jump to navigation

The caption says.. 17 October 2008

Posted by marisacat in Divertissements, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter.
trackback

zz
Pelicans drinking the rain at Forster, NSW, Australia [Picture: NEWSPIX / REX FEATURES]

they are drinking rain water… I say they are laughing at politics…  ;)

Smart of them… I don’t think I had fully lived as a mere civilian observer of politics til I stumbled upon Smerconish, hearing a reactionary, Republican, fake populist (yet another!) Philadelphia radio jock defend and promote Obama. As I recall, he endorsed him in the primary tho unable to vote for him – and now will vote for him next month.

On the other side of the room, Nancy is on with Charlie Rose – for the hour. If Smerconish gives me whiplash, Nancy has long given me a headache, rather of the sinus variety… ;)   As I slithered past TNR, I saw John McWhorter (who supports Ob) has up some sort of blither on race and Obama.  Think he is saying there is no racism.  Tho knowing McWhorter it will be more complicated  – and if you’d rather wring your Democratic, liberal or leftischer hands down to the bone over Obamafied racism (does any other racism matter?), The Atlantic is here to serve.  The schnauzers at The Corner loved the McWhorter take…….  Thankfully, I cannot read it for the pounding behind my eyeballs.

Last seen, McCain had gone a bit gamey, wounded at the watering hole and dragging a leg, a pack of hyenas was seen following close behind.  I’d say the same of Obama.  The hyena pack, I mean…

If I could, I’d be running off to join the pelicans.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

About these ads

Comments»

1. Arcturus - 17 October 2008

just for you

Reply
2. marisacat - 17 October 2008

Oh what a hoot! Thanks for that… I did catch Kathryn Jean Lopez over at The Corner in a hissy fit as Egan exchanged jokes and pleasantries with ObRama. How dare he. Either “he”…

lol

Reply
3. satin sheets feminist - 17 October 2008

http://thenewagenda.net/2008/10/17/does-anyone-know-this-boys-parents/

This is an interesting post on the young boy who created a rape video wherein he claims he wants to rape Sarah Palin.

Reply
4. marisacat - 17 October 2008

hmm “satin sheets” is anti-hegemonic and pointecoupeedemocrat and a few other names. The Louisiana Kingfisher blog she inhabits is clearly an operative work product…

S/he opposes Obama but let’s say it just smells to high heaven.

S/he has had a few rape fantasies…. I will just remind her/him that I have the full text of Voyeur and 60+ comments saved from MLW — as well as a series of comments posted here a year and half ago, advocating and fantasising quite specific rape, that I believe came from her. Or him.

Tho “Ezra” clearly has problems and I would be interested in knowing who put him up to the video.

Reply
5. marisacat - 17 October 2008

HONOLULU (AP) – Hawaii is dropping the only state universal child health care program in the country just seven months after it launched.

Gov. Linda Lingle’s administration cited budget shortfalls and other available health care options for eliminating funding for the program. A state official said families were dropping private coverage so their children would be eligible for the subsidized plan.

“People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free,” said Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Department of Human Services. “I don’t believe that was the intent of the program.”

State officials said Thursday they will stop giving health coverage to the 2,000 children enrolled by Nov. 1, but private partner Hawaii Medical Service Association will pay to extend their coverage through the end of the year without government support.

“We’re very disappointed in the state’s decision, and it came as a complete surprise to us,” said Jennifer Diesman, a spokeswoman for HMSA, the state’s largest health care provider. “We believe the program is working, and given Hawaii’s economic uncertainty, we don’t think now is the time to cut all funding for this kind of program.” ::snip::

Reply
6. Madman in the Marketplace - 17 October 2008

Not supporting the Donks, or the insiderish cashing in that many orgs are, but one could see this coming: Death threat, vandalism hit ACORN after McCain comments

WASHINGTON — An ACORN community organizer received a death threat and the liberal activist group’s Boston and Seattle offices were vandalized Thursday, reflecting mounting tensions over its role in registering 1.3 million mostly poor and minority Americans to vote next month.

Attorneys for the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now were notifying the FBI and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division of the incidents, said Brian Kettenring, a Florida-based spokesman for the group.

Republicans, including presidential candidate John McCain, have verbally attacked the group repeatedly in recent days, alleging a widespread vote-fraud scheme, although they’ve provided little proof. It was disclosed Thursday that the FBI is examining whether thousands of fraudulent voter-registration applications submitted by some ACORN workers were part of a systematic effort or isolated incidents.

Kettenring said that a senior ACORN staffer in Cleveland, after appearing on television this week, got an e-mail that said she “is going to have her life ended.”

A female staffer in Providence, R.I., got a threatening call from someone who said words to the effect of “We know you get off work at 9,” then uttered racial epithets, he said.

McClatchy is withholding the women’s names because of the threats.

Separately, vandals broke into the group’s Boston and Seattle offices and stole computers, Kettenring said.

The incidents came the day after McCain charged in the final presidential debate that ACORN’s voter-registration drive “may be perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history” and may be “destroying the fabric of democracy.”

Reply
7. marisacat - 17 October 2008

yeah not too shocking. A lot of people who might never have heard of ACORN now have.

Reply
8. diane - 17 October 2008

Love that pic Marisa…now I’m wondering how well the loveable Brown Pelicans, so common to Louisiana are doing in that area now. The first time I saw a pelican dive for a fish I was kind of speechless.

In case you never heard it, sometimes strong coffee will help relieve a nasty headache..

Don’t have much of squat to say about the election except that it’s more palatible for the common folk, to have Obama now, why waste all that money fighting anarchists when you can kill people’s spirit over an even longer span, after all the pleasure is gone if they’re dead…sorry to anyone offended (more likely depressed) by that…

Reply
9. marisacat - 17 October 2008

oh diane… thanks, I was being a tad dramatic for the sake of getting something on the page. 8) It was more general reaction than pounding pain… but I DO use coffee at times for certain types of sinus headache… I rarely get headaches, but try to get rid of them, if I can.

Reply
10. diane - 17 October 2008

9
welcome hon!

An Eqyptian person informed once that coffee is sniffed for the same effect…though must say, the sweetest Eqyptian culturism I witnessed was how water was sprayed as an incredibly fine mist from the mouth, to steam iron, without the steam iron, for those without, and this was a rather male male guy friend demonstrating……..

Speaking of Eqypt, after the fact of one of my last posts re the economy, it interested me that I didn’t include certain Israeli’s along with certain Saudi’s…(now I’ve corrected it..sometimes I think I should just keep my mouth shut, or rather hand still, a little more, and take more time..alas ..of which there seems so little…maybe that’s a mirage?)

Reply
11. diane - 17 October 2008

10

and yes , laughing out loud,…of course I tied to imitate with no one looking…………well I could blame the results on my teef,..but that really wouldn’t quite do……absolutely nothing like the art of learning….and patience…………….

