thievery on a scale almost too big to imagine

EPU’d … Katymine, Meet me in Paros. We will rent mopeds and ride through the butterfly park.

Good night, good folks. I haven’t been around much lately, but it’s good to know y’all are still here.

zzzz snrk zzzzzzzzzzzz!

Digg it!

thievery on a scale almost too big to imagine

Did you read ES’s link to Bernie Sanders’ speech near the bottom of the last thread?

I had to stop half way through – it was making me sick.

and it is, literally, on a scale too big to comprehend….

fuck it, I’m out. Nite, all.

Dugg, neuro!

ES… did you ever have the hot crossed buns on Porros? Yum….. it was a habit when I lived in Greece was to find the local bakery in the villages….. usually they would have something that was unique to that locality……

This isn’t a debt just for us, it’s a debt for our children and our children’s children.

The corporate welfare that just keeps giving…

We are both spelling it wrong…. Poros

I’m soory, jayt.. I must say your zinger earlier today made me laugh.

I’m starting to wish we’d never elected Paulson. /s

I think that bakery may very well be my favorite in the whole wide world. I ate there at least twice a day.. and probably stayed four or five more days on Paros just because of it.

Yes, my bad.. I had a McCain moment… making Paros part of Spain. /s

Nice to see you here again, Liss.

Hey, neuro, I guess it worked well enough to snag the zed…! ;-)

Thanks. I’ve had multiple attacks of RL[TM] and haven’t been online much in ages.

My problem is that I lived in country long enough that I was calling things by their Greek name….. Athena, Creta…. so well then I can’t find it using the English version…..

Bernie’s piece that you mentioned back thread- read it yesterday, ES.
Startling grasp of the nearly impossible-to-believe.

My hubbie and I are having a hard time financially. Nothing new. Just the way it is. Now when the credit card assholes come a callin’ I am going to refer them to my rich uncle, Uncle American Tax Payer. They can get their money from him.

and don’t fucking forget-Unfettered Fucking Capitalism Fucking Kills.

Yes it is.. I hope Bernie has Dodd and Reid’s ear this week.

Aloha, ES, kewl tunes!

We used to need to get more and better Democrats. But with their acceptance of this ‘plan,’ we have a much bigger task now – upending nearly the entire Congress.

I’ve been wondering about you Mary. F*ck the credit card people, their high rates, extra charges, more fees and sliding due dates. I’d rather do business with Al Capone.

