I Masturbated To Sarah Palin

Finally, a candidate we can masturbate to.

This November, be sure to stop masturbating long enough to vote for Sarah Palin.

B’Man’s Hypocrite Watch: Gordon Gecko Capitalism – The Party’s Over

h/t World Prout Assembly: Article by Pat Buchanon

The Crash of 2008, which is now wiping out trillions of dollars of our people’s wealth, is, like the Crash of 1929, likely to mark the end of one era and the onset of another.

The new era will see a more sober and much diminished America. The “Omnipower” and “Indispensable Nation” we heard about in all the hubris and braggadocio following our Cold War victory is history.

Seizing on the crisis, the left says we are witnessing the failure of market economics, a failure of conservatism.

This is nonsense. What we are witnessing is the collapse of Gordon Gecko (“Greed Is Good!”) capitalism. What we are witnessing is what happens to a prodigal nation that ignores history, and forgets and abandons the philosophy and principles that made it great.

A true conservative cherishes prudence and believes in fiscal responsibility, balanced budgets and a self-reliant republic. He believes in saving for retirement and a rainy day, in deferred gratification, in not buying on credit what you cannot afford, in living within your means.

Is that really what got Wall Street and us into this mess — that we followed too religiously the gospel of Robert Taft and Russell Kirk?

“Government must save us!” cries the left, as ever. Yet, who got us into this mess if not the government — the Fed with its easy money, Bush with his profligate spending, and Congress and the SEC by liberating Wall Street and failing to step in and stop the drunken orgy?

For years, we Americans have spent more than we earned. We save nothing. Credit card debt, consumer debt, auto debt, mortgage debt, corporate debt — all are at record levels. And with pensions and savings being wiped out, much of that debt will never be repaid.

Our standard of living is inevitably going to fall. For foreigners will not forever buy our bonds or lend us more money if they rightly fear that they will be paid back, if at all, in cheaper dollars.

We are going to have to learn to live again without our means.

The party’s over

Up through World War II, we followed the Hamiltonian idea that America must remain economically independent of the world in order to remain politically independent.

But this generation decided that was yesterday’s bromide and we must march bravely forward into a Global Economy, where we all depend on one another. American companies morphed into “global companies” and moved plants and factories to Mexico, Asia, China and India, and we began buying more cheaply from abroad what we used to make at home: shoes, clothes, bikes, cars, radios, TVs, planes, computers.

As the trade deficits began inexorably to rise to 6 percent of GDP, we began vast borrowing from abroad to continue buying from abroad.

At home, propelled by tax cuts, war in Iraq and an explosion in social spending, surpluses vanished and deficits reappeared and began to rise. The dollar began to sink, and gold began to soar.

Yet, still, the promises of the politicians come. Barack Obama will give us national health insurance and tax cuts for all but that 2 percent of the nation that already carries 50 percent of the federal income tax load.

John McCain is going to cut taxes, expand the military, move NATO into Georgia and Ukraine, confront Russia and force Iran to stop enriching uranium or “bomb, bomb, bomb,” with Joe Lieberman as wartime consigliere.

Who are we kidding?

What we are witnessing today is how empires end.

The Last Superpower is unable to defend its borders, protect its currency, win its wars or balance its budget. Medicare and Social Security are headed for the cliff with unfunded liabilities in the tens of trillions of dollars.

What we are witnessing today is nothing less than a Katrina-like failure of government, of our political class, and of democracy itself, casting a cloud over the viability and longevity of the system.

Notice who is managing the crisis. Not our elected leaders. Nancy Pelosi says she had nothing to do with it. Congress is paralyzed and heading home. President Bush is nowhere to be seen.

Hank Paulson of Goldman Sachs and Ben Bernanke of the Fed chose to bail out Bear Sterns but let Lehman go under. They decided to nationalize Fannie and Freddie at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of billions, putting the U.S. government behind $5 trillion in mortgages. They decided to buy AIG with $85 billion rather than see the insurance giant sink beneath the waves.

An unelected financial elite is now entrusted with the assignment of getting us out of a disaster into which an unelected financial elite plunged the nation. We are just spectators.

What the Greatest Generation handed down to us — the richest, most powerful, most self-sufficient republic in history, with the highest standard of living any nation had ever achieved — the baby boomers, oblivious and self-indulgent to the end, have frittered away.
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To find out more about Patrick Buchanan, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.

Brasscheck TV: The Financial Meltdown Explained

From BrassCheckTV:

*** A short explanation of how we got to where we are

Today’s banking crisis is the THIRD trillion dollar plus US-caused financial meltdown in the last twenty years.

Each one of these crises came into being through the same basic mechanism…the fraudulent over-valuing of financial assets by Wall Street – with a “wink and a nod” (and sometimes a lot more) from the White House and Congress.

The fraudulently valued assets stimulate the economy, impart the illusion of health and then, inevitably, the fraud goes too far and the whole house of card comes painfully crashing back to earth.

The three trillion dollar plus frauds were:

Fraud #1: The so-called “Savings and Loan Crisis” of the late 80s

Fraud #2: The so-called “Tech Bubble” of the late 90s

Fraud #3: The so-called “Credit Crisis” of today

*** How the scam works

The mechanism of these frauds is simplicity itself…

…Take a shaky financial asset and blow up its value and then sell as much of it as you can.

In the “Savings and Loan Crisis,” the instrument was junk bonds.

In the “Tech Bubble” it was Internet stocks.

In the “Credit Crisis” it was individual mortgages collected into pools and then re-sold to investors.

In each case, normal, well established “bread and butter” financial principles were consciously thrown away by Wall Street with no hint of protest from federal regulators.

***The “Savings and Loan Crisis” dissected

Junk bonds caused the Saving and Loan crisis which resulted in the US taking over the assets of hundreds of
banks and selling them back over time to the marketplace at fire sale prices.

Junk bonds, which caused the “Savings and Loan Crisis” were shaky bonds that were pumped up by deliberate misrepresentation and what I call “staged dealing.”

Bonds get their value from two things: the amount of interest they pay and how safe they are.

“Junk” bonds have to pay higher interest because they are less safe. Therefore, until the “Savings and Loan Crisis,”  savings and loan banks banks were not allowed by law to buy them and call them assets.

Reagan/Bush changed all this and then a group of Wall Street fraudsters used the new loophole to kick off an orgy of junk bond creation and junk bond selling to banks and insurance companies.

The crooks would deal the junk bonds back and forth amongst themselves thereby establishing their “value”
and then they’d sell them to outsiders. The bonds then became “assets” which could be borrowed against and leveraged to buy even more bonds.

When the bonds failed, the banks failed and in stepped the US government to “fix” the problem that it created at the cost of at least one trillion dollars to US tax payers.

Deja vu, eh?

***The “Tech Bubble” dissected

The instrument of fraud in the “Tech Bubble” was Internet stocks, start ups in particular.

A stock gets its value from the underlying company’s sales, its growth and its overall prospects for the future.

Pre-tech bubble, companies used to have to prove themselves by being in existence for several years before they could be sold on major exchanges.  That standard was thrown away during the tech bubble.

To pump of their values, the companies engaged in “staged dealing” just like the junk bond crooks.

Company #1 would “sell” 20 million dollars in banner ads to Company #2 which would in turn “sell” 20 million in banner ads to Company #1.

In fact, nobody sold anybody anything. Company #2 ran ads for Company #1 and billed it for them. Company #1 ran ads for Company #2 and billed for an equal amount.

These should have been called media trades not sales, but Wall Street was happy to claim them as legitimate cash sales and then use the sales numbers to fraudulently value these companies – many of them totally worthless – in the hundreds of millions and sometimes even the billions.

***The “Credit Crisis” dissected

By now, you see how the scheme works.

It’s not complicated at all.

You take near worthless pieces of paper (junk bonds, stock of start up Internet companies, etc.) and declare them to be good as gold.

Then you create as many junk bonds and Internet start up stocks as you get and sell them as fast as you can.

In the case of our current crisis, the instrument of fraud was so-called sub-prime mortgages.

Previously, sub-prime mortgages had very little trading value. Only people in the sub-prime industry itself dealt in them and for good reason. They’re tricky to value and packed with financial peril.

But Wall Street changed all that.

Wall Street said: “If we take LOTS of these mortgages and assemble them into large pools and then slice and dice the pools in various ways, we can sell the slices to banks and other investors as AAA paper.”

It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

If the underlying pieces of paper are garbage, how does assembling a whole bunch of garbage into one place make it “better?”

It doesn’t, of course, and this is a principle even a three year old child can understand.

