Conservatives like Malkin will go to the ends of the earth to blame brown people for all the problems in the world.

It's no coincidence that most of the areas hardest hit by the foreclosure wave - Loudoun County, Va., California's Inland Empire, Stockton and San Joaquin Valley, and Las Vegas and Phoenix, for starters - also happen to be some of the nation's largest illegal-alien sanctuaries. Half of the mortgages to Hispanics are subprime (the accursed species of loan to borrowers with the shadiest credit histories). A quarter of all those subprime loans are in default and foreclosure.

Regional reports across the country have decried the subprime meltdown's impact on illegal-immigrant "victims." A July report showed that in seven of the ten metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, Hispanics represented at least one third of the population; in two of those areas - Merced and Salinas-Monterey, Calif. - Hispanics comprised half the population. The amnesty-promoting National Council of La Raza and its Development Fund have received millions in federal funds to "counsel" their constituents on obtaining mortgages with little to no money down; the group almost succeeded in attaching a $10-million earmark for itself in one of the housing bills past this spring...read on

The National Review should be ashamed to print this garbage, but we all know their history on racial issues. This is why Latino voters need to turn out in huge numbers this November.

I'd say more, but Digby spells it out for Michelle.

I guess Malkin has never heard of something called "No Doc" loans which mean No Income, No Asset, No employment Verification. It's got nothing to do with immigration.

And, like most racists, she forgets herself from time to time and forgets to distinguish between illegal immigrants and Mexican Americans. It makes no difference to her, of course, but they are usually a bit more scrupulous in their obfuscation.

The idea that the trillion dollar credit crunch was caused by illegal immigrants is so ludicrous that I can't stop laughing.....This meme is absurd, but it's the only way the conservatives can explain things within their world view. And there's nothing new here. The historical American resistance to government action is historically tied to a reluctance give money to people of color...

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Director of the Congressional Budget Office and current chief McCain economic advisor tells Fortune columnist Matt Miller in a forthcoming book, The Tyranny of Dead Ideas, that the next President is simply going to have to raise taxes.

Joe Klein has an advance copy of the book and the details:

"If you do nothing on the spending side, you're going to have to raise taxes whether you're a Republican, a Democrat or a Martian," he tells Miller...and then he immediately makes it clear that the "spending side" part of the argument is nothing more than a political fig-leaf.

"It's arithmetic." Federal revenue today is 18.8 percent of GDP and federal spending is 20 percent. Holtz-Eakin observes that "the pressure are there" to lift spending [on entitlement programs, mostly] and taxes to 23 or 24 percent of GDP by around 2020, and to as much as 27 percent if health costs remain out of control.

Miller does the arithmetic: that's an annual tax hike of $550 to $700 billion, well beyond the range of any spending cuts that McCain has or might propose. (Those vaunted earmarks cost about $20 billion per year.)

So how come, with this guy on board, the McCain campaign is still pushing tax cuts and more tax cuts even if they are fiscal suicide?

"It's the brand," he said, "and you don't dilute the brand."

How's that for cynical? Of course, the book isn't out until after the elections.

Klein may well think Holz-Eakin is 'an honest man", but to me he looks like just another Republican hack willing to deceive about McCain's economic policies and their impact. He has been doing the rounds of the likes of Forbes magazine pushing McCain's tax-cut budget and while admitting that it's "not exactly revenue-neutral," saying that it's a pro-business plan. However, he also told the wonks at the Center for American Progress that McCain's plan would "make deficits expand up front, no question". Expert economists at the the Center for American Progress Action Fund seriously questioned McCain's deficit-funded corporate-welfare budget because in the short-run such tax cuts are the least cost-effective stimulus among 13 options, andin the medium or longer-run, the effect on growth of deficit-financed tax cuts “tends to be small”.

Obama, of course, says that his greater tax breaks for the less well off would be paid for by tax increases on those in upper tax brackets, especially those earning over $600,000 a year. Anderson Cooper recently explained the differences in tax proposals very simply on CNN:

Our Future: Seventeen months ago, Rick Perlstein wrote an essay predicting exactly how the 2008 campaign would go down. Turns out the only thing he didn't predict was the Paris Hilton reference.

