Today's quote, from Naomi Klein, author of the "Shock Doctrine"
If there is one thing I know, it is that the 1 percent loves a crisis. When people are panicked and desperate and no one seems to know what to do, that is the ideal time to push through their wish list of pro-corporate policies: privatizing education and social security, slashing public services, getting rid of the last constraints on corporate power. Amidst the economic crisis, this is happening the world over.
And there is only one thing that can block this tactic, and fortunately, it’s a very big thing: the 99 percent. And that 99 percent is taking to the streets from Madison to Madrid to say “No. We will not pay for your crisis.”
1/ Excellent Paul Krugman column on the Wall Street protests....
There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear, but we may, at long last, be seeing the rise of a popular movement that, unlike the Tea Party, is angry at the right people.
When the Occupy Wall Street protests began three weeks ago, most news organizations were derisive if they deigned to mention the events at all. For example, nine days into the protests, National Public Radio had provided no coverage whatsoever.
It is, therefore, a testament to the passion of those involved that the protests not only continued but grew, eventually becoming too big to ignore. With unions and a growing number of Democrats now expressing at least qualified support for the protesters, Occupy Wall Street is starting to look like an important event that might even eventually be seen as a turning point.
What can we say about the protests? First things first: The protesters’ indictment of Wall Street as a destructive force, economically and politically, is completely right.
A weary cynicism, a belief that justice will never get served, has taken over much of our political debate — and, yes, I myself have sometimes succumbed. In the process, it has been easy to forget just how outrageous the story of our economic woes really is. So, in case you’ve forgotten, it was a play in three acts.
2/ The "Occupy" movement is disturbing the two political parties and almost certainly the oligarchs, because like the Tea Party movement in the beginning it wasn't in the script.
Now the oligarchs have taken over the Tea Party movement and folded it into the Republican establishment they're happy, but the Occupy demonstrators are different - for a start they're not old, stupid white people like the TP members, second this is catching on bigtime.....
Most interesting article....
In Florida this week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romneywas asked about the growing Occupy Wall Street movement. “I think it’s dangerous, this class warfare,” he said.
Romney’s right. It may be dangerous -- to his chances of being elected.
Occupy Wall Street, now almost three weeks old, isn’t like the anti-globalization demonstrations that disrupted summits in the 1990s or even the street actions at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York, though some of the same characters are probably in attendance. With unemployed young protesters planning to camp out all winter in Zuccotti Park (with bathrooms available only at a nearby McDonald’s), it’s more like a cross between a Hooverville and Woodstock -- the middle-class jobless of the 1930s and the hippie protesters of the 1960s.
With the help of unions and social networking, the movement has at least some chance of re-energizing Democrats in 2012 and pushing back against the phenomenal progress Republicans have made in suppressing voter turnout in several states.
Why? Because the tectonic plates of U.S. politics are shifting in ways we don’t yet fully understand. We don’t know whether Occupy Wall Street is a carnival party -- a piece of left-wing street theater that gets old fast -- or a nascent political party that revives a long-dormant tradition of class- based politics.
3/ Some of you [Amanda Knox for example] will appreciate a roundup of the weeks major stories in 2 minutes, and Onion News obliges.....funny, some excellent zingers in this one.......
4/ Not often Bill Maher goes on the defensive, but watch his right-leaning panel including the certified asshole P.J. O'Rourke get hammered by Alan Grayson on the Wall Street protests.
An excellent 7 minute clip.....Alan Grayson is wonderful, and gets a standing ovation from the audience....
One would think that the anti-corporatist ideals of the Occupy Wall Street movement would receive some safe harbor on Real Time with Bill Maher, and one would be correct that their ideology gelled entirely with the audience. But before Alan Grayson passionately stood up as a spokesman for their cause, the panel spent a fair amount of time mocking the group ruthlessly, for their “bongo drums,” disorganization, and incoherence.
5/ A thoughtful look at the Republican field of candidates for the 2012 presidential election by Charles Blow......not a pretty picture for the GOP......
