Author Archive | Jim Lindgren

On the issue of a right of self defense discussed by my fellow Volokh Conspirators a few days ago, my take is somewhat different. The framers believed that Americans possessed a natural right of self defense, which no government could abrogate. Indeed, the purpose of entering into civil society was for protection. As Locke argued, […]

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is being blamed — somewhat unfairly — by federal regulators for causing the collapse of the bank IndyMac: Pasadena-based IndyMac, with $32 billion in assets, was seized by the government Friday. The loss-ridden mortgage lender had faced an outflow of deposits since Schumer on June 26 made public a letter he […]

Over at the Foundry, Conn Carroll is pointing out an apparent error in Paul Krugman’s defense of the political entities doing business as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Krugman wrote in his column today that “Fannie and Freddie had nothing to do with the explosion of high-risk lending a few years ago” and that “they […]

In reading this article about Crony Capitalism at Fannie Mae (tip to Instapundit), I noticed that Jamie Gorelick was one of the Fannie executives who benefited from inflated bonuses based on Enron-style accounting. She was Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae from 1997 to 2003 (Fannie’s fraudulent accounting scheme was made public in 2004). This is […]

The New Yorker story on Obama (the one with the offensive cover art) includes some of Barack Obama’s post-9/11 comments published in my neighborhood newspaper, The Hyde Park Herald. The blog Jammie Wearing Fool quotes from the New Yorker story (tip to Instapundit). Since the New Yorker thought Obama’s words after the attack were important […]

[According to a Reuters story, reported on CNBC about 2:45pm ET:]The Federal Reserve discount window is now open to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both stocks, which were down by huge percentages, began climbing. And the Dow has moved from down 250 points earlier today to down 100 points at 2:50ET. UPDATE: Now Reuters is […]

Carl Bogus responded to an earlier post of mine. I told this story of his behavior immediately before he published a review of Arming America in the Texas Law Review: I remember during the dispute over Arming America that Bogus was writing a review and sought my permission to cite one of my unpublished drafts. […]

John McCain recently called Social Security an “absolute disgrace.” It is, of course, but politicians aren’t supposed to say so. Josh Marshall is on the case (tip to Kaus): Okay, when last we checked in on the McCain Social Security is an “absolute disgrace” front, we asked you let us know if any journalist got […]

Via Instapundit and Kaus, I read that Barack Obama couldn’t speak Spanish. But in 1997, he claimed to a reporter that he could speak a barely passable Spanish, one of four languages that he claimed varying abilities to speak: Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, April 26, 1997 LAWYER-LEGISLATOR BREATHES LIFE INTO THE DREAMS OF HIS FATHER […]

BACKGROUND When the Heller case came out, Carl Bogus pointed to a “careful study” by Colin Loftin, et al., (325 New Eng. J. Med. 1615 (Dec. 5, 1991)), showing a huge drop in homicide resulting from the DC gun ban. I cited criticisms of that study. Tim Lambert responded on his own blog, apparently thinking […]

Today the value of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have fallen about 16-18% in part because of new accounting rules that might force them to bring questionable off-balance sheet assets onto their books. This would leave them so undercapitalized that they would need to raise massive amounts of cash to avoid a huge government bailout. […]

In the obit for former Senator Jesse Helms on NBC Nightly News, they mentioned (or at least hinted at) his racist background, as they should have, but I was stunned by the conclusion. Martin Savidge reporting (at about 2:58 of the NBC video segment): But there is one point on which both critics and supporters […]

In the most recent report on political goals for Iraq, it appears that 15 of 18 benchmarks set by the US Congress have been met: On page 8 of the Washington Post’s news section today, we learn that, according to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq has met all but three of the 18 original […]

Ann Althouse has an interesting account of the largely favorable New York Times Magazine story on Rush Limbaugh. I was surprised that Althouse listens regularly to Limbaugh. As far as I know (and I am probably wrong on this), none of my friends watches or listens regularly to Limbaugh, Hannity, or O’Reilly. I haven’t watched […]

Stuart Benjamin notes that the market capitalization of all of General Motors’ stock has dropped below $5.7 billion. When last week it dropped below $7 billion, CNBC noted: To put that in even more perspective, GM’s market value is now roughly equivalent to that of tax-preparation provider H&R Block or toy maker Mattel. Even more […]