Saturday, January 19, 2008
What about John Edwards?
This is a hoot! I got it from Edwards08. Take note of who's doing the "live reaction". Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!
The Nation Trembles
Do yourself a favor and go read Mark Morford:
Just go...
Who's more terrifying to red states, smart Hillary or savvy Barack?
It's a stunning thing to watch. Right now, the various spurts of venom aimed at Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama from conservative pundits and politicos are, at best, scattershot and convulsive, with only MSNBC's Chris Matthews proving himself to be a consistent blowhard jackass in his relentless slamming of Hillary by claiming that she only made it this far due to adultery-survivor sympathy. Hey, Chris? 2001 called. It wants its puerile, sexist analysis back. Thank you.
Just go...
Nationalists Stirring in Iraq
The Nation
My highlighted phrase is why Bush will vehemently oppose these Iraqis from charting their own destiny.
I hope Maliki falls or is co-opted before then. Bush too, but that's even less likely.
I think that's the understatement of the year, but they'll never know if they don't try. Bush's imperialistic delusions have failed miserably, and the U.S. should get out of their way and let the Iraqis give it their best shot. It's their country, after all, and one way or another their destiny is ultimately up to them. The sooner the better.
The problem with all this, of course, is that Bush will not leave Iraq without what he went there for. OIL. This is liable to get a lot uglier than it is now.
On January 13 an emerging Sunni-Shiite nationalist bloc in Iraq signed a groundbreaking agreement aimed at ending Iraq's civil war, blocking the privatization of Iraq's oil industry and checkmating the breakaway Kurdish state. It's a big step forward, and it could change the face of Iraqi politics in 2008.
My highlighted phrase is why Bush will vehemently oppose these Iraqis from charting their own destiny.
So far, the United States has continued to prop up Maliki's shaky regime, despite its growing unpopularity. US officials fear that if Maliki were to fall, the results would be unpredictable--especially in an election year. Besides, the nationalists would be far less likely than Maliki to sign the proposed long-term extension of the American presence in Iraq that Maliki and President Bush intend to ink by July.
I hope Maliki falls or is co-opted before then. Bush too, but that's even less likely.
[...] Even without US interference, it might still take a miracle for a stable Iraqi coalition to take root.
I think that's the understatement of the year, but they'll never know if they don't try. Bush's imperialistic delusions have failed miserably, and the U.S. should get out of their way and let the Iraqis give it their best shot. It's their country, after all, and one way or another their destiny is ultimately up to them. The sooner the better.
The problem with all this, of course, is that Bush will not leave Iraq without what he went there for. OIL. This is liable to get a lot uglier than it is now.
"The answer, my friend..."*
Reuters
Look for wind power to grow exponentially in '08. It's an election year, and what with the candidates and the pundits getting up to speed, hang onto something. I suggest a pair of these as well.
*Apologies to Bobby-poo Dylly-doo, as Mrs. G calls him.
U.S. wind power grew 45 percent in 2007
Look for wind power to grow exponentially in '08. It's an election year, and what with the candidates and the pundits getting up to speed, hang onto something. I suggest a pair of these as well.
*Apologies to Bobby-poo Dylly-doo, as Mrs. G calls him.
"...the next year or two could be quite unpleasant"
Paul krugman on the economic recession we're being treated to by our financial whizzes and their Repug lapdogs. A 'must read'.
Oh swell...I get a visual of Laura as Evita...
When they get all done 'talking about' it and actually figure out how to fix unbridled greed, stupidity, and Repuglicant enablers, let me know.
Mexico. Brazil. Argentina. Mexico, again. Thailand. Indonesia. Argentina, again.
And now, the United States.
The story has played itself out time and time again over the past 30 years. Global investors, disappointed with the returns they're getting, search for alternatives. They think they've found what they're looking for in some country or other, and money rushes in.
But eventually it becomes clear that the investment opportunity wasn't all it seemed to be, and the money rushes out again, with nasty consequences for the former financial favorite. That's the story of multiple financial crises in Latin America and Asia. And it's also the story of the U.S. combined housing and credit bubble. These days, we're playing the role usually assigned to third-world economies.
