Politics

« Older Entries | Newer Entries »

Hank Paulson Could Sell An Ice Cube To An Eskimo

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on September 16, 2009 by admin in Politics

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

And he sold Bush a bailout that Bush didn’t understand. But can he sell you a book?


So Long, And Thanks For All The Crocs!

I guess the fact that Hank Paulson is releasing the book On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System in 2010 should instill in us all a comforting feeling that the financial crisis is well behind us now. Well, it doesn’t. It does however, instill in some of us the feeling that Paulson is a greedy self-engrossed bastard that is so out of touch with the reality of those of us that are paying for his spectacular destruction of capitalism as we know it that he thinks we’d buy his book. Or be able to afford it, for that matter. It also – along with the impending release of Bush speechwriter Matthew Latimer’s Speech-less: Tales of a White House Survivor – makes for some hilarious pre-release reading. The only thing that might give you a better laugh than Latimer’s self-aggrandizing piece in GQ is Wonkette’s reaction to it. My favorite excerpt is when Wonkettes’s Juli Weiner takes Latimer’s passage “Paulson was supposed to be a nonideological, pragmatic, sensible type. He was bald with glasses and had a scratchy voice that sounded like he had a thousand-dollar bill caught in his throat” and translates it as “Paulson loved eating money. This is why the economy became so bad, because he ate all the money, we’d write. Because that’s what we were told.” Taking a more serious tone, the Vanity Fair piece Henry Paulson’s Longest Night rambles on in an almost surreal attempt to build compassion for Paulson by telling us what a tough job it was for him to hoodwink Washington with his buddy Bernanke and then sweep their frightening mess under the rug using the veil of secrecy provided by being in charge of the Federal Reserve. Probably the most gratifying thing in this piece is when the author describes Paulson throwing up in the next room while he talks about Nancy Pelosi. I can’t wait for more of the continuing flood of these opportunistic and treacherous “insider views”, but so far the most interesting thing I’ve learned from Latimer’s, Paulson’s and Tom Ridge’s tell-all sellouts is that Bush wears Crocs*. Read the rest of this entry »

Cynicism Is A Sorry Kind Of Wisdom

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on September 10, 2009 by admin in Politics

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

What did YOU think about Obama’s health care speech?

This is not a CNN Poll
Do You Think The Obama White House Can Fix Health Care?
YES
NO
This is not a scientific poll

It’s rather poignant somehow that it was Barack Obama who said that on the campaign trail. The statement implies a kind of positive hopefulness that is one of the key reasons I voted for the man. I struggle with a certain cynicism about the current administration though; I wonder on occasion if I’ve been duped again by a clever campaign, and I wonder, as I’ve said before, if President Obama is doomed to a Carter-like presidency; a fairly decent man, swimming in the shark tank that is Washington. However, the confidence and clarity of his health care speech last night (full text, single page here ) reinvigorated some of my flailing hope for change in the capitol. I’m almost ashamed that his remark that “I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last” made me think of Clinton, who would’ve prided himself on the ambiguity of the statement, in that he’s not claiming to fix the problem, he might just be the last president to try. I’m not fundamentelly cynical, but I think that to not be cynical about politics is naïve. And although on an individual basis with humans I’m one of the most hopeful people you’ll meet, the ongoing “Brady Bunch Dividing Line” that some American citizens have drawn between themselves seems irreversible, and completely immune to rational thought and discourse. Especially when we have a desperately struggling, profit-driven news media fanning these attitudes at every turn. So a speech like President Obama’s speech last night keeps me going, even if one of the most inspiring lines in the speech was written by Ted Kennedy: “What we face is above all a moral issue; at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.” If we can remember as a country that our real, deeper American values are those regarding a certain character based on decency and reason, we’ll be alright. And I thank the president for reminding us of that. What do you think? Read the rest of this entry »

We Don’t Need No Education

[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 5, 2009 by admin in Politics

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

But we’ll have another serving of that delicious thought control, thank you very much.

