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A Monday tra la through the news spin cycle:
-- I'm with Aravosis -- some public comment on the Bush Administration's plan to yank counterterrorism funding from police, fire and rescue departments would be a good thing.
-- Howie raises some excellent points on war profiteering and the Bush Administration that are worth asking over and over until there are solid, public answers to them.
-- One of my favorites from MLK is Letters from a Birmingham Jail. Scott Lemieux pulls an excerpt on adherence to rule of law and fairness in a great discussion of 1950s mindsets versus what we see today. Well worth a read.
-- The Baltimore Sun reports that Dem voter registration numbers are outpacing those from the GOP by a 3 to 1 margin. And that disgust with the Bush Administration and a stagnant Republican party that still kowtows to his failures is a big part of that, along with resurgent interest in progressive Democratic party values. Boo yah!
-- Speaking of The Sun, David Simon of The Wire had an op-ed on the state of journalism in the WaPo, detailing his experiences as a prior long-time reporter for The Sun. The NYTimes follows up with a more in-depth discussion. When you read it in context with so much of what Nieman Watchdog, CJR and Jay Rosen have been writing about for some time, the picture looks bleak for so much of the superficial, ratings-driven, tabloid drivel. And yet, there are still some reporters out there slogging through the morass and doing their jobs very well. Why do some break through and others never seem to rise above the dreck?
-- Mean Jean Schmidt: wouldn't know honest history if it bit her on her bony ass.
-- Via Mahablog, I find two good reads: Andrew Bacevich and Jonathon Steele. Discuss.
-- Without fantasy home equity, how can we all go shopping to finance The Decider's rose-colored glasses fund?
-- Wouldn't it be nice to get all of the Sibel Edmonds information on the table, be able to sift through what is and is not substantiated on all sides of the questions being raised by lots of anonymous sources these days (understandably anonymous due to national security considerations being raised, but it makes it tough to verify or chase down doesn't it?), and get to the heart of all the implications thereon? I'm just saying...because rumor and innuendo is not nearly enough for allegations with these potentially serious implications if the rumor mill can be backed up with solid evidence and lots of corroborating witnesses and information. And we all deserve to know the truth, whichever way it takes us. The whole truth. But the innuendo without adequate oversight being done to find out the truth limbo? Not nearly good enough.
-- Emptywheel updates the Plame e-mail timeline. Excellent read...and one whose blanks I would LOVE to get answers for in the days ahead.
-- Finally, this is a sort of political meta question from Kevin Drum, but what informs your politics? Is it your moral issues that decide your political leanings?
What is catching your eye on the blogs or in the news today?
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GW Bush and Dick Cheney think they’ll get away with their crimes. I have $10 on them being prosecuted. It is just a matter of time and the right snitches. Heh heh heh.
Foreign stock markets plunge:
http://www.reuters.com/article.....8620080121
Hi, CHS!
Here’s hoping. I, for one, would love to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on the entirety of the Cheney involvement in Valerie Plame Wilson’s outing and his many trips to the CIA in the lead-up to Iraq. Just for starters…
Christy, let us not forget that Ari Fleischer and a pack of billioniares is set to inundate America with happy-talk tv spots about the Great Patriotic War.
Yep, as the big shitpile collapses around our heels Ari Fleischer and his minions will be shoveling the crap down our throats.
They are courting a backlash of untold proportions.
I think it is called Freedom Watch or some sort of fascsistic/Orwellian name and it is supposed to be because “three years the conservatives had said nothing and taken the abuse”.
-G
Heya — just back from a weekend away with Mr. ReddHedd and trying to catch up on all the news I missed. Whew! What a mess in the stock markets worldwide at the moment — lots of panic and not many answers, eh?
It looks like Larry Kudlow’s Goldilocks is floating face down in Grover Norquist’s bathtub.
-G
Freedom’s Watch — see here and here for early details.
I caught a glimpse of Kudlow on CNBC the other day, and he looked like he wanted to have a big cry. Still looking like that today?
CHS,
thanks for the links… perusing now.
mean jean… what a monstrous creature she is!
Funny thing: I was in the bookstore puchasing an interesting-looking new book called “The Philosophy of Insult”, and there were large displays behind the counter filled with Jim Cramer’s new tome “Jim Cramer’s Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)”. What a dipshit. The way that he cried for the jobs and bonuses of his investment banker buddies on teevee back in August was really touching.
To borrow a well-turned phrase,
My contempt for General Tommy Franks knows no bounds.
