Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Chris Matthews Eviscerates Neocon Frank Gaffney: "4,000 People Are Dead Because Of The Way You Feel" (VIDEO)


"January 26, 1998



The Honorable William J. Clinton

President of the United States

Washington, DC



Dear Mr. President:



We are writing you because we are convinced that current American policy toward Iraq is not succeeding, and that we may soon face a threat in the Middle East more serious than any we have known since the end of the Cold War. In your upcoming State of the Union Address, you have an opportunity to chart a clear and determined course for meeting this threat. We urge you to seize that opportunity, and to enunciate a new strategy that would secure the interests of the U.S. and our friends and allies around the world. That strategy should aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein"s regime from power. We stand ready to offer our full support in this difficult but necessary endeavor."



-SNIP-



"Sincerely,



Elliott Abrams Richard L. Armitage William J. Bennett



Jeffrey Bergner John Bolton Paula Dobriansky



Francis Fukuyama Robert Kagan Zalmay Khalilzad



William Kristol Richard Perle Peter W. Rodman



Donald Rumsfeld William Schneider, Jr. Vin Weber



Paul Wolfowitz R. James Woolsey Robert B. Zoellick"



http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm



Please ... Enough!
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Sunday, December 14, 2008

Iraqi Throws Shoes At Bush During Press Conference (VIDEO)(SLIDESHOW)


A lot of Chicago in the air these days ... Blago ... Obama ... and now, ala the Blues Brothers, Bush gets a chance at being "Sole Man"!
About Slideshows
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Saturday, December 13, 2008

Modern-Day Pyramids


But we are thinking small here ... what about Mortgages for everyone with an ID card and the ability to make an "X" on a document? There is a lot of money for the Pyramid there! And if we encourage flipping of real estate and irrational appraisals to insanely inflate the property values, the sky's them limit for CMOs we can generate from that! Brilliant! Factor in home owners tapping into the equity of their over valued homes with loans and there is another CDO opportunity!



It is an AMAZING plan, Mr Franken ,,, and as long as the credit markets don't freeze causing the inflated securities' values to collapse (silly thought) we will be living high on the hog!



Are we good or what? Let's give it a shot!
About Economy
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Modern-Day Pyramids


Agreed, Mr. Franken.



How about this idea? A Pyramid scheme based on taking debt and turning it into securities that are then sliced into derivatives, inflated in value, and pumped into the perpetual motion machines of the World Float Market?



But how to sustain such a money making mechanism? Well first of all ... duh ... you have to get rid of all the regulations you can and compromise the regulatory agencies that remain, not a problem.



Then there is the issue of fresh money coming into the Pyramid at the bottom ... how to do that? Ah hah! Easy credit! Credit Cards for EVERYONE! That'll do it! Who cares if the card holders amass access to credit they could never pay in six lifetimes were they to use it all? it's the CDOs from their debt we want as octane for the Pyramid ... besides, draconian bankruptcy laws will keep them in line, as long as they don't all default at once, but that would require a Crash. No way!



cont ...
About Economy
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Lessons from Bernie


Mr. Solin, I am very weary of the narrative that is developing about Madoff being the "Lone Nut" of Money Managers. Of course someone with such a huge cloud of suspicion becomes a titan of his industry. Everyday, shiesters are accepted into the bosom of their community and are celebrated.



When the ENRON collapse took place everyone was dumbfounded by the irresponsible accounting practices that Arthur Anderson was engaged in ... Shocking! At the time of the scandal I was talking with a colleague whose brother was employed with one of the other "Big Five" Accounting firms at the time. His brother told him that everything that Arthur Anderson was being attacked over was standard operating procedure in the Accounting Industry ... they just suffered from have one of their clients collapse because of it. So Arthur Anderson took a bullet for the Accounting Industry and whether or not the remaining "Big Five" learned the errors of their ways will become more apparent as the economy continues to disintegrate.



I have no doubt that Madoff is a criminal and a scoundrel, but I am not ready to buy there is anything unique about him in terms of his industry.
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Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Unexpurgated Blago: Barack Obama is a "Motherf**ker" and More


Fast forward to January 19, 2017 ...



Phone rings in the White House ...



ring ... ring ... ring ... ring ...



"Hello, this is President Obama ... Sorry I missed your call, but I am in New Orleans accepting the key to the reconstructed City from Mayor Shearer ... please leave a message of any length and I will get back to you as soon as I can."



BEEEEEEP!!!!!



"Yo President Obama ... this is Blago. I left youse quite a number of messages about the ... you know ... pardon deal. I tink I got about as much rehabilitation as I can from this Prison Establishment ting and I'm ready to do ... ah ... some a dem selfless good works ... I ah ... hears people talking about. I mean, eh, I am very sorry for trying to hock your Senate seat. I mean. dat Fitz is quite a sonofa ... I mean. He's good, very good ... how's da basta .. ah .. gentlemen enjoying being your AG? I new da guy woulda find a way into da slot ... da worm. And, about the past ... it's the past. You know? I mean, so I called you a mutha fuc ... I mean, come on it's Chicago for crissake ... people have been called worser! Listen, the guards giving me the eye ... just get back to me about the pardon ... the hair gel is crap here! ... You der? I tink YOU THERE!!
About Rod Blagojevich
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Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Saving the Big 3 for You and Me

Mr Moore, I bought my first car used for $1000 with over 100k miles on it, a 1970 Oldsmobile Delta 88. I drove it like Steve McQueen through the Streets of San Francisco. I'd get airborne cresting some of our hills and, with dead shocks and springs, bottom out righteously with a monstrous scrape and a plume of sparks ... it was heaven. I beat it up, rarely changed the oil and lasted far longer than I would have expected. It was a Great American Car.



Years later I got what I thought was a deal when my great aunt sold me her 1992 Mercury Sable LS, with only 16k of miles on it for $7000. The car was only driven from my relatives' home to a supermarket a couple of blocks away. The car was luxurious, with every bell and whistle you could wish for, and was an unadulterated piece of cr#p. I put almost as much money into fixing it as I did buying it. When crossing the Bay Bridge the car's engine would lose compression and cause the thing to shake like a beast was trapped within it. My terrified wife would actually pray the rosary. The Sable cured me of American cars. I haven't owned one since.



My guess is the high quality of UAW labor hasn't changed from 1970 to 1992, but the management philosophy sure did, A government buyout of the Big Three would be the answer, for Corporate Management has failed this industry.
About The Bailouts
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Monday, December 01, 2008

Homeland Security Department In Total Disarray


First thing that is necessary is a renaming of the department. "Homeland Security"? Since when did the United States of America become the "Homeland"?



"My country, 'tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing;

Land where my fathers died,

Land of the pilgrims' pride,

From every mountainside

Let freedom ring!"



Where does it say "Homeland" in that stanza? How about we dispense with the Richard Wagnerization fo the US Government and rename DHS the Department of Domestic Security? We have a precedent ... The War Department became the Department of Defense.



I hear Homeland Security and the Darth Vader theme comes to mind.
About President Obama
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