Ukulele on fire

In the sprit of Roy Smeck, my friend Craig Ventresco dazzles at least two senses with this performance of 12th street rag. It was recorded July 9th, 2008 at Cafe Divine in San Francisco:



If you liked that, here's another:

The idol of Nay

I try not to write too much about Sarah Palin, because obviously she has an attention credit disorder, even more-so than your average politician. Also, she is a hateful and pridefully-ignorant bumpkin that thoughtlessly incites American-dividing sentiment for personal gain. Also, like so many Republicans these days, what she has to say can be summarized as "No."

This newest twist in her hidden-hand political life, however, is worth laughing at. She "wrote" (wink-wink) this op-ed which the Washington Post published.

The op-ed can be summarized by the word "No."

Whomever are pulling the strings in Sarah's back ought to spend their time more wisely.

Sen. Franken Archives

Our newest senator:

Franken wins

"The Supreme Court has made its decision and I will abide by the results," Coleman said outside his St. Paul home. Appearing relaxed, he said he had congratulated Franken and was at peace with the decision.

More info here

Those rebels, scofflaws, and activists that want genetically modified foods to be clearly labeled as such refer to genetically modified corn as Frankencorn. This associates GMO and Dr. Frankenstein's madness rhetorically.

Now, the question is, will people associate Franken corn with Al Franken?

Hearts, Minds, and strawberry condoms

Here's a tip for evangelical Christians that want to stand firm against Muslims:

Support mandatory sex education in the schools.

Logical Cohesion

If Republicans want a small government, they should also want a small military, since a large military requires a large government.

If Republicans want less taxation, they should want to cut military waste.

If Republicans want to promote a "culture of life", they should increase welfare spending.

Do I lie?

Dead last

A recent study of the US healthcare system by The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimates that "there would be about 101,000 fewer U.S. deaths per year" if our healthcare system performed as well as those of France, Japan, or Australia.

I have grown used to seeing healthcare metrics place us well-behind other western nations (except in terms of cost), but that doesn't make it enjoyable to finish 19th out of 19 nations.

Here is a link to the study: Dead Last

The swine flu outbreak illustrates clearly the importance of public health, as does the spread of anti-biotic-resistant diseases. What could be a better breeding ground for infectious disease than a large pool of uninsured people upon which to spread? Does anyone think that wealth can lobby against disease itself?

Looking backwards

Here is the best refutation of the Obama administration's position that it is better not to prosecute the rogues responsible for crafting and implementing America's torture program because that is not looking forwards:

I'm focused on looking forward too. And as I gaze into my crystal ball, I see a world in which members of the executive branch take it for granted that they can do whatever they want with impunity. Why not break the law? Why not eavesdrop on Americans? Why not torture people? Why not detain citizens indefinitely without charges? Heck, why not impose martial law and make yourself dictator for life? There is nothing to stop the people who make these decisions. They have nothing to fear. Because once they've made them, their actions are back there, in the past that no one ever wants to look at.

Source: Obsidian Wings

All Justice is backwards looking, isn't it? You review someone's prior conduct and pass judgement on it.

Question time

If government-provided, affordable, and comprehensive health care is the same thing as socialism, then how come so many flag-waving, freedom-loving, Republican legislators are on the public dole for their health-care?

Shouldn't these courageous patriots fight Socialism at home and abroad by rescinding their benefits for themselves and their families?

Is quality, government-sponsored health-care so attractive that it can make a hypocrite of a Republican?

Sarcasm done well

Michael Moore has a new movie on the way, and to promote it this video clip was released in theaters across the country.

Quick Hits

Barak Obama is pressing lawmakers to take action on health care because he insists this problem is adversely affecting our economy. The results of a recent study seem to confirm the notion in spades. Here are a couple points that stand out to me:

1. Medical bills are involved in more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies.

2. More than 75 percent of these bankrupt families had health insurance.

3. 15 percent of the population -- 46 million people -- have no coverage.

Harvard Study

There are plenty of studies which show that a single-payer system that covers everybody is the most efficient solution, but that seems unlikely to happen because Mr. "Yes We Can!" seems unwilling to promote it.

I hope we wind up with something better than we have now. The facts of the matter are becoming more and more alarming.

ADDENDUM: The Boston Globe posted an article that says Obama is pressing for a publicly-funded health insurance option. Details here.

Sometimes problems exist only because there is no will towards what works. I hope this is a small sign that Obama is as giving to the rest of us as he is to Wall Street bankers.

The Anti-Choice Jihad

How much responsibility does Paul O'Reilly bear for the murder of Dr. Tiller?



There are a lot of similarities between the Taliban and the predominantly republican anti-choice jihadists. The chief similarity is the repeated use of murder and intimidation as instruments of persuasion.

How ludicrous does behavior have to be before the Republican party will distance itself from it?

Damned if you do

Since Republicans can be relied upon to demonize any Supreme Court nominee as a socialist-leaning, immigrant-loving, America-hating, abortion peddler, then why should president Obama worry too much about offering a choice as reasonable as Judge Sotomayor for consideration?

Why not go ahead and pick an "activist judge" with great big liberal talons and jam the choice down their protesting paunches, a judicial foie gras if you will.

Libertarian Paradise

I like to tell the type of Christian that wishes to impose his beliefs on others that if they will only travel to Saudi Arabia or Pakistan they can live in a theocratic paradise without waiting.

A new YouTube video employs that approach with Libertarians:

The Body

Jesse Ventura casts pearls before swine in this defense of the rule of law.



Thank you Mr. Ventura.

The Wind Beneath his Wings

In April George F. Will wrote a column called, "America's Bad Jeans" in which he characterized an adult wearing denim as "an obnoxious misuse of freedom".

In my new socialist homeland (America according to Gingrich) the professional journalists have begun to emulate amusing cranks like Donald Mills ("The Problem With Young People Today Is...").

I like George Will, but not as much as I like wearing jeans.

The Law of the Jungle

Here is a summary of the health-care plan now taking shape in Washington:

Let wolves cull those unable to afford insurance.

Liberals aren't expected to object since the plan will be good for the struggling wolf population and the process is all-natural.

Conservatives aren't expected to object since they could care less what happens to poor people.

The insurance industry is expected to back the plan since it makes their offerings more palatable by comparison.

Fox News is happy about the prospect of airing, "When wolves attack."

Everybody wins!

Life of the Party

I have often thought that Dick Cheney might be suffering from the effects of Dementia, and is perhaps more worthy of pity than scorn. However, until such suspicion becomes validated, I feel as though I must treat his statements as intentionally expressed, however paranoid, delusional, or self-destructive.

When Dick Cheney recently insulted Colin Powell I found myself wondering all over again if he ought to quit driving and check into an adult daycare center.

