Stan Liebowitz: Many policy makers and ordinary people blame the rise of foreclosures squarely on subprime mortgage lenders who presumably misled borrowers into taking out complex loans at low initial interest rates. Those hapless individuals were then supposedly unable to make the higher monthly payments when their mortgage rates reset upwards. But the focus on subprimes ignores the widely available industry facts (reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association) that 51% of all foreclosed homes had prime loans, not subprime, and that the foreclosure rate for prime loans grew by 488% compared to a growth rate of 200% for subprime foreclosures.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has been bragging about the fact that she plans not to answer Census questions this year, which is a violation of federal law punishable with a fine up to $5,000. In the latest rebuke of her claims about the Census, three out of the four House Republicans on the subcommittee that oversees the Census have released a statement calling her boycott plan "llogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country."
For a group of paleontologists, a tour of the Creation Museum seemed like a great tongue-in-cheek way to cap off a serious conference. But while there were a few laughs and some clowning for the camera, most left more offended than amused by the frightening way in which evolution -- and their life's work -- was attacked. "It's sort of a monument to scientific illiteracy, isn't it?" said Jerry Lipps, professor of geology, paleontology and evolution at University of California, Berkeley.
A hard-hitting piece on Sarah Palin in the new Vanity Fair has sparked a public fight among high-profile Republicans who advised her campaign, revealing for the first time some of the internal wars that paralyzed the campaign in its final days.
read moreSpanish police have arrested a man whom they suspect hired a contract killer to murder his boss in a desperate bid to avoid being laid off, newspaper El Pais reported on Tuesday.
The head of audiovisual services at the Barcelona International Convention Center contracted a Colombian man who shot and killed the director of the convention center on Feb 9, according to police.
The director had planned to lay off the arrested man as part of a restructuring project, police said.
After the President with the prolapsed pooper announced that the Taliban was wiped out forever in 2003, why are any troops necessary in Afghanistan.
Add Pat Boone to the list of birthers.
http://www.salon.com/politics/ war_room/2009/06/29/ boone_birther/index.html
Murphy spent the 4th with her fellow teabaggers.