Friday, August 17, 2007
Just When You Think It Can't Get Any Worse
Bu$hCo moves it up a notch. No wonder Rove resigned.
Top Commerce and Treasury Departments officials appeared with Republican candidates and doled out millions in federal money in battleground congressional districts and states after receiving White House political briefings detailing GOP election strategy.
Political appointees in the Treasury Department received at least 10 political briefings from July 2001 to August 2006, officials familiar with the meetings said. Their counterparts at the Commerce Department received at least four briefings — all in the election years of 2002, 2004 and 2006.
Stuffed Intertubes
More like stuffed pockets. I hope the state of Alaska is really proud of this bunch. Nice voting.
But in a sign that the investigations are broadening, National Science Foundation spokesman Dana W. Cruikshank confirmed Anchorage Daily News reports Thursday that the FBI was looking into $170 million in contracts VECO won beginning in 1999 to support foundation polar research programs. When the first contract was awarded, Stevens was an influential member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the foundation.
Sounds About Right To Me
Via Norwegianity, we get Paul Krugman's take on the housing problem. What I'm worried about is that the least among us will again suffer at the hands of corporate greed & criminality.
For it is becoming increasingly clear that the real-estate bubble of recent years, like the stock bubble of the late 1990s, both caused and was fed by widespread malfeasance. Rating agencies like Moody’s Investors Service, which get paid a lot of money for rating mortgage-backed securities, seem to have played a similar role to that played by complaisant accountants in the corporate scandals of a few years ago. In the ’90s, accountants certified dubious earning statements; in this decade, rating agencies declared dubious mortgage-backed securities to be highest-quality, AAA assets.
Michael Gerson Is A Dipshit
Utter bullshit. Let's remember the great history of the South Carolina primary in 2000. More on that here. I don't know what reality Gerson lives in, but it isn't mine, nor most normal people. & of course, The Washington Post rewarded this dickwad with a nice job writing crap like the blowjob column cited earlier. This is why I am pretty much pissed off all the time. There is no longer even a modicum of justice in the country, unless you believe in this kind of justice.
More from Kevin Drum here.
Dark Night, Dark, Dark Night
Good post, from Anonymous Liberal is right. Via C & L. Don't hold your breath, however, these Bu$hCo morons never accept responsibility, nor will they, I'm afraid, be held accountable in a court of law. Please go read. I will help you understand how deep we are into a fascistic nightmare.
Another Good Thing
Michigan wins its lawsuit against unbridled greed.
"Judge Feikens' ruling is a victory for the Great Lakes," Steven E. Chester, director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, said in a prepared statement after the ruling. "Invasive species have already caused horrendous damage to Michigan's ecology, as well as our economy, and we must make every effort to stop these invaders before more reach our waters."
Quagga mussel
Round Goby finning above Zebra mussels.
Chef
For extra credit & the possibility of a wonderful prize, to be determined by the owner of this blog, who is the lovely barista, the fireman, the writer? If you guess correctly, you will be required to undergo drug testing, an IQ test, & your stomach contents will be examined.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
More Truth
HTML Menken puts it in perspective for us. You know, I really am sick of the dickward neo-liberal types telling me that this global crap is OK & that all we need is time. Bullcrap. The following two grafs concern Sen. Chris Dodd's call to suspend all imports of toys & food from China.
Now step back, watch who gives him shit for this perfectly reasonable demand, and know your political enemy. Dodd will be called a turtle, a Sinophobe, a racial demagogue, an invoker of the Yellow Peril, a protectionist, etc., and the loudest voices saying such things won’t come from the wingnuts (though they’ll certainly have their share in the cacophony). No, it’ll be the Sensible Liberals — *cough*BradDeLong NickPistof TomFriedman SebastianMallabyetal*cough* — who claim to share your values.The problem here is the 21st Century version of The Jungle, with the Chinese government in the place of the meat packers, the Chinese people being the Lithuanian immigrant workers, and the American public… is still the American public, being poisoned by Corporatist pigs defended, now as then, by a complacent and complicit intellectual class (back then, stodgy laissez-faire men; and now, neoliberal economists and globalization cheerleaders) whose anger is only aroused by the muckrakers and dissenters whose position Dodd, to his immense credit, echoes.
My emphasis. More here.
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I Wish
Image by Rendition Mission at Fark. It's their "design an ad for a new drug designed for a 'made-up' disease" contest.
Jeez Louise, the above came from the blog Skimble, which was linked to by Avedon Carol, who was guest posting at Atrios. There, I feel better. Although the aforementioned Avedon Carol is feeling pretty low because of this news. Fucking Bu$hCo.
It's Worse
New update indicates 500 people died in bombings in Iraq. The surge success news must not have gotten to these 500.
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If You Have A Little Extra
You might want to pass it on to Tom Allen. He's running against that Bu$hCo enabler & Lieberman shill, Susan Collins in Maine.
More On This Successful Surge, You Know, The Surge To End All Problems In Iraq, Yeah, That Surge
Via McClatchy. Oh, & here's a link to their homepage. It's a good bit of real newspaper work. Nice to see.
Despite U.S. claims that violence is down in the Iraqi capital, U.S. military officers are offering a bleak picture of Iraq’s future, saying they’ve yet to see any signs of reconciliation between Sunni and Shiite Muslims despite the drop in violence.Go read the whole thing. My emphasis.
....
That downbeat assessment comes despite a buildup of U.S. troops that began five months ago Wednesday and has seen U.S. casualties reach the highest sustained levels since the United States invaded Iraq nearly four and a half years ago.
....
And while top U.S. officials insist that 50 percent of the capital is now under effective U.S. or government control, compared with 8 percent in February, statistics indicate that the improvement in violence is at best mixed.
U.S. officials say the number of civilian casualties in the Iraqi capital is down 50 percent. But U.S. officials declined to provide specific numbers, and statistics gathered by McClatchy Newspapers don't support the claim.
The number of car bombings in July actually was 5 percent higher than the number recorded last December, according to the McClatchy statistics, and the number of civilians killed in explosions is about the same.
....
In the meantime, the most touted success of the campaign — an alliance between U.S. forces and some Sunni insurgent groups against al Qaida in Iraq — has angered many in the Maliki government, who accuse the United States of supporting groups that could ultimately turn against the government.
Former Sunni insurgents and tribal leaders will expect some kind of payoff for having turned on al Qaida, said Lt. Col. Richard Welch, who works primarily with Sunni tribal leaders and has negotiated with insurgents. Maliki’s government, however, has been hesitant to grant concessions, he said.
(Surprise, surprise, editor.)
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