Christy, the US markets are closed for MLK holiday, so no Pudlow.
These sunny optimists are going to be looking like boobs.
Frankly, they are to the economy what the cheerleaders to the Iraq war were.
Liars who sold us product that was already rotting on the loading docks.
-G
Thanks to the tepid leadership of Pelosi and Reid, Ari Fleischer’s adds will probably succeed. After all, something has to fill the vacuum.
The thought of Kudlow crying makes me smile.
They are running the ads mainly against Republicans that they think are going soft on Bush support. This is a strategery designed to keep the GOP troops in line based on the lack of public support draining Bush’s political capital away like sinking sand in the hourglass…in other words, as I said in one of the links I gave GregB above, it’s Bush legacy CYA led by a crackpot group of neocons and Ari Fleischer’s willingness to sling lies whichever way he can for them in public.
Nope. It will be a colossal mistake. It will be just what I said, shoveling shit into people’s mouths.
Did all of the exact same fear mongering crap work in the 2006 elections?
Nope.
-G
Dow futures in London are down 500 points.
Rumor has it the easiest wat to do that is to flush his stash…
But I don’t know nuthin’ about that myself.
I may be way off the mark but I don’t think the ad I saw was effective at all. ‘We’re Winning’????? Nobody believes that anymore and even if they do think we’re winning, they don’t care. They just want it over. Am I being clear? The poll I saw said that even those that believed the surge was a success still want the troops home NOW.
Who’s gonna vote against Religious History Week, or whatever nonsense Mean Jean is sponsoring? You’d need a little courage (a/k/a balls) to do that. So, hardly anybody, probably.
The financial markets are in disarray. If they continue to unravel over the next 2 weeks, as appears likely, the impact on Super Tuesday is going to be huge.
My guess is that Romney and Clinton will benefit.
If you are one of the lucky Americans with the money to ride out a rough patch, there probably is a reason to be somewhat optimistic as a long-term strategy financially. When everyone else panics and sells off stocks that are from well-capitalized companies, it is the time to pick up bargains in the marketplace as a long-term investment. People who were able to do this during the Depression got wealthier and wealthier. The problem is (a) knowing which companies meet this and which decidedly do not and (b) most people don’t come close to having that kind of cushion in reserve to ride out the bad patch for too long.
Kudlow and his ilk need to spend time volunteering at a local homeless shelter for a few weeks and get a feel for how folks on the lower rungs are trying to survive. And how much their numbers have been growing lately…people who just a few months ago had homes that have been foreclosed or jobs that have been downsized or…well, you all know the rest, don’t you?
I hope the Dems talk about the Reagan/Bush economy and hang it around the Thugs neck. By the time the markets close tomorrow, even the low information voters will know that we are in deep shit. The Dems better get ahead of the message before the Thugs blame the Clenis and the Clagina.
They must have lots of money. The number of Republicans going soft on Bush support should soon be all Republicans.
Be nice to see Edwards leverage off this, spending time and effort describing how his economic policies represent a very clean break from those that have led us to where we are.
Christy,
I found this obit in today’s Boston Globe interesting. “The last surviving commander of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade at 92, Milton Wolff”
If you ever filled out a federal or military application through the ’70s, you most likely had to fill out the form dealing with the “Attorney General’s list of undesirable organizations” and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade was prominently listed.
Their crime? They were “PAFs” - Premature anti-fascists.
That’s what should happen, but there may be another bin Laden tape released to entertain the low information voters.
The first law the American Ruler of Iraq, Paul Bremer imposed was “de-Baathification”. Now, revoking this American imposed law, is given as evidence that the surge is working. At least Michael O’Hanlon, Hillary Campaign advisor says so in the Government Controlled WaPo. It is “unwise” and “harmful” to reduce troop levels, except for this summer, before the election. Is this Hillary’s opinion?
Next on the list for our winning surge, is stealing Iraq’s Oil, “hydrocarbon legislation”.
Wow. Read that Baltimore Sun piece. there are 2 counties (don’t know what they are or demographics or anything) where Dems are + c. 22,000 and Repugs are - c. 8,000. Boo-yah, indeed.
Destiny has NY. Boo-yah!!
I was wondering if anyone had seen the segment on the Edwards-Wynn last week on Now on PBS. It had Matt Stoller on but seemed a little all over the place. It called Wynn a liberal, just not liberal enough for progressives. I thought this was I called conservatives. Anyway, it also had Matt Bai on as an expert. Except for narcissism, I really don’t know what Bai is an expert on.
