Mint MorMoney is a Fucking Twat

Jesus Christ, this guy is a complete fucking twat.

And before you get on my case for calling him a Fucking Twat (which he IS), watch the entire video. Anybody here employed over the last 40 years? Remember when life was good, you worked hard, the boss gave you a bonus at the end of the year? Remember what happened around, oh, say, 2000? When companies started outsourcing jobs, and it seemed like raises kept dropping, or being eliminated altogether? And every year you were told there would be no bonus, or a reduced bonus? And then they started implementing performance targets for bonuses, so that it didn't matter how hard YOU worked, if your team, your group, your department, and your DIVISION didn't make their targets, you, the lowly schlub, could just kiss that bonus goodbye?

That's when Bain Capital was making Mint MorMoney all those millions. That's how come he has $300 million or more in his bank account, and you're lucky if you can feed the kids something that DOESN'T have rice, beans, or Hamburger Helper in it.

Mint MorMoney (copyright Helen Blazes)is a complete and total fucking twat. And if you want him as President, if you stay home and fail to vote for Barack Obama, don't you let me hear you whine ONCE, NOT FUCKING ONCE, about how there are no jobs and millionaires got tax breaks but you're paying more than ever. Because if you can't see that that's what he has planned, then YOU'RE a fucking twat, too, and a very STUPID fucking twat, at that.

Stumble It!

Attack Of The Killer Slimeballs

It's here at last! The war of the Horrible Wealthy Old White Male Republicans that will culminate in the re-election of Barack H. Obama in about ten months. And firing the opening shots is none other than everybody's favourite lard-assed pasty cannonball, Newton Leroy GinGrinch, aiming to take down Bishop Willard "Magic Underwear Mitt" Romney.

Check it out. Very nicely done, no?

Whaddya think? Can Mittens survive this? And the Bain Capital attacks?

Stumble It!

In Honour of Labouring Folks Everywhere

Today, we celebrate Labour Day (which, everywhere else in the world, is celebrated on May 1st, also known as Lady Day) with a little ditty from the Great Depression. No doubt it will warm the cockles of every heart that has experienced these fine characters, especially of late.


Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker

1.
I'm an autocratic figure in these democratic states,
A dandy demonstration of hereditary traits.
As the children of the baker bake the most delicious breads,
As the sons of Casanova fill the most exclusive beds,
As the Barrymores, the Roosevelts, and others I could name
Inherited the talents that perpetuate their fame,
My position in the structure of society I owe
To the qualities my parents bequeathed me long ago.
My pappy was a gentleman, and musical to boot,
He used to play piano in a house of ill repute.
The madam was a lady, and a credit to her cult.
She enjoyed my pappy's playing, and I was the result!
So my mammy and my pappy are the ones I have to thank
That I'm Chairman of the Board of the National Silly Bank!

Chorus:
Oh, our parents forgot to get married,
Oh, our parents forgot to get wed,
Did a wedding bell chime, it was always a time
When our parents were somewhere in bed.
Then all thanks to our kind loving parents,
We are kings in the land of the free.
Your banker, your broker, your Washington joker,
Three prominent bastards are we, tra la,
Three prominent bastards are we!

2.
In a cozy little farmhouse in a cozy little dell,
A dear old-fashioned farmer and his daughter used to dwell.
She was pretty, she was charming, she was tender, she was mild,
And her sympathy was such that she was frequently with child.
The year her hospitality attained a record high
She became the happy mother of an infant, which was I.
Whenever she was gloomy I could always make her grin
By childishly inquiring who my daddy could have been.
The hired man was favored by the girls in Mummy's set
And a trav'ling man from Scranton was an even money bet.
But such were Mammy's motives, and such was her allure,
That even Roger Babson wasn't altogether sure.
Well I took my mother's morals and I took my daddy's crust,
And I grew to be the founder of the New York Blanker's Trust.

Chorus:
Oh, our parents forgot to get married,
Oh, our parents forgot to get wed,
Did a wedding bell chime, it was always a time
When our parents were somewhere in bed.
Then all thanks to our kind loving parents,
We are kings in the land of the free.
Your banker, your broker, your Washington joker,
Three prominent bastards are we, tra la,
Three prominent bastards are we!

3.
In a torrid penal chain gang on a dusty southern road,
My late lamented daddy had his permanent abode.
Now some were there for stealing, but my daddy's only fault
Was an overwhelming tendency for criminal ault.
His philosophy was simple and quite free of moral taint:
Seduction is for sissies, but a he-man wants his rape.
Daddy's total list of victims was embarrassingly rich,
And one of them was Mother, but he couldn't tell me which.
Well I didn't go to college, but I got me a degree.
I reckon I'm the model of a perfect S.O.B.
I'm a debit to my country but a credit to my Dad,
The most expensive senator the country ever had.
I remember Daddy's warning -- that raping is a crime,
Unless you rape the voters a million at a time.

Chorus:
Oh, our parents forgot to get married,
Oh, our parents forgot to get wed,
Did a wedding bell chime, it was always a time
When our parents were somewhere in bed.
Then all thanks to our kind loving parents,
We are kings in the land of the free.
Your banker, your broker, your Washington joker,
Three prominent bastards are we, tra la,
Three prominent bastards are we!

4.
I'm an ordinary figure in these democratic states,
A pathetic demonstration of hereditary traits.
As the children of the cop possess the flattest kind of feet,
As the daughter of the floozie has a waggle to her seat,
My position at the bottom of society I owe
To the qualities my parents bequeathed me long ago.
My father was a married man and, what is even more,
He was married to my mother -- a fact which I deplore.
I was born in holy wedlock, consequently by and by,
I was rooked by every bastard who had plunder in his eye.
I invested, I deposited, I voted every fall,
And I saved up every penny and the bastards took it all.
At last I've learned my lesson and I'm on the proper track:
I'm a self-appointed bastard and I'M GOING TO GET IT BACK!

Chorus:
Oh, our parents forgot to get married,
Oh, our parents forgot to get wed,
Did a wedding bell chime, it was always a time
When our parents were somewhere in bed.
Then all thanks to our kind loving parents,
We are kings in the land of the free.
Your banker, your broker, your Washington joker,
Three prominent bastards are we, tra la,
Three prominent bastards are we!

Stumble It!

Health Care: The Man Is On FIAH!

Your President Needs YOU

To fight for health care!

Listening to our President addressing Minnesotans in a health care town hall. It's all good, people, it's all fantastic. He's laying it out for the people and they are going WILD! He just announced that the same people in Congress who are yawping about how Medicare will be killed, chilled, spilled, spat on, shat on, are the same people who have been trying to kill Medicare for years.

President Obama reiterated that he was willing to listen to anyone who had workable ideas for health care, regardless of their political affiliation. But, in a new move, he also stated,

"I will not waste time with people who think it's just good politics to kill health care. [...] I'm not going to let people misrepresent what's in my plan. I will not accept the status quo. Not this time. Not now."

He talked about how members of Congress have been fucking around regarding this legislation. He also said that there was agreement about 80 per cent of health care reform. The remaining 20 per cent needs to be nailed down, but he did say we are closer than we have ever been to achieving health care reform.

"This is the hard part. This is when the special interests, the insurance companies, the people who think this is a good way to bring Obama down -- this is when they spread wild rumours."

He talked about "pundits" in Washington who have said, "Maybe you're trying to do too much too soon." Let me guess: those pundits would HAVE health care, yes? He called out those who depict his push for health care reform as "socialism" by pointing out that when FDR introduced Social Security, his enemies called it "socialism" too. He pointed out that senior citizens helped pass Social Security and Medicare, and detailed FDR's struggles with change.



In closing, he said something that I've always strongly felt: Change doesn't come from the top down, it comes from the bottom up. He called on the people of Minneapolis, and of Minnesota, to help him. The crowd greeted him with shouts, cheers, roars, chants, and multiple standing ovations.

Can I just say how sorry I feel for the Secret Service dudes who have to keep him safe? The people love him, everybody wants to touch him or photograph him or shake his hand. And there's something very genuine about Mr. Obama. He seems to really like people, like physical contact with people.

One didn't get that feeling with either of the Bushes. The elder Bush was clearly a patrician New Englander with a genuine physical discomfort around people. He didn't seem to have any empathy with those who didn't belong in his "class." The younger Bush had a completely inappropriate set of behaviours that was downright creepy. He grabbed the Chinese Premier by the sleeve to drag him offstage (the look on Hu's face was priceless. If he'd had the Patented Laser Glare, Georgie would've been fried to a crisp).

Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!

He tried to give a decidedly unwelcome back rub to the German Prime Minister that resulted in a public show of horror on her part. Anyone who's ever been groped by some creepy uncle or child molester will empathize with Ms. Merkel's reaction. He manhandled female athletes in a well-publicized shot.

President Obama comes across very very different. He's openly affectionate to his wife and children. He's reserved and cool in public, yet he seems to like the people he interacts with, genuinely like them. He seems genuinely appreciative of their ideas and opinions, he seems to care about their travails.

ICHC

So he's asking us to step up now and fight for our health care. Are you going to do your bit? All fired up? Ready to go?

It's the fight of our lifetime, people. Unchecked, healthcare costs have long since outstripped wage increases (wages have been stagnant for quite a while); the American consumer has made reductions in spending to deal with the facts of stagnant wages, unsustainable debt, an economy struggling out of recession, financial sector malfeasance, and tightened credit — and those reductions seem to be becoming part of the norm. In other words, don't expect the American consumer to increase spending when this recession is over. In an economy that is largely fueled by the hitherto-profligate spending habits of the American consumer, this is not the best sign. But it is a sign of the times. A sign of the changes that need to be made for a sustainable planet, a sustainable globally interactive economy.

If health care costs (currently between 15 and 20 per cent of GDP) are not contained, they will soon amount to an unsustainable burden on the economy. Very soon. It makes sound fiscal sense to move towards cost containment AND broadly inclusive health care. We pay double what Canadians do for less care. And in an era of global connectivity and climate change, we are at greater risk than ever of epidemics. So do your bit, peeps. For yourself, your friends, your family, your nation, and your world.

Stumble It!

Politics: There's Dawgs

and then there's dawgs.

This here dawg:

IHAH

despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, is a GOOD dawg.

These dawgs, OTOH, are some BAD, bad dawgs.

Remember all those years of Democratic Party congresscritters making backwards bridges of hands and feet to kiss Gee Dumbya's ass? Remember all those years when we cursed and swore at the idiots we had put into Congress who ran as Democrats, then ran FROM Democrats on every issue?

That would be your Blue Dog Democrats, better known as Republicrats or Democraps or Demicans. They keep talking about some mythical "center" to which they owe allegiance while selling all our hopes and dreams down the river, along with their, and our, grandmothers, for a nickel the lot. Fuck me blind, I've had enough of this shit, and if you're sick and tired of so-called Democrats who'd rather have public buttsex with lobbyists and coporathieves than forward the agenda of those who elected them, that is, us - put on your buttkicking boots and get in line. Time for some activism!!

At a time when conservatives of every stripe are thoroughly sick of the betrayal of the conservative movement, at a time when progressives are joining hands with conservatives to protest the wholesale theft and looting of our nation, at a time when Republicans themselves can't run away fast enough from the Party of NoBrains, people like Ben Chandler of Kentucky, Heath Shuler of North Carolina and Kirstin Gillibrand of New York threaten to hold the Democratic Party hostage to their slimy, weaselly ways. These turncoats run as supposed Democrats, hoping to ride our very popular President's coattails to victory, then turn around and do their best to obstruct his agenda at every step.

Thanks to them, we had endless years of frustration, of "do-nothing" congresscritters, of Bush butt-buddies. Enough, we say. People, y'all better find better candidates than your blue dogs to put in power, because they're determined to fuck us all over, and they're gonna start with you.

If you love those ambulatory poops as much as we do, please be sure to let them know. We can't afford to have these weasels in power, mealy-mouthing us into another decade of lobbyists sucking the last drops out of the Taxpayer Trough. Get on them, people.

Here they are, in all their craven glory. Let them hear from you!


Blue Dog Leadership Team

• Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration
  
• Rep. Baron Hill, Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
  
• Rep. Charlie Melancon, Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications
  
• Rep. Joseph "Heath" Shuler, Blue Dog Whip

Foot Soldiers

• Altmire, Jason (PA-04)
  
• Arcuri, Mike (NY-24)
  
• Baca, Joe (CA-43)
  
• Barrow, John (GA-12)
  
• Berry, Robert Marion (AR-01)
  
• Bishop, Sanford (GA-02)
  
• Boren, Dan (OK-02)
  
• Boswell, Leonard (IA-03)
  
• Boyd, Allen (FL-02)
  
• Bright, Bobby (AL-02)
  
• Cardoza, Dennis (CA-18)
  
• Carney, Christopher (PA-10)
  
• Chandler, Ben (KY-06)
  
• Childers, Travis (MS-01)
  
• Cooper, Jim (TN-05)
  
• Costa, Jim (CA-20)
  
• Cuellar, Henry (TX-28)
  
• Davis, Lincoln (TN-04)
  
• Donnelly, Joe (IN-02)
  
• Ellsworth, Brad (IN-08)
  
• Giffords, Gabrielle (AZ-08)
  
• Gordon, Bart (TN-06)
  
• Griffith, Parker (AL-05)
  
• Harman, Jane (CA-36)
  
• Hill, Baron (IN-09)
  
• Holden, Tim (PA-17)
  
• Kratovil, Jr., Frank (MD-01)
  
• McIntyre, Mike (NC-07)
  
• Marshall, Jim (GA-03)
  
• Matheson, Jim (UT-02)
  
• Melancon, Charles (LA-03)
  
• Michaud, Mike (ME-02)
  
• Minnick, Walt (ID-01)
  
• Mitchell, Harry (AZ-05)
  
• Moore, Dennis (KS-03)
  
• Murphy, Patrick (PA-08)
  
• Nye, Glenn (VA-02)
  
• Peterson, Collin (MN-07)
  
• Pomeroy, Earl (ND)
  
• Ross, Mike (AR-04)
  
• Salazar, John (CO-03)
  
• Sanchez, Loretta (CA-47)
  
• Schiff, Adam (CA-29)
  
• Scott, David (GA-13)
  
• Space, Zack (OH-18)
  
• Tanner, John (TN-08)
  
• Taylor, Gene (MS-04)
  
• Thompson, Mike (CA-01)
  
• Wilson, Charles (OH-06)

List compiled by commenter unite4change at HuffPo.

