War mincing – election mincing – abuse mincing … all the same damned thing. 21 October 2009
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, Afghanistan War, Culture of Death, DC Politics, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Pakistan, WAR!.comments closed
A trio of triplet policemen. New Jersey, 1981
Michael S. Yamashita / National Geographic /NG Gallery at UK Telegraph
hmm Jersey cops… I see they are sending Ob into NJ for Corzine. I assume the CW on the street is that Corzine squeaks out a “win”.
Carry on… what else to say. What waits for Corzine? A sex scandal (and they are so dreary, as they keep rolling out)?? … a pay-for-play scandal (more drear)? Union bagmen scandal (dreary!)? Another union babe mini scandal (double drear!)?
I can hardly wait…….. not.
*****
More (late in the day I posted a long comment in the last thread) of the Jane Mayer New Yorker interview which IS online, unlike her big article on the great expansion of drone sorties over Pakistan under The Peace Prize (those poor fucked up Norwegians).
How does the continued collateral damage from Predator drones square with General Stanley McChrystal’s order to the military to lay off the air strikes in Afghanistan and avoid civilian deaths?
Well, you could argue it either way. There is less collateral damage from a drone strike than there is from an F-16. According to intelligence officials, drones are more surgical in the way they kill—they usually use Hellfire missiles and do less damage than a fighter jet might. . . . .
Oh, let’s have some more of that…
If the C.I.A. doesn’t have experience killing people, who is piloting the drones?
It doesn’t take as much talent or experience or training to pilot a drone as it does to pilot a real plane. The skills are much like what you need to do well in a video game. And the C.I.A. has outsourced a lot of the drone piloting, which also raises interesting legal questions, because you not have only civilians running this program, but you may have people who are not even in the U.S. government piloting the drones.
You mention in your piece that drone pilots, who work from an office, suffer from combat stress.
Someone sitting at C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Virginia, can view and home in on a target on the other side of the world with tremendous precision, even at night, and destroy it. Peter Singer, who wrote a book on robotic warfare, said that cubicle warriors experience the same stress as regular warriors in a real war. Detached killing still takes a tremendous emotional toll inside our borders. . . . .
Weep for them. Copiously.. so it gets noticed.
Meanwhile, keep breathing while waiting for The Big Transparency from The Peace Prize:
What would the outlines of a more transparent drone program look like?
Michael Walzer, the political philosopher, has noted that when the United States goes about killing people, we usually know who they can kill and where the battlefield is. International lawyers are calling for a public revelation of who is on this list, where can we go after them, and how many people can we take out with them. They want to know the legal, ethical, and political boundaries of the program.
****
Update via TimesOnline on the Catholic M&A, LBO, whatever it is, of the Anglican dissidents.
Good comment from the thread…
Ros Roberts wrote:
You’re an Anglican? You want to become a Catholic? Nothing easier: all you have to do is completely change what you believe in: take on board transubstantiation, Papal infallibility, purgatory, things like that.
But if that is so easy for these people, why don’t they simply decide to believe that women are people too and can be bishops too?
October 21, 2009 9:28 PM BST
Farther down (at the bottom, actually) on the FP of the Times is this further story rising from the Irish Revelations… as the chapters and verses continue…
[T]he facts of Kathleen O’Malley’s life would probably not have been believed ten years ago, not before the dam finally burst on the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.
A long-awaited report into clerical abuse in the Diocese of Dublin is expected to be published this week and bishops are bracing themselves for another round of public anger. It will be a horror story of how known paedophile priests were shunted from parish to parish by their religious seniors. The number of children who suffered as a result of the Church’s cover-up could run into thousands.
It will also be another shattering blow to the moral authority of an institution that once ruled Ireland with an iron rod, following hard on the heels of the Ryan report, an independent tribunal that concluded in May after a decade of evidence-gathering that there had been “endemic and systemic” sexual, physical and emotional abuse of hundreds of thousands of Irish children in residential institutions run by religious orders. Four years ago, when Kathleen first told her story in her memoir, Childhood Interrupted, there were plenty of cynics around who were prepared to cast doubt on the extraordinary tale of suffering inside a system that seemed akin to the worst excesses of a totalitarian regime. . . . . .
