last call

The stock market lost about 1.2 trillion dollars in value with Monday's slide of nearly eight hundred points. The House republicans torpedoed the financial rescue bill that everyone had assured the nation was a done deal and just needed the formality of a vote to be finalized. The country is queasy with fear and our government has not helped with all of the doom and gloom imagery that has been thrown around in the effort to shove some sort of financial package through to try to address the emergency before it's too late. With all of this chaos, where is Congress going to be for the next few days?

On vacation.

That shows you exactly how important good governance is to the bulk of our elected representatives. The United States of America is entering the greatest crisis it has faced in decades and after our government shrieked for the last week that something has to happen NOW or else we risk depression of a historic level, instead of rolling up its sleeves and burning the midnight oil to save the country, it has basically said "maybe next week if we can get to it, okay, but right now we have some time off coming to us."



We get the government we ask for. We get the government we deserve.

Use your vote wisely. There might not be any more chances.

be very afraid

Our failure-in-chief has released word that he will be addressing the country about the worsening financial crisis tomorrow morning.

At 7:45 AM.


I'm assuming that means Washington D.C. time, which makes it 6:45 AM for me, 4:45 AM for the west coast, and 3:45 AM in Anchorage, Alaska. Get the feeling he's hoping for the smallest audience possible?

It's actually terrifying if you think about it.

If he wants to slide this address under the radar like that, WHAT THE FUCK IS HE GOING TO SAY?

I - will have to - drive - fifty-five!

It's starting.

The big headline just out around these parts is that the Kansas legislature will begin discussing reducing the speed limit in order to conserve gasoline.



Wonder if George is going to give a national talk on the TV while wearing a nice cardigan...

reality has a liberal bias

John McCain today, speaking about the failure of the bailout bill:

"I know that many of you have noticed it's not my style to simply phone it in."



John McCain's adviser Mark Salter on Saturday (via Think Progress:)

After declaring he’d return to Washington to help with the bailout negotiations immediately after last night’s debate, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) never went to Capitol Hill today. In fact, McCain stayed largely holed up in his Arlington apartment, leaving only to go to his campaign headquarters just around the block, the New York Times reports.

Asked why Mr. McCain did not go to Capitol Hill after coming back to Washington to help with negotiations, [McCain adviser] Mr. Salter replied that “he can effectively do what he needs to do by phone."

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/27/mccain-in-arlington/


Of course, this morning the McCain campaign's Communications Director, Hill Hazelbaker, was taking credit on FOX "News" for getting the very bill that tanked this afternoon passed:

"Sen. McCain interrupted his campaign, suspended his campaign activity to come back to Washington to get Republicans around a table. Without Sen. McCain, House Republicans would not have appointed a negotiator, which would not have moved this bill forward. It’s really Sen. McCain who got all parties around a table to hammer out a deal that hopefully is in the best interests of the American taxpayer."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/14088.html



Good thing the maverick of the Senate was there to put the deal together, isn't it?

object lesson

The republican party has no integrity. They can not be trusted to tell the truth under any circumstances. These scoundrels are not honest brokers and until they clean their house of every single liar and swindler among them, the only way to deal with them is by dominating them. It is impossible to negotiate with people who publicly tell you they are going to do one thing while they are privately planning to do the opposite. They must be crushed and discredited forever and never permitted to be anywhere near the levers of power in this country.

How many times does this have to be proven before the Democrats finally get it?

Mukasey agonistes

Proving once again that what keeps you in the good graces of this administration is looking like you are doing something rather than actually accomplishing anything:

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/September/08-opa-859.html



(A two-point bonus for anyone who knows where this post's title came from!)

wanna see my crystal ball?

Now that the Republicans have quashed the economic bill they agreed to, be sure to enjoy their hand-wringing and hanky-clutching as they bash the "Democrat majority" for not being able to "get anything done" to help the mythical small-town Americans they represent, speaking from the foyers of their multi-million dollar homes.

It's likely to be the only entertainment we get out of this debacle.

free markets, indeed

With the Dow headed for another five hundred point or better dump today and the Republicans suddenly shaking off their capitalist comas and refusing to allow the Wall Street Handout package to pass, I'd be willing to bet that if the Dow drops below 9,000 that the Bush administration will close the market and suspend trading for a few days.

Because capitalism needs to be unfettered or something...

PUMA...pay your own bills

I was going to send Hillary some $ to help pay off her leftover debt from the primary campaign. I was.

I saw a clip of Bill's appearance on Sunday and part of it is transcribed here:
http://www.wibw.com/nationalnews/headlines/29870984.html

It's obvious that Bill cares more about Hillary and his cronies than the American people. I hope he gets what he needs out of the bailout, because I'm not sending them a DIME.

well, okay then

Considering that his track record is better than anyone else's for many years now, if it's good enough for Krugman, it's good enough for me:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/the-world-according-to-tarp/


And if a President Obama doesn't appoint the Man o' Krug Secretary of the Treasury, it will take far longer and tons more money to fix the mess that the Bush republicans have made of the world economy.

comic relief

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=tpmtv&feature=iv&annotation_id=event_529857

one more condition

Since it looks like the Congressional's Clearinghouse big giveaway is going to proceed in the very near future, I'd like to add one more provision to it.

In Las Vegas, when you are caught scamming a casino you can end up in a shallow grave in the desert with all of your favorite bones broken and your teeth knocked out, and multiple bullet wounds on top of everything else.

I'd like to propose that if the big power boys on Wall Street ever conspire to scam the United States and world financial markets for their own personal gain regardless of the consequences to the rest of the planet again, next time we play by Vegas rules and there's no more covering their bad bets and letting them walk away with their winnings.


Don't fuck with us, don't ever fuck with us again.

Two Mules for Sister Sarah

I just watched the Palin/Couric interview on YouTube. One of the benefits of not subscribing to cable or satellite TV services for 2 years and not being able to get broadcast TV via interaction of radio waves with an induced electronic dipole on the roof is that I can choose the time when I'm going to watch something that's as likely to make me go Oswald as that fucking interview. Here it is, btw:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxAO7cH-xrE

I can't begin to say how much was wrong in all that fetid gas that escaped Palin's pie hole. I'll try, though.

