When Bush won his second term in 2004, he abandoned all pretense that he was a uniter, not a divider. He ditched any cabinet members who even paid lip service to bipartisanship. He quit even pretending to listen to the opposition in Congress. The results have been self-evident.
His approval levels with the public have been lower, longer, than any other Chief Executive. Two years after winning re-election, the Democrats were given back control of both houses of Congress. More people than ever disapprove of the war even though his covert policy of re-baathification has quelled, to some extent, the insurgency in Iraq. A decrease in consumer confidence has brought the economy to a standstill. GDP is down. Unemployment is up. The dollar is inflating out of control, even as the administration lies about it. There is an explosion of home mortgage foreclosures as hundreds of billions in home equity continue to leak out of the pockets of American homeowners. Retail sales stagnate and the prospects for improvement don't look rosy as Americans contemplate their upcoming tax bills in April, despite promised stimulus checks.
Bush is betting that in November, nine months from now, when Americans go to the polls, everything will have straightened out. He's betting that the Federal Reserve Banks aggressive policy of rate cuts and unlimited infusions of freshly printed cash into the financial sector will have turned the economy around, inflation be damned. He's betting that the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan will have stabilized and that US casualty rates will have subsided to levels acceptable to the public. He's betting that nobody will look too closely at the trillion dollar plus cost of the war, financed entirely on the cuff, to be paid long after he has left office. This is a huge gamble. He's not only betting his legacy, which is worthless anyway, he's betting the political futures of every Republican politician in the nation.
If he is successful, he could win big. For all of our sakes, I hope he is right. I have no confidence that his wager will be rewarded. I think the situation has gone beyond a question of odds.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
What is an eight ball and how much does it cost?
The average suburban couple, the kind that never miss a days work. The kind that actively participate in their children's upbringing. The kind who's own parents point to them with pride, can easily go through a gram of cocaine and a quarter of a once of marijuana a week. This would be considered to be very moderate usage.
How much money does that cost, I wonder, for good stuff. Four or five hundred dollars would be my guess. That would be twenty to twenty five thousand dollars a year. That's an interesting number, because that's how much a lot of people I know have been pulling out of their home equity each year, when they refinance. It makes sense. How many people, when they are figuring out their budget, add in eighteen hundred a month, for dope. It would be no great surprise then, if they come up short, real short, at the end of the year.
Nobody talks about drugs anymore. The war on drugs. Legalizing drugs. How much they cost. I have no idea which drugs are popular these days. I suspect they are all pretty popular and that different people have different preferences. I think drug use is pretty common, across the entire spectrum of our society, age, sex, political party, religion, socio-economic status, etc. They're pretty much every where. No one gets too concerned over it. Everybody knows George Bush uses a lot of drugs. A lot of people dislike his Presidency but not because of that. George has sent a lot of troops to Columbia. That seems more along the lines of supporting the right wing cartels against the left wing cartels, not really interdiction.
For whatever reason, drugs seem to be with us to stay. They are a significant factor in the economy. The government efforts to control their use, are no more than token. The prosecution and incarceration of drug offenders seems to have become entirely discriminatory in nature. It seems like we might want to start towards an acceptance of some of these facts and begin to deal with reality.
How much money does that cost, I wonder, for good stuff. Four or five hundred dollars would be my guess. That would be twenty to twenty five thousand dollars a year. That's an interesting number, because that's how much a lot of people I know have been pulling out of their home equity each year, when they refinance. It makes sense. How many people, when they are figuring out their budget, add in eighteen hundred a month, for dope. It would be no great surprise then, if they come up short, real short, at the end of the year.
Nobody talks about drugs anymore. The war on drugs. Legalizing drugs. How much they cost. I have no idea which drugs are popular these days. I suspect they are all pretty popular and that different people have different preferences. I think drug use is pretty common, across the entire spectrum of our society, age, sex, political party, religion, socio-economic status, etc. They're pretty much every where. No one gets too concerned over it. Everybody knows George Bush uses a lot of drugs. A lot of people dislike his Presidency but not because of that. George has sent a lot of troops to Columbia. That seems more along the lines of supporting the right wing cartels against the left wing cartels, not really interdiction.
