We’re trapped in a game show!

We’re trapped in a game show! 25 September 2008

Posted by marisacat in Inconvenient Voice of the Voter.
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Did anyone who was ever on daytime TV ever end up looking good? I sort of doubt it. But there we are – trapped.

Just for a different view, two of the High Holies of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York, have weighed in, lecturing broadly.

How have they gone public?

The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams launched the opening salvo with an article for this week’s Spectator magazine defending Karl Marx’s attacks on “unbridled capitalism”. And on Wednesday evening, during a speech to religiously-minded business folk at the Worshipful Company of International Bankers’ annual dinner, Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, waded into the row by criticising those involved in the practice of short-selling and lambasting rich governments for failing to live up to their aid promises.

Well, that is nice. But it’s not as if the Church of England is a NON investor. But, carry on, everyone is lecturing everyone else.

What about the Church’s own investments in the City?

Considering the Church of England has enormous amounts of wealth invested in the stock market the Archbishops’ comments certainly risk accusations of “pot calling the kettle black”. According to its own website, the Church oversaw assets worth more than £5.67bn at the end of 2007, much of it invested in the stock market, real estate and private equity investments.

The body in charge of managing the investments has also done rather well. The Church Commissioners made a return of 9.4 per cent in 2007, smashing its benchmark of a 7 percent return for comparable funds.

How has the City reacted?

The Archbishops’ criticism of short-selling drew an angry response from The Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers, the representative body of the stockbroking industry. In a statement sent yesterday the group’s chief executive, David Bennett, said: “It is market abuse which is wrong, and this can occur both when holding either long or short positions. Transparency is the key here.” But the two most senior clergy in the country, who oversee a Church of more than 77 million believers worldwide, may have felt compelled to give spiritual advice at a time of global financial crisis. As Dr Sentamu reminded people in his speech: “Money is the root of all evil.”

HA! Another root is RELIGION. LOL Just another game show!

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

CSTAR posted this at the end of the last thread…

Drama

pleas from a Treasury secretary who knelt before the House speaker and appealed for her support.”

I’m such a romantic.. I’d like to think that the Treasury Secretary got down on his knees and said

Madame speaker let’s run off to the Caribbean somewhere and leave all this mess behind us

*** close of comment ***

Oh I am working so hard not to envision La Nan and Paulson cavorting on a palm frond. Ew no….

Comments»

1. marisacat - 25 September 2008: hmm Just saw this over in the Reuters Business feed:

By Wayne Cole and Vidya Ranganathan

SYDNEY/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Central banks across Asia scrambled on Friday to meet a desperate demand for cash, both in their own currencies and the U.S. dollar, as the White House’s $700 billion bailout plan ran into unexpected roadblocks.

News of the biggest ever U.S. bank failure only added to the thirst for liquidity, with the government brokering a last-ditch purchase of thrift Washington Mutual (WM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) by JPMorgan (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

“The market is just frozen at the moment,” said Claudio Piron, a strategist at JPMorgan Chase Bank in Singapore.

“We are at such a point of absent liquidity that prices are beginning to fail in their usefulness as a signal – this in itself is disturbing,” Piron said.

…

In South Korea, the Finance Ministry said it would inject $10 billion or more into the local swap market until the middle of October to stave off persistent dollar funding shortages.

The RBA and the Bank of Japan also kept adding extra cash to their own banking systems on Friday, while Vietnam lifted the rate it pays on bank reserves to reduce the cost of borrowing.

Yet these sums paled into insignificance compared to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s largesse.

Figures released late Thursday showed U.S. institutions borrowed from the Fed $188 billion per day on average in the latest week, almost four times the previous record.

“This looks like the balance sheet of a central bank that is keeping the financial system on life support,” said Michael Feroli, U.S. economist with JPMorgan in New York.

Smells of free fall…

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2. lucid - 25 September 2008: The denizens will love this one… Oh look, there’s another piece of lint in my navel.

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3. marisacat - 25 September 2008: 2

what a strange whacked thread… or at least it was at 15 commetns… and I remember when Al Rodgers still had half a brain. That’s gone now i see.

