Frankly, I'm A Little Surprised It Hasn't Happened Already

 

Uncertainty is what drives interest rates in America. Let's be frank about that. If my credit rating is unreliable, I will pay more for my mortgage and credit card interest than you will if your credit is good. This is where the concept of the "prime rate" was born: a rate given to customers with stellar credit histories.

 

With the dog-and-pony debacle over the debt ceiling heading into the final innings, if I was the head of Moody's or Standard & Poor's, I'd be thinking about downgrading American bonds already. Why?

 

Simply put, today a lender is not looking for six days of interest, but months or even years. Next week, that interest *may* default. It doesn't matter that a bill *could* be passed between now and next week, or that it's possible an extension of payments beyond the August 2 deadline *could* be made.

 

Right now, the US is technically in default on its obligations past next Tuesday. Right now, there is uncertainty, and uncertainty demands a lowered credit rating.

 

There is nothing that prevents a ratings agency to immediately restore the AAA rating on American paper the minute a new deal is passed, but clearly the full faith and credit of the American government is non-existent. If this was you or I, if we had lost our job and the Fair Isaacs company found out (and they do,) our credit score would drop. That's just the facts, Jack.

 

It wouldn't matter if we had an interview or even a job lined up for next week, if FICO hears we're out of work, FICO re-evaluates the credit score. Why should a different standard be applied to a government?

 

A lowered credit rating would certainly be a blow to Obama and the GOP, to be sure, but it would also immediately affect you and I, which is why I think the agencies have shied away from prematurely downgrading the rating. Our mortgages would jump, our credit cards would become unsustainable, our economy would tank. Again. Jobs would be lost. Factories closed. Vital repairs to infrastructure and even private contracts would stop.

 

Mind you, this could happen anyway if the agencies think the debt limit bill is insufficient in either raising the debt ceiling or in effecting cuts to the budget to try to get out of this mess.

 

The Teabaggers have a match and a can of gasoline. What they DON'T have is a flame-retardant suit.

Can This Guy Run Here, Please?

Norway's response to the terrible tragedy over the weekend that stripped the innocence of the nation from terror attacks and mass murder?

 

Intelligence

Norway's prime minister said Wednesday that the response to twin attacks that have rocked his country will be "more democracy."

Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Wednesday that Norwegians will defend themselves by showing they are not afraid of violence.

The vicious attack in the normally placid country has left Norwegians appalled and shaky, but determined to move forward. Some government workers were planning to return to work in their offices in the buildings where the bomb blasts blew out most windows.

Contrast this with "WANTED: Dead Or Alive," paranoia, patting down grandmas, "You're with us, or with the terrists," Islamophobia so bad that ten years later the first instinct for the cowardly was to blame Al Qaeda for a bombing and killings that a) didn't even fit their modality and b) were in a country that hadn't even blipped on the radar in bin Laden's statements.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a meditation on 9/11 that goes into great depth about the fears inherent in living in what was an open society which I invite you to read at your leisure. I will not repeat it here, except this excerpt:

I will never be afraid again of this world that has been created around me by naked greed and hideous envy, for I am stronger than any of you who would see me buckle and bend to your hatred. I will be true to my soul, and true to my heart, and will fight you with every breath in my body and with every fibre of my being.

And long after you have gone to dust, long after I go to dust, the monument to truth and peace and freedom that I have added a few miserable pebbles to will stand tall and firm as a bulwark against the dark you attempt to bring to the world.

Call it a Nordic trait, I suppose: the Prime Minister of Norway got it a lot faster than I did. Note that those words are not only directed at those who would attack me, my home, my people, but also to those who would twist events to their own warped ends.

Those people, the greedy cowards who stick their fingers into pies simply to prevent anyone else from savoring them because they fear the loss of one pie to someone else means no pie for themselves, they are as to blame for the events in Norway as Anders Breivik himself. Moreso, since they saw first hand the devastation of terror and still incited more anger and more fear.

Truth. Peace. Freedom. The tripod of enlightened society, the true wealth of nations.

Jens Stoltenberg, you have my gratitude.

 

 

Well, It's Been Nice Knowing Y'All!

 

Looks like Armageddon is coming in a week.

 

Not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Far Be It From Me To Make The Link

 

But there is a surprisingly high number of teen suicides in Michelle Bachman's district.

 

Hennepin County officials are investigating whether there's been a rash of anti-gay bullying and if so, if it's had an impact on the rise in suicides.

 

Not saying anything more than that, no sirreeeeee!

 

Except haters be hatin'

Want To Know What's Really Scary About The Debt Crisis?

 

Even Wall Street doesn't have a clue what's next.

 

The linked article offers three scenarios and the background information for all three varies wildly. I mean, on the one hand, no one listens to debt rating agencies anymore so the markets are fine, on the other, the US loses its gold-plated AAA rating and markets plummet.

 

D-huh?

Oh brother!

 

I'm more and more convinced the Teabaggers are fucking insane.

 

A balanced budget amendment? Really?

 

It's not called "full faith and credit" for nothing, asswipes!

