Sunday, November 30, 2008

Headlines - Sunday

In case you missed Willie Nelson on Colbert's Christmas special:
 
 
And in a related story....
 
2,700 year old pot stash found in Chinese tomb
 
###
 
Granted, holiday weekends are always slow news days, but is it really so bad that you need to create a controversy? The headline: Bidentity Crisis: Where's Joe?

Yes, Vice President-elect Joe Biden is MIA. He's been cut out of the loop, apparently holed up in some undisclosed location, and probably angry that Hillary Clinton might be the next Secretary of State, while Obama, his Chicago crew, and a yet-to-be-named first puppy, grab all of the headlines (except this one).

According to the article, the questions on Biden's role are "swirling," although the only evidence of this is a quote from a David Ignatius column. And when it goes from speculation to actual reporting?

Like their recent predecessors, Obama and Biden have met for weekly one-on-one lunches since the election. Biden has also been at every key transition meeting and has had private discussions with Obama on the phone when the vice president-elect has regularly returned from the transition base in Chicago to his home in Delaware.

"He's been very closely involved in the key decisions," said former U.S. Senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.), who is working with the Obama transition on intelligence. "He and the president-elect have a very good personal chemistry."

Oh. Well, that kind of undermines the entire premise of the story, doesn't it?

###

Accountability when something goes wrong?
 
India's top security official offered his resignation Sunday, a senior aide said, as the government struggled under growing accusations of security failures following the Mumbai attacks that left at least 174 people dead.
 
###
 
Federal food regulators have decided how much melamine can be in baby formula. These people are pigs 
 
 
 
What is it with the Republican party and toxicity? Why are they so drawn to poisons?  
 
###
 
California's Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) confirmed Monday that it will investigate allegations that the LDS Church failed to report money invested to organize phone banks, send out direct mailers, provide transportation to California, mobilize a speakers bureau, send out satellite simulcasts and develop Web sites as well as numerous commercials and video broadcasts. The Mormons are believed to have contributed as much as $22 million to the effort.
 
 
###
 
Get a life, people
 
The First Cookie
 
Want an example of the change Barack Obama is bringing to the country?

Check out cookie sales at Baby Boomers cafe in Des Moines. Ever since word got out of the president-elect and his family's fondness for Baby Boomers' chocolate chunk cookies, the small downtown restaurant can't get them out of the oven fast enough.
chicago tribune
 
###

Neocon Bill "Always Wrong" Kristol, who's been wrong on absolutely everything, who brought us the Iraq war and Sarah Failin, says Preznit Droolers should not only pardon the people that tortured terrorism suspects, he should award them the Medal of Freedom.

Meanwhile, Bill's hopefully-not-for-much-longer employer, the New York Times, warns in an
editorial this morning, "If Bush wants to try to reclaim his reputation, he can start by not abusing the pardon power on his way out the door."

If he does, I hope to God nobody ever has the cojones to mention "Marc Rich" and "pardon" in the same article ever again.

###

Remember those hunger strikes by prisoners in Guantanamo Bay? Some of them are still on it, still being forcibly fed, one of them with a substance to which he is allergic.

 

 

 

 

 

Headlines - Sunday

In case you missed Willie Nelson on Colbert's Christmas special:
 
 
And in a related story....
 
2,700 year old pot stash found in Chinese tomb
 
###
 
Granted, holiday weekends are always slow news days, but is it really so bad that you need to create a controversy? The headline: Bidentity Crisis: Where's Joe?

Yes, Vice President-elect Joe Biden is MIA. He's been cut out of the loop, apparently holed up in some undisclosed location, and probably angry that Hillary Clinton might be the next Secretary of State, while Obama, his Chicago crew, and a yet-to-be-named first puppy, grab all of the headlines (except this one).

According to the article, the questions on Biden's role are "swirling," although the only evidence of this is a quote from a David Ignatius column. And when it goes from speculation to actual reporting?

Like their recent predecessors, Obama and Biden have met for weekly one-on-one lunches since the election. Biden has also been at every key transition meeting and has had private discussions with Obama on the phone when the vice president-elect has regularly returned from the transition base in Chicago to his home in Delaware.

"He's been very closely involved in the key decisions," said former U.S. Senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.), who is working with the Obama transition on intelligence. "He and the president-elect have a very good personal chemistry."

Oh. Well, that kind of undermines the entire premise of the story, doesn't it?

###

Accountability when something goes wrong?
 
India's top security official offered his resignation Sunday, a senior aide said, as the government struggled under growing accusations of security failures following the Mumbai attacks that left at least 174 people dead.
 