Lawrence Wilkerson, in the video below, seems to hold Dick Cheney responsible for his insults to Mr. Powell and offers this admonition:



Whether Dick Cheney is intentionally harming his party or deliberately harming his party is the question here. There seems no debate as to if he is harming the party.

Neither a disgruntled postal worker or VP be.

The Bush Years: A Holocaust of Truth

It is an insult to The American Way to treat Dick Cheney as if he were other than a disgraced, dishonest, hypocrite. To compare what he once said about torture with his words now, and his deeds then, is to understand the worthlessness of words that escape his lying pie-hole:

"The United States is a country that takes human rights seriously. We do not torture. It’s against our laws and against our values. And we expect all those who serve America to conduct themselves accordingly, and we enforce those rules...America is a fair and a decent country. President Bush has made it clear, both publicly and privately, that our duty to uphold the laws and standards of this nation make no exceptions for wartime. As he put it, we are in a fight for our principles and our first responsibility is to live by them. The war on terror, after all, is more than a contest of arms and more than a test of will. It’s also a war of ideas."

There is a great post over at Obsidian Wings where you can read this, and other quotations on the topic of torture. The men we consider great today are the ones that lived by their words.

Quotations on Torture

Gullibility in its lesser-known form is the failure to believe things that are demonstrably true. Dick Cheney, for instance, is a bald-faced liar and the things which he says are dishonest. At this point it takes mountainous gullibility to believe him.

Perspective

Here are a couple of numbers to keep in mind.

The attacks of September 11, 2001 killed about 6,000 people (5948 fatalities and 24 people missing). You can get the full details here:

Wikipedia 911

Researchers at the Institute of Medicine in D.C. say that 18,314 adults die in the USA each year because they are uninsured and can't get proper health care:

Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late


This summary shows the penalty incurred when society favors profit to human life:

"The main findings of the report are that working-age Americans without health insurance are more likely to receive too little medical care and receive it too late; be sicker and die sooner; and receive poorer care when they are in the hospital, even for acute situations like a motor vehicle crash. "

It is findings like these that force me to hope that president Obama is sincere about solving the health-care emergency we face. I think the measure of his sincerity will be a publicly-funded single-payer-style plan. I know that Ted Kennedy will fight for that with his dying breath, but I'm not convinced president Obama is willing to upset the lobbyists just to please the people that voted for him.

But...

1 in 7 American adults are uninsured.
70% of personal bankruptcies are medically related.
18,000+ annual deaths are caused by the absence of insurance.

and I hope those number can no longer be ignored.

Commentary from the dustbin

David Letterman recently offered up this look back at the wisdom of Cheney:

How'd He Do?

Remember those pictures of Saddam Hussein ironing his own shirts in his underwear? That's my mental picture of Dick Cheney. He's just a sad, publicly disgraced dictator, uncomfortable in his new role.

Black and Bill

Here is an interview that Bill Moyers conducts with William Black, who was formerly a senior regulator that cracked down on banks during the S&L crisis of the 1980s. In the interview Mr. Black does not wear kid gloves or sugar coat a thing. It is a very entertaining interview:

You can watch it here

I would like to see Mr. William Black take over for Mr. Geithner, since Timothy continues to act as if there is a marketing crisis rather than a banking crisis.

In Obama's Shadow

It is time someone said this, "Hillary Clinton is doing a great job as Secretary of State, and she is leaving all the old Clinton baggage out of sight."

I half-wondered if it was going to be a freak-show over there at State, but Hillary seems head-down, working hard, and capable.

Collins and horse rumps

Current events have made a horse's ass of Maine Senator Susan Collins. A short time after she went flitting around pundits belittling pandemic preparedness as a ridiculous stimulus, we find ourselves amidst a global swine flu pandemic.

This video serves up a little crow for her to eat:



The GOP has deteriorated to the point that I wonder how anyone would want to be associated with it. From Susan Collins to Bobby Jindal to Karl Rove to Dick Cheney to Newt Gingrich to Sarah Palin to Rush Limbaugh and the incomparable Michele Bachmann the GOP is one joke after another.

Perhaps it is clarifying moments like these which give Sen. Arlen Specter the rationale for switching parties?

There is more to governance, especially now, than whining about paying taxes and immigrant bashing.

Swine Flu, Bird Flu, TamiFlu, Hazah!

When I heard that Swine Flu was combatted by Tamiflu I remembered a little something about the bird flu pandemic, Tamiflu, and Donald Rumsfeld:

"NEW YORK (Fortune) - The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the world.

Rumsfeld served as Gilead (Research)'s chairman from 1997 until he joined the Bush administration in 2001, and he still holds a Gilead stake valued at between $5 million and $25 million, according to federal financial disclosures filed by Rumsfeld.

Source: Rumsfeld's growing stake in Tamiflu"

One must plumb paranoia to barrel bottom to believe that press reaction to the potential swine flu pandemic is a ploy whose intent is scaring world governments into purchasing Tamiflu.

I do wonder, however, what happened to those Tamiflu doses purchased to ward off bird flu. According to AskDocWeb.com Tamiflu lasts for 5 years, and the bird-flu scare was in 2005.

Maybe we can at least sell that stuff off to forgotten-world countries for cheap and help alleviate their suffering while we replenish our own first-place stocks?

Lie to me

New reporting suggests that the Bush administration decided to use torture to obtain false confessions that could be used to "prove" operational links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.

Jonathan Landay writes...

"The Bush administration applied relentless pressure on interrogators to use harsh methods on detainees in part to find evidence of cooperation between al Qaida and the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime, according to a former senior U.S. intelligence official and a former Army psychiatrist."

Source: Mean means for dishonest ends

Fools can be intelligent enough to be devious, but will act in ways that are contrary to their interests. An evil fool like George W. Bush will stop at nothing to get what he doesn't intend.

Out in front

Here is a short clip from the movie "The Corporation" in which Robert A.G. Monks explains how CEO pay went stratospheric:




The bubble was fun while it lasted, but it done r-u-n-o-f-t. Perhaps we should now turn to those who saw it coming and tried to warn us?

I'd rather see that than politicians let loose with billions of our tax dollars.

Quick hits

Here are a couple of stats to ponder:

In America, about 22 percent of adults do not have health insurance.

For every 1 percent increase in the jobless rate, 1.1 million people lose coverage.

Source: Recession leads to health care crisis

Fat Cats

One thing that I keep coming back to in the early days of the Obama administration is that when it comes to fiscal policy, president Barak is an avid fat cat feeder.

The phrase "fat cat" is a pretty good analogy here. A fat cat doesn't play much, and doesn't catch much vermin. A fat cat mostly sleeps and eats, and the fatter it gets the more it will eat.

If you care about the health of the cat you must cut back on the food and kick it outside, where it will at least have to fend off other, leaner cats.