Musta Been A Helluva Nap

 

Man wakes up inside morgue

Maybe, If We Just Forgive Ourselves

 

We can end the debt crisis!

As If My Readers Needed A Reminder

 

The debt crisis? Blame Bush

Introducing House Weaker John Boener

 

"I didn't sign up for going mano-a-mano with the President of the United States."

 

Even in the debt crisis, they're a bunch of homophobes!

Oh, But Racism In America Doesn't Exist!

 

Yah, right...

Today's Butthurt Republican Is Brought You To By....

 

 

...The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol.

 

No, Bill, most Americans would think the "debt ceiling" was the lid of a coffin before the Republicans decided to make it an issue, you amazing moron.

Thirty Years Mortgaged Away

Plus ça change, plus ce meme chose....

The Pew Research Center analysis finds that, in percentage terms, the bursting of the housing market bubble in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on the wealth of minorities than whites. From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households and 53% among black households, compared with just 16% among white households.

As a result of these declines, the typical black household had just $5,677 in wealth (assets minus debts) in 2009, the typical Hispanic household had $6,325 in wealth and the typical white household had $113,149.

Moreover, about a third of black (35%) and Hispanic (31%) households had zero or negative net worth in 2009, compared with 15% of white households. In 2005, the comparable shares had been 29% for blacks, 23% for Hispanics and 11% for whites.

That last paragraph tells a tale: that would probably be the result of hyperborrowing in mortgages and against credit cards in the wake of stagnating wages, pitiful jobs growth under the Bush administration, and the collapse of savings in this nation. People need to buy in order to keep the economy humming. The economy hummed, but the social construct has always been that the economy hums when people shop, which creates jobs, which creates wealth (and net worth), which creates a humming economy.

That's disconnected now, largely because the humming has moved overseas as China and other south Asian nations have taken the bulk of the jobs in cost-cutting moves by hypernational corporations that retain their cash, thus turning the trickle-down effect into a true trickle.

This is the worst gap since 1986, when Pew started publishing this study, and not coincidentally, when America gave a goddamn about the tired, the poor, the huddled masses, and not the first tee at Winged Foot.

Just keep those net worth numbers in mind: Blacks, $5,677; Hispanics, $6,325 (so much for the rise of La Raza Republican); Whites, $113,149.

 

Boener's Flaccid Proposition

Well, this is not kicking the can down the road, this is pushing the penny across the table:

According to a GOP aide familiar with the emerging House bill, it would provide for an immediate $1 trillion increase in the government's $14.3 trillion debt limit in exchange for $1.2 trillion in cuts in federal spending.

The measure also envisions Congress approving a second round of spending cuts of $1.8 trillion or more in 2012, passage of which would trigger an additional $1.6 trillion in increased borrowing authority.

While the bill marked a retreat from legislation that conservatives muscled through the House last week, the two-step approach runs afoul of Obama's insistence that lawmakers solve the current crisis in a way that avoids a politically charged rerun next year in the middle of the 2012 election campaign.

This is probably a premature enactment on the part of the GOP. Pushing this issue into the middle of next year's election cycle will create a far bigger headache for them than it does for Obama.

Boener is mollycoddling his radical right wing with this proposal, and basically throwing his hands up and saying "Basta!" Placing this issue in the middle of the election cycle is going to lose him the House, and any chance at the Senate. I see the warped logic the GOP is using, so let me analyze it a little for you.

Of tangential import, this will be the first major issue in the post-Murdochian-meltdown of FOX News, so Boener loses his most effective propaganda tool.

The gamble Boener is making is that in the next six months to one year, he can marshal public opinion in his favor. Right now, the nation seems pretty divided over who is to blame for the debt ceiling crisis, with the slight benefit of the doubt given to President Obama.

What I believe he is misreading, what Obama can rely heavily on, is that the nation is pretty unified over the idea that the problem demands a long-term solution and now. All those months of stroking to whip up a froth of "you can't spend more than you make" has left the wrong impression of the Republicans in this constituency. It's not about cutting spending deeply, it's about making more money for them. The American people understand that there will be sacrifices, but they remember the Great Depression and World War II when everyone sacrificed. We're all in agreement spending should be cut, and while we may disagree in detail, in the long, broad strokes we get it.

Cutting Grandma's blood pressure medicine won't do it. Cutting ExxonMobil's taxes sure as hell won't do it. The American people want a solution that they can examine, agree with, and then conveniently ignore, secure in the knowledge the problem is wll in hand, and not rising again in six months' time. We, like the markets, prefer certainty, not a "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" buyoff.

Which leads me to point number two that I think Boener is misreading: apart from Ryan's universally panned $6 trillion debt cutting plan, President Obama's proposals are the only ones on the table (not even Reid's match his numbers) that will permanently cut the debt, mount revenues while shedding risky behavior like farm subsidies and plug other corporate loopholes.

If the GOP is successful in kicking the can down the road, Obama can simply run the tape of these past few weeks where he has been stiff in his resolve to seek a permanent solution to the problem. "See? I told you so!" would be a mantra that he could run on.

