When Is A Sticknipple Really A Turdsneeze?

When they are Adopted:

(Yes, that is the Dog’s voice from Family Guy)

Max Keiser: Nailed It

This guy is quirky and damned strange, but he nails it.

You want to understand the Bailout in plain old redneck terms? Watch this clip:

Hank Paulson os a “Financial Terrorist” (compared to the 911 Hijackers), bringing the dollar down in a controlled demolition. We need to stop this.

Insist that it stops.

Here is one way via my friend Davis Fleetwood at Operation Itch:

first- spread this video to all of your friends.
second – contact your local rep NOW https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
& tell them to support the Kucinich plan for Ownership Society

EQUITY, NOT “CASH FOR TRASH” IN BAILOUT

Kucinich Announces Plan for Ownership Society

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 22, 2008) — Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement announcing a plan for a new Ownership Society:

“The Wall Street financial disaster is an opportunity to create a genuine ownership society.  If Congress invests $700 billion in the market, then the American people must get something of real value for their investment.

“Simply purchasing bad debt, “cash for trash” and not receiving anything of value or giving $700 billion and not having a commensurate equity interest in Wall Street firms is unacceptable.  No “cash for trash“.

“Since the bailout will cost each and every American about $2,300, tomorrow I will offer legislation to create a United States Mutual Trust Fund, which will take control of $700 billion in stock assets, at market value and not higher, convert those assets to shares, and distribute $2,300 worth of shares to new individual savings accounts in the name of each and every American.”

Kucinich arrived at the $2,300 figure by dividing the cost of the bailout ($700 billion) by the US population (over 300 million).

Women, are you voting!!???

Just askin’…

This ever so short time until the historical November Election is a good reminder of the women’s suffrage movement–

[and if you haven't seen Iron-Jawed Angels yet, you should definitely see it-- I heard it's excellent! But I haven’t a clue where in Knoxville I would get to see it…. And I do not have HBO!]

Did you know that the movement was the first to picket the white house?  Did you know that it was inspired by the women’s suffrage movement in Great Britain, which taught and inspired Gandhi when he was studying law in Britain?  Definitely an amazing & inspiring tale–pass it on!

And really think about this—-
WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. Many shunned by their families and many lost their jobs.

During the first night in jail…………….

(Lucy Burns)

…………and by the end of that night, they were all barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden’s blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of ‘obstructing sidewalk traffic.’ They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

(Dora Lewis)

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the ‘Night of Terror’ on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson’s White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women’s only water came from an open pail. Their food–all of it colorless slop–was infested with worms.

{Alice Paul)

When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, the men tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid in to her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections … soners.pdf

So, refresh my memory…. Some women won’t vote this year because–why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn’t matter? It’s raining?… did you even register TO VOTE yet??? I guess we won’t talk about being an ‘informed voter’. That is another topic.

The articles about HBO’s new movie ‘Iron Jawed Angels‘… and it’s graphic depiction of the battle these women waged , just so I; all women– could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have our say… reminded me of Women’s History Class in College– and my own living history growing up in the DC area. I am ashamed to say I needed this reminder of how hard fought my right to vote was– and I didn’t bleed once, someone else did.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. It has never been just a right I have, it is also a responsibility and priviledge. Even if sometimes is inconvenient.

‘What would those women think of the way we use, or don’t use, our right to vote? All of us take it for granted seemingly, not just younger women. I am hoping your American right and obligation becomes valuable and priceless ‘all over again.’

It was also jarring to recall that Woodrow Wilson and his cronies had tried to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And thank God that doctor refused. Alice Paul was strong, the doctor said, and brave. That didn’t make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: ‘Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.’
It was also due to many courageous women like this– [women in your families pasts] — that contributed to another cause that needed addressing– The Civil Rights of ALL MANKIND! And their right to have a voice also!

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.
We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party – remember to vote.

History is being made. Set an example for your children and grandchildren. It is their future we are talking about.

Don’t Wear Fear

The voice in unmistakable… Yusuf Islam

Also known as: Steven Demetre Georgiou

Better known as: Cat Stevens

h/t missykcarr

Insulting ‘Shit’

I have been a long time reader of Arthur Silber. His blog, “Once Upon A Time…” is a great resource because Arthur is a brilliant mind and prolific writer regarding issues on Progressives, especially. He had a line in an article called “Stupider Than Shit” that said that it was insulting to shit to make that claim.

His claim is that the Democrats are too stupid to realize they are being gamed by Bush and the GOP to get this worthless buyout of bogus debt by us tax payers.

