Eis und Nebel

When fog meets freeze in the mountains, you get beauty. Figured I'd share some of it with you.

Blindly Into the Bubble

One little post before I head for the coast. Gee, if I replaced the 't's with apostrophes (did it again!) I'd be a hip-hop poet...

A 'must read' Paul Krugman:

When announcing Japan's surrender in 1945, Emperor Hirohito famously explained his decision as follows: "The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage."

There was a definite Hirohito feel to the explanation Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, gave this week for the Fed's locking-the-barn-door-after-the-horse-is-gone decision to modestly strengthen regulation of the mortgage industry: "Market discipline has in some cases broken down, and the incentives to follow prudent lending procedures have, at times, eroded."

That's quite an understatement. In fact, the explosion of "innovative" home lending that took place in the middle years of this decade was an unmitigated disaster.

In a 1963 essay for Ms. Rand's newsletter, Mr. Greenspan dismissed as a "collectivist" myth the idea that businessmen, left to their own devices, "would attempt to sell unsafe food and drugs, fraudulent securities, and shoddy buildings." On the contrary, he declared, "it is in the self-interest of every businessman to have a reputation for honest dealings and a quality product."

It's no wonder, then, that he brushed off warnings about deceptive lending practices, including those of Edward M. Gramlich, a member of the Federal Reserve board. In Mr. Greenspan's world, predatory lending - like attempts to sell consumers poison toys and tainted seafood - just doesn't happen.

Yeah, they're all little angels. Not.

Of course, now that it has all gone bad, people with ties to the financial industry are rethinking their belief in the perfection of free markets. Mr. Greenspan has come out in favor of, yes, a government bailout. "Cash is available," he says - meaning taxpayer money - "and we should use that in larger amounts, as is necessary, to solve the problems of the stress of this."

Given the role of conservative ideology in the mortgage disaster, it's puzzling that Democrats haven't been more aggressive about making the disaster an issue for the 2008 election. They should be: It's hard to imagine a more graphic demonstration of what's wrong with their opponents' economic beliefs.

Shorter: The Repugs have been, are, and ever shall be just plain wrong about everything. Not only are they wrong, they insist the rest of us go down with their ship, which they can no longer deny is sinking, all the while blaming everyone else for their expensive failures..

They gotta go.

So do I. I'll catch up with ya from Arroyo Grande.

Lame ...

Unabashedly stolen from Brother Lurch.

Can't lose ...

If I did my job like they do, I'd be walking the streets forthwith. Wish the car business worked like Wall Street.

This increase is even better than the pay increases Congress gives itself. You just can't lose on Wall Street, even when you lose billions ...

Saturday whorage

As usual on Saturday, another chapter of Thirty Days at Zeta is up at The Practical Press.

And, if you want to follow the progress of our trip to my ancestral home, click here.

Let us know what's going on at your place in comments.

The first truth ...

I heard about 'Charlie Wilson's War' since 1983:

... Charlie Wilson and the CIA funneled 3.1 billion dollars to Afghani resistance fighters in the hopes of defeating the Soviets. The thing is, a good chunk of this money went to a fellow named Gulbaddin Hekmatyar, a rabid anti-American who, with the help of his pal Osama bin Laden, used the money to establish a string of terrorist training camps across Afghanistan and Pakistan. At these camps, a group of yahoos got it into their heads that flying planes into the World Trade Center would be a good idea ...

They're still on the payroll, ladies and germs. Let's hope Tom Hanks goes broke on this one.

Thought For The Day

From Allison Kilkenny at HuffPo:

The most brilliant trick the rich ever pulled over the poor was when they reinforced fractures between the serving class. The rich have always encouraged the poor to think of themselves tribally. Irish, Italian, Black, Blue-Collar, White-Collar, Asian, Indian, Arab, Christian, Muslim, Man, Woman, Child, Elderly, Northerner, Southerner, West Coast, East Coast. After all, when the poor squabble among themselves, they can't really unite and...ya' know...set fire to the plantation.

A pretty good comment on Repuglican policy.

Have a very ...

White House Christmas. From an email Gord sent me. Definitely not safe for work.

Update:

And while we're at it, our pal Skippy dug up another great Christmas message.

Quote of the Day

One of our all-time favorite bloggers, the Rude One:

... For Bush and Cheney and many Republicans and some Democrats, democracy is like being told you can jack off in the corner while this big-dicked stud fucks your wife ...

Obstructionism, the thing to do ...

Yes, I'm a posting fool this morning because the Mrs. and my cousin are out shopping, professionals both, and I have some free time to get caught up on the blog world. Greenwald's post from yesterday is most enlightening:

...

As Benen notes, the GOP has used the filibuster as a common tool on virtually every piece of significant legislation, all part of what Trent Lott described as their strategy: "The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail . . . and so far it's working for us."

But this extraordinary obstructionist behavior has hardly been highlighted at all by most journalists covering Congress. Part of the reason for that is the fault of Senate Democrats, who have, in essence, allowed Republicans to filibuster without forcing them actually to filibuster, thus removing the theatrical display of the obstructionism. But the obstructionism is the same, and it ought to be reported as such. But it isn't.

...

I think the Dem leadership needs a remedial class in Civics 101.

...

