Mike's Blog Roundup
By Mike Finnigan Wednesday Feb 04, 2009 8:00amConnecting.the.Dots: A real Bonfire of the Vanities. It's clear America needs fiscal therapy. Witness the economic death spiral at the Pentagon and the BofA burning tax dollars on a wanton, debauched Superbowl orgy. Just don't listen to those who claim nobody could've anticipated the meltdown.
Media Channel: A Guide To Bailout Transparency Sites (h/t Swimgirl)
Infrastructurist: Michael Dukakis on How To Fix America
Left in the West: The two percent pork police, a dumbass, a theocrat, a douchebag, and a tapdancer
Attytood: Why the pitchforks were out for Dashle
Wonk Room: Though he once voted to abolish the department he has been chosen to lead, at least Judd Gregg seems to be a Republican who respects science
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The comment section is closed on the previous blago post.
Can't keep up with this new fangled stuff, he-he
"I want my Blago!!!!"
Leggo my Blaggo!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_15G_tIl38&fe...
But this is what I posted earlier on the Open Thread:
"How is the agreement in New Hampshire regarding the Senate appointment for Gregg's seat any different from what is alleged in Illinois???
Blago may get some help yet."
Right of the bat I can say 'dealing' is different than 'selling'
Also (and bear in mind I'm only arguing the concepts. I don't know enough about the specifics to judge) lets say Gregg says, "Well I want the position but it'd hurt my party (which equates my principals) to take the job. So I'll only take it if a repub is named as my replacement." I don't think there is anything wrong with that sentiment. Certainly nothing illegal. Then take Gov. Lynch who says "Ok, I respect that view and the will of the voters who voted for a repub for that seat last go around so I'll appoint a repub I deem worthy of the seat."
If thats what went down, I don't see how it can be compared at all with what Blago did which was essentially: Pay me to pick the specific candidate you want.
I don't think I can take one more drop of trickle-down wealth.
Why Are We Still at War?
http://www.truthout.org/020309R
Think John Lennon.
But today is another day to remember Le Grande renflouement (bailout) for swindlers.
The Robert Reich piece is choice.
Now can I go have my coffee?
The former Labor Secretary is one of the rare choices for really deeply ingrained belief in getting things right, and has also put in a really good theory of economic planning that goes beyond 'cyclical' thinking. He also joins us on the left who realize that a consumer economy can't survive without enabling consumers.
And thanks for the link.
for more, give us more!!!
Quoting the Washington TImes (gasp choke spit) here
I am here to say I told you so.
Our corrupt congress is giving away hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars with no public hearings. Without reciprocity (we have given the swindlers more than they are worth).
Without restricting their right to use the money to lobby congress for more. This is the height of corruption.
Here is Nader from 9/16/08:
Here is Nader's complete statement from 9/16/08.
Instead of Golden Parachutes, these people should have
GOLDEN HANDUFFS. But let's save money and use plain chrome ones, which would be good enough.
daschle got what he deserved. his name deserves to be dragged thru the mud until he is too gun-shy to set foot in the public arena again. ever.
there are so many more politicians out there that deserve the same ridicule and bird-flipping that daschle got.
my pitchform is always ready to virtually-impale the corrupt members of the govt-corp.
"Michael Dukakis on How To Fix America"
Take him to Nuts Landing?
to Boston Harbor left over from the Massachusettes Miracle?
All the left and right criticism of Obama is not evidence of what is wrong with our President, it is evidence of what was right about the central theme of his campaign: the dismal results of our divisive politics. Too bad we don't have a public and body politic deserving of our President.
By the way, isn't it refreshing to have a President acknowldege a real mistake after only two weeks?
they'll tear him apart! Or at least that's how the gopers and their minions see the world.
people who can't take ( or even get) jokes on the left side of the
phantasm.
not sure we read the same article.
divisive politics--ie extreme partisanship--isn't the problem.
actually the opposite, in a way. the problem is that the political class (and the corporate class) see themselves elevated above the rest of us. above the law, beyond the normal constraints that we mortals are bound by. and they institute that belief in their lack of corporate oversight, lack of congressional oversight. and, with daschle, we saw they nasty system laid bare: a compromised, corrupt politician, who has gamed the system for his and his wife's benefit for decades, with all the quid pro quo you can eat.
both parties are guilty of this
I just focused on something other than the pitchfork part:
"I don't mean to say that as an overall indictment of Obama, the way that gleeful partisans on the right seem to be celebrating it as tonight. On policy, I like the majority of what he's done so far, from Gitmo to his economic stimulus plan which I think is on the right track -- which almost everybody thought a few weeks ago was the right track until our old "childish ways" kicked in on talk radio and in the halls of Congress." Attywood
At least as far as goes in our public national discourse.