For whatever reason, drugs seem to be with us to stay. They are a significant factor in the economy. The government efforts to control their use, are no more than token. The prosecution and incarceration of drug offenders seems to have become entirely discriminatory in nature. It seems like we might want to start towards an acceptance of some of these facts and begin to deal with reality.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Many Days You Have Lingered, Outside My Cabin Door
We have listened to the old men. Our leaders. Men of experience. Men of wisdom.
They told us it would never happen. All we had to do was follow their lead, Keep a good thought and not succumb to the fear and doubt. Work hard. Live our lives. Raise our children. Nothing could hurt us.
A service economy is inherently more stable than one based on actual production. Production jobs are boring, uninteresting and don't pay good. The people that do them become malcontents and want collective bargaining, benefits and better pay. The market for goods and materials can fluctuate but people are always going to need their investments managed, their taxes done, their pools cleaned, their burgers flipped. The pay might not be good but if you're smart, you'll learn to do something that people will pay more for or become a manager of workers who do the same job you used to. In the meantime, get on with your life. Get married. Raise a family. Buy a house. Don't worry about the cost. You're credit is good.
Your credit wasn't good though, was it? Turns out, a service economy isn't inherently stable. Buying a house is not the same thing as owning one. A ponzi scheme is still a ponzi scheme, whether the guy that sucks you in is your next door neighbor or the President of the United States. Your money is still just as gone. Your life is still just as over.
What about those old men of experience, the leaders? The ones that told you there was nothing to fear. It turns out they own their houses, really own them and a lot more besides. What about their kids? They went to good schools. They're working. In Latin America, Europe, Asia. They are learning the language, making contacts. Things are happening over there. They need help over there. Help setting up service economies. Help developing a modern banking system and structured investment vehicles.
Hard Times Come Again No More.
They told us it would never happen. All we had to do was follow their lead, Keep a good thought and not succumb to the fear and doubt. Work hard. Live our lives. Raise our children. Nothing could hurt us.
A service economy is inherently more stable than one based on actual production. Production jobs are boring, uninteresting and don't pay good. The people that do them become malcontents and want collective bargaining, benefits and better pay. The market for goods and materials can fluctuate but people are always going to need their investments managed, their taxes done, their pools cleaned, their burgers flipped. The pay might not be good but if you're smart, you'll learn to do something that people will pay more for or become a manager of workers who do the same job you used to. In the meantime, get on with your life. Get married. Raise a family. Buy a house. Don't worry about the cost. You're credit is good.
Your credit wasn't good though, was it? Turns out, a service economy isn't inherently stable. Buying a house is not the same thing as owning one. A ponzi scheme is still a ponzi scheme, whether the guy that sucks you in is your next door neighbor or the President of the United States. Your money is still just as gone. Your life is still just as over.
What about those old men of experience, the leaders? The ones that told you there was nothing to fear. It turns out they own their houses, really own them and a lot more besides. What about their kids? They went to good schools. They're working. In Latin America, Europe, Asia. They are learning the language, making contacts. Things are happening over there. They need help over there. Help setting up service economies. Help developing a modern banking system and structured investment vehicles.
Hard Times Come Again No More.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Who's He Trying To Kid?
General Michal V. Hayden, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, who has a history of lying to Congress going back 20 years, to the Iran Contra hearings, swore to the Senate yesterday that waterboarding was only used three times. These would be the exact three times that we already know about and have documentation for. The same three times that he has admitted destroying the video tapes of. He swore that the CIA has never used this technique before or since.
He denies that waterboarding constitutes torture. He states that the CIA needs to be able to use waterboarding in interrogations when necessary. He promises he will get specific permission from the President before he does it, each and every time before it's use.
This guy could improve his image, a lot, if he had a bald cat in his lap and a little bald midget with an identical uniform by his side.
He denies that waterboarding constitutes torture. He states that the CIA needs to be able to use waterboarding in interrogations when necessary. He promises he will get specific permission from the President before he does it, each and every time before it's use.
This guy could improve his image, a lot, if he had a bald cat in his lap and a little bald midget with an identical uniform by his side.
Heather Has Two Mommies
Late breaking news from the Bruderhofs of the Godless European Union.