One other thing that I come back to in the early days of the Obama administration is that he got where he is on a groundswell of small donations and is therefore not as beholden to Wall Street as his policies imply.

How is this country going to turn things around if changing administrations has all the impact of changing the drapes at the whitehouse?

Is D.C. so corrupt that not even multiple national crises, a rout at the voting booth, and a qualified leader can change the course?

It is sure starting to look like we're just circling the drain.

Disfunctional Democracy?

Are we a functioning democracy?

If by functioning democracy it is meant that political will and popular will are one, then we haven't been one for decades, as this video makes clear:



When Obama ran for office he liked the phrase, "Yes, we can".

Where is that Obama now?

Was he just another insincere politician out to comfort the comfortable?

Step right up

The best way to humiliate a fool is indeed to hand them a microphone:



I'm not sure these self-infatuated, circus-grade clowns get the recognition they deserve, but wise democrats should immediately cede the microphone whenever one of them wishes to speak for the GOP.

More Simon Johnson

I like people that write clearly and in uncomplicated language, for instance this paragraph from Simon Johnson as he analyzes America's economic woes:

"The root problem is uncertainty—in our case, uncertainty about whether the major banks have sufficient assets to cover their liabilities. Half measures combined with wishful thinking and a wait-and-see attitude cannot overcome this uncertainty. And the longer the response takes, the longer the uncertainty will stymie the flow of credit, sap consumer confidence, and cripple the economy—ultimately making the problem much harder to solve. Yet the principal characteristics of the government’s response to the financial crisis have been delay, lack of transparency, and an unwillingness to upset the financial sector."

- Simon Johnson -

You can read the entire article here:

The Quiet Coup

What has disturbed me most about Obama's tenure so far is just how little our fiscal policy has changed from the days of George W. Bush. This "plan" by Geithner is cash for trash repackaged with different lingo.

A different proposal

Simon Johnson of MIT appeared on Bill Moyer's Journal to discuss another way to handle the current financial meltdown. He summarized his idea as a "scaled up FDIC intervention", and suggested that the trust-busting techniques of Teddy Roosevelt should also come into play.

See the interview here

Put me down as favoring his plan, not because I am an economist but because I know that there is no welfare cheat like a corporate welfare cheat.

In October of 2008, George Soros appeared on Bill Moyer's Journal to discuss the economic situation. There is similarity between what he says and what Simon says.

That interview is here

An interesting quote from that interview, I thought, was this:

"I think our ability to govern ourselves doesn't keep pace with our ability to exercise power over nature, control over nature. So we are very complicated civilization. And we could actually destroy our civilization because of our inability to govern ourselves."

- George Soros -

Who likes it?

The more I read about the Geithner plan, the more I find myself wondering, "Who likes it besides Geithner and the corporate-types that got us into this mess?"

I am beginning to think that Obama is not the change I wished to see in the world.

What global warming?

If you were to stand before an oncoming tidal wave and refuse to believe in it with all of the sincerity of a holocaust denier, it would have very little impact on the timing of your demise. Natural forces are not swayed by beliefs.

I have encountered many republicans that insist with red faces and waving arms of late that global warming doesn't exist. Moreover, attempts to point out persuasive information is like having a religious argument with them, which is to say it is treated as a conflict where there is no good proof either way.

What I am most interested in knowing is why are so many global warming deniers republican? How did the laws of thermodynamics, chemistry, and atmospheric science come to be partisan in nature?

Is Rush Limbaugh filling conservative hearts with the expectation that global warming pays attention to opinion polls?

So you don't think global warming is real?

Big deal. Too bad your grandchildren will suffer from it anyway, especially if there is political pressure for foot dragging.

Pimping our future?

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is to Wall Street as a pimp is to Main street, except that the Main street pimp generates capital.

I'm working on giving Obama his 100 days which are his due, but every once in a while I crack.

Under the Clockworks of Heaven

Religious people often equate Science with scientists, as evidenced by the over-worn expression, "Scientists are undermining religion".

This confuses the message with the messenger.

It was not Galileo's fault that the earth traveled around the sun, yet he was persecuted as if he purposefully undermined God by looking closely at His works.

It was not Darwin's fault that natural selection explained the biological world so well that it could be strengthened by decades of intense scientific scrutiny across multiple disciplines, yet he is treated as a target by comical agenda-driven bumpkins that want their ill-formed opinions to be worshiped on bended knees.

Religion often intentionally impedes knowledge, as in the case of embryonic stem cell research, but what is an example in the other direction?

At the heart of America is the idea of Freedom, and it is expressed in the Constitution and Bill of Rights as the belief that Man is free when the shackles of authority are removed from his mind and he is guided by Reason and Common Sense.

Senator Franken

If the phrase Senator Franken has as much appeal to you as it does to me, then perhaps you are wondering, as I do, why Barak Obama isn't using his coat tails to help Al Franken.

Should not each day be regarded as an opportunity to remind the state of Minnesota that it has a duty to seat a senator?

A fair election was held and the results were counted, but the wealth and poor grace of Norm Coleman is allowed to obstruct the wishes of a majority of Minnesota voters.

How long must America wait?

Bush on Broadway

Will Ferrell discusses his new one-man Broadway play, in which he parodies George W. Bush as he leaves:

You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush

It runs through March 15th in New York and you can get tickets here:

Your Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush

Starvation diet

Benjamin Franklin, under the nom de plume Richard Saunders, wrote that "He that lives on Hope will die fasting" (Poor Richard's Almanac of 1757).

In order to turn Famine away from his door, perhaps, Chris Hedges has written an article titled "It's not going to be OK" in which Hope is kicked, choked, humiliated, and then stabbed repeatedly. For instance, he writes...

"At no period in American history has our democracy been in such peril or has the possibility of totalitarianism been as real. Our way of life is over. Our profligate consumption is finished. Our children will never have the standard of living we had. And poverty and despair will sweep across the landscape like a plague. This is the bleak future. There is nothing President Obama can do to stop it. It has been decades in the making. It cannot be undone with a trillion or two trillion dollars in bailout money. Our empire is dying. Our economy has collapsed."

Later, Chris interviews Sheldon S. Wolin, who informs us that the political Left in America...

"...has crumbled. It sold out to a bankrupt Democratic Party, abandoned the working class and has no ability to organize. Unions are a spent force. The universities are mills for corporate employees. The press churns out info-entertainment or fatuous pundits. The left, he said, no longer has the capacity to be a counterweight to the corporate state. He said that if an extreme right gains momentum there will probably be very little organized resistance."

Poor Hope! What abuse!

Benjamin Franklin also wrote, "Industry pays debts, while despair increases them", but I find it difficult to be industrious without Hope.

Doesn't everybody?

