Big DVD

You better believe that AEG, which is taking a bath right now on the London shows, will milk this for all its worth. And this DVD, filmed in HD no less, will sell, sell, sell.

Billboard

Wow:

Nielsen SoundScan's sales numbers won't be released until Wednesday (July 1) morning, but industry prognosticators indicate that three of Jackson's albums -- "Number Ones," "The Essential Michael Jackson" and "Thriller" -- each sold around 100,000 copies last week. The sales tracking week ended at the close of business on Sunday (June 28) night.

The aforementioned titles will also be the top three albums on Billboard's Top Pop Catalog chart, and Jackson may lock up anywhere between six to nine slots in tally's the top 10. [...]

Last year, Jackson's expanded reissue of "Thriller" pushed the set to a re-entry at No. 1 on the Pop Catalog tally with 166,000 copies sold in its first week.

With the Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." looking to recapture the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200 chart with slightly less than 100,000, this week will mark the first time a catalog album has sold more than the No. 1 current release.

The bulk of Jackson's album sales came from digital retailers, as many brick and mortar stores quickly ran out of available stock. Sources say his "Essential Michael Jackson," "Number Ones" and "Thriller" each sold more than 30,000 digital albums, with "Essential" moving more than 70,000 downloads alone.

The digital impact will also be felt on our Hot Digital Songs chart, where the King of Pop is certain to make a big splash. His digital track sales went from about 40,000 the week ending June 21 to -- label sources say -- around 1.8 million last week. His top sellers will include "Man in the Mirror," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Billie Jean" and "Smooth Criminal."

iTunes

The number one song in the US and UK is "Man in the Mirror." The song is also in the top 10 in English-speaking Ireland and New Zealand. Germany and its satellites prefer "Earth Song" and the jerky, jagged and controversial "They Don't Care About Us." Latin countries prefer songs from Thriller, plus, of course, "We Are the World."

Michael Jackson also holds down the top four spots on the album charts. And he has at least five of the top 10 in the US, UK (7of the top 10), France, (8), Germany (6), Australia, Austria, Belgium (7), Denmark (6), Finland, Greece (6), Ireland, (top 6 plus 1), Italy (8), Netherlands (9!), New Zealand, Norway (6), Spain (6), Sweden (6), and Switzerland (8).

I can't imagine we'll ever see such a feat again.

The Apollo, Al and Joe

Um... Now what, exactly, did the Apollo Theater have to do with "launching Michael Jackson's career?" Yes, the Jackson 5 won an amateur night competition at the legendary venue. But is there any evidence that Berry Gordy signed them because of the win?

Um... no. None at all.

The Jackson Five had a number of admirers in their early days, including Sam & Dave, who helped the group secure a spot in the famous Amateur Night competition at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. The group won the August 13, 1967, competition during the Amateur Night showdown at the Apollo, impressing Motown Records artist Gladys Knight of The Pips. Knight recommended the group to Motown chief Berry Gordy, but Gordy, who already had teenager Stevie Wonder on his roster, was hesitant to take on another child act because of the child labor laws and other problems involved.

If any theater deserves mention as having been pivotal to the Jackson 5's discovery, it's Chicago's Regal Theater.

By 1968, The Jackson 5 were a headlining act for the All Star Floor Show at Chicago's The Guys' and Gals' Cocktail Lounge and Restaurant. From August 12–27, 1968, The Jackson 5 opened for Motown group Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers at Chicago's Regal Theater. Taylor was also very impressed with the boys, and he decided to make the commitment to bring them to Detroit and Motown. Joseph and The Jackson Five stayed on the floor of Bobby Taylor's Detroit apartment the night of July 22, while Taylor and Motown executive Suzanne de Passe arranged for The Jackson Five to audition for the label.

On July 23, The Jackson Five had their Motown audition, for which they performed James Brown’s then current hit "I Got the Feelin'". Berry Gordy was not in attendance, but the audition was videotaped and sent to him in Los Angeles. Gordy's initial reluctance to sign the group disappeared when he finally saw the boys perform. Gordy decided to sign The Jackson Five to Motown, and hosted a party at his Detroit mansion on November 25, 1968 to introduce them to the Motown staff and stars.

Give the Apollo Theater's management credit. They figured out that the ignorant white media would buy their "we discovered the Jackson 5" storyline hook, line and sinker. It's the only black theater they know! So it's only right that Tawana Brawley's Joe Jackson's friend Al Sharpton should lead today's celebration at the legendary theater.

TMZ?

Try Showbiz 411 for your Michael Jackson news.

Andy Murray's mom

Badass.

New balls please

But not for Boris Becker. He doesn't need them.

60

Breaking: The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled unanimously for Al Franken.

UPDATE: The ruling.

It's a visceral feeling that you get"

Michael Jackson, dancer.

2044

CNN is "reporting" rumors that Michael Jackson died without a will.

USA Today tells us about one of the last great artists to die intestate:

Bickering over the estate of famed guitarist Jimi Hendrix, who died in 1970, lasted until 2005, Silverberg notes, although litigation continues over profits from use of Hendrix's image.

But you're only "intestate" if your assets exceeded your liabilities:

Jackson, 50, grossed about $1 billion in a career that spanned more than 40 years. But his legendary reputation for profligate spending and his huge legal bills could leave little for his three children and other beneficiaries, considering that creditors' claims could range to $400 million or more.

If the liabilities exceeded the assets, "you would have a bankrupt estate, and a court would divide up the assets among creditors, much like you would have in a bankruptcy proceeding," says San Francisco attorney Max Gutierrez Jr.

That would really be a better outcome. Corrupt as our nation's financial institutions are, Bank of America would still do Michael Jackson's legacy greater justice than his bloodsucking family.

Twin Texas shockers

A majority of Texans support gay marriage or civil unions.

And... Fort Worth police decided to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots by arresting random patrons of a gay bar... for being gay. Can't wait till the media gets its hands on the person who gave the order.

Vampires, vampires everywhere

Claiming to represent Michael Jackson, who barely knew them. The media, utterly clueless as ever, treats them as authorities because they are the standard media whores for any news categorized as "black."

Al Sharpton ("representing the Jackson family, who Michael barely communicated with)

Jesse Jackson

BET and Robert "Something in the Neighborhood" Johnson

Don Lemon, pleasant enough but better suited to hosting something in the entertainment division, is hosting CNN's evening news show live from the BET Awards red carpet, where black celebrities (who again, barely knew Jackson) use the microphones to announce their new movie or album and, as an afterthought, dedicate their shamelessly self-promoted project to Michael Jackson.

Oh... and now word is that Joe Jackson, the man whose abuse caused at least half of Michael's mental problems, will be making an appearance on the red carpet. Of course he is!

Yuck, yuck, yuck. And the bloodsucking, sadly, has barely begun.

"They had no powerful allies of any kind"

Frank Rich commemorates Stonewall. I differ with Rich. Don't Ask Don't Tell is not the place begin with gay rights, nor is a public pro-marriage stance. Why start with the tail end when it's still legal to fire someone for being gay, something 85% of Americans oppose in public opinion polls? Passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would be progressive... and politic.

Mark vs Marco

What MoDo was made for. And she's spot on, for once.

Travel protection

Hearings, anyone?

The Michael Jackson I prefer to remember

In no particular order. This is a highly idiosyncratic selection. Any best of list would include "Billie Jean" from Motown 25 and any number of other songs. But these are the ones I find myself going back to.

"I'll Be There" (live, Motown 25 version... minutes later, he would change the world)

"Maybe Tomorrow"

"I Want You Back" (The Jackson Five's first and greatest)

"Dancing Machine" (has to be watched)

"Who's Lovin' You"

"Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"

"Can You Feel It"

"Time Waits for No One"

"Off the Wall"

"Workin' Day and Night"

"Get On The Floor"

"Human Nature"

"We Are the World"

"Man in the Mirror"

"Smooth Criminal"

"In the Closet"

"Who Is It"

"Heal the World"

"Scream" (Janet's greatest song, by a mile)

There's other songs I go to, many, oddly, from the Dangerous period. Even the MTV Tenth Anniversary performance is bizarrely fascinating. But it's some consolation that there's nothing on this list that's after 1991. And even loosening the standards a bit, there wouldn't have been anything past 1995.

Sometimes an untimely demise

Does the world a favor:

Donny Osmond, who had known MJ since they were both 13, tells celeb TV show The Insider that he and MJ planned to collaborate on a recording of Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" in 2005, but were sidetracked by MJ's child molestation trial.

Seriously, has anyone besides maybe Liz Taylor not been self-serving in their eulogies and anecdotes? Even "close friends" like Chopra and Gotham "Foreplay" Choprito have gone out of their way to let us know that maybe, just maybe, they ought to get some songwriting royalties.

More Chopras

One wasn't enough. No, in the wake of the Michael Jackson tragedy we now have to be regaled with some of the grossest and bizarrely self-serving anecdotes of all time. Read it, but try not to think about poor Lisa Marie. Yuck.

