So don't give me that "No one could have seen this coming bullshit."

Here's a little time capsule action for you: Part of the blame for our recent financial woes has been placed on the 1999 agreement to deregulate the banking industry in the most sweeping banking deregulation bill in American history. It had bipartisan support, and was pushed along by an absolutely MASSIVE lobbying campaign. It did away with the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, one of the central pillars of Roosevelt's New Deal. Under the old law, banks, brokerages and insurance companies were effectively barred from entering each others' industries, and investment banking and commercial banking were separated.

So that worked out good.

I found an article on it on the World Socialist Web Site from 1999, when the bill was passed. Here's what the Martin McLaughlin had to say about it's possible implications:

"Threat to financial stability
The proposed deregulation will increase the degree of monopolization in finance and worsen the position of consumers in relation to creditors. Even more significant is its impact on the overall stability of US and world capitalism. The bill ties the banking system and the insurance industry even more directly to the volatile US stock market, virtually guaranteeing that any significant plunge on Wall Street will have an immediate and catastrophic impact throughout the US financial system."

Of course, who'd trust those commie pinko rat bastards, right?

READ EM AND WEEP

And Bill Clinton, who signed the bill, doesn't think it was a problem. Read what he's saying to help him sleep.

CLINTON: “On the Glass-Steagall thing, like I said, if you could demonstrate to me that it was a mistake, I'd be glad to look at the evidence. I can't blame (the Republicans). This wasn't something they forced me into.”

Sadly, it appears Mr. McLaughlin passed away at the end of last year. I would welcome his insights, as he's obviously one of few who saw this coming.

Thanks for trying, good sir.

There is still beauty in the world(s)...

As we concern ourselves with the DOW, McCain, Obama, Bush, Iraq, Palin, evolution, abortion, and so on... a little probe called Messenger took this amazing image of the planet Mercury.

SOURCE: The Daily Galaxy

It's always good to have an escape plan.

Voting Porn. Is anyone else turned on by this?

I don't know if it's Jessica Alba's leather gloves or Hayden Panettiere in the mask... yeah, definitely turned on.

Probably not the intention. Excuse me, I need private time.

And then therapy.



Go to http://themuzzler.com/ to get your rocks off while pretending to care about the election.

McCain Seeks Joke Advice from Dave Chappelle (Parody)

SOURCE

Palin Misquotes Albright: "Place In Hell Reserved For Women Who Don't Support Other Women"

At a rally on Saturday in California, Sarah Palin offered up a rather jarring argument for supporting the Republican ticket. "There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women," the Alaska Governor said, claiming she was quoting former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

The statement came after Palin had recounted a "providential" moment she experienced on Saturday: "I'm reading on my Starbucks mocha cup, okay? The quote of the day... It was Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State [crowd boos] and UN ambassador. ... Now she said it, I didn't. She said, 'There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women.'"

Actually, Albright didn't say that. The accurate quote is, "There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't help other women." SOURCE

Here's the actual clip. I love how she pre-blames the media for fucking her quote over, when she's perfectly able to fuck her quote up all by herself.

Debate aftermath

Orthodox Islam and Judaism find common ground: They are both batshit insane

Above: Haredim raising the bar on "holy crazy".

From AMY TEIBEL, AP:

JERUSALEM — In Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where the rule of law sometimes takes a back seat to the rule of God, zealots are on a campaign to stamp out behavior they consider unchaste. They hurl stones at women for such "sins" as wearing a red blouse, and attack stores selling devices that can access the Internet.

In recent weeks, self-styled "modesty patrols" have been accused of breaking into the apartment of a Jerusalem woman and beating her for allegedly consorting with men. They have torched a store that sells MP4 players, fearing devout Jews would use them to download pornography.

Finally something the jews and arabs have in common. Let's have as totalitarian asshole contest. Whichever set of wackos uses the most violence and abuses women the most gets a prize – to be stoned to death!

I've seen these guys push around documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock while shooting "Where in the World is Osam Bin Laden," where he travel all around the middle east, meeting many well spoken, thoughtful people of all faiths. These people were the only ones to actually threaten him, actually pushing him around to the point he needed to flee.

I have no idea what the Israeli's are doing to battle this, but until they actually address their own brutality-cults, they are no better than the thugs that wish them harm.

