Maybe it’s because of what I see every morning from my kitchen window– the view over coffee of my former neighbor’s foreclosed and rapidly deteriorating home – that the Obama Administration’s housing policy so depresses me. Or maybe what depresses me is the housing policy itself. 

The house is visibly rotting before my eyes. The weeds are now growing through the middle of the air-conditioning units. The gutter no longer links directly to the downspout. The fascia boards are succumbing to the carpenter bees. Like any house unoccupied and unloved, what I see each morning is a rapidly deteriorating building that once physically embodied the hopes of everyone who lived inside it – owned now, no doubt, by a bank that is apparently too busy or too casual even to maintain its upkeep. What I see each morning stands as a daily reminder of the scale and character of the recession that still besets us. What I see each morning reminds me that we are currently suffering not just a jobs crisis but also a crisis of homes. People have lost more than paid work in this recession, though many of them have certainly lost that. They have also lost dreams.

My enthusiasm—yes, and excitement—over the possibilities of the Thiel Fellowships (for youth under 18 years-old) continues. I previously cited how Nick Cammarata and David Merfield, are developing ways to revolutionize schooling by changing the ways that teachers teach—giving their lectures online in the homes of their students, and using class time for exposition and application.

Howdy all...

It's been 10 months since my last post here at Dag...

Here is the latest in California with the state's ongoing implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act.

It would also be interesting to hear what's going on in other states' local legislative processes and implementation of the Act.

The following bullet points found at California Progress Organization are taken from a report by Anthony Wright, the Executive Director of Health Access California, the statewide health care consumer advocacy coalition of over 200 groups.

Richard Fisher is the President of the Dallas Fed and I would like to have overheard his personal reactions to Ponzi Perry's physical threat against the mild mannered Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke. It seems that Ponzi and the Tea Party just love to beat up on the Fed, particularly, QE2. Actually, Richard Fisher doesn't care much for QE2. And as a Dissenter at the the Fed's FOMC meeting in August, Richard Fisher has become an instant hero of tea baggers who have positioned him as a rough riding adversary of Uncle Ben and the librul FOMC.

Watching, reading and listening to all the ceremonies and interviews surrounding the tenth anniversary of 9-11, for some reason I was reminded of a totally unrelated anecdote.

Back in the 1950s Isabel García Lorca, the sister of the poet and dramatist who was executed by a fascist goon squad at the beginning of Spain's civil war, returned briefly to Spain from exile in the USA, probably trying to locate her brother's remains. When she was in Madrid, she paid a visit of several hours to an old prewar acquaintance, the eminent MD and philosopher, Gregorio Marañon.  Afterwards, the doctor's secretary asked him how it had gone. "A very charming lady" Marañon replied, "but she seems to be under the impression that she is the only Spanish woman who lost a brother in our civil war".  

Before the shot clock rules took effect in the NBA and Collegiate basketball, the practice of "freezing the ball" was used to sit on a lead in the last minutes of the game. I don't think there was anything more frustrating than the losing team being unable to get their hands on the ball. It seemed somehow unfair, un-American, even.

I thought one of the most effective lines in Obama's speech was the one, "We've got 14 months to go. The American people can't wait for 14 months".

If the Republicans stonewall Obama's efforts to increase hiring and to help those who are unemployed I think they are taking a huge risk. Fourteen months is a long time to try and freeze the ball. Think about how much time 14 months is. For example, the NFL just started. This season will end and we'll be in week eight of the next NFL season in 14 months. Think about that, Republicans!

On September 11 anniversaries, I like to remember the buildings themselves, and what they meant - and still mean - as an expression of the American spirit of ambition, optimism and progress.

I also celebrate the triumphant feat of the genius Philippe Petit, whose art and courage asserted human mastery over alien giants, and integrated them into the life of a resurgent city.  Watch these in order:

Originally posted at www.Kavehadel.com/blog

My daughter was fifteen that day.  When she got home, after seeing some of her fellow high school students whose parents worked "downtown" be brought to the principal's office to receive news withheld from the rest of the students, she was wide-eyed and scared.  She said today that she still is.  The two young boys who lived next door and thought of her as that nice, big girl, lost their dad, a firefighter, that day.

The Potato Eaters, 1885, Van Gogh Museum

I have been away from computers for nine days.

I have been away from virtual reality for nine days.

I have been away from writing for nine days.

I have been away from my hermitage for nine days.

I have been without my cloak of isolation for nine days.

And now I am back.

My friend died.

My virtual friend died.

One of the more inexplicable facts of modern life from the layman's perspective is that one John Yoo continues to hold a job. The simple fact of being employed isn't really that inexplicable ... of course a man of his background would be expected to find themselves parked at some think-tank somewhere getting paid handsomely simply for being a generally horrible person (as we all know, the primary purpose of think tanks is to quietly pay off people for acting so horribly in public life they have rendered themselves unemployable in polite society). The surprising bit is that he is employed by an institution that claims a mission of turning students into highly qualified, well trained legal professionals. And his job, apparently, involves teaching these students that his cocked-up legal opinions and the thought processes underlying them - repudiated by every other legal mind asked to place their own professional career and reputation on the line - may be ethically employed by the next generation of American lawyers.

Such is academic excellence at the legal department, University of California, Berkley (Boalt Hall). Co-overseen by David Caron and Christopher Edley Jr.

Recently, Mr. Edley found himself confronted at a public forum. His responses were, and continue to be, a bit eyebrow-raising. Subsequent discussions regarding Obama and his decision to ignore serious Bush-era lawbreaking has been fascinating. But equally fascinating is the snapshot of how the head of a reasonably prestigious legal program views issues of law, responsibility, accountability and the role of educational institutions in society.

September 7th 2011 Republican Party presidential debate at Reagan Library resembled the old fable from India named  Blind men and the elephant.

Unavoidably missed the speech, so I didn't get to hear the tone that others here have complimented. But here's a quick break down of the proposal itself, based on reporting by Reuters.

[Note: All comments are my own first thoughts. Maybe it's going to be better than it sounds. It was more $$bucks than I expected, but digging into the details suggests its considerably less bang than I hoped. Anyway, these are first, late night, reactions after reading the Reuters summary of the proposal.]

HIGHLIGHTS (MINE)

• 16% of the President's jobs plan is fraudulent (maybe more).
• 39% hands Republicans another excuse to gut Social Security
• 100% is to be paid for by the corporate-owned Super Committee

Here's the breakdown: