Credit unions are a better deal for most people than banks are

So says this article from Business Insider. I agree. But then I thought so before the Great Recession hit.

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A big bank is a stoopid bank (Megan McArdle, The Atlantic)
"I could have gotten a cheaper rate by shopping mortgage brokers.  But it's worth $15 a month to deal with a bank which thinks it has a mission to help you. " Credit unions are usually much better in IMO.

GTF out now! : Some foreign policy advice from Pat Buchanan (American Conservative)
PB gets my vote as the last torch-bearer for the Old Right foreign policy of non-interventionism (i.e., pre-WW2 era Americans who wanted nothing to do with foreign wars where America had no interest). Pat's wrong on many issues but not on this one.

Lying liars in theory and practice (Ann Althouse, Ann Althouse blog) 
"Every would-be journalist should study this clip. This is what lying looks like. This is how a powerful, ambitious individual endeavors to push you back."   Yep.

Open source guru Richard Stallman denounces ebooks (pdf. file)
Here's a partial list of Stallman's claim of physical book advantages."You can buy one with cash, anonymously. Then you own it. You are not required to sign a license that restricts your use of it. The format is known, and no proprietary technology is needed to read the book. You can, physically, scan and copy the book, and it's sometimes lawful under copyright. Nobody has the power to destroy your book."

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We need counterweights not just to Wall Street's toxic products but to its malign influence - The American Prospect (Johnson & Kwak)

How to live out of your car - BoingBoing
Surviving (and thriving) on $12,000 a year - MSN Money

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Put a few banksters in prison as an example to the rest? - iSteve (Steve Sailer)

"...why not imprison a few 8-figure per year bank officers? That will put a little fear in future banksters. That will make them cautious about exploiting loopholes they find in regulations."

Channeling his inner Stalin..(heh)

Evolving a better class of criminal mastermind - LA Times (Richard Serrano)

The real accomplishment of the War on Drugs.

Security theater comes to America - Fred On Everything (Fred Reed)

Debtor States - New Yorker (James Surowiecki)

On paying for content - boingboing (Clay Shirky)

We have to or else. Or so says Rupert Murdoch and his ilk. Clay Shirky calls bullshit on that notion.