Righteous commenter tsmith1440000 adds:

These "Blue Dogs" (& other Dems) are having a meeting with 44 tonight. This is a critical point in the new administration. They need to be reminded of how they reached these positions. This is a bad time for self-interest. Remind them that it'll be a WORSE time for it come election time. Copy & paste your (ahem) "opinion" to every single one of them. Feel free to use this:
"44 GETS HIS BUDGET OR I VOTE YOU OUT!!"

Stumble It!

Caturday!

ICHC Cattitude Center

Wish I could get into that position, but I'm at 90+ degrees flexion? extension? on the old knee, which isn't too shabby. That's OK, I can still kick ass, and intend to.

Dear nonblogger friend McBlogget, who often lurks to comment, points out that a one-legged ass-kicking would leave me without a leg to stand on, so to speak. Pfft! We can kick ass leg or no leg. Besides, given the number of potential victims who are just begging to get on my butt-booting list, how can I possibly rest now? There'll be riots, I tell you, RIIIIOOTS!!

For example, take the U.S. Army. No, really. The Republicans spent over a decade staining their pants with piss about how no one in the whole Yooniverse was more patriotic than they because they Supported Ahr Troops. What means this, "I support our troops" crap? Does this mean "I support the USAF, no matter what it does"? That if tomorrow our brave soljahs were told to rape your wife and kill your kid and knife your octogenarian nonna in her bed, you would wipe away a tear and press a hand to your heart in support of their actions?

Of course not. What it means is, "We're not those dirty fucking smelly hippies our parents (or their friends) were, and to prove it, we're going to parrot this slogan." That's all. Because you can't support the USAF when that benighted bunch of moneygrubbers in the Pentagon does this to one of their own employees. Sending a sergeant to get his ass shot off and then billing him for the honor is beyond scummy. While the generals and bigass hotshots suck corporate dick by the bucketful, they walk free when the grunts whom they left to mind the store fuck up. Those poor schmoes, already at the bottom of the ladder, are getting shat upon, spat upon, spooged upon, and screwed. All without the benefit of protection or lube. They're promised bonuses which are never handed out; they're promised health care which ends up with the tragic sight of wounded men and women lying in pools of their own piss under moldy walls and leaky roofs; the only thing different between Vietnam and Iraq is, we're not spitting on these sods for doing their jobs.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't question why those motherfuckers at the Pentagon keep sucking up taxpayer money and spitting back the broken bodies of our children. Like John McCain, who turned his back on POWs, attacked, verbally and physically, relatives of MIA servicepeople, and refused to support basic health care and benefits for veterans, everyone on the Hill needs to qualify what exactly they mean by "support the troops," because charging this guy $3 GRAND to fix a leg that got broken because you ballgargling yambags sent him out there to get shot at does not cut it in my book. So bend over and grab your ankles, you pathetic chum-swizzlers, because the ass-kicking's about to begin.

And while we're at it, the Republican schmuck who has the gall to say stuff like this needs to get stuffed. Preferably with a hedgehog (not a live one; we're thinking metal, with tiny sharp needle spikes). For those unwilling to click teh link, teh speaker is one Nasser Kazeminy, Iranian-born douche and beneficiary of our previous meddling in middle-eastern politics. Here he is flapping his gums:

According to the transcript, Thomas was asked, "In that conversation that you had with Mr. Kazeminy, did he tell you, quote, United States senators don't make shit, close quote? Or words to that effect?"

Oh, is that right, Mr. Kazeminy? Guess what? Most Americans don't make shit. Whereas most senators make over $100K p.a. If you think that kinda money is "shit," you need to be stripped of all your assets and most of your clothes and given a little "free" government housing in the East LA projects, or someplace, where you can experience life on a rich diet of Doritos and soda pop.

Feckin eejit.

Enough with the mad already. I'ma gonna sit outside in the sun for a bit and think of what we all can DO to put paid to this sort of crap and move the country, and ourselves, back towards recovery.

It's Caturday! Enjoy your day! Hell, enjoy the whole damn weekend.

Stumble It!

Politics: Your Happy News For Teh Day

Kit Bond — Barely 70 and already looking like a corpse


Boom! Boom! Boom!

Another one bites the dust!

Yeah, it should make you happy. If it don't, there's something wrong witchu.

Missouri Senator Kit Bond announced yesterday that he's not planning to run for reelection. He was singing quite the different tune last year, so his rage of Hunchmen (and Hunchwomen, thanks Frank Zappa!) have been caught sorta kinda flatfooted by the whole thing.

Bond spokeswoman Shana Marchio said she had been "preparing for him to run. We were going full-throttle."

Bwahahahahahaha!

Why, you might ask, am I waxing so lively at this news? Because it would appear that as each day dawns we are moving closer to the goal of a filibuster-proof Senate so that our President, Barack Obama, can implement the goals that will save our jobs, our lives, our homes, and our dignity both at home and abroad:

Bond's decision will force the GOP to launch an expensive and competitive campaign next year to hold onto the Missouri Senate seat, as well as the seat in Florida being vacated by Republican Mel Martinez, who is retiring. Senate Democrats, who need 60 votes to stop Republican filibusters, hold 58 seats and could have 59 if Minnesota upholds Al Franken's recount victory.

And nothing delights me more than knowing that the sleazeball Norm Coleman will soon be gone, the sleazeball Mel Martinez (who passed around the Terri Schiavo memo in Congress) is retiring, and now Senator Kit Bond, the man responsible for passing the Defense Authorization Act which basically killed Posse Comitatus dead, is about to be Gone, Baby, Gone.

How can y'all not erupt in whoops of joy and spontaneous knicker-showing can-can dances on the streets, dayum!

From ICHC, your Premium source of LOLcattery

Stumble It!