You want to know why Democrats, liberals and progressives keep getting rolled like the easiest, stupidest mark in the world? First is the fact that they don’t disagree about the basic goals of governance. Here, the relevant goal is the establishment of an unassailable, all-powerful corporatist-authoritarian state at home. (Scroll through the archives if you’re interested in finding the numerous essays on that subject. I frankly don’t have the patience or interest for holding anyone’s hand at this point.) Second is the fact that:

THEY’RE STUPIDER THAN SHIT.

Arthur thens goes on to quote from a Bloomberg article you can read here. He continues:

Make sure you get the message. The Democrats will provide the check, it just won’t be a blank check. The Democrats want “independent oversight.” But the money will flow — to insolvent financial institutions, precisely those institutions responsible for this debacle, and to buy up bad debts which will thus not be allowed to wash out of the system.

The Bush administration is not genuinely intelligent by any measure, but these criminals are shrewder than hell. Why do you think they made the initial proposal in the extreme form they did? Because they know that if they finally give the Democrats a few “safeguards,” if they “attach a few strings,” and perhaps if they allow for “independent oversight,” the Democrats will give them the momentous bailout they want — all to be paid for by American taxpayers for the next hundred years (assuming the U.S. survives in any recognizable form, which becomes more doubtful by the hour). The Democrats have already announced to the world that is exactly what they’ll do.

The Democrats, liberals and progressives fall right into the trap, as they do every single fucking time.

I love Arthur, but I believe he is missing the deeper truth. These Dems in leadership aren’t stupid or are falling into the trap. They are complicit in the screwing. There are sheeple Dems, liberals and progressives who then ride along, but the leadership are doing this on purpose. They, too, are owned.

he Democrats could have cut off all funding for this criminal war and occupation. They will not do it.

They could have impeached Bush, Cheney and several more of the leading criminals. They will not do it.

Add in the pattern the Democrats followed in the FISA debacle, with regard to the Military Commissions Act, and on a host of other questions, and you see what the Democratic opposition is worth. In a word: nothing.

Add in this: everyone, including every Democrat, now agrees that this is a “crisis” requiring action yesterday. Paulson, the Treasury Department, and the other players will have to be able to act immediately, and to act on a massive scale. And they’ll get all that — but with some “oversight.” How long will it be until the “oversight” catches up to what these criminals have done, if it ever does? After the fact, will the oversight mechanisms be able to reverse the actions of Paulson and others? What will be the additional costs of having to reverse some/most of those actions after the fact, if it can even be done?

Given the record amassed by this administration — and given the record amassed by the most pathetic Democratic Congress ever imagined in this or any other world — “oversight” and “safeguards” aren’t worth shit.

I’m not done. So the central piece of this extortion scheme, the $700 billion check, will be supplied, covered with the blood of Americans. IT WILL BE PROVIDED TO SOLVE A PROBLEM THAT CANNOT BE SOLVED.

Everyone of any sense knows this. This is simply these Corporately owned Dems joining in on the protection buyout courtesy of us Americans.

Bush and the Republicans moved the goalposts and reconfigured the field — and the idiot Democrats have fallen for it all over again. The Democrats can add all the strings and oversight they want, but they will have provided a monumental amount of money extorted from Americans for generations to come, all to solve a problem that cannot be solved, and with no meaningful method of controlling or directing what happens.

In brief: the Bush administration will get exactly what it wanted all along.

Stupider than shit. That’s an insult to shit.

WE ARE COMPLETELY FUCKED.

In that, I agree. We are fucked.

Not Obama. Not McCain. ONLY Nader Will Represent YOU Rednecks

September 22, 2008 www.votenader.org www.officialnaderstore.com

Drop $10 on Nader/Gonzalez. Why? A recent Ohio Newspaper poll found Ralph Nader polling 10 percent among independents in Ohio. And eleven percent among Ohioans making less than $20,000. All of this after being blacked out by the mainstream media. If Ralph is excluded from the debates, who will speak for the thirty percent of registered voters who consider themselves independents? Who will lead the attack on poverty? Who will cut corporate welfare and instead help those most in need? Who will stand against the corporate fleecing of the U.S. Treasury? Not Obama. Not McCain. Only Nader. Or as Chris Hedges put it yesterday, “Ralph Nader understands more about the rise of the corporate state and the steady fleecing of American citizens by corporations than anyone else in the country.” That’s why it is imperative to make this a three way race. That’s why were working overtime, day and night, weekdays and weekends, to get the word out. Vote Nader/Gonzalez. Let Ralph debate. Right now, we’re in the middle of a $150,000 Three Way Race fundraising drive. Give $10 now to help spread the word. Nader/Gonzalez will work to eliminate poverty. By shifting the power. From the big corporations. Back into the hands of the American people. So, donate $10 — or whatever you can afford — now. And remember, if you donate $100 now, we’ll ship to you a copy of The Ralph Nader Reader, a 441-page collection of Ralph’s writings on Wall Street vs. Main Street, the battle for democracy, the corporate state, and our hyper-commercialized culture. If you donate $100 now, we will send you this historic collection — autographed by the man himself — Ralph Nader. (This offer ends at 11:59 p.m. September 30, 2008.) We have 43 days left to election day. Let’s keep up the pressure. And work non-stop for a breakthrough. To make it a three way race. Onward to November. The Nader Team