Honoring Pledges

Barak Obama seems to be quietly and quickly fulfilling his campaign pledges. On the first full day of his new employment he commanded that his generals conduct the "planning necessary to execute a responsible military drawdown” from Iraq.

Source

If, like me, you think that Iraq is a quagmire for our troops and a drain on the treasury, then you are quite pleased to see action in the right direction.

If, like Bush, you think that Iraq will eventually adopt democracy and then serve as a shining beacon of freedom in the Middle East, you are no doubt disappointed, particularly if you also believe Iraq is the "central front in the war on terror".

The thing about being president is, it is more than an intellectual exercise. We shall soon see what future awaits Iraq.

Was Carter wise?

Sometimes you have to wait out wise words to understand that they were wise. Here is former president Jimmy Carter talking about energy:



I imagine we would be in a much better situation today if we had recognized the chains upon us and faced the new dawn. It must be that he was not the leader we needed.

"Can we hear him now?", I wonder.

A New Day

To boding sacred awe night's shadow
Awakes the better self in men.
Now lie aslumber savage urges
With every vehemence of deed;
Now love of man for man resurges,
The love of God is stirred and freed.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -

Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-Dee-Aye!

Mixing George Bush's exit with Barak Obama's entrance is like putting gravy on cranberry sauce. I prefer not to mix my entrances and exits. Today, therefore, I shall think of as George W. Bush's denauguration. I feel like a parade, perhaps with crowds of midgets singing and dancing.

Goodbye George Bush, Goodbye!
We hope you don't expect us to cry.
We might shed a tear
For one we hold dear, but
In your case we'll just say bye bye.

Goodbye George Bush, Goodbye!
We grew weary of all of your lies.
You trembled in fear
For seven and one year, and
We'd rather see your back than your eyes.

How's about?

I thought of another way to manage these bank bail outs and it goes like this.

The federal government offers homeowners a refinance loan at 2% fixed interest. This puts money in the pockets of homeowners, while also capitalizing the banks. It takes a bottom-up approach that bypasses the bottlenecks in the financial system (i.e. Bank of America, AIG, and pals). What it does do is make sure that American Taxpayers get bang for their bailout buck.

Concur not conquer

I recently spent time in Grenada and as far as I could tell from talking to the people I met, they view the Reagan invasion as a salvation. I toured an old airport with rusting relics of the Soviet Empire and saw graffiti celebrating the removal of the K.G.B. (my favorite was "K.G.B. Behave!")

I started to think that it was good to travel abroad as an American citizen and not be identified solely with the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I also started to think that maybe there is opportunity for mutually beneficial trade in the ECU (Eastern Caribbean Union).

In Grenada, for instance, they grow delicious bananas that aren't as big as baseball bats. They have lots of spices, like nutmeg and a particularly excellent Cinnamon. They make rum and have breadfruit and papaya. They have a warm climate and white sand beaches.

Maybe the US should spend more time with nations that want our presence and less with nations that don't going forward?

It's a wonderful bank

Here is a fantastic article on a sector of the banking community that is doing well:

Too Small to Fail


My own experience with a community bank mortgage wasn't so romantic. Before the ink had dried the mortgage was sold to another bank and the first letter I got in my new home informed me I was doing business with a national chain (now partly owned by the benevolent government of Singapore).

I signed up for the George Bailey experience but he sold me out to Mr. Potter.

My "local" bank was eventually bought.

Where's the beef?

As I watch Obama make appointments and make statements a recurring question comes to mind and it is this: "Is he going to represent the people that elected him, or only those that voted against him?"

It's all well and good to pretend that there is such a thing as bipartisanship in Washington D.C., but to act on such belief seems a bit daft to me.

Catching up...

I have been without power for days and so I am currently playing catch-up.

The big news story is that an Iraqi journalist threw two shoes at the president Bush.

My first thought was of Mike Myers in the role of Austin Powers:



The Truth seems no longer stranger than fiction.

On Dreaming...

My dream is to see Barney Frank replace Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House. Nancy lacks pizzaz and therefore makes for a dull majority leader.

Barney, though, turns a phrase like this:

"[Obama's] going to have to be more assertive than he's been. At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time. I'm afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have. He's got to remedy that situation."

Source

I think he's got the wit and flair to make a headline-grabbing majority leader, and when you can grab headlines you can steer the news coverage.

I think he would also bring out the very worst in Republicans for all Americans to see.

More job cuts announced

Santa to cut 12,000 jobs and slash spending

Thu Dec 4, 2008 10:13am EST

Santa Claus said he would eliminate 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of his workforce, a fresh wave of cuts to cope with an economic downturn that has exacerbated a decline in the irrational exuberance of children.

Santa said on Thursday he will cut the jobs over the remainder of 2008 and 2009, and take a charge of about $600 million in this year's fourth quarter for severance.

Santa attributed the job cuts to "economic pressures, a changing business mix and a more streamlined organizational structure."

Santa also plans to cut his 2009 capital spending from this year's levels, though actual spending plans have not yet been finalized. Santa said he would provide details on his capital spending in late January.

The cuts come as the Santa Claus struggles with declining demand, as many children switch their hopes to cheaper, Chinese-made plastic toys, and away from the traditional Elvin-crafted playthings.

The move follows Santa’s April announcement of cutting 4,600 jobs, mostly in management, as well as a three-year plan disclosed at the end of last year to cut 10,000 jobs.

Santa has been trying to maintain childhood irrational exuberance by investing in new, high-speed Internet and video services. But, children have yet to embrace the new wooden snowpod devices or elf-tunes music service. Said Christopher Robbins, a potential customer and Pooh-companion, “I checked out the music service, but who wants to listen to flutes and lutes?”

Nonetheless Santa has promised there will be no interruption of services this year, but if trends continue he may face some belt tightening and leaner days.

Mumbai

Here is a photo collection by the Boston Globe concerning the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai:

Attack in Images

In this Daily Show episode from December 1st, John Oliver analyzes the Bombay attacks with profundity and profanity.

Casting Stones

One thing that bothers me about the Democratically-led Congress post 2006 is the go-along-to-get-along chumminess of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Their underlying assumption, if they are stupid as opposed to complicit, is that making nice with Republicans and with Joe Lieberman is like an investment that pays off down the road in a tit-for-tat warm gesture book-balancing accounting.

Does not the hand that feeds a lion look like a steak when the meat locker is empty?

The president Bush, for all his bungling of the national interests, has time and again received what he wanted without a fight. Yet, I have never witnessed a genuine cooperative gesture in his administration. He is still out there, in fact, bullying from his bully pulpit, a champion moron to the finish line.

I found a voice recently that does a rather good job of expressing my sentiments and her name is Ann Davidow:

She Writes...

