The <em>New Yorker</em> "Vets" Obama

I mean, it's bad enough to have the President-Elect sitting on the commode talking to a dog, but why in the world is Axelrod in the CR with him? Is this some sort of subliminal LBJ reference?



(Actually I'm kidding, but it does strike me as though the drawing represents the Presidential Throne on Air Force One for some reason.)
About Barack Obama
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Paul Krugman: Why We Didn't See The Economic Crisis Coming

In a previous employment incarnation I worked in a high security cash handling unit for a major financial institution. The environment had guards, team custody, double custody, pocket-less uniforms and full coverage surveillance via banks of videotaping cameras. In short, security was intense ... and yet, employees continued to attempt defalcation. Stealing. I saw cash handlers, managers, and even guards caught for ripping off the bank. And each one of them knew that every move they made was being watched.



Now look at the current mayhem in our economy ... what caused it? Why didn't the experts see the crisis coming? Well, let's see. The banks were allowed to merge their commercial and investment sides for the first time since the Great Depression in 1999 with the vacating of Glass-Steagall. Then the Banks were deregulated, and the Hedge Funds were deregulated, and Commodities Trading was deregulated ...



Hmm, if human beings are willing to engage in theft of money when they KNOW they are under surveillance, how would they behave with none?



All of these great economic minds are pulling their hair out trying to determine how this mess snuck up on them, but the one overriding factor at the heart of the matter is not to be found in any of their graphs, charts, or spreadsheets. ...



Human Nature.
About Economy
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Fox News Shut Out At Obama's Pressers

Fox News has had its back rubbed and feet massaged by the Bush/Cheney Administration for the last 8 years. Talk about access, when one of your anchors becomes White House Press Secretary ... well, you don't get much more insider than that.



Had Fox News actually lived up to their slogan "Fair and Balanced" instead of making it an obvious punchline ... maybe the incoming Administration would treat the organization as credible.



Here's an idea, why doesn't Fox News send one of its less compromised talents to cover the White House? ... or better yet, hire someone new without all the propaganda baggage .. then when a Fox News representative raises a hand someone may take actually notice.
About President Obama
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Obama's Treasury Secretary A Cursing, Skateboarding "Hipster-Wonk"

"In temperament he seems similar to Mr Obama: he is suspicious of ideology, questions received wisdom, likes a competition of ideas and is keenly aware of how uncertain the world is."



In short, he, like Obama, is a member of Generation Jones ... the generation at the end of the Baby Boom who have quietly played cleanup for their highly publicized predecessors.



Where as the theme song for the Baby Boomers may have been "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow", Generation Jones tacks more for "Don't Fear the Reaper"... or "Bat Out of Hell"



" ... I'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ram



On a silver black phantom bike



When the metal is hot and the engine is hungry



And we're all about to see the light



Nothing ever grows in this rotten old hole



Everything is stunted and lost



And nothing really rocks



And nothing really rolls



And nothing's ever worth the cost



And I know that I'm damned if I never get out



And maybe I'm damned if I do



But with every other beat I got left in my heart



You know I'd rather be damned with you"



(Gotta love Jim Steinman)
About Obama Transition
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Kinsley Warns Of Coming Blogopocalypse

Well that puts a cloud over my plans for a ZiraGlam Blog. I was thinking a site that was devoted to my Zira Planet of the Apes action figure posing in knockoffs from Project Runway would be a certain hit generator.



Zira does have an remarkable figure for a 6 inch plastic toy.



Oh well, another dream shattered,



(Oh, that would be the Original Zira poseable action figure, not the more recent "re-imagined" Zira from Tim Burton's massacre. Even Versace himself couldn't dress that Zira successfully.)
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Study: "Center-Right Nation" Narrative Spiked Immediately After Election Day

Many Americans are very much like the old man in whorehouse from Catch 22:



"Capt. Nately: Don't you have any principles?

Old man in whorehouse: Of course not!