1. She was asked exactly how being near Russia gave her foreign affairs experience. Her answer was that whenever Soviet or Russian aircraft entered US airspace, it was "Alaskan" airspace, and it was from "Alaskan" bases that interceptors were launched. I guess no one told her that interception of foreign aircraft in US Airspace is something that is handled by the Pentagon, NORAD, the US Air Force, and the Air National Guard, under the control of the Pentagon. At no time does anyone in the military pick up a red phone and call the Alaskan Governor's office to ask what should be done. Hell, the pilots don't even dial up Sarah's hot line to tell her whether or not their missiles are armed. Moreover, no governor has any control over any military branch when it comes to foreign encroachment on the US or any foreign matter at all. You'd think, listening to her, that if she wanted she could order a strike on the Kamchatkan Peninsula. That would be a good way, though, for her to end up in prison, charged with any number of felonies up to and including treason.

2. She's never going to be a bowling buddy with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Sure, I don't like the guy, and I think he probably suffers a dementia similar to what Reagan had. Let's get one fact straight, though: he's a guy that talks to the media and fires up his country. He is NOT the leader of Iran. In fact, he has no power to launch an attack on anyone. Hell, he can't even negotiate with anyone about anything without the expressed permission of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Such is Iranian law.

3. More fun facts that Palin and McScratchy don't understand or have purposely ignored re: Iran:

(a) Ahmadinejad never said that Israel was going to be erased from the face of the Earth. According to the American who translates for Ahmadinejad at the UN, and who is also no fan of Ahmadinejad, Ahmadinejad said that Israel would disappear from the pages of history. Sure, that's not nice either, but it is significantly different. Further, Ahmadinejad was quoting someone else when he said that.
(b) It has never been the policy of the Iranian Supreme Leader to destroy Israel. Sure, they don't like 'em, but they pose no overt threat to Israel.

4. According to Sarah Polerider, if Israel decided to unilaterally attack and destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, it would not be the place of the US to express doubts about said action or to second guess such an event. Nope. It would the US' place to support the Israelis. I guess the violent fallout that would be suffered by others in the world would just have to be taken like men, like a bumped funny bone.

5. She was very upset that Ahmadinejad said bad things about the US at the UN, and that such a thing was even allowed. I guess it's a good thing that she wasn't in charge when Kruschev was banging tables with his fists and using colorful Russian phraseology at the UN, in 1960. Why, we wouldn't even be here if she had, and likely our parents would just be motes of carbon floating in the remaining atmosphere of a dead planet.

6. It was not within her skill set to actually give a direct answer to a question. If she'd been asked what 5+7 was, she would have responded that the sum was really that we can't stop until we've won the war on Errorism.....er....Terrorism.

7. She did try to connect Al Quaeda with Iran. They're not connected....well, at least they weren't before we started liberating Iraqis from their bodies and their Earthly ties. In fact the Iranians specifically did not like Al Quaeda or the Taliban.

8. When asked, again, about her quote re: living near Russia and the repeated questions from reporters, Pallid Warrior couldn't even answer with a complete sentence. Instead she made funny sounds, contorted her mouth, and looked off to the side with what she probably thought was a sardonic smile. It made me think that when she was a schoolgirl, she probably had to ride the short bus and wear a football helmet, all the while wearing socks over her hands so that she wouldn't poke out her own eyes.

It's not that I disrespect the Honorable Governor from Alaska. I just don't understand why she gets to use as much oxygen as everyone else. I think an episode of Project Runway displays more depth than her. When I think of her, I think about that Clint Eastwood flick, "Two Mules for Sister Sarah," except in my mind, I'm thinking, "Two Buckets of Mule Shit for Sister Sarah." Really, what's wrong with that? Would it really be so bad to sneak into the governor's mansion at night, stuff her mouth and nostrils with mule shit? Is that so bad? Enough about her.

Say, is there anyone else that just can't wait to hear, again, that John McStain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam? If that doesn't make a guy presidential, I don't know what does.

It is nice to see that the debate seemed to accelerate, a bit, the return of Obama's lead.

I'm off to tick something off my bucket list. Where is that mule.......

republican revenge?

Looks like CBS' premiere news program has been somewhat abbreviated...

hero or asshole - you decide

I thought I heard something untoward during the Obama/McCain debate, but figured it was my personal bias influencing my hearing. I was wrong, I actually heard what I thought I did:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1rZBmk0DYU

sometimes nuthin' can be a real cool hand

words fail

ya learn somethin' every day

I guess I'm going to have to buy some interracial gay porn.

I never thought I would like it before now, but I am REALLY enjoying watching this old white man get cornholed by a young black dude.

not now

Senator Edward Kennedy has been rushed to the hospital. No details yet. May he at least live to see a Democrat in the White House again.

Please.


WHEW! Looks like it's not as serious as first reported.

really late bloomer

Trent Lott just told Chris Matthews that he thinks "John McCain is a different man than he was in 2000" because "he's matured."

The dude is seventy-two years old. In 2000 he was sixty-four. But he's "matured" since then.


