Happy Halloween

David Horsey's effort to please all the people all the time, perhaps?

What's your costume?

What's your treat?

I'm going to be a ghoul, handing out pickled beans, anchovy stuffed olives and chocolate covered jalapenos.

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Obama: The Maddow Interview

I've been looking forward to this for days now, for several reasons. Foremost, Rachel isn't a "water carrying apologist" like Ed Schultz who gave Obama a free pass with boot lick, when he asked him about his FISA cave-in. I've expected her analysis to be just that, and not a rubber stamp of approval. I want to try to focus on just one part. I was going to say a small part, but I don't think it's small at all.

Rachel asked him why he criticizes Bush, but not the Republican Party or their core, conservative beliefs. His answer was something like, "Well, we're winning aren't we?"

OK, that may be true, but the question was not about winning. The question speaks volumes about Obama's core beliefs, and Rachel explained to both Keith Olberman on Countdown, and Ron Reagan on his radio show that this is why to many liberals/Democrats/progressives, Obama is not their champion. I'm voting for him, and I encourage everyone to do the same, but until the choices came down to the final two, he has never been my first choice.

Obama's a conservative, but as oxymoronic as it may sound, he's not crazy like McGoon. He's actually an oasis of sanity in this desert of douchenozzlery.

I have a feeling I'll have damn near as many bees up my ass during any Obama Preznency as I have for Fuckstain's.

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McCain and his First Choice

'Nuff Said

h/t BlueGal

So.....

Ted Stevens is, for now, a convicted felon.

Ted Stevens cannot vote. Not for president. Not to put himself back in the Senate. But,

Should he be elected to the Senate

He'll be able to vote bills into laws that all we law abiding, non-felons will have to obey.

Besides Refuckyoucans, to whom does this make sense? ???

Another question:

Should the Senate attempt to remove him, would he resist in Bush-like, Palin-like, Rove-like, Miers-like, oh hell, refuckyoucan fashion: Subpoena, schumoena. Laws are for little people.

Just asking.

Gregoire Didn't Create the Deficit

And Dino Rossi, isn't going to fix it.

There's a 800 lbs gorilla in the room that no one wants to talk about when it comes to taxes and revenues. Actually, there are 5 gorillas: the Seattle Mariners, Seattle Seahawks, the now-gone Seattle Supersonics, and then the Washington Husky and Washington State Cougar football teams. OK, maybe not so much the Cougars, since they suck annually.

Five losing teams = five lost/crippled sources of revenue. When your state relies heavily on slaes taxes, when your team doesn't sell, your state doesn't earn. Not at the box office, the hotels, restaurants, souvenir stores, bars, you name it. This is the at the heart of my arguement against a sales tax: It's just too fucking iffy. It's as fair weather of a tax, as the teams' fans are fair weather fans. It's also regressive. It hits the poor harder as a percentage of their income. (for those who don't know what regressive means)

This state needs an income tax. Always has.

Another tax that makes no sense is the Business and Occupations tax which is based on gross receipts, not profits. I imagine the arguement goes that such a tax on profit, would be avoided by businesses hiding their profits. As if businesses don't do their best to hide receipts. This tax is especially hard on self employed and small businesses.

The state also takes property taxes. Has one of the highest gas taxes in the country. Has one of the highest tobacco taxes in the country. Has a monopoly on liquor sales and a high liquor tax. Has no corporate income tax.

In short, people take it in the shorts when it comes to taxes in this state. Especially poor people. I don't know if there's a more regressive ie redneck tax system in the country. All of this makes it that much more important that sports teams do well. Fans spend money. Happy, rabid fans spend more money.

I'll bet something else is declining: DUIs and revenues from fines. Especially from post game offenses.

Slash the sales tax in half and replace it with a graduated income tax -- which would be deductable from federal income tax, without special efforts in congress, and without having to itemize -- at 1-2% of the pre-Reagan federal rates. That's a good place to start with a much needed overhaul. I would say to spread the burden around, but that might sound socialist, eh?

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes

I am sick and fucking tired of hear all this shit about taxes. ALLL of it's from refuckyoucans.
McGoon... Drano Rossi... Sarah Nailin... And it ALLL just more of the same old shit: Tax and spend Democrats (as opposed to charge and spend refucks). Barack Obama wants to raise your taxes (inset any Dem name in that statement) The last thing you want to do in a sagging(refuck) economy is raise taxes (why?) I'm going to...save the fucking world (and put cherries on top) and not raise taxes (while balancing the budget) Cutting taxes will create jobs (how?) Stop right there:

HOW does cutting taxes create jobs? WHO is going to spend a tax refund to ... I mean what the fuck could the average tax cut pay for? A car tune up? Ohhhhhh... E-bay shit. Yeah, we can all sell our shit and... who's going to have money to buy it?

Seriously... I remember reading in The Price of Loyalty, Paul O'Neill testifying to Congress, that as a corporate CEO, he never made a business decision based on the tax code. The question he was answering was in regard to the value of tax cuts to the economy. Besides:

As I've said many times: We've had nothing but tax cuts for eight fucking years and where in the hell have they gotten us? ???

Yoah... Johhny B Surge... I know Barack isn't saying what you want to hear about taxes and I don't fucking care. Wanna know why? I know you don't, but I'll tell you anyway.

I'm more worried about having a fucking job. No job... who the fuck cares about the taxes I won't have money to pay. I'll be more worried about my next fucking meal.

Go sit on a cattle prod. Asshole.

Yesterday the car....

