, by and large, similar: makingcopies, running errands, taking attendance, sometimes grading papers. Other electives are borderline irrelevant -- manicuring and cosmetology come to mind, particularly when they fail to prepare students to obtain licenses in those fields. But service classes are universally without instructional value.
So if they don't benefit students, why do schools offer them? Because they benefit adults.
Teachers are inundated with paperwork -- it's the No. 1 reason they abandon the profession -- and service classes provide unpaid aides. But students shouldn't be denied an hour of learning so that they might work, for free if for class credit, to lighten the load on those paid to teach. That's a particularly grim life lesson to give a teenager, and it's made worse by the shortage of substantive electives. Not all schools have sewing machines for fashion design classes or computers for programming, but there's always attendance to take.Hsu Case Takes Strange Turn
AP via Cleveland Examiner ^ | September 13, 2007 | By PAT MILTON, AP
Posted on 09/13/2007 10:18:41 AM PDT by jdm
NEW YORK - The saga of the scandal-plagued Democratic fundraiser with ties to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton took another strange twist after he mailed a suicide note last week to a legal organization.
A person who saw the letter said Thursday that the note from Norman Hsu explicitly stated that he "intended to commit suicide." The person declined to reveal the exact phrasing, but said it was not rambling in nature.
The individual spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about it.
The letter arrived at the New York offices of the Innocence Project as Hsu was in the midst of a bizarre legal odyssey stemming from a 1991 grand theft case. Hsu has been wanted as a fugitive for missing his sentencing in the case. He failed to show up for a bail hearing last week in California and was arrested at a Colorado hospital after being taken off an Amtrak train.
Hsu was a leading money "bundler" for Clinton, earning the title of HillRaiser for his efforts. Her campaign is returning $850,000 in contributions linked to Hsu.
Innocence Project officials would not provide the specific details of the letter, but spokesman Eric Ferrero said a FedEx package arrived at the group's Manhattan office last Thursday. A receptionist gave the letter to the executive director, Madeline DeLone.
"We were all concerned for his safety. We knew we needed to try to reach him right away. We wanted to make sure he was safe," said Ferrero.
They tried Hsu's cell phone, but there was no answer and the voicemail was full.
Innocence Project officials then tried to reach Hsu's attorney and faxed a copy of the letter to the California attorney general's office, which is handling the case.
"We sent the letter to law enforcement in California in the event they could help him in time and also because they were handling an active case there involving him," said Ferrero.
The letter was one page, typewritten and signed by Hsu. It was sent overnight delivery.
Details of the letter were first reported Thursday by The Wall Street Journal.
Hsu has been a benefactor of the Innocence Project, a legal group that helps prove prisoners' innocence through DNA testing.
"Norman Hsu has been a strong, committed supporter of ours for years. I believe he saw a report about our work and thought it was good work and worthy of supporting," Ferrero said.Howie Carr show live thread 9/13/07
HowieCarr.com ^ | 9/13/07 | raccoonradio
Posted on 09/13/2007 10:18:24 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Howie Carr Show live thread. Those on the ping list got word that WCRN is dropping the show; will put Hank Stolz on weekdays 2-6 pm starting Monday. As for the show as a whole no official word yet, but could Howie's last show on WRKO (and the Howie network) be next Wed.? That is when his contract expires.D.C. resident seeks right to have working rifles, shotguns
SCOTUSBlog ^ | September 12, 2007 | Lyle Denniston
Posted on 09/13/2007 10:05:21 AM PDT by EdReform
A D.C. resident who successfully challenged the city of Washington's strict gun control law asked the D.C. Circuit Court on Wednesday to allow him and other residents to have immediate access to rifles and shotguns -- in functioning condition -- for self-defense. His lawyers argued that the D.C. government, in an appeal to the Supreme Court, had conceded that the ban on such working firearms was unconstitutional, so the lawyers argued it should be blocked by court order.