Meanwhile, in the intervening six months, the GOP has to winnow down the seven dwarves, err, twelve monkeys to a viable field in the primaries. If you think that the debt ceiling isn't going to be a major topic of conversation that the GOP will be arguing back and forth, up and down, in and out until the cows come home, thus softening the impact of any media campaign the GOP leadership might roll out, you'd have to be an idiot, Mr. Weaker Boener.

We don't have much of an attention span, we Americans, but over and over again, we've shown the distinct ability to sniff out garbage, which is precisely what you offer.

 

Today's Right Wing Crybaby

 

Believe it or not, he's a mine operator who's decided that because people don't particularly like mines in their backyards, are terrified of the environmental and health impacts and with really good reason (see: Massey Energy), he's going to deprive a county of 125 jobs. Because his panties are bunched up.

 

Way to go, blockhead!

A Touch Of Grey

 

I would be remiss if I didn't note the spectacular and thrilling Tour de France victory of Australia's Cadel Evans

 

At 34, he was the oldest winner of Le Tour since 1923, when 36 year old Henri Pelissier chipped stone wheels and attached them to a couple of oak branches.

 

It was hard rooting this year: Andy Schleck, the young Luxembourgan who was basically robbed last year by Clenbutero Contador of victory is an engaging, earnest young man (along with his brother Frank, who also is a top competitor and could have won this year, too). Evans is a war-horse who, like Schleck, had been a bridesmaid twice but has the added attraction of having been on some miserable teams and having fought through enormous physical pain in racing the Tour (in 2010, he rode with a broken elbow for more than half the race.) This year, his bad luck held off.

 

Evans is a rider with passion and grit. He's not afraid of his emotions showing, which is refreshing in an endeavour where people have to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and do it all over again the next day. That tends to damper any highs and level lows.

 

You sensed from the beginning of the Tour that the final days would belong to the Schlecks and Evans: Contador was rattled early on by the enormous pressure he had put on himself to fourpeat as champion, particularly after winning the Giro, all with the looming cloud of suspicion still hanging over him with a court date over steroid use. He was treated pretty roughly in the mountains by the fans (one wag even trotted alongside his bike wearing surgical scrubs and carrying what looked like an oversized syringe,) although when he made a courageous break on the Alpe D'Huez, fans cheered and jeered pretty equally.

 

The Schlecks, as Evans, had something to prove. The Schlecks executed a game plan almost to perfection, save for the fact that Cadel Evans had an answer for everything they did. Andy Schleck ended up about two minutes short of where he needed to be coming into the final time trial. Evans saw to that with a masterful counterattack in the Alps. He personified what the term "leader" is all about.

 

Will his luck hold out next season? We'll see.

Do Parents Not See A Disconnect Here?

 

Sure. Send your kids to summer camp. Just please, not on a private jet!

More Political Kabuki

 

Jennifer Rubin (there's that name again) has leaked details of what John Boener told the Republican Congressional caucus on a phone call this weekend.

 

Now, winnowing out the rhetoric and red-meat tossed about to distract the masses of morons, Boener let Eric Cantor swing in the breeze from a noose, and no one noticed.

The White House has never gotten serious about tackling the serious issues our nation faces — not without tax hikes — and I don't think they ever will. The path forward, I believe, is that we pull together as a team behind a new measure that has a shot at getting to the president's desk. It's won't be Cut, Cap & Balance as we passed it, but it should be a package that reflects the principles of Cut, Cap & Balance. We're committed to working with you — and with our Republican colleagues in the Senate — to get it done. No one is willing to default on the full faith and credit of the United States.

 

And I think the leaders in both parties and both houses of Congress already agree that we need significant reductions. But if we stick together, I think we can win this for the American people . . . because I do think there is a path. But it's gonna require us to stand together as a team. It's gonna require some of you to make some sacrifices. If we stand together as a team, our leverage is maximized, and they have to deal with us. If we're divided, our leverage gets minimized.

Note what I emphasized. Nowhere does Boener suggest that taxes are off the table. Nowhere does Boener say "The President will not get what he wants." Instead, he mentions sacrifices on the part of his membership.

 

Boener didn't get to where he is without studying the rudimentaries of diplomacy. He says what he wants to say but in a way that has you agreeing with him while he picks your pocket, all the while making you feel like you're giving him your wallet.

 

Cantor got where he is by being a douchebag. His response:

The president's position of forcing us to give him a debt limit increase through the election is purely political and indefensible. He cannot sustain or defend putting politics above the country's interests in this situation. Let me tell you, though, he has the microphone. The only way to overcome him is to remain united and insist that every dollar the debt limit is increased, we have equal or more dollars in spending cuts without ANY tax hikes.

 

All Cantor needs now is Rupert Murdoch to fly into DC and give him a "1000% vote of confidence," and he can resign from Congress.

 

Our Own Private Eyjafjallajökull

 

Alaska set to explode

 

Palins deny involvement.

OK, This Is Double-Minus Not Good

 

Asian carp DNA found within Great Lakes barrier

Looking For A Luxury Product To Introduce?

