Don't forget the Republican debate tonight, 8pm on Fox News. I'll be looking for a question to Rick Perry for his comments on how the State of Georgia just executed an innocent man.....listen for the cheers.....
And watch Elizabeth Warren....#4....
1/ On Tuesday the Ron Suskind book "Confidence Men" came out with details of the Obama White House, warts and all. Frank Rich [my favourite journalist] had an advance copy of this opus and talks about it with Adam Moss.
Overall the book has details of the events of the last three years, and frankly doesn't show the President in a very good light. One revelation which has already been widely reported is Geithner ignoring an order from the President to break up Citigroup in the midst of the crisis in 2009.
This book will be required reading for political junkies....
I found the book a surprisingly satisfying read — even as it left me in a depressed haze. You? Would you recommend the book?
F: Absolutely. It's the most ambitious treatment of this period yet because Suskind integrates the White House story with the Wall Street story, giving them equal weight rather than downsizing one to serve as the backdrop to the other. He is truly after the big picture, not just the petty stuff. He has no agenda of his own that I can detect, he had enormous cooperation from the White House, and he names sources (and avoids blind quotes) far more than the norm for a book of this Woodward genre. And even for someone like me, who's read most of the overlapping books and reported on some of this myself, there are new revelations and details. A depressing book yes, but savvy and informative. And some of that depression will be temporarily alleviated by the doubtlessly entertaining circular firing squad that is likely to emerge in the next week once Summers, Geithner, Warren, Emanuel, Rubin, Volcker, Orszag, Rouse, Barney Frank (who does not fare well), and perhaps the president get their hands on it.
2/ This article which came out yesterday is typical of the early buzz on the Suskind book.....note Michael Tomasky has not read the book yet, but still sharpens the knives for Obama. Wait till Fox gets hold of the book......but then it's got big words in it and no pictures, so they won't be able to get through it for weeks.....
A new account of Obama’s White House alleges that the president’s staff ignored his orders—and got away with it. Michael Tomasky on Obama’s failed leadership, and how he can fix it.
This is just about the right time, according to recent history, for the appearance of inside-the-White-House accounts that show the president in an other-than-flattering light. For the first couple of years, while insiders are still trying to advance and curry favor, background quotes in such articles and books tend to show the POTUS as resolute, thinking of the big picture while those around him pursue their narrow agendas, and doing all those admirable things Kipling once advised.
By now, the ship is leaking, figuratively and literally. While news stories about Ron Suskind’s new book Confidence Men have emphasized Tim Geithner’s supposed betrayal of Barack Obama on the question of winding down Citigroup, we should all be more interested in what the book tells us about Obama. The early accounts suggest that we should worry what he’s learned in the job so far.
I should note that I haven’t read the book and will purchase it on the same schedule as regular mortals. I guess I should note also that I’m on record as taking Suskind at his word in such matters. In early 2004, when Suskind and Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill produced The Price of Loyalty, I reviewed it for The New York Times and found it persuasive.That book was the first to confirm what everyone knew anyway: that the Bush White House was run according to politics, not policy. Confidence Men also confirms what we knew about Obama’s White House: that the president appointed the wrong economic team from the start, failed to crack down on the banks, and was Solomonic to a fault when formulating responses to the financial crisis (oh, and news flash: Larry Summers is hard to work with!).
3/ Funny Jon Stewart piece where he takes up the case of the poor victims of Obama's quest for more taxes - our millionaires....awwww.....
Good one....
This week when President Obama proposed we tax the rich in order to reduce the debt by $4 trillion, he made clear that it's not class warfare, "It's math." But as Jon Stewart discussed on Wednesday night's "Daily Show," conservative millionaires aren't buying it, and if they're going to win the war they'll have to make America sympathize with our nation's "most vulnerable wealthy."
Unlike Stephen Colbert this week, Stewart praised Obama for saying it's more important to save medicare, medical research and education fundsthan to let tax code loopholes stay open for the mega-rich. He also went after two rich people who oppose the plan in particular: John Fleming, a businessman who owns 33 Subway restaurants (among other things) and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.
4/ If there is anyone out there who articulates complex issues into simple terms better than Elizabeth Warren, running for Senate in Massachusetts, I'd like to see them.
Every citizen [and definitely every Democrat] needs to watch this 2 minute video - she explains the Republican "class warfare" charge clearly, and with passion......
A wonderful clip.....
5/ The author of this piece in the UK Observer has a pessimistic view of the future of the financial system [mainly in Europe] because of the billions of trash debt European and American banks are holding in their books at full price.....who is to know if he is right? But an interesting read nonetheless....especially with the financial markets as volatile as they are - today [Thursday] the Dow is down 4% again on global fears.....