These people are devoid of principles, bereft of honesty and integrity, and will say and do anything, no matter how stupid it is, to further their ends. That's pretty much the definition of a career criminal. Or today's republican party.

and you too

http://jonathanturley.org/2008/09/26/i-quit-washington-mutual-ceo-fishman-gets-20-million-for-17-days-of-work-before-the-whole-company-was-sold/

right on schedule

I hope you choke on it, scumbag:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/26889541

black Friday

Welcome to the bloodbath. Bring a towel.

plans within plans

Isn't it a wonder to observe the way the republicans can pontificate about things like this "bailout plan" saying that the situation is "too important to play politics with" when the entire ploy itself is the biggest political scam of all time?

here's why

Bush wants to give seven hundred billion dollars to Wall Street. The purpose is not to save the economy. It's the financial equivalent of "the surge" in Iraq. He doesn't care if the economy tanks, what he's doing is giving his buddies lots of money to throw at the market to keep the numbers artificially high. It has been kept high because his cronies were throwing their own money at it, but they've balked because the losses have been starting to hurt even them. With this massive infusion of free cash, they can keep throwing money at it secure in the knowledge that they won't actually lose anything. That way, the Stock Market stays over 11,000, Bush can claim victory for the republican strategery, and anyone who speaks against it hates America. Same plan, different situation. The taxpayers of this country are paying the bill for the hoovering of the U.S. Treasury, and when all is done and the country is in tatters, Bush and company will be safely out of the driver's seat and will blame the failure on those who followed them, exactly the same way that they are going to blame the eventual failure in Iraq on those who finally shut down "the surge." It's how he's worked for thirty years, why would he change a game that got him where he is?

Will the Real John McCain Please Stand Up?

bailout

With every passing day, this bailout looks more and more like the sinking of the Titanic. With the determination to throw hundreds of billions of dollars at businesses that bit off far more than they could chew but nothing but platitudes for the taxpayers, we have the political version of loading the first-class passengers, burdened down with their jewels and currency, into the lifeboats while the gates to the upper decks are locked and barred so that the steerage passengers can't take any valuable lifeboat space in order that the rich and powerful may survive reasonably unscathed. People without fabulous wealth don't even merit a deck chair to hold on to as the water closes in. I guess the republicans are right after all.

Government is the problem, not the solution.

not very well hung after all

I see that David Blaine is doing another one of his Twenty-first Century circus geek stunts, being suspended by the ankles for sixty hours in the middle of Central Park in New York City. That does sound incredibly demanding, but then as an aside comes the rest of the story: he is being let down every couple of hours to replenish his liquids and to let his blood pressure and such get a break.

Reminds me of the old joke where the guy in an unfamiliar small town has to go get some medicine in the middle of the night, and while driving around sees a little mom and pop pharmacy with a sign that says "Open 24 Hours." Relieved, he gets out of the car, runs to the front door, gives it a tremendous yank, and the door doesn't budge. He pounds on the door of the pharmacy, and a little old man in a night shirt shuffles out from the back and shouts "we're closed" to the fellow at the door. The man, frustrated, hollers back "but your sign says you're open twenty-four hours!" The little old pharmacist, walking slowly back whence he came, turns around and says "not in a row!"

factiness

Watching the History Channel, in the middle of a show about ancient, extinct Killer Sperm whales and Megalodon, the enormous ancestor of today's Great White shark species, I learned that "Megalodon was fifty feet long, about as big as a jumbo jet."

Really.

An original Boeing 747, the aircraft from which the nickname "jumbo jet" came, is one hundred and ninety five feet and eight inches long. The largest iteration of the 747, the 747/400, is two hundred and thirty one feet and ten inches long.

A full-sized school bus is about forty-five feet long.

I guess school buses aren't as cool as jumbo jets.



I guess the History Channel doesn't actually care about facts.

soooooooie!

So, Bush told us that he and his cronies saw this situation developing a long time ago and were really worried about it, but because of his republican ideology he decided to wait until the bomb was about to detonate before doing anything about it.

He keeps talking about the bad paper "clogging the system" like it's something that just worked its way in by itself, when it's actually the massive pile of shit excreted by the pigs at the trough after they ate the American economic system.

It's amazing how fast we've gone from "we don't even know if this will work" to "exactly how much are we going to give these white-collar thugs?"

And of course, we are to believe that this whole "bailout" isn't a giveaway, but is going to pay us back, with interest.

Just like Iraq did.


Are we really going to give this fucking scorpion a ride across the river again?

I used to laugh at conspiracy theorists...

strange turn of events... Canceled debate, canceled campaign commercials, canceled VP debate. Either they're going with the "dog ate my homework" scenario or Bush is going to declare an emergency and halt the elections. Funny that we suddenly have to pass this bill with no limitations, no consequences for the possibly guilty...

Your thoughts?

brave Sir McCain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZwuTo7zKM8

are you fucking crazy?

"At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal. At 2:30 this afternoon, Senator McCain returned Senator Obama's call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details."


Yeah, because joining hands with the Republicans who caused the problem is always a wise electoral strategy.

there's a "bailout" you can believe in

News is breaking that John McCain has requested that tomorrow night's first Presidential debate be postponed so that he can "go back to Washington" to work on resolving the manufactured "financial crisis" that his biggest adviser, Phil Gramm, and his campaign manager, Rick Davis, were instrumental in creating. He has also stated that he wishes to "suspend" his presidential campaign until the "crisis" is finished. There's no explanation of how his taking a couple of hours to publicly debate his opponent would make the situation any worse. Of course this has nothing to do with the fact that Bush is going to address the nation tonight and that McCain would have to answer questions about Bush's statements with little time to prepare the appropriate spin prior to this long-scheduled campaign event.

Perhaps he just needs some time off to explain to his rich trophy wife why he wants to let the American public determine how much she gets paid for running her multi-million dollar company.

Brave, principled warrior, indeed.


I just love the smell of republican fear.



(Egads, even Noron O'Donnell is chiding McCain for his evident inability to "multitask." When you've lost the stupidest woman on television, you know your "base" has withered and died.)

why bother?

It seems to me this seven hundred billion dollar bailout that the Bush administration has sprung on the United States out of nowhere is the worst possible action that could be taken to try to correct the nation's financial problem.

The way I figure it, if we don't give Paulson the money and the authority that he is wangling for in an effort that even he admits is of questionable effectiveness, the United States' and the world's economies will suffer dramatically. The stock markets of the world will lose trillions of dollars of value, people will be cast into poverty and premature death around the globe, and the American taxpayer will be especially hard-hit by the depression that could result.