Today it was back to Clearwire. No, they didn't interrupt me posting; there was nothing to interrupt. They were down all together. No morning vitamin P... No morning news... No morning post... Now it's going to take days to get my hit count back into the 30's.

Steffalupugus?

No live blog today. Missed damn near everything and everyone. Bummer, eh?

Had to take the 'Stang to the car doctor. AGAIN! Blew a power steering hose last week and fuck me, the damn thing blew again yesterday. Either that or there was a slow leak somewhere for the whole week. Mechanics; damn; supposedly they warrantee their work, but how many times do you take a car back a second time and not get dinged all over again? So...

The end result is that while all the heads were talking, I was oot and aboot. Now I gotta tube the googlenets.

Ten days remain til... Election? or Dictatorship?

I can't take it... Update: Whew, He's Gone

McCain on Meet the Press. I can't take his bull shit. Not to mention that he can't keep his FIVE ex Secretaries of State in his head; the ones who are endorsing him.

"Ooooeeee.... pictures of me being captured... POW talk... ra ra ra"

UPDATE: One thing I wish Obama would do -- because we know no one on a network will -- is explain how the capitol gains tax is used to funnel bonus money to corporate fucks. A lot of bonuses are passed on in the form of stock options, that when exercised, are taxed, not as income, but at lower capitol gains rates. The refucks have been given the pass of protecting family farms and small businesses with their left hand, while their right hand creates and protects an economic nobility.

Sen Surrrrge, the Naughty American

At about the 30 second mark McCooch takes a noticeable gulp.

Johnny, Johnny Johhhhhnnnnnyyyyy



"Glad to have you on board as running mate, babe."



"Ohh Senator. You ARE glad aren't you?"

Hannity & O'Reilly do Cartwheels. w/Update

Hmmmm... sitting up channel surfing and sniffling from my cold last night, I catch a story on Faux News about how a voter registration drive in Ohio got the rules wrong and now 18 voters have cast votes when they were ineligible.

Did the college network Palestra.net catch actual voter fraud in Ohio?

Wanna bet the emphasis stays on democrats? That the story gets spun as a "broken system" and not a "working system" or people answerring to the call from their conscience? Even though people are withdrawing their votes and registrations and:

UPDATE 6:49 pm– apparently not just a problem in Senator Obama’s campaign, check out this (taken from the NY Post dated Oct. 22)…a Senator McCain Ohio communications director:

“…The talks came in the wake of reports that workers in both camps - including McCain’s Ohio communications director, Ryan Meerstein, and Obama campaign worker Jacob Smith - had registered and cast ballots in the Buckeye State, even though they both maintain permanent residence elsewhere. …”

People.... this is Fox.... Ann Coulter's network: "We good; Them bad."

Fuck... The last time we had to make the Cowshit vs Bullshit choice (otherwise known as Gregoire vs Rossi I), we had crazies up here casting votes for dead spouses and kids off at college and shit like that, but was it "voter fraud?" As in some conspiracy to destroy the thread (and that's about all the past 8 years have left us) of democracy? No. It was a bunch of crazy fuckers being douchenozzles and justifying their douchebaggery with bullshitious excuses. This shit doesn't worry me nearly as much as hackable voting machines running on secret code, that can't be impartially reviewed, tabulating votes, that can't be verified.

You know, a dictatorship would solve all these problems.

I'm still not sure this election's actually going to happen.

UPDATE: The problem I see with this issue of challenging voter registration, is that it turns the principles of justice on their heads. What happened to words like: Alleged? Why is it assumed to always be "fraud" which (to me) implies a willful desire to circumvent the law? And why when challenged, is it the VOTER'S responsibility to prove their innocence? ???

If I were challenged: In Florida's purge before 2000, I would have been thrown off, because there are enough letter in the first part of my name, under the standards they used, as shown in Greg Palast's book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, that match some criminal they had in their lists. Under the rules that were proposed in Ohio, comparing to other databases, or states where voters are required to produce ID with exact matches, I would be rejected because my Driver's License does not include my middle initial like my voter registration does. And my SS card says on it, "Not to be used for Identification," (yes, it's my original OLD one) so could I use that?

By the Fucks at Fox I would be a fraud. But as I said, the worst of all of this is that I have to prove my innocence, rather than the refucks proving my guilt. They want to keep calling on the Founding Fathers, while spitting and shitting on their graves with this stuff.

Fuck them.

Fucking Clearwire

Bastards interrupted me while I was editing/updating my post from this morning, with a special offer. I declined but did I get back to my post? Fuck no, it was another one of their god damned screens. I couldn't publish. Mother fuckers wouldn't let me do it. Couldn't save my changes as a draft either. It was do their shit or else.

Fuck you Clear Wire. Fuck you.

Oh shit w/UPDATE

Find out if Sarah Palin would bang you at LiquidGeneration.com!

Save me Gramma Nancy... save meTina!

h/t to the Firestarter.

And in the Double Oh Shit department, Ms Slaughterhouse Spice is set to issue her very first solo speech on foreign policy. Now don't get your hopes up for her to talk about how she sees Russia from her ice-fishing hole or out of the half moon on her outhouse, and therefore is a foreign policy expert.** No. Expect to see the well rehearsed pageant walking Palin all chock full of neo-con talking points and Obama slams. Although I do wonder if we'll hear about God's plans for what to do with our nukes and who to bomb/threaten next. Opps.... sorry for the redundancies.

I wish I could live-blog it. Life's not fair; boo hoo.

**Even though we KNOW that all that OBVIOUSLY makes her an eggspurt on furriners n such, even more so than her NY floor show a ways back. I mean fuckin' a, you think you can learn anything sitting on foreign affairs/relations committees in congress?