But greed and the need to pump up a shaky economy for propaganda purposes are two very strong motivators.

Banks created these mortgage pools, sold them to each other, and they by virtue of these “staged sales” declared them valuable.

Do you recognize the pattern now?

If you do, then you are now smarter than all the assembled j@ck@sses who do financial reporting because they apparently can’t – or won’t.

This is the THIRD trillion-dollar plus fraud driven financial meltdown in twenty years and apparently no one in the financial news media can see how it happened.

***But there’s more…

Junk bonds were mass manufactured as fast as the crooks could invent them. Ditto for Internet stocks.

But how did hundreds of billions of dollars worth of “toxic” mortgages suddenly come into being?

Why did the mortgage industry change its lending standards so radically and so suddenly to make their creation possible?

And why did real estate lending regulators in all 50 states – because real estate lending is a STATE-level issue not a federal – go along with it?

Here’s where it gets very interesting…

The fact is state-level lending regulators were VERY concerned about what was going on.  They have been for years.

And they not only expressed their concern clearly, they also took SERIOUS concerted legal action to stop lenders from making bad real estate loans to their citizens.

(Most of the sub-prime loans in the news so much today were designed to screw the people who borrowed the money and can rightly be called “predatory” loans.)

Guess who stopped the states from enforcing their own time-proven real estate lending laws and thus created the raw material that made the current “Credit Crisis” possible?

*** The trillion dollar plus question

If you’re a US taxpayer, you’re going to pay for this fraud so you might as well know who did it to you.

His initials are GB.

You know him well.

But perhaps more interesting is the name of the person who single-handedly rallied first state attorneys general and then fellow governors to fight the creation of these loans and who in the process became Public Enemy #1 to the Bush Administration…

His initials are ES.

If you follow “silly” US political scandals, you’ll recognize his name instantly when you hear it.

And you will *finally* understand why he was quickly and permanently assassinated politically earlier this year.

Had ES been allowed to “live,” he would have been in position to remind everyone every day of who made the current meltdown possible.

Instead, he was silenced very effectively. Not with a bullet in the back of the head, but the net effect was just the same.

So effective was his assassination that no one can even mention his name in connection with today’s crisis without risking ridicule, or worse.

Last note:

The crisis this fraud has created is *exponentially* bigger than the S & L and Tech Bubble combined.

It’s not going to be resolved by a quick “patch up” and will likely have the same impact on the current generation that the depression of the 1930s had on its parents, grandparents and great grandparents.

On that cheerful note, here’s the big story everyone missed this year and now you’ll finally know what REALLY happened and why:

Freedom of speech my ass…

found this online this morning, and my first thought…….martial law has arrived!!! There is a video at the link…

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/99433

more about “Incredible Documentary Footage of Mas…“, posted with vodpod

Now that we’ve had a few weeks to settle, a look back at Labor Day in the Twin Cities. Labor Day was of course also Day One of the Republican National Convention. Video was released today of an apparent mass arrest of utterly peaceful concert goers at the SEIU Labor Day concert.

My personal favorite moment in the tape is an off-camera exchange. Police in riot gear have surrounded loungers in a waterfront park. They announce, “Ladies and Gentlemen, You’re Under Arrest” and you hear one young woman say incredulously “Are you serious?”

Yep, I’m afraid they are.

Here’s the press release that came with the video, from the Glass Bead Collective:

BURIED TAPE REVEALS USE OF FORCE AND AN UNWARRANTED MASS ARREST OF BYSTANDERS DURING THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (September 18, 2008) Video released today shows the indiscriminate arrest of a crowd of two hundred at the waterfront across from a concert on Harriet Island Regional Park during this month’s Republican National Convention in St. Paul. The video includes multiple angles of the event as well as an interview with the cameraman who buried his footage and was one of almost two hundred people arrested for rioting without probable cause.

More than eight hundred people were arrested in St. Paul during the Republican National Convention. This video shows that at least twenty percent of the eight hundred plus arrested were seized without due cause.

Don’t know about any of you, but I didn’t see ANYTHING that warranted someone being arrested……either the footage was edited in favor of the protestors or this was a typical heavy-handed republican response to descent…..my guess would be the latter.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH MY ASS!!!