I happen to think that ridicule is the most potent defense against a bully with a Messiah complex. I suppose it is because it is hard to be taken seriously when one isn't, and president Bush has been taken far too seriously for far too long.

About face?

By announcing that Robert Gates will keep his job and by allegedly placing Hillary Clinton at Secretary of State and by smooching political favors to Joe Lieberman I'd say Barak Obama has no intention of getting us out of Iraq.

Why would he place sincere neocons and hawks in his own way if he intends to follow through on his campaign promises?

That sucking sound

If George W. Bush were a traitor or a spy you'd have to admire his competence, especially in light of the current financial consequences of republican rule.

Citigroup seems destined to become the latest recipient of treasury secretay Henry Paulson's public-purse pick-pocketing, while Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid attend dutifully.

What we are seeing, in essence, is the robber baron class taking America's electoral hopes (which require public funds) and sending them down the cash-to-crony crapper.

Paul Krugman said this about the Citigroup "plan":

"a lousy deal for the taxpayers, no accountability for management, and just to make things perfect, quite possibly inadequate, so that Citi will be back for more."

Source

Is there a credible reason why Congress can't shut off the money press until Obama and his team are in charge?

Why is the American taxpayer bailing out United Arab Emirates Sovereign Wealth Fund and the Government Investment Corp. of Singapore (who own large stakes in Citibank)?

Shouldn't Nancy Pelosi, who allegedly has some type of Congressional "purse-string" authority, seek to attach strings to purse disbursements?

I think that to fail as much as George W. Bush unintentionally requires an implausible measure of bad fortune, but perhaps I fail to pay proper respect to ignorance.

Looking on the bright side...

One of the inspirations for this blog was the Monty Python skit, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", from the movie Life of Brian. The other major influences were Charlie Chaplin's final speech in the Great Dictator, and the sad life and times of George W. Bush.

There is now a Monty Phython Channel on YouTube and that allows me to provide you with the following inspirational music video:



If you have a favorite Monty Python clip, you can likely find it here.

May you spend the rest of the day whistling.

My Holy Politics

It occurs to me this morning that conservative republicans want to privatize the public interest and take the private interest public. After having that thought it seemed right to state the obvious on a bumper-sticker.

Cough. Cough.

What Alan Greenspan told us then:

"In today's context, where tax reduction appears required in any event over the next several years to assist in forestalling the accumulation of private assets, starting that process sooner rather than later likely would help smooth the transition to longer-term fiscal balance. And should current economic weakness spread beyond what now appears likely, having a tax cut in place may, in fact, do noticeable good."

Testimony of Alan Greenspan
Before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. Senate
January 25, 2001

Aggressive coercion

How did we go from this?:

"Military necessity does not admit of cruelty"
Abraham Lincoln
1863


To this?:

"[Guantanamo Bay detainee] Al-Qahtani was interrogated for and I'm illustrating now, not the exact, something like 48 out of 52 days, often for stretches exceeding 12 to 14 or even 16 hours a day. He was kept in cold rooms such that he was shivering uncontrollably, his heart rate would drop; he was provided fluids intravenously without the opportunity to go to the bathroom. He was sexually humiliated by female US guards and other treatments of this sort."

- US Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora -


Have you reflected on the level of planning that went into Mr. Mora's depiction? It is a strong argument against the "few bad apples" defense.

La-la-la Lieberman

Lily Tomlin once said, and I paraphrase, "No matter how cynical I get, I find I can't keep up."

I am reminded of those time-tested words as I see Democratic legislators ready to give the dishonorable senator from Connecticut, Traitor Joe Lieberman, the cherished gift of chairmanship of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

I was repeatedly told that Barak Obama made the bulk of his money from small on-line contributors, and this was going to allow him to be less beholden to the corporate interests that routinely squelch the will of the majority (particularly the one that elected him). Well, nothing says "business interests first" like letting Holy Joe Lieberman keep his Power in the face of the election of 2008, which repudiated the ideas he championed throatfully.

This shouldn't be a surprise, since democrats usually find a quick way to turn hope into disgust when they win. Nancy Pelosi's Justice-crucifying pronouncements about tables did the trick in 2006. This loathsome Lieberman love-fest now taking place is likewise a let-down.

I grew up in Nixon's shadow and have never learned to trust politicians the way some people do, so I look for sincerity in deeds. It doesn't make any sense to be against "business as usual" and for Joe Lieberman. By your actions do you choose.

Let us give thanks

They say the best way to ridicule a fool is to hand them a microphone. Let's see what happens when we review the recent utterances of Sarah Palin:

"Sitting here in these chairs that I'm going to be proposing but in working with these governors who again on the front lines are forced to and it's our privileged obligation to find solutions to the challenges facing our own states every day being held accountable, not being just one of many just casting votes or voting present every once in a while, we don't get away with that. We have to balance budgets and we're dealing with multibillion dollar budgets and tens of thousands of employees in our organizations.

That executive experience that every governor has and must have being put to good use now as we work together as governors to help reach out to Barack Obama's administration, being able to help him make good decisions based on the solutions that we already seek. For me specifically of course, energy independence that is doable here in this country, we have the domestic solutions because we have the domestic supply."

I find that I am grateful all over again for Obama's victory.

Terrific article

If you want to read a well written article about the Financial mess Wall Street created for itself, you could do worse than to read this article:

The End

It is chock full of straight talk and interesting tidbits like this one:

In Bakersfield, California, a Mexican strawberry picker with an income of $14,000 and no English was lent every penny he needed to buy a house for $720,000.

and this one:

Eisman knew subprime lenders could be scumbags. What he underestimated was the total unabashed complicity of the upper class of American capitalism. For instance, he knew that the big Wall Street investment banks took huge piles of loans that in and of themselves might be rated BBB, threw them into a trust, carved the trust into tranches, and wound up with 60 percent of the new total being rated AAA.

I think it is behavior like this that has led Robert A.G. Monks to believe that credit reporting agencies are a salvation to the market, along with participation by owners (investors). Here is a recent post incorporating a suggestion for the new administration:

Third Way


I think that his suggestions are wise, but suspect they require regulatory muscle to implement. His life might even make my case. He, even paired with a Rockefeller, has had little success modifying the behavior of Exxon/Mobil. There is a thick layer of institutional arrogance that meets investors with stage-managed contempt.

Part of the problem is that shareholders don't want to rock the boat when the bubble is inflating, or even believe the Truth when that involves understanding a threat to their profits, and that makes it hard to organize enough resistance to avoid a catastrophe when it matters.

This is how a wise regulator can have a positive impact on the economy. Suppose the SEC head realized it is systemically risky to allow a CEO to serve as CFO, and then suppose he created and enforced a rule forbidding the practice? Or, alternatively, suppose he simply did his all-out best to use his bully pulpit to warn shareholders of the practice, thereby helping to organize them against such practices?