UPDATE: Somehow I misunderstood. It's about her policies on Special Needs Kids. Basically talking points and Obama slams of a different flavor: School choice; vouchers for a price tag with nothing to do with the actual cost of educating kids or How I plan to counter act my line item vetos in Alaska's state budget, while cutting taxes like we've done under Reagan and Bush since experience tells us how fucking well it works. Mavericky shit. oh...

And did you know Barack Obama's a terror loving Muslim who wants to raise taxes?

I Couldn't Do It,

but I knew damn well, it was only a matter of time before some refuck would. Sure as shit, Brad somebody-or-other, slams Obama's trip to see his ailing grandmother. Why doesn't he just come out and sayit:

Obama's an elitist, playing the pity card.

Of course we know what he'd say if Obama didn't go: That he's a heartless elitist.

Defending the Indefensible

McBlame seems to think... No he says it outright, that those/we who criticize Sarah Palin aren't paying attention to her record.

WRONG !!!

We ARE paying attention. Not just to her lack of experience, but her stupidity and ignorance. We're paying attention to yours too. Being a prisoner doesn't make you a leader. Choosing a self-professed hockey mom as a running mate makes you stupid, not a maverick.

Oh, and this she's a tax cutter bull shit...? There are no fucking state income or sales taxes in Alaska to cut, so can it you dumb ass.

Nobody Likes Mika

Today? Every day? Not sure I get the significance of all this, but it's her whine today. has something to do with Sarah Palin's clothing budget. Or the RNC's clothing budget for her. I didn't hear what she said, but she's made the point that double the usual emails are coming in this morning. Look to her to repeat some form of her performance; attention whore.

This is all a red herring. Sarah Palin is an idiot, a dangerous one. Whether you dress her as a hockey mom, or a prime time teevee star, not counting "Survivor," she's an idiot and note worth your vote. Not enough to change your mind about voting McCrazed either. He's crazy enough to avoid all on his own. Choosing Palin was just proof of said craziness.

This is not worth raising my middle finger over.

But in something worth my attention....

David Horsey, once again, has a brilliant cartoon in today's P-I.

Ignorance is NOT Bliss

One of the things that pisses me off is when people defend their right to be ignorant.

There are stupid people; I accept that fact. I don't hate them, and I try to help them when I have the chance. Do people have a "right" to be stupid? That like asking if there's a rink for football. There are also ignorant people; I accept that fact as well, but not in the same way.

Stupid people, I believe, are born that way. It's not a choice; it's not a temporary condition; it's a characteristic, a trait. No matter how hard I might have worked, there was no chance I would have ever become a world class sprinter. Stupid people will always be stupid, no matter how hard they work to become smart.

Ignorant people are born that way as well, but ignorance IS a temporary condition. At school age, ignorance becomes a choice. It CAN be corrected through effort. To an untrained eye, they both look the same. Ignorance is merely a lack of knowledge, and is correctable by obtaining knowledge. Stupidity is the lack of the ability to obtain knowledge.

Is there a "right" to be ignorant? Yes, or at least I believe so, but why would one want to exercise that right? Or defend it? "I don't know shit from Shinola and by gum that's how I'm agonna stay, and there ain't one durn thang you can do about it."

OhhhhhKay. It is in that light that I believe it is far worse to be ignorant than stupid. Stupidity I can forgive; ignorance I cannot.

My point?

Sarah Palin...

Why does she still insist, contrary to what she could read in any 8th grade civics book, orrrrr...
learn if she only listened in to the answer to her second grade child's question, insist that as Vice President she can choose to get involved with the Senate in formulating policy? She bangs the gavel and votes to break ties, and that's ALL she does. Contrary to what Ms Dana, the Lying Sack of Cute, as Stephanie Miller calls her, says and what Mr Dick believes, there are NO Legislative duties, responsibilities or opportunities for the Vice President under the Constitution.

In refusing to learn this, Palin defends her right to be ignorant, in an attempt to hide her despotic desires in plain sight.

Dirty Pool?

This is what Lawrence Eagleburger calls Powell's endorsement of Obama? Lawrence O'Donnell shoots him full of holes.

Anything to discredit the messenger. After all, they're done with Powell. He served his purpose: He helped Jr get his war.

When did Powell announce that he would not stay through a second Bush term? 2002? HE knew they were done with him.

When it comes to describing, how many ducks could a refuck fuck... the Rude Pundit says it oh so well.

Obama Plays the...

I can't type it. Not even in an attempt at being snarky about the asshattery we keep seeing and hearing from the refucks at ever turn. I can't be sarcastic about this.

There's a lot of talk about the risk Obama's taking to go see his grandmother with less than three weeks left in this campaign. I only hope that he can somehow buoy her health and spirits enough so that she can see him win.

I've known people who've died, but I've never had to deal with the death of a close relative, or friend for that matter. Even my mother-in-law, who died this past February, wasn't someone with whom I ever got very close. By the time my father died, we had drifted apart. My mother... that I'm sure will be a different story. Being the one who raised me, I have gobs of respect for her, always have, and well... you figure it out.

I wish you well, Senator. and

I wish your grandmother well.

I hope you both reach a place of peace during this visit.

Your campaign? We've got it.

Snuffalopoulus... UPDATE: Matthews

In this corner.... for Barack Obama... we have:

Warren Buffet
Colin Powell

and in this corner... for John McCain... we have:

kinda-sorta
Joe the Plumber
^

Okey Dokey


UPDATE: It starts. Buchanan says the Powell endorsement is due to race. To think that Powell would be so shallow. I guess I shouldn't be shocked, considering the source and his beliefs. This is the mantra D-Cup predicted, although I'm not sure which if she had either black man in particular in mind. As I said: Brace yourself.