Reply
12. diane - 17 October 2008

12

and so vey sad that all of us appear to have been robbed of patience…….by something kind of undefineable…..

Reply
13. CSTAR - 17 October 2008
14. marisacat - 17 October 2008

hmm via Hibbard’s Live Feed…

McCain gives Letterman his biggest audience in years

John McCain’s peace summit visit to CBS’ “Late Show” gave David Letterman his highest viewership in nearly three years.

The Thursday night telecast was seen by 6.5 million viewers, and received a 1.7 rating in the adult demo. That’s the largest audience for the show since December, 2005, when Oprah Winfrey appeared. “Late Show” also topped Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” (4.6 million viewers) by 43%, and Leno had Joe Biden as a guest.

Reply
15. marisacat - 17 October 2008

13

yes the pelicans are laughing it up, plenty of material for them to feed on………………………. 8)

Reply
16. liberalcatnip - 17 October 2008

Joe McCarthy in a Dress. Nutballs. The lot of them.

Reply
17. Madman in the Marketplace - 17 October 2008

16 – sadly, that’s exactly why the so perfectly represent a sizable and vocal minority in this country.

Americans don’t even know what “liberal” or “leftist” means. Or civics. Or responsibilty.

Reply
18. liberalcatnip - 17 October 2008
19. marisacat - 17 October 2008

well in 2004 Bob Barr called ALL Democrats “anti American” on CNN. It was so blatant that Miles O’Brien took issue with it.

And Barr belongs to the ACLU too.

They rev it up every GE.

But I am nto with the Democrats either. Only used “traitor” once here, and it was applied to BOTH parties, who have abdicated any responsibility. At all, of any kind.

Reply
20. liberalcatnip - 17 October 2008

Via Larry King:

KING: Lars, what would you advise him?

LARSON: Larry, he’s got to be bold. He’s got to tag Obama as the Marxist that he is. Again, from –

KING: Marxist? Hold it. He’s a Marxist?

LARSON: That’s Marxism.

KING: Does that make the right wing fascist?

LARSON: No.

KING: You can’t have it both ways.

LARSON: No, fascism is about celebrating the country. America has always been about the individual. And conservatives really are about the individual. But saying we want to spread everybody’s wealth around and giving tax rebates to the 40 percent of Americans who don’t pay federal taxes, that’s Marxism. That’s redistribution of wealth. And John McCain should be bold enough to tag him.

Barack Obama doesn’t believe in drilling for oil. He doesn’t believe in nuclear power. He does believe in spreading the wealth and redistributing Joe the plumber’s wealth. That’s just dead wrong and Americans know it.

Yay fascism!

Reply
21. marisacat - 17 October 2008

Londonderry yesterday…

“I want you to believe,” said the candidate, clad in an open-necked shirt and barn jacket. “Not so much believe just in me but believe in yourselves. Believe in the future. Believe in the future we can build together. I’m confident together we can’t fail.”

…

“I promise you. We won’t just win New Hampshire. We will win this election and, you and I together, we’re going to change the country and change the world.”

…

Both Democrats and Republicans in New Hampshire appear convinced that Mr Obama will win.

“We feel we’re on the brink of a whole new life in this country,” said Betsy Whitman, 69.

“Sure, he’ll win,” said Marlene Hulme, 70, at the Londonderry event. “Our expectations were high today and he knocked it out of the park.”

A lone McCain supporter at the rally said she too was convinced that the Republican nominee was finished. “McCain has lost,” said Deborah Barnhart, 48, who runs a landscaping business.

“He’s lost because the Messiah has spoken and we’re going to change the world. That’s all people want to hear after eight years of Bush. Obama thinks he’s won. Everyone here thinks he’s won.”

Is the Holy Host and Sacramental Wine, and the blessing that transforms it to His body and blood, distributed in secret?

The Telegraph, or at least this reporter, had a good chuckle.

Reply
22. Madman in the Marketplace - 17 October 2008

20 – That is the weirdest definition of fascism I’ve ever read.

I’m so tired of labels being tossed around without any real connection to what they really mean. I am surprised that LARRY KING, of all people, called him on it.

Reply
23. Madman in the Marketplace - 17 October 2008
24. Madman in the Marketplace - 17 October 2008

Yusuf became a commander last year, when the Americans killed his superior officer. He sleeps in a different house every night to avoid detection. Only 30 years old, he has big ears and an almost elfin air; the ringtone on his cellphone is a bells-and-cymbals version of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice theme. A year and a half ago, Yusuf was injured in his thigh by a U.S. helicopter strike, and now walks with a limp. He joined the Taliban in 2003 after studying at a religious school in North Waziristan, the border region of Pakistan where many Afghan refugees live. He seems less motivated by religious ideals than by defending his homeland: He took up jihad, he tells me, because foreigners have come to Afghanistan and are fighting Afghans and poor people.

“The Americans are not good,” he says. “They go into houses and put people in jail. Fifteen days ago the Americans bombed here and killed a civilian.”

The U.S. campaign in Afghanistan has not been helped by its rash of misguided bombings. This year, according to the United Nations, 1,445 Afghan civilians were killed by coalition forces through August — two-thirds of them in airstrikes. On July 6th, a bombing raid killed 47 members of a wedding party — including 39 women and children — near the village of Kacu. On August 22nd, more than 90 civilians — again mostly women and children — were killed in an airstrike in Azizabad.

Yusuf makes it clear that it is only the Americans he has a problem with. Once the foreigners leave, he insists, the Taliban will negotiate peace with the Afghan army and police: “They are brothers, Muslims.” What’s more, he says, girls will be allowed to go to school, and women will be allowed to work. It is a stance I will hear echoed by many Taliban leaders. In recent years, recognizing that their harsher strictures had alienated the population, the Taliban have grown more tolerant. To improve their operations, they have even been forced to adopt technologies they once banned: computers, television, films, the Internet.

Reply
25. liberalcatnip - 17 October 2008

A “barn jacket”? What’s that? Have I been missing out on that particular fashion trend?

22. From the end of his show:

KING: You can take part in all our shows. Go to CNN.com/ — I’ll be glad when this is over — /LarryKing and click on blog…

Even Larry can only take so much of these crazy Americans.

Reply
26. marisacat - 17 October 2008

hmm the vid I saw it seemed to be a short leather jacket. Maybe that is a UK colloquialism. Not sure…

Reply
27. marisacat - 17 October 2008

Listening to Lovato and Chavez on with Moyers… Glad to hear Lovato is a Obama sceptic. Neither of them is esp happy with the election.

Reply
28. Madman in the Marketplace - 17 October 2008

25 – simple canvas jacket, buttons down the front, often lined with flannel. Big in the late ’80s, early ’90s. Like this.

