Oh the Huge Manatee!

Bu’ush must complete his ruination of America prior to moving on to destroy MLB (he wants to become Commish, ya know).

BT. Let’s not get to cocky about this. The D’s have pulled defeat out of the jaws of victory on several occasions. The current hair pulling between Obama and Clinton could lead to some nasty surprises in November

still isn’t stop them for doing their usual to divide the country across whatever lines are possible.

So who said there was no good news?

Also, Nancy and Harry are both working hard to regain minority status in the Senate and the House.

But, but, but….they reported today on Morning Joe that McCain’s winning based on a Zogby poll.

I agree.. that’s why we have to ensure we get out in huge numbers in Nov! We can’t take anything for granted, including secure vote counting.

And yet, we could still lose the presidency. This ain’t over yet.

Remember, it’s not the parties, it’s the corporations. The reason our media has turned into highly concentrated right-wing propaganda is because of corporations taking over Congress. Democrat or Republican makes no difference, if they won’t toe the corporate line no candidate will survive.

We have to take back our government from the ultra-wealthy and the corporations that they control.

Also!

In recent days, wealthy businesswoman Anne Estabrook (R) dropped out of the race in New Jersey, a large-scale recruiting effort failed on former South Dakota Lt. Gov. Steve Kirby (R), and the filing period passed for Sen. Mark Pryor’s (D-Ark.) seat without one GOP candidate on the ballot.

The filing deadline for two other targeted races, Iowa and Montana, is Friday and Thursday, respectively, and no major or well-funded candidate has yet signed up for either one.

[snip]

The financial woes are not limited to the committee, which has less than half of its Democratic counterpart’s $30 million in cash on hand. The nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute issued a report Thursday that showed incumbent Democrats up for reelection raised, on average, $1.2 million more than Senate Republicans with expiring terms did in 2007, and that Democratic open seat candidates raised about $1.4 million to their GOP counterparts’ $800,000.

…and, ominously for Senator Ensign:

Q: The National Republican Congressional Committee has some audit issues. Has that caused you to make sure your books are in order?
A: When I took over, I ordered a full audit last year. We hadn’t had an audit in the building in 13 years, a full-blown audit, in 13 years … We found it was clean.

Clean books after thirteen years without an audit? I doubt it.

While I like good news as much as the next fellow, I must rain on this parade.

Do you really think the neo-cons are going to go quietly into the night?

Do you really think that MSM will suddenly stop picking on Obamas pastor problem and point out some of the religious endorsements that McBush has?

Do you really think that the Religious Right will stay home?

Do you really think that the Dem nominee won’t be swiftboated the last week before the election?

Boxturtle (well, do you?)

If, by “fabulous,” the quote literally refers to the fables that people shall tell about the end of the so-called Grand Old Party, then I quite agree with the last sentiment.

nope

I think it was perris that asked the question whether it was more or less likely that there would be some sort of “manufactured” “surprise” (sorry if not you perris) prior to the elections. I think that it is very likely but more likely if obama is the nominee as I think the powers that be will be content with clinton2.

The republics, along with the MSM suffer from dilusions of grandeur. It’s going to be very ugly for them. I hope it’s much worse than anything they can dream up.

OT:
JP Morgan expects to cut about 7,000 Bear Stearns jobs.

Good for the economy and therefore good for republics.

They’re laughing all the way to the bank. Ha.

“He’s just killed the Republican brand.”

The morons in the GOP just don’t get it. “He” didn’t kill the Republican brand; “they” did–the whole bunch of them from Bush on down to the lockstep voting members of Congress. It took the whole party to do this, not just one idiot President. They could have helped themselves, but instead they sat there watching the Titanic sink beneath them while cheering on the brave captain for boldly speeding up when approaching the iceberg. Even a little common sense oversight would have helped them come the November election. They picked their side and they lost; now they’re blaming Chimpy for the whole mess. Idiots like simply don’t deserve to govern. Of course, they really haven’t been governing for the past seven years, so what the heck…

And, as far as the economy goes, things are only going to get worse from here.

Example #1: Bear Stearns, an 85 year old investment bank, which was worth billions and was selling at $170 a share a little over a year ago, just got taken over at $2 per share. That’s 1.2% of its previous value, a loss of 98.8%! This is amazing considering that its headquarters building alone was supposedly worth three or four times the sale price of the whole company.

