A DAILY INNOCULATION AGAINST POLITICAL AND CULTURAL BULLSHIT

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Mr. Petite has been an adviser to both the Bush and Obama administrations (neither of which ever asked for his advice - and they certainly never took it, so don't blame Tweet) and is a Senior Fellow at (and is supported entirely by) the ETHICS AND THEORY INSTITUTE OF TERMINOLOGY (EATIT), a foundation underwritten by the parents of a United States Senator in return for Mr. Petite's silence on certain important matters. Which explains why he doesn't do TV.

Mr. Petite is a native of virtual New Orleans, and therefore a legal immigrant to his actual residence, so he has never had to do migrant farm work or landscaping. (He did do some shrimping in the virtual bayous on some of the days he played hookey from school.) The use of the word "onions" is metaphoric, or something. His sole contact with actual onions is in some of the better gumbos.
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Open Source � Blog Archive � David Bromwich on Obama: Looking at Words Closely

Open Source � Blog Archive � David Bromwich on Obama: Looking at Words Closely:

"Robert Dole, an elder of the Republican Party, has said he would like to see Petraeus as the Republican candidate in 2012."

The Republican adoration of the military - or perhaps just the idea of the military - continues unabated. It's as if their definition of "patriot" is one who's fought in wars or one who has sent others to do so.

To me, a patriot is one who loves his or her country wisely. Some soldiers do, some soldiers don't. While in the '60s the public perception of the military swung too heavily into the negative, it is now too heavily into the positive. Soldiers don't deserve condemnation out of hand any more than they deserve adulation. They chose the career and they should be expected to do it well, no different from a plumber or a carpenter. That being said, we need soldiers, hopefully soldiers who have at least minimum competence and the willingness to die, in theory, for their country. Fortunately, such people exist. But I don't think they deserve more worship than teachers.

AN IMPORTANT LESSON

Here's what some evangelicals have learned from some Jews: if you can successfully claim status as a victim of persecution, some people will identify with you and others will suspend moral judgment of you and intellectual inquiry, allowing you to pursue a course and reap results - including immense wealth - inconsistent with victimhood.

That's what the Nazis did after WW I, when they claimed that the German people (meaning they themselves) had been stabbed in the back by Communists. That's what Israel has done, as well as American Jews.

Of the three groups, only the Jews could legitimately claim to have been persecuted - at one time. But that was - except in certain backward countries - a long time ago. What some Jews have learned, and now teach, is that you can spin out the story of victimhood long after you've achieved even monumental success, which allows you to do whatever you want for as long as you want to.

The glue that holds some evangelicals together is the sense of victimhood. It increases the bonds among them and allows them to ignore, shut out or condemn the concerns of everybody else. You can see that clearly in the Tea Party movement. I also suspect that it draws a lot of converts who can shift the guilt for their prior bad deeds - and even future ones - not onto Jesus, but onto "the persecutor." That is why evangelicals so often accuse others of heinous conduct which you have just seen the evangelicals commit. Believing that Jesus has lifted your sins, now and into the future, in the same way that a bought indulgence did in the Middle Ages, is much easier when you're given an enemy to hate and the useful conviction that, while Jesus loves you, he despises everyone else.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Johann Hari: Face the Facts -- and End the War on Drugs

Myriam Miedzian: Barack Obama, Pragmatic, Compromise Prone, Moderate Democrat: Clear in 2009, Already Clear in 2007.

Joanne Bamberger: Am I Angrier at Bart Stupak or Barack Obama?

2012 Prophecies Sparking Real Fears, Suicide Warnings

When 80% of Americans believe in angels, this is what you get. We are fantasy-ridden country.

Dodd's Banking Bill Takes The Fed Down A Notch Or Two: HELP US DIG THROUGH IT

Blackwater Approved $1 Million in Iraqi Payments After Shootings - NYTimes.com

Fannie and Freddie Fire Their Own Inspector General

Obama Fort Hood Visit: President To Privately Console Families, Publicly Mourn

The only thing Obama is good for.

THE NEW PARTY

The Tea Party is now an official political party in Florida.

It has become increasingly apparent that the radical right, feeling its oats for some unknown reason, has decided it no longer wishes to be associated politically with anyone not on the same page. That doesn't mean they won't use such people, but they don't want to be in the same political organization.

They are cutting loose from the Republicans. They are not cutting loose from the Democrats, in which party their sub rosa operations are still effective in warping Democratic policy and results. But although they would certainly like to wreck the Democrats as effectively as they've wrecked the Republicans, that's only a sideline. What we are about to see is a new, ideologically pure in-your-face Christian party (they will certainly use Lieberman, but they'll never let him in), run from the top and aligned with the same ultra-conservative factions (like the Catholic church) which allied with the Nazis when that struggling party was getting off the ground.

This is not new, and I'm not even sure it's new in America. But we are about to see a highly visible political movement with beliefs very close to the skinheads which has a major media outlet, highly developed propaganda skills and persons who have done their time in the political arena so as to cover themselves with the sheen of respectability. They will leave some operatives within the two current parties to make sure that nothing happens within them that they don't like or don't know about. But even though they are closer than anyone conceived of to controlling both current political parties, for real satisfaction they would have to kick everyone out of them who didn't play by their rules. That's a long route when a new party is a straight line.

This will be a party which, despite its claims to represent the interests of at least a certain significant segment of the American people, will in fact be pursuing a members-only agenda.

I personally am in favor of this move. I think it's important for all of us to be able to see what we're up against, and as a new party they are much more observable than they are operating within current parties conspiratorily, as with The Family.

But I do wonder whether what's left of the Republican party or the Democrats will ever stop playing politics with these people, recognize them for the threat they are and go to war with them. My gut says that will not happen. And without guts, democracy stands no chance against totalitarianism.

Remember rule no. 1: people who accuse other people of being Nazis are very likely to be Nazis themselves. Unless, like me, they're right.

Catholic Church Emerges as Key Player in Legislative Battle - WSJ.com

TUESDAYS WITH DIOGENES (11/10/09)

I started the night off at Ta-Boo, my favorite restaurant, hidden among the designer shops on Worth Avenue. Every room in the restaurant was different from every other, but the way they contradicted each other made for a certain charm. The food was better than passable. The bar was always full. It was my comfort zone. There had to be humans there.

The flashlight was in my pocket. I thought about showing it, but I knew the burly bartender would quickly toss me out.

I stopped behind two well-dressed men who were sitting at the bar. They were having an earnest conversation about the fact that Obama wanted to kill their grandmothers. Clearly not human. I moved on.

The next couple – a man and a woman, both loaded with gold – were studying a list they’d made of the sixty-five poor families they’d foreclosed on just that week. Nope. Not candidates. On to the next.

The next – two gorgeous women, who took your breath away – were pointing out to each other what they had recently tucked and resculpted. I knew Diogenes would never accept them as humans. In fact, after checking over the odd way their features interconnected, I had to conclude that I was not at all certain that they were.

Walking among the tables at the back, I heard lots of talk of tee times and real estate deals. I heard lots of trumpeting of superiority, moral and otherwise. I heard lots of bitching about treacherous so-called friends. I heard decisions discussed and reached as to exactly how big the next diamond necklace had to be in order to stay in the social race. I heard two gay men, very elegant, plan to give hundreds of thousands to the Republicans. I learned that Nancy Pelosi was a Communist.

I thought, for a moment, I had found my mark when I caught the gist of a passionate exchange of words between the director of a famous opera troupe and a hopeful mezzo-soprano. They were talking about the glories of Verdi and Puccini in a way that made me wish their songs were transporting me right then. But the conversation ended with the director providing the address of the motel the girl was to report to, if she wanted the gig.

I now knew what Diogenes meant by human beings. And it seemed there were none of them at Ta-Boo.

And then I saw, at a table at the very back of the room, two of the black-clad waitresses having an urgent talk. One of them was crying. The other was comforting her. As I got closer, I heard the comforter say: “Don’t worry. You can stay at my place.”

The other one wailed out her gratitude as she declined the offer. “No! I couldn’t! You have such a tiny apartment!”

The comforter insisted. “I’ll give you my bed. I would hate myself forever if I didn’t help you out.”

“I’ll get my things,” said the crier.

“Just come over when you’re ready.”

“I love you, Judy!”

“And I love you.”

At two o’clock in the morning, they closed the place. I followed the comforter out as she headed home. She walked down Worth Avenue to South County Road, then turned the corner to the north. I was about twenty paces behind.

There was no traffic on South County Road, certainly no pedestrians. It wasn’t long before she became aware of me. Suddenly she turned and stared me down. “Why are you following me?” she said. She was calmer than I had a right to expect her to be.

I brought out the flashlight and shone it in her face. “Because I think you may be the messiah,” I said.

Monday, November 09, 2009

JUST A POL?

Obama was sold in 2008 as a thinker and a listener - almost as an academic, or truthseeker like Wilson. Whether this is what he is or not, he's a big problem.

His thinking runs to center right positions and he listens to the establishment. So he is either nothing but the usual pol, or he IS an academic and so completely lost in the political environment that he listens to those he considers safe to be listened to. Like Emanuel and Summers.

Doesn't matter which he is. The result in either case is that to compare him to FDR is now laughable and no one's doing it. Moreover he has squandered in less than a year his comparison to JFK, which he could easily have maintained if he had kept up a decent relationship with the left.

Herbert Hoover comes to mind but even there Obama suffers because Hoover was not a liar.

I don't know what Obama is but I don't want to see much more of it.

Federal Reserve opposed as big bank savior by odd allies - Washington Times

Well, somebody's getting the picture. Who's going to own populism?

How the Government Is Swallowing the Economy - Rick Newman (usnews.com)

Neo-Nazi Immigration Rallies (VIDEO): Events Attract Larger Counter-Protests

Project Syndicate - A New World Architecture

Credit Card Rates: Banks Plan To RAISE Rates, Annual Fees

Sarah Palin Suggests Coin Conspiracy In Wisconsin Speech

You have to be nuts to appeal to the nuts, and she is clearly nuts.

Charles Gasparino: Goldman Sachs Doing "God's Work"?

Tony Podesta: Turning Change Into Dollars

Obtained: In Letter To Pelosi, 41 House Dems Pledge To Vote Against Bill With Anti-Abortion Amendment | The Plum Line

Republicans Giving Women 'Back Of The Hand Treatment': Wasserman-Schultz

The Price of Health Reform: Abortion Rights? | Mother Jones

Lee Stranahan: Kucinich's Brave Health Vote vs. Obama's Failed Promise

Obama's Interior Ken Salazar starting out worse than Bush on species protection

Alec MacGillis -- Why aren't President Obama's job-creation efforts more direct? - washingtonpost.com

Editorial - Jobless Recovery - NYTimes.com

BOROWITZ REPORT

Fox News Reports: Millions of Grannies Flee U.S. as Death Panels Loom
Glenn Beck: "Run For Your Lives"

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - With the establishment of government-mandated death panels just days away, grandmothers began fleeing the United States in record numbers today, reports Fox News.

"I am never one to yell ‘Fire' in a crowded theater," said Fox News host Glenn Beck. "But run for your lives!"

Across the country, slow-moving caravans of 1980s-era Cadillacs with turn signals blinking were making the torturous journey to the Canadian border, their back seats laden with cats, knitting projects, and bottles of Ensure.

Fox News may have set off the mass exodus by warning grannies that if they did not flee quickly enough they would face government-mandated organ harvesting.

Elsewhere, anti-healthcare protesters objected to the language of the House bill, saying there were too many polysyllabic words.

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Civil War In Corporate America: Banks Battling The Chamber On Accounting Rules

Want Obama To Be Bolder? Take To The Streets!

Want Obama To Be Bolder? Take To The Streets!

So which came first - chicken or egg? Obama backing off his promises or his supporters backing off Obama? I think Froomkin made the wrong choice. Why are progressives not in the streets? Well, because they're out of the habit of course. But moreso because the last time they got in the streets - 2008 - they wound up betrayed. It may be a while before they get up the "hope" to do it again - and when they do, it will not be for Obama. If any politician has earned the allegiance of progressives, it's Nancy Pelosi. And maybe yet Harry Reid.

Right now Congress does not need to be reminded by progressives of what is expected from them - other than those Democrats who are moving against the wishes of their constituents. It's the president who needs a reminder, and frankly it's a waste of time. All plans and intentions should be diverted around the White House. Nothing can be expected from those yahoos.

Afghanistan: Groundhog day | Comment is free | The Guardian

Afghanistan: Groundhog day |
Comment is free |
The Guardian

Obama To Dems: GOP Will Attack Regardless Of How You Vote

Obama To Dems: GOP Will Attack Regardless Of How You Vote

We know he wants a bill passed, but after all this time we still don't know what he wants in it. Why even bother listening to him?

t r u t h o u t | President Obama's Timid Use of the "Reset Button"

t r u t h o u t | President Obama's Timid Use of the "Reset Button"

The reason the cost of foreign and military activities has gone up so much is that so much of the work is outsourced under contracts which it is hard to break (and hard to break the relationships) over time. The more dependent on private contractors we become, the more expensive it gets and the longer the dependency will continue.

If you stop to think about it, outsourcing of government functions (combined with the costs of purchasing military equipment) amounts to nothing but a stimulus package far exceeding the one Obama passed. Were it not for government money, all these businesses would sink and leave a lot of people unemployed.

If stimulus is okay for functions like these, why is it not okay for functions which have a productive (as opposed to destructive) result?

The Goods May Be Virtual, but the Profit Is Real - NYTimes.com

The Goods May Be Virtual, but the Profit Is Real - NYTimes.com

Downloadable music is virtual, too. What you pay for is enjoyment of artistic creation. Before DVDs, you couldn't touch movies either. This is not new - but its potential is unlimited.

Friday, November 06, 2009

OBNOXIOUS?

After reading an article referring to obnoxious bloggers calling Obama out for his post election behavior, I thought I'd clarify:

It's not that he hasn't accomplished much. It's that he's shown no real interest in accomplishing what we think needs to be accomplished, has put little effort into what HE thinks needs to be accomplished, and has done a lot of things which utterly contradict what he promised he would do. It's not the lack of accomplishment that's the failure. It's the lack of effort and the embracing of people and theories progressives are naturally going to hate. It's the betrayal that hurts.

