Comments on The Morning News
I think that the fact that 40% of soldiers think that torture is OK to save an American life is proof enough to bring the troops back home and give them the psychological counseling they need. I doubt if you asked them before they went over to Iraq, it would be nowhere near 40%.
Oh Mitt,
You so crazy.
Nice call on the recipe, ECB. Good bites for what will be a 70 degree day.
News be damned. Food that beautiful will always make me forget that the world is going to hell. By the time I finished reading the recipe I couldn't even remember... whatever unpleasant stuff is in the news this morning.
I admit. I'm baffled.
The war is going to shit, and everybody knows it. Paul Wolfowitz is dragging the World Bank into the sewer. Bush's poll numbers are approaching Nixon territory. The housing market is in decline (everywhere besides Seattle it seems) and sub-prime mortgage lenders are going bankrupt.
And yet the stock market keeps breaking records.
Can anyone explain that?
Thomas Pynchon is 70 today.
French marriages are divided into seven-year terms? What the hell is Mitt talking about?
@5: Its because of two things:
1- Consumer spending and confidence is good because of low unemployment.
2 - Because there's some "bad" news enough so that it taps the brakes on inflation and keeps the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates.
Re: Troops and torture
I don’t think it’s fair to judge the troops on the results of this survey; just look at how the questions are worded. You’d probably get similar results just by asking the public at large, a significant number of whom support torture. It’s more of a reflection of our society’s overall ethical failure.
KOMO 4 posted a photo of Pfc. Michael Pursel, who was KIA in a recent bombing. Just look at that sweet, goofy face. He was only 19 and now he’s dead and for what? I hope his parents are just in shock because in the article they come off as strangely disinterested in their son’s death. In 24 hours the news media will move on and we won’t even remember his name. What the fuck is wrong with this country?
@7, I was wondering the exact same thing. Is there any factual basis for this?:
"In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past."
This just in: Paris Hilton is asking for a pardon from Governor Schwarzenegger.
http://gaysocialites.com/2007/05/paris_hilton_begs_governor_arn.html
@10 - I believe Mitt is referring, incorrectly, to the France "pacte civil de solidarité", which is a sort of domestic partnership, not a marriage. I'm sure neither he nor his speechwriter cared much about getting the details right, though.
Too bad. That seven-year pact sounds like a good idea to me.
"I'm told that..." must be the right wing's new smarmy semantic equivalent of "There are those who say..."
Or "British intelligence has learned..."
I read on Huff post that Mitt was actually referring to a novel written by a mormon author that takes place in the future. He also sited Battlefield Earth as his favorite novel. So, yeah... he's off his rocker.
SDA in SEA @ 5 and raindrop @ 8,
We should also add that consumers keep spending even though our share of wages and corporate profits are near historic lows, debt is at all time highs, two thirds have little or nothing saved for retirement, and the national savings rate has been negative for the longest time since the Great Depression.
In other words, most Americans are on a M.A.D.-style, kamikaze mission to keep up with the Joneses.
@16,
Not to go all everything's fine on you, but investment in the stock market (in lieu of saving money in the bank) is at an all-time high. Which also probably explains why the stock market is still going strong.
@6 - well, it's Enrique Iglesias and my son's birthday today too.
oh, and as to the stock market - my Euro stocks have done TWICE as well as my US stocks (both are broad indexes of total market) ... and then there is the exchange rate ... we are NOT doing that well.
The stock market is doing well because the profits driving higher stock prices are being made from overseas revenue, not in the US. That revenue is priced in the local currency, which is gaining nearly everywhere against the dollar.
What's good for GM--or investors more broadly--is not what's good for America.
Will's post is a demonstration of this. European stocks with less US exposure tend to do better (as do US companies that do more overseas business). The US market sucks right now.
Original Andrew: Saving should not mean just a savings account with a low rate of return; it also means investments in mutual funds and stocks. So the comparison with the Great Depression is not quite accurate.
Investing = Savings with a degree of risk.
Great recipe ECB. Just got back from France and I'm going through complete withdrawal... this was a great cure.
Economist Martin Feldstein states regarding net household savings that, “Those savings can take the form of deposits, purchases of financial assets such as stocks and bonds, or investments in real assets such as homes and unincorporated businesses. Contributions to individual retirement accounts (IRAs)and 401(k) plans as well as contributions to defined-benefit pension plans are also counted as household savings… Borrowing is counted against saving, unless the borrowed funds are used to purchase assets or are converted into other types of savings.”
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060501faessay85306/martin-feldstein/the-return-of-saving.html
Right on, Will! I keep track because it's my dad's birthday and his father's as well. And Harry Truman's.
Microsoft and Peter Jackson postpone the making of a film based on the Halo video game after backers pull out...
Microsoft and Peter Jackson postpone the making of a film based on the Halo video game after backers pull out...
TV host Oprah Winfrey gives audience members $1,000 (£526) each to donate to a charitable cause...
TV host Oprah Winfrey gives audience members $1,000 (£526) each to donate to a charitable cause...
A musical about the witches from The Wizard of Oz breaks West End box office records, its producers say.
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