Opera Glasses and Popcorn
The past as prologue? Lining up for food and water, Louisville, Kentucky, 1937. [Margaret Bourke-White/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images.]
That river in Egypt.
[I snagged the MB-W image from VF, a current interview with Stiglitz ]
An Opera Glasses and Popcorn view of Politics and the Assembled Multitude...
Marisacat -
- Real independent observations on current events with a particular fondness for the follies of the Big Box Blahgers.
Deflates bloated egos like a champion fencer in a balloon warehouse.
- Alan Smithee
Marisacat -
"...polish on a mud wallow"
- Meteor Blades [May 24 at Mcat]
Marisacat -
"... doyenne of donkle deconstruction"
- Who is IOZ [January 2 2007]
Marisacat -
"... hardened professionals and their primary strength lies in their being completely unconflicted."
"... the primary difference is that on the level of criticizing other blogs and bloggers, they can actually do some damage."
"... Not what I look for in a liberal blog product."
- peeder - MLW, Daily Rant [3.24.07]
Democracy NOW! / Amy Goodman Electronic Intifada / General Content Press TV / Middle East News Press TV McClatchy Headlines The Real News Reuters / Politics
on one stage reading their poetry"
"I think Allen Ginsberg standing up there reading - putting himself on the line - was one of the two bravest things I've ever seen. Remember, it was '55. People had crew cuts, and they looked at you like you were misplaced cannon fodder. The country was being run by Luce publications. It was a dangerous, cold, ugly time, and it was scary. . .
In all our memories no one had been so outspoken in poetry before. We had gone beyond a point of no return. None of us wanted to go back to the grey, chill, militaristic silence, to the intellectual void - to the land without poetry - to the spiritual drabness. We wanted to make it new and we wanted to invent it and the process of it as we went into it. We wanted voice and we wanted vision."
-Michael McClure
Over and over, in election year after election year, GE and MidTerms both… the Dems start to purr and preen, they stretch luxuriously - at just being TOLD they are going to win [...]
It never fails.
... in February of 2002, looking over the already joyless congressional stragglers willing to be drafted for duty… they barely dreamed, yet, it was even possible (Howard, a different person then, had not arrived to say it could be done)… but one thing was clear, we could not rely on the party to swing it. Could not. You could smell it, they would screw the deal. And I am not talking about Howard and primary issues here. By the end, that was a passing political story. Chuck it on the heap.
[...]
Upshot? The Republicans make it thru. They hold on.
If you click on La Louche the picture or the words, it leads to the Amazon PayPage, a way to ... oh let's say help with the cat can deliveries.
Thanks to all who made the very kind suggestion.
Marisacat 
Howard Fineman on Palin: “A wolverine attacking the pant leg of a passerby.”
say brother, can you spare a dime bag?
Howard Zinn | From Empire to Democracy
I still have one more debate to sit through tonite – the rerun of this evening’s English language debate with the leaders of the 5 main Canadian political parties. That starts in an hour and a half. Oy vey, as they say. IV caffeine stat.
Sully:
10.22 pm. Biden’s answer about his kids, the moment when he clearly choked up, was emotionally very powerful. I expect it will resonate more with women.
I don’t think so, frankly. Such bullshit.
Fallows – quoted at Sully site – says the loser was Ifill, she was so bad.
Ifill, moderator: Terrible. Yes, she was constrained by the agreed debate rules. But she gave not the slightest sign of chafing against them or looking for ways to follow up the many unanswered questions or self-contradictory answers. This was the big news of the evening. Katie Couric, and for that matter Jim Lehrer, have never looked so good.
Everybody has their loves. And non loves… LOL
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/
It seems on pro O’Biden spots it is illegal to mention his sighing. What a hoot. It was certainly noticeable.
I think she made a faux pas when she didn’t acknowledge why Biden choked up (even if people don’t fall for it). She didn’t show any compassion whatsoever and simply went on her merry way with her talking points.
I’m sure she did extremely well with the Airhead-American population.
I should add that I don’t think Biden manufactured that moment. It did look spontaneous and seemed to catch him off guard. But we all know how people reacted to Hillary when she showed a hint of emotion. People will be skeptical.
He and his sons do it on cue. I have heard that story, seen the choking and tears, til I am dead with it. Death Of Wade, Death Of the Biden Wife and wee one. Heroically took the oath of office by the bedside of his seriously ill sons… and heroically bore up tot eh return to the Senate.
