It’s really sad. And, of course, the geopolitical consequences will be enormous. Reports indicate that the military is already taking over basic government functions. Given Pakistan’s history, this means another military dictator probably isn’t too far off. I’m going with Kayani this time. Hopefully Kayani has the foresight to just run the Zardari government from behind the scenes. An overt military dictatorship would play right into the Taliban’s hands.
Beyond the strategic implications, there’s just the human toll. Wow, those Pakistanis have had it rough for many years now. And, sorry to say, it ain’t gonna get much better for a while.

If there is one area of escaping-the-Great-Recession policy where I really agree with the conservative critique of government intervention, it’s with the Homebuyer Tax Credit, which gave first-time homebuyers a sizable tax credit (even better than a deduction), of up to $8500 (I believe that was the max, I may be mistaken).  Really, it just moved whatever purchases were going to happen this year up in time.  I don’t think it will in the end have actually increased purchases.

In hindsight, I’m probably against most of the interventions the federal government made to try to stabilize the housing market.  Far better, I think, to have homebuyers eat their losses, declare bankruptcy (or at least foreclose their properties), and start renting and spending their income on things other than a freaking mortgage on a home with underwater value.  And I don’t necessarily begrudge underwater homeowners of their decisions.  Sure, some of them made reckless decisions during the boom, but so did a lot of people (like, the people who lent them the money to make reckless decisions, and the people who in turn lent those people money through mortgage-back securitization).

Many homebuyers are simply being strung along by federal programs that squeeze every last dollar out of them in order to make mortgage payments.  And, sometimes through a bizarre sense of duty (people actually care whether Bank of America gets its money?  If I were an underwater homeowner, I wouldn’t), and a fear of the temporary chaos of foreclosure, people are willingly strung along.  Think how pissed those people will be, though, if, as is likely, their homes get foreclosed on in the end anyway.

Liberals might counter that though the Obama homebuyer rescue programs were ineffective, that is only because they weren’t interventionist enough.  But how much money should we realistically spend saving investments in assets that most people recognize were highly inflated?  How much money should we spend prolonging a bubble?  And, when it eventually fully pops, won’t the pain be that much greater?  Housing values had much less underlying value than assets in previous bubbles, like stock values during the internet and tech boom.  That means there’s even less justification to rescue housing investments.

This is why I still support drone strikes in Pakistan.  It’s like, sorry, Pakistan, but until we have a reliable partner, America needs tools at its disposal to protect our national interests, regardless of how pissed your population gets about it.  Our only duty is to mitigate to the extent possible civilians killed and damage to property.

The brazenness of this announcement really irks me.  Even if, as some American officials speculate and which I believe, Pakistan actually had no double motive in going after Abdul Ghani Baradar, and Pakistan is simply now trying to publicly assert a level of independence (to please political constituencies or whatever), what, exactly, does Pakistan gain from this announcement?  Without American support, the Pakistani government would collapse.  And, even though I’m sure India is covertly involved in Afghanistan, the Indians are not so stupid as to announce ulterior motives to the world.  A government that so flippantly regards its own national self-interest (and same goes for the Pakistani people, who for too long have viewed India and America as the real enemies) is worrying indeed…

I’m a little disappointed by Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs”. Perhaps I would be happier with an album titled “The Cities” and themed appropriately since, you know, that’s where Arcade Fire’s fans live now. As the album’s title lets on, there’s a lot of pining nostalgia and a lot of young white people angst. The first album was definitely much better. At times, the first was rockin’ and at other times transcendent. This album is more despondent. There are some good tracks. Like, the first five. It goes downhill from there. Grade: B-

I’m delighted by Ratatat’s “LP4”, my first introduction to the group. They are fun dj/remix artists, similar to Pretty Lights. This particular album has fantastic beats. Some songs are almost tribal, as if emanating from an aboriginal African or Australian culture. That’s a degree of earthiness that’s hard to come by with a dj/remix group. The album sorta drags on towards the end (it’s funny how dj/remix groups can make albums that get boring towards the end. Since they’re essentially remixing other content, you’d think they have an unlimited supply of fresh content. Ah…but the human mind still imposes limits on freshness. Except Girl Talk’s mind, which is always fresh). Grade: A

The time-tested principle is once again proven correct. Though, we’ll see how the second trial goes.

In general, I think it’s time for Patrick Fitzgerald to chill out.  When prosecuting Scooter Libby, for example, he basically promised that at the end of the day Karl Rove would also be behind bars.  It didn’t quite turn out that way…

General Petraeus is a deeply honorable man, and if anyone can convince the American public to stick it out in Afghanistan certainly he can. But I take deep issue with this: “’For the first time,’ he said, ‘we will have what we have been working to put in place for the last year and a half.’”  Uh…what?!  I know the Obama Administration would like everyone to forget the McChrystal debacle, but do they really expect us to think that McChrystal lacked the resources and commitment from the administration that he needed?  What, exactly, does Petraeus now have that McChrystal didn’t?

And I love how the Iraqi surge is held out as a shining example of military success.  Last I checked, we’re still in Iraq (though, to his credit, Obama has kept withdrawals from that country more or less on schedule).  And the Iraqis, after having an enormously successful election in March, STILL HAVEN’T SEATED A GOVERNMENT!  Former PM Maliki and his Shiite-dominated faction are in no mood to hand power over to the Sunni-and-secular Allawi-led coalition, even though Allawi’s party, like, you know, actually won the election.  I wish our paragon of success was somewhat more successful.

Prepare for a cuteness overload.

A proud moment. Of course he would back it, though, considering he’s a secret Muslim.

Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic still has it perfectly correct, there is one man who can end this ridiculous debate over the mosque that hurts our efforts in the so-called War on Terror and, in the process, partially redeem his legacy: George W. Bush.  According to Bush’s previous comments, he should support the mosque.  Yes, sadly, that means the current iteration of the Republican party is even more radically right-wing in its quest for perpetual war with Islam than Bush was.

As an elitist liberal, I certainly love Obama puff pieces (and in the NY Times no less!).  And the Obama Administration should certainly feel satisfied with the result in Colorado (especially since they were being contradicted by erstwhile friend Billy Clinton, who did robocalls for Romanoff).  But, I’m not convinced that the victory in Colorado can be counted as a victory for Obama.  There truly, honestly wasn’t any daylight between the two candidates’ positions.  And, as much as Romanoff tried to paint Bennet as a “Washington insider” (the most commonly used insult in American politics today), Bennet has only been in the Senate two years, where he’s done his best to shake things up (rules reform, public option in healthcare, etc.).  Before that, Bennet had never run for public office, unlike Romanoff, who is a career politician.

In other words, Romanoff would have made a fine candidate, but there was really no compelling reason to vote for him over Bennet.  The Obama Admin was helpful in pushing the race towards an outcome that was already likely.

Okay, maybe not an awesome movie poster, but certainly a respectable one.  On a side note, I expect the movie itself to suck terribly.  Such a shame.  Such a waste of talent.