How many Bush administration officials refused to cooperate with Justice Department investigations, as the Bush-Cheney presidency came to a close? If you guessed nine, you win. And what do you win? An American legacy of criminal government that's never punished and gets away with not just murder, but mass murder.
[ TPM Muckraker ]
"The history of liberty is the history of resistance."
Woodrow Wilson
Despite constant denials by the American and Pakistani governments, Google Earth imagery indicates that the US government began launching its unmanned killer drones from inside Pakistan in 2006. Pakistanis might be more than moderately annoyed, you'd think.
[ London Times ]
Jon B. Eisenberg is one of the attorneys in the case of Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation Inc. v. Bush, wherein a Muslim charity was illegally wiretapped by the Bush-Cheney administration, and then accidentally informed of this. The eavesdropping was commonplace -- many millions of Americans were illegally spied upon by the Bush-Cheney administration -- but the Al-Haramain case is unique because they can prove they were spied upon, which gives them legal standing to sue. Under Bush-Cheney, the government did everything it could to quash their lawsuit, and the Obama administration has made the same absurd claims of state secrecy to try to have the case tossed. In this interview, Attorney Eisenberg ponders two possibilities that could explain the Obama administration's embrace of Bush-Cheney era arguments. He maintains that the most likely explanation is that new Attorney General Eric Holder is not yet fully acclimated to his office and the facts of the matter, since most of Holder's highest-ranking staff have not yet been confirmed. But another possibility, deemed less likely by Eisenberg, seems more likely to me, and far more worrisome -- that it's been decided at the top levels of the Obama administration that these matters need to be swept under the carpet, and that an abrupt change of policy would make Obama look soft on terrorism. "The time is getting relatively short for the President and his appointees to the Department of Justice to start doing the right thing in these cases."
[ Peter B. Collins Show (audio file) ]
Rep John Conyers (D-Michigan) is reportedly "in negotiation" with Karl Rove, over the softball rules or "executive immunity" that will cover his expected testimony before Congress. Rove's claim is ballsy but absurd -- nobody has ever been granted "executive immunity" in circumstances like his. One of Rove's high-profile victims was the ex-Governor of Alabama Don Siegelman, who was railroaded into prison by the politicized Department of Justice, and Siegelman wants you to call Conyers' office and express your outrage. Bearing in mind that President Obama has already signaled that he wants compromise, not the truth, and that Conyers' track record is about not making waves, my gut feeling is that calling Conyers' office is a waste of time. Instead we'd suggest, if you have the gumption to make a phone call or two, please call your Congressman or Senator if they're not supporting an investigation into the crimes of the Bush-Cheney administration.
[ Daily Kos ]
Congress shouldn't investigate the myriad crimes of the Bush-Cheney administration, Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) says, because we're in tough economic times.
[ Talking Points Memo ]
Charges against Republican Party operative James Tobin have been dismissed by Judge George Singal (a Clinton appointee). Tobin had been accused of making false statements in the investigation of his involvement in the phone-jamming and vote suppression that helped put John Sununu into the US Senate in 2002. The grounds for dismissal? "Vindictive prosecution". I've never heard of a case dismissed for "vindictive prosecution", have you? Guess it helps that Tobin's attorney fees are paid by the deep pockets of the Republican Party.
[ TPM Muckraker ]
Eggheads at UCLA have analyzed the available geographic data and satellite imagery, and they've suggested that Osama bin Laden might be hiding in one of three specific buildings in northwest Pakistan. Curiously, these buildings are in an area where America's famed attack drones have never struck. Kinda makes you go hmmm, but of course, there are a lot of things about 9/11 that make you go hmmm if you stop and think. Even if you buy the biggest conspiracy theory ever floated -- you know, the one about 19 Arabs with box-cutters who toppled the World Trade Center and left the Pentagon in ruins -- you've got to admit that the story since then, wherein a very tall, world famous man on dialysis eludes capture and instead mails out taunting videotapes, is wearing thin.
[ Eureka Alert ]
A frightful new law in England makes it illegal to take a snapshot of cops or soldiers. I've read the coverage from BBC and Associated Press and for the life of me I can't find any reasonable rationale for the legislation. What's the UK equivalent of un-Constitutional?
[ carlosmiller.com ]
An appeals court has blocked the release of 17 Uighurs (an ethnic group of Chinese Muslims) from Guantanamo into America. To recap, they've been cleared of all charges, they never took up arms against Americans, they've been held in a concentration camp for more than seven years, and the Uighurs in America have said they'll help with their settlement here.
[ Washington Post ]
A 15-year-old girl has successfully ruined her mother's life and quite probably broken up her family, by reporting to the sheriff that her mother smokes marijuana. That's all it takes -- the drug warriors will take it from there.