Patriot Act: Democratic Lawmakers Defy Obama

Is the Tea Party Gang Turning GOP Into a Party of Hate? -- Politics Daily

Op-Ed Columnist - Obama Faces His Anzio - NYTimes.com

10 Years Ago Today, Congress Allowed For "Too Big To Fail"

10 Years Ago Today, Congress Allowed For "Too Big To Fail":

"On the 10th anniversary of Congress voting to repeal the law that had long separated Main Street commercial banking from Wall Street investment banking, current members of the body are talking about ways to potentially bring it back. A return to the Depression-era law -- known as Glass-Steagall -- is now being seriously discussed. Some leading economists and financial thinkers point to its repeal as a precipitator of the current crisis, because it enabled banks to become 'too big to fail.'"

Not one word about Obama supporting this.

Allen West, GOP Candidate: Ft. Hood Shows "Terrorists Are Infiltrating Military"

Allen West, GOP Candidate: Ft. Hood Shows "Terrorists Are Infiltrating Military":

"Lt. Col. Allen West (Ret), who is running for Congress in Florida's 22nd District, released a statement on Friday morning that heavily insinuated that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan -- the soldier responsible for the Fort Hood killings -- was a Muslim extremist. 'This enemy preys on downtrodden soldiers and teaches them extremism will lift them up,' West said, in a statement titled 'Terrorists Are infiltrating Military'. 'Our soldiers are being brainwashed.'"

Let's take a look at this one. Aside from the fact that there is no evidence yet that Hasan was a Muslim extremist, is West saying that Hasan was preying on other soldiers, or that some group had preyed on him? What does West mean by "infiltrating"? Are there people in the military who are "brainwashing" soldiers, or are these people outside the military who are converting soldiers to their cause? If the former, where's the proof - and if the latter, how is it "infiltration?"

I will give you 100 to 1 that West is an evangelical - because these are the people who see everything in terms of conflict with evil. I'm sure before 9/11 West was looking for Communists in the military - there really is no difference between these two demonizations, and the use of the term "brainwashed" by West proves that he has simply replaced one devil with another.

The 22nd is my district, now represented by Ron Klein. I doubt West can get nominated, but if he does I promise I will do whatever I can to keep Congress safe from another infiltrating enemy.

Unemployment Rate Hits 10 Percent For The First Time Since 1983

Unemployment Rate Hits 10 Percent For The First Time Since 1983

But go ahead and do nothing about it.

NOW IT'S NEWS

Robert Cone: Nidal Malik Hasan Shouted "Allahu Akbar" Before Shooting (VIDEO):

"The base commander at Fort Hood says soldiers who witnessed a shooting rampage that left 13 people dead reported that the gunman shouted 'Allahu Akbar!' before opening fire at the Texas post."

I'm suspicious of this one. We'll see.

Banks Thwarting Feinberg Pay Model by Changing Bonus Formulas - Bloomberg.com

Thursday, November 05, 2009

WHY IS FORT HOOD NEWS?

Is Fort Hood news? Not to me. Not yet, anyway. Let me explain.

News is information relevant to the receiver which will have some effect on what he does or needs to do. For example, if you live in California and your neighbor has threatened to kill you, that is definitely news as far as you're concerned. It may be news to other neighbors, if the conclusion is that the man who made the threat is generally unstable. But to me, in Florida, it is not news. It is simply irrelevant.

Now, if I happen to see a story about your news on TV and find myself engrossed in it, it is still not news to me. It's entertainment. With all that in mind, let's look at Fort Hood.

The story is definitely news to all those directly involved, including those with whom they have important relationships. Beyond that, though, death by itself is not news, except to those who pore through the obits. If death were news, you'd need to hear about all of them.

Some deaths are considered news. But are they? If your local news does a story on a fatal traffic accident involving people you never heard of, why is that news to you? Unless there is something relevant about the way they died - like, for example, some flaw in a highway or a car, or there's alcohol involvement and so a moral to be drawn - you learn nothing useful from the story. It's pure entertainment - a horrible concept, I know, but not much different from Roman times. And if you don't care about the story, it's not even that.

If somebody murders someone in a city near you, that could be news to you if the murderer was loose and targeting people he or she didn't know, or it was a gang killing and some of the gang live in your neighborhood, etc. Short of that, that story is not news to you. If you're fascinated by it, you're being entertained.

Now - do multiple deaths make a story news? Not unless the deaths are relevant to you, or there is a lesson for you to learn. Multiple deaths as news are no different than single deaths. As entertainment sources, they're far superior.

Does the fact that the dead were soldiers make the story news? If the deaths were in combat, yes - because the story impacts on the state of the country of which you are a part. If not, why is it news? Well, if, as many people do, you believe that soldiers are a better, more worthy species of human being - somehow akin to angels - then any soldier death is news. The deaths of angels are always news. I assume this standard would not be applied to the soldier who caused the deaths.