B’Man’s Hometown Update: Tishomingo State Park Wins 2 National Awards

I always loved this place and knew it held a secret that others are just now beginning to understand. From ‘The Tishomingo County News’:

Tishomingo State Park Wins 2 National Awards

At the September meeting of the Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks held in Jackson, Tishomingo State Park was presented with two national outdoor recreation awards. Bill Brekeen, Park Manager, accepted the awards for Top 25 Canoeing Spots and Top 25 Unique Cabins. Approximately 4,000 state parks, national parks, and campgrounds were reviewed before ReserveAmerica, North America’s leading camping, reservation, and campground management solutions provider, made its selection.

“To be selected in this nationwide contest is a great honor,” said Bill Brekeen, Park Manager, Tishomingo State Park, “We have a unique and special resource here at the park.”

Brekeen encourages all to visit the park to experience the natural beauty and the variety of recreational opportunity that is available.

As another bonus, you can read here how Chuckles almost tore his balls off swinging on the rope at the park.

UPDATE: “Blacked Out” Double Murder Trial

Here are the updates on what is happening with the ‘blacked out’ trial from the double murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

I have posted about this before; and also that I see Channon’s parents fairly often. Her father openly carries a gun; and has said that if any of the defendants get off for any reason, they are dead as soon as they hit the streets. At issue locally are the not-so-apparent blackout reasons. Jury selection?? they already drew 700 jurors. White Supremist issues? Well hell– they have been up in arms way before this! Pressure on the black community? I do not see this happening, considering they are just as upset the defendants did this and were even JUST OUT OF JAIL when they did commit this horror filled crime. They are asking why the murderers were even out of jail!! Refusal to make it a hate crime?? I again and again state that I do not define hate crime exclusively a crime that is racially motivated. Just plain hate will do!!
Hence–
Let the games begin! Law games, that is.
The first state trial for the Knoxville Horror carjacking-kidnapping-gang-rape-torture-murders, which claimed the lives of Channon Christian, 21, and her boyfriend, Christopher Newsom, 23, was scheduled to begin on Monday, with defendant George Geovonni “Detroit” Thomas in the dock. Instead, it will begin on August 10—August 10, 2009, that is.

Thomas’ trial had originally been scheduled to be the last of the four state capital trials, in each of which, in the event of a murder conviction, Knox County (TN) State Attorney General Randy Nichols will be seeking the death penalty. However, the April federal trial of accessory Eric Boyd revealed that the state had no DNA evidence tying Thomas to either the anal gang-rape of Newsom, or to the oral, vaginal, and anal gang-rapes of Christian, and thus that the case against him was the weakest of the four. When the defense teams in the other three capital trials petitioned for and received postponements until 2009, reasoning that the prosecution would seek to use those trials to bolster its case against Thomas, his attorneys petitioned that his trial be moved up one year, back to its original date. The petition was granted by the court.

The prosecution retaliated by producing new evidence (which it had previously gotten permission from the court to delay providing the defense teams) by the cartload, which the defense had insufficient time to review for an August, 2008 trial, whereupon Thomas’ team cried uncle.

At present, the first state capital trial in the case, of Letalvis “Rome” Cobbins, is scheduled to begin on January 26, 2009. Co-defendants Vanessa Coleman and Cobbins’ half-brother, Lemaricus “Slim” Davidson, are scheduled to go on trial on April 13 and June 22, 2009, respectively.

By the way, Boyd was convicted on April 16 of being an accessory, after the fact, to the carjacking, for helping Davidson evade arrest. Federal prosecutors David Jennings and Tracy Stone implied that Boyd was guilty of the carjacking and murders, as well, and that he might yet be charged with those crimes. However, they and their state counterparts would do well to put their pants on one leg at a time. A potential problem which the April 16 conviction may raise on appeal is that, in presuming that Davidson was guilty of carjacking, which remains to be proven, Boyd’s trial was prejudicial. Davidson won’t be tried on the state charges prior to 2009, and if he is convicted in state court for murder and sentenced to die, that would moot any issue of punishment for carjacking, which is a federal crime.
Given the above-cited conditions, could a criminal attorney please weigh in on the validity of Boyd’s conviction? Thanks in advance.