[ Lincoln Journal-Star, distilled by WhyNotResist? ]
The North Dakota House has passed legislation that reclassifies abortion as murder. The TV station's coverage doesn't offer a clue whether the state's Senate might be receptive to such outrageous legislation, which is, of course, intended to get activist judges on the US Supreme Court to ban abortion nationwide.
[ KXMC-TV ]
The New York Times has noticed that you're really screwed in America if you need emergency care or hospitalization -- or for that matter, a frickin' prescription -- and you're not among the luckily insured. And yeah, as mentioned in the article, a lot of us are researching our own conditions and becoming our own doctors, because medical care is a luxury in America, and a damned expensive luxury at that. Which reminds me, if you're in or near Madison, Wisconsin, and you're a doctor, licensed or unlicensed, or a medical
It made me stop and think
"The talking pinheads of the Right abuse the term 'Liberal' constantly by characterizing Obama has being a radical Liberal. They have skewed the perceived middle point so far to the right, that traditional Conservatives like Barry Goldwater seem to be radical Liberals. President Obama is no Liberal and the sending of additional troops to Afghanistan is the most obvious proof."
[ A Proud Liberal ]
"If the people of any country rely solely on private companies to provide essential information, the lifeblood of democracy, then you're really risking it. I think countries like the US have done that to their peril. Americans, God love them, are one of the most uninformed people on the planet. A lot of it has to do with the failure of their media to keep them informed."
[ Tony Burman ]
student, or a nurse or a nurse's aide or you've read some books about medicine but you couldn't afford college, please drop us a line -- we'll pay for your expertise, just not much.
[ New York Times ]
The headline is just silly ("Will Obama break up Google?") but it's a good sign that Christine Varney, nominated to run the DoJ's anti-trust unit, sees some negatives in Google's enormousness. Our mantra of common sense is that when one company dominates an industry it needs to be broken up, period, else you're walking down the road to multi-billion-dollar bailouts for companies "too big to fail". There are hundreds of American companies that should be broken up, and certainly Google ought to be smashed into at least three entities, with no overlapping ownership.
[ Business Insider ]
General Motors wants another $30-billion from the federal government, and in return GM promises to cut 47,000 jobs. Yes, it's a lose-lose situation, but GM is too big to fail -- everyone says it because it's true -- and $30-billion is petty cash compared to what the government has given to the criminal entities on Wall Street.
[ Associated Press ]
In a break with the Bush-Cheney administration, the Obama administration will now officially oppose discrimination against women.
[ ThinkProgess ]
Rep Darrell Issa (R-California) is quite concerned about the fate of some small number of emails that the Obama administration sent using Gmail, while their whitehouse.gov email accounts were being set up shortly after the inauguration. Not surprisingly, Issa has never given a fraction of a damn about the millions of White House emails destroyed or intentionally lost by the Bush-Cheney administration, as part of its decision to conduct business outside of the White House email system, specifically to avoid leaving any record
Some Republican Governors say that they might reject their states' stimulus billions, on principled grounds. I'll wager a week's wages that this is pure grandstanding -- nobody gets elected Governor by being that stupid, and when the cameras aren't running dang few office-holders, Republicans or Democrats, have any principles anyway.
[ Associated Press ]
Allen Greenspan, the economic Chauncey Gardiner who's largely responsible for the present financial collapse, now says nationalization of failing banks would be a good idea.
[ Financial Times ]
Here's another frightful economic signpost, in the form of a graph showing the increasing cost of a college education in America. We're more and more a nation of janitors and burgermakers, unable to afford the education that could lead to better jobs.
[ InfectiousGreed ]
The high-finance industry has sold and re-sold mortgagees at such a fast and furious rate, simply asking to see your mortgage can significantly slow or even halt foreclosure. We've linked to similar coverage in the past, but it bears repeating.
[ Associated Press ]
The ginormous Swiss bank Union des Banques Suisses (UBS) says it will pay the US $780-million and tell American authorities the names of a few people who have those famous secret Swiss "numbered" bank accounts to evade American taxes. And the US has responded by suing for the information about some 52,000 more account-holders. IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman says that the lawsuit "sends a strong signal to taxpayers hiding their money offshore." I don't really understand how this is internationally actionable. According to the world globe on my desk, Switzerland is still a separate nation, not part of America, so why does Switzerland have to bend its sovereign set of laws to fit American demands? Of course, nobody but the gazillionaires and their bankers want gazillionaires to get away with tax evasion, and I'm rooting for America to win this lawsuit ... but I'm scratching my head.
[ Reuters News Agency ]
Congressman John Cornyn (R-Texas) enjoyed a lovely trip to the Caribbean, paid for by accused swindler Allen Stanford. And I barely give a damn -- I assume that high-level politicians of both parties are constantly taking "gifts" and other less disguised payments from the rich and powerful. That's the way the system works, of course. But we also know that if or when a high-ranking Democrat is found to have taken a kindness or kickback from Stanford or anyone of his ilk, it'll be waved for days on every cable channel as proof that Democrats are corrupt. A Republican's on the receiving end this time, so if progressive bloggers don't tell you you'll never know.