Bill O'Reilly is such an asshole.

O'Reilly is so far out of line, it's hard to express in words. He only cares about himself and his image, though he claims to be a defender of the people.

I know people are mad at the government, but this guy is out of line. Listen to this. Frank has a silly voice and is a member of a group of people we don't trust (POLITICIANS), but sticking him with the venom of O'Reily's rant is unfounded, in my opinion. In addition, calling Frank a "coward" without giving him a chance for rebuttal proved classless. Finally, he just cuts him off.

O'Reilly's bully pulpit should be abandoned by any credible source. He's a tool of the right wing and his job is to serve meat to the converted.

Nice job, VP wanna Bs

They both did well. Palin dodged some questions, but dodged them professionally. Biden was a gaffe-less force, powerful and persuasive. Palin learned well during her cramming sessions. Even if she didn't know what she was talking about, she talked a good game.

The moderation was also just fine. No obvious bias.

OK, McCain. OK, Obama. Get down like these two. They raised the bar.

And I think Biden won on issues and skill (and not saying that FDR called anyone on a cell phone), but Palin won just hanging in without passing out or saying something dumb. It's a draw. Get some sleep, VP wanna Bs.

P.S. - If I hear the word "Maverick" one more time, I'm going to throw up.

Casting notice for Sarah Palin porn

Below is the ad from craigslist. Anyone else a little disappointed that "No anal required"?



UPDATE: We have a name. It's called "Nailin' Paylin"

Here's your star: Lisa Ann.



Cameos with a Hilary and a Condi look-a-like are also planned, and will be out before the elections.

So there's that. No Obama? No Bill? No cigars?

Palin wins tomorrow's debate

It's over folks, a day before it happens. And the Obama camp all ready knows it.

With the flurry of critics calling Palin a total lightweight, they are missing the fact that as they critique, they are lowering our expectations. At this point, all she will need to do is hold her own at the debate, and get a few zingers in. They don't even need to be of any real substance. If she can simply avoid making an ass out of herself, which she is certainly capable of doing, she will be the winner.

The burden is on Biden, who by all means is also capable of making an ass of himself, but will be regarded as a bully if he presses too hard. He will also need to dig under the 3 weeks of information provided to her during her crash course and find areas that she hasn't be tutored in.

You can see Obama's camp trying to reverse this trend of making her a living twinkie. They have made several statements saying what a formidable opponent she is and what a skilled debater she is. They see the danger in making her an underdog.

I remember seeing Gore and Kerry go against Bush, both assured that he was a powder puff. But sometimes debates are not about smarts – or the issues – they are about exceeding very low expectations.

RELATED POST

I May Suspend Campaign Again....

Gotta admit, he's persistent. Listen to FOX give the boy a little help.

Great Moments in Blamestorming: Why The Bailout failed

He's talking about yesterday's comment from the Republican's saying that some comments Speaker Pelosi said some things about George Bush being partially to blame for the issue, and that 12 or so Republicans got pissed and voted no based on hurt feelings.

Whatever, but Pelosi should have kept her mouth shut. Trust me Speaker, pretty much no matter who blames who "on the record", we'll blame all of you for putting the country in this mess. I think there is plenty bi-partisam blam to go around.



Is it wrong of me to think Barney Frank would make an awesome cartoon character?

I think this is what she said that pissed them off.



Of course, it's some kind of smokescreen. The Rep's voted it down for other reasons, perhaps including the birdlike whispers of Newt Gingrich in their ear.

Fareed Zakaria sums up Palin problem. Please give this a listen.

Fareed Zakaria is an excellent journalist. I first noted him on the Daily Show, where he'd come on to lend some factual credibility between the jokes. He recently got his own show on CNN, which I haven't seen, but he is able to make very intelligent assessments without bias (at least in my opinion).

What I like about his statement below is that he stresses this elecction "Is not a game" and underscores the serious situation we are in and how we require real leadership and governance. The next 8 years are going to be a horrible time to be President... we need someone who can bear that load and watch them age 40 years in two terms.

Here's the article noted in the video.

Debate recap in one minute.

Want to relive the drama? The passion? The clever Wall Street/Main Street line? Here's a 60 second recap.