Capt. Nately: No morality?

Old man in whorehouse: I'm a very moral man, and Italy is a very moral country. That's why we will certainly come out on top again if we succeed in being defeated.

Capt. Nately: You talk like a madman.

Old man in whorehouse: But I live like a sane one. I was a fascist when Mussolini was on top. Now that he has been deposed, I am anti-fascist. When the Germans were here, I was fanatically pro-German. Now I'm fanatically pro-American. You'll find no more loyal partisan in all of Italy than myself.

Capt. Nately: You're a shameful opportunist! What you don't understand is that it's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.

Old man in whorehouse: You have it backwards. It's better to live on your feet than to die on your knees. I know.

Capt. Nately: How do you know?

Old man in whorehouse: Because I am 107-years-old. How old are you?

Capt. Nately: I'll be 20 in January.

Old man in whorehouse: If you live."



Many Americans will be fanatically center-right until they're not.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

O'Reilly, Ingraham Stoke Fairness Doctrine Paranoia

Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine would be a good thing. Anything that dilutes the right wing rhetoric that has been allowed to brainwash vast regions of the United States for the last 20 years is of benefit to a nation that aspires to move forward and not backward. I do not see the reason to retreat from reinstatement of balanced exchange of ideas on the Nation's Airwaves.



And a bit of trivia on the murder of the Fairness Doctrine in the first place. Our friends on the Right were so thrilled with the success of the killing of the FD that they rewarded the Judges that rendered the judgment that hastened its demise with a shot at the Supreme Court.



"In 1986, Judges Robert Bork and Antonin Scalia of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that the Fairness Doctrine did apply to teletext but that the FCC was not required to apply it."



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_Doctrine
About Video On HuffPost
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Stocks tumble for second day; Treasurys surge

The possible collapse of the auto industry is a tangential reason for what is occurring on Wall Street. None of the fat cats are going to mouth these words:



"We spent the last 9, unregulated, avarice driven, years creating a monstrous financial pyramid scheme, designed to produce massive short term quarterly profits at the expense of long term economic stability and solvency, and that pyramid has sucked in capital from throughout the world economy, and that pyramid is in the process of rapid collapse, and we have no strategy, tools, or ability to stop it."



You won't hear those words from anyone of authority in Business or Government ... but that doesn't mean they aren't thinking it every day.
About Financial Crisis
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World Leaders Don't Shake Bush's Hand At G20 Summit (VIDEO)

I think we are misinterpreting what we are seeing here. I would love to kick Bush while he's down as much as anyone else here, but I think I would be missing the true, important message of this snub.



These are highly choreographed events. These are World Leaders representing 20 key Nations on earth. These aren't low level Foreign Ministers.



What we have here is a repudiation of the United States of America's economic leadership. Bush just happens to be the current President. The US strong armed the World into severe market liberalization at the cost of domestic economies and hardship for the citizens of these nations. The United States promised a pot of gold at the end of Milton Friedman's Rainbow, and the pot of gold turned out to be a chamberpot of dross.



There isn't a World Leader on that stage who isn't suffering tremendous political damage at home for the state of the World Economy ... and the US, in cahoots with the World Bank and the IMF, led the world to this misery.



So we shouldn't get too giddy about Bush being dissed ... the message sent, loud and clear, to the entire World was ... "the United States did this to us."



And that doesn't make Obama's job any easier.
About George Bush
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Dow 8000: Markets Plummet Again

Oh, this is nothing ... the Markets are going to head south Big Time. We haven't experienced the crash yet. We have been bumping along the rapids on the way to the falls, but we aren't to the falls yet.