You said “the corporate welfare that just keeps giving.”
I’m thinking ” the corporate welfare that just keeps taking”. And taking and taking.
It is the Grover Norquist vision of shrinking government to the size that you can drown it in a bathtub. Fuck, I sincerely hope Grover -EDITED BY MODERATOR-, in a hotel room, with hookers who raid his pockets and leave. No offense meant to hookers….
An atheist’s prayer!

~~~ModNote: Edited for content. Let’s not become what we despise please.~~~

Seriously.. if Pelosi lets this through… there needs to be a super major last ditch effort to elect Cindy.

CT! I’ve been afk much of the day… what happened in the east?

Nancy isn’t my worry – she is in the bag, regardless of her feigned protestations, I think.
It’s the back-benchers who need to put her on the spot, risk their seats to stand for their constituencies, that we need now.

AT & T buries customer rights in 2,500-page ‘guidebook’
Judging from the phone company’s voluminous new online customer manual, if you have a problem with your bill, too bad.

AT&T has sent customers an 8,000-word service agreement that, among other things, says people will be given 30-day notice of price increases only when “commercially reasonable” and that you can’t sue the company.

Oh, and if you don’t like AT&T’s terms — providing you can make your way through the company’s 2,500-page “guidebook” — your only recourse is to cancel service.

Not a whole lot in Iraq, A Marriot hotel in Islamabad was the target of a truck bomb… Pretty gruesome…!

Sorry, LurkingMod.
I crossed the line almost. Firgot for a moment that my comments could be seen as violent instead of desperate.

I don’t know… she worries me.. FISA WAR No Table.. it’s a pattern. And SF could organize quickly if they saw fit.. Few moves would wake up all those other safe folks more than an solid attack on or defeat of Pelosi.

She richly deserves it too.

I think a collapse of the bankers is just what the doctor ordered. Our nation currently runs on debt, should just erase the debt and make the bankers eat the loss. How many people have lost their homes because of these assholes? Or have to get second jobs just to pay these asswipes? Fuck ‘em, let them eat from dumpsters, they all deserve it.

If it is any consolation, we all have imaginations, openhope.

Just some are more vivid than others…! ;-)

All hail Ceasar Paulson.

-G

We have all been there. All of us.

Yup.. bail out the peoples homes..and let the bankers chips fall where they may.. We can wake up on Jan 20th with President Obama, leader Sanders and Speaker Kucinich.. it would be a brand new day. *s*

Actually, we have some minor recourse, though it’s more emotionally satisfying than anything else. Always wait until a day before they cut off your service before paying your bill, and always just enough. I love getting that final warning in the mail every month, knowing it costs AT&T money to send it.

Just imagine if 10% of AT&T’s customers did it. Or more.

Y’all both join me and we’ll sail into the sunset under the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion.

Sadly, I remember one of our battle cries in early ‘06 was wait til we give Nancy the gavel…! Fond memories, eh?

The latter two will never happen, but it doesn’t hurt to dream. Frighteningly weird fact about Sanders, as a member of the House, the congressman he voted with the most was Ron Paul.

I have been working ten – twelve hour days trying to catch up on my flash skills. Am going to start learning Joomla soon. But I am making some money. Better than before. I do miss my fdl time though.

I cancelled ATT the day I had an alternative available.

Fundie preacher in Arkansas compound raided on charges of child pornography.

He sounds like Koresh 4.0.

-G

That works too, not really much alternative where I am.

FDL misses your time too, Mary.
What’s Joomla?

I’m a happy camper with my digital phone service from the cable company, free phone calls, a big deal here, since Hawaiian Tel charges for even inter-isle calls…!

Oh, seems someone from the Lumpkin campaign has been watching me. They emailed me about something I’d said in a comment here, defending their tactic of embracing John McCain and Sarah Palin. Even sent me a nifty PDF of Little Duncan’s campaign contributions from his daddy’s friends in the MIC. I think they want me to do something with that information.

That’s been a mess for twenty years.. at least. ANd the AR fundies who get shrill over almost everything, are not saying a word about this.

Joomla is an open source web design code. It is going to replace things like dreamweaver.

Yes, but in the end it’s non-constructive. Just mental masturbation.
You’re absolutely right.

It is an awful lot of earmarks though that Daddy Duncan handed out. And they all gave money to Lil Duncan.

How did they know who you really are.. much less know how to email you? Did you post your info in that thread or send them info about yourself outside of FDL?

Glenn Greenwald’s post, which has already been mentioned here today, is much too good to have only 30 or so DIggs. Let’s help a blogger out.

The people on whose behalf these schemes are being implemented — the true beneficiaries — are the very same people who have been running and owning our Government — both parties — for decades, which is why they have been able to do what they’ve been doing without interference. They were able to gamble without limit because they control the Government, and now they’re having others bear the brunt of their collapse for the same reason — because the Government is largely run for their benefit.

NSA told ‘em.

A correction: Government + Corporations against the people isn’t socialism. It’s fascism.