Reply
29. Madman in the Marketplace - 17 October 2008

Now the Cost of War Really Matters

Unlike the depression which ended in part because of World War II, this time military spending is contributing to economic demise. Military spending takes money from the rest of the economy and prevents a federal budget that invests in re-tooling the economy. Spending hundreds of billions on the Iraq and Afghanistan war, and hundreds of billions more annually on military spending is one reason why the U.S. economy is faltering. The DoD is expected to put forward an even bigger budget request before the next president takes office. This will force the next president to quickly confront whether the military continues to dominate U.S. foreign policy and the U.S. budget.

The long-term cost of a military-dominated foreign policy has been a massive disinvestment in the civilian economy. The U.S. has been facing a failing infrastructure for a generation but instead of spending money on regional and local rapid transit the U.S. spends it on overpriced military equipment. Instead of building schools so kids are not working out of trailers, it is spent on building hundreds of military bases around the globe. No doubt the hollowing out of the U.S. economy is in large part the result of lack of investment in keeping the economy strong, investing in workers, ensuring productivity and keeping manufacturing in the U.S. As President Eisenhower warned: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” Sadly, money for war was more important than money for human needs and has dragged the economy down.

It is fair to say that the U.S. government is addicted to militarism. Elected officials keep spending on the military even though it hurts the security of the United States by undermining the civilian economy. The military is the most heavily funded area in the discretionary spending of the federal budget. For as long as I can remember half of the discretionary spending of the U.S. budget has gone to the military. When the cost of Iraq and Afghanistan are included the military is more than half of all discretionary spending. This has meant decades of disinvestment in the civilian sector, no wonder the infrastructure is failing, the U.S. is behind other countries in creating new, clean energy sources, college education is becoming unaffordable and the health care problem has not been fixed.

The reality is war is only good for a small portion of the economy as most corporations do not profit from war. The companies that benefit are those that destroy everything in the ‘shock and awe’ campaigns that have become the hallmark of U.S. invasions. The second group that profits from war is the occupying companies that get paid to rebuild what aerial bombardment destroyed and support the massive overseas U.S. military presence. This includes not only the construction companies but the private security firms (which provide more troops in Iraq than the U.S. military) and the oil companies that profit from rising prices caused by destabilization of oil producing countries.

Reply
30. marisacat - 17 October 2008

Sadly, money for war was more important than money for human needs and has dragged the economy down.

… and they will really bleed the nation, now, for war. They have to…

Reply
31. Madman in the Marketplace - 17 October 2008

FWIW: Tribune endorsement: Barack Obama for president

This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune. This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.

The Tribune in its earliest days took up the abolition of slavery and linked itself to a powerful force for that cause–the Republican Party. The Tribune’s first great leader, Joseph Medill, was a founder of the GOP. The editorial page has been a proponent of conservative principles. It believes that government has to serve people honestly and efficiently.

With that in mind, in 1872 we endorsed Horace Greeley, who ran as an independent against the corrupt administration of Republican President Ulysses S. Grant. (Greeley was later endorsed by the Democrats.) In 1912 we endorsed Theodore Roosevelt, who ran as the Progressive Party candidate against Republican President William Howard Taft.

The Tribune’s decisions then were driven by outrage at inept and corrupt business and political leaders.

We see parallels today.

Reply
32. liberalcatnip - 17 October 2008

25 – simple canvas jacket, buttons down the front, often lined with flannel. Big in the late ’80s, early ’90s. Like this.

mmmm…flannel…

Nice avatar. lol

Reply
33. Madman in the Marketplace - 17 October 2008

32 – thanks … like all Americans, I’m all about the happy …

… and the weapons ….

…. and body armor.

Reply
34. ms_xeno - 17 October 2008

Comics Make No Sense.

I plan on reading this blog every day until I’m dead, or until elections make more sense than comics do— Whichever comes first.
;)

Reply
35. Madman in the Marketplace - 17 October 2008

Hi ms_x!!!!

Reply
36. marisacat - 17 October 2008

hey hey ms_xeno… ;)

Thank for that link…

how are the kits?

Reply
37. ms_xeno - 17 October 2008

Oh, hey, Mcat. We had a minor flea outbreak, but nothing big. It’s all gone now.

But this is the first election year ever at Chez Xeno that we’ve had that kind of visitor. I wonder what it could mean… ?

:p Just reading everything backwards, as is my wont. Carry on. ;)

Reply
38. marisacat - 17 October 2008

Frontline to the Rescue! I found with Baby that flea baths were not enough…Nor a little flea powder here and there… I’d never had a cat so allergic before…

Reply
39. ms_xeno - 17 October 2008

Yes, all hail Frontline.

BTW, I’ve decided that the biggest tragedy of this election cycle is that YouTube is so gummed up with the Donklephant faithful and their vids that I can’t even watch cartoons over there anymore. They take too long to load.

[scowls]

Reply
40. marisacat - 17 October 2008

I saved the last pack of Frontline – and she did not even go into the garden the last year so I stopped putting it on her…

LOL in case some refugee turns up at my back door.

How are you doing at the replacement job??

Reply
41. liberalcatnip - 18 October 2008

39. Why do Donklephants hate cartoons? (And America, by extension?)

Did you see that link I posted to artwork made with junk mail, ms x?

Reply
42. bayprairie - 18 October 2008

fantastic pelicans.

diane, i’ll keep you posted on the gulf coast pelicans. typically during a hurricane they tend to blow inland and wind up miles from where they should, ive heard a couple of stories at work about them being seen in the woodlands, which is an hours drive from the gulf.

in the past ive spent a lot of time on the water. i think the pelican is one of the most graceful birds imaginable when they are in the air. they’re masters at gliding, catching the currents and eddys in the air, not moving a muscle, just gliding along silently a few meters off the surface, and then a slight swoop up, the stall, wings fold, and then the dive down into the bay waters like a knife. and then up again with the fish. we have both types. in the galveston area the brown pelican predominates, but you can see the white ones too. as one moves down the coastline towards mexico, in the winter, you see more of the white ones, and they’re larger birds.

when they arent flying they’re amost comedic.

those in the photo though. what magnificent birds!

Reply
43. marisacat - 18 October 2008

Aren’t they gorgeous?

The colors are so wonderful, that coral beak, violet, gray, black and white feathers and the yellow eye, there by the beak.

Reply
44. bayprairie - 18 October 2008

yes they are. and the eyes are just gorgeous. very dramatic coloring around them.

these are fishing at a fast pace. the water must have been alive with small fish.

Pelican shallow water fishing

Reply
45. bayprairie - 18 October 2008

heres a bed and breakfast site on galveston bay at the entrance to cleark creek channel that has some good photos of pelicans (scroll down). my mother spend the last 18 years of her life within four miles of these piers. we had some marvelous times. like her, i suspect the piers are no longer there. the bed and breakfast may have survived. if it did it had to be largely submerged to the second story.