Which brings me to my point: so far, the only smell of news (as opposed to entertainment) in this story for people who do not know the dead or injured rises from the motive of the killer. So far we don't know what that is, but speculation has it that he - a psychiatrist or psychologist who had been treating soldiers returned from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq - heard so many horrifying stories in the course of that treatment that he would rather die than be sent to Iraq, as he was due to be within a month.

So, so far as we know, this story is news because the deaths were motivated by the horrors of war. And the horrors of war is not a story that either the MSM or the power elite want to tell. So, likely, we will never get the news out of this story. We'll have to settle for being entertained.

Link:

Pelosi: Single-Payer Amendment Breaks Obama's Health Care Promise

Fort Hood Shootings: 12 Dead, 31 Injured On Texas Military Base

Fort Hood Shootings: 12 Dead, 31 Injured On Texas Military Base

Texas, insanity central, once again. I have my theory on why this happened, but I'm waiting for details.

Biden: People Have Been Stripped Of Their Dignity

Biden: People Have Been Stripped Of Their Dignity:

"And, unlike so many of the president's other advisers, who have a slight taint of Wall Street to them, he seemed utterly at ease addressing the topic of middle-class struggle. If not for his penchant for verbal gaffes (which is, generally, overstated) Biden would seem to be the ideal spokesperson for an administration trying to rediscover its populist appeal. And it wouldn't be a complete shocker if his public appearances became more frequent going forward."

And then, if Obama is impeached, he gets to be president.

Wall Street Banks Getting Swine Flu Vaccine Before Many High-Risk Groups (VIDEO)

Federal Reserve Loses Expanded Powers Proposed By Obama Administration

Federal Reserve Loses Expanded Powers Proposed By Obama Administration

Good. This proposal was just another sneak Obama move to help Wall Street.

Considerably kinder than I would have been.

Home / Headlines / No Partner for Peace: Our American Problem - Media Monitors Network (MMN)

Home / Headlines / No Partner for Peace: Our American Problem - Media Monitors Network (MMN)

"The degree to which American policy regarding Palestinian rights diverges so sharply from even that of its European allies, not to mention from the Muslim world with which it is attempting to achieve a modicum of stability and accommodation that will allow it to remove its troops, has implications far beyond that particular conflict itself."

Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Make No Mistake, Tuesday's GOP Surge Was About Obama

Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Make No Mistake, Tuesday's GOP Surge Was About Obama

He's got this assbackwards. I doubt there is a progressive left who thinks Obama's charisma is worth a damn. It's just the White House which doesn't seem to get it. Any progressive who is counting on Obama for anything is hopelessly compromised, a victim of the usual media conviction that on the event-o-meter there is no balanced center and every event changes the game to the ultimate. The Republicans are finished? No one believed that but the media guys who, sadly, get to talk about stuff like that. And I guess the advantage to the media of doing that is that once you take the gas tank all the way over to "full", you can thrillingly report how it's going back to "empty." But it MUST go all the way to "empty", so that they get more stories about how it's shocking back toward "full". You can only accomplish that, in the real world, by exaggerating trends.

Obama administration missteps hamper Mideast efforts - washingtonpost.com

Gov. Corzine's N.J. re-election bid nearly abandoned as White House concerns grew | New Jersey Real-Time News - - NJ.com

Gov. Corzine's N.J. re-election bid nearly abandoned as White House concerns grew | New Jersey Real-Time News - - NJ.com

Corzine should have returned the favor and told Obama he ought to resign, for the same reasons. Somebody's going to have to tell Obama not to run in 2012. And that needs to happen soon, so that another candidate can be built.

Democrats debate Obama agenda's impact on Democratic Party - washingtonpost.com

Democrats debate Obama agenda's impact on Democratic Party - washingtonpost.com

Note: the questioning is happening in Congress, not the White House. And thank God for that.

So-called conventional moderate wisdom will be that the public is afraid of deficit spending, and the White House may seize on that to stop doing the little it is in fact doing to help the middle class.

The public is not afraid of deficit spending. The public has not turned off health care reform. What the public wants is, in fact, progressive results. The public wants health care reform and it wants efforts made to create jobs and to buttress the economic health of others than the wealthy. There's no reason the Democrats can't do both at once. If Democrats focus on deficits nothing will be done.

On job creation, most of the weak ideas being put out there - and there aren't many - involve feeding money to businesses to create jobs. The fairly constant refrain that money should be directed toward infrastructure repair is a stopgap which creates nothing of long term use. The one workable idea of those that are out there now - tax credits for companies which create jobs - should be focused on and passed immediately. But the real accomplishment would be through a Federal jobs creation program, where the middleman is cut out and the money goes directly from the government to the workers. The beauty of this is that the money can be directed towards the creation of jobs which have a future and make sense for the economy as a whole. And the corollary will be that new companies will emerge to take these workers over and off the Federal payroll.