Not hard for them to figure out, a few months back, during the primary, I’d sent them, and the other Democrat running for the nomination, a bunch of questions, and posted the answers on DailyKos and Calitics. So they know who I am now.

Thought I was well rid of them. Then they took over both my telco and my cell carriers.

…gird your loins….Mercury turns retrograde 17 minutes after midnight on Wednesday in the sign of Libra…refrain from contract signing, repairing electronic equipment and serious trip planning…messages tend to get garbled and since Libra is ruled by Venus…well, use your imagination….
It stations direct on October 15th at 1:06 PM.

I can get a two week stay at Amazones on Crete for only 1050 euros….. now I can go to bed happy…… Nite everyone…..

What I found more disturbing was what I found out by getting email from Minutemen PAC, how that happened I have no clue. Those white supremacists are in love with Little Duncan, guess he even spent the 4th of July partying with the Minutemen.

Glenn
Jesus

First, the fact that Democrats are on board with this scheme means absolutely nothing. When it comes to things the Bush administration wants, Congressional Democrats don’t say “no” to anything. They say “yes” to everything. That’s what they’re for.

They say “yes” regardless of whether they understand what they’re endorsing. They say “yes” regardless of whether they’ve been told even the most basic facts about what they’re being told to endorse. They say “yes” anytime doing so is politically less risky than saying “no,” which is essentially always and is certainly the case here. They say “yes” whenever the political establishment — meaning establishment media outlets and the corporate class that funds them — wants them to say “yes,” which is the case here. And they say “yes” with particular speed and eagerness when told to do so by the Serious Trans-Partisan Republican Experts like Hank Paulson and Ben Bernake (or Mike McConnell and Robert Gates and, before them, Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell).

No shit.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Shit fire. My computer is busted. Should I take it in now?

Little Duncan Hunter? If so, no surprise here.

Obama speaks of Keating Five in Florida speech today?
I worked all day, missed it!

Second that and your candor is refreshing.

Yep, he’s managing to make his daddy look sane, reasonable, and intelligent. During the debate for the Repub primary, he actually tried to defend earmarks by saying that was the only way for the Pentagon to get funding.

Extra fun, I heard about a poll done after the primary, where more than 70% of the people who voted for him thought they were voting for his dad.

all things RE are good…REpair, Redo, Reset…yes, repair your computer but if it were me I would try to get it back by Tues….

Hey BB sorry I couldn’t take your call we were at a wedding and just got home a bit ago. I will give you a call in the AM..

Whats wrong with it Mary?

Well, I have a clue for you. My dad worked for Rand during the 70’s. I got to play Hang Man on the first interactive computers. Back then it was a huge wall of instruments in a climate-controlled room. One of his co-workers called him recently for nostalgic-old time’s sakes.
He’s now retired and spending his time patrolling the CA border with guns and passion as a Minuteman.
Just because you’re a white supremacist doesn’t mean you’re dumbed down.

It hasn’t been reformatted in three years. It is a big old honking box that Ron had specially made for 3d rendering. He got a new one and I inherited it. It is pretty fast and has gigs and gigs of memory. Right now I am working on a stupid d*ll product. Hinky.

A quick search didn’t find any such Obama on Keating topic on youtube.

Ooh, our first primary results are about to be released…!

Perhaps not dumbed down but emotionally withered. Not trying to be antagonistic.

Same.
That’s what I get for getting hyped over a local news teaser.
*hangs head in shame*

Well it is not hard to reformat and reinstall, just takes a lot time just to get all the updates in place and then all your applications and their updates done. But if it is still fast enough for you and has lots of memory it is worth it.Are you using XP ?? If so make sure you bring it upo to service pack 3 and then updated before you do the Apps. Custom built PC always have a longer life than out of the box name brands.

I called ATT during the FISA battle and explained telecom immunity to him. I cancelled my service and have not paid the bill. I will send it to CA PUC for adjuducation. I had yo take puter in shop and have drives wiped hundreds of hours of doc transfers thousands of hours of work.
I also asked the lineman why they were spying on me. I will subpeona their records if they fight it. Paying to be spied on is like paying to watch commercials. WIll not do either. Most entertainment falls way short of what my minds ability. MSM… I won’t stoop to their level and am amused by FDLers shock at what goes on on the tubes. Listen to NPR a bit.

xp only. If I had my way I would still be running a mac.

Shame on the news teaser…

Boo, hiss…! ;-)

Not deterred. Still hunting.
but yeah :(

newtonusr! did you hear that!!!!! CTuttle likes the dark side.

I can’t even take NPR or PBS news anymore. In fact the day I almost tossed brick through my TV screen during the News Hour.. was the same day I thought to myself.. there must be better news on the internet.. Within hours I discovered blogs and FDL (late Jan ‘06) for the first time… The rest… is history.

I try, and I try, but I just can’t tell these kids anything.

Oh, don’t worry about being antagonistic. We all have assholes who resurface in our lives, people who place some strange importance on our relationships that are unexpected. Cripes, Dad worked on the Impeach Nixon campaign. Very brave considering his high security clearance, though it was after he left Rand.