Wouldn't that safeguard some of Exxon/Mobil's extraordinary gains?

In the second case, the unregulated case, I expect the SEC head would need to be widely respected by investors (because of a successful track-record). Someone like Warren Buffet commands enough respect to be heard when the gravy train is rolling along. In the current crisis someone like Steve Eisman might be a great choice, but I don't know if he has the name recognition for the unregulated sage. Certainly he knows where our regulators are failing (i.e. converting BBB bonds to AAA bonds by spending unwarranted trust).

Many choices in life are false choices, especially those presented as mutually exclusive. I think we need a president that picks good financial people that puts marketplace stability first, working in conjunction with the shareholders and regulators to keep the market fundamentally sound, and by fundamentally sound I mean fundamentally honest.

Even a crook wants an honest man to count his money, and I think that forces which act to keep the market honest are beneficial whether corporate, shareholder, press, or governmental. It might even be better to have a multi-directional assault.

My disclaimer is this, I say this all as a checked-out investor. I don't find accounting exciting and can find little pleasure watching the contents of my egg basket. Perhaps I have some faith in regulation because I have little in myself?

Crazy time in nutsville

Watching conservatives implode is one thing, but watching them endanger the life of president-elect Barak Obama is another.

According to Newsweek:

The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied.

So the narrative is that Sarah Palin attacks Obama's patriotism, then her followers begin to threaten him.

Now we have a Georgia Congressman publicly warning of an Obama dictatorship.

My first reaction is to laugh at crazy time in nutsville, but not without asking, "How much of this is acceptable from legislators?"

Obama hasn't spent one day in office and already he's managed to become a socialist dictator and Hitler imitator?

I wonder if a white man from Georgia says "socialist" when he feels he can't say "nigger"?

To be clear...

To argue that Lieberman should keep his chairs, particularly Homeland Security and Governmental Oversight, is to also argue that a member of the democratic party is unworthy of them.

I cannot think of why democrats wish to punish their own deserving members to placate the back-stabbing, media diva, and unpopular Senator from Connecticut. To keep him is to belittle his incompetence and will only embolden his intransigence.

Whether you are dealing with a wolf in sheep's clothing or a wolf naturally attired matters little at the jaws.


ADDENDUM: I just found out about a fun place on the web called Dickipedia. It is a Wikipedia-like encyclopedia of dicks. They have, of course, an entry for Joe Lieberman.

Sifting the Wreckage

The current economic crisis seems to teach the following:

The only thing worse than financial-market regulations is the absence of financial-market regulations.

When corporations are allowed to get so large that they "can't be allowed to fail", then they might have to be socialized at great public expense. A preventative measure is trust-busting.

When a political ideology like "ownership society" replaces the due diligence of creditors, then bankruptcy and default will be the natural response of debtors. On a small scale this cannot be avoided, but on a large scale it harms Main Street and Wall Street.

Bailout money dispensed without strings or compensation encourages waste. For example, a scant week after pocketing an $85-billion bailout from taxpayers on Sept. 16, AIG employees stayed at a West Coast resort and spent $440,000, including $23,380 at the spa. Most people would not call that belt tightening.

Jumpin' Joe

I hate to fixate on Joe Lieberman because I know that is exactly the type of thing he would enjoy, but while the matter of his committee chairs hangs in the air like a cloud of stink, grievances should be aired.

Joe's position seems this: "Let me keep my chairs, or else I'll not caucus with the democrats".

If that is his position then he offers blackmail and makes an empty threat while exhibiting an ambulance-chasers ethic. So, Lieberman should be left to lie in the bed he made.

Why shouldn't that nice new Senator from Virginia get some of that Power? Let's make Virginia nice and happy, nice and happy...

It is counterproductive to place an unrepentant hawk in a position to obstruct an Iraqi withdrawal with Clinton-like investigations and budget threats.

This is so transparently obvious I will interpret such a development as a signal to corporate elites that Barak is signed, sealed, delivered, and theirs.

I wants my change, me.

Outflanking themselves

Joe Lieberman has been happily screwing democrats for 8 years, did a shitty job investigating the Bush administration (0 Senate-lead investigations), and is very unpopular with democrats nationwide (he grabbed about 1% of the vote in 2004).

So why is Bill Clinton stumping for him?

There are worthier candidates than Joe Lieberman to trust with Power.

Fool me once, right?


ADDENDUM: A spokesman for Bill Clinton sez it ain't so that Bill is stumping for Lieberman. Story here.

The Acceptance Speech

Part One:



Part Two:



Part Three:

Happy Days are Here Again

Last night Barak Obama won and won big. He won Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida. I got to go to be at a reasonable hour knowing even before results came in from California, Oregon, Washingon, or Hawaii that Obama sealed the deal.

The one question remaining is, just how many Senate seats will democrats wind up with?

Down in Georgia the question remains unanswered due to a slow job of counting early ballots. Here is a link with more details:

Details down in Georgia

While 60 seats, as opposed to 59 seats, would be nice I am not going to let a slow tally ruin a perfectly good day. The truth is, that as long as democratic leaders in the Senate are silly enough to let Liebermann hang onto his chairmanships, a veto-proof majority is a small potato point. The lesson of the past eight years is you don't trust the untrustworthy with Power.

I am curious to find out if Al Franken will win his race in Minnesota. I want him to win because, gosh darn it, I like him.

Perhaps Alaskan voters should have themselves examined? To pick Sarah Palin, Ted Stevens (a felon), and Don Young (a Constitution violator) to represent you takes a galling lack of respect for America.

I imagine that black Americans feel even stranger than I felt when the Red Sox won the World Series. When the unbelievable happens you realize nothing has changed but your perception of the world around you.

After barely squeaking into the whitehouse the first word out of George W. Bush's mouth was "mandate". I knew then it would be a long four years.

Colin Powell famously said about Iraq, "If we break it we bought it." Well, the truth is, George W. Bush broke Iraq alright and now he is slinking out of the store and leaving the mess for someone else to pick up. It is what he has done all of his life. The question now is, is he all done "shopping"?

Yes we can.

I agree

I like this piece by Rachel Maddow for pointing out the obvious in Katrina-like fashion. Those long lines of voters in places like Philadelphia in 2004 made me proud to be American, but they are disenfranchising voters in poor communities. She calls them a new form of poll tax, a time tax.




Most Americans are fair-minded and law-abiding and they deserve an election process that respects the inherent nobility of the vote. I certainly think we can do better than a 6 hour wait in Florida after having 4 years of preparation.

No political victory should be worth more than the life's blood of our democracy.

Nil magnum nisi bonum

I think the above saying ought to be president Bush's epitaph. It means, no greatness without goodness. Does anything sum up George W. Bush more succinctly or better than that?