The building is likely mortgaged, with no residual value.

I think it was perris that asked the question whether it was more or less likely that there would be some sort of “manufactured” “surprise” (sorry if not you perris) prior to the elections. I think that it is very likely but more likely if obama is the nominee as I think the powers that be will be content with clinton2.

I think the GOP has been loading guns for Hillary for the better part of 10 years. It wouldn’t shock me in the least if she is indicted for some financial dealings or influence peddling the day she’s nominated. They’re just holding on for the best time.

The GOP does NOT have that on Obama, they’ll likely have less than a years research to trash him if he’s selected.

The GOP can’t win this election on the issues and they know it. Their hope is to destroy whomever the Dems pick.

Boxturtle (Bill Clinton is dating your granddaughter. Obama is BLACK!)

“He’s just killed the Republican brand.”

Not good enough.
I want to see the body, I want to drive a stake in it’s heart and burn it to ashes, bury it in concrete and piss on it’s grave.

The neocons will not go anywhere because they are effectively the MSM.
The two approved candidates are McCain and Clinton, Obama is not supposed
to be there, that is what all the heat is about. A choice between neocon
lite and original strength neocon is not much of a choice, especially
this far out from the general election. Reality keeps intruding as the
conservative charade of the last 40 years implodes, but you would not
know it listening to the Republican camp of the Democrat Leadership
Council aka Clintonco. If the democratic candidates could just attack
the pukes together we might still stand a chance… it is not Obama’s
fault Clinton is a sore loser.

Gotta love it. Henry Paulson, SecTreas, is the former head of Goldman Sachs. Now he’s up there handing out taxpayers dollars to bail out his cronies.

Wasn’t that “The Double Cross” brand?

They didn’t just kill the brand, they killed it, buried it, then dug it up and chopped it into little pieces and buried again and then dug it up again and burnt the pieces and scattered the ashes.

Case in point is that in light of the disastrous consequences of Bushonomics and Bushwar R’s are calling for more of the same. I.e. Make the tax cuts permanent and 100 years in Iraq.

the only thing that’s happened is all the republican politicians got what they wanted all along

they wanted tax breaks for the wealthy, that cannot possibly do anything for america, they wanted “free trade” which is anything BUT free, it costs the middle class trillions of dollars and the middle class found that out because the republicans got their way, they wanted a war, they got one, and they wanted regulations rescinded

which they got…to the detriment and failure of this country

and THEN this president took advantage of these PUSSIES

the republicans were afraid to keep this mad adminsistration from RAISING taxes, were afraid to keep the president from GROWING government exponentially, they were afraid to keep this president from WATCHNING THEIR GIRLS UNDRESS and they actually argue the president and anyone that claims they work for the president CAN look under their girls dress ANYTIMG THEY WANT

what a bunch of pussy bastards

As far as I understand, it wasn’t. Could be wrong.

DUH!!Could it be… that they actually KNEW this was coming? So they installed a bossom bubba to the treasury spot?

The Brotherhood of Book Cookers…

it was me who said that IF mccain was really supporting obama then he had something to unleach during the general

but it might be a deak, rove knows that anyone he supports we will guard against, therefore he could easily CLAIM he supports obama when he really wants hillary to be the candidate

at any rate, hillary is already vetted, obama is probably going to be fine

if one of our candidates falls during the general we will be stuck with mccain, who will be running with either romney or liarman, I haven’t figured out which yet

oops, I meant that if ROVE was really supporting obama

man I miss that edit button

Books are best cooked with garlic, chopped green onions and a little bit of fresh thyme. Saute slowly in olive oil and serve over a bed of greens.

Delicious.

…and don’t forget the part where we send it’s head back to Texas Wyoming.

Or will it be Dubai?

Re: “cocky”…I am not going into another election afraid of the big bad Republicans. We cleaned their clocks in ‘06 and will do so again in ‘08.

Well… CNN says 75% say that the county is in recession. I gotta wonder if this is the same 75% that disapproves of shrub. Please campaign actively for johnny, shrub. As the party leader you need to take an active role in helping to sell your party. No mccain ad should ever go out without you pic on it. Come on, you’ve earned the right to some respect from your party :p

With the financial meltdown news ringing in all our ears, thought I could use a break from asset re-allocation duty on my early lunch hour for some soothing Irish music vids this St. Paddy’s Day:

The Corrs- Rebel Heart

Charley Lennon- Bonnie Kate

Don’t forget to garnish with sauted Constitution strips. !Viola!

Bush is probably headed to Paraguay, where he has a big ranch and no extradition. He’ll fit right in and besides they are running out of Nazis there. It’s a generational thing.

OT
Dodd’s going to be on CNBC to talk about financial market regulation. I’ll give another heads up when he appears.

WASHINGTON [AP]- President Bush, trying to calm turmoil in financial markets after a dramatic weekend, declared Monday that his administration is “on top of the situation” and dealing decisively with the slumping economy.

“One thing is for certain, we’re in challenging times,” Bush said after meeting with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and other senior economic advisers. “But another thing is for certain: We’ve taken strong, decisive action.”…

…Bush commended the Federal Reserve for its urgent actions over the weekend, which included guaranteeing financing for the Bear Stearns deal and making available more credit to Wall Street investment banks…

___________

Emphasis mine.

As I understand it, they’re gonna allow favored Wall St. firms to collateralize additional taxpayer-provided funding with even more inscrutably arcane paper “debt instruments” in an affort to keep covering up the accruing corpses.

How could I forget the garnish of shredded Constitution? Sorry. You get a free dessert of high priced lawyers on ice.

CNN says 75% say that the county is in recession. I gotta wonder if this is the same 75% that disapproves of shrub.

Yes. The same minority that is against the illegal invasion in Iraq

CNN says 75% say that the county is in recession. I gotta wonder if this is the same 75% that disapproves of shrub.

Yes. The same minority that is against the illegal invasion in Iraq

the insane minority

The Republican destruction of their “brand” has done serious damage to America and millions of people here and in the rest of the world. While I can understand one getting satisfaction from the general recognition that their actions are immoral to downright evil, it is anything but funny.

and making available more credit to Wall Street investment banks…

in other words, more free money, more paper printed, lower dollar value, fewer saving, more inflation, more debtor and more countries refusing to take our money

brilliant

Dodd’s up on CNBC.

more free money, more paper printed, lower dollar value, fewer saving, more inflation, more debtor and more countries refusing to take our money

It takes a real business attitude and experience in the WH to make that work.

What this economy needs is a good BJ. That’s the kind of experience we need in the Oval Office.

Dodd was in the mosh pit over the weekend.

I think 2008 is going to be a fabulous year for the Republican Party.

Mebbe.

Wouldn’t take much to have the USSC intervene in the Presidential and every goddam Congressional election.

We have precedent now.

An indication of just how bad things are is the example of CITIC, the Chinese “sovereign wealth fund.” They came in, took a look at the BSC debacle, and said, “no thanks, we’ll pass.”

The USA is now effectively BK. No one wants our shitty paper.

I want to see the body, I want to drive a stake in it’s heart and burn it to ashes, bury it in concrete and piss on it’s grave.

Amen.

1,793 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen Blue Texan and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:

I jest got back from three dayz with two of my kidz and my three grandbabies at a water park in central Wisconsin. Both the kids are teachers in urban high schools and both are so dedicated to their schools and their missions they would never leave for love or money (and they know they’re not gunna get rich if they stay in teachin especially not in “the City”). So it was quite a shock to me when we watched “JFK’ and then “Glory Road” and BOTH of ‘em were knocked to the floor by the truth of their history which they claimed had been kept from them (of course they had heard it all before from “the old man” but weren’t certain that what they grew up with wasn’t metaphorical hyperbole – until this weekend)…they were astounded that the facts of history were more unbelievable than the fictions of their formal education.

So we ken all dance around the Maypole singin’ the Funeral March in memory of the fascist movement of the last 50 years …or we ken get to organizin’ to make sure that lethal poison of fear and bigotry aren’t swallowed whole by our brothers and sisters from the segregated fountains of corporate television. “Where is our FDR” is the question bein’ repeated over and over…well, all we hafta do is create one outta the raw material we’ve been givin’ in Barak Obama. Look, our leaders don’t spring up from the primordial muck of politics with a new line of truth in their gene-history. Real leaders of political change are carried forward on the shoulders of masses of people who convince them that change possible…we hafta convince Obama that in order for him to be president, for him to beat back the racist propaganda he’s gunna hafta stand up for the little folks and speak truth to power and convince the “folk” that he actually stads for progressive action that solves problems for the greater mass of the sufferin populous. He doesn’t need ta speak anymore to the “radical pastor issue” what he needs ta do is get off the namby-pamby, Casper Milquetoast health care plan he’s advancin’ and call for single-payer healthcare delivered through medicare over the next 12 years begginnin’ in 2009 by extendin’ medicare eligibility to all kids through age 17 years and droppin eligibility down to 55 year olds immediately.