Just saying that some of these Minutemen are very intelligent,very white and computer/research savvy.

Kids…? 8-P

Well that is a choice but I am not sure you can install the MAC OS on an old intel box. You would probally run into driver issues if you tried. But Newton would know more about that??? Another option is to install UBUNTU http://www.ubuntu.com/ The great thing is it is totally free. I am going to be building a server version this week, I do have it running on a 2,6 GHZ PC and it runs real well. You can also find most apps for what ever your needs are again for free. You could also do a dual boot Ron’s old box and skip all the work of reformatting and reinstalling everything…

Kiddiewinks.

I don’t know, dealing with my computer these past couple of days has made me feel old…John McCain old…

Do you want that MAC with cheese and ketchup??

I meant that I wish I had a mac machine not that I want to run mac os on this one.

going back to *my* computer now to see if it’s finished scanning

brb

Well that is a choice but I am not sure you can install the MAC OS on an old intel box. You would probally run into driver issues if you tried.

No way. But there was something about ten years ago called “SheepShaver” that would allow the install of OS 7.5.x through 9.0.4. It was, predictably, a colossal waste of time.

You did mention that it was running smoother tho…! ;-)

Caressing my sweet little MacBook now. *sigh*

Steve’s plan:
“Dare them NOT to buy an iPhone, and once they have one of those, they are ours.”

Working pretty well.

I love it when Leahy gets mad.

Senate Hearing on Judge Nominees Collapses in Disarray Over DOJ ‘Torture’ Memos

What was to be a Senate Judiciary Committee consensus approval of five district court judge nominees and the nominee for solicitor general collapsed in disarray Thursday in a fight for disclosure of interrogation memos from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

Committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., sought committee consent to seek subpoenas of purported torture memo material and opinions from the OLC, which provides legal advice to the White House and executive branch agencies.

But when Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., objected and asked for the request to be put over a week, just one day before the Senate recesses, Leahy responded by also delaying for a week the vote on all five judicial nominees, as well as a vote on Gregory G. Garre as solicitor general.

SNIP

On vote anti-supression, just saw something at digby’s place that looks like an up-and-comer:

Voter Supression Wiki:

1. LEARN what voter suppression is
2. REPORT incidents
3. ACT to protect votes

Leahy is one of the few bright spots in the Senate!

Like he doesn’t have good reason: Marcy

To give you an example of what I read, I have gotten three legal propositions from these OLC opinions declassified. Here they are, as accurately as my note taking could reproduce them from the classified documents. Listen for yourself. I will read all three, and then discuss each one.

1. An executive order cannot limit a President. There is no constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new executive order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous executive order. Rather than violate an executive order, the President has instead modified or waived it.
2. The President, exercising his constitutional authority under Article II, can determine whether an action is a lawful exercise of the President’s authority under Article II.
3. The Department of Justice is bound by the President’s legal determinations.

my bold

Pardon me – Marcy is quoting Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (Pretty good Democrat-RI)

We are out on the streets today and for a while for the local elections pushing our candidate. We won a majority on our County BOS now our Community Services District. Plus we are puting on a townhall meeting to get out some facts and expose some myths that have been put out. 15,000 folks here but we fight and we fight and we fight…we don’t quit. We want a decent outcome for our own community. We fight with our intellect, we table we write letters to editor. We telephome tree and walk neighborhoods. We think, we network, we collaborate. We will have a better outcome than if we didn’t. We born fighting and we die fighting. We fighting for truth we fighting for honor we fighting for justice. The reason we losts these treasures is that others took them for granted and Big Brother knows it. “Me precious me precious” Gollum said about his Ring of power, Control, authoritarian domination I read that in City Lights bookstore in North Beach in the 60s after the 50’s beat poets like Ferlinghetti and Dylan Thomas, Kerouac, Kesey, Burroughs, Ginsberg, Huxley and I learned more there than in college…the late 60 was immersed in spiritual Satchidanada… the birth of the Bay music. The hope the dream that the repukes hate counter culture. What if there is no money to save or steal…they would not have that. I love Jean Paul Chartre “On The Balcony” as he ridicules the roles of power..The Judge…The General…The Police chief…The Priest the balcony was a brothel and each customer had to have gratification in their own perverted way. The whore had to be penitent to the priest…guilty penitent to the judge

McCain may have a lousy voice, but he was sure sweet string singin my heart in Olde Green Bay,WI last night.

Imagine kicking Benny Bernanke’s ass first chance he gets. Cute little fuck, too. Well, McCain is just doing what he was elected to do.

Then, after McCain is finishes kicking FED ass… EDITED BY MODERATOR.

Sounds like a great plan to me. I understand Sarah keeps shootin til she gets is right, too. Great chance to zero in her gun.