Reply
46. marisacat - 18 October 2008

Fox News Sunday: McCain

Meet the Press: Colin Powell. Roundtable with Chuck Todd, David Brooks, Jon Meacham, Andrea Mitchell, Joe Scarborough

Face the Nation: Rep. Wasserman Schultz, former Rep. Portman, Gov. Blunt, Gov. Kaine

Late Edition: Sen. McCaskill, Rep. Roy Blunt

This Week: Gingrich

Reply
47. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

The WaPo endorsed The Annointed One, complete with Obama ad.

Reply
48. marisacat - 18 October 2008

Madman…

Oh that is too funny.. what a juxtaposition. LOL

***

bay

thanks for the link to the Galveston site… Beautiful pics!

Reply
49. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

Bush Aides Say Religious Hiring Doesn’t Bar Aid

In a newly disclosed legal memorandum, the Bush administration says it can bypass laws that forbid giving taxpayer money to religious groups that hire only staff members who share their faith.

The administration, which has sought to lower barriers between church and state through its religion-based initiative offices, made the claim in a 2007 Justice Department memorandum from the Office of Legal Counsel. It was quietly posted on the department’s Web site this week.

The statutes for some grant programs do not impose antidiscrimination conditions on their financing, and the administration had previously allowed such programs to give taxpayer money to groups that hire only people of a particular religion.

But the memorandum goes further, drawing a sweeping conclusion that even federal programs subject to antidiscrimination laws can give money to groups that discriminate.

The document signed off on a $1.5 million grant to World Vision, a group that hires only Christians, for salaries of staff members running a program that helps “at-risk youth” avoid gangs. The grant was from a Justice Department program created by a statute that forbids discriminatory hiring for the positions it is financing.

But the memorandum said the government could bypass those provisions because of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It sometimes permits exceptions to a federal law if obeying it would impose a “substantial burden” on people’s ability to freely exercise their religion. The opinion concluded that requiring World Vision to hire non-Christians as a condition of the grant would create such a burden.

Reply
50. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

Dear Conservative America:

Who will be “subdued,” according to the blueprint, if and when this military unit takes to our streets? The first group of Americans to be subdued is likely to be protesters; then, going by the blueprint, you will see the military using Tasers to subdue people who ask whether there is a warrant permitting agents to burst into their home, as happened at the RNC. People could be Tasered while protesting when voters are turned away by the wholesale purges of quarter-millions of voters from the rolls that Robert Kennedy Jr. has been documenting; or, there is likely to be Tasering and other kinds of subjugation of people protesting corrupted voting machines.

Why does this undermine American freedom? Federal laws, most notably the Posse Comitatus Act, have prohibited the military from being deployed within the United States for 200 years. Yet the Army Times reports that “expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.”

The founders sought to keep soldiers off our streets because they knew how easily a standing army could subdue a population. That’s why the National Guard is answerable primarily to the governors of states and hence to the people of the United States. But the military is answerable to the commander in chief. These are the president’s troops. The president now has a personal army. One definition of a police state is when the leader has seized control of the military to police citizens domestically.

Reply
51. marisacat - 18 October 2008

He’s Daniel Boone too. Finally, they have made of him some cartoon character. It long ago became laughable. And he seems fine wiht it.

Democratic Sen. Jim Webb never mentioned race as he introduced Obama to the predominantly white crowd at the Roanoke Civic Center in the southwestern part of the state. But, he said, “Barack Obama’s father was born in Kenya. Barack Obama’s mother was born in Kansas by way of Kentucky,” he said, adding that Obama would be the “14th president of the United States whose ancestry and whose family line goes back” in the region.

“You can trust him. I trust him,” Webb added.

Reply
52. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

So Obama is honorary scots-irish now?

Nation’s power elite at play is no pretty picture

Tomas, a senior faculty member at Seattle Central Community College, has assembled a startling photo essay on leisure activities of leading citizens — including a former president of the United States.

The ride of the rich, in early May, is one of several elite gatherings: Best known is the summer Bohemian Grove encampment in Northern California, where Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon once huddled over 1968 presidential plans.

Tomas’ photo essay begins with solemnity. The Rancheros get a send-off at the 204-year-old Mission Santa Ines, where a Franciscan priest conducts a “Blessing of the Horses” and tells their owners to “ride with God.”

Leaving the mission, those in the saddle plan their sins. Tomas’ shots show prostitutes arranging assignations with Rancheros during the upcoming weeklong ride. The hookers come from as far away as Las Vegas.

Liaisons take place away from the Ranchero’s three encampments, in nearby towns where some of the locals call them “Los Ranchero Liquidores.”

Of course, no women are permitted on or near the trail ride. The campsites — set up by a largely Hispanic work force — are locked from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. But Tomas’ pictures show much away-from-camp cavorting.

Who goes on the ride? The club is exclusive, white and male, with a membership limited to 600. A couple hundred invited guests and guys from the wait list attend each year.

Why do power guys do this? Bohemian Grove does have serious lectures — former Secretary of State George Schultz doesn’t go around in a tutu — but features endless drinking and men dressed in women’s clothes. Rancheros are mostly into male bonding.

“I was a little taken aback by many of the attitudes,” Tomas said. “Here are men at the highest rungs of power in this country. Quite blatant forms of racism and anti-Semitism and misogyny are on display. … The festive debauchery represents a cohesion of the power class. They seem to feel stronger by putting down others.”

Reply
53. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

Six Questions for Eric Janszen on the Economic Collapse

3. It seems like the whole finance economy was Long-Term Capital Management writ large: basically no one, not even regulators, appreciated just how precarious it all was. How do we create a stable regulatory structure?

The decline in regulation is a symptom of FIRE economy interests (Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate) taking control of the political machinery to increase profitability. But the profitability of the credit industry was a side effect of interest rates falling (after the Volcker Fed raised them to 20 percent). The incursion of the credit industry into every aspect of American life–college tuition, health care–was the result. But it’s worse than that. Manufacturing was financialized. Take the auto industry–a finance manager at one of the Big Three automakers told me, “We used to be a car company that sold financing on the side. Now we are a bank that makes cars.” Look at GM stock in recent days. It’s gotten hammered worse than during the Great Depression, not only because of a coming loss in production profitability but also because of the loss in profits from credit operations that had become such a large part of their operating profits. The regulators have to start over.

Reply
54. marisacat - 18 October 2008

So Obama is honorary scots-irish now?

LOL Well sure because in short order he will be fighting all those “borderer” wars. Gotta induct him now. Secret annointing in a historic 17th c log cabin somewhere in the wilds of Ken-tuck-ee. Where men are men and do their own plumbing.

No illegals.

Not to worry! NY Post has Ob’s own SS Chicago plumber calling the Ohio plumbers helper “illegal”.

You did nt think it was over yet, did you?

Reply
55. marisacat - 18 October 2008

The Seattle PI piece on Los Rancheros is really interesting.. And I’d love to see the pics (specially Skakel iwth the sex toys dangling from his fat Irish neck) but i have to say, I toss spit balls at the last graf.