 

Something that would make people spend three times as much as they need to in order to have? With status and a "cool" factor?

 

Look no farther than Space Water.

When James Wolcott Likes Your Writing

 

You must have written a helluva piece. This is a synecdoche of imagery.

 

Alexander Cockburn is not someone I agree with all the time, but I disagree floridly when I do.

Huhwhat?

 

You're Texas. Your governor is mulling a Presidential run. You're one of the reddest states in the union.

 

So you take a look at your political contributions and say, who is that at the top?

Revenooer Smacks Down Former Governor

 

The whole Pawlenty-Bachman slapfight has taken a bizarre turn: the candidate of smaller government made her name in Big Government screwing the same little people she says she now wants to protect.

 

Pawlenty takes a split decision, despite Jennifer Rubin's belief.

I Guess It's True!

(image courtesy)

 

Jesus really DOES save and He loves the bargains at Wal-Mart!

In The Glue

 

It looks like we're one step closer to proving the existence of the Higgs Boson.

 

The so-called God particle is theorized to determine why some particles have mass, and some, like photons and neutrinos, do not. Discovery of this particle will be an huge confirmation of the standard model of particle physics and will...well, it's confusing, but let's just say that there are competing theories that would need to account for the existence of this particular bit of reality.

Clearly, All Christians Are Evil

 

That's the satirical note to take away from the events of Friday afternoon, when the Norwegian equivalent of a Teabagger decided to slaughter nearly 100 people, willingly and gladly:

“He has said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary,” lawyer Geir Lippestad told independent TV2 news.

[...]Breivik hated “cultural marxists”, wanted a “crusade” against the spread of Islam and liked guns and weightlifting, web postings, acquaintances and officials said.

So in one neat little paragraph, we have the entire right wing of the United States in a nutshell, eh? "Socialism," "Islamism," gun nut, white Aryanist. If only he ate Cheetos in mom's basement, he could be Jim Hoft!

But I digress, and apologize for scoring a cheap political point.

 

Not really...

 

Anyway, there's a certain irony hearing the right wing of this country stretching, massaging and twisting truth to fit their narrative. After all, Norway is one of the most socialistic nations on the planet, the very essence of the whole argument "don't let this happen here," that faux freedom fighters and tea-pot tipping Taxbaggers cry over when President Obama suggests a marginal hike in taxes to pay for wars we can't afford.

 

And when Ross Douthat is the voice of reason for your side, your side needs serious help.

 

Ahhhhhhhh, but the Foust article has the juicy idiocy:

Not that there's anything wrong with understanding the schools of thought Breivik subscribed to. It is important that he emerged out of an intellectual movement that includes Brussels Journal, Pamela Geller, Daniel Pipes, and Robert Spencer, as it shows how he developed and formed his worldview.

In fairness to Foust, he does not ascribe to the views of Geller and Pipes, but could you ever imagine, even in mocking, the juxtaposition of "intellect" and "Pamela Geller/Daniel Pipes"?

 

Foust raises a good point, which is that its one thing to talk about eliminating Marxists, Islamists and other impurities in a society, it's another to actually take the step of cleansing. It's one thing to point the finger with words, and another to point a gun at children.

 

My argument back to Foust is simple: Not everyone who was a Bolshevik picked up a gun in a pogrom. Not every Nazi in Germany gassed a Jew. Not every militia member blew up Oklahoma City. Not even every radical Muslim flew a plane into a building.

 

That doesn't change them from being Bolsheviks, Nazis, militia members, or radical Muslims, and fomenting the very Petri dish that nurtured the Breivik's of the world. No one is condemning the entire right wing of the world for the actions of one nut, but many of those same conservatives now hiding behind Foust's apron would be the first to tar me as a liberal if this fellow had turned out to be "doing it for the environment," or some such.

 

For that, Foust should be ashamed.

Nobody Asked Me, But...

 

1) With respect to the rumoured debt deal, I keep in mind the argument made by many on the left that if we just eliminate the Bush tax cuts, just let them expire, most of our future deficits go away as well. If Obama and Boehner agreed to that, then this deal makes sense. Of course, you'll never hear either of them say that, but if that's what it takes to get rid of the Bush bankruptcy, I have little problem with this deal.

 

I know the argument will be made that there's no guarantee Boehner will keep his word on a deal like that. He is under enormous pressure from the Teabaggers. I can certainly see where he'd screw Obama and the nation to appease them. Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen. This is political Noh theater at its finest, replete with allowing Eric Cantor an opportunity to grandstand on behalf of Teabaggers.

 

2) I realize this is small beer for those of you in the Midwest and Southwest, but this morning felt like this afternoon should here in the city. We haven't had a day of 100° temperatures since 2002. Last night, I cut my bike ride short because I wanted to leave something in the tank for today. If I ride. Certainly for tomorrow's ride.

 

3) What happens when you let Republicans loose on medical research budgets: we go back three hundred years.

 

4) Interesting. According to this woman's lawsuit, you can be thrown off a plane for not wearing panties.