What “blow to the moral authority”? Where is that blow?
As a mirror to the concrete entombment of the so-called political class (withhold the vote, FFS!) the ONLY thing the Church responds to is LESS MONEY in the collection plate and, FFS, withhold the children.
People won’t do that… They continue to fork over (really) the children to an abusive system. With or without ritual sexual abuse.
[T]hat is small consolation for Kathleen O’Malley. “I don’t know at what point the religious gained their power, but they had total power and autonomy to do as they wanted. We were brainwashed to say that we were well-looked after.”
…
She is scornful of the progress Ireland is making towards righting these heinous wrongs. “They say they now want to put up a monument to all those who were treated badly. They had a garden party with the President of Ireland, to which around 130 victims were invited, but I wasn’t and neither were thousands of others. And that was like my evidence to the Ryan commission, which was ignored. I was never given the opportunity.” . . . .
What “blow to the moral authority”? Where? From whom?!
Busy busy bees… 14 October 2009
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, Afghanistan War, California / Pacific Coast, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Lie Down Fall Down Dems, San Francisco, The Battle for New Orleans, WAR!.comments closed
From a few days ago in the Situation Room, not that it matters. Could just sprinkle lye over them and leave them in place. I read that the Brits are sending 500 more troops into Afghanistan, heavily weighted with Rules of Engagement. As well, a few days ago, they announced a (small number) return to Iraq… after a showy departure a few months ago.
It will never end.
Helen Thomas graced us yesterday…. and BTW so will Ob, tomorrow he cuts out of depressing, old, black, poor fucked New Orleans.. and comes to the arms of San Francisco progressives or liberals or whatever we are. Who knows by now. ATM of the West…
It’s one thing when the Financial Times says Barack Obama “seems to float like a butterfly — and sting like one…”
Even if the gently biting British criticism does come from one of the few publications that successfully charges for some of its content — journalism is all about commerce platforms these days — we’re still talking the Brits here. Hey! Who won the war? as White House press lioness and legend Helen Thomas once said to then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in her bawdy and distinctly American style of directness.
But it’s another thing entirely when Ms. Thomas herself says that Mr. Obama “lacks courage.”
There was a gasp in the crowd when the veteran reporter, who’s covered and stuck her thumb in the eye of 10 presidents from her front row White House briefing room seat, made that comment yesterday at a San Francisco Commonwealth Club Q&A. snip
Gasped! They gasped! The remedy for that is prawns knocked backed by champagne. (It’s a little early for crab season.) Or a very very dry Martini.. with no food – the olive is lunch. Both staples of the city.
*********
UPDATE, 2:56 pm, on the Pacific Ocean
I went over to Talk Left to see if Tentola had picked up on the slithery blither of a “rant” yesterday over at Booman Tribune (catnip linked to it). He linked to this from Greenwald.
Poor Eugene. Honey, they’d pull that Civil Rights rug out from under you so fast. The whole thing is conditional … and Ob is window dressing. (Good luck!). How is Eugene different from Sully who had the fucking temerity to say that those who opposed Iraq War were FIFTH COLUMNISTS?
What sick hacks are seeded in our systems.
(bolding and other emphasis is Greenwald’s)
Yesterday in The Washington Post, Eugene Robinson returned to the DNC’s pernicious theme of last week by arguing that those who were “mocking our nation’s leader . . . as unworthy of” the Nobel Peace Prize have “joined with the Taliban”; are “exhibiting what [conservatives], in a different context, surely would describe as ‘Hanoi Jane’ behavior”; have violated core precepts of “good manners”; and deviated from the “only reasonable response“: to congratulate the President. But also yesterday, Matt Taibbi wrote one of the most scathing (and typically insightful) criticisms yet of Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, based on the twisted understanding of “peace” which Western Europe and the U.S. uniquely share and the “change” that Obama actually seems to represent.