Technicallly, the individual, Dick Anthony Heller, filed a motion to lift the stay of the mandate on the Circuit Court's ruling that key provisions of the city's gun control law were unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. The Circuit Court put its ruling on hold so that the city could appeal to the Supreme Court, and it remains on hold. (The city did file an eppeal, in District of Columbia v. Heller, docket 07-290; five other residents who want to be a part of that case have filed a cross-petition, Parker v. District of Columbia, now docketed as 06-335). The new Heller motion in the Circuit Court can be found at this site. The city has until Sept. 24 to respond.
The Circuit Court ruling struck down not only a provision that bans anyone from having a handgun for personal or private use, but also a separate clause that says that any firearm that is legal for individual possession in the city -- rifles and shotguns, that is -- must be unloaded and disassembled or have a trigger lock in place if it is kept in a home. The Court found that the second provision would deny anyone the use of a "functional firearm," even for self-defense, and nullified it, too.
In the city's appeal to the Supreme Court, it asked the Justices to uphold only the part of the local law that applies to private possession and use of handguns. In a footnote, the city's petition said that it did not interpet that clause "to prevent the use of a lawful firearm in self-defense" -- in other words, a rifle or shotgun, since those are the type of weapons that remain legal under the local law.
Relying upon that footnote, and other aspects of the city's arguments to the Supreme Court, Heller's lawyers said that "it appears the city has conceded the unconstitutionality of the functional firearms ban. If so, there is no reason for the stay of the mandate to remain in effect with respect to that provision," and that part of the mandate should be issued "forthwith." The city is "not entitled to stay of the mandate as of right simply because they petitioner the Supreme Court for certiorari," the motion said.
"The petition contains no argument or other basis for staying injunction of the functional firearms ban....The city has represented to the Supreme Court that a legal environment exists in the District of Columbia in which rifles and shotguns are 'allowed' -- an environment in which the funcitonal firearms ban no longer exists"" So long as that separate provision of the city law remains in effect, it added, "the city is not allowing its citizens to have any type of firearm."
Pentagon Releases Audio of Khalid Sheik Mohammad Testimony
Fox News ^ | 09-13-07
Posted on 09/13/2007 9:51:31 AM PDT by GOP_Lady
Audio portions of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's testimony from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal were released by the Pentagon Thursday.
The audio clips contain admissions by the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks that he plotted to kill President Clinton and Pope John Paul II.
"I was responsible for the assassination attempt against President Clinton during his visit to the Philippines in 1994 or 1995," Mohammed says in English during his testimony before the tribunal. "I was responsible for the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul the second while he was visiting the Philippines," Mohammed says.PURE HORSERACE: No Surrender for McCain
CBS news ^ | 9.13.07 | CBS News reporter Dante Higgins
Posted on 09/13/2007 9:47:46 AM PDT by meandog
Sen. John McCain hit the campaign trail yesterday to kickoff of his "No Surrender" tour after spending the day on Capitol Hill listening to Gen. David Petraeus testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee. McCain, a vocal supporter of this year's troop surge in Iraq, used his time at the hearing to claim he's been on the right side of the war debate all along.
McCain's jet touched down in Sioux City, Iowa, Tuesday night to begin what some are dubbing a relaunch of a campaign struggling with fundraising difficulties and staff departures. His audience of about 300 people, mostly seniors and veterans, snacked on ham sandwiches while waiting, getting books signed by war hero Col. Bud Day -- the namesake of the airfield where McCain was set to land.
The event began when McCain's jet rolled into view of the hangar draped in American flags and his No Surrender bus met him to drive him to the stage.
McCain was introduced by Day, a decorated Air Force pilot who was a prisoner of war with McCain in Vietnam. Day argued that McCain's POW experience helped provide him with the experience and character required to be president, and that he was cut from the same cloth as Republican icons Ronald Reagan and Teddy Roosevelt.Researcher: Bin Laden's beard is real, video is not (Osama has assumed cave temperature)
Cnet News.com ^ | 9-12-07 | Robert Vamosi
Posted on 09/13/2007 9:47:20 AM PDT by shirtlesszacefron
Krawetz says the inner frame of bin Laden was resaved at least twice, and not at the same time. The images show fine horizontal stripes on bin Laden and a background indicating these came from interlaced video sources. In contrast, the text elements, such as the As-Sahab logo, appear to be from non-interlaced sources.
