COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, October 24, 2008

‘I made a mistake,’ admits Greenspan


‘I made a mistake,’ admits Greenspan
By Alan Beattie and James Politi in Washington, Financial Times
October 23 2008 21:26


Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, said on Thursday the credit crisis had exceeded anything he had imagined and admitted he was wrong to think that banks would protect themselves from financial market chaos.

“I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organisations, specifically banks and others, was such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders,” he said.

170 comments:

  1. ..and remember a discussion that we had many months ago that it would be far, far better to renegotiate mortgages with home owners and stop the downward spiral, but the genius bankers, their lobbyists, and the hard asses in congress, supported by the majority of the American public said no. Best to teach them all a lesson.

    How is that working out for say your 401K or pension that had nothing to do with it?

    We are a nation of morons. We elect people to be leaders. We elect them because they have nice hair, look friendly, mellow voices, nice looking wives, better commercials, it's their turn.

    Listen up people, Our Rulers and Masters do not have a clue, the only thing different from them and us is that they are guaranteed a paycheck.

    The Democrats were unchecked by a stubborn, foolish and myopic man supported by the worst crew of Republican leadership in memory. Truly none of them, who are running deserve to be elected, but what do we deserve? Do we deserve this?

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  2. Now let me make a modest suggestion to our Rulers and Masters. Quit giving any more money to the banks. Force them to re-negotiate troubled loans now.

    Have the Treasury to start buying common stock on the open market and take the shares and stick them in the social security lock box. Hurry.

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  3. “I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organisations, specifically banks and others, was such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders,” he said.
    ==

    There was a fundamental flaw here. It's not the Bank's money. It never was. It's the public's money held in trust. The bankers understand this. The fat cats on Wall Street understand this. And now Greenspan finally understands it.

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  4. Even if the mortgage crisis had been short term, the underlying rot would have still been there.

    As the three wise guys said, to Waxman, Fannie and Fraudie were not THE cause of the meltdown, just one of many contributing factors.

    Lester Crown has presented us with Obama, the ghost of Kemper Marley gave us the John McCain option.

    That the US has come down to choosing the Chicago Way and an Arizona "Maverick", well past his prime, just shows the sorry state of affairs we've come to, as a Country.

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  5. The Market
    Of course it's not over, but I told you folks OVER a year ago that hedge funds would unwind and cause catastrophic result.

    We are now seeing what we use to call the "death spiral" in mutual fund redemptions. MF managers are force to sell in an increasing declining market. Last month record redemptions in MF’s. This month I believe will top that significantly.

    These two components and this morning FUTURES at 550 down bears evil for the market.

    If you did not go to cash a year to six months ago you're more than likely going to be a ward of the state, holding mutual funds not worth the computer space they take to note in your account. Oh, and BTW this is global. The experts are saying today will be ‘historic”.

    Obama has no answer unless you liked Hurbert Hoover’s response in 1929.

    Good luck, going forward many of you will face a dark world with not enough time to ever regain what you have already lost, much less make any gains.

    BTW, Obama has outlined a Hurbert Hoover solution. Many of you will be following him over the cliff.

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  6. US Constitution

    Barack Obama and the End of the Republic
    By Sher Zieve Thursday, October 23, 2008


    Evidence appears to be mounting that strongly indicates Democrat Presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama is not a natural-born United States citizen, which is required of all who run for the presidency of the USA. Attorney Philip J. Berg filed a lawsuit against Barack Obama and the DNC (Democrat National Committee) on 15 September 2008.

    Neither Obama nor the DNC have responded to the suit—indicating that they admit the charges brought by Berg are accurate. Even after the filing of the Berg suit, Obama and his campaign have still refused to present a proper certified birth certificate showing that he is a natural-born US citizen. By said lack of response, candidate Obama is admitting that he is not.

    Thus, Barack Obama is admitting that he is, indeed, Kenyan. But, as he is the Democrat candidate and apparently a true African running for the presidency of the United States of America, he is being allowed to get away with it. Note: It now seems that anyone who questions a non-US citizen Democrat candidate running for POTUS—who is also an African by birth—is “racist.” So, no one is pushing this obvious slap in the face to the US Constitution. Instead, the US Constitution is being ignored, in favor of a Democrat seizing the office of the president of the United States.

    Obama’s voter fraud group ACORN is being investigated by the Feds—between 12-15 states are now involved—for massive voter fraud. ACORN—which receives federal taxpayer funds as a “non-partisan” voter registration entity, has repeatedly endorsed Barack Obama. It is not non-partisan. Obama’s ties with the group run wide and deep. He was even the Executive Director of ACORN subsidiary “Project Vote.” Apparently, Obama and his adherents believe that winning by voter fraud is simply another strategy. Note: The US Constitution has now been round-filed.

    Obama has direct—not indirect—affiliations and partnerships with unrepentant terrorists William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. But, the Obama media tells us that no one cares—most especially the media. Obama’s over 20-year mentor and “spiritual advisor” Jeremiah Wright is a self-proclaimed anti-American, Black Liberation and racist advocate. The media tells us that no one cares about this, either. Note: Liquid accelerant has just been poured on the US Constitution.

    At a recent Obama Ohio rally in the hometown of Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (dubbed “Joe the plumber”), Wurzelbacher asked candidate Obama “your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?” Obama replied: “It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance for success too. My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody. I think when you spread the wealth around [AKA Marxist wealth redistribution], it’s good for everybody.” With that comment, Obama had let slip his true intentions to the American people and Joe the Plumber has now been trashed and vilified by both Obama and his media for having asked the question that forced Obama’s truthful answer. Just as the founder of Communism Karl Marx taught, Obama will implement redistribution of wealth. That means that Obama will take from the most able who produce and give to those who are not and don’t. The problem with this, of course, is that under Communist and/or Socialist regimes, most of that money—yours and my money—ends up in the pockets of the ruling elite and their friends. That is what Obama wants for the USA. And the end of the Republic—in place of a totalitarian regime—is what he and his campaigners plan. Note: A lighted match has now been applied to the US Constitution.

    For the first time in history, US voters are being asked to choose between continuing the Republic or bending to the will of a totalitarian Communist candidate. It would seem to be a “no-brainer” but, with the great4est voter fraud in US history being perpetrated it just might happen. We must all vote and vote en masse for John McCain if we are to save the country from a self-proclaimed dictatorship. If we don’t, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez will have a new ally.

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  7. The Federals have no faith, in Markets, duece.

    This is about them accumulating more power, to themselves and their Clan, their Tribe, their Cause.
    Perpetual Government, from Hartford and Boston.

    Maverick was always just a stalking horse for the Establishment elites.
    Someone to fill the space.

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. With regards to the percieved danger of voter fraud, in the ACORN threat to the fabric of democracy.