Has Taibbi really committed a breach against public decency by expressing doubt that Obama’s actions reflect genuine aspirations for peace? That’s not a legitimate view? That can’t reasonably be questioned and debated? How about the numerous liberals (Ezra Klein, Robert Reich, The Nation’s Richard Kim, Naomi Klein) and — according to one poll — a majority of American and British citizens who also believe the Prize was not deserved? Are we actually at the point for some people — as we seem to be — where a person is not only obligated to assume the core goodness of Obama but also agree and affirm that, a mere nine months into his presidency, he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize? That’s now a mandated belief? In order to be a good, patriotic citizen and a decent human being, that’s the requirement one has to fulfill? If that became the prevailing view, wouldn’t the distinction Ambinder highlighted between the Bush and Obama years cease to exist? snip
We are rife with racism in this country, rife with organised diversion and division – going back hundreds of years. But charges of racism at ordinary, if vehement, criticism as well as open dislike of Ob (oh count me in – I have never argued against anyone who dislikes a pretzel, FREE COUNTRY – they say!) is simply thuggishness. As is slandering ordinary people as subversives for disagreeing, however strongly, with acts of the State…
Dipshit lectures.
However… Glenn misses a few oars in the slave ship:
At least as I always perceived it, the “liberal blogosphere” — to the extent that’s a cognizable entity — has devoted itself to criticisms of two failed institutions: (1) the establishment media and (2) the Democratic Party leadership.
Naa-naa. The job of the organised Liberal Blahgosphere has been, over all, to corral the hapless, intimidate open debate and, in timely fashion, reinforce sublimation. To “rebel” just enough to keep the faithful tuned in… and again, at the right time, to change the tone and temper of the argument.
It is an organ of the party it serves.
Last, here is a good laugh also via Glenn, if you needed one:
UPDATE: Arianna Huffington argues today that Joe Biden — who has led the internal administration debate against escalation in Afghanistan — should resign in protest if Obama orders more troops to that war. She makes a good case against escalation and a better case than one might think for why Biden should resign.
What a scream. She misses the entire slave ship. Biden resign. Over principle. Yeah right. The last resignations of any value, post Saturday night massacre (Cox and Richardson) were Cyrus Vance under Jimmy… Edelstein under Clinton over welfare ”reform” and the three diplomats at the opening of Iraq War.
Dipshit lectures… ’til they haul the hapless faithful back in and set in motion the ship. You know, that slow turning ship Ob loves to mention.
Appropriate imagery 24 September 2009
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, DC Politics, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Lie Down Fall Down Dems.comments closed
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 23: Luna Park is seen on September 23, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Severe wind storms in the west of New South Wales have blown a dust cloud that has engulfed Sydney and surrounding areas. (Stuart Hannagan/Getty Images)
Leering faces, gaping grimaces, towering but empty supports… an outside wall protecting what? the amusement rides within. Whipped by a red orange miasma, reflections of the light off …dust.
Yes, seems appropriate to the moment.
Qaddafi wasn’t the only joke on view yesterday… and for the wimmens… MO, Hillary and the current Rice, came off as stoic idiots.
Really, what is left to say.
Gah… 23 September 2009
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, California / Pacific Coast, DC Politics, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, San Francisco.comments closed
For whatever reason, the heat is holding off.. it is all around us, in the valley and South and North of here… but a thick marine layer lies over the Bay. Thanks be to Jeebus.
*****
Wandering the netteries I landed on this little stunner at none other than The Guardian. Wonder what boyo’s next step will be.
[T]he Obama administration’s approach has been much more tepid, to say the least. The US financial industry, as expected, is fighting these reforms, but what do we make of a recent quote by President Obama questioning the need for supporting Europe’s proposals. “Why is it,” he asked during a recent interview, “that we’re going to cap executive compensation for Wall Street bankers but not Silicon Valley entrepreneurs or [American] football players?”
