FWIW, I agree with Clinton. Obama’s talking to us like adults, laying out the perils we face. I get it. That’s what we said we wanted. Now, I say, fuck that. O gives a speech, I feel like committing suicide. Give us back some hope.

Now, I must leave and go earn my paycheck.

I wish more people would listen to Turley

Good morning all,
Noon today will be Obama’s one month anniversary. It has been a busy time in Dee Cee

Glenzilla is goning to be on democracynow in a couple of minutes. With Jane Mayer. Talking about a1 Maari.

It is 6:30 here and democracy now doesn’t come on until 9

Mornin’, BT, pups

From CNN.com

Bank of America’s CEO is subpoenaed

Bank of America CEO and Chairman Kenneth Lewis has been issued a subpoena by the New York State Attorney General’s Office, which is investigating whether the bank violated state law by withholding information from investors, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

CNN.com

o.O

It’s webcasting at democracynow.org.

Thanks,

ummm.. if obama wants the blogosphere to be his echo chamber .. he’s going to have to stop doing things which go “splat!!” … FISA .. state secrets .. karl rove delay …

no echoes there …

Jane Mayer sez that she thinks O is siding with W in torture cases so as not to raise politically devisive issues. If that’s accurate, he’s a moral pigmy.

No offense to pigmies.

Hotline on C-span saying that Kennedy maybe to ill to return to senate.

Oh dear, that’s so sad.

What’s the replacement situation? Another gov appointment?

i have been wondering if it’s not also to protect dems – and not just those who went along with bushco.

A Challenge for Joe Conason and for Us

Quite the end to a dynasty in govt.

DIGG IS OPEN

Yes, they said that the kennedys have been trying to set the stage for kennedy’s wife to succeed him

here’s the article

That sounds more like something to get the reichwingnuts all fired up. I doubt seriously she’d be willing to go that route.

The New Times article listed above under “The Trillion Dollar Key” offers some numbers on the “shadow banking system” that gives the best explanation I have seen on our credit crunch. It also explains why the credit crunch was first experienced in late summer and fall of 2007 but did not blow up until 2008.

The market for new securities backed by mortgages and other types of loans has collapsed. Last year, investors bought $313.9 billion of these securities, down from $1.6 trillion in 2007 and $2.1 trillion in 2006, according to Dealogic.

The article indicates that Geither and the Fed are choosing to deal with the problems currently on the table and avoiding the problem with “securitization” of loans where the large banks can move them off their books quickly with maximum profit but little transparency down the line as these bundled products are sold and then resold.

Our economy will not improve until we decide to attack the underlying problem. Obama and Geither must move quickly to determine what large banks are basically insolvent and take them over. Yes, nationalize. Then once under control, they need to be broken into a hundred smaller pieces and sold to smaller and mid sized banks that are then regulated by a government that understands that unless there is transparency and a proven method for “valuing” the asset, it can not be sold. No more bundling. No more rapid expansion of banks by turning a quick profit at our nation’s expense. If a bank refuses to move quickly in this direction and continues to look at quick profit versus consistent slower growth, the regulators need to shut them down.

The Hotline reporter said that she is a good attorney and very active politically.

Good morning folks. So, Obama is sending 17,000 additional soldiers to Afghanistan while at the same time the Kyrgyz parliament OKs closing air base that’s crucial to U.S. Can you say Dien Bien Phu? See, I knew you could.

On KO (or Rachel, I forget which) last night someone mentioned that Nancy isn’t going after the lies that led to the Iraq War for that reason, but, according to that person, torture and illegal wiretapping are on her table. And that she is in opposition to O on those issues, so protecting the Ds is not the reason for O doing what he’s doing.

From the article

Should Kennedy be unable to finish out his senate term, which ends in 2012, a special election must be held within 145 to 160 days of the seat becoming vacant.

No appointments in MA I guess.

Kinda hard to cover Afghanistan with artillery man-hauled up mountains.

Here’s Vicky’s wiki.

OK, metaphor’s a bit loose. From the reading I’ve done, the base closing will create significant supply line problems for the U.S. in Afghanistan.

thanks. i think being lied into an illegal war was what clinton did wrt kosovo. would like to see that and torture investigated in a nonpartisan way.

There was a brief mention, about a month ago, of U.S. trying to get supplies into Afghanistan thru Iran. Heh. That route is over desert I think.

Short version of U.S. foreign policy: enemies become friends and friends become enemies.

It certainly will. I can foresee negotiations with Pakistan to open a base there or have joint use of a Pakistani airbase, although that would prove to be problematic with the locals.

Most U.S. wars are started thru lies. The only diff with W is the elaborate way they did it, and how widely it was reported not too long after the fact.

Meant to add that would be in addition to the access we already have.

I’m thinking about starting a war against lies.

couple of things re nationalization – number one is: the stockholders are SOL and the bondholder must take a deep loss. otherwise nationalization is just code for the taxpayer taking on the debt to protect the bondholders. beware greenspan.

hope you win!

Sisyphus?

Yessee.
Actually, I think folks like some firepups are already engaged in that fight. Must. Keep. It. Up.

Anyhow, Juan Cole writes about the closing on Informed Comment this morning, citing the McClatchy story

Christy’s got
Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm. . .

Maybe a smaller boulder.
Rolling pebbles.
Rolling flowers.
Dunno.

couple of things re nationalization – number one is: the stockholders are SOL and the bondholder must take a deep loss.

The thing I’ve been worrying about: What percentage of the “bondholders” are actually retirement and pension funds?

R on WJ complaining about Rs’s insensitivity. What took him so long to figure it out?

The ownership society.

i don’t disagree with the history of lies (although i think bush 43 was spectacularly bad at it) – but kosovo had other parallels to iraq, for example in the refusal to go through the un security council because any resolution would have been vetoed. it was the explicit rejection of bush 41’s appeal to international law for gulf war 1 (of course we were lied to there as well) that was supposed to be the new world order (rule of law that even the us followed). i don’t know of any accusation we’ve made against bush 43 re iraq for which there is evidence that clinton did similar re kosovo.

part of my point, that i tried to express in that diary, is that if we call for accountability re bushco without including the clinton administration then we are proving the claim made by conason and others that what we are after is partisan revenge and not accountability

and foreign central bankers, and other politicly powerful interests.

answer: we don’t know.

which brings me to my number 2: i think nationalization has got to be done with some amount of international coordination to manage the risks. one of those risks is what do the bond holders do re global capital markets.

My understanding is that if a bank is nationalized the share and bond holders are wiped out. I can see the taxpayers helping out pension plans like TIAA-CREF who lose a bunch of dust but private holders, tough shit.

depends on how it’s done.

i’m pretty sure when greenspan says “nationalization” he means the us taxpayer taking on all or most of the bond debt. and fwiw, i am very very serious about this warning.

That was an excellent diary at our link, Selise. I had missed it. Discussion there by the Lake’s finest also contributed much to further understanding of America’s entry into the rendition and torture business.

For all who missed Selise’s diary, it is a very important read. Click her link at # 17.

As I read there the thought kept coming to me that the 9/11 attacks probably had their seed in those rendition/torture policies of the 1990’s or earlier.