Monthly Archives: October 2008

When the Left accused Bush of fascism, was it a wishful projection?

In terms of unconstitutional centralization and use of power, I have had many reasons to wish Bush had never acquired the presidency. Nevertheless, I think we’re going to miss Bush’s “fascism” when we meet the real thing: Here’s the plan for the SS and I’m sure there will be a youth division too:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Tt2yGzHfy7s" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

link

How can anyone who opposes Homeland Security and the Patriot Act not see where this is going?

There’s already talk about who will run in 2012. Right now I just hope there will be elections in 2012.

hat tip

Slave labor anyone?

Memo to Craigslist: you might want to inform your users that we are not yet in a deflationary spiral.  Otherwise, I think your value as a job site might imitate the value offered here:

GRAPHIC ARTS AND FRONT OFFICE (St. Louis Southwest County)


Reply to: job-895103520@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2008-10-27, 9:14AM CDT

Employee needed to multi task. Part of the day on graphic arts computer using CS3 Creative Suite. Proficient in Illustrator a must. Another part of the day using Peachtree Accounting, and UPS software preparing for 10-20 shipped packages per day. Motivated person and reliability will be a must. 
Monday thru Friday 8am-4:30pm

  • Location: St. Louis Southwest County
  • Compensation: $10.00 per hour to start. 50% employee contribution on insurance after trial period.
  • Principals only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster.
  • Please, no phone calls about this job!
  • Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: 895103520

 

I guess if the law is corrupt it is hard to say that it was used corruptly

Normally this would simply be a friendfeed item.  But I don’t like blogging too irregularly and I’m busy at the moment.  So it will do.

U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-OH) says he fears that John Dugan, Comptroller of the Currency, steered $7.7 billion of taxpayer bailout money to his former client, PNC, so it could buy National City Bank.

 LaTourette today sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson outlining his concerns and asking for an investigation.  He also asked House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) to hold a hearing on the Fed’s decision to have one regional bank (PNC) gobble up regional bank (National City) using bailout money.  LaTourette is a senior member of the Financial Services panel.

 The Pittsburgh-based PNC, which bought National City on Friday at a fire-sale price with federal bailout money, was one of Dugan’s clients just before he was sworn in as Comptroller of the Currency in August 2005, LaTourette said.  Prior to becoming Comptroller, Dugan was a partner at Covington and Burling, a DC law firm that specializes in banking regulation.  

 “I am very concerned that the Comptroller first deprived bailout money to National City Bank and then orchestrated its sale to his former client, PNC.  The officials at PNC have made it very clear that they were only able to buy National City because they got a $7.7 billion handout from the government,” LaTourette said. (Did Comptroller Steer Bailout money to his former Client, PNC?)

Read the whole release. It is eye-opening.

I suspect that all the parties asked to investigate already know, or already know they don’t care, what happened.  Because this is exactly the arbitrary power that was given to the Secretary of the Treasury.  This is Business as usual, now.

Welcomd to G-Sax Nation.

Remembering Reagan’s wisdom

Not sure Michelle sees it that way, but I think Reagan stands out as courageous for realizing that it was wrong to think that peacekeeping in the Middle East was worth American blood.  He got us out after reconsidering his decision, from the standpoint of over two hundred killed.  Strangely, for many, “never forget” seems to be a wish that we could add other names to the list of the dead.

Disregarding Reagan’s wisdom is a huge reason why we are now descending into a Banana Republic both economically and legally.  It is also why we might possibly soon be ruled by one of the most extreme leftist regimes of our history.

Whoa, Meredith! What amazing investigative journalism!

I have no idea if Naomi Wolf’s book is any good or not.  I’m not even done with the video.  I have it paused now at 1:45.

But what is Meredith Vierra thinking and what are viewers supposed to think?

Wolf reports that the First Brigade is being deployed in the United States in contravention to ….

Well, she never got quite to talk about the legal precedent.  Because Vierra interrupted her and said that, “We actually did talk to the people at Northcom…”  And, suprise, surprise, they claimed that that division wouldn’t be used in law enforcement, dealing with civil disobedience, or crowd control.

So they had their intern call up and get an official denial and that is news reporting?  So, if the Colonel had issued a statement saying, “Why yes, we plan to use the brigade to apprehend and jail civilians,” then that would mean that Wolf was credible.  But since he issued a public denial we can now “expose” Wolf as lacking in credibility.

What?

What would have happened if we had this kind of alleged journalism during the Nixon Administration? How can Vierra not realize what a laughable hack she is being?

Blaming the prophets for things they never did.

That’s how the establishment responds to the prophesied Judgment Day: “It is all their fault”

Thus, the Slate rant. But you gotta love the irony:

The worst thing you can say about libertarians is that they are intellectually immature, frozen in the worldview many of them absorbed from reading Ayn Rand novels in high school. Like other ideologues, libertarians react to the world’s failing to conform to their model by asking where the world went wrong.

Yeah, I have been embarrassed to admit I read Ayn Rand novels, but that was before the G-Sax putsch started dramatizing passages from Atlas Shrugged, complete with high melodrama and bizarrely revealing villain names.

I’ve always wondered how so many people could continue to believe the lie that “Herbert Hoover did nothing in response to the Depression due to his allegiance to laissez-faire capitalism.” But if the political class and its minions are now, in the face of the web, youtube.com, and the alternative media, willing to say anything they need to do to assure you how much you need their expert care in order to have prosperity, I’m beginning to understand how it can happen.

But will it work this time? Is Newsweek going to be able to revise history so completely when Ron Paul is so popular on YouTube.com?

In the meantime, here’s what out guardians are doing for our economy:

Financial workers at Wall Street’s top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year – despite plunging the global financial system into its worst crisis since the 1929 stock market crash, the Guardian has learned.

Staff at six banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are in line to pick up the payouts despite being the beneficiaries of a $700bn bail-out from the US government that has already prompted criticism. The government’s cash has been poured in on the condition that excessive executive pay would be curbed.

Pay plans for bankers have been disclosed in recent corporate statements. Pressure on the US firms to review preparations for annual bonuses increased yesterday when Germany’s Deutsche Bank said many of its leading traders would join Josef Ackermann, its chief executive, in waiving millions of euros in annual payouts.

The sums that continue to be spent by Wall Street firms on payroll, payoffs and, most controversially, bonuses appear to bear no relation to the losses incurred by investors in the banks. Shares in Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have declined by more than 45% since the start of the year. Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley have fallen by more than 60%. JP MorganChase fell 6.4% and Lehman Brothers has collapsed.

And a new blog to watch gives us a sample of open and transparent government from the new wing of it we just created.  Nothing like “re-regulating” without oversight.  So who regulates the regulators in this so-called “open society”?

One final note: I have to apologize for what I said here.  I just watched the entire video series that begins here. It is not just “pretty good,” as I said.  It is fantastic.  I can’t decide which portion is better: the segment on farm subsidies showing how 1930s fascism continues unchecked in agribusiness, or the horrific censorship and political defense of incumbent representatives which has been made possible by McCain-Feingold and other types of “campaign reform” (The official definition of campaign reform is: laws empowering the wealthy to destroy anyone trying to deal in politics who does not have millions of dollars for a lawyer).  Please watch it!