What Once We Had...and Where It Went

Wrapping Up the Expository...

Trouble with Comix

Hey folks, I'm having some trouble with Blogger accepting my cartoons. I have five new pieces to upload as soon as it's worked out. Sorry for the delay.

Consequence

For those of you just joining, please start back on the May 8, 2008, entry entitled "Discuss."
Meanwhile...

The Power

The Story Begins...

Discuss...

Anyone out there?

The Irony Meter Is Broken

First, the quote, courtesy of the Boston Herald and the Associated Press:

Condoleezza Rice branded anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr a coward yesterday, hours after the radical leader threatened to declare war unless U.S. and Iraqi forces end a military crackdown on his followers.

The U.S. secretary of state, on a surprise visit to tout security gains and what she calls an emerging political consensus, said al-Sadr is content to issue threats from the safety of Iran, where he is studying.

“I know he’s sitting in Iran,” Rice said dismissively when asked about al-Sadr’s latest threat to lift a self-imposed cease-fire with government and U.S. forces. “I guess it’s all-out war for anybody but him,” Rice said. “I guess that’s the message; his followers can go to their deaths and he’s in Iran.”

Sadr is a thug and a murderer, as power-crazed as anyone...which begs the question.

What of George W. Bush, who: avoided service in Vietnam, in fact avoided even completing his Air National Guard Service; who landed on the U.S. Abraham Lincoln five years ago in fighter pilot costume to declared "Mission Accomplished"; who said "Bring it on"; who has presided over what is likely the greatest foreign policy disaster in our lifetimes, sacrificing over 4000 U.S. military personnel while he made jokes about weapons of mass destruction? This guy is a hero to 30% of the remaining right-wing dead-enders while he loiters in Washington or out in the weeds in Texas?

And Condi continues to serve him and praise him, without a hint of irony or shame.

Too bad she won't run accept McCain's over of the VP slot. Then we could have a full review of her "contribution" to the decline of America.

Of course, our intrepid mainstream media would do a thorough examination, right?

TV Shot Him Dead in the Head

This is how I feel every time I succumb to cable news shows--murdered by triviality, shallowness, and the assumption that I am stupid enough to waste hours of my life listening to these idiotic broadcasts, which, sadly, I apparently am.

And it's a metaphor for the nation as well: TV is killing us. Is it the chicken or the egg? Do we not demand enough, or have the "news" and its ruthless pimping advertisers just become too overpowering to change?

Anyway, I'm making a pledge as of this moment--no more cable or network news. I'll read from now on, thank you very much, and I won't even listen to NPR either, because its increasing sponsorships from corporate coffers is damned annoying even if not yet suspiciously influential. And it does seem as if they are dumbing down their broadcasts as well by covering stories that are really peripheral compared to the heavy issues that really deserve what limited time and resources are available.

I'm better off reading highly partisan newspapers and magazines on all sides than having information prechewed and vomited at me in bilious yellows of corrupted journalism. I will, however, continue to view "Fast Money" and "Mad Money" on CNBC for the entertainment value, not to mention the positive effect it's having on my wealth accumulation by educating me. I gotta get to Berlin somehow.

Will anyone else like to take the pledge? I could sure use a support group.

The bottom line, however--death to TV "news."

I See that Ann Coulter is in Town

I wouldn't have guessed that she drove a banana-yellow VW Vanagon, though. I think she needs it to carry her cigarettes and Price Club bottles of emetic.

Lest We Forget...

...the true source of this mess in Iraq and why Osama remains free along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. This man's megalomania has run wild for far too long.

This YouTube Video Is Funny!

Oh man! NashvilleNancy is a hoot. Enjoy this McCain tribute!

"You're All Gonna Die...

...before ah admit ah was wrong!"

It's Chimpie-in-Charge! Happy 5th anniversary!

Lookit Them Peasants, Bernie...

"Between the two of us, Bernie, we done fucked up this country but good."

"Yes, Mr. President. Thank you for the opportunity to further enrich my friends and destroy the middle class."

"Don't mention it, Bernie. Iraq will seem like a picnic when ah git done destroyin' this economy. Them damn people have misunderestimated me for the last time."

Here's to Foreign Policy and War Experience

I hope by now the whole country is aware of this gaffe, if indeed it was a gaffe.