All we hafta do is convince Obama that we won’t abandon him if he calls the fascists out. He needs ta know that he can’t ever gain the support of the corporatist media so his only hope is ta trust the masses of folks who have gotten him this far and jump in front of the people.

KEEP THE FAITH AND TELL THE LEADER WHERE YER GOIN’ SO HE KEN LEAD US THERE!!

Yes, I think the war and the recession and people getting killed is hilarious.

Geez.

Bobby,

They always have one of their boys as the Sec of Tres and the Fed and the World Bank and the IMF.

Conspiracy? Na

I wonder when we’ll hear “the solution is lower taxes and fewer regualtions, that will solve everything

Sen. Vitter says, in reference to Spitzer’s pecadillo

“Anybody who looks at the two cases will see there is an enormous difference between the two of them. The people that are trying to draw comparisons to the two cases are people who’ve never agreed with me on important issues like immigration and other things.”

80 thousand differences no doubt.

A colleague who has a tiny tv in his office just went by my door, peeked in & said, “Thank God for Dodd.”

Amen, Senator.

Got to get off this site now. Read you all later.

Dodd didn’t say very much. He did stress that the root of the problem was nonperforming mortgages and to get at the root, he wanted to get banks to figure out ways of keeping as many people as possible in their homes with restructured mortgages. He would go along with the kinds of financial reporting & regulation foregiveness that might involve.

A M F ’s !!!

silly ass SouthernTexas Republican Red Neck

took the liberty to edit

Hillary seems to be really acting like a brat. She needs to see that the people are not wanting her and she should stop being a spoil sport.

OT – but holy cow.

LOS ANGELES, March 17 (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Monday threw out all guilty verdicts against former Qwest Communications International Inc (Q.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio, ordering a new trial in an insider trading case seen as a test of government attempts to squash corporate fraud.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver voted 2-1 to overturn all 19 guilty counts and ordered a new trial in front of a new judge, saying that Judge Edward Nottingham had improperly excluded an expert witness ready to testify for Nacchio.

saw the news at EW, but without a link. looks like it’s true.

Hello Firepups™!

Just a friendly reminder: In the comments here at FDL, please do not suggest acts of violence towards others, including Presidential candidates.

Thank you, carry on.

gasp

Watched scar for a few minutes (very few) this morning and pretty much the first thing showed was a clip of a Dem making less than positive comments about financial conditions in the country. scar’s reaction: “The Dems can always be counted on to knock what republics are do.” [paraphrase] So that’s his explanation: yeah, things look a little iffy but it’s Dems who make it a self-fulling prophecy. Thank you for watching CNBC; I won’t for fear of running into cramer.

Yeah Bobby, you got it.
The Fed is opening the discount window to investment banks to lend short term cash on “investment grade” mortgage backed securities. The same ones that are that compose big shitpile and were infected by the subprime defaults.

Traditionally the fed only lends to federally chartered banks, which Bear Stearns and the other investment banks are not.

So this is unprecedented and indicates that the big players are worried indeed.

off for a long drive, the sun is out and I have a convertable, gonna enjoy my car while I can still afford the gasoline that feeds it

see all later

The problem is far deeper than just sub prime scammers. Wall street is unregulated and printing money with the help of central bankers who are private not government interest. They conduct their deliberations in secret.

That, alone, is reason enough to abolish the fed.

Good morning, this sobering Monday. Hello BT.

The Repugs have been so self-destructive following their death strategy, no matter how tragic the results, that they are taking us all down with them. I found nothing much of good news in the UK
Guardian this morning. When I hear The Feds and JP Morgan rapidly put together this Bear Sterns bail-out this weekend, it reminds me of how many errors are made in a rush job.

My question is why didn’t BS say something? Their executive team knew the bank was insolvent. Instead, they said it was on solid footing. Investors cannot trust corporate executives. How many people and institutions purchased shares in BS only to learn it was worth $2.00 a share the next day.

from The Guardian UK:

The $2-a-share JP Morgan takeover of Bear Stearns was put together rapidly over the weekend, with the US authorities keen to tie up a deal before the Asian markets opened.