Reporters arrested at RNC Convention for... REPORTING.

SALON.com reports the story

Is this where we are now, America?

I want to understand the Republican base.

I saw this viewer comment on abcnews.com about the debate:

I can understand being a one-issue voter (NRA, abortion, gay marriage), but there are a few things that bug me when I read comments like this. It's not "his statement" about the concession speech. That is pretty generic.

Here's what I can't understand:

1) When I see people regurgitating campaign slogans like "COUNTRY FIRST!" I can't help but think just how weak minded people are. Some will clutch to whatever PR slogan they see presented to them. Maybe I've been in marketing too long, but I clearly understand that the slogan was tested by a marketing firm to respond to those who have a simple and nostalgic version of America. It strikes me as cynical.

2) The "david from texas" tag. He feels the need to tell us he's from Texas, so that is what he identifies himself with. Texas, home to W.

So if I live in Texas, am I by default in love with Bushworld and all things Republican? It's like me being from Boston means I love the Red Sox and hate the Yankees.

Anyway, I just don't get it. Simple minded? Naive? What drives these people? What makes people Republican or Democrat? I have trouble understanding what drives the opposition.

Or maybe I'm just a douche bag East Coast liberal?

The country debates the debaters.

I'm way too exhausted to tell you who won the debate, but I did check out some comments on ABCNews. There were about 2000 of them in just a few hours. Nice to see that much interest in the debate.

As you may expect, some of them are batshit insane. Here is one of the best:

Barack Hussein Obama actively sought and received the stamp of approval of a Marxist third party that operated briefly in Chicago between 1992 and 1998.The New Party was a Marxist political coalition whose objective was to endorse and elect leftist public officials -- most often Democrats. The New Party's short-term objective was to move the Democratic Party leftward, thereby setting the stage for the eventual rise of new Marxist third party.Most New Party members hailed from the Democratic Socialists of America and the militant organization ACORN. The party's Chicago chapter also included a large contingent from the Committees of Correspondence, a Marxist coalition of former Maoists, Trotskyists, and Communist Party USA members.

Shine on, you crazy diamond!

Nader loves Obama Girl

Funny. Viral. I like Nader. He should be given more press, though I'd be scared shitless if he took any votes from Obama and let McCain win. Not that would be his fault. It really wouldn't.

Some Good News: The greatness of America

(CNN) -- Global activist and U2 frontman Bono attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York to push world leaders to join his ONE campaign in fighting disease, poverty, and hunger. He talked to CNN's John Roberts on "American Morning" about recent successes and what's next.

BONO: We got good news this week. I know normally I'm on your program with bad news -- the whingeing rock star -- but it's great. There's a disease, malaria -- it's 3,000 African kids die every day of mosquito bites. Sounds mad, but it's true. And people have committed and it looks like the funds are on the table so that that disease will be no more by 2015.

I know it's extraordinary, that while you're having this meltdown on the markets, that people could even concentrate on this stuff, but I'm really grateful that they did.

We had both [presidential] candidates make very powerful statements about the necessity for nonmilitary tools, for instance, in foreign policy. This is an America that both candidates want to show to the rest of the world -- the greatness of America.

READ BONO'S BLOG ON FINANCIAL TIMES

Another excellent quote:

“It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger. That’s mad, that is mad.”

“Bankruptcy is a serious business and we all know people who have lost their jobs. But this is moral bankruptcy.”

– Lead singer of U2 Bono speaking today during day two of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Get Your War On: Bailout?!

A brief look at how the Media amps up the panic

It's seems pretty clear that the media plays a role in events, rather than just report them. As CNN, FOX, MSNBC, et al struggle with each other for ratings, they all know that inducing anxiety keeps eyeballs on the screen. For the same reason the weatherman comes on at 11:03 and implies that you NEED to know what he is going to tell you at 11:23, these guys profit from generating tension. Here's 23/6's take on CNN's Rick Sanchez as he rides the waves of panic.



Go to 23/6.com

BUSH AT MEETING: "If money isn't loosened, this sucker could go down."

Below: Another famous (and more productive) meeting.

Can we at least decide that she's not dumb, but out of her league?

Of course that question was regarding Katie Couric. Just kidding Katie!