NEAL BOORTZ THINKS WE'RE STUPID

Boortz must not get a regular pay check because he thinks Americans don't know what their gross income is. This is the kind of crap ClownHall is perfectly happy to publish.

The Perfect Stimulus Package
by Neal Boortz
Tuesday, December 09, 2008

The second reason this Gohmert plan (as brilliant as it is) is toast would be because for two months it would allow income-earners to see exactly how much they earn. Up until now these people have been operating on the basis of their “take-home” pay. Ask them what they actually made in any pay period and they wouldn’t have a clue.

I'D THINK THESE MOTU WOULD BE HISTORY

Three CEOs who were ultimately responsible for dragging their repective firms into the Big ShitPile are STILL welcome in the financial community. Notice how they are called "victims" instead of "aiders and abettors."

Former Lehman chief weighs up comeback with advisory boutique
By Francesco Guerrera in New York
The Financial Times Limited 2008
Published: December 13 2008 02:00 Last updated: December 13 2008 02:00

Dick Fuld, former chief executive of Lehman Brothers, is planning a comeback and has told friends he might launch a small advisory firm to harness his contacts in US companies once the dust settles on Lehman's bankruptcy.

Two other high-profile victims of the credit crisis, Chuck Prince, Citigroup's former chief executive, and his hitherto counterpart at Merrill Lynch, Stanley O'Neal, have resurfaced.

Mr Prince joined Stonebridge International, a strategic consulting firm, as vice-chairman in September, while Mr O'Neal is believed to be considering an offer from Vision Capital Advisors, a small hedge fund and private equity group.

A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO...

Memeo had a very interesting link to ABC's The Note.

McCain Campaign Chief: Palin Pick Was About Winning
December 11, 2008 8:38 PM

ABC News' David Chalian Reports: At a Harvard University forum dissecting the 2008 presidential campaign Thursday evening, Sen. John McCain's campaign manager explained the political calculations behind the Arizonan's pick of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) to be his running mate.

"We were losing without great prospects for victory," said McCain campaign manager Rick Davis in providing the context for the Palin pick. "Some decisions you make based on whether or not you will have an opportunity to govern," Davis added. "You’ve got to win first."

THIS REMINDS ME OF SOMEONE

The NY Times obtained a draft of a report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and has this to say about our glorious military:

It also concludes that when the reconstruction began to lag — particularly in the critical area of rebuilding the Iraqi police and army — the Pentagon simply put out inflated measures of progress to cover up the failures.

In one passage, for example, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is quoted as saying that in the months after the 2003 invasion, the Defense Department “kept inventing numbers of Iraqi security forces — the number would jump 20,000 a week! ‘We now have 80,000, we now have 100,000, we now have 120,000.’ ”

Mr. Powell’s assertion that the Pentagon inflated the number of competent Iraqi security forces is backed up by Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the former commander of ground troops in Iraq, and L. Paul Bremer III, the top civilian administrator until an Iraqi government took over in June 2004.

The someone is Gen. Petraeus, who wrote a very misleading op-ed in the WaPo just before the 2004 election.

ANOTHER EDITION OF...

"Who cares for the troops?"

The GOP and conservative gasbags claim to support the troops but there are literally dozens of cases in which the Bush regime has let the troops down and the gasbags have been silent. I wihs someone on out side would try to point put that the GOP meme "We care for the troops, liberals don't" is a fraud.

Exclusive: Pentagon Pro-Troop Group Misspent Millions, Report Says
By Noah Shachtman
December 12, 2008 4:12:00 PM

A Defense Department project, supposedly designed to support U.S. troops, was used instead to channel millions of dollars to personal friends and allies of its chief. The "America Supports You," or ASY, program was led in a "questionable and unregulated manner," according to a Department of Defense Inspector General report, obtained by Danger Room. At least $9.2 million was "inappropriately transferred" by the project's managers. Much of that money served only to further promote ASY, instead of assisting servicemembers.

WOULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN CHEAPER TO BUY THE BAD MORTGAGES?

