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A refreshing piece of work

Friday, December 17, 2010

There is one news organization that makes it a habit to actually get at the facts, and ignore the right wing spin that everyone else reports in, at best, a “he said, she said” style, assuming that they don’t buy it hook, line and sinker. Not the New York Times, not the Washington Post, and certainly not any of the television networks. It is lonely little McClatchey. McClatchey purchased Knight Ridder, which was the sole news outlet actually looking for the truth before the benighted adventure began in Iraq.

Recently, the Republican members of the “bi-partisan commission” tasked with figuring out the reason for the economic collapse (which as Paul Krugman points out, are painfully obvious to any sentient non-Republican) decided to break with the commission, which had just refused their request that the terms “Wall Street”, “deregulation” and “shadow banking” be left out of the groups report. The Republicans, never letting the facts get in the way, intend to issue their own report, blaming the collapse on Freddie and Fannie Mae, a pet delusion of the right. Note that one reading the article at the link, from Bloomberg’s this time, would never know just how intellectually dishonest that assertion is.

But if you read McClatchy here is what you get:

As the economy worsens and Election Day approaches, a conservative campaign that blames the global financial crisis on a government push to make housing more affordable to lower-class Americans has taken off on talk radio and e-mail.

Commentators say that’s what triggered the stock market meltdown and the freeze on credit. They’ve specifically targeted the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the federal government seized on Sept. 6, contending that lending to poor and minority Americans caused Fannie’s and Freddie’s financial problems.

Federal housing data reveal that the charges aren’t true, and that the private sector, not the government or government-backed companies, was behind the soaring subprime lending at the core of the crisis.

See! Is that so very hard? No on the one hand and on the other hand. Just the facts, just like Joe Friday.

Starting in January we will see Congressional investigations that will prove beyond doubt that the private banks were blameless for the mess they caused. With some honorable exceptions they will be accorded respect in the media and treated as if they should be taken seriously. As a result, and at best, we will lay the groundwork for an repetition of the crisis that has left everyone but the bankers far poorer than they were. It’s the way it is in America. If the Republicans said it, the media would report without quibble that shit doesn’t stink. Come to think of it, with this story, that’s exactly what they’re doing.

Thanks to Matt Berger for picking up on the McClatchy story in his ongoing coverage of the mortgage mess. (Unfortunately, no link to Matt, his stuff comes via an email newsletter)


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Friday Night Music, Christmas Again

Friday, December 17, 2010

I’ve probably done this before, but it’s one of the better rock and roll Christmas songs, and anyway, Christmas is a time for traditions.

This is likely the last music post before Christmas, inasmuch as a week from tonight is Christmas Eve and I’ll be otherwise engaged, so to anyone reading this, have a Happy Holiday.

This is not to say, of course, that I won’t be doing a bit of ranting next week. The last few weeks have gotten me discouraged, I’ll allow, but sooner or later I always bounce back. Hope springs eternal.


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They can dish it out, but they can’t take it

Thursday, December 16, 2010

I realize that I should be writing about stuff that matters, but things are really just too depressing out there, what with the “compromise” and all down there in Washington. So, I prefer to celebrate a tiny victory.

Down in Fort Worth, in Texas, the state where they inflict prayer on you at high school football games, the persecuted Christians got all upset when a group of atheists put an ad on a bus that read “Millions of Americans are Good Without God”. Well, suddenly all those Christians got all sensitive-like about having someone else’s religion (or lack thereof) shoved down their throats.

Unfortunately, even in Texas the courts aren’t likely to say that you can let religious ads on the busses (and of course there have been plenty) and bar atheistical ads. Not yet of course, though I’d give even money that the current Supreme Court could find a way. But, not wanting to bear the cost, the Transportation Authority has banned all religious ads. Reminds me of the school board in Utah that banned all extracurricular groups because the courts wouldn’t let them ban a gay and lesbian group. What was that about a nose and a face?

Perhaps this is one way to impose reason on this benighted land. Atheists and non-Christians everywhere should put up displays next to creches, demand their turn to give the benedictions or prayers at public meetings, even, if they have the guts, demand equal time at those Texas football games. Now folks, if they do that, only two things can happen. The whole country might become tolerant and realize the error of its ways and that really the government ought to just stay out of religion for everyone’s good, or, more realistically, the country will double down on intolerance by following the Fort Worth example. Either way, we win.