 

5) If you're not watching the Tour de France, you've missed a helluva bike race. The first week saw more top contenders eliminated that any mountain stage ever has, a near-unknown has sat in the yellow jersey as race leader for nearly two weeks after the world champion (and ersatz spinter) Thor Hushovd held the title for a week despite climbs that usually bomb a spinter out (he even won one of the Pyrennes stages!) And now, Andy Schleck has a fifteen second deficit on the overall lead and his nemesis (and doper) Alberto Contador is rattling cages left and right trying desperately to make up over four minutes. This is going to go right down to the sprint in Paris Sunday.

 

6) You'd think a journalist would have learned the lessons of Watergate: the cover-up is worse than the crime.

 

Oh wait! He's not a journalist! He's a Murdoch!

 

7) Gold's back up. The debt deal has to get done today.

 

8) Between the recent outrage over its price increase and Apple buying Hulu, I think you can say bye-bye to Netflix.

 

9) Could the infamous "Zodiac cypher" have been cracked, after 40 years?

 

10) Did Rupert Murdoch kill Elvis Presley?

 

11) BONUS: Today's Republican butthurt antiAmerica rant is brought to you by...Captain America.

In Case You Missed The Memo...

 

Today is International "I Hate Douchebags" Day

 

Lemme start making the list.

Dare I Say It?

 

Al Franken for President 2016

Why Bother?

 

Global climate change will do a far more effective job of destroying the power grid than any terrorist bomb.

 

Does no one remember August 14, 2003? Banana republics have more reliable power grids than we do.

Wanna Know How Old I Am?

 

I remember when the mail was delivered twice a day during the week.

 

Now get off my lawn.

Social Media: Yer Doin' It Rong

 

Did you know there was a Republican Presidential Debate last night?

 

Don't bother looking for repeats of it on CNN or video on YouTube.

 

It was held on Twitter

Now there's the @140townhall, hosted by the Tea Party, for a few hapless GOP 2012 candidates.

I don’t think enough attention has been paid to how terrible, asinine and embarrassing it was. It was almost funny. The only way it could possibly have been worse would have been if Romney had showed up.

To give you an idea of the level of discourse, which you can read in less time than it took the candidates to misstype, Bachmann’s opening statement begins as follows: “TY for this forum. I’m running 4 POTUS 2 bring the voice of the people back to DC.”

How...dignified.

Now, in truth, Twitter may be the best venue for the GOP to debate issues: 140 characters means you can't explain anything, you can't easily obfuscate, and you have to create bumper sticker answers on the fly.

Plus, as I often say, Twitter is for twits. This is perfect!

Except what's the point of having an exchange like that if no one knows about it? What's the point of having a debate if it's going to become a muddled mess of snappy answers that you can't even really be certain thread to the other participants?

You might as well ask Dickie Goodman to sample the candidates' position papers and create a "debate" that way.

This points up the contrast in how social media is used by both parties.

 

The blogosphere/Blogtopia (© Skippy, The Bush Kangaroo) is well-established and-- as conservatives are wont to do-- pretty bipartisanly effective well after the blog-world lost its uniqueness.

 

Facebook is similarly fairly familiar now, and conservatives have made inroads there as well. Sarah Palin's Facebook page is among the most popularly and most carefully watched pages on the site.

 

This is a far cry from not too long ago, when Rupert Murdoch purchased MySpace as an attempt to "FOX News" social media, thus abandoning hundreds of conservatives to a lonely outpost on the edges of the cybergalaxy.

 

Now we have Twitter. Twitter is great for alerting people: you need a quick fundraising hit, or an urgent policy announcement, you link to it on Twitter and it gets around. Twitter is great for a wiseass like me (even tho I don't Twitter) who can snap off one-liners.

 

Twitter is not great for a dialogue. And therein lies the problem for the Republicans. They bring a rubber band to a knife fight.

Memo To Allen West

 

I understand that many brands of decaf taste as good as the real thing

Shorter Noemie Emery

 

"Who cares that taxes pay for medical research? It's welfare, dammit!"

Do You Get The Feeling...

 

...someone has pictures?

 

I recall similar rumours about Michael Huffington when he ran in California, just before he outted himself. And his was a very closeted life.

You Know This Guy

 

If you've watched any program about ancient Egypt, the Pyramids, King Tut or any number of shows about mummies in general, you've seen Zahi Hawass, best described as an arrogant pompous prick.

 

Well, he's been fired in the shuffling of the Egyptian cabinet.

Signal To Noise

 

Quantum computing takes a, errr, quantum leap forward.

Oh Great!

 

I quit smoking, stopped hanging out in the sun, get my prostate and colon checked regularly, but how the hell do I prevent this?

If Only There Was Some Way To Enforce Laws, Like A Government Or Something

 

 

Poor Laura Ingraham, butthurt again.

Frikkin' Self-Awareness

 

How does it work?

Um, Oops! Wrong Horse!

 

Venezuela surpasses Saudi Arabia as having the biggest oil reserves on the planet.

Every Fisherman's Dream

 

The shark that lands itself

 

I wonder if Chuck Norris was on the boat.