The US Federal Reserve took emergency action on Sunday, cutting its discount rate – the rate at which banks lend to each other – by a quarter of a point. It also said it would set up a new lending facility for investment banks – something it has not done since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

If you can keep your head when all about you looses theirs, chances are, you just don’t grasp the situation.

Irony, RIP

it’s Dems who make it a self-fulling prophecy. Thank you for watching CNBC; I won’t for fear of running into cramer.

I remember the very first financial statement from bush when he took office was “the market is going to decline so don’t blame me”

of course that was a self fulfilling prophesy yet he inoculated himself by causing something that he told everyone not to blame him for

I actually had some hopes for him running with the clinton economy until he said that, I said to myself, could someone really be that stupid

and he was of course

no shit. who are the expert witnesses he’s going to be able to call?

maybe something to do with those pre-911 gov contracts that sound an awful lot like illegal spying?

thanks Selise, wow!

nothing up yet, but wonder if Jeralyn will have something on it later – she liveblogged the trial

I used the consumer sentiment data intensely around business cycle turning points. Consumers are very aware of what’s going on in the economy. (BTW, they’re not always correct in their assessment, but when they find out they’re wrong, they change their minds, and more quickly than econ forecasters who are wrong.) Anyhow, I love it when Rs & their sock puppets try to put a sunny face on a stinky economy. Voters know that’s not so, and it really lowers the credibility of the spinners.

This morning I watched W’s 2-minute “we’re on top of it” presser on CNBC. Mark Haines, one of the anchor’s, burst out with frustration afterwards, and evidenced complete disbelief. Think he said something like: That’s it!!! So they’re even losing the Wall St. supporters.

You actually drive around for “fun”? How bizarro!

Have you checked to see if Brad has anything up about that yet? Dial-up or I’d pop over there myself without asking.

Reflecting on a legitimately sad demise, France today buried the last of its World War One soldiers, poilus. Le Figaro, a conservative, French daily newspaper, offers a two minute video homage (silent film & music, no French required). It’s sanitized for a general audience, but worth a watch; some of it has never before been published. The war was much worse then, as it is in Baghdad now.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/lefigar…..poilus.php

My sense is the main street has been feeling the bite for years now and hedging on calling this climate a recession is just another one of the lies coming from W and his bots.

We know things out there are sh*t. These guys on Wall street haven’t a clue, they are still getting millions in bonuses. I believe wall st bonuses were UP this past xmas.

if you mean brad blog, no. (or do you mean somewhere else? happy to go looking for you).

You can laugh if you want. But keep in mind that when these people get desperate there is no limit to what they will do to impose their will and hang onto power.

They’re like trapped rats…and they’re rabid.

Then you’ll appreciate this:

Consumer confidence lowest on record

This would be just desserts if it didn’t include so many innocent undeserving people. This is one pathetic unconvincing two minute report on the state of the economy.

US president George Bush attempted to reassure the markets this afternoon, saying that the Fed had taken “strong and decisive” action.

“In the long run our economy’s going to be fine. Right now we’re dealing with a difficult situation.”

I did a little clip yesterday, using Lena Horn’s version of Stormy Weather to illustrate the same point you just made. And, coincidence, I found a great shot of that Led Zeppelin album cover with McCain in it.

At some point, closer to the election, we should have a pool to see who comes closest to predicting how many Senate seats and how many House seats they lose.

Those data only go back to 2002. You need much more history to know if it’s a reliable cyclical indicator. The University of Michigan or the Conference Board have such data.

why are we cheering that no Republican will be running against Sen. Mark Pryor(D)? This is the same guy that voted for the war, voted for retroactive immunity, and has voted against any and all Iraq redeployment bills.
The GOP doesn’t NEED to run against him.
If anything, Dems should be looking for someone to primary against him

Bush understands neither emotionally or intellectually what he’s saying. He says whatever’s in front of him, confident that none of it will have any practical effect on him.

I forgot that Pryor claims to be a Democrat; he makes Lieberman look like a Communist.

“In the long run our economy’s going to be fine. Right now we’re dealing with a difficult situation.”

Yeah, and ‘in the long run’ we’ll all be dead, too.

when these people get desperate there is no limit to what they will do to impose their will and hang onto power.