Can't spread the wealth but they can sure spread hatred.

What this really proves to me, is the Myth of the Maverick. It's somehow OK that McCain stood up to his party? Lieberman is a hero for being an Independent? Endorsing McCain over Obama? Obama's never stood against his party and that makes him bad?

Well here's Powell, addressing his endorsement point by point, but all Buchanan sees is skin color, because he can't make any other case.

So Colin Goes with Barack

It's not much of a surprise. Powell has never advertised himself as a Republican, even thouogh he's served under HDub as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Dubya as his Secretary of State. That's more a function of age and service time, than beliefs. He could just as easily served under Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, or Bill Clinton and (hopefully) Barack Obama.

The thing to keep in mind though, is that as a soldier, Powell is loyal. To his oaths to serve country, commander, fellow soldiers etc. I personally believe he served Dubya out of that loyalty, rather than belief. I've been told by vets that it's a court's martial offense to criticize a commander; odd contrast to the responsibility to disobey illegal orders.

Face it: Powell knew Dubya from his years with his Dad; he knew Cheney; he knew Rummy as well; I have no idea who else he knew or how well, but the man didn't live under a rock. He knew the hawkishness that would surround him in the cabinet. He had to have known the resistance to reason he would face as its lone voice. Well, there was Paul O'Neill in there too, who while the subject of a book entitled, The Price of Loyalty...

I'll put it this way: I would love to see a debate between the two, Powell and O'Neill, as to who paid the greater price in terms of their personal codes of honor and reputations, for their loyalty to the most destructive, pathologic, pathogenic president in history. O'Neill was there while Dubya began robbing the Treasury and bankrupting the country. Powell was there while Dubya made a totally false case for a war that robbed the Treasury and bankrupted the country. Both acted as enablers.

Now Powell looks at two candidates, one a service academy graduate, and has to once again examine all those personal codes and oaths. At the past and future. HIS past and future. His country's past and future. Liberal, Conservative, who hasn't been waiting for his "true" reaction to the Dubya Years? His contributions to the Great Endarkenment period of American history? He knows speaks volumes.

And he's spoken:

General Colin Powell
will be voting for
Barack Hussein Obama



h/t to the good folks at Crooks and Liars for the video

OBAMA + DEM CONG = USA RIP

So said someone named "Ted" in a comment to my morning post.

While I compliment his sense of humor, I also recall the line, "Many a truth is said in jest."

While there's no disputing my feelings for the Refuckyoucans in Congress, I'm not terribly impressed with the jobs done by Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Steny Hoyer, Jane Harman, and many others.

If Obama is to accomplish anything worth noting, he absolutely MUST do all he can to remove all those listed from their present posts and replace them. As well as remove Joe Lieberman from his posts and bar him from the Democratic caucuses.

Of course this all rests on the assumption that there will be a veto proof majority in the Senate. Without that, I see no hopes for any progressive accomplishments. I see/read/hear nothing that points to the Refucks rejoining the process of government as opposed to continuing with the Trent Lott "strategy" of "obstruct, obstruct, obstruct, and then run on the platform of a 'do nothing Congress.'" It only took the bastards one year to break a record for filibusters that was set over two years. If they can't filibuster... Naaa... they have to show up. It'd be too obvious if they didn't.

Joe the Plumber

Distraction.

Just another example of McStain's "Brillyunce of Idiocy" approach to campaigning. Pick someone to put out in front of you as an embodiment of your policy proposals, whose hopes and dreams will be squashed by your opponent's policies. Never mind that most of your premises are not true, ie LIES. The Lie Component is essential to the strategy.

First off, just the process of uncovering the lies is labeled "intrusion." "Joe never asked for this." Did he ask for you to bring up his situation, Johnny Surge? Give permission to do so?

The fact that he owes back taxes, just shows that he's overwhelmed by the burden of an unfair system. Did he not fill out his forms correctly to take full advantage of those grand and glorious Bush tax cuts that "overwhelmingly helped the vast majority of Americans?" That would be calling him stupid; showing disrespect for working class, ordinary people.

The fact that he is indeed not a licensed plumber, just shows the impediments ordinary Americans face as they pursue their dreams. Licensing, regulation bad, Bad, BAD. Never mind the misrepresentation and the fact that the guy Is.... Not... a Plumber.

Never mind that the guy doesn't make anywhere near enough to qualify for a loan to buy the business has he supposedly desires. Now.... is that an example of the need for more deregulation? Do we need sub-prime small business loans now?

We are the bad ones: Pointing out facts is now, "dragging a good man's name through the mud." Has nothing to do with the fact that he was first put in that mud by the lying. In all of this, we -- liberals, Democrats, McSame opponents, the wicked evil press corps -- miss the over arching narrative of the American Dream and the "Good Old Days." Never mind that that's a crock of shit on several levels.

I made the mistake of voting for Reagan; twice, no less. When HW , Daddy Bush, came along with his Willie Horton adds and other negative shit, distorting facts and dividing the country, I thought I'd seen the worst. It was so obvious to me: You go negative, when you have no positives.

Then came W, Jr Bush, the "uniter not a divider," who was willing to "reach out to all those who embrace our vision." That's not uniting; that's circling the wagons. He proceeded to divide the country further than I ever imagined someone could. He did it through lying, but he lied with a bit of style. A lot of his lies were encoded within his butchered grammar and syntax. While we made fun of how he talked, he did what he said. He passes/signs the Clear Skies Initiative that dirties the skies. He declares National Parks Week when he cuts the national parks' budget. And it goes on and on.