If we do give Paulson the money and the authority, the United States' and the world's economies will still suffer dramatically. The stock markets will still lose trillions of dollars of value and people around the world will be in horrible circumstances, and the American taxpayer will be crushed under the inflation and depression that will still result.

The only difference is that in scenario number two, the people who are currently in power and who are the ones who caused this catastrophe with their greed and their voodoo economics, will still be in power. They will still be wealthy, they will still be in control, and they will not suffer the consequences of their actions, they will be rewarded for them.


Let the fucking world crumble. Those feckless fat cats will make wonderful playthings for the killers that survive the collapse of civilization.

knock me over with a feather boa

There's big breaking news in the entertainment industry, Clay Aikin has announced that he is gay.


Wow, who could have seen that one coming?

dumbocrats

Here's a really simple rule to live by: if someone who has never given you any reason to trust them suddenly tells you that you need to give them seven hundred billion dollars and you only have a couple of days to do so before all hell breaks loose, DON'T GIVE THEM ANY FUCKING MONEY.

it only takes one...

Great, they're coming out of the woodwork now....

Man charged with bringing gun to Obama's home

How, you ask, does a twice convicted felon, with a history of "mental issues" (according to his own brother) get a gun and bullet-proof vest in Chicago (where handguns are banned)????

Hmm...guess they aren't enforcing the laws on the books. We have laws--we just don't freakin' bother to punish anyone for breaking them. But don't get me started....

irony supplement

During today's coverage of the game of seven-hundred-billion-card monty the Bush administration is trying to ram down the collective throat of the country just before the most consequential election of the last century, what should appear during a commercial break but an ad for the investment firm Barclays PLC?

A typical advertisement of its type, the commercial ended with a voiceover, which to paraphrase said something to the effect of "investing is risky and can lead to serious financial consequences, including loss of your investment."


Apparently that risk is only for the customers, not the institutions.

witness for the persecution

What a wonderful land of "for the people" we live in.

Three meth-head, Tim McVeigh wanna-be tweakers get caught red-handed with weapons, supplies, and a detailed plan to assassinate Barack Obama, and no charges are filed because no real crime has actually been committed.

A college kid is alleged to have hacked into Sharia Palin's Yahoo! Mail account, and the FBI searches his house, confiscates his property, and threatens the maximum level of prosecution.

If you've ever wondered what it was like to live in a fascist police state, now you know.

a squirt and a solstice

the real bottom line

Today, the Bush administration spent a trillion taxpayer dollars to support John McCain's presidential campaign.

injecting some risk

It seems to me that the biggest problem with this enormous government bailout of the finance industry is that it permits these people to get away with their stupidity and their dishonesty without having to pay any price for it, while our nation gets plunged into debt the likes of which no country on this planet has ever experienced.

If it is necessary to do this for the sake of our national and even global economy, let's throw in some penalties for those who have created the problem so that nobody is ever tempted to play these kinds of financial games with our collective futures again.

Let's take the names of every person in a decision-making capacity in each of the companies who are going to receive this largesse of the American people, and the names of each and every bureaucrat from the President on down who enabled the lack of oversight and regulation that has created this situation, put them all in a hat, and once every day, until the funds are repaid with interest to the country, draw one of their names and hang one of them in the middle of Times Square and broadcast the event for free on nation-wide television.


Let's see how fucking fast they clean up their acts then.

heckuva job, asshole

Not only has Bush's gift to the finance industry cost $3500 for every man, woman, and child in the United States of America today, but as a result of the market's justifiable exhilaration the price of crude oil has risen several dollars today.

And remember, he still has another four months to screw things up!

a real horse trader

"We expect that this money will eventually be paid back." - George W. Bush, speaking about the trillion-dollar government bailout of Wall Street pirates, 9/19/04


In other words, that's not an explicit and specific part of this unparalleled federal intrusion into the "free market?"

It really is a theft.

speaking of pirates

I've been stolen from before. I'm sure I'll be stolen from again. It's the way of the world, some people are going to appropriate things that aren't theirs and some people are going to have their stuff taken without their permission.

Generally speaking, it is an irritant and an inconvenience to be stolen from, and there are times when being stolen from can be completely catastrophic.

One thing for sure though, I've never had anyone who stole from me go on television and calmly and pedantically explain that they were stealing from me in order to make my life more secure.


The citizens of the United States are now the victims of the greatest theft in history. Our government has decided to take a trillion dollars (or more) out of our shared pockets in order to support the criminals who have stolen from us with great success for decades, and yet who managed to fritter away all of the money they stole and are now in dire financial trouble. We are being told that if we let these thieves fall flat on their faces and suffer the consequences of their theft that we will be the ones who suffer the worst consequences. Yet doing so means that these very criminals do not suffer in the slightest for their mendacity even as the rest of us are forced into hard times despite not having been responsible for it. How would you feel if a murderer was set free and you were placed in their cell even though you were not involved in their crime?

These criminals should not be rewarded. They should be dancing at the ends of nooses in the public square. If our government does not represent us, it is not our government, it is our enemy.

The time to choose is upon us. Choose wisely, for there won't be another chance.

meeoowwAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR

time to swab the poopdeck

Avast, me hearties, buckle your swashes and swoggle your horns, it be "Talk Like A Pirate Day!"

must must must read

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/schanberg

the surge(ry) isn't working

Chris Jansing, please stop it. Get some help for your self-esteem problems and learn to love the person in the mirror. One more trip to the plastic surgeon's table and you are going to turn into James Carville, and one of those is enough.

Updated Logo For A Great American Patriot

One story here:

Wallmart Introduces New Logo



The other here:

Wall Street Depends on American Taxpayers for Rescue


New logos, new slogans, same old crap.

method to my madness

Well, all of the hard work has paid off. I spent a few days cleaning and organizing my garage to create a nice backdrop, and a day cleaning, buffing, and polishing the big Hammond Novachord, and the verdict is in:

That photo of my Novachord is going to appear in the companion DVD to the upcoming release of "Pinocchio" on DVD. The soundtrack for the famous Disney cartoon uses a great deal of Novachord, and the documentary film company that was contracted to do the companion DVD searched high and low to find a photograph of one of these incredibly rare monsters, and The Google led them to me, by way of our own wonderful Ronni!