Besides the fact that President Obama was wrong – the National Football League does have salary restrictions – Silicon Valley businesses and NFL quarterbacks don’t cause an economic collapse when they screw up. It’s very sobering that, if David Letterman read that quote on his TV show and asked his audience: “Who made this clueless statement, former President Bush or President Obama?” we know what the response would be. Or would have been. . . . . .
And this:
[M]any leaders and supporters are beginning to wonder what is causing this growing gap between the Barack Obama that many people saw on the campaign trail, and the Obama they see in the White House? Beyond Obama’s oratorical skills, which excited not only American voters but people all over the world, he is mostly untested as a politician. His previous experience was only a few years in the US Senate and a few years more as a state senator. A sinking feeling is arising among many that President Obama may not be up to the task, that he may not possess the artful skills needed to accomplish even his own goals. . . . . .
More than a tad generous on the description of his time in the US Senate. He arrived to move on, shall we say, forming the Hope PAC a FEW DAYS after being sworn in in 2005. On a mission.
And this, below, is very true… but you know, I just don’t care any more. This is our political system. No one can claim to be surprised! And the pols, top to bottom with so few exceptions, RELY ON IT. They like it. Hell! they LOVE it!… just as they did when it protected slavery. And slave holding states’ votes… and so on.
[B]ut it must be recognised that it’s not just Obama’s shortcomings that are causing the problem. The very structure of the American political system is at the heart of these failures. For example, thwarting Obama on a regular basis is an unrepresentative senate where “minority rule” prevails and undermines what a majority of the country may want. With two senators elected per state, regardless of population, California with more than 35 million people has the same number of senators as Wyoming with just half a million residents. This constitutional arrangement greatly favours low population states, many of which tend to be conservative, producing what one political analyst has called “a weighted vote for small-town whites in pickup trucks with gun racks.” . . . . .
And this is the close… (clap clap clap … just don’t expect much!)
[U]nless Barack Obama is able to demonstrate a better level of political skill than he has shown so far, everyone needs to fasten their seatbelts. The world is about to enter a challenging phase where the US – the undisputed leader of the free world for the past 60 years – is going to rapidly cede its place at the head of the line.
It appears that the wheels may be coming off the world’s post-war leader, and not even Barack Obama can stop it happening.
well, whoops.
And the manufacturing consent beat goes on… 5 September 2009
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, Afghanistan War, Culture of Death, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Iran, Iraq War, Israel/AIPAC, Riyadh.comments closed
A nine-month-old three-legged cheetah named Lucky pops her head out of the window of her keeper’s car in Namibia [CATERS]
***
Oh my:
James Zogby: “Recent manifestations of rage…are indicators of a dangerous unraveling of some individuals and of the fabric of our very democracy.” (via Open Mic at Politico)
Hand wring hand wring. Furrowed brows… Weep openly for “the fabric of our very democracy”.
But I recall that Zogby voted for Bush in 2000 AND exhorted his US based ME followers to do so as well (and they did). PATCO anyone? Within two years, Americans and legal residents of ME descent were forced to register, by country of national origin, with the local feds. 16 year old sons were taken from mothers – that happened right here in SF, where at least we had coalitions of attorneys to help…
AND Angry Arab has long stated that Zogby is funded by one of the S Arabian princes.. there being so many I cannot remember which one.
I recall that the other Zogby, John the pollster, would address audiences in 2004 and tailor his responses as to who would win (Kerry v Bush) depending on the audience. Several times I heard a shrill giggle from him, most notably after placating Dem audiences that Kerry would win. Why people bought it, I will never know.
Line up the snooker punches for the snookered.