2008 Elections: Oh, Looky

Oh, my. Digg buddy and detail-oriented researcher Jennifer posted this partial list of lobbyists associated with McStain's campaign today:

When cable news shows air footage of McCain railing against greedy execs and the lobbyists who rig the rules for the benefit of Wall Street dealmakers, there ought to be a crawl beneath him listing these lobbyists. (Talk about a fair and balanced presentation.) Short of that, here's the list of the McCain aides and bundlers who have worked for the high-finance greed-mongers McCain has pledged to take on. So far, it seems, none of them have been cast out of the campaign. If McCain were serious about his outrage, he might throw these money-changers out of his own temple:

• Phil Anderson: American Council of Life Insurers, Aetna, AIG, New York Life, MassMutual, VISA
  
  
• Rebecca Anderson: Aegon, American Council of Life Insurers, Cigna, Barclays, Credit Suisse First Boston, HSBC
  
  
• Stanton Anderson: The Debt Exchange
  
  
• David Beightol: Allstate, Amerigroup, Charles Schwab, HSBC
  
  
• Rhonda Bentz: VISA
  
  
• Wayne Berman: American Council of Life Insurers, AIG, Americhoice, Shinsei Bank, Blackstone, Carlyle Group, Broidy Capital Management, Credit Suisse Securities, Highstar Capital, VISA, Ameriquest Mortgage, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Fitch Ratings
  
  
• Charlie Black: JP Morgan, Washington Mutual Bank, Freddie Mac, Mortgage Bankers Association of America, National Association of Mortgage Brokers
  
  
• Judy Black: Colorado Credit Union League, Genworth Financial, Bay Harbour Management, Merrill Lynch
  
  
• Kirk Blalock: Credit Union National Association, Financial Executives International, American Insurance Association, Mutual of Omaha, Zurich Financial Service Group, Fannie Mae, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco
  
  
• Carlos Bonilla: Financial Services Roundtable, Freddie Mac
  
  
• Christine Burgeson: Citigroup
  
  
• Mark Buse: Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs, Manufacturers Life Insurance Company
  
  
• Nicholas Calio: Citigroup, Managed Fund Association, Fannie Mae, Merrill Lynch, The Investment Company Institute, TIAA-CRE, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association
  
  
• Ben Nighthorse Campbell: Amscot Financial Corporation, Community Financial Services Association, Fidelity National Financial
  
  
• Andrew Cantor: American Insurance Association, Merrill Lynch
  
  
• Alberto Cardenas: Fannie Mae
  
  
• James Courter: Goldman Sachs, Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, Investment Company Institute, Merrill Lynch
  
  
• David Crane: Financial Services Roundtable, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG, Ernst & Young, Bank of America, Association of Corporate Credit Unions, Freddie Mac
  
  
• Dan Crippen: Merrill Lynch, National Multi-Housing Council
  
  
• Arthur Culvahouse: Fannie Mae
  
  
• Bryan Cunningham: Arch Capital Group
  
  
• Alfonse D'Amato: AIG, Freddie Mac
  
  
• Doug Davenport: Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, Goldman Sachs, VISA
  
  
• Ashley Davis: Prudential Financial, American Financial Group, American Premier Underwriters, Great American Insurance Company
  
  
• Mimi Dawson: MassMutual
  
  
• Melissa Edwards: Freddie Mac, National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, Access to Capital Coalition
  
  
• Chris Fidler: American Bankers Association, Milcom Venture Partners, National Association Real Estate Investment Trusts
  
  
• Samuel Geduldig: American Bankers Association, American Institute of CPAs, America Gains, Berkshire Hathaway, Consumer Bankers Association, Ernst & Young, Financial Services Roundtable, Investment Company Institute, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Prudential Financial, Sovereign Investment Council, Fidelity Investments, FMR Corp.
  
  
• Benjamin Ginsberg: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, AIG Technical Services
  
  
• David Girard-Dicarlo: American Financial Group, American Premier Underwriters
  
  
• Juleanna Glover Weiss: RJI Capital, American Institute of CPAs, BNP Paribas, Ernst & Young, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
  
  
• Slade Gorton: Allstate Insurance, Hannan Armstrong Capital
  
  
• Phil Gramm: UBS Americas
  
  
• John Green: Laredo National Bank, Alternative Investment Management Association, AIG, Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, Citigroup, Credit Suisse Group, Fannie Mae, Icahn Associates, FMR Corp., AFLAC, VISA
  
  
• Janet Grissom: American Institute of CPAs, NYSE, Merrill Lynch
  
  
• Kristen Gullott: San Diego Credit Union
  
  
• Kent Hance: Stanford Financial Group, Municipal Capital Markets Group, Inc.
  
  
• Vicki Hart: American Financial Services Association, Citigroup, Investment Company Institute, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, New York Stock Exchange, VISA, Carlyle Group, Credit Suisse, Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, Goldman Sachs, National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, Stanford Group, Lloyd's of London, National City Corp.
  
  
• Richard Hohlt: Capmark Financial Group, Fannie Mae, JP Morgan Chase and Co., Student Loan Marketing Association, Washington Mutual, Guaranty Bank & Trust, Peachtree Settlement Funding, Dime Savings Bank of New York
  
  
• Gaylord Hughey: Heartland Security Insurance Group
  
  
• Kate Hull: Credit Union National Association, Fannie Mae, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, Zurich Financial Services, American Insurance Association, Financial Executives International
  
  
• James Hyland: American Insurance Association, Seattle Home Loan Bank, Self Help Credit Union, National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, Merrill Lynch, Mortgage Investors Corp., Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, Freddie Mac, New York Stock Exchange, Citigroup, VISA
  
  
• Aleix Jarvis: Credit Union National Association, Fannie Mae, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, Financial Executives International, Mutual of Omaha, American Insurance Association, Zurich Financial Services
  
  
• Greg Jenner: American Council of Life Insurers, JG Wentworth, UBS, VISA, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
  
  
• Frank Keating: Former Gov. OK. Former Asst. AG, American Council of Life Insurers
  
  
• Steven Kuykendall: California Bankers Association
  
  
• William Lesher: Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Commerce Ventures, Rabobank International
  
  
• Thomas Loeffler: Citigroup, Fannie Mae, Investment Company Institute, World Savings and Loan Association, United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
  
  
• Kelly Lugar: RJI Capital Strategies
  
  
• Peter Madigan: Arthur Andersen, Bank of New York, Broadridge Securities Processing, Charles Schwab, Deloitte and Touche, Goldman Sachs, International Employee Stock Option Coalition, Mastercard, NYSE, Fannie Mae, Merrill Lynch, PNC Bank
  
  
• Mary Mann: MassMutual
  
  
• Paul Martino: Morgan Stanley, Baker Tilly
  
  
• Jana McKeag: Venture Catalyst
  
  
• Alison McSlarrow: Fannie Mae, Hartford
  
  
• Mike Meece: Georgetown Partners
  
  
• David Metzner: Ernst & Young, Harbinger Capital Investments, Prudential, Public Financial Management, Western Union
  
  
• Susan Molinari: Freddie Mac, American Land Title Association, Association of Consumer Credit Unions, Beacon Capital Partners, College Loan Corp, Coventry First, E-Trade, Financial Services Roundtable, Rent-A-Center
  
