The Fly On The Wall: White House Press Credential Interviews Yellow Dog Blog

When I was a young man starting out on Long Island, everyone there banked either with the Meadowbrook National Bank, Central Federal Savings and Loan or the Franklin National Bank.  They were our local institutions, and we were loyal to local businesses.  That’s the way things were done back then.  Today, it doesn’t work that way.
The Meadowbrook National Bank was taken over by CIT Financial, which sold it to The National Westminster Bank of England, which sold it to Fleet Bank, which was recently sold to the Bank of America.  Central Federal was sold to Manufacturer’s Hanover Trust, which was sold to the Chase Manhattan Bank, which was then sold to Chemical Bank, which decided to change its name to Chase Bank and the acquire JP Morgan Bank so that it is now called JP Morgan Chase.  Franklin National was sold to a Dutch bank which renamed it the European American Bank.  That, in turn was sold to Citibank.  Whew!

Merger fever is upon us folks, and it isn’t going to disappear soon.  Our current administration is encouraging big business to become bigger, at the expense of us little folk.  Soon, I expect that there will be one big bank, one video chain, one supermarket, and one company making all of our pharmaceuticals.  Fascism is defined as a system of government in which the needs and desires of corporations take precedence over the needs and desires of the general population.  The unrestricted growth of mega corporations, the outsourcing of our jobs to Asia and countless other policies of the current Bush administration lead me to believe that the current leaders of our country are not Republicans.  They are true fascists, in the mold of Mussolini and Francisco Franco, and that my friends does not bode well for the democratic (small ‘d’) ideals of our country

When I was a young man starting out on Long Island, everyone there banked either with the Meadowbrook National Bank, Central Federal Savings and Loan or the Franklin National Bank. They were our local institutions, and we were loyal to local businesses. That’s the way things were done back then. Today, it doesn’t work that way.

The Meadowbrook National Bank was taken over by CIT Financial, which sold it to The National Westminster Bank of England, which sold it to Fleet Bank, which was recently sold to the Bank of America. Central Federal was sold to Manufacturer’s Hanover Trust, which was sold to the Chase Manhattan Bank, which was then sold to Chemical Bank, which decided to change its name to Chase Bank and the acquire JP Morgan Bank so that it is now called JP Morgan Chase. Franklin National was sold to a Dutch bank which renamed it the European American Bank. That, in turn was sold to Citibank. Whew!

Merger fever is upon us folks, and it isn’t going to disappear soon. Our current administration is encouraging big business to become bigger, at the expense of us little folk. Soon, I expect that there will be one big bank, one video chain, one supermarket, and one company making all of our pharmaceuticals. Fascism is defined as a system of government in which the needs and desires of corporations take precedence over the needs and desires of the general population. The unrestricted growth of mega corporations, the outsourcing of our jobs to Asia and countless other policies of the current Bush administration lead me to believe that the current leaders of our country are not Republicans. They are true fascists, in the mold of Mussolini and Francisco Franco, and that my friends does not bode well for the democratic (small ‘d’) ideals of our country. But That’s Just My Opinion...

From the forward:

"Gold Star Mothers is an organization made up of women who sons were killed in military combat during service in the United States armed forces. Recently a delegation of New York Gold Star Mothers made a trip to Washington, DC to discuss various concerns with their elected representatives. According to NewsMax.com there was only one politician in DC who refused to meet with these ladies. . .

. . . You got it! None other than the Queen herself, The Hildebeast, Hillary Clinton. She refused repeated requests to meet with the Gold Star Mothers."

It's a timely claim, in a way, since the right is outraged that she might be running for president. It's also completely false. Here's what the Gold Star Mothers themselves had to say about the "incident" on their official site:

"With regard to the NewsMax article concerning our organization, the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., deeply regret the misunderstanding about Senator Hillary Clinton. The two mothers who visited Washington did not have an appointment with the Senator and she was not in her office on that day. We would appreciate it if the e-mails and negative comments about Senator Clinton would cease."

Case closed. Sadly, the rabid righties aren't the type to let the proverbial facts get in the way of a story.

I think I'm starting to suffer from a new form of mental illness curently under consideration to be entered in the DSM-IV: Severe Wingnut Psychosis: The sudden and uncontrollable impulse, and or urge to bash in my television set with a large, metal object due to the exposure of CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News.

Video-WMP

Video-QT

In a segment on Scarborough Country (where else) Donohue is angry and wants an apology. While defending the Catholic Church's stance on condoms in Africa...you watch!

Magazine’s list of "the world’s 100 most influential people"

via DC Media Girl (reg. only)

She states: Simply unbelieveable

That about seals the deal. Everthing is infected.

More and More, Kids Say the Foulest Things

via WaPo : "The kids swear almost incessantly," said Horwich, who teaches at Guildford High School in Rockford, Ill. "They are so used to swearing and hearing it at home, and in the movies, and on TV, and in the music they listen to that they have become desensitized to it."...read on

This is pathetic:

The “liberals” selling the shirt are actually…just one random guy named Christopher Goodwin. Christopher runs “Ye Olde Christopher Goodwin Art Shoppe,” an online store.

According to Alexa.com, Christopher Goodwin’s website is the 2,071,537th most visited site on the Internet; to put that in perspective (and to make clear Goodwin’s profound obscurity) consider that the homepage for Chicken of the Sea tuna is ranked 163,081.

In other words, Drudge made a concerted attempt to find absolutely anything to take the heat off Tom DeLay’s various corruption charges, and the very best he could come up with was a stupid t-shirt from “Ye Olde Christopher Goodwin Art Shoppe.” Lame.

On Crossfire today, Barbara Comstock , FMR. JUSTICE DEPT. SPOKESWOMAN:

Comstock: Tom DeLay is one of the most effective leaders, which is why the Democrats have tried to make this a campaign issue. Now as you know from your friend Senator Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman, oftentimes people break in the party.

Video-WMP

It seems like everyone else knows it but Joe.

Eschaton: Joe & Zell, Pees in a Pod

Busy, Busy, Busy has more on the second picture!

John Baer nails "the man on dog" via Philly.com.

......And take his trip to Florida and his national TV appearance after visiting the hospice where Terry Schiavo was dying. A masterpiece of timing, an exceptional use of his time and a good example of how politics is played by the big boys. Make some news, do a little pandering, raise some money and, oh, yeah, comfort a suffering family. Wait, raise some money? Yep, that's what the trip was about.Maybe you thought it was about Santorum's deep commitment to the culture of life....

Total take, according to Santorum finance director Rob Bickhart, was about $250,000 (en route to an April 15 FEC filing expected to show the senator with close to $3 million already). So my hat's off.

Down and back on a corporate jet, grab a quarter-mill, get some national attention. This, my friends, is poetry in motion.

What's that you say? Seems a tad crass to cash in on a heartbroken family and get your mug on TV because you happen to be in the neighborhood lining your pockets?

Doesn't the culture of life outweigh the culture of cash.

And you thought he was there out of a moral conviction didn't you?