When a sperm fertilizes an egg, everything the new person will become is encoded in the DNA inside the the nucleus of the newly created single cell organism. Well, not quite. Outside the nucleus are bodies called mitochondria. These little intracellular bodies perform the metabolic tasks that keep the cells healthy and happy. Inside of each mitochondria is a little snippet of DNA, which allows it to reproduce itself. Mitochondria exist intact within the egg at the time of conception and so mitochondrial DNA is passed directly from mother to child, unchanged by the sexual swap of genetic material that occurs in fertilization.
Like all genetic material, mitochondrial DNA is subject to breakage. When this happens the mitochondria produced are faulty and can malfunction. This interferes with intracellular metabolism, causing a host of catastrophic degenerative diseases.
In Europe, scientists have found these diseases can be avoided by transferring the nucleus of a fertilized egg that contains damaged mitochondrial DNA into a donor egg with healthy mitochondria from which the nucleus has been removed. This new "composite" gamete can be implanted into a uterus and the resulting child will have a healthy active intracellular metabolism.
The technology to do all this is off the shelf stuff, that research labs and fertility clinics have been doing routinely for a generation. Whole categories of diseases which affect millions worldwide could now be eliminated.
In this country, where the practice of reproductive medicine is controlled by Creationist, "Culture of Life", Dickwads, who believe the Universe was created whole cloth six thousand years ago, during a week long bender, by a Deity high on Sumerian beer, this procedure will never be performed. What is our World coming to?
Remember the almost words of George Orwell.
"Six toes good, five toes bad."
When a sperm fertilizes an egg, everything the new person will become is encoded in the DNA inside the the nucleus of the newly created single cell organism. Well, not quite. Outside the nucleus are bodies called mitochondria. These little intracellular bodies perform the metabolic tasks that keep the cells healthy and happy. Inside of each mitochondria is a little snippet of DNA, which allows it to reproduce itself. Mitochondria exist intact within the egg at the time of conception and so mitochondrial DNA is passed directly from mother to child, unchanged by the sexual swap of genetic material that occurs in fertilization.
Like all genetic material, mitochondrial DNA is subject to breakage. When this happens the mitochondria produced are faulty and can malfunction. This interferes with intracellular metabolism, causing a host of catastrophic degenerative diseases.
In Europe, scientists have found these diseases can be avoided by transferring the nucleus of a fertilized egg that contains damaged mitochondrial DNA into a donor egg with healthy mitochondria from which the nucleus has been removed. This new "composite" gamete can be implanted into a uterus and the resulting child will have a healthy active intracellular metabolism.
The technology to do all this is off the shelf stuff, that research labs and fertility clinics have been doing routinely for a generation. Whole categories of diseases which affect millions worldwide could now be eliminated.
In this country, where the practice of reproductive medicine is controlled by Creationist, "Culture of Life", Dickwads, who believe the Universe was created whole cloth six thousand years ago, during a week long bender, by a Deity high on Sumerian beer, this procedure will never be performed. What is our World coming to?
Remember the almost words of George Orwell.
"Six toes good, five toes bad."
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Record Turnout ?
I voted late this morning, me and five poll workers were the only ones there. I asked if it had been a busy morning.
They answered, "Not so much".
I live in a conservative stronghold. I guess they're not too interested today.
Let's see if they perk up by November.
They answered, "Not so much".
I live in a conservative stronghold. I guess they're not too interested today.
Let's see if they perk up by November.
Finger in the Dyke, No Reward
Why won't Hillary be the Democratic nominee for President?
At the beginning of the Bush 43 Presidency, it fell to the Clintons to be the keepers of the flame. This they have done, at great cost to themselves, at every level of their lives. They have been on record and in front of the cameras daily, for the last 8 years, responding to the ill fated actions of the Republican dominated government. They have been jeered at, belittled, compromised and demonized by the Republican establishment. That they have been largely right, makes no difference at this point. They are damaged goods.
People are now willing to admit that they want a change in government. They are not willing to say they have been wrong. Electing Hillary President is just that, an admission of guilt, in participation in the folly, that was and is, the Bush administration. The people won't do it.
Barak Obama is young, fresh and has no history in national politics. Electing him is not a self indictment for the electorate. It's an easy, feel good, way out. If you think the American people won't take the easy way out, you're wrong.