  
• John Moran: Cerberus Capital Management, American Council of Life Insurers, Accenture
  
  
• John Napier: Freddie Mac
  
  
• Susan Nelson: AIG, San Antonio Credit Union
  
  
• Paul Otellini: Ernst & Young, Financial Services Forum
  
  
  
  
• Steve Perry: Charles Schwab, Hoover Partners, HSBC, National Stock Exchange
  
  
• Nancy Pfotenhauer: American Land Title Association, Mortgage Bankers Association
  
  
• Elise Pickering-Finley: Credit Suisse, DE Shaw, Hartford Financial Services, Research In Motion, Retail Industry Lenders Association, URL Mutual
  
  
• James Pitts: Advanced Association for Life Underwriting, AETNA, American Council of Life Insurers, AIG, Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, Debt Advisory International, Financial Services Coordinating Council, GE Financial Assurance, Hartford Life, Jefferson Pilot Financial, Kenwood Investments, MassMutual, Mutual of Omaha, New York Life, UNUM Provident, VISA, PMI Group
  
  
• Tim Powers: AP Capital, Genworth Financial, Retail Industry Lenders Association, E-LOAN, General Electric Mortgage Insurance
  
  
• Walter Price: Wachovia
  
  
• Sloan Rappoport: Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. (FBR), Trafelet Delta Funds
  
  
• Hans Rickhoff: Capital One, Investment Company Institute, United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
  
  
• Kathleen Shanahan: New York Stock Exchange
  
  
• Andrew Shore: Accenture, Retail Industry Lenders Association, Barclays, Bond Market Association, Credit Suisse, TPG Capital
  
  
• Katie Stahl: Alliance for Investment Transparency, Ares Management, Fairfax Financial Holdings, Uhlmann Financial Group
  
  
• Milly Stanges: TIAA-CREF
  
  
• Aquiles Suarez: Fannie Mae
  
  
• Don Sundquist: Freddie Mac, The Hartford
  
  
• Peter Terpeluk: JP Morgan Chase, Ernst & Young, Prudential
  
  
• Fred Thompson: Equitas
  
  
• Jeri Thompson: American Insurance Association
  
  
• John Timmons: National Association of Federal Credit Unions
  
  
• William Timmons Sr.: American Council of Life Insurers, Citigroup, Dun & Bradstreet, Freddie Mac, Vanguard Group
  
  
• Vin Weber: Agstar Financial Services, AKT Investment Corp., American Institute of CPAs, Ernst & Young, Freddie Mac, Louis Dreyfus Corp, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
  
  
• Jeffery Weiss: JP Morgan
  
  
• Tony Williams: Russell Investment Group, American Life Inc., Northwestern Mutual

Quite a list, eh? And look at the huge number of banks and insurance companies that are represented here. Worse yet, count the number of lobbyists representing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

John McCain. Bringing change to Washington. Whatever change is left in your pockets after he and his lobbyist pals shake you down.

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2008 Elections: Crossing The Line

There's plenty of reason for Democrats, Independents, and many Republicans not to like Sarah Palin. She's greedy, ambitious, unprincipled, a liar, ignorant, uneducated, incapable, unethical, and too limited to realize her limitations. This does not mean she is stupid. Like Gee Dumbya, she has a certain shrewd cunning that allows her to manipulate those around her quite well. This makes her a dangerous person, because her ignorance and her inability to realize the depths of her ignorance tend to predispose the less-ignorant into underestimating her ability and willingness to go for the throat and cling on until the kill. This woman has no principles. She recognizes no limitations. Decency, morals, ethics, the greater good, all these are concepts with which she has a very limited acquaintance.

In case you need an example to convince you of the truth of the preceding, consider this:

Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

[...] Palin, speaking to a sea of "Palin Power" and "Sarahcuda" T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. "One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," she said. ("Boooo!" said the crowd.) "And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,' " she continued. ("Boooo!" the crowd repeated.)

"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.

Whipping up the frenzy of misinformed and frustrated, angry people is not a wise tactic. What happens if one of these bozos (and we have bozos aplenty, in this country) decides to pick up a gun and start killing people? Is the Secret Service paying attention to Palin's people? They'd better be. She is calling for murder.

ICHC

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World: What Really Happened In South Ossetia? Part II

We closed the first part of this lengthy post on the situation in South Ossetia with the denunciation of Mikheil Saakashvili. We didn't give a list of reasons why we thought Saakashvili was worthy of such denunciation. We will do so right after including this comment from allencharles, who said, in response to Part I:

Some history of the area needs to be presented to if my comment is to be understood.

The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast was established in 1922 by the U.S.S.R. and remained a part of the U.S.S.R. inside Georgia until it (presumably the USSR) failed. The new Georgian government declared their (the South Ossetian) government as illegal and took away the freedoms the Ossetians had lived under since 1922. They Ossetians refused to accept the loss of their local government and have been in rebellion until the present. Over 90 percent of the Ossetians are duel citizens of both Georgia and Russia. One way of understanding their local government would be to compare an American Indian Nation and the US Government.

When the army of Georgia decided to attack and kill every Ossetian the Russian’s moved in to stop it. THEY HAD ALREADY KILLED 1,400 Ossetians. This has been confirmed by multiple news sources. We refer you to Teh Google.

This is where we find the situation today. When the Serbs attempted to wipe out the Arimeans in Kosvo, America did exactly the same thing to stop them and we bombed Serbia.

You can think for yourselves as to whether or not Bush is in order with his comments to Russia.

The people of Kosvo were not American citizens yet we felt a moral duty to protect them. If 1,400 American Citizens had been murdered just south of our boarder what to you think we would have done?

Well, I think we showed exactly what we would have done when Reagan sent the army to the tiny nation of Grenada simply because there were students with American nationality in that nation when they had their revolution. Of course, it was an excuse to wipe out the progressive movement there, even though no Americans were actually harmed. We notice that Bush isn't rattling quite so many sabers at China despite the recent murder of an American citizen there. Our guess is, it's easier to conduct "regime change" on small, poorly armed countries than on some people who outnumber you four times AND to whom you owe a ton of money for financing your last war.

But, to continue. Essentially, South Ossetia has been autonomous since the 1920s. When Georgia attempted to take over, the South Ossetians resisted and have continued resisting to the present. In the 1990s, South Ossetia expelled the Georgian army from its territory, but Saakashvili and the Georgian government have refused to recognize South Ossetia's claims to autonomy and continue to treat the region as part of Georgia, despite the South Ossetians' lengthy history as a separate ethnic and linguistic group. Dr. Gerard Toal, professor of Government and International Affairs at Virginia Tech's Washington, D.C., campus offers a nuanced look at the situation in an article at The Irish Times.