D-Cup’s Open Letter To “OUR” Banks

I think DCup at PoliTits is great. Please visit her site for humor, political insight and a view into her wonderful family. In this case, I just have to cross post because I had the same thought earlier in the week (I once told her she was my ‘alter-ego’, but long-lost twin is more like it, the way we think alike in a lot of ways). Maybe “Female Clone”? Naw, she looks a lot better.

Maybe we should all send this letter to any of the bailed out lending institutions, since you are now a partial owner.

Where I Write an Open Letter with Not One Ounce of Snark

Dear Citi, Barclays, Capitol One, WaMu, etc….

Thank you for those lovely, unsubtle reminders that you’re still awaiting my payment. I regret that the payment has not already been sent, but I appreciate your apology in advance.

Considering the never-ending increase in the cost of living and stagnant salaries, I’m sure you’ll understand that our paychecks are no longer stretching as far as they did a couple of years ago. Therefore, I trust that you’ll understand that while I have every intention of paying back my debt and yours (via taxes), I just don’t see it happening. Silly things like the mortgage, utilities, car payments, fuel and food are taking up so much of our salaries that we’re forced to make some hard choices. We’re choosing food, shelter and transportation.

After the week Wall Street has had, I’m sure you’ll understand that we only expect the same kind of wisdom on your part that our government had when it came to helping out those financial institutions. In fact, we won’t ask for a bailout or further loans. No, we’ll show some restraint. We’ll simply ask that you forgive our current debt. Certainly, the generosity you’ve received from the American people via our government will trickle down to us, right?

Of course, there’s the issue of those persnickety bankruptcy laws, the cost of lawyers’ fees, etc. But hey, let’s just consider this a crisis of CRISIS proportions and move quickly, shall we? Just like we did with love notes back in elementary school, I’m going to make this easy for you. (Please see below.)

With all good wishes,

DCup

Will you forgive the debt of DCup and family? Please circle one. Yes /

Red State Update Meets Ralph Nader

Albeit a bit late, please watch the Rednecks at Redstate Update interview The Man:

Red State Update Meets Ralph Nader (Part 1)

Ralph’s hippie money site: http://www.constitutionpledge.com
The Nader campaign’s trying to raise 80 grand by September 27. This ain’t no endorsement, but hell, give him money if you want. It’s harmless. It’s like givin’ a coupla bucks to a homeless guy outside of Kroger. A homeless guy who invented seatbelts.

Red State Update: Ralph Nader On Anal Flutter (Part 2)

Part II of Jackie and Dunlap’s interview with Ralph Nader. This installment touches on third party debates, three-legged races, and anal flutter.

Red State Update: Mr. Slaw Meets Ralph Nader (Part 3)

Jackie and Dunlap continue their interview with Ralph Nader, with a special guest: Mr. Slaw.

This Week is Constitution Week…

Mayors Declare Sept. 17-23 as “Constitution Week”

September 16, 2008 – Mayor Bill Haslam and Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale presented the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Knox County Council of Regents with proclamations declaring Sept. 17-23 as “Constitution Week” in Knoxville and Knox County.
The presentation took place during a meeting in Mayor Haslam’s office on Tuesday, September 16.

The DAR was instrumental in the creation of Constitution Week successfully petitioning Congress in 1955 to set aside this week each year to commemorate the document that is the foundation of our liberties and form of government.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law the following year.

The United States Constitution was adopted on Sept. 17, 1787 and this year’s Constitution Week commemorates the 221st anniversary of that event.

According to the Knox County Council, the goals of the Constitution Committee of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution are to emphasize, understand, study and promote the historical events that led to our freedom.

In addition to supporting Constitution Week the DAR is also active in supporting the naturalization ceremonies in Knoxville during which several hundred people become new citizens of the United States.

During this week all schools receiving federal funds devote part of their curriculum to teaching students about the Constitution and what it means to the nation and its citizens.

The DAR Regents who met with the mayors on Tuesday included, Martha Cummings of the Emory Road Chapter; Carol Robbins of the Andrew Bogle Chapter; Martha Kroll of the Samuel Frazier Chapter; Nancy J. Montgomery of the James White Chapter; Caroline Murphy of the University of Tennessee Chapter; Alycia Truett of the Cavett Station Chapter; Nancy Webb of the Admiral David Farragut Chapter and Margaret Kensinger of the Bonny Kate Chapter.

Since they are having such a rough time in Iraq writing a new Constitution– we should just give them ours! We aren’t using it anymore.