Lisa Marie

On Michael Jackson.

MTV

Touch of class: The decision (no doubt financial) to dedicate a day and half of regular programming to Michael Jackson.

Pathetic: Having the dreadful Sway MC the proceedings. With so many available African American pop culture intellectuals, was it right to have a host with an IQ of 80 spout bromides like, "Those were the days, "'N Sync and Michael Jackson?" What an embarrassment. He's the Roland Martin of music commentary.

Rumored cause of death

Doctor-administered Demerol. The drug figures in the non-hit "Morphine" from the little known Blood on the Dance Floor remix album.

The doctor is nowhere to be found.

Remembering the late years

Michael Jackson in all his glory and complexity. The last 18 years of his career were lost to music. If he hadn't been haunted by Thriller and just sat at a piano and sang, his legacy would have been unbelievably richer. And he might have still been alive.

"Remember that I helped the BBC."

A profund anecdote that speaks volumes about why the temporary crushing of dissent may not be the end for democracy in Iran. Via Andrew Sullivan, a terrific piece by John Simpson of the BBC.

Geek-in-Chief, part XV

Vídeo. And more from tonight's White House luau here.

Endgame

As we have written earlier, the game in Iran is no longer about the presidential election. It's about the battle between Rafsanjani and Khamanei. And word from The Nation is that the godfather has a plan. But will Khamanei scrap the rules altogether? And can Rafsanjani get a two-thirds majority?

Michael Jackson

In a coma?

British kid to Pam Shriver on ESPN

Regarding Andy Murray: "Well he is not English, so it doesn't matter." Which, in a nutshell, is why a Wimbledon victory for the Scottish nationalist would be so very satisfying.

A night in Silvio's harem

Not even titillating. But Antonio Polito provides an excellent explication for Il Cavaliere's survival in today's Independent.

One must first of all understand that we Italians are very tough on politicians who take public money but very tolerant towards politicians who pay with their own money. Remember the Mani Politi(Clean Hands) investigation 16 years ago? Italy's biggest political parties were destroyed by bribery scandals where they were receiving money. But because Berlusconi is very rich, he has always been the one accused of the lesser offence of paying out the cash. It is a charge the Prime Minister has always denied, whether it concerned British lawyer David Mills or the high-class escort who recently claimed she had spent the night with him for a large sum of money.

Sexual scandals, on the other hand, are regarded as far less serious than financial ones. Italians regard private life and sexuality very differently from the British – it would require a book to explain (and maybe even that would not be enough). The simple fact is that a man with many women is an object of admiration; this is not an attitude unique to Italy but perhaps we are less hypocritical about acknowledging it than some other nations.

Another reason for the electorate's failure to punish Berlusconi is the fact that to do so would mean elevating the opposition – and that is something Italians have no intention of doing. The opposition, led by the Democratic Party, is not yet electable. In the same way that the British electorate had no appetite for the Tories after Major, the two disastrous years of the centre-left government of Romano Prodi still burns in the Italian memory.

So those voters who do abandon Berlusconi tend to shift to his most combative ally, the Northern League. The one clear trend that can be discerned is an unprecedented strengthening of the xenophobic and anti-European party of Umberto Bossi. If Berlusconi should one day fall under a bus, his successor could be someone even worse.

Sanford's love letters

They're actually pretty good.

Do South Carolina Republicans

Know the difference between Argentinian citizens who live in Argentina and illegal Mexican immigrants living in the United States? Will all the racism Republicans have stirred up against Hispanics over the last three years make this scandal all the worse for Sanford in his home state?

Mark "No Stimulus Money" Sanford

Used federal money to visit his girlfriend in Buenos Aires.

GOP shocker

Mark Sanford is straight!

It's a great time to vacation in Buenos Aires

What with the low temparatures in the 30's and all.

Sanford was not alone?

Huge surprise, but since he's a Republican the bigger surprise will be if his companion was a woman.

A Republican solution to abortion

Does this sum up the party of the South or what?

On Jan. 23, 1973, when the Supreme Court struck down state criminal abortion laws in Roe v. Wade, President Richard M. Nixon made no public statement. But privately, newly released tapes reveal, he expressed ambivalence.

Nixon worried that greater access to abortions would foster “permissiveness,” and said that “it breaks the family.” But he also saw a need for abortion in some cases, such as interracial pregnancies.

“There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding: “Or a rape.”