This is what people have to remember ... this is key. We are where we are because the Banks were allowed to consolidate their commercial and investment wings thanks to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999. Then on top of that all banking was deregulated, the SEC was de-fanged, Hedge Funds were deregulated and Wall Street was allowed to do pretty much anything they wanted, as irresponsibly as was possible in a highly competitive way,



So what was done was massive fraud and manipulation of float and leveraging to the tune of trillions upon trillions upon trillions upon trillions upon trillions. Now the cute thing about this fraudulently generated wealth is it is intermingled with REAL wealth. So, as this massive fraudulent wealth bubble collapses it evaporates the real capital with the fake. Oh, and just for giggles, lets remember since every bank in America became an investment Bank, every depositor became an investor ... so when you look at the corporation's predicament today ... it is due to the bulk of their wealth being tied up in the collapsing bubble too ... The Corporations have invested all of their savings and are watching it go up in smoke.



Some say Dow 5000? I say DOW 1900 ... it's over.
About Financial Crisis
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WTF? Lieberman? Clinton? That's EXACTLY The Obama I Voted For

Mr Stranahan, I will limit my criticism until I see what concrete results the Obama Administration delivers. Currently there is a grace period, but I'm not one to make excuses for Obama if he starts screwing up. Whether or not Obama is a transformational candidate in anyway other than diversity awaits to be seen.



I will say this, however, if the Democratic Party wants to use The Left to win power and then marginalize The Left once it attains it, then l think The Left needs to develop an alternative to to the current two party dynamic in order to get its needs met. If the Democrats take The Left for granted they should be made to pay for it. It wasn't the centrists that drove this last election cycle dynamic. I'm all for Netroots using the tools of the Internet to develop a vibrant Left coalition that can then leverage the power of its voting block to get its way. I would use the Iglesia Ni Cristo voting block model in the Philippines (sans the religion), for in a predominantly Catholic Country like the Philippines the Politicians know if they don't get the support of the independent Christian InC, they will likely lose the election. That's the true political power The Left needs to develop, Obama or not.
About Barack Obama
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Obama Advisers: Torture Prosecutions Not Likely

It would go a long way to rehabilitate the image of the United States if the Obama Administration were to prosecute domestically or aid in the prosecution, in an International Forum, the Americans guilty of crimes against humanity. Most Americans are so poorly educated they can't comprehend how far America's star has fallen in the eyes of the world. and contrary to domestically cultivated hubris, there are many areas of the world that would be more than happy to go about their business without being in the hammerlock of American influence.



Prosecuting villains from the Bush Administration would be a patriotic act that would aid the United States in recovering some of its lost credibility.
About President Obama
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Hank to Homeowners: Drop Dead!

Representative Harman, pity poor Hank Paulson. He's completely over his head and doesn't know which way is up. Remember, Paulson got rich off the very financial mysticism that is in the process of transforming itself from Prince Charming back to into a wart covered toad.



Of course stabilizing the mortgages is the way to address the problem of collapsing leveraged mortgage securities, but Paulson and Co are straitjacketed by their economic ideology. They see helping mortgage holders as some sort of socialist handout, where in actually it would be an act of capitalistic self preservation. Paulson, and Bernanke are trapped in the contracting box of Milton Friedman's failing economic model and they can't imagine a way out ... they're doomed.



But we aren't ... all it requires is a reevaluation of the current economic reality. If you look at the trillions upon trillions of leveraged CDS and derivatives as what it truly is ... fraudulent wealth ... we can use all manner of unique approaches to solve the problem. In the case of the collapsing CDS contracts due to counter party failures, how about this? Create Virtual counter party banks to replace the collapsing ones. In essence, pretend the banks didn't fail and use virtual banks as a stalling mechanism to buy time to reasonably unravel the contaminated contracts over a prolonged period of time at lesser impact to the greater economy. Remember, this is fraudulent wealth so why pretend we have to address its deflation?



The businessmen failed, lets
About Henry Paulson
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Obama's Team of Rivals

Excellent observations Jacob. We have to remember that Secretary of State is, by far, the most important Cabinet position at this time in our history. With all the damage the Bush Administration has done to the United State's international image and the ineptitude displayed by Rice, due in part to Cheney's interference, Obama can not afford to turn the office of Secretary of State into a Ceremonial position. I have no problem with the "Team of Rivals" dynamic, but they need to be Highly Qualified Rivals.