Nah, I don’t buy it. Why bother with desperate measures, when right now they can hand a smoldering wreck of an economy, an infrastructure, and two incomplete wars, to either the erstwhile Dem opposition, or the most internally-unpopular Republican of them all? Sit out the next four years, throw media grenades and obstruct progress whenever possible, and have power handed back to them in four years, with one of the two-either Democrats or wanna-be Republicans discredited.
No desperate measures necessary.

Too late for a primary challenge. Pryor gets off scott-free, just like Ben Nelson did in 2006. In fact, none of the Arkansas congressmen have primary or general election challengers! And, none of them are worth a hill of beans (or even a small mound).

Fed press release:

For immediate release

The Federal Reserve on Sunday announced two initiatives designed to bolster market liquidity and promote orderly market functioning. Liquid, well-functioning markets are essential for the promotion of economic growth.

First, the Federal Reserve Board voted unanimously to authorize the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to create a lending facility to improve the ability of primary dealers to provide financing to participants in securitization markets. This facility will be available for business on Monday, March 17. It will be in place for at least six months and may be extended as conditions warrant. Credit extended to primary dealers under this facility may be collateralized by a broad range of investment-grade debt securities. The interest rate charged on such credit will be the same as the primary credit rate, or discount rate, at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Second, the Federal Reserve Board unanimously approved a request by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to decrease the primary credit rate from 3-1/2 percent to 3-1/4 percent, effective immediately. This step lowers the spread of the primary credit rate over the Federal Open Market Committee’s target federal funds rate to 1/4 percentage point. The Board also approved an increase in the maximum maturity of primary credit loans to 90 days from 30 days.

The Board also approved the financing arrangement announced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and The Bear Stearns Companies Inc.

Emphasis mine. “…a broad range of investment-grade debt securities.” LOL. As determined by whom?

o/t

JP Morgan is paying $236M for Bear Stearns but says it will set aside $6B for litigation and “severance costs”

btw, some CNBC bobblehead pointed out JPM acquired BSC for less than the Yankees paid for A-Rod ($275M)

Ya know, I’ve wondered if the bazaarness (sp?) of that economic speech boosh made tail end of last week had anything to do with the tone of the opies by collins and dowd over the weekend? It was kinda like….O.K., can’t cover up it up anymore; guess I’d better not try to make him took good right this minute.

selise -

Yup, that’s the one….so there’s nothing there yet?

Just goes to show how good Bill Clinton was for the Arkansas Democratic Party that he left it in such horrible hands.

Not surprising. A-Rod has a chance of performing this year.

IRT @90,

should have been “…wanna-be Republican mavericks discredited…

I miss “edit”, but even more I miss “quote this comment”.

The latest blow came with the revelation that the former treasurer of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) had allegedly diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars — and possibly as much as $1 million — from the organization’s depleted coffers to his own bank accounts.

Neither wind, nor sleet, nor snow has hindered this unflappable patriot from his duty to protect the Republican Brand. A fine businessman he is – pulling himself up by the NRCC bootstraps.

yeah, I understand it’s too late to primary against Pryor now…. I just wish Ark. Dems had been doing it long ago

sounds like the foundation of a good party

more on Qwest/Nacchio from

Denver Post

as info on ‘expert witness’

Please, let us not go down the rabbit hole that they went down over at Kos.

I think 2008 is going to be a fabulous year for the Republican Party.

For the fabulous icing on the fabulous 2008 GOP cake, in October Commander Codpiece will announce that he’s leaving Laura for his one true love, Abu Gonzalez — Condi will go into a designer shoe store and never come out, while Jimmy Jeff files a palimony lawsuit.

This will, of course, be good news for the Republicans.

It looks like he actually stole much more than that. Aside from being the treasurer of the NRCC, he was also the treasurer for dozens of GOP congressmen– and he was stealing from all of them. It’s party of the party ideology. People need to ask how they can be trusted to watch our money, if they can’t even watch their own!

It looks like he actually stole much more than that. Aside from being the treasurer of the NRCC, he was also the treasurer for dozens of GOP congressmen– and he was stealing from all of them. It’s party of the party ideology. People need to ask how they can be trusted to watch our money, if they can’t even watch their own!

the ultimate Republican!

I miss “edit”, but even more I miss “quote this comment”.

Me too. Spend so much time scrolling back to check what is being referred to that I get left behind.