There is a story I posted, ignored by MSM, that for 36 years he has claimed the truck driver was drunk, for which there is absolutely no proof. He should be happy with the damned Xmas tree riding atop the car. Enough bathos.
Hillary’s I thought was half and half. It started with some real emotion from whereever. Could even be fatigue or hitting a wall.. but very quickly became political.
As long as it gets bought it will get sold. Not that it matters, these people often have a story like this. Gore’s sisster, the elder Bushes the daughtter who died, etc. They pull it out on cue.
One reason, Clinton Bimbo Explosion was almsot a relief. We did nto have to hear about some death.
NOR does the world need JJackson jr (the Obama surrogate the son) and others stating “the tears must be investigated” or whatever slobber they dished that week in NH. I don’t think women much cared for that bullshit either.
The debate? Ah shucks, I missed it.
8. Hmm…well I wonder how much blowback he’ll get about it then.
Steny dishes denial in the WSJ. Many bridges for sale.
Can Palin form a sentence without using the word “also” in it?
Liberalcatnip 6 and 7
Agreed.
I caught it the first time and watched a clip of it again. I do think it was a genuine moment for Biden. Palin’s demeanor after this moment was bot-like and creepy.
Overall, she seemed to be reciting index-card paragraphs for answers to questions. Not that she was actually *answering* the questions.
My 2 cents: The US VP Debate: Cleanup on Aisle 4!
I didn’t watch it. Sounds like it was a waste of time anyway.
the spectacle of liars calling other liars liars is hypocritical beyond belief.
screw them all.
i did see a little bit of noise about that, and the story i saw contained proof, via the related records that there wasn’t any drunken driving involved. don’t have a link though. ioz nails him though.
biden is a bullshit artist. a few years back worked with a saleswoman for length of time who had similar skills, and could tear up on demand if business required a favorable settlement regarding disputed billing, leads me to be believe he can summon it on cue. her moments were also 100% genuine as well, but she turned them on and off. its no different than an acting skill.
oh, have to credit ioz for painting biden with the label of bullshit artist. he’s made a few posts a week or so ago going into detail about it. they’re quite funny.
and maybe next week a comment of mine will actually be clear and you wont have to skip so many when you read down! outa here!
The shakedown proceeds apace in the House.
Dem switchers include Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, Donna Edwards, John Lewis, among others.
Meanwhile, in Rome, Pope reaffirms Church opposition to contraception.
No funsies without onesies, ladies!
I think Ratzy went splatzy into spam.
Sorry IB
… was making cofee… 8)
21
.. think he also called the Democrats the death killer ray party, a few days ago…
I had to let it go .. even with all the Ratzy photos and cartoons over at Flickr to haul out again… too much other news.
20
One reason the progressives don’t matter. At all. I heard recently Barbara Lee owes her poltiical career to Ron Dellums over in Oakland. Who has shafted the people of Oakland, lowlands AND heights, from day one.
I read that Bobby Rush, he an old Black Panther, went over and changed his vote to YES afterward, indicating when it comes up again, he is with them. Cleaver changed a few (2 maybe?) days ago, much slobber. Think ObMan spoke to the nearly all sold out anyway CBC a few days ago.
So let’s see, war and massive irresponsibility as naked fiduciary absconding is on the menu for the next admin, no matter who.
IT PASSED 241 – 163 26 Non Voting…
Democrats 159 Yes
$700bn is on the march.
yea – 263
nay – 171
you’re all fucking nuts, I quit – 0
Nancy blithering on about hearings now that will be held. Waxman figures high on her list. She is all about the future.
“High flyers on Wall St will no longer be able to jeopardise the financial security of America… we are all free marketers, it is part of our Democracy”
On and on she went. She is “all about the future, the country will be taken in a new direction now for the middle class”.
Brother.
Steny up now slobbering over Barney.
Gonna be a long 4 years.
Apparnetly we are in line, beggar of beggars.
The propaganda this week was intense. Apparently all sorts of “small business” [not meaning mom and pop tiny businesses], car dealers, builders and developers created a groundswell of communication to congressional offices, turning the ratio to 50/50
House Roll Call.
Thanks for that IB…
It’s a Democratic bill. So many little Bushies. And finally true to themselves.
have to laugh.
Bill passes and the Dow has sunk into the red. Yeah, that really helped.
from what i saw, dow sank pronto…………..
not getting mentioned much however. would not fit the script……..