[ TPM Muckraker ]
It's amusing to see that swindler Allen Stanford was swindled by swindler Bernie Madoff. Just remember, Madoff and Stanford are rank amateurs compared to the ongoing swindle of the American people being perp'd by Bank of America and Merrill Lynch and the rest of the money hole called Wall Street.
[ London Times ]
In Venezuela, there was a run on a Stanford-owned bank, Stanford Bank Venezuela. The Chavez government responded by nationalizing the bank immediately, and now says it'll sell it to the highest bidder. "Our authorities guarantee that the Venezuelan financial system is solid and operating normally, so in no way is there any risk that might have an impact on its stability and strength," Finance Minister Rodriguez said. "Depositors can keep their faith in our financial system." That's not what Hank Paulson would've done!
[ Reuters News Agency ]
Here's a poignant personal account of how Detroit's criminal Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick screwed the city out of its zoo in exchange for some kickbacks to his friends.
[ Sweet Juniper! ]
Forty-five years ago, the FBI investigated future movie censor Jack Valenti's sexuality, and found none.
[ Washington Post ]
This article begins, "Catholics are questioning why the church hierarchy is determined to sack rebel parish leader Peter Kennedy, but is slow to act against pedophile priests." That gives you the gist and it's a worthwhile click. Please note, however, that the Catholic Church wasn't "slow to act against
Pope Benedict met with US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi in the Vatican on Wednesday, and he told her that she can't support abortion rights. The report doesn't say that she snickered or guffawed, so it makes no sense to me. On matters of sex, reproduction, and women's rights, I've never understood why anyone takes seriously the leadership of an old man who claims to be celibate.
[ Reuters News Agency ]
Much of the snow-removal work in Montreal has been sublet to contractors, and the city pays for this privatized work not by the hour, but by the volume of snow removed. What could go wrong? The answer seems obvious -- workers paid piece-meal are paying a little less attention to the driving. Three times in February, pedestrians who had the right-of-way have been plowed down and killed.
[ World Socialist Website ]
Criminal forensics is largely unreliable, and since most crime labs are funded and controlled by police departments, they come with a built-in conflict of interest that tends to send innocent people to prison. Wouldn't that make a good episode of CSI?
[ New Scientist ]
As Citigroup director Roberto Hernandez Ramirez leaves the financial giant's board in April, he'll get to keep using a company jet, free of charge.
[ Bloomberg News Service ]
Al Sharpton and (hopefully) others are infuriated by a New York Post political cartoon that seems to portray President Obama as a dead monkey. I've stared at that cartoon for about two minutes, trying to give the artist the benefit of every doubt and trying to understand what's amusing about it, or what political or satirical point it's making... and I came up dry. It seems to be just a dumb, mean, racist drawing, proudly paid for by Rupert Murdoch's New York Post. The Post's response sure doesn't explain anything to me: "The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy." Sorry, I still don't see how a monkey shot through the gut by two white cops "mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy".
[ Associated Press ]
An Iranian woman blinded in an acid attack wants the court to have her attacker blinded. I generally prefer a lighter brand of justice -- a fair trial, followed by a lengthy imprisonment if her alleged attacker is deemed guilty. But there's something to be said for "an eye for an eye". If he's guilty, having the perp blinded wouldn't make my list of Top Ten Thousand Outrages.
[ Cable News Network ]
At President Obama's public appearances, there are lots of American flags. This is apparently red-headline material for the likes of Matt Drudge, the Washington Times, and ABC News' "The Note" blog.
[ Washington Monthly ]
Nova M has filed for bankruptcy liquidation, and as I understand it that's Chapter 7, not Chapter 11, and it means they're gone for good. Mike Malloy's show, formerly a mainstay of Nova M, is jumping to a network called On Second Thought Radio, while Nova M's other big name, Randi Rhodes, hasn't yet landed anywhere. I don't know whether anyone reading this cares much about progressive talk radio, so I won't bore you with my opinions about why progressive talk keeps floundering while conservative talk roars, but I have to say that folks like Malloy and Rhodes have been crucial in keeping me sane for the past eight years.
[ Radio Online ]
The trial of Iraqi shoe-tosser Muntazer al-Zaidi has been adjourned until March 12, but al-Zaidi gave a few minutes of testimony in court on Thursday. He briefly described the torture he's endured since pelting George Bush with his loafers, then said: "After more than a million Iraqis killed, after all the economic and social destruction ... I felt that this person is the killer of the people, the prime murderer. I was enraged and threw my shoes at him." That's so eloquent I'm reluctant to even add a comment beyond, Amen, brother, you're a hero.
[ Reuters News Agency ]
"We're launching ChangeTracker, an experimental new tool that watches pages on whitehouse.gov, recovery.gov and financialstability.gov so you don't have to. When the White House adds or deletes anything -- say a blog post, or executive order -- ChangeTracker will let you know."