Flushing Billions Down The Toilet

 

Seriously

Seriously, Man...

 

...Who eats this crap?

Hands And Feet Bound, Noose Around Neck

 

But the cops think it's a suicide.

 

Huh?

Give "Anonymous"/LULSec Credit

 

They got balls

I Agree With Allen West!

 

We liberals make the pool deeper so he's more likely to drown if he forgets his swimmies. I can totally understand his panic and fear!

Chalk This Up To The Pot Calling The Kettle

 

Fat, drunk, and stupid

New York As Political Cover

 

I don't think it's a coincidence that, just after New York state legalized gay marriage and just ahead of the ramp-up to re-election, President Obama starts to let his guard down with respect to gay marriage.

"Too Big To"...?

First, there were all those banks that needed bailing out because they were "too big to fail."

 

Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch said that News International was "too big" for him to know what was going on.

While the elder Mr. Murdoch has long had the reputation of being a hands-on manager, pressing for and savoring the scoops scored by the newspapers he had always felt were the soul of his media empire, he said in his testimony that in the case of The News of the World, he had no knowledge of the specifics of what was going on.

He did not know, for example, that his company had paid confidential out-of-court settlements of £600,000 and £1 million to two victims of phone hacking. Nor, he said, did he know that the company was paying the legal fees of Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator under contract to The News of the World who was convicted in 2007 of hacking into the phones of staff members of the royal family.

James Murdoch said he had not known about paying Mr. Mulcaire’s legal fees either, and was “as surprised as you are that some of these arrangements had been made.”

I have a question: if things are getting that out of hand, maybe they're just too big, period?

We've failed at Capitalism 101, which was to abhor the business combinations that stifle commerce and competition. Adam Smith isn't rolling in his grave, he's spinning. The entire check on the capitalist system, the "moral fiber" of the philosophy, was that a) the ownership should be entirely and personally responsible for the activities of the entity which means b) the owners ought to damn well know every detail of the company, from the boardroom to the stockroom.

And it's a good check. People who criticize capitalism aren't criticizing capitalism the philosophy, but capitalism the technology.

Theodore Roosevelt may have been the last American president to truly understand the full dangers of incorporation and business combinations. If Adam Smith is spinning in his grave, Teddy Roosevelt is a fucking turbine in his.

Teabaggers are all about "Big Government,' but the real danger to this nation, to this world, is "Big Business." Big business is beholden to no one except its shareholders and those shareholders don't give a damn about anything but results. There is no morality in running a corporation, no "corporate good citizenship" that isn't subject to torment by any number of people who would as soon tear down the goodwill a firm might establish in the name of that last buck of profit. If it's costing a shareholder a dollar of his dividend, then there had better be a payoff down the road for providing (insert non-monetary benefit here).

Why aren't Teabaggers all over this? Why aren't they rallying about how companies behave outrageously, offensively, irresponsibly, particularly given they want to dismantle any pretense of oversight on the part of government?

I have little problem with Big Government. With Big Government, there is an ultimate review board: the voters. With Big Government, there's sunshine laws and accountability and a loyal opposition that's willing to watchdog agencies to make sure there's as little waste as possible. Tell me, who oversees the corporation? The board of directors is supposed to, nominally, and that worked better when the board members weren't also the executive directors of the company.

Corporations act with impunity, trampling the laws and the civil rights of our citzenry without recourse, without the prospect of punishment of any sort that doesn't justify the initial actions. The corporate credo is "Never ask permission, always ask forgiveness."

And we keep giving it.

 

Oy Vey!

 

Someone pull out the fainting couch!

 

Harry Potter is anti-Semitic!

 

Really. Dude. There are plenty of brands of decaf which I'm told taste just like real coffee....

Will They Or Won't They?

 

Can debt reduction become a reality?

 

The Gang of Six reuniting is a little like the Beatles reuniting, with Zombies Lennon and Harrison.

 

I gotta call this DOA.

The Money Quote

This article is about one of the most ridiculous things you'll read this week.

 

But in the middle of it comes one of the unintentionally most ironic quotes of all time:

“This letter is an embarrassment to the Republican Party, of which I count myself a part,” said Richard Painter, an ethics lawyer in President George W. Bush’s White House.

(emphasis added, of course)

 

Pity Poor Michele Bachmann

Imagine...you predict the end of the world, and it doesn't happen.

 

What do you do? Question your faith? But it runs so strong in you and your family. You're at a crossroads. You're in a lot of psychic pain. It manifests itself physically.

 

So you take a few painkillers. Then a few more. The next thing you know, you're needing them more than wanting them. And now you have all this stress of running for Congress and then your plans to run for President, and now you're hooked.

 

So you kick them. Maybe your husband can modify his "anti-gay" indoctrinations to drugs?

 

And you kick them, but only after suffering irreparable damage to your system that takes the form of constant migraines...

 

It could happen.

Damned Paparazzi!

Sarah Palin was photographed swimming

A Cure? For AIDS?

 

It's possible. It's very possible.