Also, I don't think the DLC should be allowed a return to power in the Obama Administration, for many of the reasons you point out, but also because the Clinton Administration ( that gets credit for a booming economy that was based on the DotCom fraud and the Sunbeam model) with the DLC at the helm, wasn't a departure from the Reagan-Bush41 agenda but, in very real terms, a "New Democrat" version of the same agenda.



We need to navigate our current troubles with both eyes open and dispel the myth that Bush43 is responsible for all ill. The DLC, despite its entrenched infrastructure, is not the solution, it's part of the problem. Putting the DLC in back in power would be like following the authoritarian Doctor to the submerged bow of the capsized Poseidon. Obama needs to be careful.
About Barack Obama
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While Paulson Waffles, the White House Dawdles, and Congress Dithers, the Economy Continues to Burn.

Arianna, CNBC had a heartwarming article on their site earlier today:



"Consumers Teetering on 14 Trillion Dollar Debt Pile"

http://www.cnbc.com/id/27716231



(They changed the title of the post to a less inflammatory "US Consumers Hit by Credit Crisis, And Everybody Pays")



14 Trillion is probably just the tip of the iceberg if the Wizards of Wall Street sliced and diced and securitized, and resold, and leveraged credit card and auto loan debt as they did mortgages. The thing is, Wall Street had nearly a decade of unregulated play at our, and by extension, the world economy's expense. The American version of Columbia's recent "Dinero Rapido Facil Efectivo" disaster.



I don't have a clue what the way out of this is because it seems America's Golden Goose has been cooked, but I am fairly confident that the 700 billion bailout, coupled with the trillion of dollars the Fed has offered up behind the scenes will have little effect on the Frankenstein's Monster of Float Fraud that Wall Street and its Washington enablers have created.
About Financial Crisis
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Palin Keeps Attacking Obama: "No Present Button"

Since Palin is relying on oldies but goodies I wanted to offer some up for her repertoire ...



Getting on a plane, I told the ticket lady, "Send one of my bags to New York, send one to Los Angeles, and send one to Miami." She said, "We can't do that!" I told her, "You did it last week!"



or ...



If my mother knew I did this for a living, she'd kill me. She thinks I'm selling dope.



or maybe ...



A priest is sent to Alaska. A bishop goes up to visit one year later. The bishop asks, "How do you like it up here?" The priest says, "If it wasn't for my Rosary, and 2 martinis a day, I'd be lost. Bishop, would you like a martini?" "Yes." "Rosary, get the bishop a martini!"



No charge, Sarah (gotta love Henny Youngman!)
About Sarah Palin
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Which Obamanomics?

Dr. Atkinson, I think Obama needs to consider a Neo-Keynesian approach in order to stabilize the economy then the Innovation Economics approach can be explored. I don't feel that Rubinomics has a place in the current economic dynamic, it is much better suited for when there is economic expansion taking place, not contraction.



I think for the self preservation of the US Economy the Government needs to be the economic referee. I don't think we ever get comfortable results when business is left to its own devices, for there is an inherent arrogance cultivated within the business psyche which, when combined with willful blindness and lack of self scrutiny, robs the private sector of the required tools of responsible economic stewardship.



I also don't think that the form of Government oversight needs to be necessarily draconian ... Government regulation should be more like a condom, allowing for economic intercourse between willing partners, but preventing unwanted byproducts and contamination that may spread detrimentally throughout the greater economy.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

I Was Wrong

"Fortunately, Obama and his Davids knew better. They knew there were plenty of rabid lunatics like me blogging away out there, desperate for the candidate to give voice to our indignation and revulsion. And they knew they didn't have to waste a nanosecond worrying about keeping us happy, because what were we going to do, vote for Nader? They knew that what people were starving for after the past decade was not more rage."