Let's say the U.S. bought all the bad mortgages and later tried to work out some sort of re-payment plan with homeowners. Wouldn't that have worked and wouln't it have been much less expensive than bailing out Wall Street?

THE POINT IS, THE FUNDIES WON'T COMPROMISE

The Fundies believe they are obeying the Word of God and that means they can't compromise on their big issues, no matter what Douthat thinks. As an example, yesterday,Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), had to resign because he said that civil unions for homosexuals are OK:

Evangelical Leader Quits Over Gay Union Remark

By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 12, 2008; Page A07

A prominent evangelical lobbyist resigned yesterday over his remarks in a National Public Radio interview, in which he said he supports permitting same-sex civil unions.

The Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), later apologized for the remark, said the Rev. Leith Anderson, president of the 30 million-member organization.

But, Anderson said, "he lost the leadership's confidence as spokesman, and that's hard to regain."

Asked by Terry Gross in a Dec. 2 interview on NPR's Fresh Air whether he had changed his position on same-sex marriage, Cizik responded: "I'm shifting, I have to admit. In other words, I would willingly say that I believe in civil unions. . . . We have become so absorbed in the question of gay rights and the rest that we fail to understand the challenges and threats to marriage itself -- heterosexual marriage. Maybe we need to reevaluate this and look at it a little differently."

The remark, anathema to most evangelical Christians, who believe that the Bible permits marriage only between a man and a woman, caused an uproar in the group and in other evangelical organizations.

OBAMA, PRAGMATISM AND THE WINGNUTS

There's been some fuss about whether or not Obama is a real liberal and part of that has been a discussion of exactly what pragmatism entails. To the extent that a pragmatic approach to issues is based on facts, not wishes, delusions or panderings, it will prove superior to the wingnut views of the world and that is a great start to reforming our politics.

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE!

Colin Powell comes out with the truth about the nature of the modern GOP:

Powell says the GOP tried to use 'polarization for political advantage.'

(CNN) — The Republican party must stop “shouting at the world” and start listening to minority groups if it is to win elections in the 21st century, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday.

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria for Sunday’s “GPS” program, President Bush’s former secretary of state said his party’s attempt “to use polarization for political advantage” backfired last month.

Powell, who says he still considers himself a Republican, said his party should also stop listening to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

“Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh?” Powell asked. “Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?”

Obama has spoken out against the lying whore Hannity and this kind of push back is exactly what we need if we hope to restore a half-way reasonable political discourse. The point is not to silence the gasbags but to marginalize them and their followers.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO FATS

FATS LIMBAUGH:

"We spend a fortune on the poor"

JESUS:

Matthew 25:31-46 (New International Version)

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' 41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' 44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' 45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' 46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

MEDVED HAS A GOOD POINT...

In an op-ed in USA Today, Michael Medved writes:

A radio show (locally or nationally) that draws just 5% of the available audience can achieve notable success in ratings and revenue, but a conservatism that connects with only a disgruntled, paranoid 5% of the public will wither and die.

THIS is why the wingnut gasbags are commercially successful - they appeal to the extremists and there is enough of them to make the shows profitable.

HM, LOOKS LIKE I AM NO LONGER WELCOME AT RED STATE

When I try to connect from this IP address, the site refuses to allow access and when I try another IP address, I can get to the site but I can no longer login.

HERE'S ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A CONSERVATIVE DELUSION

Josh Painter at RedState writes:

There is no argument that the most successful Republican president of the twentieth century was conservative on matters of national security, fiscal responsibility and limited government.

On the contrary, there is no doubt that Reagan sold arms to terrorists, tripled the National Debt and didn't decrease the size of the Federal government.

MORE EVIDENCE OF THE WALL STREET CULTURE OF CORRUPTION

By itself, the amount of fraud makes this a big story but let's not overlook the fact that this guy was a key player on Wall Street. When we talk about needed regulatory reforms, we should concentrate on doing what we can to weed out the corruption.