Stick figure super heroes… 3 September 2009
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, DC Politics, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter.comments closed
The secret life of toys: dramatic toy photos by Brian McCarty:
His work fuses reality and hyperreality through the personification of toy characters, integrated into actual settings. This picture shows a Barack Obama figure at the Lorraine Motel, scene of Martin Luther King’s assassination. McCarty explains:
“I shot my piece for MANIFEST HOPE: DC at the National Civil Rights Museum, built in Memphis from the shell of the Lorraine Motel. My intention was to foster discussion of race while commenting on the achievement of President Obama, viewed in the context of Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy. Because it may have been a political liability, Obama was the only candidate not to visit the Lorraine while campaigning. It was almost as if he couldn¹t do anything to remind Americans that he was the black candidate. He, more than the others, had to maintain a persona devoid of race. With the election won, I felt it was time for Obama to visit the site and pay tribute”
Picture: Brian McCarty, Art-Toy by Jason Feinberg/Photo Gallery Telegraph
Well. That is one version of what is going on.
****
The Endless Democratic Performance… 20 August 2009
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Lie Down Fall Down Dems.comments closed
A clown performs a scene from Slava’s Snowstorm in Melbourne [REUTERS]
Glenn Greenwald has a good one up, at least in part…
[O]ver the past decade, the Democratic Party has specialized in offering up one excuse after the next for its collective failures. During the early Bush years, the excuse was that they endorsed Bush policies because his popularity and post-9/11 hysteria made it politically unwise to oppose him. In later Bush years when his popularity plummeted, the excuse was that Democrats were in the minority and could do nothing. After 2006 when they won a Congressional majority, the excuse was that Bush still controlled the White House and had veto power. After 2008 when a Democrat won the White House, the excuse was that Republicans could filibuster.
Now that they have a filibuster-proof majority, a huge margin in the House and the White House, the excuses continue unabated, as Democrats are now on the verge of jettisoning one of the most significant attractions for progressives to the Obama campaign — active government involvement in the health insurance market. The excuses for “compromising” are cascading more rapidly than ever: We need Republican support to ensure it’s bipartisan. The Blue Dogs won’t go along with what we want. Centrist Senators will filibuster. There are similar excuses being made to defend Obama from accusations that he deserves some of the blame for the failure of the “public option.” Matt Yglesias makes the typical case for shielding Obama from any responsibility:
I think there’s something perverse in the very strong desire I see among liberals to make problems in congress be about anything other than congress. It’s just not in the power of Barack Obama to make the senate anything other than what it is.
I’m really surprised that there’s anyone, especially Matt, who actually believes this — that the Obama White House is merely an impotent, passive observer of what the Democrats in Congress do and can’t be expected to do anything to secure votes for approval of the health care bill it favors. As the leader of his party, the President commands a vast infrastructure on which incumbent members of Congress rely for re-election. His popularity among Democrats vests him numerous options to punish non-compliant Democrats. And Rahm Emanuel built his career on controlling the machinations within Congress. The very idea that Obama, Emanuel and company are just sitting back, helplessly watching as Max Baucus, Kent Conrad and the Blue Dogs (Rahm’s creation) destroy their health care legislation, is absurd on its face. snipwhippy
Clue, Blue Dogs agree with Boll Weevils. And shams elected to office agree with them BOTH.
No shock:
[W]hen progressives refuse to toe the White House line, they get threatened. Contrast that with what the White House does with Blue Dogs and “centrists” who are allegedly uncooperative on health care – they protect them:
The Politico’s Jonathan Martin reported this morning that Rahm Emanuel warned leaders of liberal groups in a private meeting this week that it was time to stop running ads attacking Blue Dog and “centrist” Dems on health care.
I’m told, however, that Emanuel went quite a bit further than this.
Sources at the meeting tell me that Emanuel really teed off on the Dem-versus-Dem attacks, calling them “f–king stupid.” This was a direct attack on some of the attendees in the room, who are running ads against Dems right now.