Oh swell...I get a visual of Laura as Evita...
The result, said Mr. Bernanke, was a "global saving glut": lots of money, all dressed up with nowhere to go.
In the end, most of that money went to the United States. Why? Because, said Mr. Bernanke, of the "depth and sophistication of the country's financial markets."
All of this was right, except for one thing: U.S. financial markets, it turns out, were characterized less by sophistication than by sophistry, which my dictionary defines as "a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone." E.g., "Repackaging dubious loans into collateralized debt obligations creates a lot of perfectly safe, AAA assets that will never go bad."
In other words, the United States was not, in fact, uniquely well-suited to make use of the world's surplus funds. It was, instead, a place where large sums could be and were invested very badly. Directly or indirectly, capital flowing into America from global investors ended up financing a housing-and-credit bubble that has now burst, with painful consequences.
The real sin, both of the Fed and of the Bush administration, was the failure to exercise adult supervision over markets running wild.
It wasn't just Alan Greenspan's unwillingness to admit that there was anything more than a bit of "froth" in housing markets, or his refusal to do anything about subprime abuses. The fact is that as America's financial system has grown ever more complex, it has also outgrown the framework of banking regulations that used to protect us — yet instead of an attempt to update that framework, all we got were paeans to the wonders of free markets.
Right now, Mr. Bernanke is in crisis-management mode, trying to deal with the mess his predecessor left behind. I don't have any problems with his testimony yesterday, although I suspect that it's already too late to prevent a recession.
But let's hope that when the dust settles a bit, Mr. Bernanke takes the lead in talking about what needs to be done to fix a financial system gone very, very wrong.
When they get all done 'talking about' it and actually figure out how to fix unbridled greed, stupidity, and Repuglicant enablers, let me know.
Saturday whorage
Another chapter of Thirty Days at Zeta is up at The Practical Press.
Leave your own links in comments.
Leave your own links in comments.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Pauly's had it ...
And I don't think I can blame him. It looks like our dear friend, Jim Yeager (a.k.a Mimus Pauly) has decided to pack it in after close to four years (He opened up the Medley about the same time we did here). I hope it's not the case but we wish him all the best in whatever he decides to do. Good luck, pal.
The Hucktard and 'Christian Dominionism'
Go read Joe Conason on Huckabee:
'Godly men', huh? Sounds more like 'men who think they're God'. And want to make damn sure you think they are as well.
No fuckin' way.
A straight answer from a Repug politician? Be easier to get a transfusion from a turnip.
Behind the happy, healthy, guitar-strumming campaign style that has so besotted the national press corps, Mike Huckabee looks like something considerably less charming -- a zealous proponent of the "biblical" reformation of every aspect of American society.
He later denied that he meant to suggest that God wants him in the White House. But his deliberate reference this week to conforming the law to "God's standards" sounds uncomfortably like the ideology sometimes known as "Christian dominionism" or "Christian reconstructionism," which declares that America, indeed every nation on earth, is meant to be governed by biblical law.
The looniest dominionists publicly insist that a pious government would inflict Old Testament punishments, including death, on blasphemers, pornographers, homosexuals, adulterers and even disobedient children. They constantly talk about their duty to institute biblical rule in the United States.
As a Southern Baptist preacher, does Huckabee accept that bizarre interpretation of Christian ethics? The answer is that he probably doesn't (or is too shrewd to say so if he does). But the clues to Huckabee's affinity for religious extremism have been lying in plain sight for a long time.
When columnist Robert Novak mentioned the event, he described Hotze as a leader of the "highly conservative Christian reconstructionist movement," a description that aptly encapsulates the ignorance of many mainstream journalists (and the aversion to unpleasant realities of many right-wing journalists). There is, of course, nothing "conservative" about reconstructionism, which demands a radical repression of liberty and the imposition of biblical law by "godly men."
'Godly men', huh? Sounds more like 'men who think they're God'. And want to make damn sure you think they are as well.
No fuckin' way.
