Obligations

Holy Carp, Batman! I almost let a month go by without an entry. Blame it on the real world, which insists I have higher-priority obligations than entertaining my seven regular readers. Speaking of the real world, it seems that Jon Corzine has done to MF Global what he almost managed to do to New Jersey:

MF Global files for bankruptcy after deal unravels

MF Global Holdings Ltd, the futures broker run by former Goldman Sachs chief Jon Corzine, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a tentative deal with a buyer fell apart.

The firm's meltdown in less than a week is a stunning setback for Corzine, who sought to turn MF Global into a mini-Goldman. Corzine became CEO last year after losing his governorship of New Jersey, and his big bets on euro-zone debt sealed the company's fate.

Guess that whole revolving-door thing doesn't work as well when there's no massive government bailouts available.

UPDATE:
Regulators Investigating MF Global for Missing Money

Regulators are examining whether MF Global diverted some customer funds to support its own trades as the firm teetered on the brink of collapse.

The discovery that money could not be located might simply reflect sloppy internal controls at MF Global. It is still unclear where the money went. At first, as much as $950 million was believed to be missing, but as the firm sorted through its bankruptcy, that figure fell to less than $700 million by late Monday, the people briefed on the matter said. Additional funds are expected to trickle in over the coming days.

Also wik: Others note the obvious ...

Big Three Nets Omit Corzine's Party ID as Feds Investigate His Firm

But of course.

As Foretold In The Prophecy ...

DUH.

Patients to wait longer for care under new health law

My favorite bit:

Expanding insurance coverage without a corresponding increase in the number of primary care doctors, though, could create problems with access to medical care

Ya think? Tell me if this all sounds kinda familiar ...

Cannibal Feast: The More Things Change ....

... the more they stay the same.

White House, Senate Democrats clash over campaign cash

Senate Democrats are increasingly concerned that President Barack Obama’s campaign money machine is sucking up so much cash that it will cut into the party’s aggressive campaign to hold on to the Senate next year, several Democratic sources say.

Democratic senators have already pressed Obama campaign officials — including campaign manager Jim Messina — not to lock up the richest Democratic donors, but the presidential campaign declined to make such a promise.

...Messina would not agree to the request not to max out big donors, and no decision was made on the amount of financial backing that Senate Democrats will get from the DNC and the Obama-Biden campaign.

I'm guessing that the future will tell us just how much Obama values person over party.

Other People's Money: Blue State Edition

San Francisco To Shutter Courtrooms; Lay Off 200 Workers

The San Francisco Superior Court announced Monday that it's laying off more than 40 percent of its staff and shuttering 25 courtrooms because of budget cuts.

Presiding Judge Katherine Feinstein said the actions were necessary to close a $13.75 million budget deficit caused by state budget cuts. She said the cuts mean it will take many more hours to pay a traffic ticket in person, up to 18 months to finalize a divorce and five years for a lawsuit to go to trial.

"The civil justice system in San Francisco is collapsing," Feinstein said.

Maybe she should ask her mama where all the money's gone.

Is this the Hope or the Change?

Questions surround feds' raid of Stockton home

Nothin' says HopeyChange!™ quite like a federal SWAT team from the U.S. Department of Education breaking into your home and hauling you off to jail when you're not even the person they're looking for.

And seriously ... SWAT teams for student loans? Was there any reason to believe that Wright's ex-wife was an armed desperado who would violently resist? Why the holy hell does the Department of Education have SWAT teams anyway?

Morons On Parade

Admittedly the choices are both numerous and bipartisan, but for this week I nominate the new chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), who recently said:

" ... the Republican solution that I’ve seen in the last three years is that we should just pack them all up and ship them back to their own countries and that in fact it should be a crime and we should arrest them all.”

The comment has drawn attention among conservative commentators and bloggers. During the comments, the chairwoman referred to legislation in 2006 by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) that would increase border enforcement and make illegal immigration a criminal offense instead of a civil matter.