Tomgram: Thomas Frank on Washington's Lords of Creation

collateral: The next crisis to hit our sinking ship of state may be a pension fund debacle that, had we stuck to a sensible tax policy, could have been avoided.

Mock, Paper, Scissors: The MPS Guide to GOP vice presidential candidates. In a handy print-out and keep format for further reference, it brings you the Pro, the Con, and the Baggage for each of the whispered candidates!

earthfamilyalpha: Change I Can Believe In

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Morning Martini, Conservative Truths, Montreal Simon, WTF Is It Now?!?

From Democrats.com:

On Thursday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi will force the House to approve $163 billion more of our tax dollars for the occupation of Iraq - nearly $100 billion for 2008 plus nearly $70 billion more for 2009.

We are outraged. This Democratic Congress was elected to end the occupation, not fund it forever.

On Monday, a new Democrats.com poll found an overwhelming 68% of Americans want to bring our troops safely home within 6 months - a significant increase from 54% last September. Support among Democrats increased 14% to 85%, while support among Independents increased 20% to 78%. Why is the Democratic Congress defying the will of the overwhelming majority of Democrats and Independents?

Each day's news underscores how disastrous the occupation is. April was the deadliest month for U.S. soldiers since last September. One in five Iraq and Afghanistan veterans - roughly 300,000 - report symptoms of PTSD or major depression. The V.A. covered up the fact that 12,000 veterans attempt suicide each year while under V.A. treatment. As Cindy Sheehan asked, "for what noble cause" are our sons and daughters suffering and dying?[..]

It's urgent for everyone to call your Representative today with a simple message: Not One More Penny for Iraq.

This battle is not impossible. On January 16, 42 progressive Democrats voted against the last $70 billion blank check. Most Republicans oppose Pelosi's bill because it includes some domestic spending, so a large bloc of progressive Democrats can defeat it.

Call the House switchboard at 202-224-3121 or find your Representative's name and direct dial by entering your address on the right side here .

Josh Marshall highlighted the good news: the Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week from last October -- featuring "heavily subsidized and poorly attended events on campuses around the country" -- has spawned a sequel.

Of course, it's tempting to ignore David Horowitz's Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week because it's just too silly to bother. On the other hand, it's also tempting to marvel at the occasion and offer a reminder of just how far gone today's conservative movement really is. It's probably more fun to go with the latter.

Here's Horowitz's pitch:

The purpose of this week and the campaign leading up to it will be: 1) To highlight the genocidal agendas of the Islamo-fascist crusade; and 2) To make the public aware of the "soft jihad" -- the domestic networks that fund and provide political support for the agendas of the jihad, including its armies of terror.

Ron Chusid's take from October is still spot on: "It's just getting harder to keep track of all those holidays. I mean, is Sweetest Day, which just occurred, a real holiday, or just an excuse to sell more candies and cards? Now I learn that this is Islamo-Fascism Awarness Week. Is this a real holiday, or just an excuse to sell more right wing paranoia?"

All evidence points to the latter, though I don't think Horowitz & Co. are "selling" claptrap so much as they're peddling it for free, hoping no one notices how nonsensical their materials really are.

At a minimum, we should get some good quotes out of the events. Last fall, in one of my personal favorites, Rick Santorum told a Penn State audience, "Islam, unlike Christianity, is an all-encompassing ideology. It is not just something you do on Sunday."

If anyone sees similarly illuminating remarks at this week's events, be sure to let me know.

The Washington Independent: The Bush administration has no intention of withdrawing from Iraq and is negotiating to keep troops there for years, even decades, after G-Dub leaves office.

TPM Election Central: Clinton fat cats threaten Pelosi.

Labor Notes: Is it illegal for an activist group or union to criticize a company's business practices?

MyDD: Michigan state primary law ruled unconstitutional

Angry Bear...New Century Financial...Another Enron?