Thank you, Hillary and Bill. You stood up against a corrupt, tyrannical government through some of the worst days in the memory of our nation. There will be no honors or awards ceremonies. No thanks of a grateful nation. You know the service you have performed. It will have to be enough.
You get no absolution without confession and contrition. Ask any reformed drunk.
The American people are ready to dry out but they are not willing to throw away that bottle of rye, stashed, under the kitchen sink.
At the beginning of the Bush 43 Presidency, it fell to the Clintons to be the keepers of the flame. This they have done, at great cost to themselves, at every level of their lives. They have been on record and in front of the cameras daily, for the last 8 years, responding to the ill fated actions of the Republican dominated government. They have been jeered at, belittled, compromised and demonized by the Republican establishment. That they have been largely right, makes no difference at this point. They are damaged goods.
People are now willing to admit that they want a change in government. They are not willing to say they have been wrong. Electing Hillary President is just that, an admission of guilt, in participation in the folly, that was and is, the Bush administration. The people won't do it.
Barak Obama is young, fresh and has no history in national politics. Electing him is not a self indictment for the electorate. It's an easy, feel good, way out. If you think the American people won't take the easy way out, you're wrong.
Thank you, Hillary and Bill. You stood up against a corrupt, tyrannical government through some of the worst days in the memory of our nation. There will be no honors or awards ceremonies. No thanks of a grateful nation. You know the service you have performed. It will have to be enough.
You get no absolution without confession and contrition. Ask any reformed drunk.
The American people are ready to dry out but they are not willing to throw away that bottle of rye, stashed, under the kitchen sink.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
The Swiftboating of John McCain
There is an amazing and richly imaginative saga making it's way around the RightRoots sites this morning. It has John McCain spending his years in North Vietnamese captivity, as a happy traitor, holed up in a Hanoi hotel suite, with clean sheets, cold beer and a stable of courtesans at his beck and call. It features Bill Clinton as a steely eyed, cold war, CIA plant, in the international student peace movement, during his Oxford years. Hillary is exposed as the anchorwoman of a daisy chain of Saudi lesbian spies.
It's like Ian Fleming meets the Three Stooges. Who writes this stuff for them? Anyway, check it out. It's well worth the search.
It's like Ian Fleming meets the Three Stooges. Who writes this stuff for them? Anyway, check it out. It's well worth the search.
Friday, February 01, 2008
A Little Parable For All You Global Warmers Out There
Nothing is more refreshing than a big glass of iced tea on a hot summer day, lying out by the pool. As long as the ice lasts, the tea stays frosty cold.
Think of the earth as a big glass of iced tea. As the ice caps melt, they keep the oceans cold. The oceans, in turn, Cool the atmosphere. The weather will remain balmy and beautiful, as long as the ice lasts. We should have 20 or 30 years of great weather.
I'm 56 years old, no children. What, me worry?
Think of the earth as a big glass of iced tea. As the ice caps melt, they keep the oceans cold. The oceans, in turn, Cool the atmosphere. The weather will remain balmy and beautiful, as long as the ice lasts. We should have 20 or 30 years of great weather.
I'm 56 years old, no children. What, me worry?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
What Will You Do With Your Stimulus Check?
If President Bush has his way, you will soon be getting a check in the mail. For the average family it could be $1800, maybe even more. What will the people of this great nation do with this money? Surprisingly, there is already a consensus. Everybody I've talked to says the same thing.
"Flat screen TV, baby, biggest one I can get."
Where do they make these? China. Where will your economic stimulus money go? China.
George W. Bush. What a fuckin' genius.
"Flat screen TV, baby, biggest one I can get."
Where do they make these? China. Where will your economic stimulus money go? China.
George W. Bush. What a fuckin' genius.
Ben "Gutenberg" Bernanke
Ben has been hard at work lowering interest rates. He has been adding liquidity to the financial system in huge amounts now for months. What he has been doing, in fact, is printing money, in huge amounts and putting it into circulation. This has the effect of making every dollar you make, spend or save worth less. It has the effect of destroying the World market confidence in the dollar. The first prerequisite for a stable national economy is a sound currency. He is systematically destroying any hope we have, in this country, to achieve this. He has accelerated an inflationary cycle that was already in danger of spiraling out of control.