    The placement of Federal election monitors in those areas where the fraudulent registrations have been found ...
    That would eliminate any large scale disruption of the election by Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or the Dallas Cowboy's offensive line.

    If the Federals so not send monitors, well, GWBush may have other thoughts on his mind, than preserving the Republic.

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  10. I am very suspicious about why Obama is taking off two days to go to Hawaii.

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  11. There was some startling anecdotal news on Bloomberg couple of days ago from an energy supply chain analyst and CEO just returned from Asia: 60 sovereign nations cannot obtain letters of credit to import oil or natural gas. At Singapore and Hong Kong ocean terminals, little-to-no activity. Banks are borrowing hand-over-fist from Fed, et al. Still not lending to one another. That market's vanished, gone, for now.

    And today:

    Thursday, October 23, 2008
    Roubini Foresees Possible Market Shutdown
    Listen to this article. Powered by Odiogo.com
    After the Fed, ECB,, Bank of England, and other central banks took unprecedented measures over the last month to restore liquidity and recapitalize banks, Nouriel Roubini sounded slightly less gloomy. He had deemed that the authorities has avoided a systemic financial meltdown, but a nasty, protracted recession was in the offing.

    It appears that Roubini has reversed himself with his latest remarks He now says systemic risks are increasing due to hedge fund margin calls, redemptions, and liquidations, and the authorities may be forced to close financial markets. Note that this is not a new line of thought. During the turmoil of the last month, particularly the week of October 6, some professional investors were quietly discussing the possibility of short-term market closures.

    From Bloomberg (hat tip readers Dwight, Saboor):

    Hundreds of hedge funds will fail and policy makers may need to shut financial markets for a week or more as the crisis forces investors to dump assets, New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini said.

    ``We've reached a situation of sheer panic,'' Roubini, who predicted the financial crisis in 2006, told a conference of hedge-fund managers in London today. ``There will be massive dumping of assets'' and ``hundreds of hedge funds are going to go bust,'' he said....

    ``Systemic risk has become bigger and bigger,'' Roubini said at the Hedge 2008 conference. ``We're seeing the beginning of a run on a big chunk of the hedge funds,'' and ``don't be surprised if policy makers need to close down markets for a week or two in coming days,'' he said.....

    Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi roiled international markets on Oct. 10, first saying world leaders were discussing shutting down global financial exchanges, and then saying he didn't mean it.

    ``In a fairly Darwinian manner, many hedge funds will simply disappear,'' Roman said, speaking at the same event as Roubini...

    ``Things are getting very ugly also in the emerging markets,'' Roubini said. ``The usual saying is when the U.S. sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. Unfortunately, this time around the U.S. is not just sneezing, it has a severe case of chronic and persistent pneumonia. It's becoming a mess in emerging markets.''

    Developing nations' borrowing costs jumped to the highest in six years today as Belarus joined Hungary, Ukraine and Pakistan in seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund to help weather frozen money markets and a slump in commodities. Argentina risks defaulting for the second time this decade.

    ``There are about a dozen emerging markets that are now in severe financial trouble,'' Roubini said. ``Even a small country can have a systemic effect on the global economy,'' he added. ``There is not going to be enough IMF money to support them.''

    Roubini, a former senior adviser to the U.S. Treasury Department, earlier this month said that the world's biggest economy will suffer its worst recession in 40 years.

    ``This is the worst financial crisis in the U.S., Europe and now emerging markets that we've seen in a long time,'' Roubini said. ``Things will get much worse before they get better. I fear the worst is ahead of us.''

    Topics: Doomsday scenarios, Hedge funds, Investment outlook, Risk and risk management



    Possible silver lining? This will take out the remainder of the levered players.

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  12. As for the cash, I would not be so sure. The cash you hold may be joined by so much more printed cash that shares in good companies may look very good.

    Nothing is ending and everything is changing, but the rules of physics are unaltered. The government buying common shares on the market would halt the panic. At a later date the government could sell the shares or give them to retirees or military veterans.

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  13. What importer in their right mind would send 100% cash to China in order to purchase something? Where is the vaunted huge financial reserve in China, my bet it already leveraged to Chinese banks, who have leveraged it to Chinese Industry who have leveraged it to export industries.

    Ugly.

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  14. Pickin' on my man Wright last night.

    For shame, for shame.

    Meanwhile whole swaths of the nation suffer a decades-long plague of cheap, nasty, overgrown, Disneyland-inspired faux neo-Colonial/Queen Anne/Victorian/Picturesque "people storage." As my son calls it.

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  15. Wotta freakin' tool.

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  16. 6970

    We have coming up the greatest buying opportunity in, basically, history.

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  17. Trish, you are so right there. Remember the news films after WWII where the government directed the military to dump surplus war material into the ocean so that it would not glut the market?

    Any application there?

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  18. I did say or should of that I preferred Wright's public work to residential. The nice thing about being a restoration expert is that you do not have to do any original work of your own, just correct past mistakes, and make good ideas better.

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  19. Any application there?

    Fri Oct 24, 08:56:00 AM EDT

    Surely there's a suggestion box somewhere. ; )

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  20. One thing to remember, this is not a plague or a death star bearing down on planet earth. It is a creation of men and will be solved by men.

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  21. Ah, I don't know if this is it, or not. Doesn't look like enough "fear," to me.

    The floor isn't, as Trish put it, "slick with vomit," yet.

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  22. Eventually.


    Meanwhile, this sounds about right: Sell - rally - hard sell today.

    Monday or Tuesday: The abattoir.

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  23. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/norman_foster_s_green_agenda.html

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  24. The floor isn't, as Trish put it, "slick with vomit," yet.
    ==

    When has Trish been right yet?

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  25. To paraphrase Greenspan:

    "Oops! Who would have thought that organizations don't behave like individuals?"

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  26. Speaking (somewhat) of which this reminds me of the Mad Cow panic in the UK and (to a lesser extent) on the Continent in, oh, 99. Hundreds of thousands of head of cattle culled and cremated in giant tire-piles. Sadder farmers you have never seen.

    Grisly analogy. But that's what panics do.

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  27. Calling the floor a true SWAG (I like the Scientific Wild Ass Guess idea!) but I stand by my call of just below DOW 8000 (about 7900) which was reached back a week or two ago when we all first made the predictions. I'm guessing that original plunge first thing that morning hit the floor. We may test it but I'm guessing it won't go much below that...

    ...famous last words.

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  28. But while the polls are reflecting Obama's steady hand, the markets haven't. In fact, they're getting worse by the day as Obama's lead widens.

    An Obama Panic?

    That's my hunch. I posted a graph I have picked up from some fellow at BC that tracked the polls and the markets the last few weeks and it tracked remarkably with Obama's rise, McCain's fall.

    A perfect storm seems to be brewing.

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  29. Obama is going to be hard pressed to find any capital gains sitting around to tax next year.