But we’ll have another serving of that delicious thought control, thank you very much! In the past decade or so, the political landscape, the media’s portrayal of it, and the irrational, polarized public sentiment aroused by the combination of the two have nearly driven me back to a position I held in my twenties, which is that the only rational response to politics is to become apolitical. I’m not quite there yet, so I’d like to share a few thoughts, and get your feedback if you have the time and interest. For the record, I have to confess that the recent ranting about whether or not President Obama’s speech next week should be viewed in the public schools was sort of a last straw for me; I dropped out of high school in the tenth grade in the seventies, a time when I feel safe in saying public education was in better shape than it is now. Education is a hot-button topic for me. And frankly, even Republicans like Colin Powell are concerned about the alarmingly high dropout rate in America. The idea that a local public school system would decide to censor a presidential speech directed at school kids – rather than viewing it and having intelligent classroom discourse about it – is mind boggling to me. In my view, it’s a perfect example of the negative impact of politically driven, media-fueled, irrational public sentiment. So, listed below are a few things I think are at the core of many of America’s problems right now. Please save me from my own political apathy; if I know there are others out there with similar thoughts, I might stay engaged and even pursue action. Otherwise, I’m likely to end up as one of the first proud citizens of the impending Idiocracy. Read the rest of this entry »

Want To Know Where Your Bailout Dollars Are Going? Too Bad.

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on August 29, 2009 by admin in Politics

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

The Federal Reserve insists it’s none of your business which banks your tax dollars are bailing out.

Would you like to know which banks are getting the $23 Trillion bailouts you and your grandkids are paying for? TOO BAD. The Federal Reserve has insisted that Manhattan U.S. District Court Chief Judge Loretta Preska’s ruling in favor of Bloomberg News in a recent FOIA case would “would threaten the companies and the economy” adding that revealing the information “would stigmatize the banks and result in imminent competitive harm”. This is the second such case recently; Fox News lost one in July. Bet you didn’t know Fox cared so much about the common man, did you? Well, they apparently want to protect us from the evils of the BBC too. If you’ve been feeling better about the economy, we don’t want to dent your enthusiasm, but be aware that as of this writing, 81 more banks have failed this year, and from March to June the number of banks on the “Problem List” rose from 305 to 416. And all of this while banks repackage the same toxic investments that caused it all.

Terror Just Doesn’t Terrorize Like It Used To

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on August 23, 2009 by admin in Politics

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

Sometimes I miss the good old days of paranoia, fear, and purely political election year terror alerts. That’s why I’m glad there are plenty of two-faced self-serving jerks like Scott McClellan and Tom Ridge around.

Sometimes I miss the good old days. The good old days when some LED throwies that were part of a viral marketing campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force could paralyze a major American city. Or when an iPod dropped in a toilet would summon a bomb squad. Which is why I’m glad that every so often a book like Tom Ridge’s The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege comes out. Not that I’ll buy the darn thing – or read it – but it’s just so nice to have that tingly sensation of paranoia and distrust of government reinvigorated. I don’t really have the warm fuzzies for the current administration either, but that Bush gang was downright creepy. The height of my anger towards their bald-faced lying and manipulation of public trust was around the time I was contracted by a liberal-leaning commodities trader to do the site AmericanCenturyNow.org because he wanted to sway his moderate Republican business associates right before the 2008 elections. In spite of being a fairly simple, well-documented indictment of the Bush White House that was free of liberal hyperbole, the reaction to the site amongst even my more rabidly Democratic friends was rather ho-hum. Which is where people’s concern about our occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the state of the economy, and Guatanamo detainees seems to remain. So keep biting the hands that fed you, Scott McClellan, Tom Ridge, and all you other self-serving bastards. Not only do we expect nothing less of you, we barely notice. Personally, I can’t wait for the Jack Abramoff and Scooter Libby sellouts. They should be pretty juicy. But on a serious note, let us never forget that tragic day of terror when a proud American city was brought to its knees: Read the rest of this entry »

« Older Entries | Newer Entries »