~~~ModNote: Edited for content. Violent expressions will be removed, or the comment deleted.~~~

Radio Democracy Now at noon her not always Amy has her moments.

I’m monitoring the primary results here and the local news (ABC) has a poll asking: Should taxpayer dollars pay for the government’s economic bailout plan? Over 3,000 votes cast, 85% say no, 9% yes, and, 6% I don’t know…!

Jean Paul Chartre “On The Balcony”

Is that a book?

Uppity! My My. Dem Yankees

She’s the best! n one of my cable stations in the late afternoon.. I tend to watch DN (television in general) more in winter.

BB, a wee question, do you proofread your comments before submitting? I can’t make head nor tails of that comment…! ;-)

Is it a Time-Warner cable company?

I used to work in North Beach… City Lights bookstore is famous. Although I was many years behind BB.. it’s one of those things where you may have to have been there at some point in time.

LOL.. I don’t think so.. Link TV on Direct Satellite.

Hear, hear! Pelosi has become oh so embarrassing from day one. Will never forgive her for deep sixing Rep. Murtha, whom we constituents and Murtha were led to believe she was appointing as her whip and instead she sold out the old general, choosing the thuggish Steney Hoyer. aghhhhhhhhh…….

I wasn’t referring to his 103, rather his 104…!

The Balcony Sorry memory off Gemet The Balcony but the story is right. City Lights was amazing.

whoops, make that BB’s 105…! ;-)

Hey npb!
The list of Nancy’s disappointments is too long to recite. She likes to fall back on “It’s the Blue-Dogs” or “The Senate failed” or The President said he would veto, so…”
Sick and tired of this. If you want a rep for courageous action, borrowing from Matt Taibbi, first you have to act courageously. That simple.

Thanks for sharing that astrological stuff – lest I forget I duly noted same on my calendar. (((spiderpaws)))

Well I just put the 1963 Movie “The balcony” in my netflix queue. Sounds kind of familiar now that I have read a review.

Actually CT I subsribe to the ee cummings school of writing stream of unconsciousness…just kidding u. Iloved the edit tant pis no more. Alas I have been lax partly as I can’t keep up with your style of banter. I am partial to the serious comment and usually am 40 comments behind reaging furiously and going to links. I will try to do better. But the stream is effective communication tool to make readers aware of a lot of conceptts at once without really spinning them.

Well pups time to hit the hay… Good night pups sleep well when you get there!!