Now we have Johnny Mac... McCain the Insane... Grampy... McSame... The lies are there once again, and this time they're blatant. Obama repeatedly talks of cutting taxes for 95% of Americans and McSurge repeatedly talks of his desire to raise taxes. Cock sucking Fucker's on MSNBC right now spewing more lies... bringing up his fake plumber again... promising more tax cuts for businesses... that already pay no taxes..? Keeping taxes low, creates jobs... like they have for the last 8 years?

Do the people who cheer him actually listen to what he says? ???

He's not George Bush. True.

He's way fucking worse.

I'm too pissed to write anymore. Damnit

Duhbate #3

wellll... I'm sure that as usual there's going to be a lot of disagreement on who won. I'm not sure if McSame does better in debates than speeches, but I think I can say that Obama does worse in debates than speeches. Obama just can't seem to put the fucker away. What McCain does do, is he very eloquently and forcefully paints his sorry ass into corners with subjects like Bill Ayers when he blows off Obama's answers by saying we deserve to hear the story, when we've just heard it. He calls Obama a liar without saying the words, and he shows a degree of OCD: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Mother fucker's anal retentive. On the other hand

McCain likes to brag about standing up to his party. Well DUH... they're always wrong. Not much to brag about there. Thing is, Obama can't engage on the issue, and the biggest reason as I see it is his FISA stance: The one time when he should have stood against them, he didn't. Although I don't think it would be very effective for McSurge to bash him for, "Allowing us, helping us, to allow the president to kill the 4th Amendment," I WISH he could be able to say,"I stood against your party's president and his unconstitutional desires, when many in my party were ready to cave in."

I don't have a hell of a lot more to say right now. I still get pissed when I think of that FISA shit.

I hope this hits the YouTube later today

On MSNBC:

James Cromwell explains and defends the "formulation" and validity of the movie "W". Sheds a bit of insight as to why the little fucktard turned out to be the shithead he is today:

Grampy Prescott was an alcoholic, a fact which was hidden and denied by the family and led to HW's inability to deal with Dubya's lifelong douchebaggery and bullshitiousness.

Dubya grew up thinking his old man was a weakling. Which would explain his fascination with all things Reagan, including his fake ranch in Crawford, where he gets to live out his childhood dream of being a cowboy. (except he's scared shitless of horses)

Some things skip a generation: Dubya is an alcoholic. With a Midas touch that turns all things to shit and dreams of following in Grampy's foot steps and overthrowing the government -- ripping it all for billions to avenge Grampy and enrich his cronies at the very least.

Cromwell goes into his personal research and defends his and Stone's positions and versions of Dubya's life. One book he gave a lot of weight was Kitty Kelly's, "The Family." A book I must admit, has sat on my shelf unread. Chuck Todd tries to shoot down the movie and Cromwell defends their version of history as every bit as valid as Todd's.

I think what we're seeing is that we will forever have to do our own research into fact, as we see the toolishness behind the networks and their spin shows news reports... did I cross out the right words? Finding facts ourselves is a bit harder, since we actually have to work for a living, and don't have the luxury of putting vast resources and time into research. On the other hand, facts have never been more accessible than they are today in this age of the web; as long as free access and neutrality is maintained. Don't count on it though; not in this age of "corporate personhood."

An aside here: I like Mika better when she and the Scar are separated. I can almost consider her a real news person, with a working brain, when she's not doing her patented nods, points and winks, while she schlumps over the side of her stoll in his direction.

Maybe economic recovery isn't so hard after all

So Senator Surge announces that he's going to unveil his economic recovery plan. You know, the reason he postponed his campaign. You know, to break the logjam and get things done. You know, the one that didn't get passed until he left town. The one that he bitched about; said that Bush should veto; the one he still voted to pass; with its earmarks and pork barrel (Love how he says "pork barrel." Like he's got a mouth full of it) spending. Oh yeah...

He schedules a town hall meating meeting(Pork on my mind)...

To present his plan...

Says nothing about his plan...

Takes no questions about his plan...

Watches the market gain over 900 points.

John...

STFU and we'll be fine.

Actually....

Sunday Tubing on the Googlenets

So there's been a LOT of shit flying from the fan blades about our present economic nosedive, some of which has come from me. There's been talk about the refuckyoucan deregulation that's taken our banking laws back to the free wheeling days of the 1920s. We all know what happened in the 30s.

Something that doesn't get talked about too much, by comparison, is The Panic of 1873, or The Long Depression. Enter Answers.com and the following entry:

Like the Great Depression, the Long Depression saw many nations of the world resort to protectionism to shore up faltering industries. Influenced by List's nationalist argument for industrial protection, Bismarck abandoned the German free trade policy in 1879, enacting tariffs over the objections of his National Liberal Party allies. France, which had adopted free trade during the Second Empire (1852-1870), also abandoned it, while Benjamin Harrison won the 1888 US presidential election on a protectionist ticket. Only the United Kingdom retained the low tariffs enacted in the 1846 repeal of the Corn Laws.

Free trade vs protectionism/tariffs. That's the battle we hear about now. The refucks keep pushing for free trade, and self regulating markets and industries. Progressives like Thom Hartmann preach the values of tariffs and protectionism.

As I wrote recently, we've been here before. It's absolutely no mystery as to the cause of this situation, and it's absolutely no mystery as to the solutions. The thing is that when I was thinking about that post, all I had in mind was the Great Depression. I had a sneaking suspicion that many of the same factors were at work during The Panic, but I wasn't sure as to the date or the specifics. But there's even more to it than similar causes. Remember the PNAC's call for a new era of American Imperialism?