It must be maddening for the families of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. I think it is important to NOT forget the young couple brutally murdered in a racially-charged case in Knoxville, TN. {I stated ‘charged’ not ‘motivated’}. This to me IS a Hate Crime. Someone must hate very much to do these things. Again I state– I actually don’t consider hate crime exclusively defined as racial.
So, what’s the latest?

Justice delayed in the trial of suspect George Thomas:
Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner today granted a request to drop the speedy trial for one of four suspects in the torture-slayings of a Knoxville couple more than a year ago.
Attorneys for George “Detroit” Thomas said they dropped the request after receiving new information from prosecutors last week.
Among the information were 260 pages of interviews by federal agents.
Thomas is charged in the January 2007 slayings of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23. Prosecutors say the couple was carjacked and robbed and then taken to a Chipman Street residence where both were beaten, raped and slain.
Thomas originally was to be the last of the four to be tried, but his attorneys pressed for a speedy trial.
Baumgartner granted that request, and Thomas’ trial was to begin Aug. 11.
He now will be tried last, with a trial date set for Aug. 10, 2009.
Investigators say Newsom was shot and his body burned. Christian’s abuse lasted hours longer and she eventually was hog-tied and stuffed into a trash can where she suffocated.
Others charged with the brutal slayings are Letalvis Cobbins, Lemaricus Davidson and Cobbins’ girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman.
All four face the death penalty if convicted.
Some 700 people had been tapped as potential jurors in the case.
The judge in the case had earlier ruled that prosecutors can use Thomas’s jailhouse conversations as incriminating evidence in the trial.

Maybe when the Washington Post’s massive staff gets through with its 12-part series on Chandra Levy’s murder, they can spare a reporter or two to cover the ongoing horror in Knoxville. This reminds me of last years ‘beating and torture’ in West Virginia of a young black woman, by 27 all white men and women, who also were holloring racial slurs while committing this crime– and the States Attorney REFUSING to even charge them with a Hate Crime. Hate is Hate– black on black or white on white.
I actually don’t understand a few issues, the evidence was also substantiated via detailed confessions from three defendants. Why haven’t they just gone to the penalty phase????

FACTS:
[warning: pretty gruesome]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Channon_Christian_and_Christopher_Newsom

President Palin: Get Ready For Disaster

Have you heard the right-wing fall all over themselves trying to explain how capable and ‘ready’ Sarah Palin is to take over as president, should McCain not make it? Have you spoken with one of those numb-skulls who argue that she is qualified because ’she is a mother’ (John McCain said this)? Or because her home state is close to Russia (of course this logic means that all Floridians are Cuban experts).

Have you encountered the ones that say, well John is running for president, not Sarah? It isn’t that important a job to be concerned with.

I have personally heard all sorts of excuses and rationale about Sarah and I just don’t get it. She is obviously not qualified. Any sane person should know this, just by hearing her speak (I simply do not see the attraction or evidence that would cause me to label her leadership material). She is physically attractive, but apparently a bitch to the core. Beauty is much deeper than skin deep, imo.

So, I wouldn’t fuck her with your dick (as my buddy Ear used to say).

So here is the dilemma. McCain will likely die or be incapacitated during the next 4 years. Electing a McCain/Palin ticket is a virtual guarantee of electing Sarah Palin as president, because McCain is ready for ANOTHER recurrence of his melanoma.

Watch this video from BrassCheckTV where doctors evaluate and explain the chances that a cancer could reappear and the prognosis for such a recurrence:

BrassCheckTV goes a bit further with a video of Greg Palast that shows how this election is already rigged for the republican win and how they will manipulate and cage the election results to insure a McCain victory (I recommend everyone read ‘Armed Madhouse’… excellent book).

If you want to hear Greg explain how McCain has won this already, making sure that Palin will be the president if and when his cancer returns, watch this video:

Could the election fix be in? Of course it could. Just judging the idiots who are brainwashed into believing that the McCain/Palin ticket is qualified shows me they stand a chance just due to the American public’s idiocy and easily swayed attention span by pretty, shiny objects.

I do not doubt it, but have hopes that Americans can come out of their stupor.

If McCain wins this it sure won’t be Nader’s fault, but will be the fault of the American electorate that is apparently the stupidest group of people on planet earth.

More Job Loss in Georgia

GM closes Georgia factory. The AP (9/22) reports that GM “closes its Doraville (Georgia) assembly plant on Friday, idling some 1,000 workers — down from 3,100 a few years ago.” The automaker’s regular workers “who now make up about a third of the plant’s 1,000 workers, can choose to move to another GM plant, take a buyout or wait for a job in the automaker’s job bank.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/21, Joyner) also covered the story.