In 2002, U.S. military advisors were seconded to Georgia, where they have purportedly been training the Georgian military in the "war against terror," which is starting to look markedly like an excuse for global hegemony. One which, it hardly need be pointed out, is untenably expensive for American taxpayers and the U.S. military, which is currently fighting a "war" on two fronts — Iraq and Afghanistan. All pretense of finding Usama bin Laden or the perpetrators of the 2001 attack on U.S. soil has long since been abandoned.

Wikipedia tells us that in 2006, a second referendum on the autonomy of South Ossetia was held, the first (in 1992) having been deemed invalid by other nations.

According to the Tskhinvali election authorities, the referendum turned out a majority for independence from Georgia where 99% of South Ossetian voters supported independence and the turnout for the vote was 95% and the referendum was monitored by a team of 34 international observers from Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden and other countries at 78 polling stations. However, it was not recognized internationally by the UN, European Union, OSCE, NATO and the Russian Federation, given the lack of ethnic Georgian participation and the legality of such referendum without recognition from the central government in Tbilisi.

Once again, the South Ossetians were not recognized as having a right to autonomy and sovereignty, even though the inhabitants of the tiny enclave of Kosovo within Serbia were granted such autonomy. This is sheer hypocrisy.

The following year (2007), the Georgian government appeared to lend greater credence to South Ossetia's claims of autonomy. Essentially, the region of South Ossetia had, by this time, been behaving as an autonomous state for over 15 years (since the referendum of 1992 and the Dagomys ceasefire agreement of that year) if not longer (since the 1920s).

In the intervening years, Saakashvili, an American-educated Georgian, had been cultivating American neocons and was getting particularly cosy with that spectacular human failure, George "Dumbya" Bush, who hailed him as a "liberator" — sort of like the Iraqis did with us — in this particularly ironic speech, delivered in Tsibili:

Georgia is "building a democratic society where the rights of minorities are respected; where a free press flourishes; where a vigorous opposition is welcomed and where unity is achieved through peace," he said.

Saakashvili, whom honest taxpaying Americans might term "a kiss-ass," showed his gratitude with this particular lickspittlery:

Saakashvili praised Bush as a "decisive and visionary leader," [...]

Oh, indeedy. The only way you could refer to Jor Jee as visionary is if you were describing what he sees in his drunken or drugged stupors. But we digress.

In the meantime, the blessed recipients of the freedom and liberty promised by Saakashvili had found that they were enjoying precious little of either. As is the wont of free and liberated citizens of democratic societies, they took to the streets in peaceful protest — much like the Rose Revolution that brought Saakashvili to power. Imagine their surprise when the democratic liberator of Georgia, instead of welcoming their "vigorous opposition," proceeded to turn riot police with rubber bullets, hoses, tear gas, and water cannons on them. He added insult to injury by imposing a 15-day state of emergency in which Interior Ministry troops armed with truncheons patrolled the streets. He suspended news services and banned all demonstrations.

Remarkably democratic, ain't it? Some 500 were injured, approximately 100 of them seriously enough to require hospitalization, and many were jailed and tortured.

Saakashvili's popularity was on the wane. In response to pressure from opposition forces, he held snap elections in January of this year (2008) and won with a mere 52 per cent of the vote — a significant come-down from his first election, which he won with nearly 96 per cent. Meanwhile, Saakashvili is doing his best to get Georgia into the EU and NATO. The Europeans have been relatively cool to the idea, but American neocons, who have tricked American citizens into foolish and costly wars repeatedly, have no such compunctions.

Saakashvili's machinations behind the scenes aside, the little dictator is in a dangerous position. He is trying to draw the U.S. and Europe into a war with Russia — a war which no one will win. Vladimir Putin is an ex-KGB man and nobody's fool. And unfortunately, the U.S. is currently in the hands of the biggest fool to ever walk the planet. Now we come to the events of this week.

Saakashvili concluded a ceasefire agreement, that included Russian-mediated negotiations, with South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity on Thursday, August 7th 2008.

At 2200 hours (South Ossetian time) on that same day, as the rest of the world was preparing to watch the Olympic games, Georgia invaded South Ossetia in a surprise attack. These allegations are made by South Ossetians and have been confirmed by no less an authority than Aunty Beeb. Georgian tanks were soon rolling into South Ossetia's capital, Tskhinvali. For the next day and night, the Georgian military attacked South Ossetia, bombing, shelling, destroying houses, targeting hospitals, and indiscriminately killing civilians. The current estimate is that between 1,400 and 2,000 civilians were killed. The Mail reports that 30,000 fled the city of Tskhinvali, looking for refuge in Russian North Ossetia. Georgian authorities were making statements such as this:

The Georgian Minister for Integration, Temur Yakobashvili, said Georgia's aim was not to take over the territory but to finish "a criminal regime".

[...]

In a televised address, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili earlier called for the bloodshed to end, but also warned the Russian-backed separatists not to try Tbilisi's patience.

This can only be deemed provocative. A criminal regime? To be finished? Is he referring to Kokoity, who his fellow South Ossetians consider their leader? Tiny Georgia warning the Russian bear not to try their patience?

On Friday, 8th August 2008, Russia requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. It offered an immediate halt to violence in South Ossetia on the condition that both parties renounce the use of armed force. Mark Ames, writing in The Nation, says that Saakashvili refused to renounce armed force. Al Jazeera confirms this. Meanwhile, Georgian military forces continued to bomb civilian targets and reduce buildings to rubble. All the while, Saakashvili, in a display of hubris heretofore unequaled, continued to rail at the Russians and the South Ossetians. Russian response was swift and merciless.


Later that same day, Russian planes and tanks entered South Ossetia, sweeping the terrified Georgian army before them and halting the indiscriminate attempts at genocide by Georgian forces. The Georgian military abandoned the town of Gori, birthplace of Georgia's most famous son Josef Stalin, without firing a single shot.

By Sunday, August 10th, Russian troops having cleared South Ossetia of the Georgian military presence then proceeded to cut roads and bomb a military airfield in Georgian territory, although the Georgians claim they also hit the airport in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia. Russian warships had also deployed to the coast of the Black Sea, where the Georgians claimed they were blockading food and fuel supplies. The Russians replied that they were not interested in a blockade but had a right to search all ships in the region.

Saakashvili then proclaimed a unilateral ceasefire and urged the Russians to respect this. Meanwhile, Georgian military forces continued to attack civilian populations in South Ossetia. Russia pointed this fact out in refusing to accept the ceasefire. Meanwhile, Georgian troops were advancing on Abkhazia. Russia warned Georgia to pull back and when Georgia failed to do so, advanced deep into Georgian territory from the Abkhazian side of the border after first evicting any remaining Georgian military from Abkhazia (which has its own long-running dispute with Georgia about autonomy; many Abkhazians hold Russian citizenship).

European diplomats have met with Saakashvili in Tbilisi — which does sort of put the lie to Saakashvili's claims that the Russians are bombing Tbilisi, doesn't it? — to persuade him to sign a ceasefire agreement.