Still more evidence of party views that have barely changed even after 40 years:

Mr. Graham complained that Jewish-American leaders had denounced efforts to promote evangelical Christianity, like Campus Crusade, and Nixon and Graham agreed that the Jewish leaders risked bringing anti-Jewish sentiment to the surface.

“What I really think is deep down in this country, there is a lot of anti-Semitism, and all this is going to do is stir it up,” Nixon said. At another point he said, “It may be they have a death wish. You know that’s been the problem with our Jewish friends for centuries.”

The documents also include three newly declassified pages from a National Security Council brief on nuclear proliferation, which discuss secret Israeli efforts to build a nuclear weapon. Israel has never confirmed or denied having nuclear weapons; it is widely believed to have had them for years.

"This note is dedicated to tomorrow's children"

Powerful:

Whatever happens now, all is changed utterly in Iran. Opacity, a force of the Islamic Republic, has yielded to a riveting transparency in which one side confronts another. The online youth of Iran will not be reconciled to a regime that touts global “ethics” and “justice” while trampling on them at home.

I received this from an anonymous Iranian student: “I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to be killed. I’m listening to all my favorite music. I even want to dance to a few songs. I always wanted to have very narrow eyebrows. Yes, maybe I will go to the salon before I go tomorrow!”

And she concludes: “I wrote these random sentences for the next generation so that they know we were not just emotional under peer pressure. So they know that we did everything we could to create a better future for them. So they know that our ancestors surrendered to Arabs and Mogols but did not surrender to despotism. This note is dedicated to tomorrow’s children.”

The mullahs finally get something right

There is indeed an analogy to the present situation in Iraq, only in Iraq the people recognize a coup when they see one.

At a news conference Monday, Hassan Qashqavi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, called the turnout a “brilliant gem which is shining on the peak of dignity of the Iranian nation.”

He accused unidentified western powers and news organizations, which are operating under extremely tight official restrictions, of spreading unacceptable “anarchy and vandalism.” But, he said, the outcome of the vote would not be changed. “We will not allow western media to turn this gem into a worthless stone,” he said.

Mr. Qashqavi drew comparisons with American election results.

“No one encouraged the American people to stage a riot” because they disagreed with the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004, he said. Quoted earlier by Press TV, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the 12-member Guardian Council denied claims by another losing candidate, Mohsen Rezai, that irregularities had occurred in up to 170 voting districts.

“Statistics provided by the candidates, who claim more than 100 percent of those eligible have cast their ballot in 80 to 170 cities are not accurate — the incident has happened in only 50 cities,” Mr. Kadkhodaei said.

Cynthia Gorney: Rafa is hot

A very good profile of the man whose absence probably means a Federer victory at Wimbledon this year.

Revolution

Naybe not a 0.1% chance... maybe 1% now. Even 2%.

Husayn

Martyrdom looms very large in Shia Islam.

This difference between following either the Ahl al-Bayt (Muhammad's family and descendants) or the Caliph Abu Bakr has shaped Shia and non-Shia views on some of the Qur'an, the Hadith (narrations from Muhammad) and other areas of Islam. For instance, the collection of Hadith venerated by Shia Muslims is centered on narrations by members of the Ahl al-Bayt and their supporters, while some Hadith by narrators not belonging to or supporting the Ahl al-Bayt are not included (those of Abu Huraira, for example). According to the Sunnis, Ali was the third successor to Abu Bakr however, the Shia maintain that Ali was the first divinely sanctioned "Imam," or successor of Muhammad. The seminal event in Shia history is the martyrdom in 680 CE at the Battle of Karbala of Ali's son Hussein, who led an non-allegiance movement against the defiant caliph (71 of Hussein's followers were killed as well). Hussein came to symbolize resistance to tyranny.

The resistance now has martyrs. Add its two rallying cries: "Death to the dictaror" (that may well be the Ayatollah and not Ahmedinajad) and "Allahu Akbar." And what you have is the necessary ingredients for radical mobilization. And maybe the first Islamic democratic revolution, though that's still *exceedingly* unlikely.

Some interesting thoughts from an Iranian expat here and from old, old Iran hand and American patriot Gary Sick here.

The action ain't in Tehran

Remember, remember. It's in Qom.

One of the country’s most influential clerics, Mr. Rafsanjani has been notably silent since Mr. Ahmadinejad was declared the winner last week, and there has been speculation that Mr. Rafsanjani is in Qum trying to muster clerical opposition to the country’s leaders. But those reports are difficult to confirm with any authority. [...]