Everytime I Try To Get Out....

 

...they pull me back in.

 

I've really been trying to keep this blog Murdoch-free for one day, but this is just too juice to ignore.

Invasion Of Privacy? Not Really?

 

It's kind of amusing to read some of the reactions to this proposal by Mayor Mike:

Through wireless technology, traffic engineers in Long Island City can now gather data from microwave sensors, traffic video cameras and E-ZPass readers at 23 intersections across 110 Midtown blocks.

Once city workers have consolidated this data in a computer program, they plan to identify the most troubled traffic spots from Second Avenue to Avenue of the Americas and 42nd to 57th Street. That way they can alter the lengths of lights by a few seconds to help improve traffic flow. They also plan to offer this data to software developers so that drivers and passengers can gain access to this detailed information on their iPads or iPhones.

The city has a clear motivation in improving traffic: Mr. Bloomberg estimated on Monday that traffic delays cost the city’s economy $13 billion.

The danger here of course is the use of video camera and EZ-Pass-- the region's electronic toll collection system-- data to issue summonses. Already, redlight cameras are legal in the city and a program to roll those out more broadly is underway. Combining video cameras and EZ Passes would make it easier for cops to target double-parked vehicles, illegal turns and so on.

Of course, the main reason is the traffic, which ironically would be a lot easier in the first place if not for all those double-parkers and illegal turners...

 

Another Crack In The Wall

 

The first openly gay Federal judge is confirmed.

End Of An Era

It is with deep sadness that I take note of this:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A space shuttle left the International Space Station for the very last time Tuesday, heading home to end the 30-year run of a vessel that kept U.S. astronauts flying to and from orbit longer than any other rocketship.

Atlantis slipped away after performing a partial lap around the space station. Ten pairs of eyes pressed against the windows, four in the shuttle and six in the station.

All that remains of NASA's final shuttle voyage is the touchdown, targeted for the pre-dawn hours of Thursday back home in Florida.

The last NASA manned mission, possibly ever. Since my childhood, with the launch of Alan Shepard, American men & women have been in space or preparing to go. Now, no, at least sponsored by the government.

 

Many would point out that space has become a boondoggle of cost overruns and incremental returns for massive investments.

 

Perhaps that's true. It's also true of war, unless you want to fight a war for survival or to acquire an empire, none of which is exactly a concern right now, yet here we are in three different theatres, bankrupting the nation and for what? Oil?

 

The promise the space program held for me as a child is the same promise it holds today: enormous knowledge, the most precious, priceless thing man has invented. 

 

Think of what has come out of the space program: from TANG to transistor radios to computers to GPS to the Internet, all of these come from the space program. Technologies unheard of prior to figuring out how to protect a man in space, from dry suits developed out of space suits to the metal ends of thermometers that more efficiently transfer body heat for more accurate readings. Hell, baby foods have become better because of trying to work out how to feed an astronaut. MRIs, folding walkers, titanium eyeglass frames, pacemakers, all these can trace their roots to figuring out how to help an astronaut in space.

 

The many triumphs and too many tragedies of the space program have led up to the world we have now, and that program has had a far greater impact on your life than anything, ANYTHING, else of the past fifty years.

 

We should go back to space. We NEED to go back to space. There are too many problems down here that require us to find solutions out there.

 

Churchless And Clueless

 

Interesting

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has long been a darling of conservative evangelicals, but shortly before announcing her White House bid, she officially quit a church she’d belonged to for years.

Bachmann, a Minnesota congresswoman, and her husband, Marcus, withdrew their membership from Salem Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minnesota, last month, according to church officials.

Now, you can't get much more evangelical than the Lutheran church, to be sure. As a member myself, the church has some pretty radical ideals. For example, we teach that the head of the Roman Catholic church, the Pope, is the Anti-Christ (so much for Barack Oba--oh wait! NOW it all makes sense!)

 

This Is A Pretty Sad Story About The Palin Movie

 

What if they made a film and no one showed up?

 

In fairness, it was a midnight showing.

 

In unfairness, it's showing in a county that named its airport after John Wayne and remembers Richard Nixon fondly.

That Word...I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

 

FOX News maintained a "brain room" for hackers.

Can Someone Explain Something To Me?

I've only been to Detroit once, and like poison ivy, it's an experience I would not want to repeat.

 

But I have a question: Detroit is basically land-locked: how do they get the damned ships out of there?

 

Yes, yes, I know, Great Lakes and all, but there's the little matter of Niagra Falls. Now, while I wouldn't mind the regular spectacle of morbidly obese Midwesterners screeching their little heads off as they plummet hundreds of feets to a murky watery death...and as a liberal and environmentally-aware American, this would trouble me, the sudden coating of grease on the Niagra and St. Lawrence rivers, but I suppose we could just burn it off a la the Cuyahoga...it still troubles me the man-hours safety and wreck divers will have to commit to keep our nation's navigable waterways clear.

Like I Said....

 

Rupert Murdoch:

 

A gangland empire.

So Simple, A Caveman Can Do It

 

Hm, looks like when my ex called me a neanderthal, she was right!