What does that vast disparity reveal? If anything, Blue Dogs — virtually all of whom represent more conservative districts — are more vulnerable and thus more dependent for re-election on the White House and Democratic Party infrastructure than progressives are. If health care fails and the Obama presidency weakens, they will bear the brunt of the voters’ desire to punish Democrats. The White House would have at least as much leverage to exercise against Blue Dogs and centrists. They just aren’t doing so. In fact, they’re doing the opposite: they’re protecting them even as they supposedly impede what the White House wants on one of Obama’s signature issues. snipsnip
Someone, with a megaphone, should have the guts to point to an elected pretzel, a Northern Black man, won with a good majority (but, admittedly, not with overwhelming numbers of states (28)).. that he is ON HIS FUCKING KNEES TO SOUTHERN AND MIDWESTERN WHITES.
I so like the much advertised Post-Racial and Bi-Partisan games.. It is very very familiar. It’s the old time Black Overseer game.
And, I would say to a few people out there, HOW’S THAT VOTE WORKING FOR YOU?
Well, I hope. The signs were there. Hacks come in all stripes.
Rising tides… 31 July 2009
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, DC Politics, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter.comments closed
Hampton beach New Hampshire… sand sculpting…
From Maine to Florida, the Atlantic seaboard has experienced higher tides than expected this summer. At their peak in mid-June, the tides at some locations outstripped predictions by two feet.
//
The change has come too fast to be attributed to melting ice sheets or anything quite that dramatic, and it’s a puzzle for scientists who’ve never seen anything quite like it.
“The ocean is dynamic. It’s not uncommon to have anomalies like this but the breadth and the intensity and duration were unique,” said Mike Szabados, director of the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s tide and current program.
The unexpected tidal surge is subsiding, has reduced its reach from the entire coast, and is now concentrated just in the mid-Atlantic states.
NOAA is rushing to study the data in an effort to understand what happened. Szabados’ office is already putting the finishing touches on a report that will be released next month on the wind and current patterns that appear to be correlated with the tidal surge.
Szabados said that two main factors appear to have contributed to the extra high tides. First, there were steady winds out of the northeast throughout this anomaly. Second, the ocean current running from Florida up along the coast weakened. While the associations between these phenomena and the tides are provocactive, it’s too early to tell how fully they explain this unexpected tidal event. ….
Call Obama. It’s his problem.
[A]merica, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.
The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth. This was the moment—this was the time—when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
GOOD LUCK!
***
UPDATE, 7:38 pm on the Pacific Ocean…
Tidal Action!
From the Press Gag-gle today…………
Jon.
Q Back to today’s news, on clunkers — the problem as I understand — I talked to some state auto dealership associations which represent numerous dealerships. According to talking to some of these folks, what’s been a success so far is creating demand. But what has not been successful is trying to get the claims from the dealers to the government for the money that they’ve had to expend to buyers. In other words, they’re saying they’re going on the computer system and trying to submit the claims and are getting kicked off from the system a third of the way, and this is happening apparently all week, all around the country, in different dealerships. They’ve put this money out. They’re hearing that the system or the program has been suspended –
MR. GIBBS: Well, the program hasn’t been suspended. Let’s –
Q It was last night. So they’re worried — but they’re worried about getting their money back, because they’ve put out hundreds of thousands of dollars if they’re a large dealership. If they’re capital-weak, then that could be a real problem. What’s being done to fix that?
MR. GIBBS: Well, first and foremost, the program, as we said last night, was not suspended. And as I said this morning, the program was not suspended. The administration is comfortable and confident that the previous money that was allocated through the supplemental appropriations is enough to cover those transactions and to continue operating the program.
We think the program has been so successful that the President and staff here talked with Capitol Hill about extending that program — I know some of that request came — members of the Michigan delegation were very interested in that last night, and the House has voted to add an additional — or to move $2 billion from the Recovery Act energy efficiency programs into additional money for the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles.
I’m sure they’re looking at whatever problems the site may be having. Obviously with something that’s enormously popular there may be traffic problems on the computers. But we’re confident, and I think dealers can be confident, that the money is there to reimburse them for the rebates and the incentives that have drawn thousands and thousands of customers that haven’t been there for quite some time into their showrooms to purchase cars. [we're all so confident! ---Mcat]
Q It seems, though, that what may have prompted whatever happened last night — I think it was the Transportation Department’s statement or calls to members of Congress — I think — what I’m hearing is that what prompted that was that the government began to wonder if they had any idea how much they were on the hook for, basically.