About the stock markets tanking and the fears of recession, the MSM is doing what they did with their Iraq coverage. In other words, they have on the same guys who got it wrong from the beginning and asking them what comes next.
Remember having to swear a Loyalty Oath? Those were the days.
I’m wondering in how many other states is this dynamic occurring? Has anyone else seen reporting in their locales that matches up with this? Or heard from local political groups? Several DFA groups nationwide have done voter registration drives in the past, as have DNC groups. Am wondering if this time of dissatisfaction might be a good time to push another wave of this — what do you guys think?
A lot of this is candidate-related, or seems to be, for the presidential primaries. But all of it can’t be, do you think?
Let me guess - you’re rooting for the Giants?
In a way, i hope Rudy wins Flori-duh. That’ll just muddy things more. And Rudy isn’t runninga s strongly as he figured in NY, so I dunno if he’ll have momentum. I supposeed it’d be his turn to wear the momentum hat. Everybody gets a turn, I guess. But if he wins Fl, who knows? Good. I love it when they trash each other.
DING! Gotta be right. Trying to sneak that sports crap in under the radar.
707!
Since c.1965.
Heard Anna Eschoo (D- Ca) this morning on the radio saying that Congress was trying to put together a plan to drop the interest rate for homeowners in trouble to around 3% for a specific length of time - about 4 years.
The sun came up in Iraq today. More evidence I expect for O’Hanlon that the surge is working. Maybe he and Peter Daou can be named to head a new Fictional Foreign Policy Ministry in a Clinton Administration.
FFFH editorial on Transportation in today’s WaPo0 Blame Bush and his Transportation Secretary when you’re stuck in traffic.
Missed this from Bradblog on the Edmonds story, and thought folks might like to see this as well. Just FYI…
I dunno. The turnouts in the primaries are good and that has to be attributable, in part at least, to some new voters. But even if it is candidate related, it’s good to have them in the fold. But I dunno. I just know where I am people are still pissed at the Democrats for taking us from a huge state that everybody would kill to win and making us meaningless. If the Dems have any increase in FL, THAT would be amazing.
Yep. That was part of the deal with the AG’s list - ya had to swear that you weren’t a member of such subversive groups.
The bit about the Lincoln Brigade always got to me though. After all, we can’t have average citizens getting ahead of the denizens of DC now can we?
I saw the pc. Think you have it just about right. The wife and I were chanting “go Edwards go”.
Barg-bag alert. Johnny Damon and Jon Voight spotted at Florida Giuliani reallies today.
Add on that Adam Sandler is a donor to Team Rudy.
-G
On days such as this Lahoma and I remember Martin. We understand what this giant stood for and the reason he perished. Dr. King believed, not in hatred, but love, peace and harmony. We have other ‘heroes’ if you will, that we recall fondly to our memories throughout the years. Our favorite president of all time was a Republican, named Abraham. Funny… this coming from a couple of rabid, liberal, progressive life long Democrats like us. And we yearn for the likes of JFK, RFK, Anwar Sadat, Yitzhak Rabin and Rachel Corrie. We’d like to say happy MLK Day to those of you who, like us, have the day off. But somehow it doesn’t seem appropriate. This is the short list of people we admire very much. Folks who worked for peace, and did not, by a longshot, deserve to leave us when they did.
We miss you Martin Luther King. Terribly. This is your day Mr. King. You are not truly dead. For you live on in our hearts and our continued struggle to do you proud. You are a man for the ages. Everyday is your day in this home. Thankyou Martin.
L. and okk.
Both NH and Iowa saw large boosts in Democratic turnout.
-G
I wonder if our idiot president will again say that it’s just wonderful that the U.S. Stock Market is so powerful that it impacts other nations. (You just know that one of his fluffers told him that to boost him up and the idiot repeated it)
{{{L/OKK}}}}
-G
I imagine some of his Repubs in the Congress are getting hit in the market. Yay!
You know, I don’t think wishing financial ill on anyone is a particularly lovely sentiment. Even smarmy bastards have children and families who need to buy groceries and gasoline and other things, ya know?
And when the stock market goes down a lot of working people and retirees lose money from their pension funds.
Christy! You Missed This ONE!
Apparently someone has been monitoring the FDL discussions of late and is now considering a run as an independent. And no, it’s NOT AL GORE!
NADER!
Republican moneybags are considering funding his run at this very moment!
I didn’t mean it that way. I was thinking that maybe they would do something to help those in trouble right now if they saw the problem personally. Sorry I offended you.