BW yesterday via der spiegel
ugh the Oracle of Omaha.. who actually, really and truly lives in a (valuation as of about 4 years ago) 5 million dollar house in Newport Beach.
According to Dean Baker… does not look like the credit squeeze was any tighter than 1991
There is nothing to fear! It is all clear!
http://recessionblocker.com
FWIW – via NRO / Geraghty
Big, Big Audience Last Night
I think we’ve probably seen the last presidential debate on a Friday night for a while.
Last week’s presidential debate had an audience of about 52 million. They’re talking 70 million to 75 million for last night’s Palin-Biden showdown. (Variety)
10/03 02:07 PM
yet plenty of “progressive community analysis” as viewed through the ole’ bottom of a beer mug lens. funny how that works. analysis like this:
phunnie.
LOL I guess that is a Deep Thought…
IIRC Al Franken used to do those while looking in a big big mirror (and in a woman’s light blue sweater). In a self appreciating way………………….
Floyd Norris:
36. http://recessionblocker.com
lol…and it goes right along with the title of this thread.
35.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist but I play on one the internets. What struck me when I read that was this push that’s been made against government- sponsored social security the past few years to be replaced by private savings accounts. Hmmm…
LOL Down lost 157 pts. They explain as “higher earlier, there was profit taking”.
Ok…. …. 😉
Son of Bailout is in gestation
CSTAR
I don’t see a MIA comment, not in Moderation and not in Spam… will give it a minute ot two, it has posted a couple of mine very slowly today…
43 was my comment. Krugman now tells us to expect another bailout.
48
well I gave it 8 minutes, I think WP hiccuped… I am sorry CSTAR, would it be easy to repost?
45
Got it!
I thought you were lightheartedly alerting me to a comment in Spam…
Sorry!!
Here is the link to Krugman…
I hope he realises how useless the last grafs are. Unless one loves ObMan and believes he is Jesus, there is nothing to inspire confidence…
Meet the Press: Dem strategist Begala, GOP strategist Mike Murphy
Face the Nation: Sen. Feinstein, Gov. Granholm
Fox News Sunday: Karl Rove
This Week: Govs. Rendell, Pawlenty, Sens. Mel Martinez, Sherrod Brown
Late Edition: McCain aide Nancy Pfotenhauer
hmmm news just said that Down closed at its lowest this year. Down 27%… Nasdaq down 31& and S&P down 30%,
Well not that it matters but I think I got the percentages assigned to the right index.
Party like its some bad year in the past…
Palin Debate Prep Flowchart
American Fascist Writer Westbrook Pegler
Awwww. . . . who said there was no bailout plan for homeowners?
Fannie Mae forgives loan for woman who shot herself.
before the done deal got done:
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) Says Congress Threatened with Martial Law If Bailout Bill Is Not Passed
hmm speaking of the poor lady… what a horrible story. So kind of Fred/Fan. What would we do without them.
Cuahgt a segment today of a ongoing plan that goes after some of the mortgages, if people have all their closing papers saved and thus relevant issues can be tracked down, as illegal loans, beyond simply predatory loans, but illegal as fraud, under Fair Housing Act, Truth in Lending Act, HUD regs and other, as the fellow said, 40 year old legislation (and watch that be torn down under Ob, I thought to myself)…
he had a site http://www.voidmymortgage.com
Also it does not sound as tho there is a single consideration for the defrauded homeowner under the Bail Out, but all sorts of secifically written tax dodges for slices of business. Lobbyists made out like bandits. as did some business people.
54
well if they were, threatened with martial law, the Democrats were fully in league with Bush on that.
I’d say they have the keys to the meat locker, as of now, for delivering congress and the American people to Bush and Dem cronies.
Certainly the Dems are indicating they are positive, certain, pregnant with the reality that they win in Nov. No questions.
LOL Let the hubris fly.
Perrin blogs the debate:
hahaha
Surely one of them has a fiddler on their roof…
There’s never a vampire around when you really neede one. (Like 2000, fer instance.)
So-Called Vampire Jailed For Threatening Bush, Court Official
ALTAMONT, Tenn. – One of Middle Tennessee’s newest residents is a man of many titles.
Jonathon Sharkey said he’s a presidential candidate, a former wrestler and a vampire.
He is in jail, charged with threatening the president and a court official.
Sharkey faces felony charges in Minnesota and Indiana.
Surely one of them has a fiddler on their roof…
they were certainly singing this for their friends today:
Chris Floyd:
hmm they do get upset when you threaten A Chosen One.