What can the average person do in a situation like this? With all that new money floating around, someone is likely to be willing to lend you some. Borrow as much as you can. Spend it, as soon as possible, before it loses any more value, preferably on sex and intoxicants. It will make you feel better, at least for a little while.
What can the average person do in a situation like this? With all that new money floating around, someone is likely to be willing to lend you some. Borrow as much as you can. Spend it, as soon as possible, before it loses any more value, preferably on sex and intoxicants. It will make you feel better, at least for a little while.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Douche Pipe Dreams
If the problems of the World and the nation could be addressed and solved by simply saying so, George Bush would be our greatest President. During the State of the Union Address, this evening, he claimed the country and it's citizens to be in the best shape ever. The economy is sound, the dollar strong. No child has been left behind. Great health care is available to all. Democracy is blooming and tyranny in retreat around the World. We have prevailed in the Middle Eastern War, peace is at hand. Genocide bad, liberation of the oppressed good. God is on our side, so we get to decide which is which. Taxes will be lowered. Spending will be cut. The check is in the mail. We will not allow weapons of mass destruction to grease the axle of evil.
Unfortunately, nothing he said was true. Very little of it had any relationship with reality. He could have mailed the fucker in. There's no point in doing an assignment on time and presenting it in class if you know you're going to get an F anyway. George, take the day off. Go to the beach. Catch some rays and waves. Smoke a doob. You're not going to disappoint anyone. Nobody.
I loved the speech. Afterward, I felt so fresh and the painful itching was gone!
Unfortunately, nothing he said was true. Very little of it had any relationship with reality. He could have mailed the fucker in. There's no point in doing an assignment on time and presenting it in class if you know you're going to get an F anyway. George, take the day off. Go to the beach. Catch some rays and waves. Smoke a doob. You're not going to disappoint anyone. Nobody.
I loved the speech. Afterward, I felt so fresh and the painful itching was gone!
The Season of Falling Trees
It's been raining here in SoCal. Sometimes we go years without real precipitation. It's a nice change. There's an interesting thing that happens here, a few weeks after the rain. The Devil Winds from the Eastern Desert kick up and blow out to sea. It makes the trees commit suicide. You drive out in the morning and see huge branches broken off from the trunks. Whole trees will be blown over, sometimes rows of them down across thoroughfares or crushing someones garage, roots now pointing to the sky, big hole where they used to be. Most people agree that this is caused by the rains softening the ground, allowing the wind to loosen and detach the root systems and no doubt this is a factor.
The primary reason this happens is something else, something people don't think about. When the rains come, the trees greedily suck up the water and nutrients. They pump these up to the top of the tree where all the foliage is and photosynthesis is going on. Water weighs a lot. The trees become top heavy. When the wind hits these poor unbalanced trees, there is no question what is going to happen.
Sometimes our lives can be like the trees in Southern California. Better ask yourself. Do you need to prune your life back a little, before the Devil Winds start to blow? The season of falling trees is coming, baby!
The primary reason this happens is something else, something people don't think about. When the rains come, the trees greedily suck up the water and nutrients. They pump these up to the top of the tree where all the foliage is and photosynthesis is going on. Water weighs a lot. The trees become top heavy. When the wind hits these poor unbalanced trees, there is no question what is going to happen.
Sometimes our lives can be like the trees in Southern California. Better ask yourself. Do you need to prune your life back a little, before the Devil Winds start to blow? The season of falling trees is coming, baby!
We Need More Mexicans!
Southern California has a lot more people than it did when I was a boy and even then most people here came from somewhere else. Then, most of the newcomers came from other States. Now it seems like more of them come from other countries. We have been getting people from the Middle East ever since the partition of Palestine in 1947. We got a lot more after the Shah was kicked out of Iran. They're not all Islamic. There's a lot of Iranian Jews, Baha'i and Zoroastrians. There are Armenian Orthodox, Maronites from Lebanon, Coptics from Egypt and East Africa. We get quite a few Orthodox Jews who like to come here from Israel. After the Iron Curtain came down, we got a lot of Eastern Europeans. After Yugoslavia fell apart, we got a lot of people from the Adriatic. After Saigon fell in '75, we got a shitload of South East Asians and they're still coming. We got a lot of Koreans. We have Chinese from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Mainland. We have a lot of Indians and Pakistanis, they may be enemies at home but they don't mind living together here. We have whites forced out of Southern Africa and blacks forced out of West Africa. We have Cubans by way of Miami and Russians by way of Coney Island. You ask them, they'll tell you they're legal. Maybe they are. Maybe they aren't. The truth is that when most of them left their old homes there wasn't time to do the paperwork, there was only time to get out. I don't doubt that for a minute.