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  30. bovine spongiform encephalopathy (bse)


    In case, you know, anyone was wondering.

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  31. Was the massive cull a success? What would have happened if they didn't?


    We will never know the answer to the second question. The joys of decision making...

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  32. Guido Wimmers on Passivhaus Design:

    http://bldgsim.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/guido-wimmers-on-passivhaus-design/

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  33. It's the new 'spread the wealth around' policy.
    ---
    Prions.

    There's a theory that Alzheimer's is actually a kind of late stage mad cow disease. Slow acting. There was a study from Harvard Medical School along those lines.

    Enjoy the Big Mac.

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  34. They should have culled the dumb-ass English farmers stuck in their backwards ways.
    ...for life.

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  35. We need a massive push to build a "Waste to Ethanol" plant in Every U.S. County, RIGHT NOW.

    Jobs + cheap fuel + Strengthening balance of payments.

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  36. Thinking about buildings, the new apartments that have been built in Moscow recently are really nice. I got a look at some. From the outside, the building looks, well, just like a building, but when you get inside, quite nice, every last convenience you could imagine.

    There's a new project in Moscow now too, not really apartments, more like a huge dormatory, with a common eating area, and a sports facility, swimming pool, exercise rooms. These units are smaller, and don't have what could be called a kitchen in each unit.

    They're just being put up now.

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  37. Diamond:
    NY Times Confirms Ayers' Role in Obama Appointment as Chair of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge

    In August of 1994, Leff wrote a letter to Brown's Gregorian lauding Bill Ayers for his leadership in organizing the grant application and said that her Joyce Foundation was awarding $80,000 to his Annenberg working group, the Chicago School Reform Collaborative, to continue their work to secure and establish the Annenberg program. This Collaborative was the group which Ayers represented when he submitted the final Annenberg grant application in November.

    Thus, as of August, 1994, Leff's Joyce Foundation also recognized officially that Ayers was the formal agent for the Chicago Annenberg Challenge applicant, the Collaborative, and they were financially aiding him in that effort.

    ...in the end only Ayers had the legal authority to approve of Obama, whether or not Leff, Simmons and Graham understood that, much less the New York Times.

    Only if the Collaborative had revoked Ayers power to represent them, could that have changed.
    Of course, the opposite happened - they made Ayers co-chair and he represented the Collaborative at the board meetings of the CAC itself once it was established in March, 1995.

    The individual with the legal power to overrule a decision is the person with the actual decision making authority.
    That was Bill Ayers and his decision was:
    Barack Obama.

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  38. No Lebanon redo. Check.

    Petraeus pulls it off. Check.

    No Iran strikes. Check.

    Venezuela border bluff. Check.

    Pakistan border bluff. Check.

    "Next big thing." Check.


    I'm sure there are literally hundreds of others I'm forgetting, mat.

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  39. We can't all eat fish from the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Doug.

    Prions seem to be awfully long lasting, hard to kill. It's not pleasant thinking about what goes into that cow feed.

    A guy next to me here raises a few head. And his really are just fed from grass. Not that feed lot stuff. Black Angus, I think they are.

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  40. I've forgotten the details of what the English Outliers were doing, but they were tempting fate gratuitously.
    Something about recycling pigs, or somethin.

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  41. Parker Ranch fed Beef would be nice!

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  42. If you never make any predictions you are never wrong, which is the policy I've been trying to follow, with some success, too.

    You can pilfer a prediction from someone else, from a news article or something, and kind of put it up, then take credit for it later if it turns out right, and say, 'I never said that' when it's wrong.

    That's a good way to go.

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  43. Recycling animal protein into cattle feed.

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  44. Probably ground up brains and intestines, Doug.

    Stay with the mahi-mahi.

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  45. - Aloha Friday -
    Stop "tape" 1 minute before the end to preserve enjoyment.

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  46. The Japanese are strict on their beef. I think they inspect every animal, where with us, it's like one in a hundred or five hundred or something.

    But, I don't know where you buy it in the US, or even if you can.

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  47. (Venezuela border bluff was a bit of a "cheat." I had immediate visibility on that.)

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  48. Where does dear host keep the little paper umbrellas stashed?

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  49. If the 'Obama Panic' theory is correct, he's screwed up the world before he's even had a chance to 'change it.'

    I wish we would read a headline today or tomorrow that says "Judge Rules Obama Can't Be President".

    It's hard to find out what's going on. The Judge doesn't seem to have done anything.

    In the unlikely event that we have a constitutional crisis, and Obama is ruled ineligible after winning the election, who is President then? Biden? But a good argument can be made that the whole ticket was a fraud.

    So it would be McCain.

    I quess.

    What a mess.

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  50. Control would be transfered to Area 51.

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  51. That would leave me in charge!

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  52. Since Obama has only filed motions to dismiss and has not actually answered the charges in the lawsuit, Berg claims, according to Rule 36, Obama has legally admitted he is not a natural-born citizen.

    But the Obama camp will just say that a motion to dismiss is an answer.

    But there is discovery. Why hasn't the Judge ruled to dismiss or go on to discovery?

    Rule 36

    We need a lawyer in the bar to tell us what is going on.

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  53. Control would be transfered to Area 51.

    Already has, I think.


    Doug, that Hawaiian music sounds eerily similar to my peoples' native songs. Cherokee.

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  54. 172. Jack Aubrey said,
    AND you can vote for Palin in 2012 and watch the landslide roll over you.

    162. Eggplant:
    Charles Krauthammer wrote another good opinion piece, refer to:

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/10/security_first_why_im_voting_f.html

    Krauthammer like almost everyone else realizes that the MSM is going to get their guy elected. However Krauthammer is no idiot and refuses to bow down to the Messiah. I’m with Krauthammer and will vote for McCain. At least four years from now after everything has gone to hell, I won’t have to lie when people ask me who I voted for.

    Oct 23, 2008 - 11:33 pm


    Oct 24, 2008 - 5:41 am
    173. buddy larsen:
    I have just spoken with Dr. Stephen Maturin.

    When informed that Jack Aubrey had thrown for the likes of Obama, he began laughing so hard the mains’ls suddenly billow’d whereupon HMS Surprise made Way and drug the entire wharf out into the middle of Portsmouth harbor, where the Helmsman, First Mate, and Officer of the Deck in concert did manage to tie down the Wheele and thus save us no worse than making way in a tight, rather ridiculous, circle to starboard, dragging of course the uprooted wharf and its complement of several dozen terrified Longshoremen loudly hailing in favor of an immediate walkout.

    Poor Dr. Maturin had to be coldcocked and stowed belowdecks out of laugh-range of the canvasse.

    However I am now told he has revived, has asked of the attending Midshipmen if Captain Jack is still for the likes of Obama, to which the middie’s affirmative guess –them having of yet heard no different from the commenting party in the Belmont Clubbe –did regale the goode doctor to recommence such uncontrollable & explosive laughter that I fear we may of the nonce must needs coldcock him yet again, and then perhaps bleed him four leeches or more.

