First the Republicans tried to sell us that Sarah Palin had foreign policy experience because she could see Russia from her yard, or some such nonsense. Now they have her meeting with several world leaders, trying to pump up her foreign policy bona fides.
Are you effing kidding me? She meets one time with each of them, and suddenly she is Henry Kissinger? (Oh, wait...Henry is one of the people she met with. Great, she is consorting with the Karl Rove of diplomacy. And exactly what country does Herr Kissinger run, anyway?)
Who knew that you could CLEP your way to decades of international knowledge? Damn. If that is the case, can I count all the campaigns I've worked on towards the last two years that I need for my political science degree?
This bullshit is the equivalent of my saying that because I once got the autograph of Asia drummer Carl Palmer, I now qualify for enshrinement in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (BTW, we shall never speak of this again. It's not exactly something to brag about.)
Dear God, are there really people stupid enough to buy this and vote for her?
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Wall Street Whoas!
Folks, let’s bend over and grab our collective ankles. We are about to get screwed without the lube. Again. After already pissing away $900 billion of our hard-earned dollars earlier this year to prop up the finance industry’s wanton recklessness, Congress wants to hand them $700 billion more. That’s right: the Wall Street frat boys came to the American public’s house, got drunk, trashed it, and then threw gas and a match on it for good measure. Now We The People have the pleasure of paying to rebuild and refurnish our house, and we don’t even get so much as an “Oops, our bad” from the hungover frat rats. Not only that, but we are being forced to pay them damages because they got hurt while they were running amok: “Hey, you shoulda known that we were idiots when we first got there. All of your money and your desire for The American Dream created an attractive nuisance. Our lawyers say that it’s all your fault for inviting us in.”
From the time when we first began our indoctrination into American history—sometime in grade school—the virtues of laissez faire capitalism were extolled as if they were the key to The Meaning of Life. “Let the market decide!” roared our automaton droids (aka “teachers”). Well, it looks like the market has decided in no uncertain terms that the mortgage industry feeding frenzy was nothing more than a Ponzi pyramid built upon quicksand.
Yes, the market has decided that these charlatans should fall. So, why aren’t we letting financial Darwinism take its natural course? Yeah, I thought so. It’s all “keep the gummint out” until the fat‑cat capitalists are about to lose their shorts. Then they can’t usher the government (and our money) into their hallowed halls quickly enough. Bring on the socialist bailouts, comrades! To add insult to injury, now the bastards are complaining that the bailout isn’t big enough! They are tripping over themselves to get Congress to rewrite certain provisions in their favor before the bill comes to a vote. The CEOs who ran these businesses into the ground are trying to ensure that they keep their platinum parachutes for a job badly done. On top of that, Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson has the balls to want complete oversight. Can you say “fox guarding the chicken coop”? He could literally sell this country down the river, and Congress wouldn’t have any say. Paulson wouldn’t even have to give them update reports. Having Congressional oversight isn’t much better, but at least we would have the power to make their lives miserable if they falter.
Meanwhile, the voodoo “economists” in the Bush administration are trying to spin this bailout as helping to keep the economy from crashing down on plain-folk Americans—Underdog swooping in at the last moment to untie us Sweet Polly Purebreds from the railroad tracks. But closer examination reveals that the Bushies are, in fact, just clearing the way for the runaway train that is the financial industry. The frightening thing is, we may just be seeing the tip of the iceberg. I find it interesting that it takes the foreign press to tell us the truth. Too bad that only political junkies like me are reading them.
Hmm…please allow me a momentary digression. I find it interesting that Congress can’t come up with funding for national health coverage…or for fixing our public school system…or for making a college education affordable…but they can pull over $1 trillion dollars out of their asses for millionaires who’ve just bankrupted their companies and employees. Actually, that money came out of OUR asses, with no tube of the afore-referenced AstroGlide anywhere to be found.
Anyway, back to my main rant…
From the time when we first began our indoctrination into American history—sometime in grade school—the virtues of laissez faire capitalism were extolled as if they were the key to The Meaning of Life. “Let the market decide!” roared our automaton droids (aka “teachers”). Well, it looks like the market has decided in no uncertain terms that the mortgage industry feeding frenzy was nothing more than a Ponzi pyramid built upon quicksand.
Yes, the market has decided that these charlatans should fall. So, why aren’t we letting financial Darwinism take its natural course? Yeah, I thought so. It’s all “keep the gummint out” until the fat‑cat capitalists are about to lose their shorts. Then they can’t usher the government (and our money) into their hallowed halls quickly enough. Bring on the socialist bailouts, comrades! To add insult to injury, now the bastards are complaining that the bailout isn’t big enough! They are tripping over themselves to get Congress to rewrite certain provisions in their favor before the bill comes to a vote. The CEOs who ran these businesses into the ground are trying to ensure that they keep their platinum parachutes for a job badly done. On top of that, Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson has the balls to want complete oversight. Can you say “fox guarding the chicken coop”? He could literally sell this country down the river, and Congress wouldn’t have any say. Paulson wouldn’t even have to give them update reports. Having Congressional oversight isn’t much better, but at least we would have the power to make their lives miserable if they falter.
Meanwhile, the voodoo “economists” in the Bush administration are trying to spin this bailout as helping to keep the economy from crashing down on plain-folk Americans—Underdog swooping in at the last moment to untie us Sweet Polly Purebreds from the railroad tracks. But closer examination reveals that the Bushies are, in fact, just clearing the way for the runaway train that is the financial industry. The frightening thing is, we may just be seeing the tip of the iceberg. I find it interesting that it takes the foreign press to tell us the truth. Too bad that only political junkies like me are reading them.
Hmm…please allow me a momentary digression. I find it interesting that Congress can’t come up with funding for national health coverage…or for fixing our public school system…or for making a college education affordable…but they can pull over $1 trillion dollars out of their asses for millionaires who’ve just bankrupted their companies and employees. Actually, that money came out of OUR asses, with no tube of the afore-referenced AstroGlide anywhere to be found.
Anyway, back to my main rant…
Now John McCain would have us believe that he would reign in the malfeasance on Wall Street.Never mind that he is hopelessly out of touch on the financial crisis and its causes.
Never mind that he had no idea that the President cannot fire the chair of the SEC.
Never mind that he went along with Republicans earlier this year in refusing to grant similar relief to homeowners. In fact, he blamed them for torpedoing the economy. As I type this, Republicans are opposing help to homeowners as a condition of the bailout.
Never mind that McCain wanted us to turn over our Social Security and retirement funds to these self-same alchemists, even as he and his youngest daughter take SS payments of $2895 per month. Keep in mind that his heiress wife is worth over $100 million.
Never mind that his Senate and campaign staffs absolutely teem with lobbyists and Wall Street minions and shills.
Never mind that he has never seen a deregulation bill that he wanted to vote “No” on.
Never mind that he wants to continue and make permanent Bush’s tax cuts for the ridiculously wealthy.
Yes, Oz—er, America—pay no mind whatsoever to the doddering old liar behind the American flag curtain—nor to the flying monkeys of Congress who are trying to steal your wallets for the wicked warlocks of Wall Street.
Here are some links to shed some light on this subject. Try not to cry into the beer that you can barely afford these days.
10 Things You Should Know About Bush's Trillion Dollar Fleecing Plan
The Wall Street Bailout Plan, Explained
Seven Deadly Sins of Deregulation—and Three Necessary Reforms
Paulson's Folly
Trust But Verify
Rich Reign: Wall St. to Yankee Stadium
John McCain's “Straight Mess Express”
Bailout plan won't be end of Wall Street bailouts
Who Will Pay For The Wall Street Bailout?
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