A Radical Shift for Goldman and Morgan …

Actually it isn’t a shift at all–if you review Beaulmans previous post!!!! They were ready and waiting!
review:    Brasscheck TV: The Financial Meltdown Explained

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last big independent investment banks on Wall Street, will transform themselves into bank holding companies subject to far greater regulation, the Federal Reserve said Sunday night, a move that fundamentally reshapes an era of high finance that defined the modern Gilded Age.
The firms requested the change themselves, even as Congress and the Bush administration rushed to pass a $700 billion rescue of financial firms. It was a blunt acknowledgment that their model of finance and investing had become too risky and that they needed the cushion of bank deposits that had kept big commercial banks like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase relatively safe amid the recent turmoil.
It also is a turning point for the high-rolling culture of Wall Street, with its seven-figure bonuses and lavish perks for even midlevel executives. It effectively returns Wall Street to the way it was structured before Congress passed a law during the Great Depression separating investment banking from commercial banking, known as the Glass-Steagall Act.
By becoming bank holding companies, the firms are agreeing to significantly tighter regulations and much closer supervision by bank examiners from several government agencies rather than only the Securities and Exchange Commission. Now, the firms will look more like commercial banks, with more disclosure, higher capital reserves and less risk-taking.
For decades, firms like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs thrived by taking bold bets with their own money, often using enormous amounts of debt to increase their profits, with little outside oversight.
They were the envy of Wall Street, dominating the industry’s most lucrative businesses, landing headline-grabbing deals and advising companies and governments around the world on mergers, stock offerings and restructurings.
But that brash model was torn apart over the last several weeks as investors lost confidence in the way they made those bets during the recent credit boom, when investment banks expanded with aplomb into esoteric securities, the risks of which were not easily understood.
Over several harrowing days, clients started pulling their money, share prices plunged and these banks’ entire enterprises were brought to the brink.
In exchange for subjecting themselves to more regulation, the companies will have access to the full array of the Federal Reserve’s lending facilities. It should help them avoid the fate of Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy last week, and Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch — both of which agreed to be acquired by big bank holding companies.
The decision also raises questions about whether the Federal Reserve will seek to regulate hedge funds, many of the largest of which closely resemble investment banks like Goldman.
Just a year ago investment banks, the titans of global finance, considered bank regulation a millstone to be avoided at all costs. Commercial banks have to subject themselves to restrictions on how much money they can borrow and what kinds of businesses they can be in. Lobbyists for firms like Goldman spent years fending off closer supervision of their business.
As bank holding companies, the two banks, whose shares have lost about half their value this year, will have to reduce the amount of money they can borrow relative to their capital.
That will make them more financially sound but will also significantly limit their profits. Today, Goldman Sachs has $1 of capital for every $22 of assets; Morgan Stanley has $1 for every $30. By contrast, Bank of America’s has less than $11 for every $1 of capital.
JPMorgan Chase acquired Bear Stearns this spring in a fire sale brokered by the federal government, while Bank of America has agreed to buy Merrill Lynch for $50 billion.
As bank holding companies, Morgan and Goldman will have greater access to the discount window of the Federal Reserve, which banks can use to borrow money from the central bank. While they were allowed to draw on temporary Fed lending facilities in recent months, they could not borrow against the same wide array of collateral that commercial banks could. The discount window access for investment banks is expected to be phased out in January.
It will take time for Goldman and Morgan to transform into fully regulated banks because they cannot quickly reduce how much money they borrow relative to their assets. The Fed and the Securities and Exchange Commission have had examiners at investment banks since March, giving regulators huge insight into their operations.
Both banks already have limited retail deposit-taking businesses, which they plan to expand over time. Morgan Stanley had $36 billion in retail deposits as of Aug. 31 and Goldman Sachs had $20 billion in deposits.
“We believe that Goldman Sachs, under Federal Reserve supervision, will be regarded as an even more secure institution with an exceptionally clean balance sheet and a greater diversity of funding sources,” Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chairman and chief executive of Goldman, said in a statement on Sunday night.
John J. Mack, the chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley, said: “This new bank holding structure will ensure that Morgan Stanley is in the strongest possible position — with the stability and flexibility to seize opportunities in the rapidly changing financial marketplace.”
In recent days, Morgan Stanley had sought other ways to bolster its capital and had been in advanced talks with China’s sovereign wealth fund and others about raising billions of dollars, people briefed on the matter said Sunday night. It had also been talking about a merger with Wachovia, a large commercial bank based in Charlotte, N.C.
With their transition to operating as bank holding companies, those talks are likely to take a different form, because now Morgan Stanley can buy a commercial bank.
Meeting the Big-Boys:
For decades, one investment bank in Lower Manhattan has churned out a golden list of corporate executives and statesmen, wealthy financiers and nonprofit managers.
In many ways, Goldman Sachs is seen as the financial world’s equivalent of General Electric, the corporate powerhouse, or McKinsey & Company, the management consulting firm. It is a training ground — and finishing school —from which other companies, along with quite a few governments, have frequently plucked their own top leaders.
And it has seeded some of the most successful private investment funds, many of them extending Goldman’s shadow from Greenwich, Conn., to London and beyond.

