Fun with Republicans

Best summary I've seen of this pary:

"When they have a club in their hands, no one is more sadistic. When the club is removed, no one is more whiney."

Their big issue now is that they are worried that the government has too much power. This is almost as laughable as their concern about federal debt levels. The word chutzpah doesn't even begin to cover this.

You reap what you sow.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/14/surveillance/

Fuck Goldman Sachs

Those bastards have absolutely gotten out of control.

First, they have absolutely raped the national treasury, and we're paying them BILLIONS in order to see them "not fail", but miraculously, somehow, they had a $12 billion quarter?

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/04/taxpayer-funded-gs-profits/

Second, they are suing bloggers who put up stuff about them they don't like

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/04/goldman-sachs-no-criticism-by-bloggers-allowed/

Fuck them. Here I am Goldman, come and chat with me.

Gaming the system

Sachs has a very interesting article about how banks will be able to "game" Treasury's asset purchase plan, and thus greatly milk taxpayers for even more money, while not wiping out the shareholders.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/the-geithner-summers-plan_b_183499.html

Pull out the torches and pitchforks, damnit!

NeoCons redeem themselves

April Fool's! That headline is a big joke. NeoCons are still a bunch of snake oil salesmen.

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/03/neo_neocons_are_still_incredibly_dishonest.php

The Surge worked?

Just to be clear, I supported the Surge in Iraq. I thought we had a moral obligation to them, and I still do think that. But, that doesn't mean I think the Surge has worked.

http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/03/30/iraq_the_unraveling

Ricks' excellent book Fiasco is sitting on my shelf, and his second just came from Amazon. This guy is plugged in and understands Iraq in a way that no other American journalist has proven. Following his blog is a great way to keep up on what's really going on there.

My guess is this: This will be a bloody summer for America, both in Iraq and in Afghanistan. I have a cousin deploying to Afghanistan with the Marines in May, and I'm worried.

Relevance of the IMF

Great new article that captures the heart of how America in the Bush years came to look more and more like a Banana Republic. This time around, let's talk finance. The crisis in America now is an old story, replayed every couple years in capitals around the world. But usually they are third world capitals.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice

Leaving Iraq

I didn't like the invasion Iraq, but oddly enough, I thought the surge was a good idea.

Why? Mainly because I believed what Powell said to Bush. If you break it, you own it. We owe it to Iraqi's not to leave them with a miserable country split by civil conflict that could kill thousands. We have a moral obligation to stay. Mother Jones takes on the debate.

http://www.motherjones.com/special-reports/2007/11/us-out-how

War crimes

Can we please just prosecute these guys already and get it over with? What America needs to distract itself from economic news is a good old fashioned show trial. Oh, and it's the moral thing to do, since we tortured people in US custody, according to the Red Cross.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/03/compare-and-con.html

How is it that I still have to look at Cheney on television from time to time, where people interview him as if he's some kind of statesman? That is like interviewing Madoff for finance advice, can we seriously just put him in jail already?

Cookie Monster/Madoff

JKG

• 

  The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking. -John Kenneth Galbraith

Gervais meets Elmo

Small confession to make, I love Elmo. I think it's his voice that cracks me up.

Anyway, Ricky Gervais goes to Sesame Street, hilarity ensues.

Geeking out

For those geeks, like me, who can't get enough of these "gee, was that a bus that just hit me?" stories about how - exactly - our financial system just blew up.

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_quant?currentPage=1

Democracy in Iraq

I find this story very inspiring.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/world/middleeast/09karbala.html?ref=world

If a former Baath party member is this dedicated to his town, has so much respect from his community, and can move the government forward in terms of providing basic services, then I dare say that Iraq might remain a functional democracy in the Arab world. Which after all that has happened, would be nothing short of amazing.

Know hope!

NYC girls

Women who used to live the high life, dating i-bankers, are having a tough time these days. Holy cow this is the funniest thing I've read in months.

Start with the NYT article, and then read some of the blog posts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/nyregion/28daba.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

http://dabagirls.com/

FSM lives!

So, religion is supposed to be all about faith. You are not actually supposed to be able to prove that Jesus ever lived, you're supposed to believe it without knowing. At least, that's my take about religion, that it's power is in helping to explain the unknowable.



Anyway, the bad news in all this is that my favorite religion, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is now doomed. Why, you ask? Because the Spaghetti Monster is real! We have pictures!