As I think about the way Barak Obama has run his campaign and the way he has carried himself under pressure, I conclude that he will change more than the skin-color of the US president. I think he will restore dignity to the office in a way someone who chose Sarah Palin as their running mate cannot.

I hope today turns out to be an historic election and the closing of an ugly chapter in American history.

R.I.P. Studs Terkell

When someone like Studs Terkel dies I find myself missing him, although we never met. I read one of his recent works, "And They All Sang" not too long ago and really enjoyed it. Here was a man that knew how to listen, how to ask intelligent questions, and how to indulge his curiosity.

I also liked his cantankerous attitude, which was a challenging forthrightness as opposed to a prankster's delight at being a spoiler. Here is a recent interview he did, where the focus was on Barak Obama:

I wish he was more progressive

It struck me recently that just as Studs democratized historical accounts by recording the voices of outsiders, so has blogging to a degree. But, Studs would take all these stories and sew them together into a narrative and maybe that is what blogging could use.

Here is an interview with Studs in 2005 that you might like:

2005 Democracy Now

Palin Refugees?

Will Canada see a wave of American immigrants if the McCain/Palin ticket wins?

Here is a video found at Progressive Alaska, via the Oxdown Gazette that suggests the answer is yes:



Here is a response from the other side of the fence:

Bill sez...

Bill Clinton was down in Florida campaigning for Barak Obama and introduced him with this rousing speech:

Let's get out of the ditch

If you don't have time to watch the speech, Bill's four important points about Barak were these:

1. Barak Obama has the right Philosophy, that America works from the ground up not the top down.
2. Barak Obama has the best policies, and policies matter because they affect peoples' lives.
3. Barak Obama has the ability to make good decisions, as his selection of Joe Biden and calm demeanor during the economic crisis showed.
4. Barak Obama has the ability to execute decisions and make positive changes in people's lives. His job will be Chief Executive and his campaign itself shows organization and execution and bottom-up thinking.

Bill's speech is a reminder of what a competent, articulate, passionate president looks like.

Why I like Biden

In this interview Joe Biden is asked a cascading series of ludicrous questions and he goes for the throat of the arguments and chokes the life out of them.



Questions like this are designed to make the absurd credible, and the best response discredits the question itself. I'd say Joe did a great job doing just that.

Win One For The Gipper

Onion Juice

Jon Stewart is the king of media story-line satire, but the Onion is a brilliant competitor and shines with this clip.


Portrayal Of Obama As Elitist Hailed As Step Forward For African Americans

Sound familiar?

Sound familiar?

Thanks to The Young Turks for calling that one. I like it better without commentary, but here is how they did it:

Sarah shops Saks

Sarah Palin's modus operandi has been to portray herself as a small-town "one-of-us" that wants to represent the "real America" in Washington D.C..

Well, the RNC dealt a discrediting, self-inflicted blow to that myth by tricking hockey ma out with $150,000 dollars worth of New York City fashion.

It seems like only yesterday that a $400 haircut was extravagant to republicans.

In the wake of this, I wonder if anyone has looked to see how much it costs to hunt wolves from helicopters. That might be interesting.

Cuff 'im and stuff 'im

A citizens' arrest is legally binding isn't it?



Nice to see George Mitchell out and about.

Colin's Choice

Colin Powell has decided to endorse Barak Obama and you can watch that endorsement here:



In summary, he thinks Barak Obama would be the type of president we need now, and John McCain would be too polarizing, especially since Sarah Palin represents an even harder track to the right.

Colin feels Barak is steady, made a good V.P. pick, has both style and substance, takes a broader approach that includes small towns and big towns, and shows vigor.

As endorsements go it is reflective and direct, like Powell himself. I don't know how much weight his opinions have with fellow Republicans, but anyone that wants to know his views has them in unambiguous form.

He's got a point...

"Bush is to the left of me now. Comrade Bush announced he will buy shares in private banks."

- Hugo Chavez -

Source: Bush turns left

When Hugo Chavez can fairly mock the president Bush as a socialist, then that ought to be sufficient repudiation of Conservative trickle-down dogma for any man.

Paul's subtle joke?

John McCain appeared on the Letterman show and apologized for snubbing him recently.

John and Dave

I expect that if John McCain had shown America more of this man above, and a lot less Karl Rove, then his campaign would be in far better shape.

I think that John McCain's trouble might be that he is not a convincing liar, but running a fundamentally dishonest campaign (which is about to sink even lower). I can clearly see that John McCain is lying when he tries to spin Sarah Palin's city council work as impressive experience because it shows in his whole body and it shows in his face. Only a man like W. or a woman like Sarah Palin (that is to say ignorant and untroubled by shame) can run a campaign this low without physical regret.

When you have to mention the PTA and snowmobiling in response to a question about your running mate, you should know you chose poorly. And, when Dave asked John if Sarah was his first choice I thought he was going to choke on his beverage.

It was discomforting watching McCain claim Sarah is "an inspiration to us", as if saying it over and over makes it true. She is as divisive as Bush, as dishonest as Bush, and slightly more attractive in lipstick and high heels. She was a poor choice, John knows it, and can't convincingly say otherwise.

Swing low...

It struck me this morning that there must be a roomful of serious-minded people somewhere inside the McCain campaign whose job is to find that game-changing piece of slime, that nasty little cesspool offering, that will make McCain look like an attractive alternative to Barak Obama.

The more Americans reject their methods, the more McCain redoubles their efforts. As their guiding strategy fails them, they seem to repeat their mistakes with increasing vigor.

They said Barak HUSSEIN Obama a million times and got no traction.

They insinuated Barak was a sexual pervert and got no traction.

They called Obama unpatriotic, and more recently a pal of terrorists, and got no traction.

And, make no mistake, they keep at it because McCain keeps them at it.

McCain is a drowning candidate and his advisers keep throwing him anchors.

When does his sense of decency preserve his dignity?

Is this how he wishes to face the curtain?

Cutting to the chase

I had no idea who Rachel Maddow was, had never heard of her, until she became host of a program at MSNBC. People seem to like her and here is perhaps why:



I have noticed that people today say "human trafficking" instead of "slavery". This doesn't mean we live in a world without slavery.

I've had enough of Rovian double-speak, of overly-euphemistic jargon, and of neo-objectiveness in journalism. When a person makes statements that are demonstrably false without retraction upon confrontation, then that person is a liar telling lies.

I like Ms. Maddow for having the resolve to call a lie a lie. Perhaps she is one to watch?

Econological Predictions

Kevin Drum, in this article for the Washington Monthly, takes a look at the likely impacts on the economy if Obama wins and if McCain wins.