60
it’s sad… people are still voting for Obama, believing he feels for them and wants a better life for Americans.
Well, it’s nto sad, it’s tragic. Sorry I have to live in their fucked brand of America. But, what cost to flip a switch and wipe away the stain of slavery. More sacrifice for fiction.
Go for it. Jsut don’t fucking whine when it is not as painted in the children’s bed time stories that are being told.
*
LOL just hearing that Citibank and Wells Fargo are fighting over who has the right to buy Wachovia. GOOD LUCK!
57. (helpless laughter, thanks)
John McCain Owns VoteForTheMILF.com?
LOL
Roubini: Financial and Corporate System is in Cardiac Arrest: The Risk of the Mother of All Bank Runs
snippity snip through a long list of horrors, then:
vote for the milf in moderation, I think!
66
is that 64 or is there another on MILF (what a hoot!)
yup, 64! (should have timed it for comment 69, just to keep the theme goin’, don’tcha know?)
Lil’ O’Reilly
Not much chatter about the bailout visible at Daily Obama.
Joke from Air Farce (canuck comedy show):
What would Stephen Harper do if Canada’s economy failed?
Harper: That’s easy. Just turn Canada into a bank and wait for the US to bail us out.
ugh reading the Roubini… I am wondering, not to sound as lugubrious as Feldstein on Charlie Rose… but i think a two year recession is optimisitc.
A few weeks ago we heard of houses in quite a few counties in CA down 30 – 35% but now we hear of down 50% and San Jose Merc News today had an article that houses will continue to fall and for up to two years. (They also said that developers are giving up on selling condos in SJ and are turning them out on the rental market.)
YOu cannot come out of that fast.
For you NY’ers:
Project Beuller
Might as well dance through the collapse, and breakfast in the ruins.
Speaking of BIDEN: Gwen, Sen. Obama and myself also oppose gay marriage, but we accept gay couples, especially those in higher tax brackets who contribute money to our campaign. :
“But you still can’t marry, damn you”, she continued sotto voce, “because our bigoted xtian friends would be mad. You understand.” .
Latifah as Ifill on SNL this Weekend
Rigorous Intuition:
72
LOL well as long as they are CLEAN enough for Joe.
As for MO, in the New Yorker profile on her, the author accompanied her to some smallish gathering of gays.. and when pressed on ‘marriage’ she said it was too controversial and pushing too much too far. it “has to wait”
All you can do is laugh. If people buy it and donate, well… it is what it is. GoshDiggity.Doggonit.. Look over THERE at the crazy Moose Killer…
Local news took a crew out on the streets today for impressions of the debate.. plenty of gays surprised to learn that Joe opposes gay marriage. They expected that from HER (as they said).. but,my, surprise surprise.
Look over THERE at the crazy xitan breeder. Don’t look at Joe and Jill and Barack and Michelle.
75 – anybody who is surprised isn’t paying attention.
We Gonna Take Your Money
Bageant: The Bailout in Plain English
Welcome to the booming business of “trashing out:” foreclosed homes.
VERY depressing video. The sheer waste of it.
Booming business here in “painting” dried out yards… some guy developed the business using the tools they use to paint the end zones of football fields.
And it does look better…
79 I saw the video several days ago. I agree, it is depressing and disturbing. The families that left those houses must have been in a state of profound shock.
Salt of the Earth all over again. But if there is ever a remake updated to 2008/2009 I don’t think will see an ending in which Henry Fonda’s character talks about a WPA.]
BTW I noticed that Mary Landrieu voted against the bailout bill in the senate. I think it would have been doubly outrageous if any congressperson from a Katrina devastated area supported this bill.
79. Yes, very depressing. The reporter-bot’s tone was so perky and smiley about it all.
Painting lawns green. Yes, there is no water there.
Odd that all that stuff is being tossed in the trash.
well one thing that is the start of the roller coaster of denial… Arnold vetoed a boat load of bills over the past three days. Quite a few having to do with funding green industries. And Arnold has all but told us (and anyone who would listen) that he is Achtung! A Green Socialist.
And Gore just told us two weeks ago here that Green is the way out of everything. And I do mean everything. It is the Holy Host.
He also bulk vetoed almost a 140 bills saying there was no time to really consdier those. Despite, as one reporter put it, his staff follow the bills all thru the leg.
He slashed a lot and blamed our budget crisis and the credit crisis.