With millions of excluded Americans ready to curb their power and put a product of Kenya and Kansas into the White House, they’ll likely need to drown their sorrows in May

Other than pandering, which is part of the induction – can whoever goes in quell the rising tide – on the trail to the peeeeeepuhl, Ob shows no signs of breaking away. He won’t show up for the ride, but his heart is with them. He wants to serve. And it is distasteful to watch.

Sorry to be so very cynical. His run would ahve been knocked out ages ago, it anything else were true.

Reply
56. marisacat - 18 October 2008

hmm link to the photos online at the Seattle PI… NOW this ride rings bells for me. They ride a horse drawn buckboard thru Solvang, which is down in SoCal. It has one face as a sort of Scandinavian (German, Dutch, can’t remember right now) tourist day tripper spot, but is really a very quiet hang out for Cal wealthy…

May 2, 1987, Solvang, California: Rancheros pass through the town of Solvang to send-off ceremonies at the Mission Santa Ines. Along the way, unidentified young women approach the riders hoping to make appointments to entertain those interested. High-paid call girls and freelancing prostitutes travel from as far away as Las Vegas. A Solvang city official, who requested anonymity, told a local paper that “In years past the town has been booked solid with high-priced hookers. One of them called recently about when the ride was scheduled. She said she could make as much in one night here as in three or four months in Vegas.” Photo by: Tomas / Polaris
(October 16, 2008)

The story around has always been that where rich Republicans/pols gather there is a special penchant for Latina prostitutes.

gah. What a nation.

Reply
57. marisacat - 18 October 2008

Don’t miss it. Very consummate depiction.

Link to rodeo shot, caption below

May 9, 1989, Santa Ynez Valley, California: Blow-up sex dolls covered with handkerchiefs in El Rodeo parade are made respectable for former President Reagan in attendance in the grandstand at the San Marcos Camp, where the Rancheros hold a day-long cowboy skills competition called El Rodeo. It begins with a parade at the Ranchero rodeo arena. Blow-up sex dolls are common sights in the camps. Photo by: Tomas / Polaris
(October 16, 2008)

Reply
58. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

I tried to ignore that last paragraph. I’m constantly amazed the The Sainted One is ONE of those people, or at least wants to be.

Speaking of one of those people, I seriously doubt that Senator Feinstein gives a fuck:

In the current edition of Out Magazine, there is a feature by Michael Joseph Gross on his experience on the set of MILK and his interaction with the actors portraying the characters in the film. There is one paragraph that stood out HUGELY to me:

Milk was the Barack Obama of his time and place. When he ran for the board of supervisors, Milk made grand promises to heal deep social tensions in his city. At his swearing-in, he said, “A true function of politics is not just to pass laws, but to give hope.” Dianne Feinstein, then president of the board, responded, “Hope is fine, but you can’t live on hope.”

That pessimism seems to still be a large factor in your leadership style, even when it is desperately needed. At a time when Prop 8 hangs in the balance and threatens to deal an enormous setback to the fight for equality for the LGBT community, politicians have been silent for far too long. One of those politicians is you.

Your statement opposing Prop 8 is insufficient and borders on disrespect to our community. You announced the murder of Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone to the world from the steps of San Francisco City Hall. You have not only seen first-hand the horror that results from discrimination, but have had to deal with its aftermath.

That you have not joined with the campaign to actively and vocally oppose this awful assault on civil equality is shameful. At a time when a film about Harvey Milk is about to be released to the widest audience ever and is generating a significant amount of Oscar buzz, I hope you will find it within your soul to actively join the fight to defeat Prop 8.

Your political career was catapulted by the death of one of our icons and heroes. It’s time you honored Harvey Milk and your own place in history by giving voice to what he would say about Prop 8 if he were not savagely taken from us that fateful day in 1978. Paraphrasing your own words, we can’t just hope Prop 8 won’t pass….we need ‘all hands on deck’ to defeat it, including you.

Humbly submitted with Hope and Respect,

Lane Hudson

The Obama of his time?

Reply
59. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

Report from Palin rally

That’s when at least one guy from the crowd decided he needed to interject his opinion into the conversation. As Joe tells it:
I sidled up to one of the Obama supporters and asked why they were there, what they were trying to accomplish.

As he was telling me a large, bearded man in full McCain-Palin campaign regalia got in his face to yell at him.

“Hey, hey, ” I said. “I’m trying to interview him. Just a minute, okay? ”

The man began to say something about how of course I was interviewing the Obama people when suddenly, from behind us, the sound of a pro-Obama rap song came blaring out of the windows of a dorm building. We all turned our heads to see Obama signs in the windows.

This was met with curses, screams and chants of “U.S.A” by McCain-Palin folks who crowded under the windows trying to drown it out and yell at the person playing the stereo.

It was a moment of levity in an otherwise very tense situation and so I let out a gentle chuckle and shook my head.

“Oh, you think that ‘s funny?! ” the large bearded man said. His face was turning red. “Yeah, that ‘s real funny…” he said.

And then he kicked the back of leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground.

There was no cop or security officer around to report this lugnut to, and Joe resisted the temptation to smack the guy back, which I commend. But let me say this: the guy who attacked Joe is a criminal, no better that the lunk-head who steals your car stereo or snatches a purse.

Reply
60. marisacat - 18 October 2008

hmm Lane Hudson was not paying attention in 2004.

All the games that were played over SSM here in SF, in CA. If, imo, Gavin swtich hits, and plays as much for conservative efforts inside the state and nationally (I saw a wide range of benefits for Gavin in the Feb 2004 marriages, he consolidated the SF gay vote here, it had been split in his 03 run AND if Dem officials actually do believe it affected the run, he served R masters, Sorry to be cynical) DiFI was just as full service to conservatives, she openly stated the marriages helped lose the election. She has restated it from time to time.

Fish around and from not wanting Dean to make the party (‘party of gays’) appear friendly to gay issues, which leaked out from Bill Clinton AND Teddy Kennedy during the primaries… to how, post loss, the party was quickly deferential to old time unions (one was Shaitburger, head of the Firemans Union and long associated with Kerry who openly declared abortion lost the leection) to forces like former mayor and Amb to Vatican, Flynn of Boston and I would argue, even Donohue of the Catholic League – these old time meat and potatoe and white Irish Catholics who felt abortion lost the election and …

VOILA you get pastor cramming Ob. And I believe, a big bow and induction of Casey in Pa. Schumer was a big factor in that.. at one time Crispin Miller ahd a tape up of Schumer assuring big donors that catering to abortion rights was over.

Reply
61. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

60 – People project all kinds of silliness onto the Sainted One.

Just saw this: Ellen Urges Californians to Vote No on Prop. 8

Not enough.

Reply
62. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

Florida Man Sues Strip Club for Negligent Pole Dance

In Fort Lauderdale, Charles Privette, 35, has filed a tort action against a strip joint called the Booby Trap after a stripper’s high heel flew off during a pole dance and hit him in the head.