Madoff Charged in $50 Billion Fraud at Investment Advisory Firm
By David Glovin and Bradley Keoun

Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Bernard Madoff, president of market- maker Bernard Madoff Investment Securities and a former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market, was charged by U.S. prosecutors in a $50 billion securities fraud at his investment advisory business.

“He’s one of the pioneers of modern Wall Street,” said James Angel, an associate business professor at Georgetown University in Washington. Madoff’s firm was among the first to automate market-making, in which a dealer continually buys and sells stock.

The firm specialized in handling orders from online brokers in some of the largest U.S. companies, including General Electric Co. and Citigroup Inc.

He was chief of the Securities Industry Association’s trading committee in the 1990s and early this decade, where he represented brokerage firms in discussions with regulators about new stock-market rules as electronic-trading systems and networks gained prominence.

“Bernard Madoff is a longstanding leader in the financial services industry,” said defense lawyer Dan Horwitz. “We will fight to get through this unfortunate set of events. He’s a person of integrity.”

DISAPPOINTING RATINGS

Tucson got a new wingnut radio station, KQTH, and it's doing very well now. Here are the Arbitron ratings for the last 4 quarters:

WINTER '08 - 1.1
SPRING '08 - 1.5
SUMMER '08 - 2.5
FALL '08 - (Phase 1) - 3.2

We already had a prominent wingnut station (KNST) that had the 2 biggies, Pigboy and Hannity, so I'm surprised that the new one is doing so well.

FROM BAD TO WORSE

It's time for our representatives in Congress to start bailing out Arizona before we fall into a depression.

Experts meet in Valley, say 2009 may be start of recovery
by Betty Beard - Dec. 11, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

- The recession is "extraordinarily deep and extraordinarily widespread," the most dangerous since the 1920s, said Joel Naroff, a Philadelphia economic forecaster.

- Arizona's economy is in the worst shape of any state in the West - and its job market has seen the second-largest losses in the nation, behind Rhode Island - because of major overbuilding of homes in 2005-06 and weak job growth today, said Lee McPheters, an economics professor and director of the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center at Arizona State University.

- Arizona's job numbers have been falling monthly through most of the year. The latest job numbers, down 2.8 percent from a year ago, are the worst since 1976, McPheters said. He expects no growth in jobs next year.

The state went from being the nation's No. 1 job creator in 2006 to 49th this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

YES, THE POLICE CAN FIGHT TERRORISM

The conservatives have repeatedly claimed that only the armed forces can really fight the terrorists and that leads to all sorts of other nonsense, like Mark Levin's call to increase the DoD budget by 50%, that we can do without.

Here's another example of the police doing a good job all by themselves.

14 arrested in Belgium for links to terrorism
By Steven Erlanger
Published: December 11, 2008
International Herald Tribune

The Belgian police arrested 14 people suspected of terrorist links in raids Thursday, including one man thought to have been planning a suicide attack who had "said goodbye to his loved ones," said the federal prosecutor in Brussels, Johan Delmulle.

Lieve Pellens, a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office, said in an interview by telephone that those arrested included Malika el-Aroud, 49, who calls herself a female warrior for Al Qaeda and writes jihadist screeds on the Internet under the name Oum Obeyda.

Pellens said in the interview that she believed the cases against the 14 arrested were strong, based on a year of investigation, surveillance and wiretapping carried out by a team of 80 police officers.

WE'RE ALWAYS IN THE WRONG

In Wingnut World, liberals are always in the wrong. Despite Obama, Sen. Reid, Sen. Durbin and other Democrats denouncing in various ways Blagojevich, wingnuts like Michelle Malkin will accuse them of being hypocrites.

CHOICE FOR THEE BUT NOT FOR ME

UPDATE: full transcript here.

Huckabee plays stupid on the origins of homosexuality, just as Falwell did a few years ago. On the Jon Stewart Show, he's stumped in this exchange:

STEWART: Segregation used to be the law until the courts intervened.