Cell phone users do have an Obama lean in the polls…

Six of the seven eight cellphone-friendly pollsters have had a Democratic (Obama) lean, and in several cases it has been substantial. On average, they had a house effect of Obama +2.8 +2.3. By comparison, the control group had essentially zero house effect a house effect of Obama +0.1 (**), so this would imply that including a cellphone sample improves Obama’s numbers by 2.8 points. (Or, framed more properly, failing to include cellphones hurts Obama’s numbers by approximately 2 2-3 points).

Well I am about to check out for the evening…. but I leave you all with one more fine song if you choose.. I know BB and newspaperbrat will love it..

it’s on Hank Shizzoe’s page: Click on and listen to “Farmers Song For Ali Farka Toure” you wont regret it.

Good night fabulous firedogs..)

Aloha, nahant!

Aloha, ES!

Uh-oh, the strike-outs didn’t make the transition over from 538…!

nite nahant

nite ES. great tunes tonight

Obama gets big welcome in Republican Country

To an amped and overflowing crowd in a Republican stronghold, Democrat Barack Obama stepped up his attacks on John McCain, saying Saturday that the Republican in these tough economic times “wants to do for healthcare what Washington did for banking.”

Obama’s broadside — including a shot on McCain for having top Washington mortgage-industry lobbyists on his campaign — was launched in the very city where, five days before, McCain armed Obama with a potent political tool: McCain’s statement that the ”fundamentals of the economy are strong.” McCain tried to clarify hours later in Orlando that he meant that American workers were still strong. He also accused Obama of twisting his words.

But it was too late. Amid the failure of major banking institutions, tumbling stock prices, the bailout of insurance giant AIG and record mortgage foreclosures in Florida, the economy became the top story on the campaign trail.

And Florida voters, according to a new Miami Herald poll, favor Obama’s approach to handling it. Obama followed McCain into Florida — the nation’s top job loss state — and gave nearly identical speeches in Miami, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville to portray McCain as too much of a self-described ”de-regulator” to propose workable regulations.

more…

Banter, eh? True! But, I do get my point across when need be…! 8-)

Nice to see Obama pick up on this…

“wants to do for healthcare what Washington did for banking.”

Conciousness. Being aware and informed cosmically is a Kesey concept (an English teacher and football player) from a little mill town outside of Eugene Oregon.
Once the lights are lit can’t be turned off. Hence..turned on, not drugs consciousness. Soma was the drug that clouded consciousness. This is applicable in what we are seeing in todays society.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. (Palin) What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will…

I think Obama is having fun.

Yep. That’s some pretty red meat in Florida. And Ohio. And Pennsylvania, and Indiana, and Michigan and the Carolinas and New York and ARIZONA and ILLINOIS, and Hell, everywhere.

Silver’s last paragraph is very important:

A difference of 2-3 points may not be a big deal in certain survey applications such as market research, but in polling a tight presidential race it makes a big difference. If I re-run today’s numbers but add 2.2 points to Obama’s margin in each non-cellphone poll, his win percentage shoots up from 71.5 percent to 78.5 percent, and he goes from 303.1 electoral votes to 318.5 (EDIT: I have not changed this part of the analysis in reflection of the new numbers, as it should still get the general point across). The difference would be more pronounced still if Obama hadn’t already moved ahead of McCain by a decent margin on our projections.

Since this paragraph was written, new data has raised Obama’s win percentage to 73.9% and electoral projection to 306.5. So the scores with cellphone correction would be similarly higher.

I’ve read One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, etc…! ;-)

Banter is good lifting up happy talk. No dis from here. Personally I like your links and should go more often to your site. Kudos to you CT. Jus saying to slow to keep pace. Not that gifted with the gray matter. Gifted with opinion.

Couple that with Obama’s sizable ground game, and, I smell landslide…!