The September 7 video shows bin Laden dressed in a white hat, white shirt and yellow sweater. Krawetz notes "this is the same clothing he wore in the 2004-10-29 video. In 2004 he had it unzipped, but in 2007 he zipped up the bottom half. Besides the clothing, it appears to be the same background, same lighting, and same desk. Even the camera angle is almost identical." Krawetz also notes that "if you overlay the 2007 video with the 2004 video, his face has not changed in three years--only his beard is darker and the contrast on the picture has been adjusted." Taiwan holds unprecedented naval drill
Kyodo News,Japan ^ | September 13,2007
Posted on 09/13/2007 9:42:55 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
CORRECTED: Taiwan holds unprecedented naval drill
(Kyodo) _ The Taiwanese military, in unusually open yet bold naval exercises Wednesday, invited foreign and domestic media for the first time to observe from a Kidd-class destroyer drills aimed at countering China's navy in the Taiwan Strait.
Its flight deck thronged with reporters, the destroyer Keelung -- accompanied by three frigates, a submarine, and other vessels and aircraft -- cruised 54 kilometers west of Taiwan toward China to stage a live-fire drill and antisubmarine maneuvers.
"The media had never boarded our Kidd-class destroyers before today," said military spokesman Lt.-Col. Ben Wang. "This is to let the public know that the destroyers are capable of fighting."
Taiwan purchased four Kidd-class destroyers from the United States as part of an arms deal that Washington had offered to the island in 2001.
Two of the destroyers were delivered to Taipei in 2005 and two last year amid rival China's military rise.
Though manufactured in the mid-1970s, the U.S.-made, 172-meter destroyers are now the centerpiece of Taiwan's navy, boasting more power and sophisticated weapons systems than those of China's naval warships.
"We can't compete with China in terms of quantity," said Rear Adm. Liu Chih-chien while speaking to the press on board the destroyer, referring to China's growing fleet of indigenous and Russian-made naval vessels.
"But we can compete in terms of quality," Liu said. "We're confident that we're stronger than China."
That strength was on full display as the destroyer's 5-inch guns fired bone-rattling shots across the ocean to demonstrate their power and precision.
In an even stronger message to China, whose submarine fleet is expanding rapidly, the destroyer also staged an antisubmarine warfare drill by cooperating with a Seahawk S-70C helicopter to locate and force to the surface a diesel-electric submarine.
A "Sea Dragon" Taiwanese sub surfaced portside as part of the drill after the helicopter lowered a sonar device into the water to locate it.
"Not even Japan's navy has been so open" in letting the media board a warship as important as the Kidd-class while on maneuvers, said Andrei Chang, a military expert and founder of the Kanwa Defense Review, a Hong Kong-based publication on military-related developments in the region.
"From the way they operate the destroyer to its weapons, Taiwan, it seems, has molded its navy in the image of NATO," Chang added.
Military officials Wednesday denied the timing of the exercises were related to stalled arms procurement deals for Taiwan in Washington, or the island's push to hold a referendum next year on whether it should join the United Nations under the name "Taiwan" -- a move panned by both China and the United States as a "provocative" assertion of statehood.
"These are just regular exercises," Wang said.
China, which views Taiwan as a breakaway province, has threatened to attack the self-ruled island if it moves too far toward formal independence.
Eager to curry favor with Beijing for wide-ranging economic and diplomatic reasons, Washington seeks to rein in Taiwan's independence movement, and is rumored to be stalling on Taiwan's request to buy defensive missiles, antisubmarine aircraft and F-16s as punishment for the island's push to hold the referendum.
But with China scrambling to beef up its submarine and warship fleets, time for the democratic island of 23 million to upgrade its navy to counter Beijing's growing threat on the high seas is running short.