Simply put, the world has trillions upon trillions of excessive private debt financed by too many different currencies whose risk is allegedly mitigated by even more trillions of financial bets which in aggregate do not minimise the systemic risk one iota. This entire financial edifice, underwritten by tiny amounts of capital, has been created over three decades backed by the theory that markets do not make mistakes. Capitalism is best conceived and practised, runs the theory, by hunter-gatherer bankers and entrepreneurs owing no allegiance to the state or society.
6/ The beautiful and talented Brooke Alvarez from Onion News answers Facebook questions from ordinary viewers, like you, you peasant.....2 minutes of captivating footage.....
7/ Two journalists who have done extensive reporting on the Koch Brothers are interviewed on the Dylan Ratigan show.....a good primer on how the evil billionaires have set out to change society....in their favour, so they will make even more money and you and I will pay for it....7 minute segment.....
8/ Rihanna's new video "Cheers" is just out, and shows Rihanna in concert, Rihanna on a jet, Rihanna in a Caribbean country, Rihanna in very tight shorts etc. etc.
Great video, song is OK.....and she's got a charming accent......
9/ Sometimes it feels like the only ones who care about the direction this country is headed in and the future of the planet are people in their 50's and up....but we won't feel the full effects of the pain that's coming. It will be the folks in their 20's and 30's....but they don't seem to care.
So this article from Robyn Blumner in the St. Pete Times is both timely and excellent - her advice to the young?
Vote.
It was during Sunday brunch at an upscale restaurant last week that I realized why this country's economic problems are not translating into progressive political reform.
Sharing the meal with me were a close friend and her two 20-something nieces. These lovely, poised young women, just out of college and starting their careers, are trying to figure out how to make a living while having a life.
One who works in marketing and public relations was already feeling the strain of having only two weeks off per year. She described meeting a young man from Sweden who gets five weeks of vacation. With excitement tinged with envy, she noted that such generous leave is required there.
Ah, the first hints of worker consciousness were cracking through the thick wall of political apathy that they and their friends wear as easily as TOMS. But the dots don't get connected. When I pressed, it became clear that they don't see politics playing a central role in their lives. Though socially liberal, it isn't clear whether they will vote, and if so, for which politician or party.
10/ A really good cartoon called "Bob"....funny and kind of moving in a strange way...... three minutes, but make sure to watch to the end......
11/ There is an excellent new book - "The Retirement Heist" - just out on how corporations have systematically pillaged pension funds and screwed retirees out of hundreds of billions....but I am not recommending the book because apparently it's almost unreadable unless you are a lawyer.
However.....read the book review. It gives you the picture without having to fight your way through 800 pages....sort of Cliff Notes on how corporations cheat their pensioners....
THE world needs more newspaper reporters like Ellen E. Schultz of The Wall Street Journal. For nearly a decade, Ms. Schultz and her colleagues have been rooting through the minutiae of accounting regulations, government filings and corporate retirement plans to expose how many of the largest American companies have systematically plundered their employees’ pension funds, at once robbing their workers of hard-won benefits and enriching their own profits. Her work has led to Congressional hearings, to a Washington investigation or two and to numerous journalism awards.
Now, inevitably, comes the book. In “Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit From the Nest Eggs of American Workers”(Portfolio/Penguin, $26.95), Ms. Schultz herds all her journalistic cattle into a single corral, laying out by what any measure is a damning indictment of the broken pension promises too many American corporations have made to their workers. For anyone seriously interested in the retirement industry — and that’s what it amounts to, an industry — this book should be required reading.
For just about everyone else, alas, “Retirement Heist” is hard to recommend.
12/ Mike Haridopolos, head of the Florida Senate, was a little miffed last year when he couldn't ram through bills allowing casinos in Florida and privatizing the prisons.....these two issues were too much for some Republican Senators, so.....shuffle the deck, get rid of the Republicans with principles and voila - this year we'll have casinos coming and private prisons.
How corrupt the Legislature is......this scumbag Haridopolos is bought and paid for.....
The move comes halfway through the two-year term of the Senate president, just in time for committee meetings to resume again next week. These are among the noteworthy changes: Download Committee Assignments 9-16
* Sen. Paula Dockery, the outspoken Lakeland Republican who made headlines recently criticizing the move to privatize 17 South Florida prisons, was yanked from the Senate Criminal Justice Committee which will hear that issue if it comes up again, as expected, this year. She was also removed from the Community Affairs Committee and placed on the Children and Families Committee and the Agriculture Committee.
* Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, and Sen. Jim Norman, R-Tampa, were taken off the Government Oversight and Accountability Committee where there were a series of anti-union bills stopped or weakened last year. Fasano retained his chairmanship of the Budget committee on Criminal Justice and Civil Justice Appropriations, however, despite his outspoken opposition to the prison privatization effort.
http://miamiherald.typepad.
13/ And this story shows, in detail, how big sugar gets what it wants from the Federal and State governments......money money money.....when Papa Fanjul, the sugar oligarch, calls a politician, they listen....
Many of the most influential American agricultural interests are headquartered in specific parts of the country: The majority of peanuts come from Georgia, corn from Iowa and sugar from Florida. But even though agricultural interests have a significant presence in only a small number of congressional districts, they play an inordinately large role in the political landscape of the entire country.
The majority of sugar cane might be grown in South Florida, but the industry’s political reach extends far beyond the state.
Legend has it that then-President Bill Clinton even interrupted his breakup with Monica Lewinsky to take a call from one of Big Sugar’s top dogs — Alfonso “Alfy” Fanjul. Fanjul and others in his family own Flo-Sun, based in West Palm Beach. The company, along with U.S. Sugar Corp. (headquartered in Clewiston), are the two largest producers of raw cane sugar in the country.
14/ An excellent article by Lauren Ritchie on how the EPA's efforts to keep Florida's waters unpolluted are under attack by Republicans in Congress and our Governor.....Big Ag [including big sugar] are fighting tooth and nail any efforts to stop pollution and runoffs from farms....
However, bureaucrats have managed to turn so critical a process, which will affect so many Floridians, into an unintelligible bowl of mush that no one wants to taste.
15/ Here's a good article from the Daily Beast on which fall TV shows to watch, and avoid.......looks like some decent shows coming.....and some dogs.....
The fall television season is now upon us, and the offerings seem pretty underwhelming for the most part. From A Gifted Man and Pan Am to Terra Novaand Grimm, Jace Lacob breaks down which new shows you should be watching this fall and which will have you running from the room.
The 2011–12 television season has some strong and risky programming on tap, but unfortunately, most of that won’t be premiering until midseason, as the broadcasters are holding on to some of their more creatively dazzling prospects until the wintertime. Which leaves the fall season in a bit of a rut, really. What is largely on offer is pretty dull and formulaic, with a few notable exceptions (though even those will make you yearn for the day when NBC finally rolls out Awakeand Smash).
Todays Holy SxxT video - in Spanish.....Acidente....by the way I have to put sxxt because of spam filters.....
Todays oldies joke
An elderly couple, who were both widowed, had been going out with each other for a long time.
Urged on by their friends, they decided it was finally time to get married.
Before the wedding, they went out to dinner and had a long conversation regarding how their marriage might work. They discussed finances, living arrangements and so on.
Finally, the old gentleman decided it was time to broach the subject of their physical relationship.
"How do you feel about sex?" he asked, rather tentatively.
"I would like it infrequently," she replied.
The old gentleman sat quietly for a moment, adjusted his glasses, leaned over towards her and whispered - "Is that one word or two?"
Todays "Sex on Mars" joke
The year is 2222 and Maureen and John land on Mars
after accumulating enough Frequent Flier miles.
They meet a Martian couple and are talking about all
sorts of things. John asks if Mars has a stock market, if they have
laptop computers, how they make money, etc.
Finally, Maureen brings up the subject of sex. 'Just how do you guys do it?' she asks.
The Martian responds, 'Pretty much the way you do.'
A discussion ensues and finally the couples decide to swap partners for the night and experience one another..Maureen and the male Martian go off to a bedroom where the Martian strips.
He's got only a teeny, weenie member about half an inch long and just a quarter-inch thick. 'I don't think this is going to work,' says Maureen.
'Why?' he asks. 'What's the matter?' 'Well,' she replies, 'it's just not long enough to reach me!'
'No problem,' he says, and proceeds to slap his forehead with his palm. With each slap of his forehead, his member grows until it's quite impressively long. 'Well,' she says, 'that's quite impressive, but it is still narrow.' 'No problem,' he says, and starts pulling his ears. With each pull, his member grows wider and wider until the entire measurement is extremely exciting to her. 'Wow!' she exclaims, as they fell into bed and made mad passionate love.
The next day the couples rejoin their other partners and go their separate ways.
As they walked along, John asks Maureen, 'Well, was it any good?' 'I hate to say it,' says Maureen, 'but it was wonderful. How about you?''It was horrible,' he replies. 'All I got was a headache. She kept slapping my forehead and pulling my ears.'
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