Does Huckabee still believe that his narrow version of Christianity must dominate every detail of human existence in this country? He doesn't like to answer hard questions about the intersection of his faith and his politics, but it is long past time that somebody demanded a straight answer.
A straight answer from a Repug politician? Be easier to get a transfusion from a turnip.
Vegas Strippers Seek Right to Caucus at Their Workplace
Click to whatever
"After all, we get a lotta pole-sters in here, and caucus dances will only run you 20 bucks a pop."
...
"Now that's a caucus I can really support!" - Bill Clinton
Thanks, Don
Waffle-stompin' Hil
Yahoo!News
You can go read it if you want, but I just wanted to make this point:
I never heard of a guy steppin' on his wife's weenie before, but the Big Dog's doin' a good job of it! Always breakin' new ground, that guy!
I got a sneakin' hunch that Hil might send Bill someplace different to campaign for her. Like Africa.
Intentionally or not, Hillary Clinton's campaign has found its most aggressive attack dog. His name is Bill.
You can go read it if you want, but I just wanted to make this point:
I never heard of a guy steppin' on his wife's weenie before, but the Big Dog's doin' a good job of it! Always breakin' new ground, that guy!
I got a sneakin' hunch that Hil might send Bill someplace different to campaign for her. Like Africa.
Adios, scumbag
Star-Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul)
Good. The main reason I even brought this up is because I had to do a google to find out the sleazeball's a Repuglican, you know, the party of christian, moral, and family values. For some reason, the newspaper didn't print his party affiliation even though inquiring minds want to know. Maybe they just assumed we'd know. Child molestation's kinda a Repug thing, after all.
PIERRE, S.D. -- Former state Rep. Ted Klaudt has been sentenced to 44 years in prison for raping two foster daughters by touching their breasts and genitals in phony examinations he said would help them sell their reproductive eggs.
Good. The main reason I even brought this up is because I had to do a google to find out the sleazeball's a Repuglican, you know, the party of christian, moral, and family values. For some reason, the newspaper didn't print his party affiliation even though inquiring minds want to know. Maybe they just assumed we'd know. Child molestation's kinda a Repug thing, after all.
Yuck-a! Yuck-a! Yuck-a!
Cleveland Leader
It's probably not the only reason, but it's certainly something to consider.
This is only a matter of local interest in southern Nevada until you understand this nuclear waste shit is a) coming to a town near you, and b) going to be stored right near an increasingly large city on the edge of an earthquake-prone, volcano-heavy tectonic plate. Not to mention its proximity to Area 51 where space aliens could get aholt of it!
The only upside that I can see will be self-lighting hookers. Whee! They'll barely have to change the sign - to Lampshady Lady!
There's not much we can do about a), but I think it would be wiser to move the proposed site north and east, farther from the city and the seismically and vulcanologeously active zone. There's places out there where the birds fly upside-down because there's nothin' worth shittin' on.
Was Yucca Mountain the Real Reason Kucinich Was Silenced by GE?
So why does this matter? Congressman Dennis Kucinich is the only Presidential contender to have voted against using the proposed site and General Electric, which owns NBC and MSNBC who ran the debate yesterday, didn't want his take on the whole mess that the United States Government is brewing.
So, was Kucinich not allowed to debate because he was a "fringe candidate" or was GE just afraid that he would dare speak the truth that will bring in major amounts of money for the corporation and, at the same time, risk the health of millions in the biggest growing metro area in the United States for years to come when the facility starts storing nuclear waste?
It's probably not the only reason, but it's certainly something to consider.
Click to make pic radiate outwards
This is only a matter of local interest in southern Nevada until you understand this nuclear waste shit is a) coming to a town near you, and b) going to be stored right near an increasingly large city on the edge of an earthquake-prone, volcano-heavy tectonic plate. Not to mention its proximity to Area 51 where space aliens could get aholt of it!
The only upside that I can see will be self-lighting hookers. Whee! They'll barely have to change the sign - to Lampshady Lady!
There's not much we can do about a), but I think it would be wiser to move the proposed site north and east, farther from the city and the seismically and vulcanologeously active zone. There's places out there where the birds fly upside-down because there's nothin' worth shittin' on.