Privette said that the shoe flew off with such force that it shattered the mirrored ceiling and caused glass and the shoe to hit him. He is seeking $15,000 dollars (the damages would presumably be paid in single dollar bills or credit for 1500 lap dances or 3000 pole dances).

Well, ain’t that a kick in the head.

Reply
63. diane - 18 October 2008

Danse de Dauphins….danse…..

(sorry for the commercial aspect of the image, couldn’t find a solo shot without the marketing)

My mind hopped to dolphins (and is so trying to bar the military’s dolphin useage from the image), from pelicans. My ro gave me that poster for my birthday one year, it stay’s by me at night..so’s it can sweeten my dreams…………

Bay, thanks so for pelican posts….what a wonderful memory of your Mom…it was empowering in an inexplicable way……………

*********
ms. Xeno: …..fockin fleas………………………

********
Madman:….smiley bot killers and AVATARS out there………indeed……

*******
Intermittant Bystander: I know you have an even better dauphin piccy…where is it? ;0)

*******
Arcturus:…..I know I shouldn’t peek at personal..’just for you’ messages…but……is that big..well fed guy with the orange accents, the great pumpkin…or just another dkos puppeteer?

********
NYcee: my frig is still clean…thanks!

******
NYCO: So what’s the count on the average taxpayer casualties imbedded into the mean streets of NYC?

******
liberalcatnip: .jeez those horses…boysenberries to assist with the sadness of it all……

******CSTAR: Thankfully, I don’t think people are generally born idiots, and at some point, many of them let everyone know, in an incredibly painful familial moment…..

******
Marisa….thanks for the voice!

******
All: take care…and here’s wishing for a better day than many,…we need them so badly………………………

Reply
64. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

The Things He Carried

If I were a terrorist, and I’m not, but if I were a terrorist—a frosty, tough-like-Chuck-Norris terrorist, say a C-title jihadist with Hezbollah or, more likely, a donkey-work operative with the Judean People’s Front—I would not do what I did in the bathroom of the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, which was to place myself in front of a sink in open view of the male American flying public and ostentatiously rip up a sheaf of counterfeit boarding passes that had been created for me by a frenetic and acerbic security expert named Bruce Schneier. He had made these boarding passes in his sophisticated underground forgery works, which consists of a Sony Vaio laptop and an HP LaserJet printer, in order to prove that the Transportation Security Administration, which is meant to protect American aviation from al-Qaeda, represents an egregious waste of tax dollars, dollars that could otherwise be used to catch terrorists before they arrive at the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, by which time it is, generally speaking, too late.

I could have ripped up these counterfeit boarding passes in the privacy of a toilet stall, but I chose not to, partly because this was the renowned Senator Larry Craig Memorial Wide-Stance Bathroom, and since the commencement of the Global War on Terror this particular bathroom has been patrolled by security officials trying to protect it from gay sex, and partly because I wanted to see whether my fellow passengers would report me to the TSA for acting suspiciously in a public bathroom. No one did, thus thwarting, yet again, my plans to get arrested, or at least be the recipient of a thorough sweating by the FBI, for dubious behavior in a large American airport. Suspicious that the measures put in place after the attacks of September 11 to prevent further such attacks are almost entirely for show—security theater is the term of art—I have for some time now been testing, in modest ways, their effectiveness. Because the TSA’s security regimen seems to be mainly thing-based—most of its 44,500 airport officers are assigned to truffle through carry-on bags for things like guns, bombs, three-ounce tubes of anthrax, Crest toothpaste, nail clippers, Snapple, and so on—I focused my efforts on bringing bad things through security in many different airports, primarily my home airport, Washington’s Reagan National, the one situated approximately 17 feet from the Pentagon, but also in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago, and at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport (which is where I came closest to arousing at least a modest level of suspicion, receiving a symbolic pat-down—all frisks that avoid the sensitive regions are by definition symbolic—and one question about the presence of a Leatherman Multi-Tool in my pocket; said Leatherman was confiscated and is now, I hope, living with the loving family of a TSA employee). And because I have a fair amount of experience reporting on terrorists, and because terrorist groups produce large quantities of branded knickknacks, I’ve amassed an inspiring collection of al-Qaeda T-shirts, Islamic Jihad flags, Hezbollah videotapes, and inflatable Yasir Arafat dolls (really). All these things I’ve carried with me through airports across the country. I’ve also carried, at various times: pocketknives, matches from hotels in Beirut and Peshawar, dust masks, lengths of rope, cigarette lighters, nail clippers, eight-ounce tubes of toothpaste (in my front pocket), bottles of Fiji Water (which is foreign), and, of course, box cutters. I was selected for secondary screening four times—out of dozens of passages through security checkpoints—during this extended experiment. At one screening, I was relieved of a pair of nail clippers; during another, a can of shaving cream.

It’s about the clampdown and keeping people in their place, not about safety.

Reply
65. marisacat - 18 October 2008

FWIW Survey USA poll:

California Prop 8 Remains a Fierce Fight That Could Be Decided Either Way By Handful of Votes: In a vote today, 10/17/08, on California’s Proposition 8 Ballot Initiative, which would change California’s constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry, approximately half the state supports the measure, half the state opposes the measure, according to this latest SurveyUSA poll conducted for KABC-TV Los Angeles, KPIX-TV San Francisco, KGTV-TV San Diego, and KFSN-TV Fresno. The exact findings are: ‘Yes’ (to change the law) 48%, ‘No’ (to leave the law alone) 45%. But: polling on ballot measures in general is an inexact science, and polling on homosexuality in general is a tricky business, so SurveyUSA urges all who examine these results to not put too fine a point on the 3 points that separate “Yes” and “No” today. In 3 SurveyUSA tracking polls over the past month, Proposition 8 has been fiercely fought, and effectively even, all 3 times. “No” nominally led by 5 points on 09/25/08. “Yes” nominally led by 5 points on 10/06/08. The movement from 10/06/08 to today is not necessarily statistically significant.

What remains clear today: Those in the Inland Empire and the Central Valley continue to want the law changed. Those in the Bay Area continue to want the law left alone. Those in greater LA remain split. Men, seniors, gun owners, the less well educated and the more religious, support 8. Women, Democrats, liberals and Pro-Choice voters oppose. Young voters, upper-income voters, white voters, moderates and Independents split. There is no meaningful difference between how those who have already voted, and those who promise SurveyUSA they will, see the measure

Reply
66. marisacat - 18 October 2008

Editor and Publisher:

FRIDAY ENDORSEMENTS: Surprising Boosts for Obama from Denver and Salt Lake Papers — Also Endorsed by ‘AJC,” ‘KC Star’ and ‘Sun-Times’

By Greg Mitchell

Published: October 17, 2008 9:15 PM ET

NEW YORK The Denver Post, which had backed George W. Bush in 2004 and is owned by Republican-leaning William Dean Singleton, this evening endorsed Barack Obama for president. So did the Chicago Sun-Times, Kansas City Star. Southwest News-Herald (Ill.) and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And to top it off: two more Bush backers in 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune and Las Cruces (N.M) Sun-News.