Republicans simply can’t find a competent, consistent candidate with whom they can fall in love and with which President Obama won’t mop the floor.
Their last glimmers of hope disappeared this week when both the Mama Grizzly from Alaska and the Papa Bear from New Jersey announced that they would not run.
That means this is it. Republicans are stuck with the group they have: The Imperfect 10. They are so lackluster that most people can’t even name the front-runners. According to a poll released this week by the Pew Research Center, unlike in 2007, 1999 and 1995 when about half of Americans could name a Republican front-runner at this point in the campaign, this year little more than a quarter can.
6/ Another installment of "Conservative Jones, Boy Detective" from Tom Tomorrow......"The Mystery of Liberal Behaviour".....
7/ Not heard of an Eagle Owl before, but I'll make sure never to annoy one......
A beautiful video of this magnificent bird flying towards a camera at 1000 frames a second......wonderful....one minute....
8/ Jon Stewart is best when he nails the media, especially Fox News, and here he takes then to task for their coverage of the Wall Street protests....about 7 minutes....
While the Tea Party protesters donned tri-corner hats to protest government-run healthcare and bailouts, the Occupy Wall Street protesters are primarily young liberals wanting to bring attention to "the 99%" who aren't controlling the nation's wealth. But what makes them so different, really? As Stewart explored with his usual slew of clips, the conservative media's remarks about the OWS protesters range from "disorganized hippies" to comparisons to Nazis (you can thank Ann Coulter for the latter).
But Stewart got the biggest kick out of Fox News' Sean Hannity, who said of the Tea Party in 09, "[They're] expressing their frustration, which I think is quintessentially american," and said of OWS this week, "They hate capitalism" and "really don't like freedom."
9/ Steven Colbert's SuperPAC has created an ad defending the NBA billionaire owners.....so clever, so funny..... but get ready for a slew of this BS when the elections approach......1 minute.....
“I have always enjoyed watching a few rounds of ball-in-hoop,” said Stephen Colbert, President of Colbert Super PAC and Colbert Super PAC S.H.H. “But now, greedy basketball players are threatening the livelihoods of many in the MNBA: from the job-creating team owners, to the Maori basketball net weavers, to half-time mini-trampoline slam-dunk gorillas. In these tough economic times, can we really afford to pay players what they’re worth?”
10/ The grossly corrupt $20 billion settlement called the "Attorneys General" deal is in doubt this week, and Matt Taibbi explains why two politically brave AG's are standing in the way of the next big bank bailout......
If you don't think Wall Street owns all of our politicians, read this.....
Amidst all the bad news coming out of Wall Street and the economy, here’s something good: California has backed out of the talks for the long-awaited foreclosure settlement, now making it far from likely that the so-called “Attorneys General” deal will happen anytime soon.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris sent a letter to state and federal regulators explaining that she pulled out because the proposed settlement amount for banks guilty of bad securitization practices leading up to the mortgage crisis – said to be in the $20 billion range – was too small. From Business Week:
Harris says in a letter to state and federal negotiators that the pending settlement is "inadequate" and gives bank officials too much immunity.
I’m convinced that the deal will eventually go through, however, after some further concessions are made. Certainly the absence of both New York (whose Attorney General Eric Schneiderman gamely started this mess by refusing to sign on or abandon his own investigation into corrupt securitization practices) and California will make it difficult for the banks to do any kind of a deal. But there is such an awesome amount of political will to get this deal done in Washington that it almost has to happen before the presidential election season really gets going.
If it does get done, expect a great deal of public debate over whether or not the size of the settlement was sufficient. Did the banks pay enough? Should they have paid ten billion more? Twenty? Even I engaged in a little bit of that some weeks ago.
But if and when that debate takes place, it will actually obscure the real issue, because this settlement is not about getting money from the banks. The deal being contemplated is actually the opposite: a giant bailout.
In fact, any federal foreclosure settlement along the lines of what’s been proposed will amount to a last round of post-2008-crisis bailouts. I talked to one foreclosure activist over the weekend who put it this way: “[The AG settlement] will be a bigger bailout than TARP.”