The Long Depression also contributed to the revival of colonialism leading to the New Imperialism period, symbolized by the scramble for Africa, as the western powers sought new markets for their goods. According to Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), the "unlimited expansion of power" followed the "unlimited expansion of capital".

Gee whiz. Only difference now is, that we have no products to market anymore; all our shit's made in China. We don't produce; we only consume.

The similarities are schpooky. Right now, we have a refuckyoucan preznit Bush. Prior to the Great Depression, we had a string of Republicans culminating with Herbert Hoover. At the time of The Panic we had Ulysses S Grant. As an aside, my sister and I have had discussions as to the magnitude of the ineptitude of Dubya. Whether a hobby or an avocation, it seems a fair bit of Conservative focus time is spent on arguing that Dubya is not the worst president in history. Among those name mentioned, besides Warren Harding and James Buchanan, is US Grant. Take a gander:

A failure as a farmer and a businessman, Grant soared to fame during the Civil War as President Abraham Lincoln's choice as commander of the Union Armies (from 1864). After the war, Grant was easily elected to two terms as President, but his administration was tainted by corruption among his Cabinet members.

Failure and corruption. My oh my. Anyone besides me NOT surprised? The biggest difference as I see it is that in Grant we had a general who actually served on the battlefield. In Dubya we have Cummander Codpiece; drunk and AWOL. Let's see... what else we got...

It was precipitated by the bankruptcy of the Philadelphia banking firm Jay Cooke and Company on September 18, 1873 along with the meltdown on May 9, 1873, of the Vienna Stock Exchange...

At the end of the Civil War, there was a boom in railroad construction, with 35,000 miles (56,000 km) of new track laid across the country between 1866 and 1873. The railroad industry, at the time the nation's largest employer outside of agriculture, involved large amounts of money and risk. A large infusion of cash from speculators caused abnormal growth in the industry. Cooke's firm, like many others, was invested heavily in the railroads...

Cooke and other entrepreneurs had planned to build a second transcontinental railroad, called the Northern Pacific Railway. Cooke's firm provided the financing. But on September 18, the firm realized it had become overextended and declared bankruptcy.

The firm's bankruptcy created a domino effect, causing major upset to the economy of the United States. The New York Stock Exchange closed for 10 days. Of the country's 364 railroads, 89 went bankrupt. A total of 18,000 businesses failed between 1873 and 1875. Unemployment reached 14% by 1876...

Oh... 'scuse me. We haven't closed the stock exchange. Yet. We just watch it decline by what... 22% in a week? We have banks going tits up, nine straight months of job loss... and a HOUSING BUBBLE that's burst. Let me back up a sec. What about Britain who hung on to their free trade policies?

The United Kingdom is often considered to have been the hardest hit by the Long Depression, and during this period it lost much of its large industrial lead over the economies of Continental Europe.

OK. So much for McSame's proposals of "Opening up markets for our goods (that we no longer make) and not going back to the failed policies of protectionism."

Remember the New Imperialism and period of unlimited expansion of power I quoted earlier? How about this, again from Answers.com:

Many economists believed the Great Depression was evidence that capitalism, when left unchecked, is a dangerous ideology. This caused some nations to change their political structures, such as Germany (and Italy), who adopted fascism.

Although I firmly believe that unregulated, unrestrained capitalism is dangerous, I think it's too early to gloat over the death of conservatism and/or the refuckyoucans. But we can dream.

A few last thoughts, and then you can go plug terms in to your own favorite search engine / tube scrubber. There seems to be disagreement over whether it was the New Deal that brought us out of the Great Depression, or World War II. Roosevelt chose public works to get people working again, Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo it appears, chose military buildup instead. Did WWII start with Italy's invasion of Ethiopia? Japan's invasion of China? or Manchuria? Or with Germany's invasion of Poland? Or is the answer none of the above? ??? Can't forget the Spanish Civil War that involved several of the big players in WWII using that theater as their laboratory.

Looking a bit further back, after The Panic, we had The Spanish American War, the Russo-Japanese War, the Boer War (maybe a few others) and eventually WWI. Again: When did it begin? ???

And looking forward, we've got Dubya's great experiment of Iraq. Who the fuck knows anymore, if anyone ever did, when and why that fiasco started and no one has a fucking clue when it's going to end. That includes McCain the Insane. And Afghanistan, and possibly more crap in Georgia and other ex-soviet republics, and Iran, North Korea, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict(s).

::Sigh:: I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go...

Snuffalopollus... the Round Table

Paul Krugman is outnumbered 4 to 1. I'm curious to see just how far the four will go to defend free markets now that they've proven themselves to be a pathogenic fraud.

Take 'em to school Paul.

Seems like they're actually listening.

What I find amazing in one sense , but DUH-ish in another is that in times of Conservative caused financial crises, we ALWAYS turn to solutions that appear or are socialist in some sense or another.

Oh, HEERREE's the kicker: Whoever gets elected is going to have to appoint cabinet members from the other party. That's what was "said." What was meant was: Obama will have to appoint (some) white republicans to cabinet posts in order to appear legitimate.

Now on to Meet the Press, where Bob Portman and Jon Corzine tell the opposite about the two candidates' tax plans; Who's lying?

Brokaw tells an out and out lie, saying that Both Obama and McCain refuse to see any need to prioritize or set an order in what gets tackled when. McSame said he can work on all three at once. Obama spoke about them, One-two-three: Enegy, Healthcare, Education. Brokaw tries to sell McCain through the back door by lumping them together in a rejection of reality.