Goldman claims among its alumni Henry M. Paulson Jr., the current Treasury secretary; Robert E. Rubin, a Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and now Citigroup’s chairman; and Mario Draghi, the Bank of Italy’s governor. Jon S. Corzine, New Jersey’s governor, led Goldman for several years. Joshua B. Bolten, the current White House chief of staff, is a Goldman alum, and John A. Thain, the new chairman of Merrill Lynch, was Goldman’s president before he left to help rescue the New York Stock Exchange.
To insiders, all this is a result of Goldman’s elite culture, a sense of close-knit partnership that has endured despite the firm’s decision in 1999 to turn itself into a publicly owned corporation. To detractors, the firm is alternately a cult or a secretive fraternity like Skull and Bones at Yale, one focused on profits and power.
The bottom line on Goldman is that it is stocked with bright people who practically mint money. Even as the implosion of the subprime mortgage market forced many of its rivals to take multibillion-dollar write-downs in the summer of 2007, Goldman reported an increase in profit.
As 2008 progressed, Goldman avoided the deepening economic crisis that consumed two of its rivals – Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. In September, the company reported modest, though diminished, profits for the third quarter, beating expectations.
Morgan Stanley traces its roots back to the House of Morgan, the grandest name on Wall Street. But its last decade of operation has been one of recurrent turmoil.
In 1997, Morgan Stanley merged with Dean Witter, a retail brokerage firm, in the hopes that the reach of Dean Witter’s brokers and the sophisticated stock offerings of Morgan’s investment bankers would combine to create a nationwide powerhouse. The merged company was led by Philip J. Purcell, a Wall Street outsider whose leadership was been marked by a series of legal clashes and bitter internal dissent. Mr. Purcell was forced out in 2005; his place was taken by John J. Mack, a company veteran who had been unceremoniously dumped by Mr. Purcell.
Mr. Mack has revitalized a demoralized firm and achieved progress in weak areas like asset management and brokerage. But by encouraging a newly aggressive attitude toward trading — from his first days as chief executive, he said often and publicly that the firm would deploy its own capital more aggressively and enter higher-growth and riskier areas like mortgages and leveraged loans — he also laid the groundwork for the firm’s next round of trouble, which hit home when the subprime mortgage market melted down in 2007.
In two write-downs in late 2007, Morgan Stanley lowered the value of its subprime holdings by $9.4 billion, one of the largest devaluations on Wall Street. The investment bank announced on Dec. 19 that it would sell a $5 billion stake to the China Investment Corporation, that country’s sovereign wealth fund, to shore up its capital.

For God’s Sake Citizens!!! WAKE-UP!!!
Congress is on the brink of making a one-sided deal to give George W. Bush a blank check — offering nearly (or perhaps more than) a trillion taxpayer dollars to Wall Street to cover its bad debts. That works out to somewhere between $2000 and $5000 from every American family. So what do the taxpayers get in return?
Nothing. No new regulation or oversight to help avoid this kind of crisis in the future. No public interest givebacks to help people whose homes are in the hands of the banks. Perhaps most shockingly of all, the taxpayers get absolutely no share in the profits if and when these finance giants bounce back, even though we are now assuming a great deal of the risk.
This is worse than a bad deal — this isn’t a deal at all. This is a blank check to some of the richest companies in the world.
Congress doesn’t have to agree to a blank check. Instead, it can choose to impose a few sensible conditions on the bailout to ensure that it will be used responsibly. Here are a few suggestions
If the taxpayers are shouldering the risk, the taxpayers should reap any eventual benefits. We accomplish this by giving the government an equity stake in every company we bail out proportionate to the amount we give them.
If we’re paying (more than) our fair share, the CEOs and executives should have to, too. All of the fat cats who got us into this mess should relinquish their stock options and salaries until they start showing us, their investors, that they can once again be profitable. Future salaries should be linked to profitability.
No more campaign contributions from Wall Street executives and PACs. Taxpayer dollars should be used to get our nation out of a crisis. They cannot be used to fund giant, powerful lobby operations that will be used to strong arm Congress into making bad policy.
Better regulations start right now. Wall Street can’t expect to take thousands of dollars out of your paycheck without agreeing to increased transparency and more stringent oversight — the kind that might have helped avoid this mess to begin with.
Bankruptcy judges get broader leeway to help homeowners. Why should we lose our homes so the CEOs can keep theirs?
If Wall Street doesn’t like these conditions, then it is welcome to find private investors to help it out of this debacle. But if the American people are going to take this hit, then we must have a say in the terms of the deal — even if we don’t have an army of high-paid lobbyists at our disposal like they do.

