A short update on the housing fallout.

The CDO market has collapsed. Market activity is down 78% in a month. Countrywide is reporting prime - not subprime, not alt-A, prime - mortgage delinquencies have jumped 255% since last year. This matters because of the role it plays in credit in general; the cascade impacts this collapsing is having in the general credit market are finally being talked about by the general financial press, I suggest you read up on it.

While some people are talking about a recovery in housing in hopefully six months, the data and analysis that I'm seeing really implies that such a recovery is more likely at least twelve and more likely at least 18 months away, and that six months from now the housing sector will be worse, not better. In particular, this is because the jump in loans in default has been partially triggered by upward mortgage interest rate adjustments as teaser/introductory rates expire. Unfortunately, this has only started, not finished, and the number of these sorts of rate hikes per month will - this is known, not speculation - be more than double their current number in January 2008.

I hope everyone had a chance to talk to their financial advisors during their various open-enrollment periods in June and July.

[pre-posting ETA, if that makes any sense at all: I wrote most of this a few days ago and forgot to hit "post." I hate that. Anyway, I haven't been updating because I've been working my ass off; I have a bunch of stuff I have to get done at 5038 before the end of the month. I'll try to get a CWU out tonight, I've got one started.]

[ETA 2: And I'm not making any bets about the strength of any housing recovery in 18 months, either. Some of the people I read are projecting three years before the numbers make sense again - and their analysis is good. By saying "more likely at least 18 months" I'm really saying, "I'm hoping for a sharper downturn sooner to clear all this crap out," because the alternative is worse. But that gets into issues too complex for an ETA. Particularly an ETA 2. ^_^ ]

Today's Cultural Warfare Update (Part I of II)

In today's news, I note a new media format for the American Family Association; they've launched a new "Media Center" with 24-minute daily programming. I don't have an entry for it below, because it's long and I'm just trying to get caught up in general and am avoiding transcripts for the moment, and unlike Concerned Women for America, they're smart enough not to let you rewind easily in their custom-wrapped media player. But be aware of this as a new source. Meanwhile, the scariest thing in this entire report is a video from the "Christians United for Israel" tour, which features former House Speaker Tom Delay (R-TX) and Joe Lieberman (former D, now I-CT) getting down with some serious crazy.

But also... Concerned Women for America is running the "lesbian rape gang" fraud all-out. Matt Barber and Peter LaBarbera go at the gaybashing for a good long time in ways that left me genuinely nauseated. See the starred entry below; I made a transcription. Warning: this story will be triggery as all hell for some readers; it's the bottom entry in this Part I of II, and is not re-included in Part II of II.

And now, today's news.

dogemperor is writing a series of articles on DailyKOS about the "parallel economy" - the businesses most involved in Dominionist politics and social engineering. Parts one and two are up. Part one includes extensive quotations from the statement of faith you're required to support to be listed; no queers, of course, but also feminism? Demonic. Literally. And it gets worse. Definitely worth reading;

Race to the Bottom, Part 1: Senator Brownback blasts former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for not being anti-gay enough. Press release wars ensue. First, Senator Brownback's;

Race to the Bottom, Part 2: And then, Mitt Romney's. Let's watch them try to out anti-gay each other! Fun;

Texas governor Rick Perry (R) has appointed a Creationist to head the Texas State Board of Education; yes, really; he's explicitly anti-intellectual and considers many sciences to be "anti-Christian";

A video from the "Christians United for Israel Tour" is really quite remarkable - you too can hear former Speaker of the House Tom Delay say that it's about the return of Jesus, and hear rank-and-file attendees talk about how much they look forward to armageddon, and how Satan is controlling the Moslems, and watch Senator Joe Lieberman (former D, now I-CT) cheerlead for a pre-emptive attack on Iran and talk about his dear friend former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), notorious theocrat. Seriously, watch this video;

American Family Association ACTION ITEM to condemn Ford Motor for being a sponsor at Seattle Pride; I note with amusement that Ford Motor reported a profit this past quarter, for the first time in a while;

OneNewsNow - the American Family Association news service - runs an article condemning the Virginia Educational Association for endorsing non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment; OneNewsNow, the AFA, and all the rest of the theocons are, obviously, against it, as they support explicit government discrimination against GBLT people;

OneNewsNow's reader poll reports that 91.16% of readers think that schools resisting the anti-gay group PFOX are "part of the anti-Christian culture prevalent in many public school districts"; the poll options are pretty funny, in that sad way;

OneNewsNow - the AFA news service - runs an ACTION ITEM to support "decency" to broadcast television, condemning "so-called 'freedom of the speech' of the airwaves"; it's thinly wrapped as an article, but it's obvious an ACTION ITEM;

American Family Association ACTION ITEM against S1105, which adds "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to US hate crimes laws; they are, of course, against it, saying it "establish[es] homosexuals as a special class of people and would give them special rights," which is, of course, a lie. And is, for that matter, the standard lie. They even go out of their way to state that if gay people kill a straight person because that person is straight, it wouldn't apply because it's homosexual-only. Again, this is a lie. However, that never stops them. Also, they claim that S. 1105 "will likely lead to the criminalization and civil sanction of the biblical view of homosexuality";