[ ProPublica ]
"Is the federal government putting the information you need online? Are there categories of unclassified documents or data that you know exist -- on paper or in government computers and databases -- that would be of value to the public if posted and regularly updated on an agency's Web site? If so, then help Open The Government and the Center for Democracy and Technology identify the 10 Most Wanted Government Documents, Reports or Data Sets that should be available on the Web. Use this site to tell us what data you want and who has it, or add your vote (up to three times) to the suggestions others have made."
[ showusthedata.org ]
The Washington Post editorializes that Senator Roland Burris, the Senator appointed by now-gone Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, should resign amid his ever-changing stories of how he got the job. I'm no fan of Burris, but I also don't recall the Post demanding much worse criminals like Bush, Cheney, and various corporate execs should step down. I guess they're only brave enough to pick on the same metaphorical 98-pound weakling everyone else is ganging up on at the moment. --JR Mooneyham
[ Washington Post ]
Lending Tree won't let you close your account. It's against company policy, so like it or not, your home address, Social Security #, and credit information "will remain on file for auditing purposes".
[ Network World ]
John Krafcik, CEO of Hyundai America, made a speech calling on his industry to develop a conscience. If I was sucker enough to take this kind of pap seriously I'd give Krafcik some kudos, but I'm not much impressed by speeches. Words are easy. It's the doing that's difficult.
[ autoblog.com ]
A lawsuit filed against Google by a Mr and Mrs Boring, complaining that their privacy had been violated by Google's street view feature, has been thrown out of court.
[ IDG News Service ]
A little oops by a power company in Florida sent dozens of homes a surge twice the normal power levels. Sumter Electric says it's investigating, and they've "never had a problem like this before". No word on how many hoops residents will have to jump through to have their appliances replaced.
[ WFTV-TV ]
Please send your news tips, comments, and criticisms to <unknownnews at inbox.com>. If that address ever fails, check our contact page for our alternate email addresses.
#Where's my STFU button? I woke up off kilter today and grumpy, so it is difficult to know how much of today's reality is merely constipation and how much is really what much of the population is feeling outraged about. But ... tonight as Olbermann and Maddow blithely chatter about the GOP's exile from power, I think that people "out there" are fed up with the bailouts and shenanigans -- and Comrade Socialist Barack Obama's political nuts are on the chopping block as the bailouts fail to deliver.
I don't know how much you can appreciate that without knowing what he has to deal with at CNBC. Larry Kudlow and Steve Liesman are the guys that have me reaching for my STFU button (mute), just like when I see Obama on TV these days. Kudlow is the worst, a Bush cheerleader, but Liesman is indescribably useless, a chowderhead, and when Santelli speaks these doofuses constantly interrupt him when they disagree.
People realize now that Washington has squandered many trillions of dollars and the money might just as well have been incinerated, except that soon enough Washington will be saying we can't afford Social Security and Medicare because we're broke. And as Santelli points out, we don't really favor paying some other dude's mortgage for him... (especially those of us who don't even have a house.)
Meanwhile, in California the Dems and the Governator passed a budget which raises the state sales tax by a penny per dollar. That means that many of us will be paying nearly 9% sales tax! That is the most regressive tax in existence as it affects the poor most of all, but also anyone trying to buy stuff for work -- tools, clothes, computers, etc. And so, the Obama regime gave everyone a tax cut and California took it right back the next day!
Olbermann and Maddow continue to believe that the GOP have their heads up their asses by saying NO to everything, but look at it this way: just because the GOP is out of power now and is advocating the opposite of what they enacted when they were in power, that doesn't mean they're wrong. They're right about not squandering trillions more in the bailout ratholes.
Too bad about Obama. He can't fire Geithner after just one month. And Obama has nowhere to go now except the ratholes -- bailout waste, Afghanistan, state secrets and renditions, war with Iran, etc. Obama is now f*cked. A one-term president unless he decides to grant immigration visas to rich Chinese and Indians to come in here and buy up millions of foreclosed houses. There is no way out now for Obama except down the ratholes and hope there is an exit ... but there is nothing in the ratholes but nasty old rats. Game over.
That's my opinion.
Here is a transcript of the original rant and follow-up airtime conversations. Here is an interview with the wretched NRO.
Interview Excerpt:
NRO: What are that small group of critics saying? Where
do they think you went wrong?
Santelli: They thought I was uncharitable, got up on the
wrong side of the bed, had no compassion for people who are
going through rough times, and that isn't at all the issue.
The issue is, you can't pick out 8 or 9 percent and give
them things that weaken the 90 or 92 percent who are carrying
the water. You need to come up with legislation that may help
the people that need it but not hurt the people that ... listen,
my 401k's a 201k, my kid's college tuition is going up 10
percent. This is tough for everybody. Maybe a tax break,
maybe everybody who has a house gets something. They need to
quit picking winners and losers, and they have to quit alienating
the classes. You have to figure out a way to float all boats,
and I think that's where the administration has gone wrong,
and I think that's the nerve I hit.