Speaking of the ruined Repug brand, I have related news. My account at MyDD has been blocked from commenting even though I am logged in, and my IP logged to keep me from creating a new account. I will admit to being involved in some spirited discussion with the Clintonistas that are camped out there, but I never used abusive language and also never received an e-mail from them with any complaint or issue. I am sure that this happened to many others like myself. How’s that for “Direct Democracy”? They are in a full-court press right now for Clinton and apparently don’t wish to be pestered.

Do Republic Party bylaws prohibit stealing? The treasurer’s actions seem so natural for an entity owned by the Bush family.

Howie, within my lifetime it’s always been like this. Everytime Republicans are put in charge of anything, they steal everything but the wallpaper.
Or so it seems to me.

After all, in the Clinton world, it is Hillary’s turn.

OT, but leverage is playing a huge role in all of this.

Let’s say you invest a $1 in something and make a nickel in a year, a %5 return. Nothing great, but a positive return.

But let’s say you could borrow $32 dollars against that one dollar, and still make a nickel per dollar.

Now you have made $1.60 from your dollar investment, or 160 percent, not 5 percent. Even after paying the bank interest for the cost of borrowing the money there is lots left to pocket for the managers and investors.

OTOH, if you lose %5, then you’ve lost $1.60 which is more than the $1 dollar you started this investment with. You now have to come up with sixty cents just to walk away from the transaction.

This is obviously a gross oversimplification to get the point across, but it’s the essence of what’s happening with Carlyle’s troubled hedge fund, and probably what sank Bear Stearns.

How on earth do we allow financial services companies to leverage their assets 32 times?

That was clearly begging for trouble, and now that’s what we’ve got.

no, but there’s a note saying brad is on the road for 2 weeks begining 3/10

There was some brief mention of that situation on TV when the story first broke. Since then…..*crickets*

The Sunday Denver Post had a feature article on Judge Nottingham, who presided over the Naccio trial — to say he is a piece of work is the understatement of the century.

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_8580044

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_7250964

Somehow, it is hard to look at trouble for the Carlyle Group as bad news.

Ta to you for looking and cbl2 for the linky.

I’d say this is a must-read. Follow the Bear Sterns money trail right to the downfall of Spitzer.
http://www.gregpalast.com/elli…..ts-nailed/

nice Brand ya got there, be a shame if something happened to it . . .

thinking outloud – been googling/pdf’ing since the NRCC story broke

and there is something wildly coincidental about Abramoff being gone and these guys suddenly down on their heels – and I mean outside all the reasons they’ve brought upon themselves btw Iraq, corruption, and abject incomptence

they were a lot more dependent on Jack than originally thought and now they’re screwed ?

or

did all that he brought in cause them to expand their infrastructure to a now unmanageable point ?

don’t normally talk off the top of my head but there is definitely something undeniable there

Howie, within my lifetime it’s always been like this. Everytime Republicans are put in charge of anything, they steal everything but the wallpaper.
Or so it seems to me.

So true!

Hilarious, but so true.

Could it be that Chee-knee and McShame both decided to cut and run to Iraq because they were bailin’ out on Bush?

God and St. Patrick help us all.

I am officially a non-person to MyDD, and wear the designation with pride!

Except that the Republican Federal Gubmint enables them to externalize their losses onto us. Internalize Profit – Externalize expenses. Its the Republican way. Big Business must be bailed out. The little guy gets a kick in the ass.

How on earth do we allow financial services companies to leverage their assets 32 times?

You don’t. Their buddies at JP Morgan, et. al. do. And when the music stops you either have to post more equity (i.e. another dollar) or sell assets. When your assets are essentially worthless (nobody will buy them) you’re screwed.

That’s why the Fed is open for bailout business.

Somehow, it is hard to look at trouble for the Carlyle Group as bad news.

I agree, but my point is they are not alone. There are hundreds of ‘really smart’ (mostly) guys that ran out to start hedge funds that are doing the same thing.

It’s the primary reason gas prices are so high.

The oil futures contracts get bid up higher and higher by these hedge funds using insane amounts of leverage to do so.

it may work out even better than that

there’s only anecdotal evidence so far but there’s reason to believe he’s been doing it for quite some time, and one of the groups he worked for . . . Swiftboat Veterans for Truth

he worked for NRC since 1995 – would love to find out he moved Republics $$$ to Swiftboaters – imagine if there were a functioning FEC

Could it be that Chee-knee and McShame both decided to cut and run to Iraq because they were bailin’ out on Bush?