Okay, it's socialism - but it's temporary, and it will work.

The problem is: who's going to propose it and carry it through? Who's got the balls? This is a natural for the president, but Obama's cojones have shriveled into BBs. If health care reform passes, he'll take the credit - but it's Congress that deserves it, not him.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Rob Johnson: Tragically Charismatic

Dave Zirin: Last Night's Lesson: It Ain't Rocket Science

Media Matters Action Network

Media Matters Action Network

If you want to know where Neon money is going, check out this site.

Lobbyists Dodge Regulations Through Reinvention

AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: White House official slams Democratic Cong. Anthony Weiner, saying he should have "manned-up" in

AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: White House official slams Democratic Cong. Anthony Weiner, saying he should have "manned-up" in NY Mayor's race. Just sexist or homophobic too?

So the White House gets out to defend the New Jersey governor, a former executive of Goldman Sachs who New Jersey hates. And it lays off Michael Bloomberg. Is the picture clear enough yet? Do we have any remaining doubts as to who this administration works for? Meanwhile Goldman Sachs readies bonuses of $16 billion, four times what they were last year.

We were had. It's our own fault. But I want them to suffer for doing it.

By the way, I have it on inside info - not that anyone needs it - that this kind of attack language is a Rahm Emanuel specialty. To put it mildly, the source said, Rahm is not a nice guy.

The only kind way I can explain Obama is to assume that after the election Rahm gave him a lobotomy, and the only brain function he has left is reading teleprompters.

Mouth Of The Potomac - NY Daily News

Mouth Of The Potomac - NY Daily News:

"Mayor Bloomberg “is an ally,” said one Obama campaign operative who held a top position in the presidential campaign. “He’s an ally, so I’m not sure we would have spent the political capital” to campaign for Thompson, the insider tells The Mouth."

Uh huh. Yep. We know.

Cornyn's Primary Strategy Has "Neutered" The Moderates: Dems

Is The Tea Party Over? | Mother Jones

Chris Kelly: Dud, Baby, Dud: The Lesson of Doug Hoffman

John Varley Defends Bonuses: Profits Are "Not Satanic" Barclays CEO Tells London Church Crowd

John Varley Defends Bonuses: Profits Are "Not Satanic" Barclays CEO Tells London Church Crowd:

"'The injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is an endorsement of self-interest.'"

Unfuckingbelievable.

Goldstone Report "Irredeemably Biased," Says U.S. House

Goldstone Report "Irredeemably Biased," Says U.S. House

I notice AIPAC's influence on Congress has significantly declined of late.

Sources: Iran gave Hamas missile that can hit Tel Aviv - Haaretz - Israel News

Sources: Iran gave Hamas missile that can hit Tel Aviv - Haaretz - Israel News

Okay, dammit, let's just kill 'em all.

Hillary Clinton: US Wants Israel To Stop Building West Bank Settlements 'Forever'

Hillary Clinton: US Wants Israel To Stop Building West Bank Settlements 'Forever'

You get the feeling she's just telling everybody what they want to hear? Sort of like her boss?

Italy Convicts 23 Americans In CIA Terrorist Kidnapping Case

Italy Convicts 23 Americans In CIA Terrorist Kidnapping Case

Oh, jeez, these poor CIA guys - never to have another glass of wine in Portofino!

Depression and suicide rates state by state - USATODAY.com

Depression and suicide rates state by state - USATODAY.com

This is absolutely fascinating. (These are 2007 figures, but what the hell.)

Let's start with suicide rates. They are the highest in (in this order) Alaska, Nevada, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and West Virginia. See anything interesting here?

They're all red states (except for New Mexico, which must be severely depressed by who its neighbors are, and half of Colorado.) Either there's something fundamentally unsatisfying about living in a red state mindset, or the lone local liberals are killing themselves off.

Just about all of them are politically represented by people with weak connections to reality and a lot of misfocused rage. That in itself would be enough to drive me off a cliff.

Or - though conventional wisdom is that overcrowding leads to suicide, it looks like wide open spaces aren't good for you.

States with the highest rates of depression include:

Oklahoma (James Inhofe is depressing, no doubt about it); and Ohio (a state which has never figured itself out).

New Jersey is the third least depressed state. I don't understand that - after all, it is New Jersey.

South Dakota is the least depressed state, but has the 12th highest suicide rate. I guess when they feel bad in South Dakota, they don't let it fester. As opposed to Rhode Island, which has the fourth highest rate of depression but the fifth lowest suicide rate. If you've ever lived there, you know they glory in misery. They're also not too good at doing something definitive about a bad situation.

The lowest suicide rates are in DC, New York and Massachusetts. That, I assume, is because the folks in those places value themselves so highly they see their suicide as a waste of precious national treasures. Or maybe they just go back where they came from when they want to off themselves. Suicide is not good for your reputation.

Take a look - there's lots more fun stuff to think about.

Mixed Messages | The New Republic

Mixed Messages | The New Republic:

"The center proves to be the most popular place in American politics."

NO NO NO NO NO! Why do these people not get it? I'll answer that, but first:

Polling nationwide shows significant support for a strong public option. Is that a centrist position?

People want the banks brought down to size and controlled. Is that centrist?

People want job creation. Is that centrist?

If any of those were centrist, they would have been accomplished already.

Obama is, being kind, at best centrist, and he's losing support by the bucketful.

And here's the reason these guys don't get it: to them, centrist doesn't mean a balanced political posture. Centrist means what the guys they want to play golf with think. Centrist means a reporter's ticket into the elite. In other words, centrist means squat. And that's what these guys are.

O'Donnell To Steele: "You Led Your Party To A Disastrous Loss... Congratulations" (VIDEO)

O'Donnell To Steele: "You Led Your Party To A Disastrous Loss... Congratulations" (VIDEO)

Michael Steele's status as the reigning Republican boob proves clearly that the powers that be on the right have no long term interest in the fate of the Republican party.

To be honest, and offensive again, I wouldn't be surprised if they saw Steele as some sort of Stepin Fetchit.

Job Numbers: 203,000 Private-Sector Jobs Lost In October

Job Numbers: 203,000 Private-Sector Jobs Lost In October

You in the White House - wake the hell up!

HOPELESS

TWEET PETITE AND TEN WHEEL DRIVE DO "WHERE'S THE HEART?"

JON STEWART

As usual I can't embed clips from the Daily Show because there's something wrong with the embed code, but check out http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-november-3-2009/indecision-2009---reindecision-2008-and-beyond. It's hysterical.

Daily Kos: Tonight's big lesson

So simple, really.

Gubernatorial contests serve as warning to Democrats - washingtonpost.com

Gubernatorial contests serve as warning to Democrats - washingtonpost.com: "Many of the young voters who came out in big numbers in 2008 and strongly backed Obama stayed home Tuesday. In Virginia, voters under age 30 accounted for 10 percent of the electorate, half the share they represented last year. In New Jersey, their turnout also was halved."

Why is that, does Obama suppose? Disillusionment, perhaps?

All these articles claim that the reason voters moved to the Republicans is that they are concerned about higher taxes and an unbalanced budget. That's pure crap, an expression of the MSM's unquestioning acceptance of conservative thought. If voters believed that deficit spending would benefit them instead of Wall Street, they'd go for it big time. Why wouldn't they? They've gone for it big time in their personal finances. Is it any way believable that people are more concerned about how their kids are going to live twenty years from now than whether they're going to starve to death tomorrow? If Obama actually did anything about taxing the rich - i.e., redistributing the wealth - and putting the receipts on the tables of the middle class, they'd vote for him twice - even the crotchety, delusional old teabag farts. But they'll be damned if they're going to pay for Wall Street bonuses, to put it simplistically and symbolically.

Obama has blown it on purpose. I cannot conceive of a political opportunity being more badly mishandled - or, better put, more purposefully handled so as to destroy that opportunity. It's something to weep over.

Maine Voters First To License Medical Pot Shops

Ever lived through a Maine winter? Maine has the highest winter suicide rate in the country. No wonder they've licensed medical pot. Soon every Mainer is going to find a way to get sick enough to need medical marijuana. And since they're going to want insurance to pay for it - that would really be sweet, insurance funding your permanent high - Olympia Snowe should take notice that Maine wants universal health insurance coverage. If she stands between a Mainer and his or her dope, they'll throw her into the sea off the cliffs at Cape Elizabeth.

Steele: Election Results Show "Transcendent" GOP

Steele: Election Results Show "Transcendent" GOP: "Steele said he wasn't particularly upset about the GOP's loss in a hotly contested race in upstate New York, saying 'this process is done at the local level. The drama of 23 (district) was nice and is cute and funny and everybody made fun about how the party is fractured.' He said 'we'll have a cleaner process there' in the future.

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia said, 'I do think that the Virginia model shows that when we're united as a party, independents are attracted to our message of vision for the future, where we can empower folks to get their economic security back.'"

I don't know whether it helps or not that national Republicans are delusional. From a national perspective, Hughes' win is far more significant that what happened in New Jersey and Virginia; it was a referendum on the current course of the Republican party, i.e. (as Cantor put it) their "vision of the future", while the governors races were referenda on the state of the economy in which neither Republican candidate put forward any ideas on how to improve it. Nor could they have, since the problem is national.

Republicans, as usual, are missing the point. These defeats were the direct result of Obama's failure to succor the middle class. If any ideology or "vision of the future" was judged in these races, it was his. But Republicans are not positioned to take advantage of his failure, because they've done even less than he has. These results are an indictment of laissez faire policy - but the truth is that the voters had and have nowhere to turn to get away from that policy. I don't know what they'll do when they realize that.

