Via atrios, the housing market collapses:

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes dropped more steeply than expected in July to their lowest pace in 15 years, an industry group said Tuesday, implying further loss of momentum in the economic recovery. The National Association of Realtors said sales dropped a record 27.2 percent from June to an annual rate of 3.83 million units, the lowest level since May 1995. June's sales pace was revised down to a 5.26 million-unit pace.

FDR created HOLC. The Obama Administration HAMP'd us.

Speaking for me only

Jon Stewart on the Fox News Mosque at Ground Zero.

The Fox News Mosque at Ground Zero*? I like it.

Speaking for me only

*It's not at Ground Zero, but Fox News says it is.

Greg Sargent:

Obama has passed the most ambitious domestic agenda since FDR[.]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. This strikes me as one of the most ridiculous opinions I have seen. Sargent writes this in the context of discussing another article on "why the 'Left' is disappointed with Obama." Suffice it to say that these psychological profiles of why "the Left" is disappointed are condescending at best, insulting at worst. And Sargent goes along for the ride.

For some reason, it is impossible for some to fathom that most on "the Left" do not agree that "Obama has passed the most ambitious domestic agenda since FDR." "The Left" appears to believe that "Obama's agenda" has been pretty tepid. On the economy, does anyone think "Obama's agenda" has been bold and progressive? I don't. The health bill had a very progressive element, the expansion of Medicaid. The rest of the bill is neither progressive nor, imo, is it likely to be effective. The financial reform bill is a joke, imo. Could someone explain to me, beyond listing the title of bills, what "the most ambitious domestic agenda since FDR" actually consists of? Or does that require actually dealing with the POLICY complaints of "The Left" and is thus not allowed?

Speaking for me only

Rod explains why he didn't testify at his trial. He gets tongue-tied at points, according to the description. Here's Part 2.

Unbelievable, but true. At 7.5 feet tall, the
"Assault Intervention Device" is the hottest new non-lethal weapon out there. And it's coming to a jail in LA.

What does it do? It shoots out rays that cause extreme, unbearable pain.

The 7½-foot-tall Assault Intervention Device emits a focused, invisible ray that causes an unbearable heating sensation in its targets – hopefully stopping inmates from fighting or doing anything other than trying to get out of its way, sheriff's officials said.

The device, unveiled Friday at Pitchess Detention Center, will be mounted near the ceiling in a dormitory housing about 65 prisoners, according to Commander Bob Osborne of the Sheriff's Department Technology Exploration Program.

It's intended use: To break up fights between inmates.[More...]

Our earlier open thread is full, so here's another one.

In local news, Denver's Manager of Public Safety has resigned in the wake of complaints about his inadequate discipline of officers in two cases of excessive force. The videos of the beatings are very disturbing.

And Colorado Governor Bill Ritter announced plans to rebalance the budget. Among the numbers: The state expects to take in $9 million from medical marijuana licenses.

I'm off to watch "Weeds." All topics welcome.

Is the slang used by some African Americans, including some drug dealers, a foreign language? The Smoking Gun reports the DEA is seeking to hire ebonics linguists to assist in their drug investigations, particularly on wiretaps. They even have the contract.

A maximum of nine Ebonics experts will work with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta field division, where the linguists, after obtaining a “DEA Sensitive” security clearance, will help investigators decipher the results of “telephonic monitoring of court ordered nonconsensual intercepts, consensual listening devices, and other media”

The DEA’s need for full-time linguists specializing in Ebonics is detailed in bid documents related to the agency’s mid-May issuance of a request for proposal (RFP) covering the provision of as many as 2100 linguists for the drug agency’s various field offices. Answers to the proposal were due from contractors on July 29.

Case law involving Ebonics arises far more frequently in civil cases, particularly workplace harassment and discrimination cases. One court opinion says "Ebonics" is also known as "African American Vernacular English." (Webster's II New College Dict. (2001) p. 356, col. 1.)

In my experience, drug agents frequently misinterpret the conversations they hear on the wiretaps, and that includes Ebonics as well as official languages like Spanish or Hmong. I don't think their reliability or their methodology should pass muster under Daubert. But there's very little case law on it. [More...]

U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth has granted an injunction in a lawsuit backed by a Christian group seeking to prevent the implementation of President Obama's new stem cell research guidelines. The judge ruled the guidelines violate the Dickey-Wicker Amendment and that "ESC research is research in which a human embryo is destroyed."

The opinion is here.

The Plaintiffs originally included Drs. James L. Sherley and Theresa Deisher, and Nightlight Christian Adoptions (“Nightlight”), Embryos, Shayne and Tina Nelson, William and Patricia Flynn, and the Christian Medical Association (“CMA”). They sought an injunction and declaratory relief to keep the new NIH "Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research" from taking effect to prevent funding research involving the destruction of human embryonic stem cells. [More...]

Lawsuits against internet users, including anonymous commenters, are on the rise, according to the Media Law Resource Center in New York and other media experts.

"Most people have no idea of the liability they face when they publish something online," said Eric Goldman, who teaches Internet law at Santa Clara University. "A whole new generation can publish now, but they don't understand the legal dangers they could face. People are shocked to learn they can be sued for posting something that says, 'My dentist stinks.' "

Under federal law, websites generally are not liable for comments posted by outsiders. They can, however, be forced to reveal the poster's identity if the post includes false information presented as fact.

So where are the boundary lines? [More...]

BTD is traveling today, and I'm going to be trying to catch up at work. I wish Labor Day was this weekend, I'm so ready to take a break and do something different. But that will have to wait another week.

Are any of you going on trips that weekend?

In case I get swamped and don't get to the news until later, here's an open thread for you.

The furor over the Islamic Center continues, as protests were held in Manhattan by those on both sides. I still don't get the opposition to it, and why it's such a big deal. All that raw emotion and anger seems like it could be better spent on something positive.

Nor do I understand the anger over whether Roger Clemens took steroids, or why everyone seems to think that the word of a trainer who cut a deal and a former player who thinks he remembers an admission made in 1999 is grounds for a six count Indictment. Prosecuting the famous seems to be the new big thing.

Here's one view of a legal defense Clemons might have according to a former White House lawyer as reported in the New York Times: Congress may not have been authorized to call Clemons in the first place. [More...]

Via dougj, Jay Rosen on Sunday talk shows this morning.

Shales' Amanpour history from Media Matters.

This observation solely reflects my view that Tom Shales is an idiot.