Banks, in an attempt to wring more revenue out of customer accounts, are conjuring up new ways to raise fees on basic products like debit cards, cash machines and checking accounts.
...
Bend over, here it comes again.
Friday, January 7, 2011
And then there's ...
The "walking through the front door fee":
Bend over, here it comes again.
Bend over, here it comes again.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Ya can't make this shit up...
Birther Interrupts House Reading Of Constitution, Yells 'Help Us Jesus' (VIDEO)
O Lord, stop this pain in my...sides.
Law of the land
LATimes editorial:
Probably unopened. Like their Bibles. They don't need, or perhaps are afraid, to read them - they know what they want them to say.
Their minds are made up and will not be swayed by facts or truth or reality.
Except for things they and their corporate masters don't like.
On Thursday, the Constitution of the United States in its entirety will be read aloud in the House of Representatives, courtesy of the new Republican majority. The temptation, to which we succumb, is to regard the reading as a symbolic sop to the " tea party," whose adherents carry around pocket-sized copies of the Constitution.
Probably unopened. Like their Bibles. They don't need, or perhaps are afraid, to read them - they know what they want them to say.
Even so, there's no harm in a public reading of it. We only hope that those in the audience, whether tea partyers or their supporters in Congress, are willing to listen to the complete document. If they do, they'll find some of their small-government preconceptions challenged.
Their minds are made up and will not be swayed by facts or truth or reality.
Tea partyers and sympathetic representatives also should pay attention to language in Article 1 granting Congress the authority to enact "all laws which shall be necessary and proper" for executing its enumerated powers, including the right to regulate interstate commerce. We don't expect the mere recitation of this language to convert opponents of healthcare reform to the idea that an individual mandate is constitutional. But they might at least recognize that the Constitution gives Congress sweeping authority over commerce — more sweeping, perhaps, than they like.
Finally, we hope ears are pricked when the reader declaims Article VI, which declares: "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof … shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding." It is impossible to reconcile this language with the belief, popular among some tea partyers, that America is a loose confederation of sovereign states.
Along with ordering the marathon reading of the Constitution, the Republicans will require that every piece of legislation refer to the part of the Constitution from which it derives its authority. If members pay close attention to the reading, they'll realize that's a pretty easy task.
Except for things they and their corporate masters don't like.
John Boehner's Big Gavel Is Flaccid
I guess my theme today is "Boehnin' on down". El Rude-o chimes in:
FOXPAC will be mean to them whether they do or don't. Note to Dems: Do. Fat chance.
Snowball, meet Hell.
A giant novelty penis would have been much closer to what the Repugs wish to dofor to the "will of the people".
So the demonstrably unstable Speaker of the House, John Boehner, took his new position from Nancy Pelosi by requesting a comically large gavel. Overcompensating to the hilt, he held his surrogate penis aloft and made a speech that left the Rude Pundit wondering a few things.
[...] In other words, of course, what if Democrats acted like Republicans did during the last time the "people" voted for a monumental shift in power way back in, you know, 2008? (Note: Democrats won't do it because Fox "news" will be mean to them.)
FOXPAC will be mean to them whether they do or don't. Note to Dems: Do. Fat chance.
[...] And here's a funny one: why does it seem there will be no amendments allowed on the health care reform repeal? Is it because everyone knows the vote is just a symbolic act of worthless protest that they just want to get over with as soon as possible? A waste of time, money, and energy in order to toss a bone to the new teabagger representatives? (Hint: Yes.)
Snowball, meet Hell.
[...] So why is one of the first things Republicans are doing is crawfishing away from one of the pledge's planks on cutting spending? Is it because the whole "Pledge" bullshit was just a way of hoodwinking teabaggers into voting for the GOP and now having to actually act on it is going to prove impossible? (Hint: Yes.)
So, cool, the shiny, new House opens with a series of lies and hypocrisies, with the craven traditional Republicans trying to keep the lid on the just-elected nutzoids so they don't fuck up 2012. As for Boehner, he walked out of today's boring-ass reading of the Constitution to have a press conference. And there's all you need to know about how very serious these serious new people are in their symbolic gestures. A giant, novelty gavel, after all, is just a giant, novelty gavel.
A giant novelty penis would have been much closer to what the Repugs wish to do
Headline of the Day
Why Is Jeff Sessions Blocking A Child Sex Trafficking Bill?
Because he's an ignorant fucking obstructionist right-wing asshole is why.
Constitutional Lessons For the New Congress
From Laura Flanders at GRITtv (video):
Shit, reality sounds like socialism to Miss Becky.
It might seem amusing for government officials to read a government document as proof that government is the problem, but instead of laughing, people of the progressive bent might do better to read along.
While that people's democracy of Adams and Jefferson is still a work in progress, Republican legislators don't own the Constitution. In fact, they should be held accountable to it: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare...” Oh my! All that talk of of Common, General, and "We the People" -- don't tell Glenn Beck --it sounds like a front for socialism.
Shit, reality sounds like socialism to Miss Becky.
Right-Wingers Claim Muslim Brotherhood Has Infiltrated CPAC
The title of this post should have been "Liquid Alert!". Sorry...
TPMMuckraker
Too bad it's not true. It could only improve CPAC, bring it more to the center.
Gaffney ignored? Too bad that's not true either. He gets on TV all he time and not just FOXPAC.
The one thing I agree with him on is that we both hate Grover Norquist, but Gaffney thinks Norquist's too far left.
Gaffney's the wingnut whackjob of which there's no whackjobier. The clown is so far right, he's on his own left. World Net Daily is a good place for him. One round can get 'em all.
TPMMuckraker
The right-wing site World Net Daily and conservative columnist Frank Gaffney came up with a new reason this week to hate the Conservative Political Action Conference, arguing that it has been infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood thanks to Grover Norquist, the Republican group Muslims For America, and Ex-Bush staffer Suhail Khan.
Too bad it's not true. It could only improve CPAC, bring it more to the center.
Gaffney has been a go-to shariah "expert" on the right for some time -- he even testified against a proposed mosque project in Murfreesboro, TN, and then said on CNN that the purpose of mosques "is to destroy western civilization from within."
"Every one of his assertions is completely untrue," Khan said, adding that Gaffney "doesn't want to let a few silly facts in the way of good story."
Khan also described how Gaffney has "become completely marginalized in the conservative movement," and describes the article as a "tempter tantrum given that he is being ignored."
Gaffney ignored? Too bad that's not true either. He gets on TV all he time and not just FOXPAC.
The one thing I agree with him on is that we both hate Grover Norquist, but Gaffney thinks Norquist's too far left.
Gaffney's the wingnut whackjob of which there's no whackjobier. The clown is so far right, he's on his own left. World Net Daily is a good place for him. One round can get 'em all.
The Crying Shame of John Boehner
Go read Matt Taibbi on John Bœhner:
The Democrats have plenty of creatures like Boehner. But in the new Speaker of the House, the Republicans own the perfect archetype — the quintessential example of the kind of glad-handing, double-talking, K Street toady who has dominated the politics of both parties for decades. In sports, we talk about athletes who are the "total package," and that term comes close to describing Boehner's talent for perpetuating our corrupt and debt-addled status quo: He's a five-tool insider who can lie, cheat, steal, play golf, change his mind on command and do anything else his lobbyist buddies and campaign contributors require of him to get the job done.
Others in Washington see Boehner not so much as a bloodless partisan but as a clueless yutz, one who rose to power through a combination of accidents and bureaucratic inertia. "He's just sort of like, 'Oh, how did I get here?'" says one Democratic aide. "I think of him sort of as a big Saint Bernard to [new Republican Majority Leader] Eric Cantor's yapping Chihuahua." Boehner is the butt of a lot of jokes around the Hill, with his wino eyes, perennial Crayola-orange tan and phallic surname providing even members of his own party with endless comic material. (George Bush, famous for giving colleagues nicknames, called Boehner "Boner.") His pseudo-acceptance speech on the night in November when Republicans retook the House was brilliant clown theater, a Wayne's World version of a right-wing political rally. At the very moment when millions of GOP voters were celebrating their ouster of the great socialist enemy Obama in the name of patriotism and liberty, Boehner was tearing up over what an awesome job he had finally scored for himself.
Boehner, in short, has for most of his career been a Bush Republican, i.e., a corporate schmoozer and a remorseless spender of taxpayer money for whom the notion of small government is just something to say when the cameras are on, or when the public money in question might go to poor people or immigrants or other such unlikely golfers. This was a fine way to be during the 2000s, back when America was still unfucked enough to enjoy a phony real estate boom and launch recreational wars of conquest in the Middle East — but in this new decade, post-Bush and post-crash, there is serious doubt on the Hill that a reflexive favor-churner like Boehner will be able to keep delivering Republican votes to lavish taxpayer money on his industry pals. Money is simply too tight now, and people are too pissed off.
Things are different now. America is so broke, there's no longer really any money in the Treasury to give away — the job of overseeing corporate handouts that used to belong to the leaders of Congress has now moved to the Federal Reserve, which itself is so broke that it has to invent dollars out of thin air before it can give them away to influential billionaires. This leaves congressional leaders with nothing to do but their ostensible jobs — i.e., fixing the country's actual problems — and few of the current leaders have any experience with that, Boehner being a prime example. The new speaker represents an increasingly endangered class of Beltway jobholders who know how to raise money and get elected, but not much beyond that. He now finds himself the party's last line of defense against millions of angry voters who, for the first time in recent memory, are at least attempting to watch what Congress is up to. The tee times are over.
A teachable moment ...
If the Rethugs were capable of learning, something might rub off:
But, in the end, it'll probably be just a whole lotta hot air.
The new Republican majority has ordered that the United States Constitution be read on the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday, the day after new lawmakers are sworn in. Congressional historians say they believe this has been done only twice before.
...
But, in the end, it'll probably be just a whole lotta hot air.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
The great impending OMG of 2011
If it's Wednesday, it's Morford looking back at 2010.
Much, much more. Do not deny yourself. Go read.
It was, to my slippery and wayward mind, one of the wonkiest, wobbliest, most sputteringly interesting years in ages, full of sound and fury and shrill, insufferable conservatism signifying nothing, but in a way that makes it seem like, you know, everything.
Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was killed in a plane crash. Dick Cheney still refused to die from another heart attack. A leathery hunk of confused hate named Terry Jones didn't burn the Koran outside a rancid little "church" somewhere in Florida, but not before he got the attention of the president himself, which is bizarre and disorienting in a way that makes you sort of cringe. And then shrug, sigh and move the hell on.
We have a name for this whipsaw socioemotional glop in journalism. It's the same one they use in fiction, in poetry, in TV, in skywriting and greeting cards, call-in radio and cave paintings, Facebook status updates and homoerotic text messages sent from Gucci-clad Atlanta pastors to young boys in heat.
We call it storytelling.
[...] Still, pan far enough out, it's all just a spectacularly vain extravaganza. Just ask the graveyard.
Much, much more. Do not deny yourself. Go read.
Question of the Day
Daily Mail, UK
What, a big expensive piece of gear like a 777 doesn't come with goddam cup holders?!!!. Yeesh, what a ripoff.
Transatlantic passenger plane forced to make emergency landing... because the pilot spilled his coffee all over the instruments
What, a big expensive piece of gear like a 777 doesn't come with goddam cup holders?!!!. Yeesh, what a ripoff.
Just a thought ...
After having just watched John Boner Boehner getting sworn in and his subsequent speech. That is the friendliest you'll see Orangina toward the Dems for the next two years. You know he cried afterward because his hardon was cramped against his zipper.
The Ol' Gunny Waffle Stomps His Pecker
Raw Story, with video.
This one hurt me to the core. I liked Ermey. He's made a career out of portraying an over-the-top caricature of an old-time Marine Gunnery Sergeant. It's not a true representation by any means, but old Marines like me just fuckin' love it.
He's not a real Gunny either. He was medically retired as a Staff Sergeant after a crate fell out of a helicopter on him, or something like that, in Vietnam. He holds an honorary rank of GySgt conferred on him by the Marine Corps largely because he's gung ho on the Corps' behalf. That's good. In my day Gunnies were cool, Staff Sergeants were all pricks. Besides, the rank of Gunny has a mythology and cachet about it that no other rank has. It's part of the tribal lore of the Corps.
This time he stepped on his dick with lies and calumny towards the Commander-in-Chief while wearing a uniform he's only actually entitled to wear while playing a role. He's no more an active duty Marine than I am.
Good thing, too. What he said is in clear violation of Article 89, possibly shoehornable into Article 88 since a Gunny is an officer in a non-commissioned status, maybe even Article 94 for the 'rise up' crack, of the Uniform Code of Military Justice which us old servicemen were all too familiar with. Active duty personnel do not have the civil rights and freedom of speech that us civilians do. If Ermey was a real Marine instead of just playing one on TV, he'da gotten rid of a few stripes and maybe got some brig time. McChrystal got sacked for saying a lot less and he was a fucking General.
There's an absolutely hilarious great line in several articles in the UCMJ - "penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense". Ya done stuck it in the woodchipper this time, Gunny.
I'm glad he walked his ignorant lying wingnut comment back a little ways, but the damage is done. Ignorant gullible wingers fall for those talking points like nobody's business.
