Weekend Open Thread

Filed in National by on April 17, 2010

I hope everyone is having a beautiful spring weekend! You shouldn’t be inside looking at your computer, but if you are here’s an open thread to play in.

Hooray for sanity in Arkansas!

Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled today that Act 1, an initiated act approved by voters in 2008 that bans any unmarried person living with a partner from serving as an adoptive parent, is unconstitutional, and amounts to an unwarranted invasion of privacy. Jerry Cox of the Family Council, the group who sponsored Act 1 and fought for its passage, called the decision “judicial tyranny” and says they plan to appeal the decision to the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Here is a copy of Judge Piazza’s order. Piazza writes, “Due Process and Equal Protection are not hollow words without substance. They are rights enumerated in our constitution that must not be construed in such a way as to deny or disparage other rights retained by the people.”

Holly Dickson, with ACLU Arkansas, says the ban on adoption was too broad and excluded potentially good foster parents. “This is going to allow the state of Arkansas to consider all potentially good homes for kids who are in state custody that sorely need them. At this point, considering that Arkansas courts have twice found that bans like this do not protect children, I would hope that we could move on past this issue.”

Denying homes to children because you feel icky about LGBT people is just wrong and counterproductive.

It’s about time that someone paid a price in the financial collapse. The SEC is charging Goldman Sachs with fraud:

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Goldman Sachs with defrauding investors by allegedly “misstating and omitting key facts” in the marketing of a financial product linked to the performance of subprime mortgages right as the housing crisis was beginning to unfold.

The complaint comes down just as the attention of Washington is turning fully to financial reform.

“The product was new and complex but the deception and conflicts are old and simple. Goldman wrongly permitted a client that was betting against the mortgage market to heavily influence which mortgage securities to include in an investment portfolio, while telling other investors that the securities were selected by an independent, objective third party,” said SEC enforcement chief Robert Khuzami in a statement.

In other words, Goldman Sachs was explicity selling CDOs to people while also making bets that these CDOs would fail. They were intentionally selling bad products and I’ll bet it’s all legal. That’s why GS is being charged civilly instead of criminally.

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Opinionated chemist, troublemaker, blogger on national and Delaware politics.

Comments (20)

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  1. Rebecca says:

    Okay, I’ll kick off this thread by reminding everyone that Chris Coons’ formal three-county announcement tour is on Monday, April 19th. He’ll be in New Castle County at 3:00PM at the IBEW Hall on Basin Road, across from the airport. Hope you can get off work early to come hear Chris. He is an awesome orator and it’s great fun to hear him speak.

  2. Joanne Christian says:

    I answered my first Rasmussen poll today. Maybe this will be my first year to get picked for jury duty too.

  3. MJ says:

    Chris will be at the Rehoboth Beach Bandstand in downtown RB on Monday at 10:00 AM to start his 3 county announcement tour.

  4. Apparently there’s a debate today between the 4 candidates for the GOP U.S. House nomination.

  5. Joanne Christian says:

    There is? Where? Oh heck, I’m stuck inside.

  6. Joanne,

    It’s at Hartly Fire Hall.

  7. Collins says:

    I think Rush & Pat Robertson are the same person. I have never seen them together and clearly he forgot which person he was playing and read the script for the wrong character. Could have happened to anyone-well anyone so full of themself to believe crap like that.

  8. anon says:

    The Founding Fathers have a bunch of overdue library books.

  9. anon says:

    Rolling Stone is putting its entire archive online for $30/yr. That is one subscription I might actually buy.

  10. anon says:

    Frank Knotts is going with “Vance Phillips – more ethical than John Atkins!”

  11. anon says:

    Jack Markell on Matt Den: “It was probably the best introduction anyone could have to Matt. He was very effective for seven minutes, and then he had dry heaves on the sidelines.”

    I don’t know if that’s the type of info I’d want my boss sharing about me…

    http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/4-10woo.asp

  12. Jason330 says:

    Vance Phillips knows that this whole thing smells fishier that Ben Roethlisberger’s right index finger. No wonder he is doubling down.

  13. anon says:

    put up a link to delaware code title 11 sec. 1203 (b). he could be facing a felony?

  14. anon says:

    I’ll do better than a link, 11:22, I’ll post the whole thing. Are you not sitting in front of a computer to do the same?

    (b) A public servant or party officer is guilty of receiving a bribe when the public servant solicits, accepts or agrees to accept personal benefit from another person upon an agreement or understanding that some person will or may be appointed to a public office or designated or nominated as a candidate for public office.

    Sorry, doesn’t even come close.

  15. Jason330 says:

    Who wanst to bet that Mike Castle comes out against Financial Regulation Reform using these same empty rhetoric used here by Scott Brown?

    “Scott Brown of Massachusetts said this week that he’s against the proposed financial reforms because they would be ‘an extra layer of regulation.’

    As Kevin Drum noted, that’s “like saying that you don’t want better brakes on your car because ‘they’re going to slow me down.'” But Brown had more empty talking points to share:”

    Brown left open the possibility that he could support a compromise.
    “I want to see when it’s going to come up, how it’s going to come up,” he said. “I’m always open to trying to work something through so it is truly bipartisan.”

    Brown, whose vote could be critical as Democrats seek to find a GOP member to avoid a filibuster, assiduously avoided talking about specifics.

    When asked what areas he thought should be fixed, he replied: “Well, what areas do you think should be fixed? I mean, you know, tell me. And then I’ll get a team and go fix it.”

    Scott Brown is the next Mike Castle. Enjoy the endless and unremittingly hazy bullshit Massachusetts.

  16. PBaumbach says:

    from http://www.castle.house.gov/Biography/: “Mike Castle also serves on the House Committee on Financial Services, which has jurisdiction over banking and the securities and insurance industries.” Is that jurisdiction over regulating banking and the securities and insurance industries, or is that jurisdiction over taking campaign contributions from them?

    Nice job, Mike. Thanks for the crash.

    Needed financial reform–fire Republican Mike Castle in November, hire Democratic Chris Coons

  17. Jason330 says:

    Really neat UofD youtube video.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYEUwMlpK_4

  18. Jason330 says:

    Rush, Pat Robertson and this guy actually have followers…

    A top Iranian cleric has an answer for all the earthquakes and natural calamities striking the world recently – extramarital affairs.

    “Many women who dress inappropriately … cause youths to go astray, taint their chastity and incite extramarital sex in society, which increases earthquakes…Calamities are the result of people’s deeds,” Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi said.

    This is the age of strident stupidity.