HUCK: There’s a big difference between a person being black and a person practicing a lifestyle and engaging in a marital relationship.

STEWART: Okay, actually this is helpful because it gets to the crux of it. … And I’ll tell you this: Religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality. And the protections that we have for religion — we protect religion. And talk about a lifestyle choice — that is absolutely a choice. Gay people don’t choose to be gay. At what age did you choose to not be gay?

WRONG TIME FRAME, UNCLE LEE

Lee Iacoccoa offered this defense of Big Auto's CEOs:

You don’t change coaches in the middle of a game, especially when things are so volatile.

Ford may be doing OK compared to GM and Chrysler but it is clear that the latter two simply don't have the leadership needed at this time. It's not the middle of the game, it's one more losing season.

MAYBE THIS ISN'T A BAD TIME TO INCREASE OUR DEBT

Matt Yglesias notes that the U.S. Treasury is now paying nothing on short-term debt and I found that the interest on longer term debt has come down dramatically. Here's a chart for 10-year Treasury notes:

ANOTHER EDITION OF "WHO CARES FOR THE TROOPS?"

Can you imagine the uproar if this had happened under a Democratic president? I still hear and read complaints about Clinton for his handling of Somalia!

Report: Soldiers Needed Tougher Humvees
POSTED: 06:21 PM ET, 12/ 9/2008 by Derek Kravitz
TAGS: Defense Department, Iraq, contracting, war
Washington Post

...a scathing inspector general's report (PDF) that blamed the government for not getting the humvees quicker.

The report, released today, said Defense Department officials were aware of the threats posed by mines, roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, and of the availability of vehicles to stop the threats, dubbed mine-resistant vehicles, back in 2003 before the Iraq War.

"Yet DoD did not develop requirements for, fund, or acquire (the) vehicles for low-intensity conflicts that involved mines and IEDs," the report said. "As a result, the Department entered into operations in Iraq without having taken available steps to acquire technology to mitigate the known mine and IED risk to soldiers and Marines.

A RARE EXAMPLE OF "TRICKLE DOWN"

I know this isn't what the supply-siders are talking about but it fulfills the minimal definition of "trickle down."

Workers win a big round in Chicago factory sit-in
Dec 9 06:03 PM US/Eastern
By MICHAEL TARM
Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) -

The Republic Windows and Doors factory closed last week after Bank of America canceled its financing. About 200 laid-off workers responded by staging a sit-in at the plant, vowing to stay until getting assurances they would receive severance and accrued vacation pay.

A resolution appeared closer when the bank announced that it had sent a letter to Republic offering to "provide a limited amount of additional loans" to resolve the employee claims.

The bank appeared to side at least in part with disgruntled workers, expressing concern in a statement Tuesday "about Republic's failure to pay their employees the Employee Claims to which they are legally entitled."

SOME ARE SLOW ON THE UPTAKE

After other MOTU decided to forego bonuses, you'd think bright people like John Thain of Merrill Lynch would know which way the wind is heading and do the same. Apparently, he's out of the loop because he asked for a $10 million bonus for 2008. Andrew Cuomo tried to set Merrill and the boy straight: Cuomo Urges Merrill to Reject Bonus for Thain.

Finally, reality sunk in:

DECEMBER 9, 2008
Mack and Thain Lose '08 Bonuses
Wall Street Journal

Merrill Lynch & Co. and Morgan Stanley, responding to evaporating profits and public ire over Wall Street's culpability for the credit crisis, won't pay bonuses this year to their chief executives or certain other top officials.

Aline van Duyn wrote a month ago that the MOTU didn't get the impact of the Big ShitPile on the public and I guess she was at least partially correct.

ONE THING MISSING

Steve Hildebrand at HuffPo suggests that liberals and progressives stifle their criticisms of the incoming Obama administration and give it time to fix our serious problems:

But first let's get our economy moving, bring our troops home safely, fix health care, end climate change and restore our place in the world.

What's missing is any mention of restoring the rule of law.