I found this article over at HuffPo to be interesting concerning our relationship with Saudi Arabia. Interesting take on the World Oil Markets also. I hope Congress takes the advice of Raymond Learsy and asks these difficult questions before authorizing the Sale of our Advanced Arms to Saudi Arabia.
A song for Martin Luther King Day:
ABRAHAM, MARTIN AND JOHN
Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
You know, I just looked around and he’s gone.
Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and he’s gone.
Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked ’round and he’s gone.
Didn’t you love the things that they stood for?
Didn’t they try to find some good for you and me?
And we’ll be free
Some day soon, and it’s a-gonna be one day …
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
I thought I saw him walkin’ up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.
Oh, good god, no.
Is that the guy on the talent show thingie? If so, now *there’s* an endosement. LOL
In addition to impacting the primaries, this market mayhem may finally bring an early end to our Iraq misadventure. For the very simple reason that we can’t afford it.
Well, I’m not in favor of bloviating drivel, that’s for sure.
But I’m also appalled by what’s happening to the MSM (and I’m talking newspapers here). They (and the good investigative reporters who work for them) are at bigger risk right now than in a long time. Why? Because newspapers aren’t very profitable at this point and their owners are all about profit.
Put all this in context: The LA Times fired its editor because he wouldn’t cut back on news people. The newspaper that my husband works for is up for sale right now, after having been owned for two generations by a family that was passionate about journalism — and the new generation isn’t so inclined, apparently.
So maybe one day we need to have a discussion about what this bodes for the future. I’m not talking about losing the pundits and columnists — I’m talking about the reporters. The folks who actually dig up information, day after day.
Maybe they can find a future in the blogosphere — Josh Marshall’s team is doing some good work in actual reporting and Murray Waas has apparently found a home at HuffPo — but to a large extent the actual news that the blogosphere discusses is dug up and reported on by newspaper reporters, who work for a dead-tree industry that has been shrinking in profitability over the last years.
And it scares me silly, frankly. Not just because I’m related to a journalist — but because a lot of our information comes from there. And without good information, we’re in big trouble.
You ask the question: why do some rise above the dreck? I’d ask a different question: in a world where profit and loss are paramount, how do we ensure survival to the reporters who do rise above it?
The Kleptocrats won’t be hurt..it’s the retired school teachers, factory workers with pension plans..people trying to do the right think with 401k plans..the next 3-5 years are going to be very bad.
Oh, shit! The mods tried to tell us to calm it down, and now look what we’ve done!
The reason we might sound insensitive to the rich losing some bucks is because we’ve been in meltdown for years now and they’ve been raking it in. So, I’ll not be crying if they too feel the pain.
You say: “You ask the question: why do some rise above the dreck? I’d ask a different question: in a world where profit and loss are paramount, how do we ensure survival to the reporters who do rise above it?”
Absolutely a question well worth asking. Over and over again as we move forward.
My God. Bush is looking like a shrunken head voodoo doll.
-G
Don’t make the mistake of equating everyone with money with the Dick Cheney war profiteer types or folks who could give a shit about the world around them. A lot of folks who have some money that they earned through a lot of hard work through the years — and who try and do good works for all of society — read here at FDL. And it is insulting to them to lump them into some unfeeling stereotype that is inaccurate at best.
I’m just saying…
Ding Ding Ding. Thank you Christy.
Actually the profit margins on some of the big papers are very good and larger than in most industries. There was a documentary on the LA Times I believe on PBS a while ago that pointed this out. The problem is that owners want to squeeze even more profit from them and do so by forcing through budget cuts, slashing news coverage, and increasing soft stories and infotainment.
It is rather like the story of the farmer with a talking pig. One day a neighbor came by and saw the pig limping around on just three legs. The neighbor concerned asked the farmer what had happened to this marvelous animal. The farmer agreed the pig was a marvel and added, “Can’t eat a pig like that all at once, you know.”
In other words, there is a big difference between George Soros and Richard Mellon-Scaife.
-G
You have offended voodoo dolls everywhere.
I see your point, however, IMHO, Millionaire Kleptocrats absolutely hate to lose a stinking dime on anything. I have no sympathy for fat cat Republicans as their portfolios tank. They brought it all on themselves and on me too. Ayn Rand - Reagan - Trickle Down economics. They piss on you and tell you its raining. All the money has been sucked out of the economy and sucked to the top. It can’t possibly work.
One fat cat said buy when there is blood in the streets. That’s the way such nice people talk.