"We need (that hardware) to defend against submarines. We need it to defend our nation," Liu said aboard the destroyer as it steamed toward China.Standing up for the troops - (Interview with GOE's Chris Hill)
Front Page Magazine ^ | Sept 13th, 2007 | Jamie Glazov
Posted on 09/13/2007 9:40:20 AM PDT by Jenny Hatch
"This weekend we will do the second part. We will confront ANSWER, MoveOn.org, Code Pink and the rest of the anti-American forces who are marching from the White House to the Capitol. On September 15, we will rally at 9:00 a.m. at 7th St on The Mall and then move over to Pennsylvania Ave to line ANSWER's route. We will counter them all the way to the Capitol where they plan a die-in. They will hold likenesses of our brave warriors who have been killed in action. We find that particularly despicable since they have not asked any family members of those killed for permission."
(Excerpt) Read more at frontpagemag.com ...
TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Announcements
KEYWORDS: eagles; victory
"FP: This weekend, on Saturday, Sept 15, your group will confront anti-war demonstrators at the Capitol. I want to talk to you about this event and your efforts.
Before we get to that, tell us a bit about your group. What exactly is the Gathering of Eagles?
Hill: GOE is a group of veterans and supporters who believe that we face a grave enemy, with whom we are currently engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We have witnessed our brave warriors, of multiple generations, attacked by members of hateful anti-American groups and we have had enough. We will not see this generation slandered and abused the way the Vietnam vets were. We will support our service members fully on the ground here while they fight the good fight in the War on Terror.
We were initially organized to protect our war memorials from desecration, but have since expanded to defend our military from assault. Obviously, witnessing the attacks on Gen Petraeus before he testified, and the presumed vandalism of the Vietnam Wall, both are needed. We also stand in the streets to give all those people who support our brave warriors a voice. People who might yell at their television sets in frustration can rally with us instead.
FP: Tell us about your plans for September 15, 2007.
Hill: The Gathering of Eagles was on Capitol Hill last Monday to show support for Gen. Petraeus and the larger War on Terror. We visited 70 plus congressional offices and had face to face meetings with Sens Lieberman and McConnell. That was our first push. We wanted to let the good guys know that they have popular support for the war effort and let the other side know that we are not going away.
This weekend we will do the second part. We will confront ANSWER, MoveOn.org, Code Pink and the rest of the anti-American forces who are marching from the White House to the Capitol. On September 15, we will rally at 9:00 a.m. at 7th St on The Mall and then move over to Pennsylvania Ave to line ANSWER's route. We will counter them all the way to the Capitol where they plan a die-in. They will hold likenesses of our brave warriors who have been killed in action. We find that particularly despicable since they have not asked any family members of those killed for permission."EFF Wins Protection for Security Researchers
Electronic Frontier Foundation ^ | September 11, 2007 | EFF staff
Posted on 09/13/2007 9:39:48 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
Court Blocks DirecTV's Heavy-Handed Legal Tactics
San Francisco - In an important ruling today, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked satellite television provider DirecTV's heavy-handed legal tactics and protected security and computer science research into satellite and smart card technology after hearing argument from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
The cases, DirecTV v. Huynh and DirecTV v. Oliver, involved a provision of federal law prohibiting the "assembly" or "modification" of equipment designed to intercept satellite signals. DirecTV maintained that the provision should cover anyone who works with equipment designed for interception of their signals, regardless of their motivation or whether any interception occurs. But in a hearing earlier this year, EFF argued that the provision should apply only to entities that facilitate illegal interception by other people and not to those who simply tinker or use the equipment, such as researchers and others working to further scientific knowledge of the devices at issue.
"Congress never meant this law to be used as a hammer on those who use or tinker with new technologies," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. "We're pleased the court recognized that researchers need to be protected."
These cases were part of DirecTV's nationwide legal campaign against hundreds of thousands of individuals, claiming that they were illegally intercepting its satellite TV signal simply because they had purchased smart card technology. Because DirecTV made little effort to distinguish legal uses of smart card technology from illegal ones, EFF has worked to limit the lawsuits to only those cases where DirecTV has proof that their signals were illegally received.
"DirecTV always had legal recourse against those who pirate their signal. The ruling today prevents satellite and cable TV companies from piling on excessive damages that would punish and chill legitimate encryption research," said EFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick.
David Price and Trevor Dryer at Stanford Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic also assisted in this case.
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