11/ Your scribe doesn't watch TV in the morning - I'm busy reading the New York Times, so you don't have to [hmmmm....good slogan!].
But a lot of people have the box on in the AM, so it was interesting to see this story about the CBS Early Show - apparently they do real news, real stories and even some coverage of [gasp] foreign countries. Of course they are last in the ratings.....
There isn’t much news you can use on “The Early Show” onCBS. It no longer offers dieting tips, barbecue recipes or audience makeovers. There are no pop concerts or “Growing Pains” cast reunions. “The Early Show” doesn’t plan weddings or even forecast rain — weather is delegated to local affiliates.
CBS’s morning show is at times so soberly focused on hard news that it looks almost like PBS or C-Span. Or worse: its stolid co-anchors, Chris Wragge and Erica Hill, stare into the camera with a bleak blue backdrop behind them that gives the show the look of a Soviet newscast in the Brezhnev era.
The pared-down look and no-nonsense sensibility are signs of how far “The Early Show” trails “Today” on NBC and “Good Morning America” on ABC. It’s also a sign of how weakness can become a strength. “The Early Show” is a morning program for viewers who aren’t morning people.
12/ The wonderful Gail Collins with an amusing column about the Presidential race....and Butch Otter......
I know you couldn’t care less about Sarah Palin bowing out of the presidential race, but let me ask you this: Who wants to spend the next 13 months watching Mitt Romney run against Barack Obama? Can I see a show of hands?
Earl Wilson/The New York Times
Gail Collins
Readers’ Comments
"'Not as bad as Kazakhstan' has a certain charming ring to it, but it will require that we give Kazakhstan equal time to answer that charge. "John Kasley, Bonita Springs, FL
I thought so. All of us, regardless of political persuasion, have a stake in trying to keep the Republican presidential fight going through the winter. These are tough times. (“Sesame Street” just announced it’s adding a poverty-stricken Muppet.) We need diversion.
Plus, it doesn’t look as if there’s going to be a professional basketball season. And I cannot really figure out that many ways to mention that Romney once drove to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car.
But we seem to be running out of fresh blood, and it’s only October! Surely there’s another Republican governor or ex-governor we can crown Non-Mitt of the Month. George Pataki is definitely available, and I think the country is coming to understand that what it really needs right now is another president named George.
Donald Trump seems content to be an ex-candidate, using his deep political expertise to comment on the remaining field. (“I had dinner last night with Jim Perry. I was impressed with him.”) But maybe there’s another reality TV host we can get into the race. Jeff Probst, the guy from “Survivor,” might be good. On the show, whenever a team loses a competition, he always says something like: “Kaluha Tribe, I’ve got nothing for you.” It’s sort of a signature. Think how useful that would be for a president. (“Future Social Security recipients, I’ve got nothing for you.”)
A spokesman for Probst said he was unavailable to provide extraneous details such as whether or not he is a Republican.
How about Idaho Gov. Butch Otter?
13/ "Mr. Know It All" from Kelly Clarkson....a pretty good video from the country/pop star that has no pimps, hos, dancing or zombies in it.....nice song too.....and is she talking to her fans with the refrain, or her boyfriend?
Hmmm.....maybe she could put in a zombie or two.....
14/ Movies this week
"The Ides of March", with George Clooney, Ryan Gosling and an all star cast......sounds very good....a political thriller for our times.....
Mike Morris, the governor of Pennsylvania in “The Ides of March,” is an image of the liberal heart’s desire, and not only because he is played by George Clooney. Morris, who keeps his cool while inflaming the passions of Democratic primary voters, is a committed environmentalist and a forthright secularist who sidesteps questions about his faith by professing that his religion is the United States Constitution. He is against war and in favor of jobs, though the economy figures much less in his fictitious campaign than it will in the real one just around the corner.
In spite of Morris’s party affiliation and expressed positions — which are tailored to sound both vague and provocative — “The Ides of March” is not an ideological fairy tale. It is easy enough, while watching Morris in action, to substitute a different set of talking points and imagine the governor as a Republican dream candidate, smoothly defending low taxes and traditional values in the same seductive whisper. (Who is the right-wing George Clooney? Is Tom Selleck still available?)
But it is difficult, really, to connect this fable to the world it pretends to represent. Whatever happens in 2012, within either party or in the contest between them, it seems fair to say that quite a lot will be at stake.
"The Ides of March" trailer........a little confusing but maybe that's the point....
"Real Steel", with Hugh Jackman.....sounds like "Rocky" with robots.....definitely a guy movie....
You can only imagine the hyperbolic win-win pitch for “Real Steel” that brought this robot boxing movie to the screen: “Transformers” meets “E.T.” meets “Rocky” meets “The Champ,” starring Hugh Jackman of “X-Men” and directed by the “Night at the Museum” hotshot, Shawn Levy. Those are the supposedly surefire selling points behind this entertaining, something-for-everyone contrivance, set in the near future and embellished with flagrant product placement for Dr. Pepper.
An underdog drama with clanging metal-on-metal action, “Real Steel” feels scientifically programmed to claw at your heart while its battling robots, which have a semblance of human personality, drum up your adrenaline. That said, I’m not sure that the movie itself has more than a semblance of a heart.
"Real Steel" trailer.......ahooogah......
Todays video
Tim Conway plays a dentist on the Carol Burnett show.....one of the funniest clips from that wonderful show you will ever see....
Seriously, really really good even the second time.....
Todays oldies joke
ITALIAN NURSING HOME
An Arab family had decided to put their grandfather (Abdullah) in a nursing home.
All the Arab facilities were completely full so they had to put him in an Italian home.
After a few weeks in the Italian facility, they came to visit Grandpa.
"How do you like it here?", asks the grandson.
"It's wonderful! Everyone here is so courteous and respectful", says grandpa..
"We're so happy for you. We were worried that this was the wrong place for you. You know, since you are a little different from everyone else."
''Oh, no! Let me tell you about how wonderful they treat all the residents", Abdullah says with a big smile.
"There's a musician here- he's 85 years old. He hasn't played the violin in 20 years and everyone still calls him 'Maestro'!
There's a judge in here - he's 95 years old. He hasn't been on the bench in 30 years and everyone still calls him 'Your Honor'!
There's a dentist here, 90 years old. He hasn't fixed a tooth for 25 years and everyone still calls him Doctor!
And me - I haven't had sex for 35 years and they still call me 'The Fucking Arab'."
Todays Hairdresser joke
This is something to think about when negative people are doing their best to rain on your parade.. So remember this story the next time someone who knows nothing and cares less tries to make your life miserable!
A woman was at her hairdresser's (Joyce) getting her hair styled for a trip to Rome with her husband.. She mentioned the trip to the hairdresser, who responded:
" Rome? Why would anyone want to go there? It's crowded and dirty. You're crazy to go to Rome. So, how are you getting there?"
"We're taking Continental," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"
"Continental?" exclaimed the hairdresser. " That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they're always late. So, where are you staying in Rome ?"
"We'll be at this exclusive little place over on Rome 's Tiber River called Teste."
"Don't go any further. I know that place. Everybody thinks its gonna be something special and exclusive, but it's really a dump."
"We're going to go to see the Vatican and maybe get to see the Pope."
"That's rich," laughed the hairdresser. You and a million other people trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant.
Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."
A month later, the woman again came in for a hairdo. The hairdresser asked her about her trip to Rome .
"It was wonderful," explained the woman, "not only were we on time in one of Continental's brand new planes, but it was overbooked, and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a handsome 28-year-old steward who waited on me hand and foot..
And the hotel was great! They'd just finished a $5 million remodeling job, and now it's a jewel, the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us their owner's suite at no extra charge!"
"Well," muttered the hairdresser, "that's all well and good, but I know you didn't get to see the Pope."
"Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican, a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me.
Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down and he spoke a few words to me.."
"Oh, really! What'd he say ?"
He said: "Who fucked up your hair?"
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