Hmmm... Brokaw does a sensible thing: He directs viewers to the candidates' web sites to see what both propose for healthcare. He doesn't know? Why won't/can't he say?

Portman tells an out and out lie: Obama's had more negative adds this campaign than any other candidate in history. Portman: Wants to talk about Ayers; refuses to acknowledge McCain trying to distract. Corzine: Brings the focus back to the economy; brings Portman back to talk about the economy (by denying that McCain wants to focus on Ayers...) I gotta give both guys credit though: Neither interrupted the other. Not like Ric Davis did repeatedly with David Axelrod earlier this morning. Fucker would interrupt, then when Axelrod would try to reclaim his time, would accuse Axelrod of interrupting: I don't interrupt you while you're talking (like I'm doing now)

Ted Koppel: Fucker Nails it: We've been living in a credit card economy for years now. <== thanks for agreeing with me Ted. The credit card Refuckyoucans came into their own under Reagan, but one aspect of this credit mess has been the practice of Dubya-ites encouraging people to borrow against the equity in their homes and spend it at Walmart. Fuck, just write a check to China.

Hey Rachel Maddow

I hear you're in Seattle, but can't find out anything more than that. E-mail me to confirm an invitation to dinner. A good friend is over and she's making a gooooood Spanish style paella. Or if tomorrow or Sunday is better, I can grill some ribs.

Update:

Better let me know soon Rachel; I like to let my ribs percolate with the rub for a good 6-8 hours before cooking. 2 hours would be the absolute minimum.

But hey... ribs aren't cast in stone. I could do a beer can chicken...? Or a cedar planked salmon...? or would that be too Palinesque? Tuna steaks...?

Update II:

All jokes and/or fantasies aside... seriously.... Just dinner. Drinks if you like. Conversation.

Update III:

Is she a vegetarian? I could do mushrooms..? Portabellas...? Psychedelics...?

Update IV:

I guess she's not coming. :sniffsniff: I even saved the good stuff and ate spaghetti last night.

McCain blinks.

Holy shit... Is this a sign of surrender? Does McShame realize the ass he was making of himself, while not only fighting a losing battle, but in doing so making Gen Geo Custer look like a tactical genius. Fuck...

He never cut anyone off and disputed Hillary being a bitch, did he?

But today, when a woman who had his mike talked about Obama being an Arab, Johnny Surge shook his head, took the mike and told the crowd that Obama was a good citizen.

Later on, he said he was a good family man...

He said he was a decent human being...

What will be next?

Obama loves the troops? ???

The will of Gheeawduh

McCain crossed the stage and hugged the man.

"Thank you," said the senator. "Thank you for your courage. I believe your reward will be in heaven, not here on Earth."

(see the video at Raw Story)

Sooo... god, or Gheeawduh in fundamentalese, is going to reward those who back McSame? I don't think I would have agreed even back in my own days as a fundie. I'd possibly have called this blasphemy.

Now I just call it bullshitiousness and douchebaggery. Outright insanity is probably more like it.

Best news of the day? I'll be at work so I'll miss Dubya's load of crap about HIS PARTY'S economic disaster.

Waiting for the real analysis...

on Saturday Night Live this Thursday night.

Trickery Dickery Dock

McCain turns back the clock.

Anyone been missing Tricky Dick Nixon?

Well miss him no more. Tonight he was reincarnated in the form of one John Surge McCain III.
Yuppers, with his secret plan to catch/kill bin Laden -- I know how to do it my friends -- to that tried and true refrain of, "Peace with Honor."

Two things on this fucker, and I've mentioned them before... 1) He's still trying to win Vietnam and 2) He's trying to win as a Democrat. I guess that's what he defines as a maverick: Steal your opponent's platform.

Catch his New Deal idea to buy up all the bad mortgages, renegotiate them and keep people in their homes? New Deal. The same New Deal that's been dismantled by refuckyoucans all the way down to Social Security, and the bastards tried to fuck that one up too. I guess it just wasn't fair that people without risky 401k accounts have stable accounts administered by the feds.

(not surprisingly, the Fucks News viewers overwhelmingly think ShitStain won 86% - 12%, and MSNBC says 84.3% - 12.9%. Average 'em out... 49.45- 48.15 McStain sounds more reasonable)

I didn't see as many opportunities for Obama to nail McShame to the wall this time around, but he did take advantage of one of those few when he pointed to the war monger McCain is with his, "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran," lines.

"That One" ... I speak more respectfully when I talk about my dambass brother-in-law, the republican, or the step-daughter, Ms Thing. I talk about the grandmonster's dad, or my ex-boss in such terms. I do so to express my utter contempt, and the idea that they're less than losers, sub-human species or something to be scraped from my shoe. Kinda like Dubya.

Douchebaggery and Bullshitiousness pt DUH

David Horsey... True Genius.

"This bill addresses the underlying problems to our economy: That as assets banks hold lose value, their abilities to lend money and extend credit are restricted." So said Dubya, our Harvard MBA preznit, or some such nonsense, as he signed the "Bush, Pelosi, Reid, Obama, McCain Bailout Bill."