Contact your Congressperson today! Make your voice heard.

TELL THEM–
I strongly urge you not to issue a blank check to the Wall Street giants who have steered our country into financial dire straits. You must address this crisis quickly and prudently. Do not give these companies a dime of taxpayer money unless they agree to the following conditions:
If the taxpayers are shouldering the risk, the taxpayers should reap any eventual benefits. We accomplish this by giving the government an equity stake in every company we bail out proportionate to the amount we give them.
If we’re paying (more than) our fair share, the CEOs and executives should have to, too. All of the fat cats who got us into this mess should relinquish their stock options and salaries until they start showing us, their investors, that they can once again be profitable. Future salaries should be linked to profitability.
No more campaign contributions from Wall Street executives and PACs. Taxpayer dollars should be used to get our nation out of a crisis. They cannot be used to fund giant, powerful lobby operations that will be used to strong arm Congress into making bad policy.
Better regulations start right now. Wall Street can’t expect to take thousands of dollars out of your paycheck without agreeing to increased transparency and more stringent oversight – the kind that might have helped avoid this mess to begin with.
Bankruptcy judges get broader leeway to help homeowners. Why should we lose our homes so the CEOs can keep theirs?
A blank check without these conditions would be nothing more than a reward for bad business practices. If the bailout does not include these conditions, you must oppose it.

Dumbed Down Debate??

This should be quite interesting. If Palin cannot debate at full speed, then this should put the final nail in her self destruction. If questions are going to be modified for her benefit, would a crisis in government be lessened so she could respond to her ability?

How much longer is this joke going to continue….

source> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/us/politics/21debate.html?_r=3&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1222079525-nlz8uZ0EFmq5VsWb2jNXYA

“..Negotiations over the rules for Gov. Sarah Palin’s debate with Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. were thornier than those over the debate between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.

The Obama and McCain campaigns have agreed to an unusual free-flowing format for the three televised presidential debates, which begin Friday, but the McCain camp fought for and won a much more structured approach for the questioning at the vice-presidential debate, advisers to both campaigns said Saturday.

At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.
The wrangling was chiefly between the McCain-Palin camp and the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which is sponsoring the forums. [this was interesting-- it has nothing to do with the Dems]

Commission members wanted a relaxed format that included time for unpredictable questioning and challenges between the two vice-presidential candidates. On Wednesday, the commission unanimously rejected a proposal sought by advisers to Ms. Palin and Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee, to have the moderator ask questions and the candidates answer, with no time for unfettered exchanges. Advisers to Mr. Biden say they were comfortable with either format.

Both campaigns see the four debates as pivotal moments in a presidential race that is not only extraordinarily close but also drawing intense interest from voters; roughly 40 million viewers watched the major speeches at the two parties’ conventions. The upheaval in the financial markets has recast the race in recent days, moreover, which both sides believe will only heighten attention for the debates.

A commission member said that the new agreement on the vice-presidential debate was reached late Saturday morning. It calls for shorter blocks of candidate statements and open discussion than at the presidential debates.

McCain advisers said they were only somewhat concerned about Ms. Palin’s debating skills compared with those of Mr. Biden, who has served six terms in the Senate, or about his chances of tripping her up. Instead, they say, they wanted Ms. Palin to have opportunities to present Mr. McCain’s positions, rather than spending time talking about her experience or playing defense. [why can’t she be asked about herself??]

While the debates between presidential nominees are traditionally the main events in the fall election season, the public interest in Ms. Palin has proved extraordinary, and a large audience is expected for her national debate debut.

Indeed, both the McCain and Obama campaigns have similar concerns about the vice-presidential matchup in St. Louis: that Ms. Palin, of Alaska, as a new player in national politics, or Mr. Biden, of Delaware, as a loquacious and gaffe-prone speaker, could commit a momentum-changing misstep in their debate.

The negotiations for the three 90-minute debates between the men at the top of the tickets were largely free of brinksmanship. Neither side threatened to pull out, and concerns about camera angles and stagecraft were minor.

Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the Democratic nominee for president, and Mr. McCain did not intercede personally to settle any disputes. They agreed to one substantive change to the format originally proposed by the debate commission, giving them two minutes apiece to make a statement at the beginning of each segment on a new topic.

Mr. Obama successfully sought to flip the proposed topics for the first and third debates, so foreign policy is now coming first and economic and other domestic issues come last. There is a second debate, in the format of a town hall meeting, in which the candidates will sit on director’s chairs and take questions from the audience and Internet users on any topic.