That was snark, right? They’re over there with their counterparts engraving in stone commitments that we will stay there forever. :-(

I would argue that it’s needed to die for quite some time – hey, wait a minute…That’s it! Das Chimp IS leaving behind a legacy! A bankrupt brand for the morally bankrupt. LOLOLOLOLOL

MSNBC: Lawsuit filed against Bear Stearns on behalf of all who’ve bought stock since 12/06.
Pile on.

Yiippppeeeeeeee….

Thanks, RoyalOak

See? That is the real problem right now. Greedy trial lawyers just trying to make a quick buck off of the suffering of good corproate citizens.

No link, but I read somewhere that around 80% of the lawsuits in America are corporations suing each other. One of the many reasons I could never get on board with that whole “must-cap-liability-to-end-frivilous-lawsuits” thing. It’s not citizen’s lawsuits clogging the courts.

MSNBC: Lawsuit filed against Bear Stearns on behalf of all who’ve bought stock since 12/06.
Pile on.

I should hope so. These executives knew the truth about their solvency and they lied to investors and the public. They need some serious jail time. No out on bail stuff, either. These guys are making Enron look like a bunch of amateurs. For these criminals the rest of us pay! And take the Carlyle Group down too.

This is the greatest transference of the people’s wealth to a handful of gutter thieves.

That particular straw man has always bothered me as well.

You don’t. Their buddies at JP Morgan, et. al. do.

You are right, but what I was driving at is that the regulatory agencies allow it. They set margin requirements in the financial markets.

They set reserve requirements for chartered banks. Much less so with investment banks and none at all with hedge funds.

Ya Verboten!

“Republican”
“NeoConservatives”
“Michele Bachmann”
” Sally Kern”
“Hate Speeches”

GUD!

“Q: The National Republican Congressional Committee has some audit issues. Has that caused you to make sure your books are in order?
A: When I took over, I ordered a full audit last year. We hadn’t had an audit in the building in 13 years, a full-blown audit, in 13 years … We found it was clean.”

Clean books after thirteen years without an audit? I doubt it.

In addition, it’s a lie. The audit found that $1 million of the funds had been misappropriated by their Treasurer for 2005 and 2006 alone. The Treasurer, who had been given exclusive signatory power to shift allocations of funds between the NRCC and affiliated campaign committees AND supposedly unaffiliated independent political groups like the Swiftboaters, had created fake audits for over a decade.

The “audit” Ensign’s referring to is the very one (for ONE year) that exposed the fraudulent series of audits. There are likely several million dollars missing, and illegally allocated…which could result in major fines from the FEC. This could end up draining those political campaign committees that are still active, and that of the NRCC to pay for the illegal shifts to inactive or unaffiliated groups.

Scott Horton is coming out of his corporate lawyer’s shell. Reviewing last week’s tornado of bad news – and MoDo’s persnickety critique of Bush’s cheerful, indeed, oblivious, responses to it all – Horton identifies what may be the most plausible reason for it:

Certainly we can’t rule out another possibility: better living through chemistry. After all, the capstone to his utterly bizarre visit to New York on Friday was, according to one observer, a death-grip on-stage hug administered to Henry Kissinger.

I’ll take an Irish whiskey. Better make it a double.

http://www.harpers.org/archive…..c-90002661

“He’s just killed the Republican brand.”

The morons in the GOP just don’t get it. “He” didn’t kill the Republican brand; “they” did–the whole bunch of them from Bush on down to the lockstep voting members of Congress. It took the whole party to do this, not just one idiot President. They could have helped themselves, but instead they sat there watching the Titanic sink beneath them while cheering on the brave captain for boldly speeding up when approaching the iceberg.

Rats jumping off a sinking ship and pointing fingers at the ones still aboard.

“The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win the race you’re still a rat.” — Lily Tomlin

The USA is now effectively BK. No one wants our shitty paper.

We gave them a lot of our jobs, so I guess now we have to give them lots of Weimar dollars. Fun fun fun!

I wonder if Nancy is reconsidering setting the table.

The oil futures contracts get bid up higher and higher by these hedge funds using insane amounts of leverage to do so.

I thought credit was supposed to have dried up. How are they managing to over-leverage now?