It is all a charade.
There are no leftist in power anywhere near Washington DC.
Kucinich and Sanders are dead center and that is as far left as it goes.
anything was coming from anywhere near D.C., although Attywood may have had that in mind.
But Cheney's saying we're gonna have another terrorist attack in America!!!!!! OH NOES!!!! Consider the source and the audience here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090204/pl_...
he is able to predict something. I guess it beats exercising you KBR
options in this economy nobody could have predicted that will be all Obama's fault after liberals read rights to terrorists and handcuff CEO's.
And you don't want to give it to me...
You may want to consider your next car purchase very carefully.
Doctor injured in apparent Lexus blast
Were correct.
It was a bomb. Lexus actually is not attempting to kill off its customer base.
Bomb Injures Arkansas Doctor
Mike Finnegan
You sometimes have a jewel buried in your Blog Roundup, and this one really caught my interest.
Instead of the defense industry trying to prop itself up by demanding another bailout (why wouldn't they ask, given the trend these days?) and the American government caving in again, it's time to review all the deadly boy-toys owned by the Pentagon and do some housecleaning, send that useless weaponry back to its originators and let them sell the stuff to Israel or other countries that don't need it.
What the government needs is a weapons czar who absolutely cannot be touched or even approached by defense industry salesmen-lobbyists, someone who will say, "Don't call us. We'll call you. When we've analyzed our situation and know what we need, we'll publish it in the Federal Register and take any and all bids for it. Then we'll choose the best product from among you and offer a contract."
There's nothing wrong with the way government contracting was done in another place and time.
And the MIC is in danger of collapse?
I can dream, can't I?
his name is like saying 'rural'... 'chalmers'
anyhoo... that was a great essay.
and, in case you haven't read his books, might this guy you don't know and never met, recommend them highly--especially "sorrows of empire"
Yeah, sorta' like Deere or Caterpillar, huh?
Thanks for the recommendation.
PS Here's Mr. Chalmers discussing the "Sorrows of Empire" on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgnKZ5UgYS0
thanks!
.
I thought that was a boat.
We do not need to sell any more weapons!
Melt the Guns!
Programmes of violence,
As entertainment,
Brings the disease into your room.
We know the germ,
Which is man-made in metal,
Is really a key to your own tomb.
Prevention is better than cure,
Bad apples affecting the pure,
You'll gather your senses I'm sure
Then agree to,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more to fire them.
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more desire them.
Children will want them,
Mothers supply them,
As long as your killers are heroes.
And all the media
Will fiddle while Rome burns,
Acting like modern-time Neros.
Prevention is better than cure,
Bad apples affecting the pure,
You'll gather your senses I'm sure
Then agree to,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more to fire them.
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more desire them.
I'm speaking to the Justice League of America.
The U S of A,
Hey you,
Yes you in particular!
When it comes to the judgement day and you're standing at the gates with your weaponry,
You dead go down on one knee,
Clasp your hands in prayer and start quoting me,
'Cos we say...
Our father we've managed to contain the epidemic in one place, now,
Let's hope they shoot themselves instead of others,
Help to civilize the race now.
We've trapped the cause of the plague,
In the land of the free and the home of the brave.
If we listen quietly we can hear them shooting from grave to grave.
You ought to,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more to fire them.
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more desire them.
Very nice.
Swords to ploughshares...
The point was, however, if they're useless, sell them to warmongers who'll find they can't conduct wars with them.
'Twould be great to sanitize them, crush them and use the metal for peaceful purposes.
Get used.
Either to kill or to intimidate.
So, no. I still disagree.
NEVER NEVER NEVER
The third rail of American politics is NOT Social Security.
The Third Rail is DEFENSE (OFFENSE) SPENDING.
CNN is running Cheney spew about what a "first class operation" Gitmo is, how Obama engaging anyone makes USA weaker and how Bush should have pardoned the great patriot named Libby. The only "first class " Cheney knows about is being a "first class" liar, warmonger and asshole.