Maine Gay Marriage Vote: Voters Repeal Law Legalizing Gay Marriage

The answer? All gays move to Vermont, which suddenly becomes the nation's powerhouse in the arts, fashion, finance, hairdressing, window dressing and all those other stereotypical areas in which gays are supposed to be brilliant - and in fact often are brilliant. The rest of the country withers into dry, sterile, stale, cracked burnt toast.

Election 2009: Virginia, New Jersey Exit Polls - From Obama to the Economy - ABC News

What the voters said was that they think Obama is cute, but they don't like the state of the economy, and fixing that is supposed to be Obama's primary task. There isn't much the governor of either state could have done to correct the severe conditions in their states. The bottom line in this vote was disapproval of Obama, and the message is clear: either Obama gets to work or he loses Congress next year.

Michael Roston - Newsbroke – Will Scozzafava protest vote sink Hoffman in New York’s 23rd district? - True/Slant

It did. The Neons stuck their neck out and got their head chopped off. This district went for Obama, but it hadn't elected a Democrat to Congress since the 1870's. This is a direct repudiation by decent people of the totalitarian garbage dragged into their district.

The Neons of course will not get the message, since they aren't programmed to receive incoming information. Things only go out from them, since they are the holders of incontrovertible truth. The sad thing is that when they deny this reality it won't be a tactic for many of them. Uncomfortable facts do not enter their world. They'll stick with it, since it's their mission to beat the devil. I don't know what will ever put an end to them.

But Hoffman won't be invited to any Neon barbecues.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Club for Growth totes up what it did for Hoffman - Capitol Confidential - New York Politics - timesunion.com - Albany NY

New York Mayor Race: Bloomberg, Challenger In Close Contest

New York Mayor Race: Bloomberg, Challenger In Close Contest:

"Thompson was widely predicted to lose by double digits, but he hoped to stoke voter resentment over the way Bloomberg sought a change to the city's term-limits law to stay in office."

Well, I'm not a NY voter, but I sure resented what Bloomberg did. Bloomberg adheres to the Neon philosophy - which is why he felt entitled to a third term despite its illegality - but he hasn't turned it into an ideology, probably for two reasons: 1) he's got a sense of humor, and 2) he doesn't believe he needs God's endorsement since he believes that he is God. He'll want to crush people who oppose him on a deal, but not people who oppose him philosophically. Not that there are many of those left in NYC. That he won the race was inevitable, considering there's no one left in NYC whose fate is not tied to Wall Street's. Jimmie Walker was the right mayor for New York when bootleg liquor was king for the same reason Bloomberg is right when Wall Street is all. He personifies NYC. Still, I wish Thompson had kicked his teeth in.

Trouble Ahead: Can the Right Seize the Banking Reform Issue in 2010? � New Deal 2.0

If the Neons are who I expect they are, they could not make this pitch honestly - they'd be eating their own. But they could make the pitch as dishonestly as Obama did - and win the same results. Spitzer is mostly right.

Wall Street Cries ‘Feed Me’ or World Will End: Susan Antilla - Bloomberg.com

The Neon mentality - but I suspect most of these guys have not signed onto the program yet, because they're much too sophisticated to fall for that religious stuff.

They'll get in line when push comes to shove.

Jewish Settlers Force Way Into East Jerusalem Home, Evict Arab Family (PHOTOS)

Israeli Neons.

ONE TERM

Polls in which voters say that their vote was not a referendum on Obama are misleading. Their votes - and particularly independent votes - were a referendum on the lack of progress the middle class has made this year. And that is entirely Obama's fault. Pelosi and Reid have busted their asses - so far as they are capable - to get things done. Obama has sat on his. So if people are not satisfied with the state of affairs, sooner or later they will realize it is Obama they are not satisfied with. I think he's a one term president. He's made the statement that he wouldn't mind being a one term president if that was the consequence of his getting big things done. I wonder how he'll feel about being a one term president who got nothing done.

LET ME JUST THROW THIS OUTLANDISH STATEMENT OUT THERE

If predictions about major US demographic changes are correct - the decline in the age of the population and the growth of minority communities - the Neon putsch window closes around 2016.

Just something to keep in mind.

VA exit polls: Dems 94-6 Deeds. GOPers 95-5 McDonnell. Indies 60-39% McDonnell.

I wasn't following this race, so I don't know the local factors - but the huge independent majority for the Republican parallels Obama's drop in polls and is in both cases, I think, entirely due to Obama's behavior. Here is a guy who is destroying progressive chances for decades - and doing it willingly. How anyone - right or left - can have any remaining respect for him is over my head.

BLOG POSTS

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

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Saturday, November 07, 2009

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Tuesday, November 03, 2009

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