Um, I respectfully disagree, Paul. Obama's Campaign didn't have to climb into the mud because the blogosphere was doing it for them, and providing plausible deniability. For certain the withering attacks coming from the net to McCain's Campaign had an impact ... do you really think that McCain's Campaign wasn't trolling HuffPo, TPM, DailyKOS, etc, for what was being said? Come on, these campaigns are always in a paranoid state ... look how the bittergate post by Fowler, here on HuffPo, knocked the Obama campaign off center for a good period of time.



McCain himself said "I hate bloggers" ... because if you are a man with a lot of uncomfortable secrets a multitude of internet fanatics trying to sink your campaign are a very real threat. So the Obama campaign could keep its skirts clean while the blogs kept the McCain Campaign off balance, and fending off mirages. Anyway, that's my take on it ... the 4.7 million independent hits that HuffPo received in Sept is proof positive that blogs are drawing eyes and having
About Barack Obama
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California Gay Marriage Banned As Proposition 8 Passes

This disgusts me.



Two Religions, one that condones polygamy and child brides the other that provides safe haven for pedophile priests is operating under the misconception that they occupy some moral high ground from which they can attack the choice of consenting adults in the State of California.



In addition to yanking the nonprofit status of the churches involved (which should be the focus of a future California Proposition) for engaging in politics, these esteemed organizations should meditate upon the concept of addressing the moral plank in their own eye before worrying about a spec of sawdust in the eyes of others.



This isn't over ... not by a long shot.
About Gay Marriage
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Wins: How He Did It

I wanted to invoke the name of a forgotten hero of the Civil Rights Movement ... Assistant Attorney General of the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations ... Norbert Schlei.



From Schlei's April 21, 2003 Obit in the LA Times:



"Schlei was the principal draftsman of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Immigration Reform Act of 1967.



"I felt I was lucky," Schlei told the New York Times in 1995, "because I was able to turn what ability I had to something important."



Schlei had barely moved into his quarters in August 1962 as head of the office of legal counsel just vacated by Katzenbach, when he was put to work. The University of Mississippi had refused to allow James Meredith, a black student, to enroll that fall, and Kennedy sent Schlei to Oxford, Miss., to get Meredith into the school."



There were many heroes that paved the way for Obama's (and America's) Victory tonight ... Norbert Schlei should be remembered for his role.
About Barack Obama
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Obama Wins: Why All Americans Have a Reason to Celebrate

Ah ... sweet, sweet VICTORY!!!



Thank you Arianna for creating a platform here for ideas to be argued and shared, and most importantly, for providing a place where millions could overcome the fear and isolation of the Bush years and rediscover their voice.



NOW ... the fun begins!
About Election Reaction
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MSNBC Live Feed

Murdoch: China, India Will Reshape The World

Let's see how China and India weathers the the current financial maelstrom ... both nations are resource nations to the western economies and are therefore are very sensitive to their partners economic health. In addition, both India and China are susceptible to internal instability. India recently had bombings with many fatalities and also India, which is not widely known, has a larger muslim population than Pakistan. If fundamentalist islam has an upswing within India then being happy capitalists will be the least of India's concern. Pakistan's instability doesn't help India either. In terms of China, not all chinese are enjoying the benefits of the country's new found economic muscle. There is still a vast peasantry in China that is in no better shape now than they have been in the last thousand years. The Three Gorges Dam project has dislocated millions of Chinese and thrown them into the ghettos of newly built cities, completely divorced from their traditional lifestyles. Not a recipe for stability either.



In short, rich men like Murdoch, often think that success in one area of life grants them some super human perception of reality generally. Thinking that India and China will reshape the world is wishful thinking on the part of a Mega Capitalist who is watching his traditional markets shrink. There is as much evidence that India and China will retreat from a world role in order to address internal issues is there is of those nations taking a lead in international events at all.
About China
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