This followed this afternoon’s surprises: the Chicago Tribune, which has never in 150 years endorsed a Democrat, backed Obama, as did its fellow Tribune paper, the Los Angeles — which had endorsed no one in more than 30 years. It seems like a dam broke yesterday with the unexpectedly early choice of Obama by The Washington Post.

In E&P’s exclusive count, Obama now leads 62-18 in editorial endorsements. New additions for him include the Miami Herald, the Philadelphia Inquirer and The Oregonian of Portland. Check out our running list, updated Saturday here.
::snip::

Reply
67. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008
68. marisacat - 18 October 2008

well I read a report that sounds like the networks and cables have zero intention of not letting it known if they think Ob wins early… way before voting closes in the West.

Will more liberal, or whatever word one uses, then sit home?

Who knows.

KY closes at 6 pm, which is 3 here in CA.

Reply
69. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

Barack Obama’s Nuclear Ambitions

In 2006, Obama took up the cause of Illinois residents who were angry with Exelon, the nation’s largest nuclear power plant operator, for not having disclosed a leak at one of their nuclear plants in the state. Obama responded by quickly introducing a bill that would require nuclear facilities to immediately notify state and federal agencies of all leaks, large or small.

At first it seemed Obama was intent on making a change in the reporting protocol, even demonizing Exelon’s inaction in the press. But Obama could only go so far, as Exelon executives, including Chairman John W. Rowe who serves as a key lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Lobby, have long been campaign backers, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars dating back to Obama’s days in the Illinois State Legislature.

Despite his initial push to advance the legislation, Obama’s office eventually rewrote the bill, producing a version that was palatable to Exelon and the rest of the nuclear industry. “Senator Obama’s staff was sending us copies of the bill to review, we could see it weakening with each successive draft,” said Joe Cosgrove, a park district director in Will County, Illinois, where the nuclear leaks had polluted local ground water. “The teeth were just taken out of it.”

Inevitably the bill died a slow death in the Senate. And like an experienced political operative, Obama came out of the battle as a martyr for both sides of the cause. His constituents back in Illinois thought he fought a good fight while industry insiders knew the Obama machine was worth investing in.

Obama’s campaign wallet, while rich with millions from small online donations, is also bulging from $227,000 in contributions given by employees of Exelon. Two of Obama’s largest campaign fundraisers include Frank M. Clark and John W. Rogers Jr., both top Exelon officials. Even Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, has done consulting work for the company.

Reply
70. marisacat - 18 October 2008

NYT supposedly has a nice investigation of Axelrod associates, clients etc…think it went up last night… I see it mentioned around, I did not even bother to go read it. Rather useless.

Reply
71. marisacat - 18 October 2008

Glenn goes back over it all (NYT does some sort of psychological and emotional excavation of CMcC) and wonders what is served. How low can journalism go (don’t look down Glenn!) he asks:

Is investigating Cindy McCain’s fitness as a mother actually a legitimate function for the political reporters at the NYT? Doesn’t that question answer itself?

It is not exactly news or new, if anyone remembers the OTHER Jodi, Jodi Wilgoren of the 2003/04 season.

LOL And where is the excavation, of, say, MO and her jobs? Much less her mindset as Sainted Mother. A few things rise, around the edges, despite a lock down on her… esp with regard to perhaps benefitting Axelrod’s companies, in her job as Diversity Dir for Chicago Hosptials (some scheme to redirect poor patients away from a big teaching hospital, seems to me that is part of their job, frankly, serve the community). One would not even be investigating her PRIVATE life in that regard.

he also seems clueless taht National Enquirer, the parent co, is half owned by a Clintonite.

As long as there are election season Dem apologists we will have stasis. Mired in the muck.

Reply
72. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008
73. liberalcatnip - 18 October 2008

72. Yes We Carve

That’s racist!

(kidding – someone had to say it…)

I’ve posted a new documentary at my place: The US vs Omar Khadr

Reply
74. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

I have decided that writing under the name “Liberal Street Fighter” was part of my writers block, so I have a new blog up. LSF will still be out there until I decide what to do with it, but anything new will be up at Breakfast in the Ruins.

Reply
75. marisacat - 18 October 2008

hey hey madman… Good News! And Bravo, will put you on the Blogroll.. ;)

catnip! thanks for the link too..

Reply
76. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008
77. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008

F.B.I. Struggles to Handle Wave of Financial Fraud Cases

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is struggling to find enough agents and resources to investigate criminal wrongdoing tied to the country’s economic crisis, according to current and former bureau officials.

The bureau slashed its criminal investigative work force to expand its national security role after the Sept. 11 attacks, shifting more than 1,800 agents, or nearly one-third of all agents in criminal programs, to terrorism and intelligence duties. Current and former officials say the cutbacks have left the bureau seriously exposed in investigating areas like white-collar crime, which has taken on urgent importance in recent weeks because of the nation’s economic woes.

The pressure on the F.B.I. has recently increased with the disclosure of criminal investigations into some of the largest players in the financial collapse, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The F.B.I. is planning to double the number of agents working financial crimes by reassigning several hundred agents amid a mood of national alarm. But some people inside and out of the Justice Department wonder where the agents will come from and whether they will be enough.

So depleted are the ranks of the F.B.I.’s white-collar investigators that executives in the private sector say they have had difficulty attracting the bureau’s attention in cases involving possible frauds of millions of dollars.

IIRC, they didn’t cut back on investigating porn and prostitution.

Reply
78. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008
79. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 October 2008
80. marisacat - 18 October 2008

Someone just popped me this.. Joan Didion on the election, Salon (think it was a fast one page ad)

[W]e could forget the 70 percent of American eighth graders who do not now and never will read at eighth-grade levels, meaning they will never qualify to hold one of those jobs we no longer have. We could forget that we ourselves induced the coma, by indulging the government in its fantasy of absolute power, wielded absolutely. So general is this fantasy by now that we approach this election with no clear idea where bottom is: what damage has been done, what alliances have been formed and broken, what concealed reefs lie ahead. Whoever we elect president is about to find some of that out.

Reply
81. diane - 18 October 2008

63

shit, forgot to include Lucid, aemd, wilfred, cad, by name ….and I’m sure I missed others who post here in my comment above…an extra shout out to anyone I didn’t include…yeah it’s been buggin me for a couple of hours, so just stoppin back for a moment, to add the hey, hey there!

80

just reread Joan’s Slouching.towards…. the other week, glad I saved that one………………a keeper!

gotta run……….a good evening to all!

Reply
82. marisacat - 18 October 2008

Why don’t we just dig up Reagan?

“What happened was Democrats had gotten complacent, had gotten fat and happy. they thought there was a government program to solve every problem.