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  55. LaBob can explain the extraterrestrial non-land bridge that account for that congruence, Rufus.

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  56. No! We Don't need a Lawyer in the bar.

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  57. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  58. You Sayin you want to Disbar LaBob, Boy?

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  59. She is beautiful, with a wonderful voice. She has a blue bra on, and an ear ring on her left side, right side of the screen. And, she has a little bruise on her left arm, right side of the screen.

    But, she is still a few points down from 'the most beautiful woman in the world', from Fargo.

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  60. Attention to detail distracts you.

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  61. Can't we just hire one for a few minutes, for some advice, then kick him, or her, these days, out?

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  62. All that extraterrestrial non-land bridge stuff ain't necessary, Doug.

    I think what probably happened is someone told one of my "great-uncles" that there was whiskey on the other side o' the "Great" Lake, and he swimmed on over.

    'Splains it all. :)

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  63. No! We Don't need a Lawyer in the bar.

    Fri Oct 24, 11:28:00 AM EDT

    : )

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  64. That's it Rufus, after the Whalers and the Pirates, Lahaina will never be the same.

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  65. Given his lawyerly background, we can eliminate "Whaler"

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  66. Damn, we need to do a "trade" deal. An "anti-Smoot Hawley," if you will.

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  67. I'm sure there are literally hundreds of others
    ==

    Your love child Ashley has already shown you as dumber than dirt. And as was showed on many an occasion, your pompous scribbling is little more than gobbledygook. So wasting time trying to decipher your abstruse gibberish I'll leave to real hardheaded dumbfscks.

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  68. Bobal,

    You were thinking of coming to Canada - here is nice little video just about that topic - Americans coming to Canada. Enjoy!

    http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid988092926?bctid=1842856410

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  69. Irrespective of who "caused" this mess, Bernanke, and Paulson have, actually, done a masterful job of managing the crisis.

    I was pissed off, and irrational, like many others (you can be that way when you're a little pissant hillbilly pecking away on the internet,) but they did the "right" thing.

    I was, more, or less, right about the CDS's when I wrote some time back that there would be "winners," and "Losers," but, by and large, they wouldn't be the Financial Holocaust.

    I underestimated what was coming as regards subprime. Doug was right, there.

    I still think that 30 yrs from now when the clear-eyed historians look at it they will deduce that, like many (most) recessions it was caused, primarily, by a spike in energy prices.

    Which brings us to this incredible fall in oil prices. Even before we see the "Big" unemployment numbers.

    Let's recap. Banks are going to be okay. Housing might be bottoming. Rural economy is still in "good" shape. Gasoline back to where people can afford to drive around. Employment has yet to "fall off a cliff."

    Now, if we can just figure out some way to "Make" the damned idiot bankers lend a little money to "creditworthy" individuals, and enterprises, again, we just might survive this moron-induced nonsense.

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  70. No Lebanon redo. Check.

    Petraeus pulls it off. Check.

    No Iran strikes. Check.

    Venezuela border bluff. Check.

    Pakistan border bluff. Check.

    "Next big thing." Check.

    ==

    I want this for the record.

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  71. Petraeus pulls it off. Check.
    ==

    What does that mean? That China gets Iraq's oil?

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  72. Pakistan border bluff. Check.
    ==

    What does that mean?

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  73. Venezuela border bluff. Check.
    ==

    And what does this mean?

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  74. "Next big thing." Check.
    ==

    And this? What is this supposed to mean?

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  75. No Iran strikes. Check.
    ==

    And this.

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  76. You've had it for the record all along, mat.

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  77. You've had it for the record all along, mat.
    ==

    Well, there you go. The hardheaded dumbfscks decipher mother hen's abstruse gibberish.

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  78. I'll have an Abstruse Gibberish with a paper umbrella, barkeep.

    It's Aloha Friday.

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  79. westhawk reports we've begun to arm the Pakistani tribal elders, with Chi-com AK47 varients.

    14,000 so far.

    Skip that whole invasion phase.
    Skip the whole transformation effort

    Goin' straight to givin' 'em guns.

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  80. rufus wrote:

    "Now, if we can just figure out some way to "Make" the damned idiot bankers lend a little money to "creditworthy" individuals, and enterprises, again, we just might survive this moron-induced nonsense."


    I saw this and thought of your post rufus:


    "Lending is not going to be fixed by recapitalizing banks. The underlying problem is not just that aggregate private loans are too large relative to bank capital; it is that they are too large relative to aggregate private income. Thus, the problem is with the borrowers, not just the lenders, and households need to lower their debt relative to income while corporations need to lower their debt relative to revenue. . ."

    http://norris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/united-panic/?hp

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  81. Police: Campaign Worker Admits Making Up Story

    A Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Ashley Todd confessed to making up the story & is facing charges

    PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Police sources tell KDKA that a campaign worker has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter "B" in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker.

    Ashley Todd, 20, of Texas, initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car.

    Police investigating the alleged attack, however, began to notice some inconsistencies in her story and administered a polygraph test.

    http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html

    ReplyDelete
  82. desert rat said...
    westhawk reports we've begun to arm the Pakistani tribal elders, with Chi-com AK47 varients.

    14,000 so far.

    Skip that whole invasion phase.
    Skip the whole transformation effort

    Goin' straight to givin' 'em guns.


    Well at least we're giving them the shitty ones. Hopefully with Wolf Ammo too.

    The Afghans like the Iranian AK variants much better. Maybe we're supplying those too.

    ReplyDelete
  83. it is that they are too large relative to aggregate private income.

    sez who?

    Ash, as you know, Capitalism depends on aggressive lending for business formation, etc.

    As I'v written many times, Bankers are the dumbest motherfuckers in the world. They'll spend 9 months lending money to "crack-heads, and "con Artists," and the next 3 months cowering under their beds refusing to lend to anybody. It's Always been this way.

    /rant off

    Okay, there's good reason for banks to be cautious right here, But, We're going to have to force them back into the game. "Force" may be too strong a term. Cajole, if you will.

    We need to get alternative fuels in every filling station in America. The "move" is to subsidize, and guarantee the loans - then require the filling station owners to take them. Same with alternative fuels manufacturers.

    Energy, and Jobs, Bubba. Energy, and Jobs.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Bankers are the dumbest motherfuckers in the world.
    Bankers are the dumbest motherfuckers in the world.
    Bankers are the dumbest motherfuckers in the world.
    Bankers are the dumbest motherfuckers in the world.

    So dumb that they made 200x what you did, got the taxpayer to bail them out, and have millions stashed in the Caymans. Stupid?

    They're laughing at you and all you can do is profane the Lord.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Banker, right?

    Yep.