So, my Novachord, with accompanying printed credit including my name as the owner, will be appearing in this DVD that will no doubt have huge Disney sales figures.

I'm famous!



Well, my Novachord is, anyway...

and the Bill of Privileges, too!

Happy Constitution Day! Sorry about the wrinkles, I had to fish it out of the trash to take the picture...

Nutrition--you're doing it WRONG

I guess the testing on kitties and puppies was successful...

Tainted Chinese Milk Leaves 6,200 Babies Sick, 3 Dead

Bitter taste over China baby milk

and speaking of language

When did Americans start pronouncing "rather" as "rawther?"

must be a typo

From Media Matters:

On the September 15 edition of MSNBC Live, while assessing Sen. Joe Biden's speech on the economy, Reuters Washington correspondent Jon Decker said that Biden does not "help[] his case when he's making the argument on economic issues wearing French cuffs and dressed to the nines. I think that he's really got to connect with these voters." MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing agreed, asserting: "Yeah, it's about the message, but also about the perception. I guess ... I was a little surprised too that he didn't have that coat off and roll up his sleeves." Contrary to the notion that wearing French cuffs may interfere with Biden's ability to "connect with these voters," French cuff shirts can be found for $37.50 on the website of J.C. Penney, a national department-store chain that many voters can presumably "connect" with.



Shouldn't that be "Freedom Cuffs?"

too beautiful

This is what I've been doing for the last few days, and there will possibly be an interesting story to go with this photo soon - stay tuned!

RIP Richard Wright

You may not immediately recognize the name, but you know who Richard Wright is. As the keyboard player for Pink Floyd since the mid-Sixties, Wright contributed incredible sonic textures to the band's work and really helped expand the boundaries of my beloved Progressive Rock.

Wright died at the age of sixty-five after a battle with cancer. The world of music has lost one of the best and the brightest.

Shine on, you crazy diamond...

it's Bill Clinton's fault

Welcome to Black Monday. If you don't know what that means right now, you will by the end of the day.



I guess 9800. I hope it's not worse.



---WHEW! Only 500 points. Only...

Brave New 1984

The late, great George Carlin said it best:
"We have no rights, we only have privileges."

Make that "had."

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/36732prs20080912.html

for all who fear the Large Hadron Collider

Krinkle Bearcat Palin

http://www.personal-space.com/palin/index.php

and a follow-up, please?

Mr. Obama, why do you think "the educational system is failing the students" as opposed to "the students are failing the educational system?"

may I ask a question?

Mr. McCain, which part of "of the people, by the people, and for the people" do you not understand?

as the twig is bent

Howard Fineman on MSNBC: "I know, the Clintons are difficult to deal with and probably hope Obama fails."

In yet another example of the demonization of America's most recent Democratic president, Mr. Fineman is making the implicit assumption the Bill and Hillary Clinton are power-mad Doctor and Mrs. Evil types whose every move is a carefully calculated effort to destroy everything good and proper and make them Masters of the Planet.

You know, Howard, you have no fucking idea whatsoever of what is going on in the minds of two influential people who have left a trail of accomplishments behind them unmatched by anybody on the right.

I've often said that you can tell a lot about what a family is like by observing their children.

Chelsea Clinton is a well-educated, cultured, intelligent young woman whose modesty and virtue have never been impugned.

Now we have a vice-presidential candidate whose young daughter is known to be a drug user and party girl and who was impregnated at the age of sixteen by another young drug user and hell-raiser, who openly claims that he wasn't the only one that tapped that ass. Her eldest son, soon to depart for Iraq as US military, has been known to be a long-time user of oxycontin and crack cocaine.



Now tell me which family lacks character.

blood on his hands

I've been awake since early this morning watching the MSNBC "rebroadcast" of the coverage of that horrible morning seven years ago. They have dramatically sanitized what went out in realtime that day, only showing long shots of the towers as they burned and collapsed and editing out all of the close-ups of the buildings showing people whose time was rapidly running out waving sheets and towels to try to attract rescue, and those who had to make a conscious decision as to how they were to die jumping from windows to escape the inferno that was roasting them alive. They showed the press conference Bush gave that morning from the school at which he was attending ceremonies.

In the middle of the coverage, MSNBC cut to today's appearance by the worst president in history at the Pentagon, giving his standard platitudes about the event.

I've never been any kind of a 9/11 conspiracist, but today, as I watched this preening little sociopath with no real accomplishments in his life, it struck me that as he stood there seven years ago, expressing puzzlement as he vowed to get whoever it was that engineered this catastrophe, that slightly over thirty days earlier, his vacation in Texas had been interrupted with a memo entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US" which, after he read, he sarcastically told an aide that the aide had "covered his ass" and then went out to play golf.

"Watch this drive."

He knew. He had been warned. This attack had been forecast with hideous accuracy. Bin Laden, hijacked airliners flown into large buildings, New York City, it was all there.

He knew this was coming and he let it happen.

He knew this was coming and he let it happen.


He let it happen.

travesty

It is now seven years since the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed after being struck by terrorists in a plan that the Bush administration was specifically warned about over a month earlier, and all the "greatest country in the world" has been able to do to replace them and heal the New York City skyline is to point a bunch of fucking spotlights up into the sky.

2998

It's been seven years since our criminal president George W. Bush dropped the ball and nearly three thousand innocent people died. I hope the hell he claims to believe in actually exists for he will have a seat of honor there.

a modest proposal

It seems to me that the Obama campaign, in light of the recent incident in which Senator McCain was en route to the Rick Warren interviews and not sequestered in a "cone of silence" as the country had been assured, should insist that immediately before entering the stage where the debates are going to be held, both candidates should be screened for concealed communication devices and any other prompting aids other than their own written notes. Certainly, there would be no reason for either party to avoid that, right?