NRO: You were also skeptical of the original bailout plan,
specifically the way that it seemed to be a "Let's rush through
this and figure out the details later" kind of approach. Do you
think your predictions on that have been borne out by events?
Santelli: I remember this all started roughly in the summer of
'07, and at that point, that Halloween that followed in '07,
I think I said something like, Frankenstein derivatives aren't
going to be resuscitated. These bad positions are going to hang
around until they're taken out. As an ex-trader -- I traded for 20
years -- bad positions don't go away. There's not enough money for
many of these banks to sell them, because of what it does to
their balance sheets. At the end of the day, whether it's housing
or whether it's toxic derivatives, I just don't think you can
spend your way into correcting something that's going to be
painful and make it not painful. So I think I've been kind of
spot-on in many ways as to the spending plans.
At the end of the day, it's simple. A lot of the president's
advisers are saying that there's a multiplier effect to the
government money, and it's over one. Now if that's true, then
the government should spend non-stop for the rest of our lives,
because we'll get a positive return. And it makes no sense.
Billie Cavanaugh
#2/21/2009:
I see that the Google news search you included has really fleshed out since I sent it. Lots of articles and essays, including information about the White House's bitchy response, haha:
Excerpt: White House press secretary Robert Gibbs batted back at CNBC's Rick Santelli's revolution rant yesterday by invoking a Mean Girls-worth amount of passive aggression. Santelli only had this little outburst, Gibbs patiently explained to the network, because he was just not smart enough to know what was going on. "I feel assured that Mr. Santelli doesn't know what he's talking about," he said. "But I also think it's tremendously important that for people who rant on cable television to be responsible and understand what it is they're talking about."
Which is why he'd be happy to help him with some after-school tutoring:
"I would be more than happy to have him come here and read [the mortgage plan]," he continued. "I'd be happy to buy him a cup of coffee. Decaf."
Ha! No, but look, that Santelli guy doesn't have the interests of common Americans at heart. For all we know he's not even American:
"I'm not entirely sure where Mr. Santelli lives or in what house he lives. But the American people are struggling every day to meet their mortgage, stay in their jobs, pay their bills, send their kids to school, hope they don't get sick or somebody they care for gets sick and sends them into bankruptcy."
Here is an interpretation of the gist of Santelli's argument. He is telling the Obama Regime to QUIT PICKING WINNERS AND LOSERS... to float ALL THE BOATS... Today Jim Cramer came up with a plan that fits that criterion and which would help solve the housing problem: offer EVERYONE (who can afford to pay it) a 4% 30 year fixed rate mortgage, not just the deadbeats. And the deadbeats would refinance into this new loan at the currently appraised value of the home -- but they would sign over a Capital Appreciation Certificate to the lender, meaning that if they sold the house at a profit, the first profits would go to pay the Capital Appreciation Certificate.
See, provide a plan for everyone, not just the people who screwed up ... which is the problem with all of their plans, they keep offering huge sums to the people who screwed up... did you get a bailout? I didn't. I just got the t-shirt...
One argument used against Santelli is that the people who bought these over-priced homes were trapped by the biggest housing bubble in history and therefore IT ISN'T THEIR FAULT. But Santelli countered that argument today by mentioning his 401K, which is now a 201K -- his retirement plan value was cut in half by the credit crisis, and if the former argument is valid, it isn't his fault he invested his retirement in stocks instead of cash and the Obama government should bail out his retirement plan too!
I think, though, these arguments are totally lost on the people who are still big fans of Obama. Unfortunately for them it looks like Obama missed his chance to fix the housing/credit crisis. He and Geithner and totally getting ripped today over the bank nationalization question and the Obama/Geithner "missing in action" status (where is their detailed plan????? time's a-wasting and the markets are cratering big time -- gold hit $1000/oz. today as a direct result of people freaking out...)
Amber Perez
I watched Rick Santelli's rant and just thought, dang me, that's crazy-ass good television. Hysteria is not a strong selling point for me, but I do understand his frustration, and you said it ten times better than he did ("float all boats").
But as I see it, any rescue program is a welfare program, and the people who get welfare are (supposed to be) poor people who need the help. And as I read Santelli's (as you put it) "float all boats" argument, it means that he should get all the same rescue terms as broke folks facing foreclosure? That's like giving Donald Trump the same ration of food stamps that poor people get, but food stamps aren't for The Donald, they're for people who can't afford food. I don't doubt that Santelli and Trump are having hard times by the standards they're accustomed to, but tough tootsies. They're still wearing nice suits and appearing on television and any program designed to float their boats too is just going to be so wildly wasteful it'd make wasting a few hundred billion bucks look frugal.
Of course, we agree that it's blithering idiocy for Obama and his laughably incompetent Treasury Secretary to feed billions of dollars to the criminals who've created this mess, and doing so is probably going to irreparably ruin the American economy. But Rick Santelli's boat is still afloat and in no danger of sinking.
Helen & Harry Highwater
#2/21/2009:
We are well and truly down the rabbit hole now; time to brush up on your Jabberwocky lines. Or put on I Am the Eggman...
Obama volunteered to referee a class war, at the same time manage two offshore wars. I admire his enthusiasm, but wonder how long that will last.
We watch the reruns of West Wing at midnight on Bravo Channel; sort of a reverse schadenfreude. For whatever reason, it is still a feel-good hour.
I am reading Nelson Algren's A Walk on the Wild Side. And for the passing strangeness of it all; there is also Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee, with the images of Walker Evans (killer photojournalism that set the standard, In my longtime opinion).
If I get too depressed, I will go back to Studs Terkel's Hard Times, about the same era.
We will likely never have it that good/bad again...
Siskiyousis
#2/22/2009:
The reason Santelli's "rant" was so valuable is that he is highly respected *and* apolitical. He is *really* smart and his daily analyses are really useful. Unlike Steve Liesman and Larry Kudlow, who are like guys trying to predict yesterday's weather. I imagine that what set Santelli off was that he has been having a long running fight against Liesman's stupidity -- really arguing things out live on TV, for weeks now -- and finally he just snapped.
The "left wing" blogosphere is now coming down hard on Santelli. I think they're making a big mistake. They don't seem to know the first thing about him, and their attacks are validating the "right wing" blogosphere which is trying to claim Santelli as one of their own -- but he isn't a political, he is a technician.
Amber Perez
I'm usually ignorant of what the blogosphere is saying, thankfully, and the blogosphere plays no attention to anything we say either. And I'm ignorant of Santelli, too -- we have no cable, so we never know what's happening in that arena unless someone sends us something. He's an expert you respect, and I respect the hell out of you so I want to give him the presumption of respect as well. But... he sounds like a whiner. He doesn't look or sound like someone in desperate straits. He's not going to lose his home if there's no bailout check for him (or if he does he'll just buy a smaller home).
A government-backed rescue is sometimes appropriate, but only for emergencies, and Santelli's financial plight ("my 401k's a 201k, my kid's college tuition is going up 10 percent") isn't an emergency.
An addendum, reflecting later news: Your respect for the fellow notwithstanding, it's apparent to me now that Rick Santelli is utterly bonkers.
Helen & Harry Highwater
#2/25/2009:
He might be a little bit crazy... which is probably a very sane reaction to the circumstances we find ourselves in now.
On the actual topic, renters are really getting hosed now in spite of making the intelligent decision not to buy homes they couldn't afford. Think about that for a minute. We can't hardly even ever itemize deductions on our taxes without mortgage interest -- the America Way is all about subsidized housing for people rich enough to buy homes, so where is the outrage for the really poor people who are being completely ignored in all of this? That is the "lift all boats" concept in action. Instead of helping deadbeat homebuyers, why not give their homes to the homeless and the renters and let the deadbeats rent for a few years? Ha.
I wish I could do something really constructive here... I'm thinking... really... I'm pissed off and I think Santelli is too, we just don't have any way to put the horses back in the barn...
Amber Perez
I have to agree with that, Amber. I wouldn't think it's right to float everyone's boat -- yachts and rubber rafts alike -- at the same rate of assistance. Any aid received ought to be based on something more fair than whether you're in debt over your head. Assistance should be offered to people who need assistance the most, and that's the poor first and foremost, the tight-budget middle-class a lot less, and the executives at Merrill Lynch not at all.
Helen & Harry Highwater
#2/22/2009:
Rick Santelli is out of his mind, and his rant deserves no serious attention. So of course, it was the top story on the NBC Nightly News, because the news goons love this kind of idiotic rabble-rousing. His big complaint is that we shouldn't rescue people behind on their mortgage if they have an extra bathroom? Santelli's rant is Fox News crap and nothing more. He should switch to that channel and they'd probably give him a big raise if he did.
He's just furious because some of the Round II bailout money is actually going to ordinary people -- "losers", he calls them -- instead of just funneling more and more billions into the hollow shells of AIG and the other Wall Street crooks.
Excerpt: A US appeals court reversed a ruling Wednesday that would have transferred 17 Guantanamo Bay detainees, none of whom are labeled enemy combatants, to the United States.
The Statue of Liberty hangs its head in shame.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
The newspaper pundits have been shouting that the big three auto companies should not be bailed out but just plain FAIL. Now as far as I can determine the news conglomerates have become relics and will not be a loss to the country just as much as the auto business. So let's just wave a jolly good-bye to the pundits who know what is best for the country.
Excerpt: Experts say a recent report by the UN nuclear watchdog which states that Iran has slowed down its uranium enrichment program neglects to underscore the fact that Teheran already has enough fissile material to produce an atomic bomb.
So now we're facing the "mushroom cloud" again?
Wig
The US also has enough fissile material to produce an atomic bomb, but instead of just daydreaming about it they've made tens of thousands of these insane weapons, and used a few to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians. The hysterical-about-Iran crowd will get my attention when Iran's done any of the above.
Excerpt: Texas billionaire Allen Stanford and top aides at his investment group failed to respond to recent subpoenas seeking their testimony on what federal investigators now call a "massive" fraud, court papers said on Tuesday.
Why should they show up for a subpoena? Harriet Miers, Karl Rove, and others have been routinely ignoring subpoenas for going on a year or more now, haven't they? And I saw a report saying even Obama himself was helping Rove delay the latest subpoena served him. So why should any other rich crook pay any attention to them? Seriously?
Rich and politically connected Americans need not pay subpoenas any mind. Only the other 99% of us have to quake in our boots over them. Because this is 2009 America: of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.
The rest of us are merely their lowly servants (or victims).
They steal trillions; they get rewarded with billions more.
We steal a loaf of bread because we're hungry; we might get life in prison.
And there's loads of references available to support those statements. With fresh ones minted almost every day.
Did Yahoo accidentally re-run an old Bush-related headline? Only with a typo replacing Bush's name with Obama's? Or did Bush just put on black-face make up and change his name?
Where exactly is the change, now? That we voted for? Was there even an election last year? I could have sworn I voted against Bush and his never-ending militarism. I even thought the election went my way!
Silly me. This is America, after all. The politicians say one thing to get elected, then do another. And somehow, it always turns out THEY ALL DO THE SAME EXACT THINGS, OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN!
It's a boneheaded move, but Obama ran for President promising to escalate the war in Afghanistan, so it's not exactly promising one thing and doing another.
H&HH
#2/21/2009:
I've only ever heard a single lengthy speech by Obama all the way through. It was before he won the nomination. My impression from the speech was that he was considerably more anti-war than Hillary Clinton, and thought the Iraq war a mistake, and the Afghan war was being done wrong: that we should focus on getting bin Laden and then get out of there. He seemed to be saying we'd depend more on intelligence and small surgical commando raids to actually abduct bin Laden, rather than shoot everything in sight like Bush, with whole armies on the ground.
I believe if I had the time to locate a video of this speech and send it to you, you'd get the same impression I did. And then you'd see why it's my distinct impression Obama said one thing and did another, in regards to that particular speech.
Yes, maybe he already flip flopped on those issues in some speech after that one, and so technically I can no longer call him out for that as he did it himself some months back in some way of which I am unaware. But my point still stands. As many Americans are like me, and only get a piece here and there of what politicians promise, and remember it. And when they appear to break that promise, we notice.
This is 2009. Countries like the US, Britain, and France have submarines propelled by nuclear reactors, and carrying nuclear weapons, crewed by men who can't avoid colliding with one another and various surface ships, in the middle of the frigging ocean. And even after they slam into one another, they still can't understand what happened!
Every damn nuclear sub on Earth should be immediately recalled to home port and be disassembled.
Otherwise the crews might mistakenly fire off their nuclear payloads and start WWIII while thinking they've merely taken an especially large dump.
Note the US Air Force is also becoming famous for losing nuclear weapons in their care.
The excellent reasons for all nations to denounce war and demilitarize as much as possible just keep piling up. But the leader of the free world America ignores it all, and keeps ramping up war spending and mounting ever more attacks across the globe. And encouraging various third world dictators (and Israel) to do the same locally.
This is a possible win-win-win innovation. Use solar power to suck up a major greenhouse gas, and turn it into fuel/energy we can use to drive, heat our homes, etc. And it sounds like the more we use this device, the clearer the air will get -- and the better all solar power devices will work ...
I know on the face of it this seems like pure hype and alarmism. BUT ... mounting research indicates our actual DNA can be changed by our lifestyle -- including our diet. Or even by certain ways of thinking(!) And as the universal law of entropy dictates that most changes will inevitably be for the worse, it seems entirely plausible this guy may be onto something. Computer screens not being a suitable replacement for human contact also seems a no-brain-required conclusion.
I am trying to remember if the papers ever depicted GW as a dead chimp -- I know he's been depicted as a chimp, but dead? I can't remember and this crap made me ANGRY. So if I get hauled off for the absolutely nightmarish email I sent them you'll know where I am.
#
Surprising (to me?) is the high quality of economics reporting coming out of the WSWS Website -- that is, the World Socialist Web Site. For example...
Excerpt: After reading this I came up with an idea for China -- though it would work well for any country struggling with the current depressionary environment and struggling to create jobs while reducing use of foreign energy.
Here is the idea: use a small part of the sovereign wealth and currency reserves -- estimated at around $2 trillion and growing -- to buy out, lock-stock-&-barrel certain high tech companies. Then use the intellectual property and know how to start mass producing for internal consumption as if the IP were "open source".
So, say China were to buy out First Solar (FSLR) to obtain its thin film solar technology. The market cap of FSLR is $10 billion, and maybe it would cost $20 billion in a hostile takeover. Then China would create thousands of thin film solar manufacturing plants in China and deliver the solar panels to Chinese users at just over the cost of production. They could continue to sell FSLR products overseas to earn profits but would in effect, subsidize domestic investment in solar panels -- and stimulate research into manufacturing efficiencies.
The gist of this idea is to eliminate the capitalist intellectual property rights by just buying them out while the stock markets are busily crashing. Then open source the IP and start mass producing to benefit their citizens! Right now there are plenty of high-tech things which can improve the quality of life for people in different countries, but the costs are too high because the owners of the patents want to earn high profits that grow every year... buy them out and unleash their inventions.
Billie Cavanaugh
I'm always favorably impressed when I land at the World Socialist Website -- which is peculiar. When I lived in Seattle many years ago, the socialist bookstore was just a few blocks away, and when I wandered in once in a while it always seemed very cultish, stultifying. I'd browse through the books and sometimes chat with the workers and usually I felt stupider when I left than when I walked in. In that regard it was very much the opposite of an ordinary bookstore. I thought I didn't have much pinko potential, but maybe it was just that store's vibe that turned me off.
Certainly wsws.org is always enlightening, and they do good work. Usually when I land there I'm glad I did, and I leave smarter. Why isn't it in my regular surf cycle?, she wondered aloud as she added it.
We believe in liberty and justice for all, so of course, we oppose many US government policies. This doesn't mean we're anti-American, redneck scum, pinko commies, militia members, or terrorist-sympathizers. It means we believe in freedom, as more than merely a cliché.
We believe you have the right to live your own life as you choose, and others have the equal right to live their lives as they choose. It's not complicated.
We believe freedom leads to peace, progress, and prosperity, while its opposite -- oppression -- leads to war, terrorism, poverty, and misery.
We believe it's preposterously stupid to hate people because of their appearance, their race or nationality, their religion or lack of religion, how they have sex with other consenting adults, etc. There are far more apropos reasons to hate most people.
We believe in questioning ourselves, our assumptions, each other -- and we especially believe in questioning authority (the more authority, the more questions). We believe obedience is a fine quality in dogs and young children, but not in adults.
Like America's right-wingers, we believe in
individual responsibility,
hard work to get ahead,
and stern punishment for serious crimes.
We believe big government should not be blindly trusted.
But unlike most right-wing leaders, we mean it.
Like America's left-wingers, we believe in
equal treatment under law,
war as a last (not first) resort,
and sensible stewardship of natural resources.
We believe big business should not be blindly trusted.
But unlike most left-wing leaders, we mean it.
Like libertarians, we believe it's wrong and reprehensible to arrest people for what they think, believe, look like, wear, eat, smoke, drink, inhale, inject, or otherwise do to themselves.
But unlike many libertarians, we're not obsessed with the gold standard, we don't believe incorporation is humanity's highest achievement, and we don't believe everything in life comes down to dollars and cents. We've read and enjoyed Ayn Rand's novels, but we understand that they're works of fiction.
We're skeptical, and we're sick of so-called 'journalists' who aren't skeptical at all.
A reader asks, what are our solutions?
We propose no solutions except common sense, which is never common. We like the principles of democracy, and the ideals broadly described as 'American'. The US Constitution is a fine and workable framework for solutions, when it's actually read and thoughtfully understood by intelligent statesmen and women. So, no manifestos from us. We don't dream that big, and if there's one thing the world doesn't need it's yet another manifesto.
Our suggestion is: think.
A fact-based instead of faith-based approach leads to solutions for most of the recurring issues of our time, from abortion to global climate change, pollution to universal health care, careful but real regulation of industry and economy, hunger, war, terror, human rights for humans not for corporations, science not religious doctrine in public schools, equal protection and prosecution under law, etc. Approach problems without glorifying stupidity, without demonizing intelligence, and answers usually come into focus.
These pages are published by Harry and Helen Highwater, happily married low-income nom de plumes and rabble-rousers from Madison, Wisconsin (with a few friends scattered around the world helping out).
We try to spotlight news that hasn't gotten enough (or appropriate) attention in American media, along with our opinions and yours.
We bang our keyboards against the wall, because it doesn't hurt as much as banging our heads.
Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine. The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution expressed a desire in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several states as Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures to be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution. viz: Articles in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress and Ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
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"A mind-blowing mix of fact and fantasy, hard science and well-grounded speculation, with
concrete how-to info to top it all off -- resulting in some of the best and strangest stuff
on Earth..."
Of course not. Nobody will know the answers until there's an open and honest investigation.
But anyone courageous enough to think can see that the pertinent questions for any serious "investigation" were never asked, let alone answered, by the official investigators.