WHEN ASKED, THEY CAN'T OFFER EVIDENCE

I asked Gaius who was talking about the current economy being as bad or worse than the Great Depression and all he offered for evidence was an article about Obama's stimulus plan. One of the wingnnut fools left this comment on the thread:

By Jim, Sunday, 7 December , 2008 @ 9:46 pm

>>Um, by who?

Um, by every American newspaper and the president-elect, that’s who.

WHO IS GAIUS CHANNELING?

Over at Blue Crab Boulevard, Gaius writes:

We are being told - over and over - that things are as bad or worse than they were in the Great Depression.

OK, Gaius, exactly who is saying this?

RICE LIES AGAIN...

A long time ago, she lied and said no one could've anticipated that terrorists would use planes as weapons and now she comes out with this howler:

And you now have an Iraq that's at the center of the Middle East, that's a bulwark against Iran...(video here)

Um, would somebody tell our Secretary of State that Iraq and Iran are NOW allies?

THE REAL "NO SPIN ZONE"

It'a FAIR's weekly radio show, CounterSpin. I just stumbled on it today and it seems to be a sober analysis of how the news media is covering the issues.

KUDLOW IS STUCK ON STUPID

Despite massive evidence that the free market failed us, he's still pushing for tax cuts:

President-elect Obama has been cagey about the details of his massive $700 billion infrastructure spending plan and whether he'll raise taxes on successful earners. But this new New Deal, including Obama's middle-class tax credits, will not create permanent economic growth incentives.

What will? A genuine supply-side growth agenda to reduce tax rates across-the-board.

If the Republican party wants to put bailout nation to rest it should campaign for lower corporate, individual, and investment tax rates. It should make clear that the Democrats are the government-spending party while the Republicans are the tax-cutting party.

We will not bailout our way into prosperity. Nor will we spend our way into prosperity. Somebody has to stand up and yell: It's time to cut tax rates on the supply-side. That will reinvigorate growth and infuse new spirit into a demoralized economy.

ROSS DOUHAT IS A LYING WHORE

Despite that, he gets an op-ed piece in the NY Times about abortion in which he repeats the Fundie LIE that abortion is currently unrestricted. I've heard some of the radio gasbags also make this false claim and here I presume it is an "official" part of Fundie propaganda. Let's review what Roe v. Wade said about restrictions on abortion:

c) For the stage subsequent to viability the State, in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life, may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother. Pp. 163-164; 164-165.

In Douhat's alternative world, it's Roe v. Wade that is absolutist, not the Fundies who want to prohibit ALL abortions:

But no such compromise is possible so long as Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey remain on the books. These decisions are monuments to pro-choice absolutism, and for pro-lifers to accept them means accepting that no serious legal restrictions on abortion will ever be possible — no matter what the polls say, and no matter how many hearts and minds pro-lifers change.

I ♥ BARRY RITHOLTZ

There's an article in the NY Times about one of the criminal ratings agencies and I COMPLETELY AGREE with Barry's idea about what these crooks need to face:

All of these motherfuckers need to be thrown in prison, where they will be sodomized on a daily basis for the rest of their lives.

We've tried fines for many and jail time for a few but right now we need to send 3,000 or so MOTU straight to a maximum security Federal prison for a LONG time.

THIS IS TERRIFIC NEWS

Obama sees that we have to clamp down on the Free Market Fairy. I'm sure the wingnuts will start braying about "freedom" but I don't think many Americans are going to buy it.

Obama vows strong new financial regulations
Sun Dec 7, 2008 11:08am EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama said on Sunday he would put strong new financial regulation at the center of his economic recovery program to force more accountability on the banking industry.

"As part of our economic recovery package what you will see coming out of my administration, right at the center, is a strong set of financial regulations," Obama said in a taped appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" television show.

"Banks, ratings agencies, mortgage brokers, a whole bunch of folks (will) start having to be much more accountable and behave much more responsibly.

"We've got to have transparency, openness, fair dealing in our financial markets and that's an area where I think over the last eight years we've fallen short."