    ReplyDelete
  86. What's happened to the talk of the greedy oil companies? The price has been nearly cut in half from where it was.

    Maybe Maxine Waters 'talked' the price down? Told those oil execs to knock it off or she'd nationalize them.

    Man, fortunes have been won and lost in the last few weeks.

    Lower oil prices ought to lead to lower food prices. But everything seems to go up faster than it comes down. And stay up longer.

    ReplyDelete
  87. McCain For President

    It's about foreign policy. The economic problems will pass. But the barbarians are still out there. So says Krauthammer.

    I agree with him, except that the economic problems might get worse with Obama.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Thanks for the video, Ash.

    I did get a laugh out of it.

    Though, I listened to it twice, and there wasn't one word about fishing!

    ReplyDelete
  89. I may just have to drive across Canada, on my way to Alaska.:)

    ReplyDelete
  90. Check this story out, Bob.

    STILLWATER* -- "It can't get any worse," that's what one Oklahoma State Regent said Tuesday morning, after getting another dose of bad news regarding funds earmarked for OSU athletics.
    Yesterday all indications were that OSU Regents were reportedly told Friday afternoon that a large portion of the Boone Pickens donation in the BP Capital hedge fund was virtually wiped out by margin calls on the funds investments in the third quarter.
    Today the news was a little more grim, as officials were told that actually, the entire $ 165 million donation, and the earnings, which once inflated the gift to over $ 300 million, had recently been eliminated by margin calls due to drastically falling oil prices.
    As of Monday OSU's gift had flat-lined completely and was declared 'gone.'
    Ironically Pickens will become both the hero and the goat in the drama of high stakes energy gambling, and of fortunes won, lost and regained. Pickens made his historic gift in 2005, declaring "I'm tired of losing," when asked why he donated the huge amount to OSU athletics.
    But the gift came with a stipulation, as Pickens insisted that he and appointee Mike Holder, who he later named Athletics Director, be given total authority over how the funds were to be spent, and by whom.
    And the move appeared to be a stroke of genius as oil prices soared in a post Katrina economic climate, swelling the initial gift to over $ 300 million. That was before things began to turn in 2007, as international demand for oil failed to meet projections, causing the fund to come to a sudden standstill, and then dropping on mistakes made, and repeated by fund managers, managed by Pickens.
    As oil prices started to slide in early 2008 Pickens increasingly found himself on the wrong side of the volatile oil futures game, betting 'short' as prices rose to $ 100, and then long as they began to fall, wiping out much of the two year gain in just four months, and causing AD Holder to announce that OSU's future 'Athletic Village' facility expansion had been put on hold in July.
    Now the project looks like it will be shelved, as O-State Regents try to just keep their heads above water while swimming in debt.
    The school had borrowed almost all funds used in the celebrated stadium expansion, using the almost $ 300 million balance in BP Capital as collateral.
    Some OSU Regents are livid that their pragmatic warnings were not heeded when the fund was flush with cash.
    Pickens and Holder apparently both resisted pleas by some OSU Regents to bank a good deal of the balance out of the fund when it exceeded $ 300 million, just 14 months ago. Instead both endorsed a plan of borrowing almost $ 200 million needed to expand and renovate Boone Pickens Stadium on the Stillwater campus.
    Ironically, the stadium had been re-named after Pickens following his generous donation in 2005. But now that stadium sits as a drain of over $ 1 million per month in interest payments alone, on an already strapped athletic budget, which annually ranks between 8th and 9th in the Big XII conference.
    Today, the problem is how to fund the surprise interest that is expected to top $ 13 million annually, when just months ago the school was going full steam ahead on an aggressive expansion of facilities that it believed were already paid for.


    H/T to Nate Hagens at The Oil Drum.

    ReplyDelete
  91. John Lott (More Guns, Less Crime) is on the Medved Show.

    He taught at the U of Chicago Law School when Obama was there. Met him in passing a few times. Asked him once about guns, and the answer was Obama didn't believe people should be allowed to own guns.

    Then changed his position over the course of this campaign.

    But, he has changed his position on everything, to suit.

    He was also saying that you can count on it that the economic 'news' will miracuosly improve when Obama is elected, as he and some collegue did a study about economic reporting.

    Republicans = bad

    Democrats = good

    He gave the example of the economic reporting at the end of the Clinton times. The reporting was that things were good, when the truth of the numbers showed them to be bad. Actual negative growth, but you wouldn'
    t find it in the newspapers.

    It is true we live in a society with a Main Stream Media.

    Do your own thinking.

    He was also saying, with unemployment now at about 6% whereas it was 5%--the increase is really due--about .09% according to his studies, from the enhanced unemployment benefits that Bush signed, at the behest of the Democrats, to get the last Iraq spending bill through.

    Those enhanced benefits account for all the increased rate of unemployment.

    People just go to the money, if they are in a job they don't like, and stay pretty much as long as they can get away with it.

    Which is human nature, and makes perfect sense.

    He also said there is just no way Obama can come through on all the programs he has promised. No way.

    The money isn't there.

    So, we may elect a man that promises even more than Hillary's Christmas Tree. Cause we like the sounds of that. And the press doesn't tell it like it is, or has been.

    A man that may not even be an American.

    Biggest smooth talker the world has ever known.


    Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  92. :)

    Welll Rufus we haven't won a football game at the University of Idaho since I can't remember when. It hasn't been this season.

    If we could get some of that T Boone money, if there is any, at least it couldn't make our record any worse.

    ReplyDelete
  93. I'm going to go out and play a little poker, tonite. Good tournament starting Sunday, and I'd like to win a seat for my "pony."

    See y'all tomorry.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Hope you win, Rufus, it's a game of skill, I'm told.

    All I do is push the idiot button as the Casino, once in a while.

    ReplyDelete
  95. And the football coach gets paid more than anyong else.

    Insanity. But, he will be gone soon.

    And then we'll hire our next loser.

    They didn't let the cheerleaders wear the uniforms they wanted.

    Wanted 'to show if off a little', you know.

    A fatal mistake.

    They were the only draw to the games.

    ReplyDelete
  96. When You Listen To This Shit, It Makes You Think Paying The Football Coach The Top Wage At The University Makes A Lot Of Sense

    Obamapeople.

    Re-education camps in the Southwest.

    And it's so sad, cause all those ideas have never worked, nor ever will.

    Just cause death.

    Fools.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Well, the first thing we should do, is kill all the farmers.

    That way, we'll have a steady supply of grain.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Then we could harvest in the spring, bob, when prices are higher.

    Farmers all harvesting at the same time, creates a glut on the market.

    We'll teach 'em about economics.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Man, the EB started off gloomy this morning but got a little better when Trish emasculated someone who didn't even realize his jewels were gone.

    When he did, he just stuttered.

    The EB, what a joint! Cheers, all.