Mr. Ahmadinejad, who defeated Mr. Rafsanjani in the 2005 presidential vote, accused Mr. Rafsanjani’s clan and at least one other prominent cleric during the campaign of being corrupt.

Those allegations prompted an open letter from 36 religious scholars, including some noted hard-liners, criticizing the incumbent for his attacks on senior mullahs, said Shahram Kholdi, a teaching fellow at the University of Manchester, in Britain. The way the government handles the public ire could be a further step toward alienating the clergy.

“If the clergy become Khamenei’s enemy, just think about it,” Mr. Kholdi said. “The shah made Qum his enemy, and they did not cease to plot against him until he was overthrown.” [...]

Another statement issued from Qum, by the Society of the Scholars and the Researchers of the Howzeh — the name for the entire seminary system — condemned the violent attacks against students at Tehran University carried out by the government-organized Basij vigilantes, Mr. Kholdi said.

Of course, mullahs run the political gamut, from those who think Islam should get out of politics to those who think the rulers are divinely guided and should just eliminate elections altogether. The supreme leader has also gained the loyalty of thousands of seminary students by doling out generous government subsidies, so it is unclear what it might take for them to oppose him.

Analysts suspect that Mr. Rafsanjani’s message to the rest of the religious establishment is that it is about to be eclipsed by the military, which supports the government.

The risk for the supreme leader and Mr. Ahmadinejad if the mullahs shift away from them is that the idea that the government carries an Islamic stamp of approval will be undermined.

"This was phenomenal"

Robert Fisk:

The fate of Iran rested last night in a grubby north Tehran highway interchange called Vanak Square where – after days of violence – supporters of the official President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at last confronted the screaming, angry Iranians who have decided that Mirhossein Mousavi should be the president of their country. Unbelievably – and I am a witness because I stood beside them – just 400 Iranian special forces police were keeping these two armies apart. There were stones and tear gas but for the first time in this epic crisis the cops promised to protect both sides.

"Please, please, keep the Basiji from us," one middle-aged lady pleaded with a special forces officer in flak jacket and helmet as the Islamic Republic's thug-like militia appeared in their camouflage trousers and purity-white shirts only a few metres away. The cop smiled at her. "With God's help," he said. Two other policemen were lifted shoulder-high. "Tashakor, tashakor," – "thank you, thank you" – the crowd roared at them.

This was phenomenal. The armed special forces of the Islamic Republic, hitherto always allies of the Basiji, were prepared for once, it seemed, to protect all Iranians, not just Ahmadinejad's henchmen. The precedent for this sudden neutrality is known to everyone – it was when the Shah's army refused to fire on the millions of demonstrators demanding his overthrow in 1979.

Yet this is not a revolution to overthrow the Islamic Republic. Both sets of demonstrators were shouting "Allahu Akbar" – "God is Great" – at Vanak Square last night. But if the Iranian security forces are now taking the middle ground, then Ahmadinejad is truly in trouble.

"Tehran is fast becoming two"

Read.

John Ensign Was Right

A quote:

Marriage is an extremely important institution in this country and protecting it is, in my mind, worth the extraordinary step of amending our constitution.

And a fragment from a 1998 Senate campaign debate with Harry Reid:

Clear differences emerged during a series of questions from the audience. Ensign repeated his call for President Clinton's resignation in light of his admitted affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Reid called the affair immoral but said he would "keep an open mind" and let the process proceed before deciding whether to impeach Clinton.

And today:

Senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, on Tuesday admitted that he had an extramarital affair with a member of his campaign staff.

Mr. Ensign led the Republicans’ campaign efforts in 2008 and had been contemplating a run for president in 2012.

Note a rarity for Republican politicians: the staff member was a woman and not a minor. A married one, however. Her husband, too, worked for the Promise Keeping senator.

The big shoe about to drop?

Too tantalizing to believe:

There are very interesting things that are taking place right now. Some of my sources in Iran have told me that Ayatollah Rafsanjani, who is the head of the Assembly of Experts -- the eighty-six member clerical body that decides who will be the next Supreme Leader, and is, by the way, the only group that is empowered to remove the Supreme Leader from power -- that they have issued an emergency meeting in Qom.

Now, Anderson, I have to tell you, there's only one reason for the Assembly of Experts to meet at this point, and that is to actually talk about what to do about Khamenei. So, this is what I'm saying, is that we're talking about the very legitimacy, the very foundation of the Islamic Republic is up in the air right now. It's hard to say what this is going to go.