Joining her as co-nominee for that report is Christian Science Monitor reporter Fred Lucas, who seems as blithely unaware as Wasserman Schultz (and Janet Napolitano) that illegal immigration is indeed a criminal offense in the United States and not a civil offense, and has been for quite some time. Decades, even.

Netanyahu Urges U.S. Return To 1845 Borders

Netanyahu Urges U.S. Return To 1845 Borders

Israeli PM calls for “just solution” to end the conflict.

Aboard Air Force Aleph (Reuters) – Speaking to reporters accompanying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his long flight to the United States tonight, Netanyahu spoke of the injustice and hardship Mexicans have endured since American forces annexed Texas in 1845. “Tens of thousands of ordinary Mexicans were driven out of their homes – the only homes they had known for centuries – and forced to live in poverty and squalor south of the border imposed by American aggression,” Netanyahu said. “The Israeli and Mexican people agree on this: This festering wound will never heal until America takes bold steps to return to the internationally accepted lines of 1845. Clearly the settlement activity that’s taken place in occupied Mexico since then is illegal. When I meet the President tomorrow I will tell him to halt all building activity in Texas immediately. Two lands for two peoples, yes, but not on land taken by force from Mexico,” the Prime Minister said.
Asked if his hard-line stance could hurt the U.S.-Israel relationship, Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s commitment to America’s security and the unshakeable friendship shared by the two countries, then added, “But who was it who said, part of friendship is being able to tell your friend the truth. The ball is now in Obama’s court.”

Yeah, it's a spoof, but not at all out of line. There are some important differences between the two situations, though. Namely, the government of Mexico has never made it official policy that America should be destroyed and all Americans killed.

The Palestinian government, not so much.

Health Care Cost Cutting Explained...

...by Don Surber.

Large demand divided by small supply equals high prices.

You don’t even have to sleep at a Holiday Inn Express to know that.

Even if you're Paul Krugman.

Wisconsin

Kinda says it all, doesn't it?

Comedy of Errors

When Judge Maryann Sumi enjoined the Wisconsin Secretary of State from publishing the just-passed union legislation (just before leaving on vacation) the desperate union left rejoiced. One little problem -- it looks like she enjoined the wrong party, and the law was published anyway.

Wisconsin Union Law Published Despite Court Order

Wisconsin officials couldn't agree Friday about whether an explosive law taking away nearly all public worker collective bargaining rights was about to take effect after a nonpartisan legislative bureau published it despite a court order blocking implementation.

...Walker signed the collective bargaining measure March 11 and La Follette had designated Friday as the date of publication. But after the restraining order, La Follette sent a letter to the Reference Bureau saying he was rescinding the publication date.

The Reference Bureau said it's still required to publish every new law within 10 working days after it's signed by the governor, on the date designated by the secretary of state, so it went ahead on Friday.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice issued a statement saying it would evaluate how the publication of the law, which it said was lawful, affects the lawsuit that prompted the restraining order. The bureau's action did not require anything to be done by La Follette and he was not in violation of the court's order, the DOJ statement said.

Long story short: Apparently, Sumi enjoined the wrong party.

SoS La Follette (a partisan Democrat who openly acknowledged pushing back the publication date as far as he legally could to facilitate unions getting contracts in place before the law took effect) did not violate the injunction. The SoS's only discretion is in setting the date of publication, which must be within ten working days of the Governor's signature on the bill. Nor does WI statute appear to give the SoS any power to rescind once the date is set. Sumi's order enjoined the SoS from publishing the law, but it is not the SoS that initially publishes, it's the LRB. The SoS publishes later in the state newspaper, but it appears to be the LRB publication that counts for activating the statute. The law gives the LRB no discretion about whether or not to publish, the LRB was not enjoined, had a statutory DUTY to publish, and did so.

There will be much bickering about "intent" and so forth, and not being a lawyer I will simply watch the proceedings with amusement. We do love a circus! For those interested in the technicalities, this piece by Marquette law professor Rick Esenberg is a good start. A good takeaway quote:

"District Attorney Ozanne and Judge Sumi never had the authority to stop publication and their failure to read the law has only resulted in their own errors being negated. There is poetic justice in that."

Indeed. And some delicious irony too.