He's a WAR CRIMINAL dammit!
After Downing Street has a really good summation of Bush&Cheney's High Crimes and Misdemeanors in the wake of McGovern calling for his Impeachment.
It would help if we take that oily crew of sycophant corrupt brown-nosed so-called lawyers at the White House out and hang 'em before we start.
Many others as well.
And every bit as important, maybe more so, a vice-president too.
It is so blatantly obvious that these criminals should be in jail, or under it, that I think Congress has abrogated its duties, as legislators and citizens both, by not locking them up.
Are there grounds for impeachment under existing laws and treaties? Here is what Senator McGovern says about that: “Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly 'high crimes and misdemeanors,' to use the constitutional standard.”
Senator McGovern is correct. It would take a legion of international lawyers particularly adept in the art of twisting plain English to conclude otherwise.
It would help if we take that oily crew of sycophant corrupt brown-nosed so-called lawyers at the White House out and hang 'em before we start.
Thus, under the UN Charter, the United States is legally bound to respect the rules of war and peace that all states who are signatories to the treaty accept. These rules are unambiguous on these points: 1)aggression is always wrong; 2)aggression is a crime against international peace; 3)aggression gives rise to international responsibility; 4)nothing – political, economic, military or otherwise – can be a justification for aggression; 5) territorial acquisition or special advantage resulting from aggression is always unlawful
Of course, many Americans reject the authority of the United Nations despite the fact that the United States a) signed the treaty on June 26, 1945 and later ratified it; b) it has been in force since October 24, 1945, and the United States has never abrogated the treaty or withdrawn from the organization, which is headquartered in New York City. Still, die-hards will say (wrongly) that we cannot impeach a president on the basis of a treaty.
Question: Can President Bush be impeached under existing U.S. laws?
Answer: Yes. Under the War Crimes Act of 1996, US Code, Title 18, paragraph 2441, for one:
Many others as well.
The body of laws that define a war crime are the Geneva Conventions, a broader and older area of laws referred to as the Laws and Customs of War, and, in the case of the former Yugoslavia, the statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague (ICTY). Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention defines war crimes as: "Wil[l]ful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including... wil[l]fully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power, or wil[l]fully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial, ...taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly." This, international lawyers say, is the basic definition of war crimes.
In sum, Senator McGovern's call for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney is entirely consistent with the United States Constitution, and with the treaties and law currently in force. Liberal democracies are measured above all by respect for constitutional norms and the rule of law. Laws are either enforced or they are mocked. To make a mockery of the U.S. Constitution and the laws of the land is to jeopardize everything generations of Americans built – and fought and died for. There is no greater threat to our “homeland security” than a president who does not respect the Constitution he swore to uphold.
And every bit as important, maybe more so, a vice-president too.
It is so blatantly obvious that these criminals should be in jail, or under it, that I think Congress has abrogated its duties, as legislators and citizens both, by not locking them up.
Can't Buy Me Love*
While I was over at Atrios tryin' to figure out what "Big Shitpile" in Fixer's post refers to, I ran across this:
Why $800? Is that the $300 from last time adjusted for inflation?
I believe the part about the Dems, frightened, cavin' in too.
Note to the Chimp: You can't buy my love with money**, asshole. There are some things even an ol' whore like me won't do. The exception would be if you give me back my portion of the $Trillion you've wasted on your criminal war, bring back the million or so dead, and reset the time to early November 2000, leave everybody's memory intact, and give everybody a do-over so they won't 'elect' your sorry ass in the first place and thus avoid all the ruinous shit you've pulled.
I still won't love you, or even like you, but I'll at least think maybe you're almost human. You can't do this thing, but yer buddy God can. Talk to Him. That Fucker owes us one if He told you to do the things you've done like you said He did.
*Apologies to Lennon and McCartney
**Apologies to Linda and Dusty too. I'm on a roll...
Call me cynical, but I'll be very surprised if the White House doesn't spend a few days telling the country everyone's gonna get an $800 check and then demand some bullshit in the bill which the Dems, frightened, will cave on...
Why $800? Is that the $300 from last time adjusted for inflation?