Like the greatest man in history said, "trust, but verify."

Worse than lying...

I’m so tired of this stuff I told myself this morning that it’s not worth the effort, and that I need to focus on more positive things. Hadn’t planned on anything political for a while. Then I made the mistake of checking Factcheck.org and found this nugget

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/mccain-palin_distorts_our_finding.html

McCain will say anything, and will lie about anything, to win. According to Factcheck, McCain even has an ad misrepresenting the sites checking. Read the whole article but, check out this highlight. There’s another equally bad example in the story.

With its latest ad, released Sept. 10, the McCain-Palin campaign has altered our message in a fashion we consider less than honest. The ad strives to convey the message that FactCheck.org said "completely false"attacks on Gov. Sarah Palin had come from Sen. Barack Obama. We said no such thing. We have yet to dispute any claim from the Obama campaign about Palin.

They call the ad "Fact Check." It says "the attacks on Gov. Palin have been called 'completely false' ... 'misleading.' " On screen is a still photo of a grim-faced Obama. Our words are accurately quoted, but they had nothing to do with Obama.

Almost makes me want to cry. Literally.

if the shade matches...

Whining won't be an option

Sarah Palin’s handlers are crying sexism any time Barack Obama or the media say anything disparaging about her. That makes for good theater but is completely irrelevant. Palin herself chided Hillary Clinton, complaining that Clinton whined when things got tough. Palin said that whenever that happens, women need to be even tougher, to prove the detractors wrong. Gender is a hot campaign topic but once the election is over it is completely irrelevant. Sarah Palin’s team says she is qualified on day one to be Commander in Chief. At that point, or when she is meeting with leaders of foreign countries, or solving some national crisis, whining about sexism is not an option.

Dear Snorg,

You can put your ads on my blog for free, as long as you promise that you will only use photos of her...

who's on top?

Noron just announced that Sarah Palin was "taking the stage with her running mate, John McCain" at a campaign stop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Who exactly is the candidate here?

In order to buy some enthusiasm for their wretched candidate this year, it seems that the republicans have overlooked the fact that John McCain is being openly gelded and made to stand quietly and awkwardly next to his new cheerleader instead of being the confident and assertive top of the ticket that a presidential candidate is supposed to be. Of course, having been married to Cindy's money as a kept man for as long as he has, he's probably accustomed to being led around by a woman.


I wonder if he realizes that he's paying for his dream by getting publicly schtupped by a dominatrix with a strap-on.

requited lust

When I was very young, my parents and I lived in France for a few years as part of my father's travels in the American armed forces. We returned to the United States in the summer of 1963 by sailing from Naples to New York City on an American Export Company ocean liner, the S.S. Atlantic. It was a wonderful adventure for a boy and one of the fondest memories of my youth. I was even photographed at the helm of the vessel wearing the Captain's cap when my parents and I were given a guided tour of the bridge by the ship's Captain. During our crossing, I fell madly in love with an item in the ship's gift shop, a meticulously crafted and painted wooden model of the liner that was jewel-like in its perfection. The model was about six inches long, and sat on a tiny wooden pedestal with a transparent plastic cover for display. It was too beautiful for words, and I visited it every day of our trip and gazed at it longingly, even to the point of taking some stationery and a pencil and drawing it in immense detail one day. Although I wheedled and implored and begged and made every promise I could, I was unable to get my parents to part with the princely sum of $13.50 to purchase this nautical treasure for me. The little model has haunted me for decades, the one thing with no real function in the world that I always wanted just for its beauty, and didn't get. With it being a hand-built model of a ship that was only in public passenger service for a few more years, it isn't likely that there were many of the models made, and they were asking a pretty significant amount of money for the time so I've just tried to forget about it for all these years. Well, the circle has been completed, and I am ridiculously thrilled to be able to provide a home for what may be the only one of these articles on the planet. I am so happy. I just wish my parents could have seen it...

bin Silent

Isn't it about time for Osama the Overlooked to release his newest mix tape to help the Grandpa Simpson/Church Lady republican ticket win so he can maintain his prestige with the jihadis?

good question, better answer

What's the difference between Palin and Muslim fundamentalists?



Lipstick:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/09/09/palin_fundamentalist/

just wondering

How is that Hawaii is a strange and exotic place that isn't completely American, but Alaska is the Heartland with caribou?

well?

A new USA Today/Gallup poll has McCain over Obama, 54%-44% among likely voters.

How could that possibly happen? I mean, Obama and Biden have been telling everyone what a great hero and patriot John McCain is, shouldn't they be winning?


It's a little too early to say "I told you so" and I won't do it yet, but all of the signs are starting to point to a McCain win. The Democrats have eight weeks to try to beat this back.

I'm sure they'll start any day now.

I'm truly sorry

I've thought better of it, and I apologize for my previous insulting remark about Sarah Palin sounding like Roseanne Barr.

I sincerely regret comparing Roseanne Barr to that utter piece of shit.


"So Sambo beat the bitch."
http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-%E2%80%9Cracist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean%E2%80%9D/

setting the Barr low

I finally realized where I have heard that overly loud and nasal voice dripping with sarcastic condescenscion while it delivers snottily passive-aggressive insults with self-satisfied smugness and a vaguely hillbilly twang.

Sarah Palin is Roseanne Barr...



...without the class and social graces.

change you can count on

I believe I've figured out the republican strategy this year.

I'm beginning to think that they really don't have high expectations of winning although I feel they have a near-even chance of it, but they are instead playing for tactical advantages in the future and financial gains in the present as well as covering the possibility that they may yet beat the Democratic ticket.

It appears that the McCain campaign is primarily targeting the "corruption" of government as what has been the big problem the last eight years. In keeping with the Norquistian policy of starving it, painting government as the problem in this manner permits McCain to build an enormous straw man and then armor himself to do battle with it even as he furthers his carefully-crafted "maverick" image. He's giving us "straight talk" about how he's going to save the American economy by eliminating "wasteful" government spending via earmarks and pork projects rather than shutting down the enormously profitable business venture of our "war" in Iraq which is the real money pit.