Whereas filibusters were previously used as an extraordinary tool to preserve minority rights in the Senate, and were routinely depicted as "obstructionist" by the press when wielded by Democrats, they have now become the standard course for Republicans. Yet [Washington Post reporter Paul] Kane, and most other Congressional reporters, simply refuse to point that objective fact out -- that Republicans are using this obstructionist tool on virtually every issue at a record rate -- because to point that out would be to violate the Sacred Law of Balance, even though it is true. [my ems]

...

You can thank Josef Goebbels Rupert Murdoch and his gang of propagandists at Fox Noise for giving the term 'fair and balanced' the aberrant, bastardized meaning it has today. Most of the Washington press corpse wouldn't know either 'fair' or 'balanced' if it bit them in the ass.

Abuse ...

Generally I've learned, over 45 years of life, that people who hold the lives of animals in disregard, or are actively cruel to them, are horrible human beings.

Culling the herd ...

Don't let it hit ya in the ass:

GOP presidential dark horse Tom Tancredo, angry at being called a "dark horse," is cutting and running, abandoning his bid for the presidency.

Back to your cave, asshole.

Local wanderings

We didn't stray too far from home yesterday. We visited an old Jewish cemetery I never knew existed and a castle I used to grovel around in when I was a kid.
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Note:

If you've missed anything and want to get caught up on the trip so far, just go here and scroll down. I set it up so everything will stay on the main page for the duration.

Justice ...

Charge 'em with murder ...

Snow Day

We got another foot of snow overnight, so I was out bright and early this morning participating in the Sierra Nevada Homeowner Winter Pentathlon, which consists of:

1. Snow shovelling
2. Ice scraping
3. Snowthrowing, with sub-event
a. Trying to keep the dog's nose out of the augur
4. Stand under a pine tree when it unloads its snow (aced this one! It's all in the timing...)
5. Try to not fall on your ass

I learned something (again) and I'll pass it on: empty the snow out of your hoodie before you put it on your head.

Anyway, after all that exertion, which is good for you, I was taking off my snow boots and felt the dreaded sproinggg! in my lower back. Uh-oh. I basically just got Mrs. G's truck out and had lots more snow to move. I can do it in pain (lotsa practice) but it's no fun.

Mrs. G called and I told her about it. She said, "Gee, it's too bad we don't have one of those Shiatsu massaging cushions."

At this point, the lights came on in my head and I went and (gently) unwrapped her Christmas present.

Fifteen minutes with that thing and three ibuprofens and I'm rarin' to go! If you have need of a back massage, I recommend one of these gadgets. It's a lot cheaper than the alternative, the Japanese massage lady who walks on yer back. Unless she doesn't eat and can sleep standing up in the closet next to the vacuum cleaner, of course.

Did I mention that the storm passed by and the Sun is brightly shining and it's a beautiful day? See ya.

Update:

Yes, I remembered to re-wrap Mrs. G's present. Loosely, just in case...

She'll never suspect a thing...

Descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse break away from US

AFP via Raw Story

A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United States, some of them more than 150 years old.

The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free -- provided residents renounce their US citizenship, Means said.

The treaties signed with the United States are merely "worthless words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom activists say on their website (Be patient - no bandwidth, lotta traffic - G).

The treaties have been "repeatedly violated in order to steal our culture, our land and our ability to maintain our way of life," the reborn freedom movement says.

Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal, Means said.

"This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution," which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said.

"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent," said Means.

Note to Russ: Best wishes for you in this endeavor. Let us know how this 'free and independent' shit works out. Might start a trend...

Huckabee Gets Endorsement From Talk Show Host

"Now I understand Mitt Romney's a Mormon - well, isn't that special? Don't Mormons claim that Jesus is the brother of. . .SATAN?"

A tip o' the Brain to Don

Quote of the Day Zwei

BuzzFlash, in response to "Commander: Al-Qaida still able to attack."

America Under FDR was able to defeat the Nazis, Imperial Japan, and Mussolini in less time, but then he wasn't an imbecile like junior and a megalo-maniac like Cheney, both chickenhawks to boot.

Of course, in those days, war profiteering was merely a side effect of the war, not the main reason for it.

The Army's Other Crisis

Andrew Tilghman in Washington Monthly. Lengthy, but worth a read if you give a shit about what has been done to our military and how and why mid-level officers and NCOs are making career choices with their feet.

Why the best and brightest young officers are leaving

But the greatest concern is how the exodus of the best and brightest will affect the Army's long-term capacity to win wars, counter threats, and keep the peace. Today's lieutenants and captains are the pool from which three- and four-star generals will be chosen twenty years from now. If the sharpest minds aren't in that pool, we could wind up — to put it bluntly — with a senior leadership of dimwits.

Scary. Imagine an Army run by unqualified officers, not that there's ever been any lack of those, just like the present Commander-in-Chief...

Quote (and Quandary) of the Day

Wendy Rochman:

What’s a Teacher to Do? 'No teacher wants to tell her students that their president is a liar and a criminal. And yet, our president is a liar and a criminal. As a teacher, should I tell children the truth, and act to uphold our Constitution and Bill of Rights? I am charged to do just that through the legally binding state and local professional educator standard, requiring me to model the democratic ideal. My failure to do so could be grounds for my dismissal. But here’s the catch: doing so could also be grounds for my dismissal!'

Much more.

I feel for this lady and others like her. I'm damn glad I'm not in her position. I've been fired for telling the truth and was damn glad to be out of a place where that could happen, but there was always another gig down the road a ways.

The truth has a liberal bias, and is therefore not to be taught to the impressionable children who will be paying for this administration's lies for the rest of their lives.