    ReplyDelete
  100. And she kept calling for the little umbrella.

    All in a days work. Zip, zip and someone's speaking in a higher register from now on.

    ReplyDelete
  101. We need to harvest in the winter, Rat. Around January. It's that time of year most farmers are sitting around doing nothing anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  102. Rat, you might be able to rent out your land there as a 're-education camp'.

    This would bring in the added income needed to pay your higher taxes under the new Obama miracle plans.

    ReplyDelete
  103. Miracle Grow, bob.

    That's the future.

    An indusstrial society base upon agrarian economics.
    Little wonder it bothers doug.

    Seems oxymoronic

    ReplyDelete
  104. "But, you know, I'd be up for it."

    Joe the Plumber is thinking of going into politics. May run in 2010. Is for a national sales tax. Doesn't trust the politicians. Says Obama is 'average', has no mystique.
    Says he is Scared For America if Obama gets in.

    ReplyDelete
  105. As to the camp, bob, the Roman Legions numbered about 6,000 men, at full strength. Plus the camp followers.

    Anyway, they'd set up a palisade around 40 acres, and inside that perimeter they lived.

    Pretty darn cheek to jowl, seems to me.

    Not a whole lot of educatin' goin' on.

    ... constructing a Castra-Aestiva whenever they took up defences during a campaign or camped for the night. The permanent Castra were built to a fairly standard plan (below) over an area of from 17 hectares (42 acres) to 28 hectares (70 acres),

    The plan of the Castra-Hiberna (permanent winter legionary camp) at Novaesium (Neuss) on the Rhine River frontier in Northern Germany. This encampment, housing one legion, covered an area of about 24 hectares (60 acres) surrounded by a wall and a trench and berm rampart .

    Still averaging over 100 bodies per acre.

    ReplyDelete
  106. I saw a video some years ago about the Roman Legions, and how they moved them around the Mediterranean, and up into Europe proper too, to keep a lid on things. This video was made at some social science department in one of our universities. It was really good, but I could never find it now. They had a definite method going on, and this was illustrated by number of ships, grain supplies, roads, I quess what the military would call logistics now. The amount of time it took to get somewhere, the amount needed, the ports that could be used, all that. Maybe it was on PBS, where I saw it. They knew what they were doing. It kind of analyzed some of the movements mathematically. How they were stretched thin, here and there, and would try to compensate. Finally the whole thing kind of fell apart. Too many new ideas and atttitudes, too many 'barbarians', the whole thing, they couldn't keep it up.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Kind of like the Soviet Union finally falling apart, maybe.

    Too much ground to cover, too much opposition.

    ReplyDelete
  108. they couldn't keep it up.
    ==

    No one left to loot, except for the Romans. Which the new Roman quickly figured out.

    ReplyDelete
  109. You have it on record, Whit. And even now, nostro dumb ass wont stand behind it. I'll pin them checks on her in a year's time.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Livni in Israel can't seem to get a government formed. The orthodox, and the old folk's party, are holding out for more promises. Which promises to make for an interesting situation.

    Negotiations going on in some smoke filled rooms there, I bet.

    Are elections and Netanyahu waiting in the wings?

    ReplyDelete
  111. 72. Unsk:

    Dkite,JGreer
    The descent into socialism in the blue urban states and cities has made urban living way to expensive. I know way too many two earner families who are overextended due to the high cost of living. That is why there is not only a mortgage crisis but in all likelihood a credit card debt crisis looming too. The government in urban areas is much too intrusive for the free market and entrepreneurs to create new jobs and a healthy economy without an ever increasing rise in the urban real cost of living.

    The Republicans, particularly Rinos, so fearful of confronting the media elites, have betrayed Reagan’s zeal for de- regulation and free enterprise. The Republicans have not only offered few solutions; they have refused to thoroughly address the issues and have dismissed the cost of living problem as an illusion.

    People are rightfully fearful and they are grasping for solutions. The situation is perfect for demagogues like Obama who are the only ones offering a vision for the future, albeit a deceitful one.
    ---

    75. buddy larsen:

    Unsk, the financial folk are hearing that the credit card issuers have already prepared a 100 bbl write-off of bad consumer credit-card debt, with the big wave expected to break in Q109. the number was arrived at by assuming a worst case, and then doubling it. this strikes me as odd, as that new number should be the actual worst-case that needs doubling.

    When the new foreclosure-protection program gets up and going, there are going to be neighbors with similar mortgages, joe who quit paying and thereby got some portion of his debt forgiven, and john who did not, and is still paying his mortgage. if both started out with say 1000 monthly, and bob ends up with 500 monthly on a reduced principle, then john, who is still paying hard on a principle that just became an inflated scam evil joke, will be required to become Jesus in order to not revolt.

    There’ll be millions of these stories. What will happen?
    Oct 24, 2008 - 4:50 pm

    76. buddy larsen:

    that’s called “moral hazard” and it gwan eat the hi-interest card issuers too, big time. think “cascade”. This is SO f**ked up. we are SO hosed. just a year ago, we took for granted behaviors that a year from now will seem like the Golden Age of Greece.

    I gotta go run. later i’ll pay penance for the above by posting a plausible bull case. gotta go run first, shower, then drop a little acid.

    ReplyDelete
  112. 81. mika2k1:

    Btw, how are them plans to the melt the rockies into liquid oil coming along?


    82. mika2k1:

    ..to melt the rockies..


    84. slade:

    Magna Cum Magma coming right up.

    I’m sorry that’s the best I could do - it’ll happen Mika. Not fast enough or in a straight line. But messy. The American Way.

    ---
    I think she's got it Ruf:
    Geothermal Oil Shale!

    Mix Shale with the Fires of Hell.

    Hope you win big so you can get a chunk of my Initial Offering.

    ReplyDelete
  113. Aristide

    Here’s some statistical breakdown. Perhaps there’s useful information there. I know there is some interesting demographic date in the February archives.
    That data would appear to indicate that the DNC (or who ever had the power) set up caucuses in states with low black populations, so that “white guilt” intimidation could be used!

    ReplyDelete
  114. Democrat's campaign denied allegations, but new evidence indicates membership.





    By Aaron Klein
    © 2008 WorldNetDaily



    JERUSALEM – Evidence has emerged that Sen. Barack Obama belonged to a socialist political party that sought to elect members to public office with the aim of moving the Democratic Party far leftward to ultimately form a new political party with a socialist agenda.

    Several blogs, including Powerline, previously documented that while running for the Illinois state Senate in 1996 as a Democrat, Obama actively sought and received the endorsement of the socialist-oriented New Party, with some blogs claiming Obama was a member of the controversial party.

    The New Party, formed by members of the Democratic Socialists for America and leaders of an offshoot of the Community Party USA, was an electoral alliance that worked alongside the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. The New Party's aim was to help elect politicians to office who espouse its policies.

    Among New Party members was linguist and radical activist Noam Chomsky.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Noam Chomsky, that's what we are getting. And Alinski. And Ayers.

    ReplyDelete
  116. I can't stand to post it, the "Obama Receives Coveted Iran Endorsement" article over at American Thinker.

    What o what are we coming to.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Exactly bob, but does it matter to enough people and do too many people want exactly that?

    ReplyDelete
  118. But the IBD/TIPP poll still has it close, with nearly 12% undecided.

    ReplyDelete
  119. Whatever happened to the old saying about being "known by the company we keep"?

    I guess that would require us to make a judgment.

    While I asking, when did "discriminating" become a pejorative and why did we let it happen?

    Into the vacuous heads of a dumbed down electorate jumped the Transnational lingists two have labored tirelessly to change the meaning of words.

    ReplyDelete
  120. Babelfish?

    Fuck. I have no idea what you talking about.

    ReplyDelete
  121. "Whatever happened to the old saying about being "known by the company we keep"?"
    ---
    Everything will be known.
    Everything we own.
    Obama will know, thus no more need for free markets, or freedom per se.
    Obama will guide us.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Greenspan has declared to Waxman:
    It was all Capitalism's Fault.
    Starting over in a Brave New World.
    cra 2.0

    ReplyDelete
  123. Good thing Obama knows which communities need investment most.

    ReplyDelete
  124. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  125. What a bunch of hog wash, Doug.

    ReplyDelete
  126. How so?

    Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be merged into Fannie Max.
    aka Big-Ass Bank.

    ReplyDelete
  127. Biden lashes out at corporate greed in Colo.

    Biden took direct aim at executives who draw big salaries while leading failed companies where employees are losing pensions. "Their pensions go first," he told a roaring crowd.

    He was introduced by Patricia Stiles, who described herself as a lifelong Republican but said she is voting Democratic this year because her husband lost his job and his pension when United Airlines reorganized under bankruptcy protection.

    Biden asked the crowd to keep Obama in their prayers as he leaves the campaign Thursday and Friday to visit his ailing grandmother in Hawaii. He said she is not expected to live.

    "It's an emotional journey, but he's a remarkable man," Biden said.

    ReplyDelete
  128. Bad news folks:
    I'm not expected to live either.
    Cutoff date as yet uncertain.

    ReplyDelete
  129. "He said she is not expected to live."

    Maybe if you guy raise your expectations, it would delay my expiration date?

    ReplyDelete
  130. What did I read today, about 3000 or so 'academics' coming out behind Ayers.

    Whit has a good point there about discrimating, I believe.

    A turd is a turd, whether 'tis a white turd or a black one. A turd by any other name smells the same, as the bard might say.

    ReplyDelete
  131. Is this the granny from Kenya? Or the white granny?

    Maybe she has something she could be compelled to testify to?

    But I don't know. It is just speculation.

    But I want to ask Ash--who do you think was behind this roughing up of Corsi, in Kenya? Cause roughed up, he was?

    Do you think the Kenyans just got a little emotional---or is there something more here?

    Again, just askin'.

    ReplyDelete
  132. Biden just funneled two million bucks from the campaign to his family. Expenses and stuff, salaries.

    ReplyDelete
  133. A turd is still a turd
    Whether
    'Tis white or black,
    Or,
    Red or yellow,
    And
    Smells the same, by
    Any other name.




    I like that.

    ReplyDelete
  134. Ayers, Alinski, Chomski--a trio from hell.

    All white.

    ReplyDelete
  135. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  136. I think granny's gonna "miraculously" give birth to that certificate Charles and you guys are so hot for.
    It'll be called a
    Virgin Birth Certificate.
    Fitting.
    ...for the Messiah

    ReplyDelete
  137. NOW I have a SOURCE, Trish!
    You Loose!
    ---
    96. cedarford:

    Unsk - The Republicans, particularly Rinos, so fearful of confronting the media elites, have betrayed Reagan’s zeal for de- regulation and free enterprise.

    The good part of Reagan’s Administration will endure, but sadly and properly, things Saint Reagan was wrong about 30 years ago that have not stood the test of time will have to go.
    Just as everything Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, and Nixon did were not made Holy and Immutable…
    Reagans ideas, disproven over time?

    1. Government is the problem. No, incompetent & overreaching gov’t outside it’s limited spheres where it works best is bad.

    2. Arguing that deregulated markets work best is like arguing that auto traffic without laws or schools without discipline is the way to go. Reagan had a better opinion of the greedy, rapacious financiers and Wall Street Moguls than they deserved. Since his time, it has been one major crises after another as fatcats screwed the public. 7 major fiscal crises including this one, the worst, that have cost America trillions since the original Savings and Loan dereg scandal are the fruit of Reaganism. Now we have the latest, and by far the worst screwing of the public by uncontrolled fatcats. Add in non-financial dereg scandals like ratepayers being screwed and richboy insiders being further enriched in the electricity and telecomm dereg scandals.

    3. Tax cuts for the rich, mainly theoretical under Reagan dogma, have now gone on long enough to show they cost taxpayers 90 cents for every 40 cents in new revenue they gain. They do not pay for themselves.

    4. “Trickledown” is another Reagan myth. A good deal of the concentration of the wealth in the hands of a few does not pass on to the rest of society, but is sent abroad to rebuild factories to replace workers or spent as Saddam spent Iraq’s wealth - on palaces and foundation monuments to His Wealth….

    5. Reagan was wrong about “free markets” ensuring the best health care for all Americans, and Nixon right. Nixon, when he said if we don’t get universal health care we will pay twice as much for it as any other country, our medicare costs will explode, and the working Americans in near-poverty, like he was born into - would have no health care coverage.

    6. Reagan was wrong about free trade - the victory a long chain of Presidents from Truman onward over Communism - liberated skilled workers - over a billion in E Europe, the countries of the Former Soviet Union, de-Socialized India, and China to compete against and win against higher standard of living American workers. Plus 2 billion more unskilled workers that wish to come to the USA - and while only 1% have made it across our Open Borders so far, they create as big a problem as Chinese factories gutting US and Mexican jobs…
    Even Reagan didn’t believe like his TRue Believers did - when the Japanese were destroying jobs and industries - Reagan set limits to protect middle class jobs. Dubya didn’t.

    ***Reagan did a lot of good things, but add unthinking dogmatic worship of everything Reagan said 30-35 years ago,

    ReplyDelete
  138. There ya go Trish:

    Librarians are like Streets w/o Stop Signs!

    Shameful, the lawlessness you call for!

    ReplyDelete
  139. "It's an emotional journey, but he's a remarkable man," Biden said.

    Right. Or, maybe I'm just getting too cynical. Showing up two days before the flesh goes cold.

    Same guy who wouldn't give his half brother a hundred bucks, there in Kenya.

    Well, he seems to treat all the relatives the same, I'll say that.

    ReplyDelete
  140. Like a gun w/o a safety.
    Like a boiler w/o a relief valve.
    Like...

    ReplyDelete
  141. ...Like a woman around Doug w/o the sense to say "NO!"

    ReplyDelete
  142. Virgin Birth Certificate.

    :)

    hehehe

    ReplyDelete
  143. Yea, verily, the wages of sin is an accelerated expiration date.

    ReplyDelete
  144. Who will Cedarford choose to be the first to fall under the New Régime?

    One guess.

    ReplyDelete
  145. NEW BEDFORD — After the November election, Democrats will push for a second economic stimulus package that includes money for the states' stalled infrastructure projects, along with help paying for healthcare expenses, food stamps and extended unemployment benefits, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said Thursday.

    In a meeting with the editorial board of The Standard-Times, Rep. Frank, D-Mass., also called for a 25 percent cut in military spending, saying the Pentagon has to start choosing from its many weapons programs, and that upper-income taxpayers are going to see an increase in what they are asked to pay.

    The military cuts also mean getting out of Iraq sooner, he said.

    ReplyDelete
  146. Barney would know.
    He'll "Head Up"
    CRA 2.0

    ReplyDelete
  147. A Blow Job for the Masses,
    so to speak.

    ReplyDelete
  148. and extended unemployment benefits

    Which, according to John Lott, will push up the unemployment figures, just as was done recently when Bush signed off on the extended benefits to get the Iraq funding.

    After all the sacrifice in Iraq, they are just going to walk away.

    When we've basically got it won, and there is more violence in Chicago than Iraq.

    Gut the military.

    Preach class warfare.

    ReplyDelete
  149. Barney ought to move to San Francisco. He can get in line where Bernie left off.

    ReplyDelete
  150. When you Ain’t Got Nuthin, You got Nuthin to Lose.

    Freedom from responsibility is the only true freedom.

    ReplyDelete
  151. Teaching science for social justice.

    Angela Calabrese Barton, the volume’s principal author, explains:

    “The marriages between capitalism and education and capitalism and science have created a foundation for science education that emphasizes corporate values at the expense of social justice and human dignity.”

    The alternative?

    “Science pedagogy framed around social justice concerns can become a medium to transform individuals, schools, communities, the environment, and science itself, in ways that promote equity and social justice.

    Creating a science education that is transformative implies not only how science is a political activity but also the ways in which students might see and use science and science education in ways transformative of the institutional and interpersonal power structures that play a role in their lives.”

    ReplyDelete
  152. Ayers for Secretary of Education!

    ReplyDelete

  153. Our individual salvation is not going to come about without a collective salvation for the country


    " I saw that in some ways certain portions of the African American community are doing as bad if not worse, and recognizing that my fate remains tied up with their fates, that my individual salvation is not going to come about without a collective salvation for the country.

    Unfortunately, I think that recognition requires we make sacrifices and this country is(sic) not always been willing to make the sacrifices necessary to bring about a new day, and a new age.
    "

    ReplyDelete
  154. Competence will win out. It always does. I hope. That statement you posted could only be translated by Ash. Science has been transforming human society since the beginning. That statement could have been written by a Nazi scientist, when you really look at it.

    Tranformative, political, institutional and interpersonal power structures that play a role in their lives.

    It's all a bunch of crap.

    What we need are good doctors, nurses, physicists, electricians, on and on. From wherever they come from.

    ReplyDelete
  155. You are hopelessly wedded to reason, empiricism, individual merit, and other capitalist and post- colonialist deformities, LaBob.
    Sad.

    ReplyDelete
  156. It's a matter of the democrats trying to dig up some dirt on a woman they despise. The Alaskan State Police seem to have some real problems, from the comments on a lengthy Alaskan blog I read the other night. It's a kind of a club, and it's hard to get people fired, even if you are the Governor, and you family has been threatened with death.



    A legislative investigation found that Palin had every right to fire the commissioner, Walter Monegan. But the report found that Palin violated state ethics laws by trying to get her former family member kicked off the force.


    (AP) Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks to a crowd about policies...



    Palin and her husband, Todd, say the trooper, Mike Wooten, was unstable and had made threats against their family. Wooten had also used an electric stun gun on his stepson.

    "I make no apologies for wanting to protect my family and wanting to publicize the injustice of a violent trooper keeping his badge," Todd Palin said in an affidavit submitted to legislative investigators.

    ReplyDelete
  157. Granny to the re-education camp.

    ReplyDelete
  158. Reliapundit said... Hi JH; Here's my take on it (I focus on Obama-Jr's family and theirtreatment of Madelyn Dunham here):
    OBAMA TO SKIP AILING GRANDMA'S BIRTHDAY; OBAMA'S WIFE AND KIDS SKIP TRIP ALTOGETHER:

    Obama Arrives in Hawaii to Visit Ailing Grandmother
    HONOLULU
    -- On a whirlwind trip back to Hawaii,
    Senator Barack Obama spent more than an hour visiting his ailing grandmother
    late Thursday and is set to return to her bedside on Friday morning after arriving here on a nine-hour flight from the Midwestern battleground of the presidential campaign.
    As soon as he arrived on the island of Oahu, Mr. Obama went to the Punahou Circle Apartments, where his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, lies gravely ill. She is to turn 86 on Sunday, but aides to Mr. Obama said doctors advised him not to delay his visit.

    ... Mr. Obama is scheduled to be in Hawaii for only about 20 hours before returning to the mainland on Friday evening. . He is to appear at three campaign rallies on Saturday in Nevada and New Mexico

    UNBELIEVABLE:
    * Obama IS NOT repeat NOT staying for his Granma's birthday - perhaps her last.
    UNBELIEVABLE: * OBAMA'S WIFE MICHELLE AND HIS CHILDREN WILL NOT REPEAT NOT BE SEEING HER AT ALL. WHAT SC*M. VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

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  159. Corsi Is In Hawaii Too

    I think it would have been a good piece of PR to celebrate grandmother's birthday, even if you are cynical. What's a day and you have all the tv cameras.

    Send Michelle and the kids if the campaign is too pressing.

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  160. Noble said...

    Recall how BHO told the press awhile back that him and the family would be going to Hawaii to visit Grandma (this was a couple months back?) the press ate it up!
    "The kids need to get some Grandma time"
    yet when he did go to the condo - the press followed him to the elevators
    - NO Michelle - NO kids (little mistakes) and he stayed a whopping one (1) hour visiting Grandma! He had not seen her in 18 months and he could only stay one hour.
    Something is very strange about these trips.
    And this family.

    ---
    Doug said...

    Michelle did not join John, Cindy and Barry at the 9-11 observance.

    She's got a record to maintain.

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  161. Maybe that's the moslem way, just a brief hour's visit before a female relative departs.

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