HOLY CRAP: Hardball politics in the church...Christvertising...Amendment to FLA. constitution proposed to use tax dollars to fund religion...Generation Squeeb...The Fear of a Mortal Empire...Crazyass Pastor Manning bashed Obama in a "sermon" but DJ Excel remixed the churchman with hilarious results...Bill Moyers and Margaret Atwood discuss religion and the dangers of theocracy

Digby follows up on the Kurtzing of Obama story:

If he wins the nomination, I am actually quite hopeful that Obama will continue to get somewhat better coverage than our recent candidates. Certainly my limited window into liberal journalism leads me to believe that he will have the support of the liberal political establishment. And that is, unquestionably, a huge asset, certainly compared to Clinton and Gore who were despised by the entire Village.

But if you've been observing the way the political and media establishment works for any period of time, you will not be too sanguine that it will make much difference. There are many wealthy, powerful interests out there that do not want a liberal Democrat to have the power to withdraw from Iraq or renegotiate trade deals or create universal health care and they will not make it easy for Obama to win. Those interests also run the media and a fund a fully functional right wing infrastructure that works to guide the election narrative.

Perhaps it won't happen this time. It's possible that the era of GOP smears is over or that Obama has personal characteristics that render them impotent and useless. But considering the egregiously sexist Clinton coverage in this campaign and the history of terrible coverage for Democratic presidential candidates since 1988, I think the Democrats would be foolish to assume that. The Republicans are very good at feeding these narratives to the press and the press has always shown itself very eager to gobble them up...read on

Iraq Today: News and Views

Opinions You Should Have: Romney to spend more time with his money

p m carpenter's commentary: An electorate in the wilderness?

Jim Hightower: Beware of corporate "heroes"

Sunday Bookchat: The War on Terror's perversion of medicine. Jonahan Chait's distortion of Free Lunch. Science's defense of evolution. And lots more.

HOLY CRAP: Jesus 2.0 has arrived...Religion Dispatches...Eat, Pray, Loathe...Bush still trying to force taxpayers to fund private religious schools...Waterboarding for God...Bush's last budget is a National Moral Disgrace...The FundamentaList...The Coming Persecution...Sharia Law for the U.K.?...Spanish Bishops give new meaning to the "Bully" Pulpit...Murder in the name of some kind of God...More B.S. about God and Politics

Brave New Films and TYT will be live blogging the SC Primary and will have guests from the blogosphere to discuss, including our very own John Amato.

Here's the line up (all times in Eastern)

6:10 Nico Pitney, The Huffington Post
6:30 Steve Rosenfeld, Alternet
6:50 Christy Hardin Smith, Firedoglake
7:00 Melody Barnes, CAP Action Fund
7:10 Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle
7:20 Anthony Palmer, The 7-10
7:40 Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Multiplicative Identity
8:00 Kristina Wilfore, Ballot Initiative Strategy Ctr
8:20 Oliver Willis, OliverWillis.com
8:40 Zack Exley, Revolution in Jesusland
9:00 Andrew Rasiej, Personal Democracy Forum
9:10 John Amato, Crooks & Liars
9:30 Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend

Below is your very own South Carolina Primary open thread....

This is Bob Morris of Politics in the Zeros on my last day guest blogging. Big thanks to Nicole and bluegal for their help. I've known John and Mike since way before blogging and it's been great watching C&L turn into the influential powerhouse that it is.

Florida schools parked their money in a state-run fund that "invested" in risky SIVs. Now the fund is near-bankrupt , the state has halted withdrawals, and schools can't make their payrolls. The blameless are getting maimed by the credit crisis.

In the end, will it be She Who Is Inevitable? Should we practice saying "Madame President"?

With a Cola-Cola plant in Atlanta sucking up huge amounts of water and a nuclear reactor and coal power plant down the river doing the same, the southeast faces major problems because of the drought. How do you cut back? And is the world ready to do so?

What the U.S. can learn from Uganda.

Finally (tooting own horn), here's my review of John Robb's groundbreaking book, "Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization." Welcome to open source decentralized swarming warfare or, as he puts it "what if warfare was reinvented and nobody bothered to tell the Pentagon?" It might change the way you look at the world. It did for me.