No End In Sight

I watched the movie “No End In Sight” on youtube last night. This is one of the very best movies to date on the Iraq war and what led us to the insurgency that plagues the country today.

I have heard so many times that this administration is inept and that we ‘made mistakes’ in this war, etc. And even the movie virtually comes to that conclusion. However, there is another conclusion to consider and that is that they are doing PRECISELY what they planned to do. Ineptness in our leadership is bad enough, but they are mostly smart people. This fiasco is not because they are stupid or made mistake after mistake after mistake, getting virtually nothing “right”. This fiasco is doing exactly what they want. Chaos in Iraq, with intentions of NEVER leaving.

If they were to actually bring peace and order to the chaos, there would be no reason to stay (except their imperialistic rationale). No one can be this wrong and stupid. It MUST be on purpose.

The following is the trailer for the 1.5 hour movie. This movie is freaking awesome. The best I have seen on this subject and well worth the time to watch it. The entire movie can be found here. This movie will only be online until Oct 5, so see as soon as you can. Well Worth It!

The first film of its kind to chronicle the reasons behind Iraq’s descent into guerilla war, warlord rule, criminality and anarchy, “No End In Sight” is a jaw-dropping, insider’s tale of wholesale incompetence, recklessness and venality.

Based on over 200 hours of footage, the film provides a candid retelling of the events following the fall of Baghdad in 2003 by high ranking officials, Iraqi civilians, American soldiers, and prominent analysts.

“No End In Sight” examines the manner in which the principal errors of U.S. policy — the use of insufficient troop levels, allowing the looting of Baghdad, the purging of professionals from the Iraqi government, and the disbanding of the Iraqi military — largely created the insurgency and chaos that engulf Iraq today.

Richard Noggin’ Saturday: Fox Viewers

I was in a hotel breakfast area this week and, as usual, Fox News was on. There was a lady sitting by herself and two men at another table. Everyone was watching intently to some interview, so I didn’t bother making eye contact or saying anything and went about getting a bagel and coffee.

But then I heard some lady talk (later found out it was Caroline Baum) about comparing tits to another man’s body parts…

(about 55sec into the clip)

The 60 year old lady in the breakfast area said out loud, “Did she just say what I think she said?” The men both laughed and said yes and they had this little snicker session (that sure was cute). She looked over at me to see if I was going to join in the brainwashing session (or maybe to see if I was offended). Now, you know me, words like that don’t bother me, per se, but I couldn’t keep silent, because it is the hypocrisy of Fox and its idiotic viewers that piss me off.

I said, “Well what do you expect, its Fox News. Its nothing BUT garbage.”

The lady turned abruptly, looked at me and said, “But Fox is great.”

I looked her right square in the eyes and said, “Yeah, if you need your sad neocon brainwashing each morning, or if you like Tits and Ass, Fox is great.” I said this with a huge roll of the eyes.

She said, “It is the only news I watch.”

“I have no doubt about that. In my home, Fox is not allowed to be watched, banned like the porno channels from my child.”

She said, “And that’s why this country is so great. We have the freedom to choose.”

I said, “Some people ‘choose’ the koolaid daily. Others have awakened and see the truth. I see where you are”

She turned away, disgusted, but had given up.

I turned and looked at the two men (who had been totally silent) and then I said, “If I were here alone, I would turn that stinking mess off. But I do believe in our freedoms and you can taint yourself all you so desire. But remember that when this country falls apart and it is ignorant people like you that have done it.”

The lady and men both turned to look at me, and I almost thought someone would say something, but I believe that they saw the look on my face which said, “Just say something. I dare you.” They didn’t say another word and as far as I am concerned, fuck them.

We are surrounded by fools. People lap that bullshit up and I cannot for the life of me understand it. I mean, there isn’t even the ‘entertainment factor’ in watching Fox News, imo. There sure as hell isn’t the real news, unless the news can bolster their viewing. This is why they love to air the T&A of Spring Break and all that bullshit.

That is why Bill O’Liely can say, “This footage is horrible and should not be seen by anyone. So, we are going to show it right now.”

Duh!

Feigned outrage to get your little hardon, Bill? And the rest of you ignorant assed people who think that is news or even funny.

Hypocrites are not even remotely funny. This is why Fox has no real comedians that come on. None of that shit is funny.