Presently, the situation stands like this. Nicolas Sarkozy of France has met with Dmitry Medvedev of Russia to discuss the ceasefire. Medvedev has announced the end of Russian operations in the region. Georgia has yet to respond. A final settlement discussion is expected to occur soon.

There are rumours that Russian peacekeepers were killed by Israeli troops operating on Georgian soil. However, Ha'aretz is reporting that all Israeli security personnel who were training Georgian troops left before the war took place.

A retired senior Israeli officer who recently trained troops in Georgia said yesterday he was surprised that the Georgians faced off against Russia, since they have a much smaller army.

"They got into an adventure that I wouldn't have chosen to get into, based on the level of professionalism I saw in my visits to the Georgian army," the officer said. "Who knows where this will end."

Wherever it ends, it will NOT be good for Georgia and that idiot Saakashvili, may camels urinate on his parents' graves. Perhaps now the Georgian public will finally succeed in ridding itself of this nationalistic, tyrannical, expansionist loon.

As our regular visitors and friends know, we are anti-war. However, in this world, war is the nature of the beast we call human. We also believe in calling a thug a thug. Saakashvili is a thug. This does not make Putin or Medvedev saints in comparison. Only thugs get to power because only thugs want it badly enough to engage in thuggery for it. Poets, visionaries, and humanitarians rarely hold on to power long, even when it is thrust upon them — or else they too, turn into thugs.

Ultimately, we believe in pragmatism. Tiny little countries living on the edge of big nasty countries need to be very careful not to provoke their big nasty neighbours. Because it is not the thugs who suffer. It is the poor civilians, the women, the children, the aged, infirm, and disabled. They have no way to protect themselves, much less the strength to do so. It is immoral and wrong for thugs to win power at the expense of the suffering masses. It is cruel and depraved to force these most helpless of people to bear the cost of the thugs' desire for power.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Russia responded with force to Saakashvili's provocative acts. Georgia is a desperately poor nation, although Saakashvili is making Western investors happy by permitting a pipeline carrying oil out of BP's leased fields for European consumption, and instituting economic measures that penalize the poor and needy in favour of the rich and greedy.

The United Nations is distributing food to the victims of this engineered humanitarian crisis; Russia is setting aside funds for South Ossetia; and World Vision is working to help refugees in Tbilisi.

Part III of this lengthy post will analyze the possible reasons for this war.

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2008 Elections: More Entertainment!

Dogtown Ink invites you to celebrate such wonky concepts as ... tax cuts!



But they do it so well. Warning: Lots of Paris Hilton's naughty bits so probably NSFW!

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Politics: Entertainment!

More entertainment for the politically-inclined masses:



Good work, kudos to the creator! Bit gross in parts, though, so be warned.

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Environment: China Drilling Off The Coast

If we have to listen to this bullshit one more time, we're going to scream.

Hello, people? You know the Republicans lie about everything, right? They lied about the war, they lied about WMD, they lied about 9/11, they lied about the Clintons, they lied about their own compassion, they lied about military casualties. So why do you believe them when they tell you that China is drilling off the coast of Cuba?

Because that is NOT HAPPENING, people. No, no, a thousand times no. Dick Cheney, the father of all lies (in his other incarnation as Satan) started this particular lie. Think about all the times over the past five years this moronic monster has told you that the Iraqi "insurgents are in the last throes" of their insurgency. How many times was it true? Once? Even once?

Nope. Not even once.

Now, it's true that China has signed some deals with Cuba allowing it to explore Cuban LAND for evidence of oil that might, ultimately, be worth drilling for. But for Dick "DICK" Vampiris to use the Yellow Peril Red Menace Energy Scare to rally the troops is the usual substitution of sound bite and immediate return that will make him and his minions rich while you (the whole nation) pay the cost and continue to bleed dry. Dickie and his minions are hoping to scare us into saying, "Yes! Let's drill the whole country for oil!"

Incidentally, Florida's Republican Senator Mel Martinez refuted Dick on the alleged Chinese offshore drilling.

So let's look at the idea that drilling for oil in the U.S. will help the American consumer, shall we?

First off, who profits from higher oil prices? Oh, let's see, Halliburton maybe? Remember Halliburton? Unca Dick's former bosses? Who have been mysteriously winning no-bid contracts by the fistful ever since Unca Dick became President, er Vice?

From citizen x's fine blog, hitherto undiscovered

That's OK, you say. America is a capitalist nation, not socialist. We want our businessmen to make profits. Good, good. So consider this. If we open up our coastlands and shorelines for the oil companies to drill in &mdash where is the guarantee that oil will be sold to the U.S. consumer? After all, these companies must make a profit. Japan and China and India have money. Lots of money. They can afford to pay more for the oil than we can. Now put yourself in the businessman's position. You just drilled up a whole bunch of oil, and that cost you money in equipment, wages, taxes, leases, whatever. Along come the Chinese and say, "Hey, we'll pay you $150 a barrel for some of that sweet light crude."

American consumers are screaming about having to pay $140. You gotta make a profit, right? Are you gonna sell that oil to those goddamned screaming Americans? Or to the nice Chinese who will put cash on the nail? Do you really need to think about that for more than two seconds? Because if you do, please don't quit your job and go into business.

Now, let's pretend there are no Chinese wanting the oil more than Americans. Let's pretend we have all the money we used to have and we're the richest and we can somehow force those businessmen to sell whatever they manage to get out of our coastal waters. How long will it take before the first barrel appears? You're screaming about the price of oil, better get yourself some throat lozenges, because you'll be screaming for at least another FOUR YEARS before the oil companies can even begin to explore, says the Seattle Times.

See, drilling for oil is not like buying stuff from the store. When you want something &mdash throat lozenges, say &mdash you climb into the car and drive to the store, or get on your bicycle and bike to the store, or walk to the store. And you look for the thing you want on the shelf. You whip out your wallet, hand the money and the product to the clerk at the register, and whammo, scalammo, you're done. Right away, you got an ample supply of lozenges to soothe your screaming throat with.

Drilling for oil, that's a bit harder. See, you need specialized equipment. Like these deep-sea drill rigs. And, guess what? Every single goddamned fucking drill rig in the whole wide world is booked solid for the next five years. They can't even START drilling for your oil till they finish all those other booked contracts.


No probs, you say, let's build some more! Well, the U.S. isn't in the business of shipbuilding and shiprepair any more. All those jobs got outsourced (remember Bethlehem Shipbuilding?) to Asia and Europe in the 1970s. It requires specialized technology and equipment and skillsets to build ships. Little Johnny who just finished high school would need a couple years' worth of training before he could even start to work on one of those monsters.

A single deep-sea rig costs approximately half a billion (that's BILLION) dollars to build. They used to cost less, but hey, yaknow, shipbuilders are businessmen too, when they saw that the oil companies were making record profits, they decided they needed to make more too, so they raised their prices. A single day's worth of drill rig operations costs a little over half a million. Those businessmen need to make their money back too, yaknow.