Do not, I repeat NOT, N-O-T NOT send your kids to Harvard for an MBA. Granted, not every kid who goes there is a pampered punk like Dubya, with the means and methods available to fake and cheat their way through and not learn a fucking thing, but still, he's not exactly a poster child for what I'd want a kid to become. Come on folks,

didn't we study this in 10th grade US history? Under the Great Depression and the New Deal? This bill does nothing that anyone who's pushed it says it does. Except that it funnels $700 BILLION to those who don't deserve it. In the grand tradition of Reagan refuckyocanism, it rewards fuck ups and (near) criminal behavior. Oh,

we're going to revisit this and attach over site and regulation? That really worked when congress went back to review the Protect America Act, didn't it? We got the new FISA complete with retroactive immunity for telecom companies , administration officials with a stab to the heart of the Fourth Amendment to boot. You really expecting anything more this time around? To anyone still stupid enough to take anything titsy Pelosi says seriously, I wanna know

You going to vacation on a tropical island in Alaska? Or on an ocean beach in New Mexico? Be nice if you had a job to pay for a vacation. Hope you live long enough to see something trickle down from above, but hey

McCrook and Palin want to keep taxes low, so we'll see plenty of new jobs created just like we have through Dubya's tax cuts, right?
be patient
they're coming
he said so

As to Palin's claims of cutting taxes in Alaska... Alaska is the ONLY state in the union with NEITHER a state income tax, NOR a state sales tax. The state's money comes from royalties charged on the oil flowing through the pipeline; the one from the North Slope/Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. (their other major source is federal largess) When oil prices are down, as during the years when Bill Shefield and Steve Cowper were governor, the state starves; when prices are high as when Jay Hammond and, gee whiz, Sarah Palin were governor, the state SWIMS in money. Which btw would not exactly make it tough to cut taxes... if there WERE any fucking taxes to cut. Her claims are basically, wand waving with side orders of smoke and mirrors.

PS If you live in Washington state, have confidence in Dino Rossi; he, of the Bush-like fucktard smirk, is going to create jobs by keeping taxes low too. Just like Dubya.

Did Palin Win? >>>Updated<<<

I would say, no. At best she slowed the massive hemorrhaging, but unless she never does an interview with anyone not with Faux, I don't think she's stopped it. She was well prepared. She did her memorization. If you look at the times and ways she avoided questions and consider that a skill, rather than an act of fraud, well... I don't have a cure for you, sorry.

She was a pageant contestant and a news caster, and those were the skills she showed more than any others. She may have gotten off script when she began talking about more power for the vice president; she started stumbling (with her speech) and fell completely off the wagon in terms of 8th grade civics. Biden, as did Obama, failed to capitalize to the full extent on that one. He also failed, as did Obama, to nail McShame's horrendous voting record on military and veterans. That one reeeeeally bugs me. It's as if there's a truce or treaty of some kind declaring the fraud that is McCain as hero, off limits. I don't get it.

Like many years no horse wins the Triple Crown, no tennis player or golfer wins their respective Grand Slam, for this debate -- and I use that term loosely -- there was no winner.

\/\/Update\/\/

I got it this morning. I was trying to think of what/who I was watching in/through Palin last night. The whole thing of being well rehearsed. Spokes model is a term that gets floated around quite a bit, and I know there are a lot out there who want to see the home made porn tapes, or "Sarah Does Nannook" ... I'll pass; she doesn't do it for me; not even in a lezbo threesome with Rachel Maddow and Stephanie Miller. NO, I know where she belongs:

She's a Faux News Bimbo with Bottle Brown hair.

And I loved Pat Buchanon's take: Biden was boring. He was all facts and figures and statistics... Palin was new and fresh and... don't remind me of "less than fresh" Pat. Please.

Why is it that Conservatives hate facts? DUH... facts have a definite liberal bias, and since Palin OBviously can't dazzle with brilliance, she must baffle with bull shit and be much less boring, I suppose. Look...

I don't want a President that entertains me; I want a President who knows shit. I don't want a President that'd make a good drinking buddy; I want a President who works. Joe Sixpack in the White House? Fuck me with a taser, please. I WANT an educated, knowledgeable, well-spoken, well-read...elitist if you will... sitting in that chair, standing on that wall. Palin can take her "Folksy" bullshit out to the back forty and put it out of its misery. Oh...

And I really really reeeeeallyyyyy don't want, what my President might look like naked to be an issue.

And speaking of drinks and drunks, I wonder what dry-drunk George's past sponsors might have to say about these past 8 years.

More Douchebaggery and Bullshitiousness

When will it fucking end? Every time I think there's the possibility that Congress has hit rock bottom, they go even lower. Every time I think that surely they will see the error of their ways they go further off course. How god damned more stupid can they possibly act? ???

Not only do they fork over another Iraq's worth of dough in one vote, they do so with yet another tax cut. WHAT THE FUCK? ???

If everyone finds something in it to hate, no one can get blamed for its fuckedupedness? ???

And in another note:

We thought Palin's answers are bad. Anyone see McCrazed's answers lies during his Des Moines Register press conference? ??? The only thing "white" he should be in is not a house. It's a padded cell.

Speaking MILF to MILF

Mika Brzezinski wants to see Sarah Palin do well in the debate tomorrow. Knock one out out the park was the way she put it.

Besides needing to buy some vowels... and pronounce them...

Could someone tell me what the fuck she's for? I mean what her purpose is? She points here and nods there... picks up a paper (don't know if she reads or absorbs anything) or holds up a sign... I don't see her as eye candy, although she sure seems to love leaning on Joe... literally... keeps her hands above the table... at least when the cameras roll. The wife and I couldn't tell if she smiles or grimaces... She's married... has kids... She's past her expiration date for USDA Hottie.

The airhead with depth? A bimbo with a degree/brain? I don't get it. "Americans are pissed off" about the bailout. WOW... Such insightful reporting. Must spend her spare time curled up with Sarah Palin's reading list.

I know I'm pissed off. I wasted two mornings listening to a blow hard and his pet fluff doll.