NSA Targeted Journalists, Snooped on All U.S. Communications

I've never been very clear about why it is that Americans don't seem to care about this. Seriously, the government is reading absolutely everything that you write, say, or think, and the response has been a collective yawn.

Thank god for whistleblowers

Post inauguration

Oh my. I don't think I've partied this hard ever in my life. Let me think... college graduation, nope. March madness in Vegas, no way. The inauguration drinkin...er celebrating started on Friday night and still hasn't really ended. I'm exhausted, drunk, and might I add more than a little bit giddy. Today I woke up, tired and uninspired about going to work, and then I thought: Barack Obama is my president.



And then I went skipping out the door.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Kids give advice to Obama

From an NYTimes article. I liked this one best:

Dear Obama,

I have grown up with a very liberal mom and a very conservative dad. Thank you for bringing my parents somewhat closer together. :) You are my idol Mr. Barack — I am partly African-American and I am very happy to see an African-American leading this country.

— Olivia Roper-Caldbeck, age 12, Seattle

Who is better for the economy?

Interesting analysis for the Wall St. Journal, of all people. It looks like among the best presidents in terms of job growth (as measured by "payroll expansion"), the 3 best of them were Democrats (Clinton, Johnson, Truman). Reagan was the Republican who came in at #4. Well well well....

President	Jobs created	Jobs at end of term	Jobs at start of term	Payroll expansion	Jobs created per year in office	Population growth	Percent change in population
George W. Bush	3.0 million	135.5 million	132.5 million	2.3%	375,000	22.0 million	7.7%
Bill Clinton	23.1 million	132.5 million	109.4 million	21.1%	2,900,000	25.2 million	8.9%
George H.W. Bush	2.5 million	109.4 million	106.9 million	2.3%	625,000	12.5 million	4.8%
Ronald Reagan	16.0 million	106.9 million	90.9 million	17.6%	2,000,000	17.3 million	7%
Jimmy Carter	10.5 million	90.9 million	80.4 million	13.1%	2,600,000	9.8 million	4.3%
Gerald Ford	1.8 million	80.4 million	78.6 million	2.3%	745,000	5.1 million	2.3%
Richard Nixon	9.4 million	78.6 million	69.2 million	13.6%	1,700,000	12.3 million	5.7%
Lyndon Johnson	11.9 million	69.2 million	57.3 million	20.8%	2,300,000	11.3 million	5.6%
John F. Kennedy	3.6 million	57.3 million	53.7 million	6.7%	1,200,000	8.2 million	4.3%
Dwight Eisenhower	3.5 million	53.7 million	50.2 million	7%	438,000	23.3 million	12.8%
Harry Truman	8.4 million	50.2 million	41.8 million	20.1%	1,100,000	N/A	N/A

Get money from the government, in 27 minutes

MotherJones has a fun article up about how easy it is for financial firms to get TARP money. The application apparently takes 27 minutes.

To put it in perspective, here are five things that take longer than filling out the TARP application.

1. Applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): 4 hours.
   
2. Watching Wall Street: 2 hours, 5 minutes.
   
3. Making a tuna noodle casserole: 1 hour, 20 minutes.
   
4. Applying for New York State unemployment insurance benefits: 30 minutes.
   
5. Applying for food stamps in New Jersey: 30 minutes.

Stimulus

Back in the fall I wrote a little post suggesting that - based on no data whatsoever and my high-falutin-soundin graduate studies - that the US economy needed a fiscal stimulus of 400 billion or so. "Defense budget size" money, I think I said at the time.

Well, now Obama has outdone me, calling for a $775 billion plan that is a mix of spending and tax cuts.

Gee that's a lot of money. And Krugman says it isn't enough.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Using the math he gives us, what we really need is a $1.4 TRILLION dollar plan, all of it spending. The reason for that is that tax cuts don't necessarily get spent (people might just put them in the bank) and thus don't have the same multiplier effect as spending. So, if you want a mix of spending and tax cuts, the total package would have to be MORE than $1.4 trillion.

This stuff is giving me a headache. I'm going to look for some dancing penguin videos or something.

Quote of the day

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.

- Voltaire

Everybody loves to taunt

If I were an ape - which I'm not, ex-girlfriend's opinions excluded - then I'd like to think that this is the kind of ape I would be.

Trust in the GOP...

.. has reached a record low.

You know, I often have a rather, shall we say, pessimistic view of the intelligence of the American people. But more and more, on issue after issue, they seem to be coming around to how I think. Which means that they clearly are brilliant beyond measure.

one last Bushism

We all needed one more priceless quote from George Bush on his way out the door:

"I thought about what it would be like for me to become president during this period. I believe that good policy is not to dump him a major catastrophe on his first day in office," Bush said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081218/ap_on_bi_ge/bush_autos

Giving him a major catastrophe in, say, March might be much more respectful.

In DC for the inauguration?

Then rent my apartment!

One guy steals $50 Billion

Is it possible for one individual to completely destroy American's faith in capitalist financial markets? Check out this story.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/business/12scheme.html?hp

One guy accused of defrauding his clients out of $50 billion dollars. One guy. $50 Billion dollars is more than the GDP of dozens of countries in the world. And one guy stole it.

It's just unbelievable. Congress won't bail out automakers, but finance folks continue to get cash, even while these assholes are in charge of things. Just incredible.

"Senior officials authorized torture", so says the Senate

Well, the Senate has done their job. When's the last time you heard that? Senate Armed Services finally realized their report about "abusive techniques" (i.e. torture) that the US used, and the results aren't a surprise. Bi partisan agreement that we screwed up badly:

“Attempts by senior officials to pass the buck to low-ranking soldiers while avoiding any responsibility for abuses are unconscionable,” Levin said. “The message from top officials was clear: It was acceptable to use degrading and abusive techniques against detainees.”

McCain said, “The committee’s report details the inexcusable link between abusive interrogation techniques used by our enemies who ignored the Geneva Conventions and interrogation policy for detainees in U.S. custody. These policies are wrong and must never be repeated.”

So now the question is: who, if anybody, are we going to prosecute for this? Allowing only lower ranking service members or CIA agents to take the fall for this would be a disgrace. And now that Obama is president, we don't have to tolerate "disgraces" any more, do we?

Not only is this super cool, there's a mellow soundtrack to lighten your day.

Whales Blowing Bubble Rings @ Yahoo! Video

That *&^%$ Illinois governor

This guy is priceless. Check out what Rod Pop-off-a-vitch says about Barack Obama in the wiretap transcript:

c. ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that the consultants (Advisor B and another consultant are believed to be on the call at that time) are telling him that he has to “suck it up” for two years and do nothing and give this “motherfucker [the President-elect] his senator. Fuck him. For nothing? Fuck him.”

It is funny watching Republicans try to link Obama to this guy, at the same time that the guy himself is cursing Obama for wanting him to walk a straight line. Fucking priceless. Oops, sorry! Rod makes it sound so normal....