Breaking: Iran craziness

Will the people rise up and systematically flay every fundamentalist cleric they can get their hands on and then create an Iranian people's republic? Or will they be jailed while they are disconnected from the world? One is more likely than the other. But we can always hope.

I am afraid Josh Marshall is right

Tim Pawlenty's decision not to seek re-election is very bad news for Al Franken. It means the case will go to the Supreme Court, putting off the Senate's final decision to seat him by months. It will make Pawlenty a favorite among hardcore conservatives... especially those in a certain neighboring state that hosts the first presidential caucuses. So what it almost certainly also means is that Pawlenty has thrown his hat in the ring.

Ha

Every American who bought a Hummer was guilty of treason anyway, so why not make it official? China is about to buy the company whose gas mileage no doubt caused hundreds of American war casualties.

Operation Rescue's latest target

Gold Star mothers.

" It was a good deed that brought peace for many innocents through the death of a wicked serial killer."

However much pro-lifers may claim to condemn the murder of physicians, it is certainly a matter of fact to them that every fetus is precisely equivalent to a human being. Consequently, the million or so abortions that take place in the US every year are equivalent to mass murder. How can this not be a perfectly just war to them?

On July 29, 1994, Hill approached a Pensacola, Florida abortion clinic with which he was familiar. When he spotted physician John Britton and his clinic escort, James Barrett, outside, he shot them both at close range with a shotgun. In addition to the two murders, Hill seriously wounded Barrett's wife, Joan. He was arrested moments later.

On December 6, 1994, Hill was sentenced to death by lethal injection under Florida law.

In a statement before his execution, Hill said that he felt no remorse for his actions, and that he expected "a great reward in Heaven". During his trial, the judge did not allow Hill to use an affirmative defense of justification. Hill said he viewed the acts as defensive rather than retributive. Hill left behind a manuscript manifesto which his backers promised him they would publish. That manifesto and his address to the jury that convicted him echoed the words of John Brown, who had attempted to incite a violent insurrection to end slavery in the United States. Hill was not apologetic for the killings, and in his last words he encouraged others who believe abortion is an illegitimate use of lethal force to "do what you have to do to stop it".

Three groups are the lifeblood of most religious organizations: the most frequent attendees (who in turn become volunteers), the biggest donors, and the church leaders who feed off of them. The third group has wielded abortion effectively: the first two groups feel like holy warriors whose energy and cash makes them God's chosen, the righteous ones.

And let's face it, funding the GOP and killing doctors is a lot easier than the arduous path of self-purification that Christ taught, which the Catholic Church once emphasized (until John Paul II so ahistorically elevated abortion to its current theological place) and that Protestantism dropped from its inception.

Martyrdom and sainthood are defined by the victors in great historical-political-theological struggles. To the degree these folks take over their churches and succeed in changing their country's laws, Paul Hill and his fellow church-sponsored murderers will indeed be remembered as martyrs for American Christianism.

Krugman

Greenspan Reagan did it.

The immediate effect of Garn-St. Germain, as I said, was to turn the thrifts from a problem into a catastrophe. The S.& L. crisis has been written out of the Reagan hagiography, but the fact is that deregulation in effect gave the industry — whose deposits were federally insured — a license to gamble with taxpayers’ money, at best, or simply to loot it, at worst. By the time the government closed the books on the affair, taxpayers had lost $130 billion, back when that was a lot of money.

But there was also a longer-term effect. Reagan-era legislative changes essentially ended New Deal restrictions on mortgage lending — restrictions that, in particular, limited the ability of families to buy homes without putting a significant amount of money down.

These restrictions were put in place in the 1930s by political leaders who had just experienced a terrible financial crisis, and were trying to prevent another. But by 1980 the memory of the Depression had faded. Government, declared Reagan, is the problem, not the solution; the magic of the marketplace must be set free. And so the precautionary rules were scrapped. [...]

Now, the proximate causes of today’s economic crisis lie in events that took place long after Reagan left office — in the global savings glut created by surpluses in China and elsewhere, and in the giant housing bubble that savings glut helped inflate.

But it was the explosion of debt over the previous quarter-century that made the U.S. economy so vulnerable. Overstretched borrowers were bound to start defaulting in large numbers once the housing bubble burst and unemployment began to rise.

These defaults in turn wreaked havoc with a financial system that — also mainly thanks to Reagan-era deregulation — took on too much risk with too little capital.
There’s plenty of blame to go around these days. But the prime villains behind the mess we’re in were Reagan and his circle of advisers — men who forgot the lessons of America’s last great financial crisis, and condemned the rest of us to repeat it.