It's hard adapting to a new culture, learning a new language, a new way of life. It's easier here, where so many others have also recently come but it's still hard. People tend to stay clannish. They like to live in the same neighborhoods. They like to go to markets that have the foods from home. They like to talk their own language and hear it spoken. Can you really blame'em. In the end, it all works out. Their kids all end up going to UC, become doctors, lawyers and engineers, fall in love and marry each other. Good for them, good for us. Summertime picnics with the family end up having chapatis, kimchee and babaganuch, all on the same table, YUM!
So why is everybody always whining about Hispanics. Mexicans and Central Americans have been coming North for centuries. They want a little house. Plant a garden and a few fruit trees. Drink a little beer. Raise their families. They're willing to work about eighteen hours a day for the privilege, are you? They work in restaurants and stores. They do landscaping and gardening. They work on farms and ranches. They work in hospitals and nursing homes. They do masonry, electrical and plumbing. They do things that people need done at a price they can afford. That's not something you can say about all of our other new arrivals. Seems to me, what we need in this country today is more Mexicans and fewer people sitting around on their fat asses whining about them.
Tommy Tancredo, Bite Me!
It's hard adapting to a new culture, learning a new language, a new way of life. It's easier here, where so many others have also recently come but it's still hard. People tend to stay clannish. They like to live in the same neighborhoods. They like to go to markets that have the foods from home. They like to talk their own language and hear it spoken. Can you really blame'em. In the end, it all works out. Their kids all end up going to UC, become doctors, lawyers and engineers, fall in love and marry each other. Good for them, good for us. Summertime picnics with the family end up having chapatis, kimchee and babaganuch, all on the same table, YUM!
So why is everybody always whining about Hispanics. Mexicans and Central Americans have been coming North for centuries. They want a little house. Plant a garden and a few fruit trees. Drink a little beer. Raise their families. They're willing to work about eighteen hours a day for the privilege, are you? They work in restaurants and stores. They do landscaping and gardening. They work on farms and ranches. They work in hospitals and nursing homes. They do masonry, electrical and plumbing. They do things that people need done at a price they can afford. That's not something you can say about all of our other new arrivals. Seems to me, what we need in this country today is more Mexicans and fewer people sitting around on their fat asses whining about them.
Tommy Tancredo, Bite Me!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Let the Games Begin!
You read around how this is the first election in a long time that we haven't had an incumbent or Vice President to choose from for President. That's true but also not true.
Incumbents campaign as name brands. People then have the advantage of choosing a known quantity. They like that. Trying new things is uncomfortable. Many people fear it. Hillary is running pretty much as an incumbent this time around. She isn't asking people to support her, so much, as a re-continuation of the Clinton administration, after a hiatus of eight years. This is much more true today than in 2000, when Al Gore separated himself from the President, in a spate of moral superiority. As we know, that didn't work. Mitt Romney has positioned himself in the incumbent category on the Republican side, kind of like a Mark II George Bush, this time with a normal IQ and the ability to speak. Probably the less said about that the better.
Will Hillary's bid for the Presidency succeed? Maybe not. The first time around, the Clintons were seen as young, pragmatic and willing to do what was necessary to make things work and indeed they were. When big health care proved unworkable, they were able to move on seamlessly, to other issues that were. They got as much mileage out of that as if it had been a success. Now Hillary is back pushing the very same packages that proved unworkable in the last Clinton administration, rather than emphasizing the flexibility that made them so successful. She and Bill aren't young anymore. They aren't hip. They are entrenched and condescending, exactly the opposite of what they were sixteen years ago. It isn't really working out for them.
I think people are going to go for the change candidate. McCain has been a maverick all his political life, willing to work across the aisle to get the things he feels are important done. He has gotten things done but they aren't often things the Republican hierarchy likes. Huckabee is a pure populist values voter play, with all the neocon and fiscal conservative platform planks stripped out. Obama is the handsome prince with a fairy story background, seemingly springing from nowhere to champion the cause of the young and disillusioned.