Ronald Reagan came in and said we need to break out of the old ways of doing things and create a leaner, more effective government,” he said. “That was the right message then.

I think that right now we went too far in the wrong direction. We can’t go back to the old liberalism of the past, but [when] you are on your own economic philosophy [of] Bush and McCain doesn’t work either. Let’s try a new way where we apply common sense, have government do what it does well.”

Reply
83. Madman in the Marketplace - 19 October 2008

The ultimate toadie knows where the new power lies: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorses Obama, says he’s qualified to lead country

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president Sunday, describing the Illinois senator as a “transformational figure.”

Powell said both Obama and Republican John McCain are qualified to be commander in chief. But he said Obama is better suited to handle the nation’s economic problems as well as help improve its standing in the world.

“It isn’t easy for me to disappoint Sen. McCain in the way that I have this morning, and I regret that,” Powell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“But I firmly believe that at this point in America’s history, we need a president that will not just continue, even with a new face and with the changes and with some maverick aspects, who will not just continue basically the policies that we have been following in recent years,” Powell said.

“I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change and that’s why I’m supporting Barack Obama, not out of any lack of respect or admiration for Sen. John McCain.”

Reply
84. Madman in the Marketplace - 19 October 2008

The Guys From ‘Government Sachs’

In September, after the government bailed out the American International Group, the faltering insurance giant, for $85 billion, Mr. Paulson helped select a director from Goldman’s own board to lead A.I.G.

And earlier this month, when Mr. Paulson needed someone to oversee the government’s proposed $700 billion bailout fund, he again recruited someone with a Goldman pedigree, giving the post to a 35-year-old former investment banker who, before coming to the Treasury Department, had little background in housing finance.

Indeed, Goldman’s presence in the department and around the federal response to the financial crisis is so ubiquitous that other bankers and competitors have given the star-studded firm a new nickname: Government Sachs.

The power and influence that Goldman wields at the nexus of politics and finance is no accident. Long regarded as the savviest and most admired firm among the ranks — now decimated — of Wall Street investment banks, it has a history and culture of encouraging its partners to take leadership roles in public service.

It is a widely held view within the bank that no matter how much money you pile up, you are not a true Goldman star until you make your mark in the political sphere. While Goldman sees this as little more than giving back to the financial world, outside executives and analysts wonder about potential conflicts of interest presented by the firm’s unique perch.

Reply
85. marisacat - 19 October 2008

Powell thinks there might be a new book deal in this for him. And a global book tour for him and Alma.

I am sick to death of the hand all these shits dealt us. And Powell is a perfect exemplar. Asshole for decades.

Reply
86. marisacat - 19 October 2008

He’s fucking long winded too. It just came on out here…

Reply
87. Madman in the Marketplace - 19 October 2008

Me too … sadly Americans are utterly unaware of what a water-carrier for murder and theft he’s been.

Found this piece w/ more details of the IVAR protesters at the debate last week:

“We were there to force the issue that the leaders of this nation are not listening to or are not caring about veterans,” said IVAW member Matthis Chiroux, who was among several veterans and activists arrested. “And they couldn’t have done a better job of proving us right. They stomped my friend Nick’s face into Jell-o. I put this on both candidates, on the major press and on the Nassau County police.”

The IVAW had sent a request to the debate moderator that they be allowed to ask their own questions of the candidates at the Hofstra event, but this was ignored–and so the third and final presidential debate passed without an antiwar voice being represented.

That night, IVAW organized a nonviolent demonstration to request entry into the debate. Marching in uniform and in formation, IVAW members led several hundred activists to an intersection in front of the Hofstra campus gates–where they were confronted by an army of mounted police and riot cops.

Ten IVAW members were arrested, apparently for no more than insisting on their right to be heard. Mounted police then pushed the crowd back onto the sidewalk, recklessly pulling their horses around and at times backing them into the crowd. The police continued to drive protesters back, pinning the crowd up against a fence.

Riot cops reached past the IVAW members at the front of the crowd, grabbing protesters behind them and dragging them into the street. A mounted cop leapt with his horse onto the sidewalk and trampled protesters, including Morgan.

Chiroux said the police took Morgan aside and bandaged him, but then placed him in a truck with other arrestees to go to processing and detention.

“He was incoherent, he couldn’t even say his name,” Chiroux said. “He had blood running down his face. We kept telling the police he needed immediate medical attention. One officer said, with a smirk, ‘Get him to say it. He has to say it.’ I said, ‘He can’t even talk!’ The officer said, ‘Tough luck.’ Finally, we said, ‘Nick, you have to say I need to go to the hospital.’ We got him to say it, and they took him in.”

CHIROUX SAID that while they were detained, he and his fellow IVAW members were verbally harassed by police. “They called us traitors, cowards, idiots,” he said.

Three women IVAW members who had been arrested were handcuffed to a bench, and “the male officers kept coming closer to them, verbally sexually harassing them,” Chiroux said. “One kept holding up Marlisa’s ID to her face and saying, ‘Wow, you look like you came out of a Barbie magazine.’”

Morgan was brought back from the hospital, still incoherent and in great pain. He was left chained to a bench for five hours without further medical attention, Chiroux said. IVAW members repeatedly asked officers for their names (they weren’t wearing badges) or to contact lawyers–they were refused on all counts.

When most of the IVAW members were finally released at 2:30 a.m. (according to reports, one vet remained in custody as this report was written), they went, still in uniform, to a nearby diner–where the same group of cops who had detained them were eating.

Chiroux went up to them and asked again for their names. One officer “got up in my face,” he said, “screaming and waving his finger at me and saying, ‘I’m gonna kick your ass if you keep asking that.’”

Being confronted by military protesters, marching in formation, seems to seriously unhinge them.

Reply
88. marisacat - 19 October 2008

He’s just flat out hilarious. Got his tea and tea cakes with the party and NOW slams it as racist. So despicable.

Reply
89. marisacat - 19 October 2008

87

Oh Ob will bring us together. Nothing like that will happen under Ob.

he’s not a polarising figure, not at all.

Frankly BOTH rally groups for both candidates are jingoists and d nationalist. Such a dangerous time.

Reply
90. marisacat - 19 October 2008

Here it comes, self expiation. Disgusting old warmonger.

Sorry, from McNamara on, I cannot stnd thse men.

Reply
91. mattes - 19 October 2008

#85 Not to mention the avoidance of capital gains for Goldman pirates when they jump ship.

Reply
92. Madman in the Marketplace - 19 October 2008
93. bayprairie - 19 October 2008

its a mark of “distinction” for the democrats to be lauded by a former officer who, in response to the 1968 letter informing gen creighton abrams of “routine and pervasive brutality against Vietnamese civilians” is on the record saying:

“In direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent.”

Reply
94. marisacat - 19 October 2008

nuuuuu thread………

LINK

………………. 8) ………….

Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 99 other followers

%d bloggers like this: