2009 archive
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
New unemployment claims drop to only 601,000 for last week, but the total number of persons collecting benefits continues to set a new record every week.
They are running out of persons to supply-sideline.
Inside the Wingnut Bubble 0
This is the stupid on so many levels I don’t know where to begin.
But it boils down to “Don’t take the name of the Limbaugh in vain.”
Just Plain Dumb 0
That’s what the home computer is for, for Pete’s sake.
The video is here. Any grunt-level employee would have already been fired.
Return of the Beyond the Palin 0
A retrospective.
I Get Mail 0
Dear Frank,
In spite of all the recent news, we still have some skeptics.
The release of new Bush-Cheney era torture memos by the Justice Department reveal just how far the past administration strayed from the law and our fundamental principles.
There is a renewed public call for accountability at BushTruthCommission.com, and many congressional leaders — like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chris Dodd — have now thrown their support behind our proposed truth commission, too.
When Zombie Banks Walked the Earth 0
InsolventInsatiable:
Wells Fargo & Co needs $15 billion, Bloomberg News said, citing an unnamed source. Citigroup Inc may need as much as $10 billion, a person familiar with the matter said. About 10 of the 19 banks that were tested may need capital, a person familiar with the official talks said.
And the rumors are these stress tests weren’t very stressful.
Over at the Great Orange Satan, a poster wonders why the truth is coming out in such dribs and drabs (Warning: mild language):
I think that it’s because the truth of Wall Street’s malfeasance, perfidy, cupidity, and stupidity is so bad that the government is afraid it could lead to panic and that, frankly, we would all be better off just to know the extent of the badness, but that’s just me.
But, then, that would reveal that the financial emperors have no clothes.
And We Can’t Have That. After all, Greenwich, Conn., gets awfully chilly in the winter.
“Pay No Attention to the Man behind the Curtain” 0
The hedge hogs funds scurry to their burrows.
Follow the link to see the “evidence” of a “hostile climate” proffered by the lawyers.
But today bankruptcy court Judge Arthur Gonzales denied the motion, seeing “no evidence that authorities found the threats bona fide” — maybe because the only evidence of said threats cited in the motion was a printout from the comments section of the Washington Post website.
Guess their mastery of the universe doesn’t include standing up for themselves in public.
Contracts 0
John Cole on wanker bankers, Chrysler, and Fiat:
And one final thing. I adore hearing about the sanctity of contracts, because it just cracks me up. Where was all this concern about the sanctity of contracts when the entire Republican caucus was trying to destroy every auto union contract out there? Where was this overabiding concern for the sanctity of contracts every time the autoworkers have made concessions the last couple of decades? Why are there hundreds of thousands of lawyers out there spending every day trying to litigate their client out of contracts or trying to litigate more favorable terms for their clients? Just plain silliness.
Have Cake. Eat It Too. 0
Blue Dogs run wild. Follow the link for the full story:
Their motto, apparently:
Cut spending. But NIMBY.
Savagery 0
I disagree with the United Kingdom’s decision to ban Michael Savage from their country.
The UK does not have a written Constitution and has no codified protection of freedom of anything. For all their talk about the “rights of Englishmen (and women),” the Brits are quick to publicly and overtly violate civil liberties which citizens of the United States (except for the Bushies–natch) hold inviolate.
At the same time, one does take a perverse and quite uncharitable joy in seeing a purveyor of hate called out for his purveyance thereof.
From Ghosties and Ghoulies and Things that Go Bump in the Night 0
and from television commercials at the gas pump, good Lord protect us.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Perspective 0
Some Republican is yammering on my podplayer about how Barack Obama was “such a left-wing candidate.”
Only in wingnut eyes.
Anyone who actually paid attention to what Mr. Obama said and did during his campaign (and has said and done since becoming President) can see that he is, at most, slightly to the left of the historical center of American politics.
Unless, of course, torture, unjust war, and giving away the store are considered core American values.