It seems to tie in well with yesterday's "Where Rhetoric meets the Road" post analyzing the impact of this election on your taxes.

Your Salary in 2016

Where Rhetoric meets the Road

Do you want to know how the 2008 will affect your taxes?

Follow this link and find out:


Election Taxes

Mine go up under McCain's plan, how about yours?

Can't spin that one

Maybe if you keep turning up the music, nobody will notice the boos?



My favorite was the guy pressing himself against the glass with two thumbs pointing decidedly down.

Just because a crowd assembles does that mean it has to be a breeding ground for campaign stops?

Oh well, at least they held back the octopus'

Words Without Meaning

These stories appeared 10-11-08 on the Google News feed. It is the clearest example I have seen of McCain's complete lack of sincerity.

It is odd that as McCain drops like a stone in the polls he keeps blasting away with the same tired old crap. I'll bet that if McCain ran on his perceived strengths, rather than as a lurching, lying, aged sack of negativity this would be a much closer race.

He seemed perfectly positioned as a straight talking, independent, heroic man of experience. Yet, for whatever reason, he threw that away to run with an idiot in one of the most embarrassing campaigns of my lifetime.

An interesting idea

How should the financial markets be recapitalized?

Here is an idea

Here is what I like about the proposal:

1. Public money is treated with the same terms as private money.

2. The chance of government fraud is reduced greatly, by virtue of the way investment is controlled by the private sector.

3. The chance of corporate fraud is reduced greatly, by virtue of having to attract private money.

4. I think this plan can appeal to conservatives, due to its market-based approach, and to liberals, due to its fiscal responsibility with regard to public money.

Here is what I don't like about the proposal:

Due to a bipartisan aversion to trust-busting, some corporations have been allowed to grow so large that their collapse would inflict a dangerous blow to our financial health. There may be some cases where a business cannot be allowed to fail, and yet is an unattractive investment.

What should be done then?

I say we follow Gordon Brown's lead in those cases and get an equity stake in such companies.

I am not an economist, but there are certain principles I can understand clearly. One is that public money should not be wasted, since it necessitates higher taxes. Another is that corporations are forbidden by law to be anything other than selfish, so let's use their selfishness on our own behalf.

I suppose another idea might be this:

Suppose the US government issued bonds to fund these bailouts, similar to the war bonds which funded WWII? Buying such a bond would be a voluntary act, and Wall Street could have a very small speculator-deterring tax on transactions similar to the UK, to pay for the interest.

Great Music

This great performance serves as a reminder that life holds beautiful moments too:

A Republican Spoiler?

Third-Party Candidate May Steal Support From McCain

Since people are taking Sarah Palin seriously I feel it is my duty to inform you that Mr. Cressbeckler is a fictional candidate.

Philadelphia Boss

I like "America Reclamation Project".

Circling the Drain

When you find yourself shouting murderous threats because Sarah Palin expects a vigorous response to venomous sputtering, you have taken partisanship too far:

Kill him!

To watch John McCain's campaign trolling lynch mobs for votes is to watch political desperation in action.

I think Americans liked McCain when they thought he would practice what he preached, but are rightfully turning away in disgust as they see him campaign.

Deep down

Deep down in the back of my brain, where I keep the old coffee-makers, bean-pots, and instincts that secretly drive my rationalizations, I came across this unexpected election shocker...

Sarah Palin looks exactly like the type of woman that Bill Clinton would hit on.

Tina bo beena, Biden fo fiden

Saturday Night Live has been having fun with politics for a long time. Here they have a little fun with the Biden/Palin debate:

Bertrand Russell's advocacy of a Life of Reason

In his book, "New Hopes For a Changing World", Bertrand Russel wrote about finance:

"One of the most vexing things for the modern he-man is the complexity of our civilization, which makes it impossible to know what will be advantageous unless you are prepared to exert some modicum of intelligence. Intelligence, as every he-man knows, is a contemptible quality. The boys who display much at school are seldom good at games, and can usually be kicked without fear of retaliation, and yet there are many things of obvious importance which only people possessing a certain intelligence can understand. One of these is finance. That is why Anderw Jackson - a typical he-man - could not stand banks. He knew how to kill men in a duel, but he did not know how to get the better of a bank manager. So, in 1920, the he-men took control of American finance, and by 1932 they had brought America and the rest of the world to the brink of ruin. Nevertheless, they continued to resent the policy by which further ruin was averted [The New Deal], because it could only be understood by more intelligence than they could exert. Hatred of intelligence is one of the great dangers of the modern world, because with each new advance in technique intelligence becomes more necessary..."

And he then segued into this political observation:

"...Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature made them."

And offers this advice to correct the problem:

"If teachers and educational authorities had more understanding of the sort of person the modern world needs, they could within a generation produce an outlook that would transform the world. But their ideal of character is an old-fashioned one. They admire most the sort of character which would give a man leadership in a gang of pirates, and if you say that commerce is a different thing from piracy, they think you soft and hope you are mistaken. All this is due to the persistence of old martial ideas that have descended to us from earlier ages. These ideas, I repeat, were appropriate to an age of unavoidable scarcity, but are not applicable to our own times, when whatever scarcity still exists is due to human stupidity and to nothing else. Although this is the case, most of us still prefer passion to intelligence, we like to have our feelings roused, we like to cheer and boo, we like to admire and we like to hate, we like to see things in black and white. Our whole mental apparatus is that which is appropriate to sending us rushing into battle with hoarse war-cries."


From "New Hopes for a Changing World", by Bertrand Russell pp. 158-159, Simon and Schuster 1951.

C'est vrai

If banks are getting so big that their collapse threatens America's financial stability, then maybe it is time to bring back Trust-busting.

As politicians have chipped away at the reforms Teddy Roosevelt introduced, the results have been a resurgence of old problems.

Strong performance

I like this campaign message from Barak Obama:



I thought Obama could have pointed out that a trickle down theory is as elitist in outlook as theories come.

I thought he could have mentioned that trickle-down theories are failing many of the well-to-do too. After all, what good is a capital gains tax-break when there are no capital gains? What good is more money when there are few stable places to make deposits?

Even so, I think he spoke confidently and clearly linked this crisis with strongly-held republican beliefs. Every American voter has seen republicans defending deregulation as if it were a holy duty. Nobody with any sense is going to believe John McCain's deathbed conversion to financial populist. That requires a level of gullibility that is possessed in great but still-insufficient supply.

Sarah tells a joke...

I think Sarah Palin might want to keep her day job rather than trying to moonlight as a comic. In this clip she "tells a joke" about Joe Biden's "experience, not age":



If Mrs. Palin represents "new ideas" and "new energy", then I'd like to see her expend a little of that energy telling us about those new ideas. If it is laughter Sarah wants to generate, then a live press conference ought to provide a hurricane of it.