Whatta bunch,

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4. lucid - 25 September 2008: silliness ensues… and I always think I’m the clown. 😉

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5. diane - 25 September 2008: Anyone live in Southern Cali? Don’t go to UCI if you need medical treatment, although good luck finding medical care at a hospital you can trust (if you can even afford it):

UCI Medical Center put under state supervision

”….

Officials with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Thursday that they had accepted the department’s plan of correction, but if the problems are not resolved, the hospital could lose its federal funding.

Snip

The 30-page inspection report, based on a May visit that was prompted by a whistle-blower complaint, listed problems dating back at least three years. They included substandard equipment checks, inadequate staffing and shoddy record-keeping

In one case, a patient’s blank anesthetic record had been signed by a doctor and marked “stable,” one day before the medical procedure. In another case, a doctor had filled out forms in advance for procedures that were to be performed by a different doctor. Records for 10 out of 38 patients revealed similar problems.

Some of these problems had come to light in a 2006 external audit, and the report criticized UCI for not documenting any action to improve quality of care within the department.

Snip

The department has been beset by controversy since at least 2003, when half of the 26 professors signed a letter alleging that “the direction of the department has been radically altered to achieve financial goals at the expense of academic goals.” Over three years, nine professors left the department, including four who had signed the letter.

Snip

After a lengthy search, UCI on March 1 hired Dr. Zeev Kain, executive vice chairman of anesthesiology at Yale, as chairman of the renamed department of anesthesiology and perioperative care. [Sounds like that’s going well]

Snip

The federal inspection is the latest problem for the medical center, which has suffered high-profile scandals over the last 13 years. In 2005, the hospital shut down its liver transplant program after Medicare funding was withdrawn. The action came after The Times reported that 32 people died awaiting livers in 2004 and 2005, even as doctors turned down organs that later were successfully transplanted elsewhere.

In 1999 and 2000, the university’s Willed Body Program came under fire after its director sold parts of cadavers and did unauthorized autopsies. And in 1995, a team of fertility doctors at the school’s Center for Reproductive Health were accused of stealing patients’ eggs or embryos and implanting them in other patients without permission. Some of the women gave birth.

….”

Wasn’t one of the UC hospitals involved with the plutonium injections which were part of the Manhatten Project?

Of course “Elder Care” is an even bigger cesspool, and with the DOD making contributions to medical institutions, lord knows what the fuck some of these places are doing.

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6. diane - 25 September 2008: agghhh sorry for the doubled up part, meant to paste over it.

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7. liberalcatnip - 26 September 2008: Damn. You beat me to the punch. I was planning a post titled, “It’s a Jimmy Stewart movie! No, it’s a game show!”

I might still do it anyway. 😉

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8. marisacat - 26 September 2008: I have a long list of horror stories from UCSF, more than 10 years old, but i doubt it got better.

A friend of a friend’s mother went into UCSF, I called my own friend, explained how things work there (somebody had best be with the patient round the clock) the mother was taken into surgery wtih a fever and died. I had felt uncomfortable being an alarmist and then that happened.

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9. marisacat - 26 September 2008: 7

do ti anyway, it’s such a natural… no way I have a monopoly!

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10. liberalcatnip - 26 September 2008: In other news, Huge pig sent to stud after holding woman hostage.

And I thought my cats were demanding. Sheesh.

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11. marisacat - 26 September 2008: diane

think I fixed it… 😉

****

Counterpunch has several good articles, Micheal Hudson, Nader etc.. and this from Sharon Smith on Dems and Corp. Bailouts (what else is new?)

As recently as July 11th, Dodd concurred. “This is not a time to be panicking about [Fannie May and Freddie Mac], Dodd argued in a press conference. “These are viable, strong institutions.” Dodd’s main contributors from 2003-2008 included Citigroup, SAC Capital Partners, United Technologies and the American International Group (the now infamous AIG).

