Miss South Carolina Alaska
Posted on September 26th, 2008 at 2:53 pm by Steve

Kucinich: Twirling Towards Freedom!
Posted on September 26th, 2008 at 12:08 pm by Steve

Inspiring Presidential Words…
Posted on September 26th, 2008 at 12:00 pm by Steve

Three Presidents

“If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down,” President Bush declared Thursday as he watched the $700 billion bailout package fall apart before his eyes, according to one person in the room.

The entire New York Times article about Thursday night’s collapse of the bailout plan is really worth a read, if only for the Bush quote (above) and for this gem:

Thursday, in the Roosevelt Room after the session, the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., literally bent down on one knee as he pleaded with Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, not to “blow it up” by withdrawing her party’s support for the package over what Ms. Pelosi derided as a Republican betrayal.

“I didn’t know you were Catholic,” Ms. Pelosi said, a wry reference to Mr. Paulson’s kneeling, according to someone who observed the exchange. She went on: “It’s not me blowing this up, it’s the Republicans.”

Mr. Paulson sighed. “I know. I know.”

Good times.

The Keating 5 Scandal in 100 seconds
Posted on September 26th, 2008 at 1:39 am by dr.hoo

A little historical review from Huffington Post:

I guess no one in the media thinks that this is very relevant to the current scandal?

“A Dedicated Force to Help the People at Home”
Posted on September 25th, 2008 at 4:30 pm by Steve

U.S. Soldiers patrol a U.S. city

More exciting news, courtesy of the Army Times:

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT [Brigade Combat Team] will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

…this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.

Aha. Read the part in bold again. Civil unrest and crowd control. To deal with situations of civil unrest and crowd control, we already have local police; county police; state police; SWAT teams; and Federal agents from innumerable agencies including FBI, DEA, ATF, and Homeland Security. They’re already quite adept at crowd control – here they are in action outside the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota last month:

Minnesota's Finest in Action

And what sorts of equipment will the 1st BCT be deploying with?

The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”

The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

It would seem, to this observer anyway, that we do not want for riot police in this country. So, why the emphasis on fielding a US Army Brigade whose specific mission includes responding to “civil unrest and crowd control” here in “the Homeland”?

Recall that the First Brigade Combat Team is under the direct control of NORTHCOM, and NORTHCOM is directly accountable to the civilian leadership of the Department of Defense, who are appointed and directed by the President.

The deployment of a military force with a policing function inside the United States used to be prohibited. Indeed, the presence of an armed force accountable only to the national executive is a hallmark of repressive regimes from Burma to Zimbabwe.

Am I the only one who fails to be reassured by Col. Cloutier’s closing words?

“I don’t know what America’s overall plan is — I just know that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that are standing by to come and help if they’re called,” Cloutier said. “It makes me feel good as an American to know that my country has dedicated a force to come in and help the people at home.”

Just imagine the kind of “help” they’re going to give “the people at home” with their “shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets” – not to mention some of the other nonlethal weapons in their arsenal.

It's Not Fascism if WE Do It!

Switching one villan for another
Posted on September 25th, 2008 at 1:54 pm by dr.hoo

Ahhh, how I love the politcal mashup….

More Corrosive Cynicism!
Posted on September 24th, 2008 at 6:27 pm by Steve

What can I say? I’m a sucker for it.

The cartoon comes from the cynical mind of Mike Flugennock.

Secret Plans, Rushed Votes – Sound Familiar?
Posted on September 23rd, 2008 at 5:32 pm by Steve

The photo above commemorates President Bush’s signing of the USA PATRIOT Act just weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. That scene – the President signing a gargantuan piece of legislation that fundamentally alters the landscape of our society, with the support of legislators who haven’t even read the bill – is likely to be repeated sometime next week when President Bush signs sweeping legislation that gives away the entire contents of the US Treasury to select financial institutions in the form of a “bailout.”

One interesting tidbit leaked out today. Federal Reserve chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson are on record as saying that this legislation must be passed immediately – this is a crisis, and the markets demand action now!

But apparently the bailout bill has been in the works – secretly – for months, without any input from members of Congress (never mind from representatives of labor unions, consumer groups, or other such rabble):

[White House spokesman Tony] Fratto insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous months and weeks by administration officials. He acknowledged lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should be enough.

That little gem comes from an inside-Washington newspaper called Roll Call.

Keep it in mind, folks, as the days progress: the Bush administration has been working on their final plan to loot the Federal treasury and reward their friends for months. They did all that hard work in complete secrecy, so that, when the moment of maximum crisis was upon us, they could drop the package in the Congress’s lap, and demand “act now!”

Sound familiar?

Ian Welsh painted the scene nicely over at Firedoglake:

So there was “Goldman” Hank, holding a gun on the economy and staring Congress down. “Give me the 700 billion, or the economy gets it!” he threatened.


(Above, Sheriff Bart (played by Cleavon Little) takes himself hostage in Mel Brooks’s 1974 Blazing Saddles. With Paulson himself a former Chairman of Goldman Sachs, the image of Paulson holding a gun on the economy might, in fact, look something like this.)

Awesome: BuyMyShitPile.com
Posted on September 23rd, 2008 at 10:31 am by Steve

With our economy in crisis, the US Government is scrambling to rescue our banks by purchasing their “distressed assets”, i.e., assets that no one else wants to buy from them. We figured that instead of protesting this plan, we’d give regular Americans the same opportunity to sell their bad assets to the government. We need your help and you need the Government’s help!

Use our form to submit bad assets you’d like the government to take off your hands. And remember, when estimating the value of your 1997 limited edition Hanson single CD “MMMbop”, it’s not what you can sell these items for that matters, it’s what you think they are worth. The fact that you think they are worth more than anyone will buy them for is what makes them bad assets.

Sums up the financial crisis more succinctly and amusingly than anything else I’ve seen. The term “big shitpile” originates with my favorite blogger, Atrios.

FW: URGENT BUSINESS REQUEST
Posted on September 23rd, 2008 at 10:24 am by Steve

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

(h/t to Christopher Hayes at the Nation, who says he didn’t write it, but received it via email

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