Incumbents campaign as name brands. People then have the advantage of choosing a known quantity. They like that. Trying new things is uncomfortable. Many people fear it. Hillary is running pretty much as an incumbent this time around. She isn't asking people to support her, so much, as a re-continuation of the Clinton administration, after a hiatus of eight years. This is much more true today than in 2000, when Al Gore separated himself from the President, in a spate of moral superiority. As we know, that didn't work. Mitt Romney has positioned himself in the incumbent category on the Republican side, kind of like a Mark II George Bush, this time with a normal IQ and the ability to speak. Probably the less said about that the better.
Will Hillary's bid for the Presidency succeed? Maybe not. The first time around, the Clintons were seen as young, pragmatic and willing to do what was necessary to make things work and indeed they were. When big health care proved unworkable, they were able to move on seamlessly, to other issues that were. They got as much mileage out of that as if it had been a success. Now Hillary is back pushing the very same packages that proved unworkable in the last Clinton administration, rather than emphasizing the flexibility that made them so successful. She and Bill aren't young anymore. They aren't hip. They are entrenched and condescending, exactly the opposite of what they were sixteen years ago. It isn't really working out for them.
I think people are going to go for the change candidate. McCain has been a maverick all his political life, willing to work across the aisle to get the things he feels are important done. He has gotten things done but they aren't often things the Republican hierarchy likes. Huckabee is a pure populist values voter play, with all the neocon and fiscal conservative platform planks stripped out. Obama is the handsome prince with a fairy story background, seemingly springing from nowhere to champion the cause of the young and disillusioned.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Dodging a Bullet?
The Federal Reserve Bank, in a surprise move, lowered interest on loans to it's most trusted borrowers, to an annual rate of 3.5%. This is even lower than the claimed inflation rate of 4%, touted by the lying sacks of shit running the current administration. So what we have, is "Free" money. These same scumfucks continue to tell us that the economy is expanding, that the stock market is under priced and that corporate profits are on the rise. Whistling past the graveyard, every one of them.
Here's the bottom line. Free money is no good if it's not worth anything. If you can't lend it to someone who has some possibility of paying it back, it's still a bad deal, no matter what the point spread is. The truth is, the Fed has been flooding the economy with cheap money for years. Making it cheaper will not change the equation. It only delays the final reckoning and digs the hole we are in deeper.
The markets are not near a bottom.
This is not a good buying opportunity.
Whatever money you have saved is nearly worthless and getting worthlesser.
The economy is not expanding, even slowly.
The government cannot help you. If they give you money, it's because they just printed up a fresh batch.
Here's the bottom line. Free money is no good if it's not worth anything. If you can't lend it to someone who has some possibility of paying it back, it's still a bad deal, no matter what the point spread is. The truth is, the Fed has been flooding the economy with cheap money for years. Making it cheaper will not change the equation. It only delays the final reckoning and digs the hole we are in deeper.
The markets are not near a bottom.
This is not a good buying opportunity.
Whatever money you have saved is nearly worthless and getting worthlesser.
The economy is not expanding, even slowly.
The government cannot help you. If they give you money, it's because they just printed up a fresh batch.
Monday, January 21, 2008
What Can He Possibly Have To Say For Himself?
With less than a week to go before George W. Bush gives his final State of the Union Address, what can he say to justify his many failures to the American people?
The economy is heading into what, at the very least, is the most serious recession in modern times. We are awash in a sea of bad debt. The Stock Market is falling. Unemployment is rising. The Real Estate Market is in free fall. His answer is to lower interest rates and lie about the resulting inflation of our monetary system. When he took over the Presidency, the government was running surpluses, the national debt was actually shrinking. His administration has run up more debt than was incurred in the entire previous history of the republic.
The state of our society verges on tyranny. Bush has suspended the right to be charged, confront your accuser and be tried by a jury. The US now maintains secret prisons in foreign countries. Agents of our government can torture detainees and hold them indefinitely with impunity. Anyone's communications, of any sort, may be monitored, without a warrant, at any time. He invalidates the law of the land by simply adding a note to the legislation as it is passed, stating he is not bound by it.