American Family Association ACTION ITEM to support an unspecified "decency" bill to be introduced by Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), a theoconservative favourite;

AFA ACTION ITEM to demand restoration of funding to abstinence-only sexual education programmes, saying that without it, 14 year olds will be told to go have sex;

Traditional Values Coalition ACTION ITEM against S.1105, which adds sexual orientation and gender identity to Federal hate crimes laws; they assert it will "endorse deviant and criminal behaviors" and lays "the legal foundation and framework to investigate, prosecute and persecute pastors, business owners, and anyone else whose actions are based upon and reflect the truths found in the Bible"; interestingly, the TVC specifically is concerned that incitement to violence against queers would be included in this bill. Most of the theocon groups pretend they are against incitement to violence against GBLT people; not so much TVC, apparently;

The Traditional Values Coalition's second ACTION ITEM against S.1105 (see above), and also condemns nondiscrimination in Federal employment hiring (saying it "will grant federally-protected status to homosexuals, cross-dressers, drag queens, transsexuals and she-males") and ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, with similar language;

TVC condemns - yet again - including sexual orientation in Federal hiring anti-discrimination policy, saying it "endorses criminal activity such as pedophilia and necrophilia"; I think the big point of this is to make "sexual orientation" mean "paedophilia" and "necrophilia" to theoconservatives, so they react automatically against the term;

And a fourth TVC condemnation of including sexual orientation in Federal hiring anti-discrimination policy; the bill in question is HR 2232; they basically just repeat the same talking points. I think the big point of this is to make "sexual orientation" mean "paedophilia" and "necrophilia" to theoconservatives, so they react automatically against the term;

Traditional Values Coalition posts a fake version of HR2232 which defines "sexual orientation" to mean, "apotemnophilia, asphyxophilia, autogeynphilia, bisexual, corprophilia, exhibitionism, fetishism/sexual fetishism, frotteurism, heterosexuality, homosexual, gender identity disorder, gerontosexuality, incest, kleptophilia, klismaphilia, necrophilia, partialism, pedophilia, prostitution, sexual masochism, sexual sadism, telephone scatalogia, toucherism, transgenderism, transsexual, transvestite, transvestic fetishism, urophilia, voyeurism, or zoophilia/bestiality"; HR2232 is the bill which would reject discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in Federal hiring. They call this a "clarification of terms"; I call it "posting a fake version of the bill which includes all kinds of crap not actually in it";

TVC demands approval of judicial nominee Leslie Southwick;

***** Concerned Women for America promotes the "Lesbian Gang Rapes" story that was on a Memphis station and turned into "hundreds of lesbian gangs raping young girls across the country" segment on Bill O'Reilly; they condemn GBLT groups for opposing the story; the key thing to remember is that all or nearly all of this is false. Bill O'Reilly has even disclaimed it. It's not actually true. But they'll be flogging it for a year. Concerned Women for America's Matt Barber discusses it with Peter LaBarbera of "Americans for Truth" in a festival of "violent lesbian" gaybashing, with some truly nauseating lines including some about how if this were heterosexuals doing the raping, it'd be national news. Seriously, I nearly threw up at that line;

More in part II of II; stories for the above headlines are below the cut here:
( Articles, transcriptions, and excerpts below )

Today's Cultural Warfare Update (Part II of II)

[Continued from previous post; see Part II for introduction and many more reports]

CWA: "Homosexual Immorality: What's the Debate?" CWA's Matt Barber condemns Democratic candidates for debating on Logo, saying that queers are "both immoral and destructive to the lives, health and spiritual well being of those who choose to participate in those behaviors." Note the separation of "behaviours" from GBLT people; they like to pretend that there's not actually such a thing as a lesbian or gay person, just a straight person who is diseased and perverted. Oh, and next it'll be a NAMBLA debate, because you need to get the QUEERS WANT TO RAPE YOUR CHILDREN AND TURN THEM INTO FAGS meme back into play again;

CWA: "Iraq War Vet 'Spit On' by Democrat Senators." This is a lie. What the story is actually about is a judicial nominee not getting a vote. Note, however, how the headline is designed to create a false image of vets being spat upon, as per the Vietnam legend. The impression they want to create is "Democrat Senators hate America and The Troops and spit on them to show it";

Concerned Women for America's Matt Barber is interviewed about Chief Executive Bush's anti-gay Surgeon General nominee;

CWA endorses "Protecting Children From Indecent Programming Act";

Faith and Freedom Network picks up the "lesbian rape gang" story and promotes it heavily, quoting Peter LaBarbera (see above) and Focus on the Family, calling the lack of coverage of this false story of hundreds of lesbian gangs raping other girls to "turn them gay" "Orwellian";

Faith and Freedom Network protests Washington State civil unions law;

FFN calls for legislators who didn't vote to stop all Federal moneys from going to any Planned Parenthood services (general women's reproductive health care, which is the major part of their work) to be ousted; they also want a reaffirmation of the state DOMA, so they can target people not anti-gay enough;

FFN calls anti-PFOX reaction by a Maryland school another case of "tolerance" equalling "censorship."

( Articles, transcriptions, and excerpts below )