Ermey didn't make his remarks on behalf of GEICO for whom he's a spokesman, but that's where I'm going to hit back the best I can. My GEICO auto insurance expires in March. I'm going with Progressive (who insure my bike) and I will make damn sure GEICO knows why.
The foul-mouthed, hard-nosed drill instructor made famous by Stanley Kubrick's classic war film "Full Metal Jacket" ruffled some feathers early last month for commenting at a charity event that President Barack Obama wants "to bring this country to its knees" and institute "socialism."
His proposed solution: "Rise up" and "stop this administration" from "destroying this country."
Now, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman -- the character which has carried the career of R. Lee Ermey -- is doing the unthinkable: apologizing.
This one hurt me to the core. I liked Ermey. He's made a career out of portraying an over-the-top caricature of an old-time Marine Gunnery Sergeant. It's not a true representation by any means, but old Marines like me just fuckin' love it.
He's not a real Gunny either. He was medically retired as a Staff Sergeant after a crate fell out of a helicopter on him, or something like that, in Vietnam. He holds an honorary rank of GySgt conferred on him by the Marine Corps largely because he's gung ho on the Corps' behalf. That's good. In my day Gunnies were cool, Staff Sergeants were all pricks. Besides, the rank of Gunny has a mythology and cachet about it that no other rank has. It's part of the tribal lore of the Corps.
This time he stepped on his dick with lies and calumny towards the Commander-in-Chief while wearing a uniform he's only actually entitled to wear while playing a role. He's no more an active duty Marine than I am.
Good thing, too. What he said is in clear violation of Article 89, possibly shoehornable into Article 88 since a Gunny is an officer in a non-commissioned status, maybe even Article 94 for the 'rise up' crack, of the Uniform Code of Military Justice which us old servicemen were all too familiar with. Active duty personnel do not have the civil rights and freedom of speech that us civilians do. If Ermey was a real Marine instead of just playing one on TV, he'da gotten rid of a few stripes and maybe got some brig time. McChrystal got sacked for saying a lot less and he was a fucking General.
There's an absolutely hilarious great line in several articles in the UCMJ - "penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense". Ya done stuck it in the woodchipper this time, Gunny.
I'm glad he walked his ignorant lying wingnut comment back a little ways, but the damage is done. Ignorant gullible wingers fall for those talking points like nobody's business.
Ermey didn't make his remarks on behalf of GEICO for whom he's a spokesman, but that's where I'm going to hit back the best I can. My GEICO auto insurance expires in March. I'm going with Progressive (who insure my bike) and I will make damn sure GEICO knows why.
Quote of the Day
Ralph Nader in a letter to the NYT that ought to be to the media in general:
...have your public editor look into why flagrant, often bigoted right-wingers are given so much time and space compared with fact-based progressive leaders committed to the “equality and welfare” that your editorial espouses.
At High Noon ...
The crazy begins. Put on your tinfoil hats and prepare for 2 fucked up years:
Ya think? See my first post of the morning.
What are we to make of the fact that two of the top priorities for the 112th Congress, convening for the first time today, involve an irrelevant charade and an irresponsible threat?
...
Yet even Obama, the Commander-in-Compromise, must understand the difference between bargaining for a mixed deal and meeting halfway between responsibility and total, deranged lunacy.
...
Ya think? See my first post of the morning.
See yas ...
And don't let it hit ya in the ass:
I'd like to thank my conservative neighbors for coming to their senses ... partially.
Glenn Beck may be one of the hottest talk show hosts in the country, but he apparently left New York's WOR cold.
WOR (710 AM), one of the city's two biggest talk radio stations, said this morning it is dropping Beck's syndicated show as of Jan. 17 and replacing him with a familiar New York name: Mike Gallagher.
"The reason is ratings," said WOR program director Scott Lakefield. "Somewhat to our surprise, the show wasn't getting what we wanted."
...
I'd like to thank my conservative neighbors for coming to their senses ... partially.
Great thanks to our pal Comrade Misfit for bringing the good news.
Sometimes I wonder ...
What the fuck is wrong with this guy:
I'm just praying he's not that naive. If he is, it's gonna be a long two years.
Update:
Exactly.
...
During a surprise visit to the press cabin aboard Air Force One on his way back from his vacation in Hawaii, Obama said he hopes to build on the progress made during last month's lame-duck session.
"My hope is that John Boehner and Mitch McConnell will realize that there will be plenty of time to campaign for 2012 in 2012. And that our job this year is to make sure that we build on recovery," Obama said.
...
I'm just praying he's not that naive. If he is, it's gonna be a long two years.
Update:
Exactly.
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