Harry Reid Grows A Set

 

I wish he'd done this during the whole tax imbroglio back in 2009...imagine the Senate sitting through the Christmas break.

So How Did Sarah Palin's Film Do This Weekend?

 

Pretty poorly, except among the insitutionalized folks who were bussed in with the promise of free pudding.

Al-Jazeera Is Quickly Becoming A Favorite Source

 

Their headlines are nearly unbeatable. You'd think they were owned by Rupert Murdoch. This stuff is funny!

Could Your Next Routine Eye Exam....

 

...also tell you if you'll develop Alzheimer's?

You Might Want To Get Angry At Barack Obama For Not Submitting Warren For The CFPB

 

After all, she's done yeoman work over the years warning of the meltdown and the effects of bankruptcy law changes and any number of financial rapes of the average American. She would have been a natural.

 

I think she'll make an even better Senator.

Taking Passing Note

 

The only reason I'm even marking the debt reduction proposal that Senator Tom Coburn (R-idiculous) is making is to keep an eye on the reaction his fellow Republicans have to it.

 

He calls for $9 trillion dollars in debt reduction, with $1 trillion coming from what we might euphemistically call "revenue enhancements." One-ninth. The rest comes from spending cuts.

 

Let's see what happens.

Whoa!

 

This is Moody's saying this:

Ratings agency Moody's on Monday suggested the United States should eliminate its statutory limit on government debt to reduce uncertainty among bond holders.

The United States is one of the few countries where Congress sets a ceiling on government debt, which creates "periodic uncertainty" over the government's ability to meet its obligations, Moody's said in a report.

"We would reduce our assessment of event risk if the government changed its framework for managing government debt to lessen or eliminate that uncertainty," Moody's analyst Steven Hess wrote in the report.

Shooting Yourself In The Foot

 

Looks like the GOP have reached that stage in the debt ceiling debacle.

 

That's pretty overwhelming public opinion and pretty much includes everyone but the Teabaggers and the Ron/Rand Paul wing of the party.

 

There's a trend in the American body politic towards progressivism, shunning and repudiating the failed policies of the right wing.

 

You can even see it in the blogosphere. (link not safe for sane people)

 

Thirty years of telling the American people that Santa Claus is coming to town if you just give the rich a few more bucks in their paychecks is falling on deaf ears, and it took long enough.

 

Doing it while feeding them other tubs of goo is just gilding the lily. Or perhaps dunging the turd would be a more appropriate image.

 

Conservatives in America may have to carefully pack away their prom dresses, because it looks like they're about to be stood up.

It May Be Safe To Say This

Rupert Murdoch runs a gangland empire:

The lawyer for Rebekah Brooks, who was arrested Sunday in the burgeoning British phone hacking scandal, says she is not guilty of any crime and that police will have to "give an account of their actions" in taking her into custody, the BBC reports.

Brooks, who resigned last week as CEO of News International, the British arm of the Rupert Murdoch media empire, was editor of the tabloid News of the World when the most sensational phone hacking incidents allegedly occurred. The 168-year-old paper was shut down last week by Murdoch in an effort to put the scandal to rest.

The scandal also includes allegations that the newspaper hacking the phones of 9/11 victims and British soldiers killed in action, as well as paid police for tips.

Sir Paul Stephenson, head of Scotland Yard, resigned his post Sunday, but denied any involvement in payment for police or in curbing the initial police investigation into the hacking cases.

It would not surprise me if the attorney's name turned out to be Bruce Cutler. Or Baghdad Bob.

The dance that News International has tried to execute, having Rupert Murdoch come in and profess undying loyalty to Brooks while handing her the stabbing sword to fall on, has all the earmarks of a gangland rubout, minus the bloody, bullet-riddled corpse. Michael Corleone could not have orchestrated a more wide-ranging hit, taking down a 168 year old newspaper, a chief of Scotland Yard and potentially a Prime Minister (who has called for a special session of Parliament to explain his involvement and to answer queries.)

 

Intriguing. Usually, it's sex scandals that create this much uproar.

 

Side note: You have to love a country that has a "Serious Fraud Office," an independent government agency that protects the public from "extensive, deliberate criminal deception which could threaten public confidence in the financial system." They may take up this case as early as today.

 

This story is developing much faster than even I, a dyed-in-the-wool Murdoch hater, could possibly have dreamed it would. While it's sad that Scotland Yard has lost a public face that has been both soothing and authoritative, if Stephenson is involved in this business then clearly he was as fraudulent as FOX "News" is and this scandal calls into account the doings of the entire department since at least 2002 and possibly earlier.

 

After all, it may just be coincidence that as Stephenson hired a former editor of The Sun, the initial investigation into the phone hackings went away, but it bears investigating to be certain. Likely, this investigation will create problems for the Metro police. It's not hard to see a direct line from Stephenson's office to the offices of News International.

 

Anymore than it's possible to see the potential of a mole in Prime Minister Cameron's office, too.

 

And then given the cozy relationship between the Bush administration and FOX News here in the States...