Ben Stein: Economic Village Idiot

“In life, events tend to follow patterns. People who commit crimes tend to be criminals, for example. Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes? Can anyone tell me of any heads of nonprofit international economic entities who have ever been charged and convicted of violent sexual crimes? Is it likely that just by chance this hotel maid found the only one in this category? Maybe Mr. Strauss-Kahn is guilty but if so, he is one of a kind, and criminals are not usually one of a kind.”

-Ben Stein, 5/17/11

Cobourg’s former economic director goes to jail for sexual assault
Economist on governor’s staff charged with child sex abuse
Former Rockford College economics professor pleads guilty to sexual abuse
W&M assistant [economics] professor charged with online sex crime
Colby [economics] professor resigns amid secret-camera flap
Economics professor caught in teen sex sting
CSUN economics professor Kenneth Ng runs Thai sex tourism website

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John Boehner Stuck Between Tea Party And A Hard Place, Pelosi's District Gets 20% Of Obamacare Waivers, Student Loan Debt Now Equals 7% OF GDP (LINKS)

May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard discusses Fed policy and the outlook for inflation. Bullard speaks with Betty Liu and Michael McKee on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop."

• John Boehner Stuck Between Tea Party And A Hard Place (Great Read)
• Bernanke Favors Exit Strategy of Higher Rates Before Asset Sales
• Student loan debt now equivalent to 7 Percent of U.S. GDP
• Bullard Says Fed on Hold Until Late This Year Amid ‘Softer’ Economic Data
• Fed’s Bullard Sees Europe Debt Crisis as Top Risk to U.S. Economic Outlook
• Japan Falls Into Recession After Economy Shrinks 3.7%
• U.S. Housing May Not Recover Until 2014: Survey
• Chinese Wealth Make Vancouver Homes Pricier Than NYC
• Chrysler refinancing to let it repay government loans
• Senate blocks bill targeting big oil subsidies
• Long Island School Official Gets $225,000 Salary While on $316,245 Pension
• Nearly 20 percent of new Obamacare waivers are gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, fancy hotels in Nancy Pelosi’s district

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• Pot Smoker Cheech Marin Beats Anderson Cooper on Jeopardy
• Denmark preparing to stake claim to North Pole
• 7 Animals That Are Evolving Right Before Our Eyes (Great Read)
• Former “alarmist” scientist says Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) based in false science

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Jon Stewart Exposes Gingrich As A Hypocritical Jack-Ass (Video & Twitter Proof)

Can't get enough of the Newt demonstrating his rare, under-appreciated intelligence?  Check out this Daily Show appearance from February 2010.

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DSK Is Done At The IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn Resigns

Breaking story.

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Christine Lagarde To Replace DSK At IMF?, Dominique Strauss-Kahn To Make Bail Thursday

• Strauss-Kahn's IMF future hinges on bail hearing
• He was like a gorilla. . . new sex claims hit IMF chief DSK
• Book Claims DSK Assaulted A Mexican Maid
• A Favorite Emerges for Helm of I.M.F. - Christine Lagarde
• Sources: DSK May Leave Rikers Island Thursday On $1 Million Bail
• New DSK Bail Plea Offer: He Will Wear An Electronic Monitoring Bracelet And Waive Extradition Rights
• Dominique Strauss-Kahn: IMF head 'hired prostitutes from Manhattan madam' - He Was Very Rough With One Of Them
• The Fabulous Life Of Dominique Strauss-Kahn (Before He Was Arrested) - Remember That He's A Socialist When You See These Photos

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MADRID AWAKENS: Aerial View Of Spanish Youth Protesting 21% Unemployment

Spain's 21.3% unemployment rate is the highest in the EU - a record 4.9 million are jobless, many of them young people.

Spanish media say the protesters are attacking the country's political establishment with slogans such as "violence is earning 600 euros", "if you don't let us dream we won't let you sleep" and "the guilty ones should pay for the crisis".

• Read more at the BBC...
• See more Spanish protest videos here...