OT…The Rev Caldwell’s “Metanoia Ministries” web site was taken down..I guess they don’t know about google cache…it is very difficult to make shit disappear from the Web.
I wonder how the Bush Family Trust Funds are doing? That’s all that matters to the Preznit.
I hear there is a real estate boomlet in Paraguay.
-G
Brit Hume’s first reaction to the London bombing was to buy stock. Said it proudly. Didn’t even consider that it was a reprehinsible reaction.
Speaking of Larry Qudslow…he’s not very excited about “republican-lite” Obama:
http://article.nationalreview......E5OTFjODE=
Surely “Quds” is out today getting inspired by re-reading MLK speeches and helping out some homeless vets.
Stock futures are down 4% today as the rest of the world tanks.
I don’t quite know what to make of this. But I do find it interesting that on this, of all days, two Democrats, Obama and Bill Clinton appear to be trying their best to kick the political crap out of each other. Perhaps it’s just nasty politics. As usual.
AP - Presidential candidate Barack Obama accused former President Bill Clinton of distorting his words as the Democratic race in South Carolina heated up on Monday.
The way I see it, folks with lots of money and portfolios like to play with it, kinda like flippin’ through the channels with a remote,see what’s interesting.
The rest of us?
Not so much fun.
The BS machine of Wingnutland is gearing up:
Muckraker
If the entire Bush family ended up in Paraguay, it would mitigate in a small way some of the pain we’re going to be feeling soon thanks to Bush.
Fred Hiatt has something on the Mary Peters scandal. At least someone is writing about this.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....inionsbox1
His docs must be screwing with his meds. I read some Dubya-speak on the web. I guess there are more than a few such sites. I was looking for a particular quote. As I was filtering through the material, I concluded that the man is an absolute embarrassment to the human species.
Here is a nice version of the song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuIMeHv9aHU
Matt Taibbi ’s latest.
The money quote:
We did this. The press. America tried to give us a real race, and we turned it into a bag of shit, just in the nick of time.
Here it is if people are so inclined to see the “sanctity of life” in it’s full glory.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200507070007
Disgusting people.
Bradblog update: Daniel Ellsberg comments again today:
http://www.bradblog.com/
The Preznit has a Harvard MBA, so his solution will be….cut his own taxes again. Getting a Harvard MBA must be so easy.
My Dad was in the Merchant Marines in the late 1930’s (after a stint training as a pilot) and was on a ship carrying airplane fuel, ostensibly to Marseille (but the Captain apparently was going to detour to Barcelona to supply the Republican Air Force). Francoist cruisers intercepted them and the crew was interned for six months until FDR interceded. My Dad, being a Texas boy from the borderlands was one of the few crewmembers to actually speak Spanish and acted as a sort of translator to at least make the conditions they were in a bit less onerous than those poor Spaniards accused of fighting for the Republican cause. Back homeside, Father Coughlin and John Cameron Swayze ranted on radio about the crew being “American Communists” for months…telling FDR not to intercede. Apparently my Dad was put on a blacklist once he got back, and that led to him not being allowed to be a pilot at the rank he left the USA Air Corps in the mid-1930’s. He eventually was made a bombadier flying over the Himalayas. But he always suspected he was on a blacklist somewhere, and only through the intercession of immediate superiors allowed to rise in rank.
It seems as though we may well be heading for a nasty recession. Which economic class does that have the most impact on?
Well the one thing that is heartening is that GOP politicians are having a tought time raising money so the target amount sounds like a lot of hot air.
-G
LATimes makes 20 percent on a dollar. but it is the future that scares the ownership.
You must have missed my comment @ #40…
Goopers will burn up millions fighting each other- unfortunately, so will Hill n’ Dale- er I mean Barak.
That story of your dad would a great book if you don’t mind me saying so.
Yeah. I’m not a big harp fan, but in the context of that song, it isn’t bad. The song was written by Dick Holler, and first sung by Dion DiMucchi (of Dion and the Belmonts), as is the YouTube you link to, which I’m pretty sure is of Dion’s original version.
The depression in the 30s affected everyone but some of the rich made out like bandits and some jumped from windows. Many were jobless, of course, but those who lived on farms, as I did, were able to live because they could grow things. I was born in 1933 and believe me, I know what it’s like to be poor.
Yes, very nice, nahunt. Thank You. I held it together till it got to Bobby. Crying over what could have been.
What economic class benefits for mega-deficit spending?
A sinking tide grounds all boats.
Some on farms were fortunate. Not my Gransfather. He lost his during the depression.