Mr. McCain said several times in his visit to Jordan — in a news conference and in a radio interview — that he was concerned that Iran was training Al Qaeda in Iraq. The United States believes that Iran, a Shiite country, has been training and financing Shiite extremists in Iraq, but not Al Qaeda, which is a Sunni insurgent group.

Mr. McCain said at a news conference in Amman that he continued to be concerned about Iranians “taking Al Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back.” Asked about that statement, Mr. McCain said: “Well, it’s common knowledge and has been reported in the media that Al Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran. That’s well known. And it’s unfortunate.”

It was not until he got a quiet word of correction in his ear from Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who was traveling with Mr. McCain as part of a Congressional delegation on a nearly weeklong trip, that Mr. McCain corrected himself.

I can understand a slip of the tongue, saying one thing while thinking another, but this assertion by McCain occurred more than once over two days, having been uttered on a radio show as well. Here's McCain's own press release:

In a press conference today, John McCain misspoke and immediately corrected himself by stating that Iran is in fact supporting radical Islamic extremists in Iraq, not Al Qaeda -- as the transcript shows. Democrats have launched political attacks today because they know the American people have deep concerns about their candidates' judgment and readiness to lead as commander in chief.

On its face, this is a bullshit statement--McCain didn't correct himself; Lieberman corrected him. We have already endured seven long years of massive and destructive fuckups by a similarly addled mind and goddamn it we need to have a chief executive who is lucid, quick on his/her feet, and knows the details of the region and people where we are at war. To untangle the rats' nest of foreign policy idiocy, economic policy incompetence, and constitutional dismemberment we cannot afford anyone who is marginal on any aspect of what is vital to our nation.

Dollar Hits New Low, Oil Hits New High, and Who Benefits?

Vladimir is sittin' on top of the world. Russia has a new prez, who happens to be Vlad's protege, and Vlad himself will be the next prime minister. Russia has more oil, gold, platinum, and other commodities than it can export and the Russian people seem to enjoy living under this authoritarian regime. And investment money is flooding in to help build a solid business infrastructure.

Funny how less than ten years after a financial collapse in Russia, they are now lending us money. Like him or hate him, there is no question that Putin has turned Russia around from being a basket case heading into third-world status into becoming a powerhouse in the global economy. But the astonishing turnaround is all the more startling when contrasted with the consequent incompetence nearly across the board in gross mismanagement of the US economy.

When George Bush said he looked into Putin's soul, you know what I think he saw? I thing he saw that he was fucked. Putin is smarter and tougher than Bush ever dreamed of becoming and he has proved it by somehow reconfiguring the wreckage of the former Soviet Union into the new Russia.

Let me emphasize that I am not endorsing authoritarianism, but I wonder what the fate of Russia would have been otherwise? Putin brooks no opposition, and his coldness at the murder of journalist Anna Politskaya was frightening, not to mention what he's done in Chechnya. But the KGB didn't create cream puffs, and Putin, rather than clinging to failed ideologies or fantasies of godly redemption through Jesus, grasps the fundamental laws of power and wealth. That's pragmatism writ large--he may have been a commie, but he was a Russian first.

And we have played right into his global plan. Bush hasn't got a fucking clue what terrible damage he's done to this country, and he's even more numb when it comes to the growing power of our former nemesis.

Bush is Vlad's little bitch.

With Friends Like These...Deadly Embrace #2

That's the expected Republican presidential nominee on the left, and on the right is another Repug who is likely going down the river to the Big House for a long, long time.

Naturally, McCain is not responsible for the actions of his campaign's co-chairs, but goddamn is it delicious that one of the major scumbags in Congress, Rick Renzi (R-AZ district 1) has been indicted on 35 counts in a 26-page indictment issued by federal prosecutors today, including charges of extortion, embezzlement, money laundering, and wire fraud. Given that Olaf and family have had to endure this weasel as our representative in Washington, and that we actively picketed and protested outside his campaign office for his racist and generally filthy tactics in getting elected, this is a welcome exposure to yet another example of "Republican values."