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It has served its purpose

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Remember when the fate of America and/or Christianity rested on whether an Islamic community center would be built somewhere close to both ground zero and a strip club? Seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it? The threat is technically still hanging over us, yet for some reason it doesn’t seem to bother the bloviators anymore. TPM reports that Judicial Watch is still pursuing a mosque related FOIA request, but this paragraph struck me:

Judicial Watch filed a request under New York’s Freedom of Information Law, or FOIL, back in August, when the street outside the Park51 Islamic center was packed daily with protesters and Islamophobia in general was rising throughout America. The furor over the project has died down considerably since, with only the fiercest anti-mosque folks voicing opposition.

The “mosque” is yesterday’s news. It has served its purpose; having ratcheted up the fear and loathing going into the election. Suddenly, all those Fox commentators that felt so threatened have other things to worry about, likely things that actually strike closer to their own homes, like tax cuts for themselves and their rich friends. But we should have no fear that the fear and loathing has come to an end. Come 2012 new threats from the other will appear, and the attention of this ADD nation will be diverted once again, in service to the interests of the upper 2%.

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It’s a topsy turvy world

Monday, December 13, 2010

It’s hard to believe that it’s not yet three years since Hillary Clinton proved she was incapable of being president by choking up a bit when she made the point that elections and their consequences actually mattered to real people. The fact that she came close to-might even have-shedding a few tears was all we heard about on the news.

Fast forward three years and here’sJohn Boehner once again shedding copious tears for no discernible reason. Nary a word do we hear about his unfitness for the office to which he aspires. Whatever happened to that sentiment I heard from my (female, as it happened) Dentist, as she prepared to drill my un-anesthetized teeth: “Big Boys Don’t Cry”? Were the Four Seasons right after all? Is it only Big Girls Who Don’t Cry?

Perhaps I’m revealing my age. Yes Virginia, I remember a time when it was considered “unmanly” to cry. In that long ago time, a woman was permitted, within reason, to shed a few tears no questions asked. Now, it seems, the rules are reversed. Imagine, if you will, what we would have heard had Nancy Pelosi ever shed a single tear in response to the vicious assaults against her, not to mention what would have been said had she broken down like Boehner did.

But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this has nothing to do with gender. Maybe this is simply one more facet of a rule of political life that seems to have become cast into concrete: IOKIYAR.


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Fighting back in Great Britain

Monday, December 13, 2010

Last week I had jury duty. While we were in the “jury assembly room” we were, of course, subjected to the inevitable television, which appears to be the chief method used in this country to tranquilize people in waiting rooms. I suppose I should be thankful that we were spared the almost inevitable Fox channel. Instead of that hyper-irritant, they inflicted CNN on us.

CNN was reporting on the British student protests, and the court employee (a recent student himself judging by his age) who inflicted the television on us made a remark to the effect that they had nothing to complain about since our state universities, nowadays, typically charge four times what the British will be asked to pay.

I kept my mouth shut of course, but in my own humble opinion, the question is not why the British students are protesting, but why American students have been so quiescent while their right to acquire an education without acquiring massive debt has been slowly eroded. These mounting fees are just one more brick in the wall that is steadily being erected between the 2% who are about to secure their tax cut, and the rest of us, who are about to pay for that tax cut.

It’s time, it seems to me, for our kids to join this 15 year old Britisher (who has a future as a politician; let us hope he stays on our side). Our generation is screwing them big time, and it really seems like they should start fighting back.



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Friday Night Music-Sympathy for the Rich

Friday, December 10, 2010

At the moment this is written, the House Democrats have done the unthinkable. They have stood by their guns and told Obama to stuff his deal, which fact, at first, I thought would render this video choice inapt. When I first chose it, I figured to say something to the effect that the rich folks on this side of the Atlantic don’t have to join the Kinks in lamenting their tax burden, as they had been, indeed, “saved from [the] squeeze”.

But now I can just turn that around. The upper 2% can join the Kinks in singing the blues, for the time being at least. Most likely, few will, as no one really believes they’ll be squeezed in the end.

Please pardon the video, in which there seems to be no effort to “suit the action to the word[s]”. It’s a great song nonetheless, and captures well the exquisite anguish experienced by our betters, as they contemplate the horrible prospect of paying something close to their fair share.


