April, 2010 archive
Freedom of Screech 0
According to the lady in yellow, “Nothing’s better than a dead liberal.”
Via DelawareLiberal.
Afterthought:
No more self-awareness than a ceramic floor.
QOTD 0
John Milton, via the Quotemaster:
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.
Fly-on-the-Wall Dreamin’ 0
Not during, but before and after this meeting, and on both sets of walls. The meeting itself will no doubt be oh-so-proper:
The Williamsburg college’s Alpha Phi Alpha chapter cited McDonnell’s proclamation that April is Confederate History Month in declining to attend an awards ceremony. McDonnell honored several recipients of statewide community-service awards at Thursday night’s event.
Chapter President William B. Morris III said Friday that fraternity members were honored to be among the winners of the Governor’s Volunteerism and Community Service Awards for their work as mentors of underprivileged middle-school students. But he says they respectfully chose to sit out the ceremony because McDonnell’s decision to honor a cause that harmed black people is insulting and improper.
Underlying the whole thing is generations of white folk who want to return to a time that is gone with the wind, not realizing that that time never existed except in Southern wishful thinking–wishful thinking to deny that the “Cause” of the “Lost Cause” was chattel slavery.
Full disclosure:
When I attended that college back in the olden days, there were not enough black students there to make up a fraternity.
Dustbiters 0
Six banks blanked:
-
Tamalpais Bank, San Rafael, California
Innovative Bank, Oakland, California
Butler Bank, Lowell, Massachusetts
Riverside National Bank of Florida, Fort Pierce, Florida
AmericanFirst Bank, Clermont, Florida
For a complete list of failed banks since the turn of the century, go here. There are 20 from 2000 through 2007. I didn’t bother to count the ones from 2008 on.
One (the top one in the list above) appeared as I was writing this.
Yes, this is an industry to whom we should clearly turn for guidance in crafting financial policy and consumer protections.
Now, pardon me, I think I saw a winged pig.
Swampwater 0
The swamp is starting to bubble. From the BBC:
Gary Jackson, who resigned last year, denies conspiracy to violate firearms laws, making false statements and possession of an unregistered firearm.
(snip)
In addition to Mr Jackson, Blackwater’s former general counsel Andrew Howell, former executive vice-president Bill Mathews, former procurement vice-president Ana Bundy, and former weapons manager Ronald Slezak were indicted on Friday.
They are charged with using “straw purchases” to stockpile automatic weapons at the company’s headquarters in Moyock, North Carolina, and filing false documents to cover up gifts given to the king of Jordan.
It appears that at least some of the deceptions and underhanded dealings related to, but not restricted to, the Great and Glorious Patriotic War for a Lie in Iraq are starting to head for hearings in open court.
It will be interesting to see how great, how glorious, how patriotic they appear in the cold text of court stenography.
I suspect that it is not uncommon for mercenaries to think that they are a law unto themselves. That is part of the problem with using mercenaries; they know no loyalty other than to the name on the paycheck.
Follow the link for more.
I Write Mail 0
My letter to my elected representatives incongruously assembled:
Dear Mr. [name]:
This is to urge you to support the strictest possible reform of the financial industry, including reinstitution of Glass-Steagall.
The banking and investment industry has shown over the past decade that it cannot be trusted to exercise fiduciary responsibility, restraint, or sound business practices. It is time to (re?)create a regulatory structure to minimize their abuses and to hold them accountable for misconduct.
Thank you.
Feel free to paste this into your word processor and adapt it to your congresscritters.
Afterthought:
SEC goes after Goldman-Sachs.
Down Is Up 0
Dick Polman analyzes the Republican Wall Street spin cycle:
Which brings us to the current efforts on Capitol Hill – led by Democrats, with a few participating Republicans – to crack down on Wall Street abuses. Earlier this year, when Republican leaders realized that they would have to serve their Wall Street friends by opposing reform, without somehow appearing to side with Wall Street against the little guy, Luntz went to work on the thorny problem. He came up with a solution. He suggested some talking points that made it sound as if the Republicans, by opposing reform, were actually sticking up for the little guy – and that the Democrats, by pushing reform, were sticking up for Wall Street and screwing the little guy.
Horse Gone. Leave Barn Door Open. 0
John Cole dissects Republican opposition to banking reform so I don’t have to.
The Republican Party: Now and ever the Party of Privilege.
Rejoining the Union 0
Ruben Navarrette, Jr. in the San Jose Mercury-News:
I have to agree. All of which leads me to ask: When exactly are Southerners going to assimilate?
Not anytime soon if Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has anything to say about it.
Banksta Rap 0
Oh my goodness.
Nuclear Disparagement 0
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| A Farewell to Arms | ||||
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Via TPM.
No Black Tea 0
Facing South analyzes several polls of teabaggers. It’s conclusions are no surprise. Put bluntly, it’s all about the Scary Black Man:
(snip)
But this body of evidence suggests a few things: While the tea party may be able to make some media noise and influence a few Republican primaries in the short-term, the movement’s narrow and shrinking core base puts it on the wrong side of our country’s demographic trajectory.
What’s more, the tea party movement clearly draws strength from whites who fear and resent their loss of social position (both real and imagined). That’s given rise to a politics of racial resentment which will not only further drive them away from African-Americans, Hispanics/Latinos and other people of color, but also whites (especially younger and urban) who don’t share such racial hostilities.
Billmon has more at the Great Orange Satan (Via John Cole). So does Jamelle.
Underlying it all is the idea that, by devaluing others, we somehow increase our own value (Richard Hofstadter and Daniel Bell showed that to be at the heart of prejudice, bigotry, and nativism when they studied the radical right in the 1950s–they called it “status anxiety.” See also Eric Berne.) As long as you have someone to look down on, it seems, you must be doing okay.
Over the years, the list of those looked down on has included variously Catholics, Jews, Irish, Italians, Chinese, Japanese, and Poles, among other, but has always included blacks.
Nevertheless, by devaluing others, we do not increase our own value.
We devalue everyone, including ourselves.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still in the same general territory–the high 400,000s:
What If They Gave a Party and No One Brought the Tea? 0
See also “The Gang that Couldn’t Shoot Straight”:
The tea party group had decided to demonstrate on the sidewalk in front of the Home Depot, also on Del. 1, but the GOP apparently never got the word, according to Steve Hyle, one of the initial organizers of the tea party group.
Walking Back 0
The Regent doesn’t like getting noticed. From TPM:
A spokesman for the governor, a Republican, told the Washington Post that letters sent to over 200 felons, telling them that they would now have to submit an essay as part of the application process — a process that previously had been almost automatic — were sent in error, and that the essay idea was just a “draft policy proposal.”
More at the link.
Aside: This “I didn’t mean it like that” thing is getting to be a habit.
And all that time I’ve spend composing a post in my head was just rendered, as the Brits say, “redundant.”