Renzi is an interesting pathological case: former collegiate football star with a bachelor's degree in fucking criminal justice, fer chrissakes, with twelve(!!!) children, who owns a company called "Patriot Insurance" from which he is now charged with embezzlement of nearly $400,000 dollars of clients' money in addition to the shit he allegedly pulled while in office. I mean, extortion? Not even Duke Cunningham (R, CA), now serving 12 years in the penitentiary for crooked dealings, went that far.

So that's why Johnny-boy is not looking so good in this photo. Not even nominated yet and it's already coming down around him.

As for Ricky, it's time to put away those tight jeans you favor so much. Don't want to attract too much attention in the cell bloc.

Deadly Embrace

Today John McCain received George Herbert Walker Bush's endorsement, and in return McCain said he'd be honored to receive Junior's as well. It certainly couldn't be any sweeter than this moment in 2004 when the "maverick" McCain gave much love to GW. Makes your heart swell, doesn't it?

I can only hope that this photo (the original, anyway--not Olaf's modest interpretation) becomes a staple of the Democratic campaign, to remind every American exactly what the connection is between these last seven years in Bushworld and what we ought to expect from a Republican successor.

It's really pretty disgusting, isn't it? The smug look on Junior's face and the way McCain nuzzles him? And the irony of course is that despite this, the Limbaughs and Coulters and their wingnuttery parade still won't support him until he further diminishes himself by licking their jackboots.

Which is actually pretty delightful sight to consider witnessing.

Of course, the Repugs will yammer endlessly on McCain's years in the Hanoi Hilton in an attempt to make him unassailable, but I don't think that that is going to work in the face of an eroding economy. Besides, as much as Ann Coulter hates McCain, I'm just waiting for her to say something like he had himself shot down over North Vietnam as part of a long-term plan to gain the presidency. And Limbaugh may well repeat the accusations made by Karl Rove's machine in 2000.

Did they do anything less to John Kerry in 2004? Did they do anything less to McCain himself in South Carolina in the 2000 Repug primary?

Here's hoping it turns into a cannibal carnival in the GOP!

State of the Union

Three thousand nine hundred forty dead Americans and counting. Rather an expensive crotch enhancement, you goddamned idiot.

Market Meltdown or the Chance of a Lifetime?

Indeed--how long is now, because sometimes you just don't want to face what's coming in the morning.

Oh, man, tomorrow is going to be nasty in the stock market. As I write this, Dow futures are down 500 points (!) and European and Asian stocks have gotten hammered today, which is another indicator of a bloodbath on Wall Street in the morning.

But is this a bad thing?

If you're a new investor, perhaps with some cash you've been saving, the whole market is essentially going on sale. In fact, the more it falls, the more you can buy. The question is, however, when to get in? Where is the bottom? Which sectors will bounce back first? Will any sectors bounce back?

In other words, is this the normal capitalistic cycle that tends to destroy working and middle class lives to the enrichment of the top one percent, or a full-blown depression that can even punish some of the less well-advised rich classes?

Just don't stand under any open windows in the financial district tomorrow.

In my own gut I'm weirdly optimistic, but that might be just that there is entertainment value in watching CNBC during such volatile, downward activity and thinking that I might be, for once in my sorry life, right about how seriously bad this is going to be. No, it's not all schadenfreude, because however much the super-rich are hurt, they'll remain at least regular-rich while many good people are going to really suffer. But there are a lot of young folks who are going to get their revenge on my generation by buying into a market at their elders' expense. As Baby Boomers are now retiring and redeeming their investments for something to live on, their collapsing equity will be a bargain for those looking twenty or thirty years down the road.

There is a problem, however, with holding cash on the sidelines if it's in dollars--although the slide against the Euro may have slowed, our national indebtedness to foreign lenders makes me very nervous because those dollars could actually lose value, making European stocks more expensive, erasing their advantage. (Please understand that I think the EU is the underreported powerhouse in the world, and far less dependent on US economic health than Asia.)

It's one thing when the out-of-power (even when in-power) Democrats talk about stimulus packages and nobody pays attention. But things have gotten so dire that even Bush has now come out of his sedated state long enough to want to dump $145 billion into the economy via tax rebates. Despite that, the international markets are not mollified. People are freaking out. Let's just hope it's a buying opportunity for us little guys and not a rapid descent into global economic turmoil a la 1929.