Ding, Ding, Ding! My favorite neighbor – who served several terms as president of our League of Women Voters refers to Nancy and Boxer as Good Ole Boys (GOBS) in designer drag and DiFi as Helmet-Hair. ;~D

Except that the Republican operatives are such jerks that there’s sure to be a Willie Horton type “October surprise.” And seeing the impact of the roll out of Sarah Palin, I have some concerns about that.

That said, Nate’s news is very, very encouraging.

If Obama is slow to go ballistic on McCheese, I have to believe that people smarter than me (Plouffe, Jarret, Axelrod) have gamed it out. And if Obama is keeping his own counsel on certain toxic issues, I trust that his team has plotted the electorate and are certain of their path.

These folks aren’t Brasile and Shrumn. But it is sure nerve-racking to sit patiently and observe.

The ‘Sex Ed’ ad was pretty close… Fortunately, it blew up in McSame’s face…! Poor Shrum, he always seemed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory…! ;-)

Fortunately, it blew up in McSame’s face…

Maybe. But that ad’s purpose was to send that message and scare ‘certain facets’ of the electorate. Hard to gauge how many folks he scared shitless of Obama, and how many were interminably and irrevocably disgusted with McCheese. Throwing shit gets you shitty, but it has worked before.

Sweet dreams ES & other fellow sleepy heads – thanks for leading by doing – I’m outta here too. Niters all you fine & oh so intrepid late late nite rascals…….just five more days to the first Obama/McShame debate…….woo hoo. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Aloha, NPB!

FWIW, here are the notes that I’ve assembled on the meltdown.

The man overseeing the bailout, Secretary of Treasury Hank Paulson is the ex-CEO of of the Wall Street giant, Goldman Sachs, and helped cause the crisis. At the Treasury, he helped obtain the SEC exemption which allowed brokerages to increase leverage to 60:1 from 12:1.

Paulson, in consultation with Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernacke, has submitted a bailout plan to Barnie Frank, chairman of the House Finance Committee, and Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Per Glenn Greenwald, “This [draft bill] authorizes Hank Paulson to transfer $700 billion of taxpayer money to private industry in his sole discretion, and nobody has the right or ability to review or challenge any decision he makes.” And this is yet again a trust-me deal, like the Patriot Act, AUMF, AUMF-Iraq, Protect America Act, and FISA Amendments Act. For details, see: http://www.salon.com/opinion/g…..index.html

Per Greenwald, “[T]he current draft for the latest plan [is] elegantly simple. The three key provisions: (1) The Treasury Secretary is authorized to buy up to $700 billion of any mortgage-related assets (so he can just transfer that amount to any corporations in exchange for their worthless or severely crippled “assets”) [Sec. 6]; (2) The ceiling on the national debt is raised to $11.3 trillion to accommodate this scheme [Sec. 10]; and (3) best of all: “Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency” [Sec. 8]. In fact, per a Treasury fact sheet, “The Secretary will have the discretion, in consultation with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, to purchase other assets, as deemed necessary to effectively stabilize financial markets,” i.e., Paulson can the spend the $700B however he pleases. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200…..asury_dc_1

“Hank Paulson’s raid on the Treasury,” by Ian Welsh,
gives detailed summary and the full text of Paulson’s plan:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/09…..ank-check/

Princeton economist Paul Krugman tersely says “no deal” to that plan:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.c…..0/no-deal/

Marcy “emptywheel” Wheeler is less terse and more blunt:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/09/20/no/

Ian Welsh conjectures that Paulson is bluffing:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/09…..-treasury/

Senator Bernie Sanders’s position paper:
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/…..?id=303313
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/…..?id=303188

“What the Hell Just Happened?” by gjohnsit at Dkos:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…../61/604055

An excellent article by Dean Starkman in the Columbia Journalism Review:
http://www.cjr.org/essay/boiler_room.php?page=all

A proposal for how to handle the mortgage crisis by Ian Welsh:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/09…..ust-banks/

“The Death of Republican Philosophy,” by Hale “bonddad” Stewart:
http://dailykos.com/storyonly/…..541/604592

“Executive Power Grab in Banking Bail Out Bill,” by Larry Madill
http://dailykos.com/storyonly/…..395/603713

“It is 1937 for the US Federal Reserve,” by Mick Phoenix,
Economics / Economic Depression Apr 16, 2008:
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article4363.html

He wrote great concession speeches.

Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.

That’s what we’ve got too much of, the truth hiding in plain sight.

How could it be otherwise?
Urban Dictionary describes the phrase “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,’ and guess who is their exemplar?

Shrum’s clients are everywhere!

I see Obama’s support puting him over…good kids and their families. Sharing his search to find himself…his hope for their future as a positive peg on which to hang their hats. His first book is very honest and sincere. He has a relaxed appeal that is inoffensive. He is not easy to dislike…he is not mainstream.
His public service in this political climate has been cautious while some of his opinions are not progressive he comes across as a humanists.
I wonder if he ever had a dog or cat…haven’t finished the book.
I think he has the best disposition of all of the Presidential candidates. That works well in meetings and politics one extended meeting. Not worried like some of the pups. Worry is the beggining of not thinking. Lost focus not centered that’s worrying. Don’t worry be happy and do what you can. And forget Coathanger Palin she can’t pull the freight.

See ya I am bailing. manana amigos and amigas hasta la juego

G’nite bigbro.

I’m outta here too. G’nite all.

not to be outdone, shoving off. nite all

Aloha, Ya’ll! I guess I shall exit stage right, too! Aloha Oe!!!

The shitpile we learn today is $450 Trillion and $62 Trillion toxic default credit swaps. Piled higher and deeper. GNP USA is $14 Trillion approx Three decades of the Gross National Product. Taxes average $3 Trillion. If all taxes were devirted to pay this it would take 150 years. And we would have no government services. Ian where are you when we need you” Probably getting some shut eye.

Attackerman is on the case from Istambul!
Never A Frown With Golden Brown

Good morning, pups. It’s MoDo, Friedman, Kristof and Rich today. MoDo is peddling fiction again, and now she admits to peddling someone else’s crap under her byline. She’s phoned in “Seeking a President Who Gives Goose Bumps? So’s Obama.” Someone else created a meeting between Barack Obama and former President Jed Bartlet of the “West Wing,” and MoDo serves it up for us. It’s crap, even as fiction. Mr. Friedman writes about “No Laughing Matter,” and says George W. Bush never challenged Americans to do anything hard, let alone great. The next president is not going to have that luxury. Well, none of us have anything left to go shopping with… Mr. Kristof is concerned about “The Push to ‘Otherize’ Obama,” and says that the political campaign to transform Barack Obama into a Muslim is succeeding. The real loser as that happens is our entire political process. And to round out a morning full of misery and depression we have Frank Rich, who gives us “Truthiness Stages a Comeback.” He warns that the twin-pronged Rovian strategy of truculence and propaganda that sold Bush and his war could yet work for John McCain.

http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/

The coffee and tea are ready, and I couldn’t make up my mind which I wanted to I’ve got both sweet potato muffins and corn bread this morning. I played hooky and noodled around in the garden all day yesterday in the GORGEOUS weather, so I’ve got a pile of work to do today. Have a great day.

Good morning Ms. Marion and pups!

After reading Thers post from last night, I’m hoping he has recovered this morning from the insanity of the last 8 years! Poor guy. I remember the “W’s missing from keyboards outrage”, but I also remember Americans hurling eggs at W’s limo as he and Laura pulled up to the White House for the first time, so it’s all good. ;-)

The irony of the last 8 years is not lost on anyone who has had a functioning brain all that time:

http://asapblogs.typepad.com/p…..r_rumb.jpg

Alaskans are outraged that Sarah Palin is off-limits and have to go through the McCain campaign if they want to ask the Governor a question. Have the Alaskans not been paying attention? Republics don’t like to be asked questions and will hide & protect each other to the death!

Morning,
that picture sums him up, doesn’t it?

Talking Heads is up