The debate commission had proposed that the first debate be on economic issues and the third on foreign policy — in part, people involved in the process said, because the first debate is usually the most watched, and many voters rank the economy as their top concern.

Mr. Obama wanted foreign policy first to show viewers that he could provide depth, strength and intelligence on those issues, his advisers said, given that Mr. McCain consistently wins higher ratings in opinion polls as a potential commander in chief.

Mr. Obama wanted domestic issues to come last; advisers said that they believed even before the start of the financial crisis that the election was most likely to turn on the state of the economy and that he wanted the final televised exchange to focus on those concerns. He has argued that Mr. McCain would continue the economic policies of President Bush.

Mr. McCain also wanted foreign policy topics to come first in the debates, his aides said, in the hope of capitalizing on his positive reputation on national security issues across party lines.

He wanted limits on the original format for the first and third debates, which had been nine topics with nine minutes of free-flowing debate on each one. Mr. Obama went along, though his aides did insist that at least several minutes of open-ended debate occur in each block of questioning, because they believe he does well in that format.

Now the candidates will be asked a question, each will give an answer of two minutes or less, and then they will mix it up for five additional minutes before moving on to the next question in the same format.

Obama aides also agreed to use lecterns at the first event, which Mr. McCain preferred; at the third debate, the two men will be seated at a round table, in the 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock positions, with the moderator at 6 o’clock.

McCain aides said that they were conscious of the fact that Mr. McCain has a prominent scar on one side of his face, and that they could not predict how prominent it would appear with the camera angles, lighting and make-up.

The debate formats were negotiated by Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, representing the McCain campaign, and Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois, for the Obama camp. A handful of aides from both camps were also involved, hammering out issues between themselves and then holding conference calls with members of the commission to reach final agreements, people involved in the process said.

Mr. Obama plans to begin debate camp on Tuesday with a tight circle of advisers at a site in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, his aides say, with a prominent Democratic lawyer, Greg Craig, playing the part of Mr. McCain in mock debates.

The Obama campaign has been studying Mr. McCain’s debate performances from the Republican primary as well as in his 2000 race for president. Each debate has been rated and scored, with briefing points and highlights sent to Mr. Obama.

Mr. Obama’s advisers have been studying in particular Mr. McCain’s temperament and mood and looking for potential flash points of anger.

Mr. McCain, his advisers say, has yet to spend much time watching the dozens of primary debate performances of Mr. Obama over the last two years. But they said that a small staff of aides had been reviewing them and that Mr. McCain would see some highlights next week.

McCain aides refused to say when his debate camp would be or where, or who was playing Mr. Obama or Mr. Biden. (Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm, Democrat of Michigan, is playing Ms. Palin for Mr. Biden’s preparations.)

Mr. Obama plans to sequester himself and a few advisers at his debate camp. The attendance is limited to a small group of foreign policy advisers, each rotating in for separate sessions with Mr. Obama and Mr. Craig.

The choice of Florida, particularly the politically critical region near Tampa, was selected with a dual purpose in mind. While Mr. Obama will have few public events from Tuesday through Friday, aides said, his presence could draw considerable local news media attention in a state where he hopes to fiercely challenge Mr. McCain.

While the intense portion of debate training begins on Tuesday, Mr. Obama has been preparing for weeks, in part by drawing upon his experience debating Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in the Democratic primaries. His aides have been studying those debate performances to address one of his biggest shortcomings: his ability to deliver a tight answer. Already, his campaign is trying to diminish expectations for Mr. Obama’s performance.

“Despite the fact that we got the chance to do this a lot during the primaries, these debates are not by any stretch of the imagination his strong suit,” said Robert Gibbs, a senior strategist to Mr. Obama. “He likes to talk about a problem, give some examples that addresses some solutions and oftentimes that doesn’t fit into the moderator’s allotted time.”

The campaigns had no say over the choice of moderators — Jim Lehrer of PBS, Tom Brokaw of NBC and Bob Schieffer of CBS for the presidential debates, and Gwen Ifill of PBS for the vice-presidential debate.

“Everything matters and issues can always come up, such as the size of podiums — like for Carter and Ford in 1976 — to the timer lights if the candidate doesn’t like them,” said Tad Devine, a Democratic strategist who advised Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. “There hasn’t really been a ‘debate about the debates’ this year, but that can change in a minute.”

AGAIN– I ask, is Palin prepared if she has to have an inaugrial like LBJ???

….to lead our country, to interact with knowledge with the leaders of the nations, to command the armed forces…. to choose a cabinet of advisers instead of the cabinet being chose for her from a Party that she is more loyal to than to the people????