Schumer’s top five campaign contributors from 2001 to 2006 were Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase & Co, Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and Citigroup. Earlier this year, he went on record supporting a federal bailout for mortgage lenders modeled on the federal government’s savings and loan bailout of the early 1990s—which offloaded the debts incurred by insolvent S & Ls onto the backs of taxpayers while the investors (among them Neil Bush, son of George H. W.) who recklessly created the savings and loan crisis walked away with their profits.

These same congressional foxes have once again been guarding the chicken coop, with a predictable outcome. Much like addicted gamblers on a winning streak in a Vegas casino, they ignored the crippling losses that inevitably follow as long as the good times rolled. Now they must reconcile the excesses of their Wall Street patrons with as little retribution as possible.

Term limits. It’s been at least entertaining out here… That, or, I say, encourage the corps to just send their own lobbyist to sit in the various senate and house seats. No cash draw, no perks, no ins, health care, no nothing. Let the corps pay their own people. Let’s be up front what our government is. Corporate candy asses.

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12. Madman in the Marketplace - 26 September 2008: Barnie Frank is in full hysteria on CNN this morning, and I just laughed when I read this headline in today’s NY Times: Talks Implode During a Day of Chaos; Fate of Bailout Plan Remains Unresolved

I say if there is no bankrupcy reform, let the whole house of cards collapse. Fair is fair.

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13. NYCO - 26 September 2008: From Yahoo Finance:

Frank Blames House GOP for Breakdown of Deal

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee declared Friday that an agreement on legislation to relieve a spreading financial crisis depends on House Republicans “dropping this revolt against President Bush.”

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14. marisacat - 26 September 2008: “dropping this revolt against Bush”.

Well we know that is NOT the Dems. Or, as someone emailed me last night, …and the Republicans are setting up for a populist run in the mid-terms.

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15. marisacat - 26 September 2008: One person who has been clear from the get go (and I would not accept a cup of coffee from his hand, but… ) is Shelby:

Sen. Shelby held up what he called a five-page letter from 200 economists opposing Paulson’s deal. “This is a heck of a debt to put on the American people… I say we can do better.”

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16. NYCO - 26 September 2008: Well, like I said before, we may get a President Obama, but this is not the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. It’s going to all be rather dreary.

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17. marisacat - 26 September 2008: Ambinder:

CNBC v. House Republicans

26 Sep 2008 07:51 am

Watching NBC Squawk Box in the morning, the anchors are absolutely tearing into Republicans and Sen. Shelby right now. They keep asking, “Where have you guys (House Republican’s) been during the last 10 days? Why now?”

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18. marisacat - 26 September 2008: 16

Speaking of which (and just now on TV, Dodd is humping for Bush, LOL):

This is the election you wouldn’t want to win

The bad news: November’s victor could be a one-term disaster. The good news: a great president may follow him

Gerard Baker

Victorious Roman generals were reminded of the fickleness of their glory by a slave carefully positioned in earshot on the triumphal parade route.

“Memento mori,” the hapless servant would whisper to the wreathed victor as his chariot rattled along Rome’s jubilant streets: “Remember you are mortal.”

They don’t have slaves in America any more but perhaps the winner of November’s presidential election should consider having one of his lower-paid deputy-assistants mutter something similar in his ear as he takes the tribute on Inauguration Day next January.

…

The US is now indisputably entering the darkest phase of a period that will not only produce real hardship, but could send further shocks through financial markets and cause deeper fiscal damage.

Then there is energy policy. Weaning America off its oil addiction might actually need to be a policy rather than a slogan in the next four years; but that will place new burdens on the budget and require sacrifices difficult to make in good times, let alone in economically distressed ones.

Compared with all this, foreign policy looks like a doddle. /snip/

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19. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: NYCO – FYI.
Gas Shortage In the South Creates Panic, Long Lines (WaPo).

Gasoline shortages hit towns across the southeastern United States this week, sparking panic buying, long lines and high prices at stations from the small towns of northeast Alabama to Charlotte in the wake of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

In Atlanta, half of the gasoline stations were closed, according to AAA, which said the supply disruptions had taken place along two major petroleum product pipelines that have operated well below capacity since the hurricanes knocked offshore oil production and several refineries out of service along the Gulf of Mexico.