He has led us into a unilateral war of aggression against Iraq. It has drained us of trillions of dollars and maimed and killed a generation of our young. It has earned us nothing but the enduring enmity of the Islamic World and the disdain of most of the rest. Our foreign policy is a shambles. Our military is irreparably damaged, with no money to rebuild it.
He has forged deep divisions in our society along racial, religious and class lines. These are kinds of injuries which heal slowly and scar deeply. There is no rational reason to promote this kind of discord except to encourage the kind of fear, hatred and distrust necessary to hold his evil coalition together a little longer.
This is a man with no love or even sympathy for the American people. When he leaves office, he will walk away, into a life of wealth and privilege the like of which most of us can't even imagine. He will have so little contact with the common man that he will never see or understand the damage he has done.
The economy is heading into what, at the very least, is the most serious recession in modern times. We are awash in a sea of bad debt. The Stock Market is falling. Unemployment is rising. The Real Estate Market is in free fall. His answer is to lower interest rates and lie about the resulting inflation of our monetary system. When he took over the Presidency, the government was running surpluses, the national debt was actually shrinking. His administration has run up more debt than was incurred in the entire previous history of the republic.
The state of our society verges on tyranny. Bush has suspended the right to be charged, confront your accuser and be tried by a jury. The US now maintains secret prisons in foreign countries. Agents of our government can torture detainees and hold them indefinitely with impunity. Anyone's communications, of any sort, may be monitored, without a warrant, at any time. He invalidates the law of the land by simply adding a note to the legislation as it is passed, stating he is not bound by it.
He has led us into a unilateral war of aggression against Iraq. It has drained us of trillions of dollars and maimed and killed a generation of our young. It has earned us nothing but the enduring enmity of the Islamic World and the disdain of most of the rest. Our foreign policy is a shambles. Our military is irreparably damaged, with no money to rebuild it.
He has forged deep divisions in our society along racial, religious and class lines. These are kinds of injuries which heal slowly and scar deeply. There is no rational reason to promote this kind of discord except to encourage the kind of fear, hatred and distrust necessary to hold his evil coalition together a little longer.
This is a man with no love or even sympathy for the American people. When he leaves office, he will walk away, into a life of wealth and privilege the like of which most of us can't even imagine. He will have so little contact with the common man that he will never see or understand the damage he has done.
Rig For Dive!
At the beginning of the Great Depression, the US stock market lost 80 percent of it's value. George Bush aims to ward off a repeat of this by giving the average American $800 in folding green and cutting the taxes of the rich.
Yup, that should do it.
Excuse me a moment, while I dog down this hatch.
Yup, that should do it.
Excuse me a moment, while I dog down this hatch.
Go-Down Mo-Town, Let My People Go!
At the Detroit Auto Show this year, American auto makers have shown us that they are morally, intellectually and technologically bankrupt. They offer us vehicles that are low quality, high MPG, at a cost not competitive on the World market.
Fuck 'em.
In ten years, there won't be a single American Auto company building cars in this country. In the mean time, Ta Ta motors, of India, is introducing a $2500 car that gets 60 MPG. In Japan, for the last 20 years, they have been selling cars with 600cc engines, keep the oil clean, they'll go half a million miles, pop in a rebuilt one piece engine/trans axle, they'll do it again.
Fuck 'em.
In ten years, there won't be a single American Auto company building cars in this country. In the mean time, Ta Ta motors, of India, is introducing a $2500 car that gets 60 MPG. In Japan, for the last 20 years, they have been selling cars with 600cc engines, keep the oil clean, they'll go half a million miles, pop in a rebuilt one piece engine/trans axle, they'll do it again.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Mamoud! Granny's strapping on her dynamite underware again !
Today, President Bush put on his little beanie and shawl and laid a wreath at the Israeli memorial to the Holocaust, even managing a comely quiver of voice and a tiny crockytear.
In doing so he reminded the Palestinian community that nobody cares about their 60 year exile and the entire Arab World, that nobody respects their rights or the sovereignty of their nations, as if they needed reminding.
Makin' Friends, Chimpy Style!
In doing so he reminded the Palestinian community that nobody cares about their 60 year exile and the entire Arab World, that nobody respects their rights or the sovereignty of their nations, as if they needed reminding.
Makin' Friends, Chimpy Style!
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