There has been little real talk about eternal wars, the economy, the threat of climate change, the energy crisis, the lack of health care for a huge number of Americans, the increasing concentration of wealth and power in a small segment of the population, the incremental destruction of our Constitution, the encroachment of religion in government, or any of the serious crises that we face, the McCain campaign has instead been entirely focused on earmarks and offshore drilling on the few occasions it has strayed from derisive and scornful ad hominem attacks on the fictitious liberal media and the "angry left."

By focusing the campaign on government corruption the right is setting the stage for another round of witch-hunts against a Democratic executive and legislative branch. If Obama wins and the Democrats achieve fully effective majorities in both Houses of Congress the Republican slime machine will already have been primed to start obstructing progress and crowing about government corruption as they point their fingers at the majority party, even though the vast majority of corruption in our ruling class is associated with those very people.

By forcing McCain to take Sarah Palin as his running mate the republicans are cynically gambling on his dying in office and if I were him, I would not go hunting with Dick Cheney. If McCain is elected, he will be a willing and obsequious servant to the right-wing masters who knocked down his competitors in return for him selling what little honor he had left in order to become president.

If McCain is elected and dies in office, in comes Sarah Palin. While her primary purpose right now seems to be to be a provider of that raw meat that the right's religious rank-and-file thrives on and gets them to fund the current campaign and future efforts, she is also waiting in the wings to potentially be the most dangerous, belligerent, religious, conservative lunatic ever to hold the office and she will eagerly follow whatever orders those masters previously mentioned will give her. If nothing else, it puts her in the automatic candidate seat for the 2012 elections if a President McCain were to retire after one term. Why else would the right be suddenly lowering the expectations for a vice-presidential candidate than to be able to sneak her into office and make her a stealth candidate for the presidential figurehead they really seek?

So, while they may not be expecting to win this election, they are using it to raise funds, to rile up their base, to set the stage for the next stage of tactics they will use, to possibly elect a willing servant, and also to install an even more willing, more dishonest, and more vicious servant if their nominee-by-default happens to succumb to his age and diminishing health.


That's our modern right-wing Americans, with no scruples, no ethics, no boundaries they will not step over, nothing but a willingness to use whatever means and methods they find in their relentless quest for power and dominance. They are honest, although it seems that nobody listens closely enough.

John McCain says that if he is President there will be peace in the world. He doesn't tell you that when he says "peace" he's not using the definition of peace that most of us think of, where everyone lives and lets live, he means using force to make others knuckle under and do what they are told.

When he says that there will be a "new standard for transparency and accountability" in his administration he doesn't say that he means that his administration will be transparent and accountable and that he actually means there will be even less transparency and accountability. It's all about speaking the truth but using linguistic misdirection to make people think they are hearing one thing but have actually not heard anything at all.



They are telling us the truth.
If they win, there will be change.


There will be more war.
There will be more torture.
There will be more poverty.
There will be more inequality.
There will be more propaganda.
There will be more erosion of civil rights.
There will be more damage to our environment.
There will be more surveillance of American citizens.



There will be a lot of change. It just won't be good.

moran

I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it. On MSNBC just now, with the chyron headline reading "mandatory visitor evacuation ordered for Keys," David "pimping out Chelsea" Shuster explained to his viewers that "mandatory visitors have been ordered to evacuate the Florida keys."

I laughed so hard I nearly evacuated myself.

2 + 2 = #@

I'm curious if McCain's strategy is going to work out.


He just told us how he would undo the damage that the current administration (which he has supported ninety percent of the time) has done by giving a speech that sounded just like one George W. Bush would give.

eureka

From now on, the cat formerly referred to as "the freeloader" shall be formally referred to as:










not yet...





keep going...





building the suspense...





getting closer...





the lights are dimming...





music is starting to rumble in the distance...





nope, still not there yet...





soon, really...





but not this time...




wait for it...




here it...




isn't...




it's really worth it...




really, wait for it...





I can't take much more...





Oooh yeah...





as...






as...





as...





CATTABIS!

(I think it's Egyptian.)

we don't need no steenkin' permission

Am I the only one who thinks that the background music for the Sarah Barracuda video sounded like a Mantovani arrangement of the theme to "Dallas?" And now they're stealing Van Halen's music for the second time this week, and the fishy carnivore is appropriating Heart's music, too.

McCopyrightviolationlawsuit, anyone?

Jeez, now McCain is using the Dallas ripoff, too, only with a Marine brass arrangement. Fortunately, he never talks about being a POW and thinks it would be crass and political to use it like that.

wipe your chin, Huckleberry

I'm pretty sure I don't want to know how the republicans managed to lure Huckleberry Graham away from his perch at the Larry Craig Memorial Glory Hole in the Minneapolis airport's men's room, but at least we can be sure that he's been getting way more than his Minimum Daily Requirement of protein over the last three days.

who is Abram?

Jack Abramoff has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for bribery and illegal lobbying. For corrupt right-wing (sorry for the redundancy) lobbyists, this is what is referred to as "going to college."

prebuttal

John McCain is a "reformer" just like George W. Bush is "compassionate."

You have been warned.

right on cue

Representative Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia said today that Barack and Michelle Obama were "uppity." Lynn Westmoreland is a republican. Lynn Westmoreland, while sounding like a mean girl, is reportedly male.

The remark came while Lynn was addressing reporters about Sharia Plan's speech and is quoted as saying "just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they're a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they're uppity." Reporters asked for clarification that the word used was "uppity," and Lynn's response was "uppity, yeah."

Here's a clip of the event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQzI3k39Cfw

still packing

This is a photo (looking due east) of the leading edge of the remnants of hurricane Gustav as it moved into Kansas during mid-afternoon on Tuesday. No later than two hours after this picture was taken, the eastern half of Kansas had been covered and will remain so for at least another day or so. Now that's a storm!