Drivers in Charlotte reported lines with as many as 60 cars waiting to fill up late Wednesday night, and a community college in Asheville, N.C., where most of the 25,000 students commute, canceled classes and closed down Wednesday afternoon for the rest of the week. Shortages also hit Nashville, Knoxville and Spartanburg, S.C., AAA said.

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20. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: News Analysis: McCain Leaps Into a Thicket

At the bipartisan White House meeting that Mr. McCain had called for a day earlier, he sat silently for more than 40 minutes, more observer than leader, and then offered only a vague sense of where he stood, said people in the meeting.

In subsequent television interviews, Mr. McCain suggested that he saw the bipartisan plan that came apart at the White House meeting as the proper basis for an eventual agreement, but he did not tip his hand as to whether he would give any support to the alternative put on the table by angry House Republicans, with whom he had met before going to the White House.

He said he was hopeful that a deal could be struck quickly and that he could then show up for his scheduled debate on Friday night against his Democratic rival in the presidential race, Senator Barack Obama. But there was no evidence that he was playing a major role in the frantic efforts on Capitol Hill to put a deal back together again.

::snip::

At the very least, Mr. McCain’s actions have shaken up the campaign and the negotiations over the bailout package. It has put him at center stage, permitted him to present himself as putting his country ahead of his campaign — a recurring theme of his candidacy — and put him on deck to, if not help orchestrate a deal, at least be associated with one.

But Mr. McCain is certainly seeing the risks of making such a direct intervention. He now finds himself in the middle of an ideological war that pits conservative Republicans, loath to spending so much taxpayer money on Wall Street, against the Bush White House, which, with the support of Democrats and a sizable number of Republicans, sees a bailout package as essential to averting a potential economic disaster.

::snip::

In a finding suggesting the difficult terrain Mr. McCain needs to navigate as Congress considers the Wall Street bailout 52 percent of respondents [to a New York Times/CBS News poll released Thursday] said Mr. McCain cares more about protecting the interests of large corporations, compared with 32 percent who said that he cared most about protecting the interests of ordinary people. By contrast, 16 percent of respondents said that Mr. Obama was more concerned with protecting the interests of large corporations, compared with 70 percent said he was more concerned about ordinary people.

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21. NYCO - 26 September 2008: Thanks, IB. It seems like the gas shortages (which are still ongoing, yet barely reported) are centered in the region bounded by Nashville TN, Atlanta GA, and Asheville NC. Highly populated inland areas of the Southeast. Eastern TN, northern GA, western NC and western SC.

Fortunately, my dad was planning to take a coastal route (down I-95) anyway, where there don’t seem to be as many problems. I was afraid he was going to opt to take his favorite scenic route through the Blue Ridge, which is sort of ground zero for the gas shortage.

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22. NYCO - 26 September 2008: one more thought re the shortages- They’re hitting places which have had population booms over the last couple decades, and one really wonders how much population those areas can naturally support with that kind of lifestyle. Atlantans are now whining they don’t have any public transport in their area… well, you shoulda thought of that back when you were worshiping at the Church of Hummer, dudes. When the car just disappears, life in these areas gets really difficult. If you imagine a world without gasoline or diesel, some of these cities have grown a mite bigger than they maybe have a right to.

I’m not sure why Atlanta ever got so large. In terms of location alone, if I’m not mistaken it’s not on any major navigable waterways, so I assume its original growth was due to it being a rail hub. As for the larger metros in North Carolina, especially in the mountains (like Asheville)… not sure how that happened either without the automobile and sprawl.

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23. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: McCain in the briar patch in moderation?

NYCO – Hope your dad’s keeping an eye on the weather, too! Storm comes ashore in Carolinas, brings rain, wind.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A storm that never quite gained tropical strength or a name over the Atlantic has slipped ashore in the Carolinas, dumping up to 4 inches of rain along the coast and bringing some gusty winds inland.