I am surprised nobody has mentioned two counts of Cheney selection.
annie - There are jewels everywhere. Glad you appreciated the Johnson piece. Often (like today) people are recommending links for pieces that are actually in the roundup. Glad someone reads the damn thing!
Mike,
I almost always read your roundup even though I don't usually comment, simply because one site can't cover everything, and other sites may have information of additional interest.
I look forward to your blog roundups! You don't just select sites that have the exact same points of view, but rather a nice collection of views. You save my old fingers from the Googles.
for lunch in Canada? Or did CC P.O. the site monitor in another thread?
Defense cuts. Obama actually adding $14 billion to defense spending.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/0...
How do The Washington Post and the war theorist Kagan justify repeatedly accusing Obama of "order[ing] a 10 percent cut in defense spending for the coming fiscal year" when, in fact, Obama wants to spend $40 billion more this year than was spent last year on defense spending? It's because Obama's 2010 budget (just like Bush's) calls for slightly less in defense spending than military officials unrealistically and strategically demanded.
See the final update for the revised defense spending increase
from Justin Raimondo, AntiWar.com: http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=14188
Yet the election of Barack Obama and the Democratic sweep of Congress augur a repetition of the old pattern of victory followed by decline. The online Left has crested, and it's downhill from here, for two reasons:
(1) They aren't cyber-guerrillas anymore, and the sclerosis that inevitably sets in when one becomes an apologist for the powers-that-be is already in evidence.
(2) The corporate connection: In the age of corporate liberalism, it make perfect sense that the corporate types would attempt to invade and colonize the Internet. The accelerated economic failure of print media means that, outside of television, their influence is marginal. In terms of their ongoing campaign to conquer the Internet, the Huffington Post, with its $25 million investment, is the corporate version of the Normandy invasion.
Further, The right-blogosphere was important under Clinton, and boring and stupid (not to mention evil) under Bush. The left-blogosphere was hot under Bush, but is already showing signs of following the right to dullness and corruption under Obama. The problem is in ever seeing yourself as part of the regime, in ever deferring to the power elite.
I don't know what portion of "the left" to which you refer. I do, however, believe that if Obama and his administration were truly left, nothing would be boring OR in a downward spiral. Are you talking about changing the nature of the left by enfolding it into corporatism? If so, that certainly does result in boredom.
As it is, politics is like watching the same not-so-good movie remade for the 20th time, pissed that the director of THIS one couldn't come up with something better. Just an analogy; life ain't like a movie at all.
from what I gathered, Raimondo makes mention of the predominant sites, such as DKos, Huffpo, and similar themed/financed left leaning websites. He doesn't mention this website, so for now, he might, or I might say, present company excluded.
He makes a convincing argument, at least to me.
in Corporate Boardrooms.
There are no leftists in the US government.
By my metric Kucinich and Sanders are dead center.
Judge the left from there.
I want to change the system.
I want to dis-empower the corporations, politically at the very least.
as well. Thanks for the link Truth!! It seems once again, as in every nation, the population seems to "settle" for a leader instead of ever getting one that they really want. A majority of people are liberal, leftwing on most of these blogs, yet are represented by few in Washington. A lesser of two evils is elected, and the fanfare is deafening for the most minute of tasks. A prez admits a mistake. Wow, the blogs go nuts. Ya, that's our man! Talk about setting sights low.
too soon.
I'm just here at the pleasure of the president...heard that somewhere, not sure where though :-)
so as to know when your statement ends and the one you are quoting begins. Or even that you are quoting to begin with.
Put others text in quotes, italics or blockquotes. OR some combination. I use italics and block quotes.
You provide a link but it requires that I make the distinction for myself, others would need to do the same and that doesn't help any of us.
Thank you!
Pres. Obama has connected the dots left in the wake of Harry Markopolos' testimony before Congress by appointing the man, who, as head of the FIRA, ignored allegations of fraud concerning Madoff's operations for over a decade, Mary Schapiro, as the new SEC chief.
Now that's what I call change.
ex animo
davidfarrar
Robert Reich is generally very sharp, and always worth hearing out.
So a dumbass, a theocrat, a douchebag, and a tapdancer walk into a bar... ;-)
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