BitchWatch

Isn't it astonishing that a low-rent high school Heather wanna-be dares to use a line like "when those styrofoam Greek columns have been hauled back to some studio lot" while she's standing on Tony Manero's lighted dance floor?

an open letter to Sarah Palin

It's on, bitch.

Houston, we have a problem

I've been experiencing the oddest sense of deja vu for the last couple of days. Every time I've seen some right-wing blowhard trying to explain how prom queen runner-up Sarah Palin was going to be the bestest vice-president evar and was like, totally qualified to be President of the United States, I've been puzzled by the familiarity of it all and wondered where I had seen a similar kind of "make the best of what you have" situation.

It just hit me.



You know the scene in Ron Howard's epic "Apollo XIII" where the NASA engineers are gathered around a big table and one of them walks in with a big box, dumps the contents over the table, and says something to the effect of "we have to figure out how to turn this pile of assorted trash into a working air purifier" as the rest of the group looks at each other with dazed expressions?

Somehow, I think if Sarah Palin was an astronaut, she would already be starting to gasp a little from the lack of oxygen.

how it happened

I hate to just post links to other commentary, but today I have found a few of the most amazing articles I have read in the last few years. Here are a couple of more that are just mind-bottling...

http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2008/09/03/mccain_strategy.html

http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2006/12/18/suskind_empiricism.html

the rest of the story

This brief and powerful post illustrates why the far-right wants pageant-girl. They are banking on McCain dying in office and getting another unabashed fascist into the White House:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/03/halperin/index.html

hearing is believing

This is priceless and too amazing to describe properly:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/212920.php


Transcript via MoveOn.org:

Mike Murphy, former McCain advisor: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor work. Engler, Whitman, Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. And these guys, this is all like how you want to (inaudible) this race. You know, just run it up. And it's not gonna work.

Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter: It's over.

Murphy: Still, McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

NBC's Chuck Todd: Don't you think the Palin pick was insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too (inaudible)

Noonan: I saw Kay this morning.

Murphy: They're all bummed out.

Todd: I mean, is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

Noonan: The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political [B.S.] about narratives and (inaudible) the picture.

Murphy: I totally agree.

Noonan: Every time the Republicans do that because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at and they blow it.

Murphy: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism and this is cynical.

Todd: And as you called it, gimmicky.

let's waste some petroleum products

After last night's vicious backstabbing by Senatard Joe Lieberman, how much longer are the Democrats going to wait before they finally give this treasonous piece of filth a good old-fashioned blanket party after which they tar and feather him and ride his blistered carcass out of town on a rail? Really, how much more of this shit is it going to take before they realize that this man is no Democrat, he is a republican mole who is so sure of himself that he doesn't even pretend to be a Democrat any more other than to maintain his positions of power within the Senate?

call Maury!

The McCain campaign has been accusing the non-brain-damaged half of the country of accusing Sarah Palin of being the grandmother of the fifth, Down's Syndrome afflicted child and of demanding that she take "maternity tests."

First, what the fuck is a "maternity test?" Seems to me if you squeeze a tiny human out of your reproductive organs in a hospital with doctors and nurses in attendance that a DNA test might be a bit superfluous, but that's just me.

Actually, I think what is needed is a paternity test for boyfriend Levi, the self-styled "ass-kickin' fuckin' redneck" who is accused of being the father.

Let's face it, the nubile young daughters of hard-core conservatives are the biggest and easiest chum-buckets in the country, and there's a significant chance that the boy who's taking the fall isn't the one that donated the sperm...

Mary get your gun...

Good heavens. These convention-goers in St. Paul are deLUsional! We couldn't help but shout responses at the television for some of the incredibly ignorant things the speakers said tonight--and they way the audience drank it all in. They MUST have been on something. I wonder if Hazelden has enough capacity to manage the whole lot of them?

It's a good thing I still can't find the key to my .38 -- tonight I might have blown a hole in our new flat panel...

I'm just going to start clicking the heels of my ruby slippers together and chant... until November.

Vetting for Votes

WTF?

What in the world was up with all of the little guttural, Tourettesque subvocalizations that Laura Bush was making every time the attendees applauded? Has she joined Cindy McCain on the gin and Vicodin diet? Or did she just know that George was going to come on and start talking about Hurricane Gooseduff?

all your candidate are belong to us

Over the last few days, the right-wing gasbags have started pushing the notion that John McGoo "came from behind" after being "on the ropes" to win the republican presidential nomination. He's being portrayed as if he were Rocky Balboa coming back out after taking an 8-count and knocking his opponents out of the ring.

Nice damned try, guys, seriously.


I've been paying pretty close attention to this politics stuff for a while now, and it seems to me that it didn't quite unfold that way. First, Rudy Giuliani imploded because the only thing he had to offer was beating the "I was a 9/11 hero" drum, and that wasn't sufficient to overcome all of his criminal connections and the corruption of the New York City government under his stewardship.

Fred Thompson shucky-darned himself into obscurity by not knowing anything about the world around him and by having the charisma of a throw-rug, and not even his young wife's new boobs could save him from looking like a befuddled senior citizen with a permanent Viagra flush.

Mitt Romney spent a monumental amount of money to demonstrate that he was an expensive, custom-tailored empty suit worn over magic underwear, and even his cut-rate Reagan impression wasn't enough to overcome his alien mormon-ness with the rank-and-file fascists who run the republican party.

Huckabee was a problem. A lot of conservatives liked his stated positions to the extent that he was the front-runner for a while, but he was so peculiar on a personal level that the base ultimately just couldn't accept his eccentricities and found him too unpredictable and insufficiently loyal to the republican cognoscenti. He turned into the right's version of Dennis Kucinich.


Face it, guys, if McLame had announced that he wanted to put a beauty pageant runner-up in the vice-presidency a few months ago, Ron Paul would be the belle of the ball in Minnesota tonight.


John McCain - nominee by default.