Forecasters said the storm will move up the mid-Atlantic coast over the next day or two with strong winds in some areas as well as coastal flooding, high surf and rip currents.

Tropical Storm Kyle also on the radar.

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24. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: Br’er McCain and coastal weather alert in moderation, I think.

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25. marisacat - 26 September 2008: It’s so clear thru all of this, which is epic snow job, that all the Dems want is the keys to the meat locker.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday a plan to rescue U.S. financial institutions “has to happen,” but final agreement is up to conservative Republicans who revolted against the plan being negotiated between Congress and the Treasury Department.

“It will happen because it has to happen,” Pelosi, a California Democrat, said in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I would hope that we could come to agreement in the next 24 hours.”

Boxer says communication to her offices is overwhelmingly agaisnt. Out of 917 calls to the DC office, ONE was for.

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26. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: Pulpit politics: Pastors to defy IRS
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080926/ts_csm/aexempt

During sermons this Sunday, some 35 pastors across the country will tell their congregations which presidential candidate they should vote for, “according to the Scriptures.”

Their endorsements represent a direct challenge to federal tax law, which prohibits tax-exempt organizations from engaging in partisan political activity.

The clergy have embraced that risk, hoping their actions will trigger an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, which would then enable a Christian legal advocacy group to take the IRS to court and challenge the constitutionality of the ban.

The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a conservative legal group based in Arizona, recruited the pastors for “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” to press their claim that the IRS tax code violates the free speech of religious leaders.

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27. marisacat - 26 September 2008: sorry IB, got them both out… I was making cofee… 😉

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28. marisacat - 26 September 2008: Tax them all. Right up their clerical skirts and over their heads. Seems to me the IRS mostly clears churches and clerics they look into anyway.

I thought TUCC, the head office, was fairly blatant in its [all but] endorsement of Obama in spring of 2007… with his giving a speech to 10,000 and with 40 aides in the hallway afterward, tabling and canvassing. They were cleared.

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29. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: Thanks! Definitely a day for caffeine!

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30. marisacat - 26 September 2008: hmmm From a reader to Instapundit…

Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) was just on CNBC and said that his mail and calls on the bailout plan are running 50-50: 50% no and 50% hell no.

This is what Barney Frank is up against. Even if the Democrats ram through the plan without Republicans signing on, they will be left holding the bag if the plan fails, as it very well could, and have to face the wrath of their constituents.

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31. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: MSNBC sez Cheney is canceling trip to Western states and will stay put to help out in the shiny, shiny city on the Hill.

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32. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: CNN:

OXFORD, Mississippi (CNN) — University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat said Friday morning that if GOP nominee McCain does not show for the first presidential debate at the school in Oxford, the format may include members of the audience to submit questions to the moderator, Jim Lehrer.

Lehrer would then pose the questions to Obama. It would take on a kind of town hall format, according to Khayat.

Khayat said he will recommend that to the Debate Commission, which would make the final decision.

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33. NYCO - 26 September 2008: 23. My dad probably wouldn’t worry too much about the weather (in a pigheaded sort of way) – he went on a three-week tour from New York to San Francisco and Seattle and back through Yellowstone, on his 200cc Kawasaki (not a touring bike by any means…) sleeping in a tent all the way. He’s 69.

But I will advise him. He hasn’t got much access to TV right now so he probably doesn’t know.

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34. marisacat - 26 September 2008: I just saw the coastal Carolinas on TV, it looked very rough. Wet weather and wind and flood I mean.

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35. NYCO - 26 September 2008: He hasn’t left yet, incidentally. He’s leaving Sunday as it turns out, so he should be OK.

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36. marisacat - 26 September 2008: McCain has released a statement – he will travel to Ole Miss later today, for the debate, then return to DC following that..

Debate ON.

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37. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: McCain is heading to Ole Miss, networks are reporting.

Good luck to your pops, NYCO! He sounds like a pip!

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38. NYCO - 26 September 2008: Thanks IB! I have to mention that my dad’s older brother (who is 72) rides HIS motorcycle from Ocala to Naples (FL) every other week for thyroid cancer treatments.

And their 92-year-old mother (my grandma) is as sharp as a tack.

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39. NYCO - 26 September 2008: PS… this is my 72-year-old uncle’s IMDB listing.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0249244/

LOL, this is the first time I’ve looked at it in a while… I had no idea he’d played Andy Warhol.

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40. liberalcatnip - 26 September 2008: Debate ON.

Must.buy.popcorn.

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41. marisacat - 26 September 2008: Tapper has a post up on the past hours. Or years, which ever it was.

[C]ould the Paulson bill pass the House without serious Republican participation?

That’s unclear. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is refusing to bring it up without Republicans committing 100 votes — she does not want this to become an issue the GOP uses against Democrats in the fall.

Or, as Frank put it late last night, “Ms. Pelosi will not bring a partisan bill to the floor. She will not say that we’re going to have a one-sided Democratic Bill that is attacked by the House Republicans in response to a request from George Bush. That’s not good for the country.”

Republicans are faulting Pelosi for not acting like the head of a majority party. Pass the bill, they say, you don’t need Republicans, you have the votes. /snip/

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42. marisacat - 26 September 2008: 39

what a hoot! Thanks for posting that…

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43. marisacat - 26 September 2008: FWIW, and it is Michael Barone…

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44. marisacat - 26 September 2008: hmm from the schnauzer puddle at The Corner:

A Shift in Mood? [Rich Lowry]

A source in the middle of all this detected a change in mood among House Republican over night, after WaMu’s collapse and Wachovia’s swoon and with the prospect of being blamed for a financial collapse looming. This source also understands the constituent calls are beginning to turn a little—people now are beginning to get scared. Fwiw…

09/26 12:16 PM

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45. baypraire - 26 September 2008: Atlantans are now whining they don’t have any public transport in their area… well, you shoulda thought of that back when you were worshiping at the Church of Hummer, dudes. When the car just disappears, life in these areas gets really difficult. If you imagine a world without gasoline or diesel, some of these cities have grown a mite bigger than they maybe have a right to.

just look on the bright side, nyco. you’ll be able to savor all that atlantian suffering and gloat as they starve to death or die screaming.

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46. marisacat - 26 September 2008: LOL I cannot wait for 6 pm (full text via The Page):

McCain Pool Report

McCain now boarding plane at DCA with Cindy, Salter, Rudy Giuliani, wife Judith, and other aides plus pool.

Heading to Memphis, 1:50 minute flight, then motorcade to site

General atmosphere is utter confusion.

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47. raincat100 - 26 September 2008: 40. Okay, what are the rules for tonight’s debate drinking game?

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48. NYCO - 26 September 2008: 45. No, I have to say I don’t have much sympathy for people who routinely vote in local politicians who enable sprawl, then wonder why sprawl isn’t working for them any more. Sorry.

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49. marisacat - 26 September 2008: raincat

LOL I’d say a hard swallow of something, anytime either one looks like he may not make it to the end of the hour and thirty. Which could both, either or neither.

What a hoot!

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50. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: BREAKING! ENCOURAGING ECONOMIC NEWS FROM UPSTATE NEW YORK!

1994 Toyota passes annual inspection. No repairs required!

🙂

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51. marisacat - 26 September 2008: BRAVO on the Toyota… I know from inspections out here, that is an achievement…

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52. marisacat - 26 September 2008: eh.

Camp Obama lowering expectations.

BTW, I read a few days ago, that the debate format had been extended to include some questions on economy, with the agreement of both parties. Despite all the blather for two or three days to “suddenly” turn it into a Economics Summit of The Two Candidates.

Or whatever…

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53. marisacat - 26 September 2008: BTW

C-Span has a debate hub page… full of bells and whistles and whatever else… LOL

http://debatehub.c-span.org/

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54. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: 51 – Gave the car several pats on the nose (plus a delicious oil change) as reward.

Speaking of mobile units: In Storm’s Aftermath, Cow Roundups in Southeast Texas.

Mr. Latta said he had so far recovered only 15 cows from his herd of 400 and holds out little hope of finding the rest, even as rescue efforts continue. Thus far, about 10,000 of the estimated 25,000 missing cows in the region have been found alive.

Explaining how any survived the powerful surge with waves reported over 15 feet, Hollis Gilfillian, a rancher in nearby Winnie, Tex., said that “cows are surprisingly buoyant” thanks to their four air-filled stomachs. Mr. Gilfillian said he was able to recover half of his 350 head because “they sort of floated like boats.”

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55. marisacat - 26 September 2008: 10K out of 25K sounds pretty good to me, frankly…

what a nightmare Ike has been. The first morning just with the films of the odd reporter on the streets over the night, it seemed hopeful, but with light of day, the devastation…

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56. marisacat - 26 September 2008: Pelosi and Frank to hold 4:30 PM ET presser….

Per The Page.

Sing it Louise!

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57. marisacat - 26 September 2008: Maybe Not! There was supposed to be a 3 pm meeting between parties. The R just did not show! LOL

So who knows.

NYT has a semi-slightly tough FPer (not that it matters!) on ObRama commercials. Hell musta frozen over.

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58. marisacat - 26 September 2008: Someone may have posted this, but Wapo has a FP on gas lines in the South…

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59. marisacat - 26 September 2008: oops no that report is on page D 01 – not the front page. oops..

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60. marisacat - 26 September 2008: Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:

SENATE BAILOUT VOTE ‘UNLIKELY’ BEFORE WEDNESDAY, SOURCES TELL ABC NEWS

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61. Madman in the Marketplace - 26 September 2008: Smells Like Greed Spirit

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62. Madman in the Marketplace - 26 September 2008: We’re in ur bank, bailin’ it out.

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63. Madman in the Marketplace - 26 September 2008: PETA to Ben & Jerry: Use human mother’s milk, not cow’s milk

words fail.

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64. Madman in the Marketplace - 26 September 2008: 26 – so, when they lose can we start treating them like businesses (which they are anyway) and tax the fuckers?

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65. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: Young Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) on Hardball, re bailout, said “both sides will have to have skin in the game.” Didn’t show a lot of enthusiasm, nor imply that the GOP is stampeding the field for that pleasure. Instead, they’re GASP listening to their constituents’ calls, cards, and sternly worded letters.

Will there be a call for cots, this weekend? Pizza fleets?

Meanwhile, Pat Buchanan advised McCain to go onstage tonight and hammer hammer hammer on the topic of greed. And Tweety is harping on a “temperament” strategy for Obama. Goad him and make him explode!

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66. Madman in the Marketplace - 26 September 2008: she does not want this to become an issue the GOP uses against Democrats in the fall.

Jeebus that woman is stupid.

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67. bayprairie - 26 September 2008: From that wapo link.

AAA spokesman John Townsend said that Colonial Pipeline, a leading supplier in the region, and the smaller Plantation Pipeline, which belongs to Kinder Morgan, were functioning below capacity because of lingering refinery problems along the Gulf coast. A spokesman for Colonial, whose Web site displays a news release from Sept. 10 before Hurricane Ike hit, did not return calls for comment.

The Energy Department said that as of Wednesday 63 percent, or 800,000 barrels a day, of production in the Gulf of Mexico was still shut down as were five refineries with a combined capacity of 1.2 million barrels a day. The refineries produce a half-million barrels of gasoline a day, or about 5 percent of the nation’s total supplies. Other refineries are still working at less than full capacity. Hurricane Gustav landed Sept. 1, and Ike hit Sept. 13.

colonial pipeline map

Colonial Pipeline, headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, delivers a daily average of 100 million gallons (398 million liters) of gasoline, home heating oil, aviation fuel and other refined petroleum products to communities and businesses throughout the South and Eastern United States. Colonial consists of more than 5,500 miles (8,800 km) of pipeline, originating at Houston, Texas, and terminating at New York harbor. The pipeline travels through the coastal states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. Branches from the main pipeline also reach Tennessee.

The main lines are 40 and 36 inches in diameter, with one primarily devoted to gasoline and the other carrying distillate products such as jet fuel, diesel fuel, and home heating oil. The pipeline connects directly to major airports along the system. Fifteen associated tank farms store more than 1.2 billion gallons of fuel and provide a 45 day supply for local communities.

Following the passage of hurricane Ike in September 2008, this pipeline was operating at a severely reduced capacity due to a lack of supply from refineries that had closed, causing gasoline shortages across the Southeast.

no comment from the pipeline company can’t be good news. sounds like they’re hiding out. interestingly enough, alpharetta georgia, pipeline headquarters, lies within the fulton county, atlanta metroplex sprawl.

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68. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: 63 – One of their weirder (and more wildly self-marginalizing) campaigns. Rife with flavor-naming possibilities though!

64 – I’m all for it.

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69. Madman in the Marketplace - 26 September 2008: Head of Skate

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70. Madman in the Marketplace - 26 September 2008: Mock the Vote

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71. marisacat - 26 September 2008: sorry!

bay out of Moderation…

***

new thread about to go up… 😉

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72. Madman in the Marketplace - 26 September 2008: What Did Bush Tell Gonzales?

Gonzales has also told Justice Department investigators that President Bush played a more central and active role than was previously known in devising a strategy to have Congress enable the continuation of the surveillance program when questions about its legality were raised by the Justice Department, as well as devising other ways to circumvent the Justice Department’s legal concerns about the program, according to people who have read Gonzales’s interviews with investigators. The White House declined to comment for this story. An attorney for Gonzales, George J. Terwilliger III, himself a former deputy attorney general, declined to comment as well.

Although this president is famously known for rarely becoming immersed in the details—even on the issues he cares the most about—Gonzales has painted a picture of Bush as being very much involved when it came to his administration’s surveillance program.

In describing Bush as having pressed him to engage in some of the more controversial actions regarding the warrantless surveillance program, Gonzales and his legal team are apparently attempting to lessen his own legal jeopardy. The Justice Department’s inspector general (IG) is investigating whether Gonzales lied to Congress when he was questioned under oath about the surveillance program. And the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) is separately investigating whether Gonzales and other Justice Department attorneys acted within the law in authorizing and overseeing the surveillance program. Neither the IG nor OPR can bring criminal charges, but if, during the course of their own investigations, they believe they have uncovered evidence of a possible crime, they can seek to make a criminal referral to those who can.

In portraying President Bush as directly involved in making some of the more controversial decisions about his administration’s surveillance program, Gonzales may, intentionally or unintentionally, be drawing greater legal scrutiny to the actions of President Bush and other White House officials. And what began as investigations narrowly focused on Gonzales’s conduct could easily morph into broader investigations leading into the White House, and possibly leading to the appointment of a special prosecutor.

Dan Richman, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan and professor at Columbia Law School, told me that Gonzales appears to be attempting to walk the thin line of taking himself out of harm’s way while at the same time protecting the president, a strategy that very well could work: “I think he is serving his own purposes and the White House’s purposes,” Richman says.

According to Richman, by invoking Bush’s name and authority, Gonzales and his legal team are making it more difficult for investigators to seek a criminal investigation of his actions, or for other investigators to later bring criminal charges against him: “The clearer it is that Gonzales did what he did at the behest of the president of the United States, the safer that he [Gonzales] is legally,” says Richman. At the same time, by saying that he is advising the president, Gonzales also makes it easier for those at the White House to claim executive privilege if they do indeed become embroiled in the probe.

Moreover, according to one senior Justice Department official, Gonzales, his legal team, and the White House also know that Justice’s IG and OPR are unlikely to press senior White House officials, let alone the president, to answer their questions.

But this legal strategy could also backfire.

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73. marisacat - 26 September 2008: nu thred…

LINK

……………. 8) ……………..

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74. Intermittent Bystander - 26 September 2008: Just because I saw some last weekend, and their humming noises cracked me up:

Alpacas!

Very goofy. Oh yeah!

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