MR. GIBBS: Well, again, as I talked to our guys here today, there were surveys by the dealers association. They felt that the obligations were getting toward the upper band of money that had been allocated. We feel confident, which is why I said so this morning, that there is enough money — but to extend a popular program that we think is having, again, benefit for many involved, that moving that money from the recovery to this makes a lot of sense.
Look, I’ll tell this to dealers: Again, we feel confident, I think they can feel confident heading into the weekend, and hopefully if we can get the Senate to act, I think it’s likely — more likely that it’s going to be the beginning of next week. But I think they can feel confident heading into the weekend with a strong bipartisan vote in the House for additional money to ensure the continuation of the program. [still confident! Really confident! ---Mcat]
Q Robert, isn’t there a — excuse me, but isn’t there a chance of an interruption, though, before the Senate acts?
MR. GIBBS: An interruption — again, we feel comfortable that there’s money to cover the transactions and we’re hopeful that the program, because it’s popular, because we think it is having such an important impact, will be extended even further.
Q So if there’s a run on dealerships between now and the weekend –
MR. GIBBS: “It’s a Wonderful Life” on GM dealers — we’re coming to get our — look, we hope a lot of people go this weekend to look at buying a new car. We think that’s, again, we think that incentives are good for them, we think they’re good for the economy, and we feel confident that there’s money to cover those transactions.
Q Thank you, Robert.
Got it?
Mais NON! (Mais Oui!) 15 March 2009
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, 2010 Mid Terms, Afghanistan War, DC Politics, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, WAR!.comments closed
The ‘D-card’, a postcard and DVD containing a film and pictures of Barack Obama. The D-card, made in Brittany by Claude Maidenberg, will be available for purchase on Obama’s inauguration day, January 20 [AFP/GETTY]
hmmm… what was that about “no sides” in the G-20?
Oh I don’t think so.
And why would there NOT be sides? We are all in a hell of a mess, it is bound to be fractious.
From an English language blog on French politics that Madman turned me onto a few months ago…
The FT Is Not Amused
The Financial Times has taken to referring to the G20 as “the gap of 20″ owing to the stark difference between the US and European positions. Witness this characterization of the European reaction to American proposals:
With the crotchety air of a dowager duchess sending a sub-standard amuse-bouche back to the kitchens, Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg prime minister and chair of the “eurogroup” of finance ministers from the single currency zone, added sniffily:
“The 16 finance ministers agreed that recent American appeals insisting Europeans make an added budgetary effort were not to our liking.”
PLUS, sacre bleu! They were not born yesterday:
And the American stock market hasn’t helped: the ten-percent rise in the Dow this past week can only fuel European suspicions that they’re being hustled yet again by city-slickers (or should that be Citi-slickers?).
YUM.
Plus.. you know, let us not forget, we are, concurrently, asking that people go drown with us in Afghanistan.
We are so loved. Truly…
Just a thread… ;) 22 January 2009
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, 2010 Mid Terms, DC Politics, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter.comments closed
Troublemaker –
This young adult Sulawesi black-crested macaque, nicknamed Troublemaker, was more interested in the photographer than foraging for food, so getting a close-up wasn’t difficult. Troublemaker’s expression captures, Stefano says, “the spirit of these wonderful monkeys”, and the setting makes it an unforgettable portrait
[Photograph: Stefano Unterthiner, Italy/Wildlife Photographer, Animal Portraits, of the Year 2008]
I don’t know about you … but I am pooped. Ushering in a new pretzel is just so damned hard………
While I was fishing around for a photo… I landed on this short little series between a Ridgeback and a pelican… the photo series is called Pelican Wars. Pretty funny… and I think the Ridgeback will be sticking to his own food bowl from now on, for thine is the power and the glory amen… speaking of the pelican there, I am.