###
 
Federal food regulators have decided how much melamine can be in baby formula. These people are pigs 
 
 
 
What is it with the Republican party and toxicity? Why are they so drawn to poisons?  
 
###
 
California's Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) confirmed Monday that it will investigate allegations that the LDS Church failed to report money invested to organize phone banks, send out direct mailers, provide transportation to California, mobilize a speakers bureau, send out satellite simulcasts and develop Web sites as well as numerous commercials and video broadcasts. The Mormons are believed to have contributed as much as $22 million to the effort.
 
 
###
 
Get a life, people
 
The First Cookie
 
Want an example of the change Barack Obama is bringing to the country?

Check out cookie sales at Baby Boomers cafe in Des Moines. Ever since word got out of the president-elect and his family's fondness for Baby Boomers' chocolate chunk cookies, the small downtown restaurant can't get them out of the oven fast enough.
chicago tribune
 
###

Neocon Bill "Always Wrong" Kristol, who's been wrong on absolutely everything, who brought us the Iraq war and Sarah Failin, says Preznit Droolers should not only pardon the people that tortured terrorism suspects, he should award them the Medal of Freedom.

Meanwhile, Bill's hopefully-not-for-much-longer employer, the New York Times, warns in an
editorial this morning, "If Bush wants to try to reclaim his reputation, he can start by not abusing the pardon power on his way out the door."

If he does, I hope to God nobody ever has the cojones to mention "Marc Rich" and "pardon" in the same article ever again.

###

Remember those hunger strikes by prisoners in Guantanamo Bay? Some of them are still on it, still being forcibly fed, one of them with a substance to which he is allergic.

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Headlines - Saturday

The firestorm of opposition, including that of the incoming Obama administration, has caused the BLM to back down in Utah, in part. 

Before anybody gets too excited, the majority of the leases in the auction are on the block. Just 22 of more than 90 leases have been pulled, and 130,000 acres are still at risk.

One leading contender for the Secretary of Interior position in the Obama administration is on the case.

Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., sent a letter to Kempthorne saying, "this ill-advised fire sale of leases, which could irreparably harm the air, water and wildlife of three beloved national parks, should be halted."

Grijalva, chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Interior secretary in the Obama administration.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., also sent a letter Tuesday to Kempthorne to urge Interior to postpone the oil- and gas-lease sale the BLM has scheduled for the Friday before Christmas. Seven other senators signed the letter.

Hopefully Grijalva's initiative and proactive watchdogging on the issue will push his name further up that list of potential contenders for the Interior position.

###

BushCo's last Christmas gift to us: toxic toys 

Here's a fitting parting shot.

Congress in August passed a landmark consumer safety law that raises standards for toys and virtually bans several hormone-like chemicals called phthalates in products for children under 12.

Lawmakers wanted toys with the controversial chemicals to be off the market when the law takes effect Feb. 10, according to a statement from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., co-author of the ban.

Last week, however, a staff attorney at the agency responsible for carrying out the new regulations — the Consumer Product Safety Commission — released a legal opinion stating that stores may continue to sell toys with phthalates, as long as those items were made before Feb. 10. That could allow toys with phthalates to remain on the shelves for years, with no way for parents to know which toys contain the chemicals, Feinstein says.

Merry Christmas everyone! Don't touch that toy!

###

The next crisis cometh

Like the second eruption of a volcano, retail commercial mortgages are the coming second wave of the meltdown, my friends. So say a fond farewell to your favorite malls and hotels this Christmas, as we may have only their empty husks to look at in the near future.

Of course, this is all good news for bankruptcy lawyers, but not many other folks. It means laid off retail workers, more supposedly solid bank assets and collateralized debt securities turning into part of the big shitpile, and an extended real estate slump that could last for a decade or more. It also means more banks and institutional investors are in need of bailout cash. At this point it sort of makes you wonder if the only solution that will be left to us in the end will be the complete (or nearly complete) nationalization of our financial sector. From banks, Wall Street investment firms, Insurance companies and pension funds the rot runs so deep, and the downward spiral appears so unstoppable that I don't know what can be done to salvage the situation absent the Government taking over the mess which our grand free marketeers (from the DLC to the RNC to Greenspan to Paulson) have created. It's a collapse so complete that I'm sure that right wing conspiracy theorists will be imagining secret Jewish Islamic Marxist deep cover terrorist cells embedded within the Federal Reserve System for a good part of the next century as the primary cause for the collapse of global capitalism.

When really, however, it was simply ideological hubris and the stupidity of greedy assholes on Wall Street and K Street to blame. They made their fortunes, enjoyed their high stakes poker games and high class hookers, shot partridge and quail by the bucket load at private resorts while downing pallet loads of $1000 bottles of wine and champagne and eating the most expensive meals expense accounts would allow. And, of course, now that the bill has come due they've left repayment for all their destruction to the rest of us. Greed isn't good, but I guess it can be fun while it lasts.

###

Thanksgiving is the day Americans very briefly pretend to be civilized family people as they gather around a table covered in once-a-year homemade food. The day after Thanksgiving - Black Friday - is when Americans return to their real selves. At 5 a.m. yesterday, outside a Long Island Wal-Mart, a crazed mob busted through the doors and crushed a 34-year-old temporary employee. He died. Four others were injured. Reuters

And this: two people were shot and killed at a Toys R Us store in Palm Desert, California.

There really is a war on Christmas. This is what our country has come to. A bargain price on cheap crap made in china is more important then a life of a fellow human being. Just whose birthday is Christmas supposed to be celebrating anyway? Would he approve?

###

For a Library of Congress project, George and Laura were interviewed by Bush's sister, Doro Bush Koch. His answers scream of a lack of self-awareness that's beyond narcissism. Take a look: 

"I would like to be a person remembered as a person who, first and foremost, did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process. I came to Washington with a set of values, and I'm leaving with the same set of values. And I darn sure wasn't going to sacrifice those values."

"I'd like to be a president known as somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace." r the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

And here's what the Lauratron 3000 had to say about her legacy: http://firedoglake.com/2008/11/28/laura-bushs-legacy/#more-34403

### 

Larry Summers, who Obama has chosen as an economic advisor, has been on a repentance journey of sorts, admitting that vast economic inequalities in a society is bad for the economy.  This NY Times article by David Leonhardt is a good overview, and summarizes the situation as thus:

To undo the rise in income inequality since the late '70s, every household in the top 1 percent of the distribution, which makes $1.7 million on average, would need to write a check for $800,000. This money could then be pooled and used to send out a $10,000 check to every household in the bottom 80 percent of the distribution, those making less than $120,000. Only then would the country be as economically equal as it was three decades ago.

The lack of middle-class income growth during that span is "the defining issue of our time," Mr. Summers has said, in a tacit admission that liberals were ahead of him on this issue. He is likely to be front and center in Mr. Obama's push to reduce taxes on the middle class and create good jobs. Mr. Summers may also push the administration to work with foreign governments to crack down on tax shelters.

###

Rick Wagoner:

Corporate greed didn't take a holiday

1. GM asks FAA to block public from viewing movements of corporate jet:  http://rawstory.com/news/2008/GM_seeks_to_keep_public_from_1128.html

2. AIG is giving away taxpayer money as "retention" pay (i.e., stay with us some more to drain the life out of this company bonuses.)

American International Group Inc., the insurer that said yesterday it scrapped bonuses for top executives after a U.S. bailout, will still pay 130 managers "cash awards" to stay with the firm, including $3 million to retirement services chief Jay Wintrob.

..Wintrob was one of six top-paid aig executives in 2007, with total compensation valued at $7.63 million. He earned a salary of $775,000 and a $1.74 million bonus in addition to stock and options, according to an April regulatory filing.-
bloomberg

Soldiers go without body armor....armed forces families have to rely on food stamps...our nation's bridges and highways are collapsing...and these worthless, spineless pieces o' you know what are taking taxpayer money so they can sit on their overbloated behinds to drive the company even further in the ground....

It's your tax money feeding these pigs.
call your congresscritters. Tell them to turn off the money draining spigot. Now.

###

Senior military leaders took the exceptional step of briefing President Bush this week on a severe and widespread electronic attack on Defense Department computers that may have originated in Russia - an incursion that posed unusual concern among commanders and raised potential implications for national security. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cyberattack28-2008nov28,0,6441140.story

It's interesting that briefing the president about such a cyberattack is regarded as "an exceptional step." It further underscores George W. Bush's growing irrelevance, and the entire episode underscores the fact that this country's Captain Smith has abandoned ship in the first lifeboat with his buddies the Saudi royal family and top corporate executives from the financial industry, leaving the hundreds of millions of passengers on Titanic America to drown on their own.

But the larger picture is just how unprepared the military is to deal with such cyberattacks. Whether the military reflects the Administration's willful ignorance about technology, or if it is a recruiting problem remains to be seen. But after seeing jobs requiring a computer science degree outsourced by the millions to low-wage countries, after watching
law firms teach companies how to post fake ads for jobs for which no one person could possibly be qualified so that they can justify outsourcing, after watching their forebears pushed out of the IT job market starting at age 35, it's easy to understand why computer science undergraduate enrollment has dropped by half since 2000.

Some of this is attributable to the dot-com crash, but that doesn't explain an entire generation of millennials saying "No thanks" to the industry that brought them their laptops and computer games. It's hard to justify spending four years and six figures getting an education for a career in which whatever programming languages you know, they aren't the one the employer wants (and he doesn't realize that you can learn the syntax in a matter of weeks), where you are regarded as replaceable by someone in the Phillippines who can be paid 1/10 of what you're being paid, and where you are pushed out as being too old by the time you're 35.

Perhaps this flight away from computer science will change now that we will have a president whose very election was aided by the geeks who ran his internet operation. But until then, the computing infrastructure is vulnerable, because the so-called leaders who rely on it don't even know how to turn the damn things on.

###

Karl Rove - who should be in prison - is still being paid to write opinion pieces 

"We don't need a change in our health care system":   http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/28/rove-health-insurance/

###

Scientists have identified new rifts on an Antarctic ice shelf that could lead to it breaking away from the Antarctic Peninsula, the European Space Agency said. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/29/antarctic.ice.shelf.collapse/index.html?iref=hpmostpop

And in other environmental news

Amazon deforestation accelerates - h/t Dick http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7756241.stm

###

 

Bob Geiger has the Saturday toons up. 

###

 

Friday, November 28, 2008

Headlines - Friday

Gee, I wonder why people aren't buying things?

NEW YORK — The holiday shopping season begins Friday with a blitz of early morning specials. For some merchants, though, it's practically over already.

Piles of jewelry, clothing and electric drills are bypassing store shelves and heading straight to liquidators by the caseload as stores try to save as much cash as they can.

Major department stores and mall-based chains have cut prices up to 70 percent to move out mounds of excess inventory stuck in the pipeline since the financial crisis hit in September and people snapped their wallets shut.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/27/holiday-season-may-alread_n_146842.html

###

Orwell Lives

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/11/orwell-lives.html

###

Bush will miss being Commander Codpiece

The Hill reports:

In his last Thanksgiving address in the White House, President Bush said Thursday that he will miss being the leader of the U.S. armed forces.

"During this holiday season, we give thanks for those who defend our freedom. America's men and women in uniform deserve our highest respect – and so do the families who love and support them," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "Lately, I have been asked what I will miss about the presidency. And my answer is that I will miss being the Commander-in-Chief of these brave warriors."

No surprise that he won't miss ruining the economy, letting New Orleans drown, or ignoring warnings that al Qaeda was going to attack. 

###

Mitchell Wade thinks he's ratted out enough Republicrooks so as not to serve a day in jail: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2008/11/michell-wade-thinks-hes-ratted-out.html

###

Real Estate Downfall - funny stuff:                       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNmcf4Y3lGM&eurl=http://casadelogo.typepad.com/factesque/ 

###

David Broder feels that it's a really good time to have a super smart president. For years he thought that being smart wasn't very important in a president but now he does because the problems are so severe. He gives no indication that he understands there might be a correlation between having a really stupid president and the problems which we now need a really smart president to fix.

###

The Pope warns that technology such as the internet and mobile phones, could be leading people from salvation. That IPhone may be networking with the Devil by reducing your spiritual advancement regardless of how many time you invoke the almighty in OMG text messages.

Story here.

###

Iranian justice reached a new low this week with a Sharia court ordering that acid be dropped in the eyes of a man who blinded a woman for spurning his marriage proposals. The man only identified as Majid will be blinded under a system of "qisas" or fair retribution in the medieval system.

###

Could you imagine King George the Compassionate Conservative doing this?

###

Mumbai: http://xnerg.blogspot.com/2008/11/mumbai.html

###

Via Corrente:

The ILO (International Labor Office) found that between 1995 and 2007, real wage growth in the United States was essentially 0 percent, and in 2009 wages will "decline by 0.5 percent in industrial countries and grow by no more than 1.1 per cent globally." The Center for American Progress Action Fund has found that weekly wages were actually 0.3 percent lower in June 2008 than they were in March 2001.

This stagnation — which occurred at the same time that CEO pay steadily increased — has led to severe income inequality. The ILO found that the U.S. is one of the countries in which "the gap between top and bottom wages has increased most rapidly." Indeed, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported recently that "in the United States, the richest 10 percent earn an average of US$93,000 — the highest level in the OECD. The poorest 10 percent earn an average of US$5,800 — about 20 percent lower than the OECD average."

###

A recipe too late for Thanksgiving, but Christmas is coming soon:

1 whole Turkey 
1 large lemon, cut into halves
sprig of rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
butter or olive oil, whichever you prefer
Heat oven to 350 degrees
Rub butter or oil over the skin of the Turkey until it is completely coated

Take a knife and gently separate the skin from the breast meat.
Slide lemon halves under the skin with the peel side up. This way the juice from the lemon will coat the breast. Season skin of the Turkey to your preference, and place sprig of rosemary into it. Cover and place in oven for 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

Remove cover and continue to roast until juices run clear, basting every 15-20 minutes. Total roasting time depends on the size of your bird.

If you've followed these steps correctly, your turkey should look like the one in photo below. Bon Appetite
.

###

A new book by Dr. Irene Pepperberg, Alex & Me, "describes her three-decades-long relationship with Alex, the African Gray parrot who was smarter than the average U.S. president" and died at the very young age of 31. Damn. I cried just reading the article.

###

 

 

 

 

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Headlines - Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving!
 
turkey
 
How science super-sized your turkey dinner: http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/turkeytech.html
 
###
 
Blondesense:
 
It's that time of year when many of us find ourselves sitting at a table with wingnut, Faux News watchers, bless their hearts, who are full of "facts" about how the liberals are ruining the country. While it would be wonderful to talk about how amazing it is that we have our first black president, I am quite sure that tomorrow's dinner in NH will focus on how he is the antichrist himself and the most liberal Muslim in the Senate.... ever.

Then we'll probably hear about how the northern autoworkers make $70/hour (they don't) and how good it is that southern autoworkers make a pittance with no health insurance and that's why the relatives only buy foreign cars because it's the American way to exploit those who make slave wages...

I agreed to put up with the catholic, conservative, homophobic, right wing that is my son's father's side of the family for Thanksgiving as long as Christmas is spent with liberal people of my choice who are mostly not my relatives. I did that last year and it worked out fantastically.

My plan of non-attack for tomorrow is to start drinking heavily upon arrival in New Hampshire and sit with the children. I vow to keep my mouth shut for the most part except that I promised myself to interject that "I like Hillary" when her name comes up just to make things interesting.

What kind of thanksgiving do you expect tomorrow? How will you deal with wingnuts?
 
From 23/6:
 
 
President-elect Obama won by 8 million votes.

President Bush is probably
drinking again.

Many media conservatives
are furious with President Bush.

Experts say that Al Qaeda's recent video shows that the
terrorists are afraid of President-elect Obama.

President-elect Obama is
cocky enough to think he can pull this "economic miracle" shit off.

The "socialist" takeover of America's banks
happened on Bush's watch.

The "Democratic" Senate has been working with a one vote majority, and that vote is Joe Lieberman. If they get to the "Magic 60," that sixtieth vote is still
Joe Lieberman.

The majority of rich Americans voted to
have their wealth spread.

President Obama will probably only get to
replace liberal judges on the Supreme Court.

Cheer up, the GOP still owns the "
racist belt!":

 
 
###
 
Trivia for the day - h/t Jeff:
 
FYI, here's some info:
 
National Debt, pre-Bailout   $12,000,000,000,000
Cost of bailout-total    $10,000,000,000,000
2009 and 2010 National Debt    $2,000,000,000,000
Total National Debt 2010    $24,000,000,000,000
 
Number of Americans with jobs : 150,000,000
 
Debt per working American: $80,000
Debt per working couple: $160,000   
 
Current Treasury Interest rate  3%
Each person's annual interest on debt is $5,000 per year.  Put in a principal payment and it's double that.
 
File these figures away so when the Republicons really start playing the blame game, you'll remember where things stood before Obama took office. And remember, there are 55 days left for the numbers to get even worse.
 
###
 
The Onion: Bush pardons Scooter Libby in giant turkey costume:    http://www.theonion.com/content/video/in_thanksgiving_tradition_bush
 
Another one: Californians gather to celebrate annual wildfire tradition: http://www.theonion.com/content/video/californians_gather_to_celebrate
 
###
 
Maybe one of the reasons the Iraqis keep delaying the vote on SOFA is because the Bushies have "withheld the official English translation." This is also helpful in that it keeps the American people unaware of the details. The possible public dispute McClatchy refers to might arise from the intention of the Americans to interpret the words of the SOFA entirely differently than the Iraqis. For example, the Iraqis only think that the US is prohibited from attacking Iran from Iraqi soil.
 
Update: They did approve it afterall: Iraq's parliament approved Thursday a security pact with the United States that lets American troops stay in the country for three more years. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/27/iraqi-parliament-approves_0_n_146850.html
 
### 
 
Afghan president Hamid Karzai wishes he could shoot down US planes bombing villages.
 
Reminder: around 3.5 billion U.S. dollars have been earmarked for reviving the wrecked air force in post-Taliban Afghanistan.
 
###
 
bin Laden's driver heading home.
 
###
 
US troops killed while on humanitarian mission in Iraq: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/11/25/iraq.soldiers/index.html
 
### 
 
Joe Klein at his best: Bush's Last Days.
 
###
 
George Bush: Clueless to the bitter end

George and Laura recently sent Jewish community leaders invitations to a Hanukkah reception at the White House next month. But as the New York Post reports, the invitations "raised more than a few eyebrows" because the image on them was that of a "Clydesdale horse hauling a Christmas fir along the snow-dappled drive to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave."

Laura Bush's spokesperson said that detail had just "slipped through the cracks." So did everything else, like defending the Constitution, governing sensibly, and understanding just what it is that a president is supposed to do.

###

Habeas Schmabeas

Constitutional tomfoolery is afoot. The world is alight with talk of emoluments and essential oils. And Clinton. (Just google "emoluments" and "Clinton" and see.)

In case you didn't know before today, "emolument" is a word powdered wig types used way back when instead of "paycheck." Maybe because back then senators got paid in livestock instead of money.

It seems Obama appointing Clinton Secretary of State would be unconstitutional. Because of emoluments.

The problem is, Article I, Section 6 of the U.S. Constitution says a senator who has voted a pay increase for a job like Secretary of State can't then serve as Secretary of State. I guess to keep them from voting a big fat raise for a job they're eyeing in the future. Kind of presumptuous, if you ask me. Does anyone really think Clinton's (or anyone else who approved the pay increase) grand plan was to vote for the emoluments, then lose the primary, then sneak her way into that (presumably now) high-paying job as Secretary of State? Okay, maybe people do think that.

It's wonderful to know there are those fine, brave folks out there willing to stand up to our incoming president, and they won't let him make mockery of the rule of law in this country. Just imagine what would happen if our president tried to suspend habeas corpus on a whim or something.

###

Mumbai: Steve Benen has the overnight update.

###

The fact that Joe Lieberman supported McCain in the presidential election is well-known. However, the Washington Post reports today that Lieberman was also supporting at least four Republican lawmakers. His Reuniting our Country PAC gave $5,000 to Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) and another $5,000 to Rep. Peter King (R-NY) in October. He wrote an op-ed in the St. Pioneer Press defending Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), and publicly endorsed and contributed to the re-election of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). More recently, Lieberman has said that he fears "America will not survive" if Democrats receive a filibuster-proof majority.

If he keeps this up, he'll soon be the Dems Majority Leader.

###

Fox News has not been allowed to ask a question at any of the four press conferences that Barack Obama has held since winning the election.

### 

This is just scary. Indonesian politicians are moving forward with tagging HIV/AIDS patients with RFID chips.

###
 
During Thanksgiving Week, when absolutely no one is paying any attention at all, Henry "The Money Shovel" Paulson finally noticed who was at the bottom of the pecking order - the ones who could save the economy from sinking out of sight - and decided it might be a good idea to bail them out, too.

The Federal Reserve and the Treasury announced $800 billion in new lending programs on Tuesday, sending a message that they would print as much money as needed to revive the nation's crippled banking system.

So of course he picked a week when visibility was high and everyone would know about it and fears would calm and worried homeowners on the brink of foreclosure would breathe a sigh of relief.

Not.

http://casadelogo.typepad.com/factesque/2008/11/paulson-bails-out-real-peoplein-secret.html#more

###

Morford: Change and gratitude

How the hell can you be thankful in a time of fear and meltdown? http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/11/26/notes112608.DTL

###

Two Cows - h/t Dick: 

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRACY
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, misplaces one, milks the other, and then allows the milk to sour.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.

VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.  The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.
You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release.
The public then buys your bull.
 
ANARCHY
You have two cows.
You turn them loose so they can be free to do as they please. 

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow has dropped dead.

A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You milk them and sell the milk.
You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity. You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none. No one believes you, so they bomb the shit out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows, but at least you now have 'Democracy'....and far fewer people who need milk.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Business seems pretty good.
You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.
 
AN AFGHAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
They are quickly killed in a crossfire.
You must now seek other ways to fertilize your poppy fields.
 
A POLISH CORPORATION
You have 2 cows.
You're not sure why.
 
A REPUBLICAN CATTLE BARON
You have 2000 cows.
Your cows are endlessly producing manure...but very little milk.
 
A DEMOCRATIC DAIRY FARMER
You have two cows.
You register them to vote...in multiple precincts.
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Headlines - Wednesday

 
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Everyone seems to be getting handouts but me.
 
People too rich to get farm subsidies are collecting payments anyway because of the Agriculture Department's lax oversight, government investigators say.

The founder of an insurance company collected more than $300,000 a year in farm subsidies from 2003 through 2006 despite exceeding a $2.5 million income eligibility limit. The part-owner of a professional sports franchise got more than $200,000 a year.

They were among 2,702 rich individuals who collected $49 million in farm subsidies over the four-year period in apparent violation of the income limit, according to the Government Accountability Office, the watchdog arm of Congress.
 
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The Ministry of Truth is busy altering Iraq war history on White House website. 
 
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Conservative Our Country PAC has put out a new TV ad, just in time for Thanksgiving, thanking Governor Sarah Palin for running for vice-president and representing their conservative point of view. Liberal version - which is not suitable for work:  http://www.236.com/video/2008/liberal_ad_thank_you_sarah_pal_10439.php

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A new report by the Commerce Department shows the economy is even worse than they thought!
 
I can't wait for the update the day after Obama is sworn in. It's gonna be a doozy.
 
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"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative  
exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil." Father Jay Scott Newman, a Catholic Priest in Carolina
 Link

I'm getting tired of these dorks who confuse their politics with "God's orders." Besides, the "plausible pro-life alternative" was a war-mongering old fool.

Does God not care about Muslim children having their arms & legs blown off? 
   
"Vote for Palin in 2012!"

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Obama stalker keeps on stalking Link

Excerpt:
You've got to hand it to Philip J. Berg: he doesn't give up easily. You might recall that Philadelphia attorney Berg tried, and failed, to halt the presidential election of Barack Obama on the grounds that he is not a 
native-born citizen. Game over, right? Wrong.

Berg filed a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in late October, asking that the highest court review the decision of the U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania. His writ, he says, requires Obama and the Democratic 
National Council to respond by December 1. Also, he has another arrow in his quiver. He's filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., under the False Claims Act, which is often used in Medicaid fraud. "I am basing this on the fact that as a U.S. senator (Obama) is collecting money illegally because he is not a citizen of this country," he says.
  

Hawaii's Sec of State has certified Obama's birth certificate as real.
How many times does a man have to prove where he was born?

And remember, it was illegal for two Texas oil men to run on the same ticket in 2000. But as always, the Democrats looked the other way when the Bush bastards ran afoul of the Constitution and allowed Cheney to pull that that I'm-really-from-Wyoming horseshit when he clearly lived and worked in Dallas. 

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"I don't want to have to drive one of these little pea-brain cars that Obama thinks everybody ought to be in, nor do I want to drive one of these newfangled electric things. No, not in the land of the free and the home of the brave -- where we have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." - the vulgar Pigboy, willing to let thousands of soldiers die for more SUV's.

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Citibank: Back for Seconds

People can go hungry, die in the streets, have no health care, and be thrown out of their homes by crooked lenders, and the Bush Administration sees no reason to intervene. It is "the Free Market" or "we're too broke" or even, as in one memorable speech everyone would like to forget, "We can't allow the government to insure children because that would endanger the health insurance companies' profits." But when a bank that has been buying acres of suspect mortgage loans and handing out $3000 pre-approved credit lines to dogs and 10-year-old boys finds itself in hot water, suddenly all Mr Bush's vaunted "Free Market/we can't afford it/it's socialism" is history and the Treasury doors are flung open.

Apparently, as a "compassionate conservative" Mr Bush's compassion only becomes energized when the rich start to whine. The rest of us would do him a favor if we would just go someplace invisible and die.

Keep reading:  http://casadelogo.typepad.com/factesque/2008/11/citibank.html#more

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Pardon me?

The presidential pardon has been a controversial matter since day one. Virginian George Mason would've been one of the signatories to the new constitution of the United States of America, but disagreed with basic ideas in the document - including the pardon - and refused to sign. On the power of the pardon, Mason worried that a president who had "secretly instigated to commit crimes" with others might use it to prevent "a discovery of his own guilt."