I believe the part about the Dems, frightened, cavin' in too.
Note to the Chimp: You can't buy my love with money**, asshole. There are some things even an ol' whore like me won't do. The exception would be if you give me back my portion of the $Trillion you've wasted on your criminal war, bring back the million or so dead, and reset the time to early November 2000, leave everybody's memory intact, and give everybody a do-over so they won't 'elect' your sorry ass in the first place and thus avoid all the ruinous shit you've pulled.
I still won't love you, or even like you, but I'll at least think maybe you're almost human. You can't do this thing, but yer buddy God can. Talk to Him. That Fucker owes us one if He told you to do the things you've done like you said He did.
*Apologies to Lennon and McCartney
**Apologies to Linda and Dusty too. I'm on a roll...
Quote of the Day - Zwei
D at LGM:
...
That's right. Jonah Goldberg is so goddamned dumb that he makes Michael "Throw a Country Against a Wall for Democracy's Sake" Ledeen seem like a reasonably bright person.
Head in the sand ...
An addendum to Gord's post below, C & L has this bit from the Today show. Matt Lauer interviewed Jim Cramer (the investment nut) and basically asked him why he didn't lie about the strength of the economy to his viewers:
We watch ABC News in the mornings from 4-5. Every day they have a 'business report' featuring some talking head from BusinessWeek or one of the big investment houses. Not a one of them over the past year (as all the writing was appearing on the wall saying a recession was imminent) voiced any worry about the subprime mess and the ramifications of it on broader markets, many actively cheering the real estate market as the enormity of the ARM readjustment fiasco was becoming apparent.
Big Shitpile (© Atrios) is the 800lb. gorilla in the room that everybody wanted to ignore. Many are still trying, but when you understand what's all involved, it's impossible to deny.
This 'economic stimulus package', once the lobbyists get done twisting arms, won't save us either (Remember the $300 you got in 2001-2? Remember what you did with it? Yeah, me neither). At this point, after years of denial, the only way to get it over with is to take our poison and hope we live through it.
...
In other words, STFU! Yea Matt, forget about the truth. Hell, it worked so well in the run up to the war in Iraq, didn’t it? Logic in Lying—stick your head in the sand. I hate to break it to Matt, but these NAFTA lovers lie on teevee day in and day out about the economy ...
We watch ABC News in the mornings from 4-5. Every day they have a 'business report' featuring some talking head from BusinessWeek or one of the big investment houses. Not a one of them over the past year (as all the writing was appearing on the wall saying a recession was imminent) voiced any worry about the subprime mess and the ramifications of it on broader markets, many actively cheering the real estate market as the enormity of the ARM readjustment fiasco was becoming apparent.
Big Shitpile (© Atrios) is the 800lb. gorilla in the room that everybody wanted to ignore. Many are still trying, but when you understand what's all involved, it's impossible to deny.
This 'economic stimulus package', once the lobbyists get done twisting arms, won't save us either (Remember the $300 you got in 2001-2? Remember what you did with it? Yeah, me neither). At this point, after years of denial, the only way to get it over with is to take our poison and hope we live through it.
Quote of the Day
Jon Carroll on the economy, among other things:
Yeah, who ya gonna believe - me, or yer lyin' eyes?
It's like when the Bush administration issues news releases saying how the economy is really doing a lot better than people think it is. "Whom are you going to believe, your president or the guy foreclosing on your house?"
Yeah, who ya gonna believe - me, or yer lyin' eyes?
Thursday, January 17, 2008
We're makin' progress ...
Turning Iraq into Afghanistan, which is also a dismal failure:
Spreadin' our freedom and democracy far and wide, about 3 feet deep.
The cultivation of opium poppies whose product is turned into heroin is spreading rapidly across Iraq as farmers find they can no longer make a living through growing traditional crops.
Afghan with experience in planting poppies have been helping farmers switch to producing opium in fertile parts of Diyala province, once famous for its oranges and pomegranates, north- east of Baghdad.
...
Spreadin' our freedom and democracy far and wide, about 3 feet deep.
Great thanks to Maru for the link.
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