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Gentleman’s C

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Now that we are approaching the conclusion of what is perhaps the greatest political surrender in American history, it’s time to look back and ask ourselves. How did CTBlue do? Did his predictions here and here come to pass?

Well, as you can see above, I get a passing grade. I got a lot of the details wrong, as I thought Congress would lead the way to the surrender. In a way they (with Obama’s passive as always acquiescence) did, by putting the issue off, a strategic blunder so massive one stands in awe. I certainly did not anticipate the fact that Obama would embrace the issue as his own, and bravely lead the Democrats off a cliff.

So, how did I earn my C? Well, I got the denouement right. And I did anticipate Obama’s willingness to cave, though not his absolute eagerness to do so:

The only question that remains: Will Obama stick to his recently announced position (so far he is, but we’ve heard that before), or “compromise” by giving the Republicans everything they want?

Stay tuned, but I predict it won’t be pretty.

Well, though I framed it as a question, I think it’s pretty clear which way I thought Obama would go. So, my passing grade.

I was hoping to get an F on this one, but never had much hope.

The road ahead is far easier to predict. The Republicans have taken Obama’s measure, and despite the fact that they will be in legal control of only one House of Congress, they are now effectively in control. No one will ever believe he will stand firm on anything, as indeed, he never has and never will. Obama got one year of unemployment benefits ( a relatively small benefit to the economy that will be of little political benefit to him and his party) in exchange for two years of tax cuts, meaning he’s going to have to give away something else a year from now to get the benefits extended again, and will no doubt be forced to give way on taxes again in time for the 2012 election. We can expect him to continue to lash out at the people who voted for him and actually believed his message of hope, while giving the Republicans more love than any Stockholm syndrome sufferer ever gave to his tormentors. Bill Clinton had his defects, but he learned quickly how to manipulate the Republicans and make them look bad. Obama hasn’t learned that, and never will. It’s going to be a very difficult two years, and, regretfully I must say we can’t afford four more years of Obama’s incompetence. Looking back, it would have been better if John McCain had won. The economy would be a total disaster right now, no doubt, but the Democrats would have complete control of the Congress right now and would be positioned to take the White House in 2012 with, perhaps, a candidate ready to lead. There’s no reason to think Obama will change if re-elected, so even if he wins we will get four more years of Republican rule, regardless of who theoretically controls the Congress. That means, by the way, four more years of recession/depression because the Republicans will insist on policies designed to keep the economy depressed, which has benefitted them electorally, and Obama will be incapable of opposing them or even of articulating a counter-message the American people can understand and/or believe.

We are fucked.


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I’m confused.

Monday, December 6, 2010

According to the Huffington Post there’s no chance the Democrats will have the spine to let the Bush tax cuts expire. I don’t quarrel with that.

But this had me shaking my head:

A top Senate aide, meanwhile, predicted that there would be “lots of nay votes on a White House compromise,” though likely not enough to sustain a filibuster. A far more difficult calculus faces the party in the House, as The Huffington Post’s Howard Fineman reported. But even then, most observers expect leadership to let only enough disaffected members vote no so that it doesn’t endanger final passage.

Since when has a Democratic Congressman had to be allowed to vote against his or her party? Seems to me the Blue Dogs have made a habit of it, their reward being a party that fell on its collective sword in a (thankfully) mostly vain attempt to save their collective asses. Does Pelosi have some sort of hold over the votes of the progressives that she lacks over those of the DINOs that are constantly impeding real progressive legislation in the House?

The odd thing about this is that it assumes that the legislation will need any unwilling Democratic votes. Is this to be one of those “compromises” that the Democrats have to push through on their own? Shouldn’t there be enough Republican votes (all of them, I would say, or no deal) so that, along with the willing Democrats, the cave in will pass easily? I mean, you can always count on the Democrats to reinforce their spineless image. Since when have they needed to be pressured?

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Friday Night Music-REM

Friday, December 3, 2010

I have a sort of a rule that I don’t repeat an artist/group that I’ve already done, but I can’t be sure as far as REM goes, and when I search the site for the group’s name I get every post where the letters “rem” appear in sequence. So, I’m going to assume that this is their first appearance. Losing My Religion.


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