Shipbuilders are working overtime to build more vessels, but even those vessels have already been booked, for up to four years. And they're not even completed yet. So don't let these filthy crooks rip you off yet again, America. We're in the shit here, y'all better grab yourselves a paddle and start paddling like crazy. The shore's a long ways off.

Nope, we're all gonna have to learn to make do with less. Use public transportation more, cut down on driving, move back to the city from the suburbs, buy bicycles. Because even after all those years, even if we start drilling in 2012 when we finally get our mitts on some drill rigs, guess what? The U.S. government estimates that there are 30 billion barrels of oil in the ANWR and off the coast of the U.S. All told. Total.

The U.S. government also shows that Americans use 20 million barrels of oil PER DAY. So after all that waiting and suffering, we're gonna use it up in three years. Assuming, of course, that the oilmen bother to sell it to us at all.

Don't even ask about Brazil. Yeah, they found the oil, but they don't have the equipment to retrieve it either.

And another thing: Thanks to the Bush Misadministration's disastrous mishandling of Hurricane Katrina, refinery capacity dropped precipitously (from 111% to 103%, says the Asia Times). It takes a little over three years to get a refinery built and operational. Since the RubberStamp Republican Congress of Tom Delay and Denny Hastert were busy colluding with lobbyists to bleed the Treasury dry, it wasn't until after the Democrats won the elections of 2006 that Congress passed laws to assist in building refinery capacity. So the first increases in refinery capacity should occur sometime between 2010 and 2011.

With refinery capacity running at 103 or 104% in the meantime, any combination of unfortuitous circumstances &mdash natural disasters, wars, maintenance downtime, blockage of shipping channels &mdash could cause the price of oil to spiral higher.

Not that Dick "Dick" is complaining, since every dollar increase in the price of oil represents a few more pennies in his bank account.

Meanwhile, idiots like Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois continue to lie about the Chinese drilling off the coast of Florida and offer to shoot Obama on sight.

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2008 Elections: They Deserve Each Other

Rude Ghouliani has just announced to the desperate Republicans (imagine that, they're having trouble raising money! Broken economy don't sound so good now, does it, boys?) that he'll help them out with fundraising if he gets to keep a cut. Caveat: That link is to the NYT, so you'll need to log in.

Isn't that just special? See, Rude-y apparently has $3.6 million in campaign debt. That includes half a mil that he lent to his campaign out of his own pocket. The greedy schlub wants it all back.

Hey, Rudesby! You're a millionaire, you asshole. You can write off some of that debt.

Mr. Giuliani’s move has irritated some of his Republican colleagues, who say that the arrangement would put an additional strain on candidates who in many cases are struggling to raise money. Some say rather than making a generous gesture, the former mayor is seeking to tap local candidates’ donors.

[...]

The fact that Mr. Giuliani — who had an estimated net worth of at least $30 million in 2006, according to financial disclosure forms filed last year — has loaned his campaign money gives the fund-raising a particular urgency. [...] if any portion of a personal loan to a campaign is unpaid by the end of an election cycle, the maximum amount that can be repaid with money raised after that is $250,000, according to Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the Federal Election Commission.

That means that Mr. Giuliani could have to forgive all or part of his $500,000 loan if he does not raise the funds to pay it back before September, when Senator John McCain is formally chosen as the Republican presidential nominee, officially ending the primary elections.

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, this is too rich. So you think he's trying to siphon off a little of that cash that his Republican fellow-travelers' intended marks so generously throw around? (wipes eyes) Oh, Rudesby, Rudesby, who'd'a thunk it of ya?

Maru has a nice, multi-part lineup of other Republicans in the news for similar, um, shenanigans.

Geeze, we're not even going to try to do our usual "What the fuck is wrong with these people?" schtick.

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Best Lines

Heard around teh InnerTubes (thanks, Ted Stevens!):

TiffanyBannedHussein: Has anyone heard if the gas tax holiday was still a go? Neither Hillary nor McCain have spoken about it for weeks.

I am starting to think it was just a gimmick.

New Marcospinelli:

LOL!

If I had a blog, that would go under "Best Lines Heard Around The Nets".

Thank you, TiffanyBannedHussein and New Marcospinelli, and, of course, The Huffington Post.

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Our Money Flows Into War Effort While Country Goes Down the Tubes

SEVERE ALERT: Our country's resources are severely low.


[Thanks to Harry Shearer who alerted us about this today on Le Show, Shearer's wonderful radio program. Go here to find out more. Shearer talks about news that we don't ordinarily hear about. I really find out a lot from him. Plus, he's very funny.]

Most parents I know try to teach their kids about consequences: If you do such and such, what do you think might happen?

How do we teach our leaders about consequences? They all seem to be oblivious. If you start a war, you will end up spending lots of money. Is that where you really want to be putting your money?

My belief is that this war is just transferring money from our pockets into our leaders' pockets. They're smirking all the way to their Swiss bank accounts.

And we live with the consequences.

Here are today's examples.

-- Toxic fumes in the Yosemite Wawona tunnel. The electrical system is outdated and the fans in the tunnel aren't working correctly -- they need to be replaced. The toxic fumes could become so bad at the height of tourism in the summer that it could cause a fire in the tunnel. Were you planning to travel to Yosemite this summer? Probably not because you can't afford the gas.
-- Thirteen schools run by the Dept. of Interior for Native American school children were found to have shoddy conditions.
-- Nearly 60 dams managed by the Dept. of Interior are at *HIGH* risk of breaking or overflowing. (I guess that would be ORANGE in Homeland Security parlance.) As Harry Shearer said: "Well, they can always call on the Army Corps of Engineers." He's broadcasting from New Orleans these days.
-- Near Jackson, Wyoming there is a condemned fish hatchery where Interior employees themselves worked in peril until last year. The building had been closed to the public since 2000 because of dangerous structural flaws, but employees continued to use some of the facility to restock endangered trout.
-- Yellowstone National Park water systems are significantly deteriorating and the now-closed Dinosaur National Monument was "literally falling apart" atop shifting soil in Colorado, putting irreplaceable fossils at risk.
-- At Grand Teton National Park, an office headquarters building located on an earthquake fault is not built to seismic codes. A maintenance building there is plagued by unhealthy conditions and has needed repair for at least 10 years, but won't be fixed for another six.

Could it be that there is no money to fix these problems? All the money flowing from us to ... war efforts ... to war profiteers?

Can't afford to travel to a foreign land for holidays? Were you planning to visit one of our natural treasures? Better do some research on it before you go. Make sure it's safe for your family to be there.

Are you surprised to learn that Deputy Assistant Secretary Paul Hoffman, a former congressional aide to Vice President Cheney, had been the most senior agency official in charge of safety at the Dept. of the Interior?

Want to read about the audit report that uncovered all these problems at the Dept. of Interior? Go here.

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