The global banking elite has another problem... 

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Video: Iowa Voter to Gingrich: "Why don't you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself"

This is brilliant.

• Newt Gingrich apologizes to Paul Ryan

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'An executive at a small defense contractor recently joked to me, “Afghanistan is our business plan.” I asked him what he would do if the war ended. He stared at me for a moment and said, “Well, then I hope we invade Libya.”'

The 43-cents-of-every-dollar-is-borrowed war machine rolls on...

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Dylan Ratigan On War And Debt Ceiling Politics: Fearocracy or Democracy? (Guest Post)

Forget the Republicans and Democrats who are mere puppets of k-street lobbying whores and their industrial henchmen...

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Video: Gingrich says he cheated on his wives because he felt so 'passionately for this country'

CBN Video - Gingrich's patriotc excuse - Mar. 9, 2011

As long as we're covering the Newt...

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Video: Tennessee Cops Fight Each Other To Steal Your Money, No Charges Required

Watch this one all the way through.  This is uniquely and seriously deranged, not to mention unconstitutional.  Cops are fighting turf battles to steal your money, with no need for criminal charges.  Don't skip the last 3 minutes, including the f-bomb, threat-laden, cop vs. cop macho challenge.

The real fun begins at 4:30.

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Alleged Victim Of Dominique Strauss-Kahn Has HIV, Ron Paul Says Sell All The Gold In Fort Knox, Greece Will Be MUCH Worse Than Lehman, GE Strikes Again (LINKS)

Links from around the web this morning.

• Alleged Victim Of Dominique Strauss-Kahn Has HIV
• It has emerged the 32-year-old and her 15-year-old daughter were being housed in a Bronx apartment block by Harlem Community Aids United. The charity has not revealed the medical status of the maid, who is a migrant from Guinea, west Africa, but did confirm it only rents apartments for adults with either HIV or Aids.
• IMF Chief Under Suicide Watch at NYC Jail
• Ron Paul Says 'Sell All The Gold in Fort Knox - If There Is Any Left'
• Yale Suspends Bushes' Frat for Sexist Chants
• UK Starts Withdrawl from Afghanistan
• Could Greece be the next Lehman Brothers?
• SEC seeks to limit credit rater conflicts
• ‘Gang of Six’ talks at impasse, GOP Sen. Coburn says
• Moody’s cuts Australian-bank ratings
• IMF sounds alarm over Greece
• How GE's green lobbying is killing U.S. factory jobs
• Michigan man still on food stamps despite winning $2M
• Newt Gingrich apologizes to Paul Ryan
• Willie Nelson endorses Gary Johnson for 2012

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Video: Matt Taibbi Vs. Wall Street Apologist Megan McArdle On Goldman Sachs Criminal Behavior

Read the transcript...

Corrupt enterprise nirvana.  You're guilty, everyone knows it, and no prosecution. Geithner took care of that with Cuomo, secretly, in 2008, in the name of system stability.  Bill Black is writhing in the throes of a wretched death spiral.

What about Anton Valukas - you remember the Chicago lawyer handling the $600 billion Lehman bankruptcy - 2 years within the bowels of Dick Fuld's Repo 105 nut sack ought to qualify him for special financial prosecutor.  Eric Holder is a dipshit, have we mentioned that lately.  

Obankster, listen up.  Wanna get reelected... Then tell Holder to name a Special Wall Street Prosecutor.  Now.

• Trump sounds off on lawsuits - Video
• What If the U.S. Treasury Defaults? - WSJ
• The Coming Postal Bailout - WSJ
• Obama's $250,000 Question

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Meanwhile Your Civil Liberties Are Under Siege In Indiana

Judge Napolitano:

"The Indiana Supreme Court is wrong.  If cops don't have a warrant, don't open your door."

• Ind. Supreme Court Threatened After Allowing Warrantless Searches
• Indiana Sheriff Says: If We Need to Conduct RANDOM HOUSE to HOUSE Searches We Will

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