But it was Alexander Hamilton (my relative!) who prevailed in that debate. "The principal argument for reposing the power of pardoning in the chief magistrate is this: In seasons of insurrection or rebellion, there are often critical moments when a well-timed offer of pardon to the insurgents or rebels may restore the tranquillity of the commonwealth," he wrote in the Federalist Papers. Unfortunately, Hamilton only foresaw the presidency as a position held by "a single man of prudence and good sense."

Which recent resident of the White House doesn't that sound like to you? Mason's argument is starting to look better.

And speaking of pardons, The Decider just demonstrated his love of the environment by pardoning Leslie Owen Collier of Charleston, Mo., who pleaded guilty in 1995 to unlawfully killing three bald eagles in southeast Missouri. And another guy that was illegally dumping hazardous waste. http://jonathanturley.org/2008/11/25/bush-pardons-man-who-killed-three-bald-eagles/#more-5815

Awesome, Chimpy.

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John Cole has a very good point:

Shouldn't they have to give me the 15 bucks back for checking my luggage, since they lost it? And why are they still charging me anyway, now that prices for fuel are back to normal and they are still running smaller jam packed planes with not so much as one empty seat and a skeleton crew of aggravated flight attendants? Bastards.

Crude oil has dropped to a few bucks over $50 a barrel.

The airlines' excuse for charging for checked bags was rising fuel prices. well, the prices ain't rising no more; in fact, they are dropping. and consumers are not so stupid as to not notice.

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Leggy Reactionary Breaks Jaw While Skinning Mink with Her Bare Teeth

The New York Post reports the rather bizarre news that Ann Coulter has had her jaw wired shut: 

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Results from the Republican economic policies continues to arrive and we're a nation of Katrina now. The compassionate conservatism was only compassion for the richest of the rich who still line up for handouts from their old friend Hank Paulson. If you don't happen to be in that elite club, it's nothing other than old fashioned, traditional, brutal conservatism that kicks you when you're down. Which is why food stamps are set to hit a new high: over 30 million.

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The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Mormons around the country are now being forced to deal with the fall-out from their ill-fated decision to become hate's banker.  

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A historical perspective on the mind-blowing use of your and my tax dollars in this bailout.

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OMG, another leak: Barack Obama will keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates in that job - if only temporarily - and he has chosen a retired Marine general to be his national security adviser, officials said Tuesday.

And John Brennan won't be CIA Director of DNI. This is really exceptional news on multiple levels. 

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Doing a Maliki, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called for a timetable to end the occupation of Afghanistan by Western forces or if not, said that the West must accept negotiations with the Taliban to end bloodshed there.

Spencer Ackerman has the essential analysis, as usual. Although he thinks that Karzai is indeed trying to box the US and its allies into accepting a negotiated settlement with the Taliban, Spencer also writes:

My first instinct is that this is a measure to shore up Karzai's waning support among war-weary Pashtuns. But could he really mean there ought to be a set date on ending the Afghanistan war? One thing that's been entirely missing from the policy debate on Afghanistan — in the U.S., in NATO, in Afghanistan — is that no one even pretends to think about how the war is supposed to end. No one knows the endgame, and no one even proposes endgames.

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Iraq delays the vote on a proposed security agreement with the United States AGAIN.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/26/iraqi-parliament-delays-u_n_146600.html

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4,207 soldiers killed in Iraq; 627 in Afghanistan.

Supporting the troops

In a little-noticed regulation change, the Pentagon's definition of combat-related disabilities is narrowed, costing some wounded veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits.
If you are injured because you were blown up by an IED or you were hurt dodging mortar fire, you didn't suffer a "combat related" injury. Basically, you have to be shot in order for it to be "combat related" and they'll probably find a way to weasel out of that.
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Grover ("I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.") Norquist blames the economy on the fact that Democrats took control of Congress in 2006.
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Here's GOP precinct delegate Randy Gray of Midland, Mich. dressed in his KKK robe protesting the election of Barack Obama:
GOP precinct delegate Randy Gray of Midland, Mich. (photo: OurMidland.com)
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Obama is calling on banking executives to forgo their bonuses this year. "I think that if you are already worth tens of millions of dollars, and you are having to lay off workers, the least you can do is say, 'I'm willing to make some sacrifice as well," Obama said in an interview with ABC News that will air this evening.  
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Wow. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Michael Mullen and his wife decided to forego their their holiday reception this year due to "trying financial times."
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An online petition seeking to rally support for a presidential pardon for convicted Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA) has 13 signatures - after three years.

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                         Displaced Congolese Woman Indifferent to Outcome
of Coleman/Franken Recount Process in Minnesota;
Claims She Has Never Heard of Nate Silver