Very convenient for that Democrat who has run for a year and half on lists of promises…
**
The stories from foreclosure areas are ONLY sad and depressing. Plenty of exposure here on the stripping of the houses, even ugh some worse things…
Years to go………………..
82
well they paint the yards of foreclosure houses. No one to care for them.
84. Yes, not sustainable developments.
Actually in my comment above I meant Grapes of Wrath, although Salt of the Earth is a great movie about political activism.
82. Odd that all that stuff is being tossed in the trash.
At one of the small town dumps south of the city here they use an old garage/very large aluminum shed located at the entry for people who want to drop off anything recyclable to keep it from clogging up the dump. A local volunteer recycling agency from town makes sure the place is kept clean and that it’s sorted. They’re only there p/t at random hours. They don’t charge anything (for things from books and clothes to washers and fridges and everything in between) and just have a locked donation box on the wall so that if you can afford to leave something, you can. I found it really handy for stuff I needed when I lived out that way and when I moved back into the city I took a few carloads of donations in too. We could use more of those.
Dominic Lawson: Democrat fingerprints are all over the financial crisis
html cleanup on aisle 88!
Oh sheesh. CNN just broke in for brrrreaking news: awaiting the OJ verdict. Deja vu all over again.
90-
earlier it sounded like they had a cordon around the courthouse…
Somewhere, someone is manufacturing kitchen sinks to throw at the rest of 2008
It looks like they’re finding OJ guilty on every single charge.
polling the jury………………………………..
91. Somewhere, someone is manufacturing kitchen sinks to throw at the rest of 2008
No doubt. This is all very surreal and certainly not as enjoyable as a Dali.
omigod.. 13 years TO THE DAY of the last verdict.
Too much
95. That’s just bizarre. Makes you wonder if the jury planned to have it out before midnite for that reason.
hmm I am thinking that
”ONE DAY and 13 years from the murder verdict!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
is almost as big.
What an exhausting mess we are. Just like reliving the damned S n L crisis… learned nothing. Series of Boom and Bust, leaned ntohing… Vietnam, learned nothing, Lousy elections with lying politicians, learned nothing,
O-MG!
I need a shower – again. Ewww.
97. Stuck in Really Bad Rerun Hell.
isn’t the Lowry a hoot? it’s being called the orgasmic reaction.
But i have to claim “pre orgasmics for Obama” right now! (as if it mattered… LOL)
oh … and IOZ has a category called “how Obama brought me to orgasm”
You have to laugh. The whole thing is such a bad joke.
The BBC on OJ
now we have to live thru another appeal. They hauled him off to jail pronto tho. No white Chevy Bronco business… LOL
Who are these people?? Wow. Get a life already.
You have to love it… Dreier (R-CA) and Sestak (D PA) on Charlie Rose selling the bail out. lying thru their teeth and their sphincters.
79. I saw that video a few days ago too (it was linked on Calculated Risk). The detail that was the weirdest, was seeing the things left behind in one house… including a crucifix on the wall. Which is odd because anyone who would have a big black crucifix on the wall probably is religious enough to want to take it with them. It looks like it was forgotten with the other stuff in the same corner, though.
I remember watching an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and there was a guy who’d just bought a new house that was totally cavernously empty – he was “house-poor” (a saying that fell out of fashion as easy loans became more prevalent) and one of the Queer Eye guys was joshing around yelling “Riiii-cooooola!” through the house. (This is the reference to the joke…)
Everybody realizes that Paulson will now outsource all that money for the “rescue” to the very same people who created this mess, right? The donks didn’t mention that when they were ramping up the fear, did they?
Why can’t people mind their own business when it comes to religion?
A.I.G. Uses $61 Billion of Fed Loan
Molly and Dingell Had it Right
Was catching up on the threads a couple of Sundays ago… (only got up to the lily pad thread, so I am just hopping from it to present).
Marisa, you made me laugh with some choice bits of verbiage… such as the “dinner cruise to nowhere,” and others I cannot recall. And there were some good links from you and others… Madman, a lot. (Lol… just read recent thread on VP debate… I saw that Palin response flow chart too… funny!)
And Bayprairie, that was a nice offering, digging up the Gatemouth info. Really soulful and stirring music; I especially liked the song accompanying the video of his house on the bayou… a fine treasure.
I wish I had been around to add to moiv’s and others pushback on that linked diary on DK – the one where the nasty attack broke out over “abortion” (gasp, dare we say it???!!!) in group’s title on BO website, now not on (too REAL). I particularly liked the rebuttal by those who took issue with “tragedy” — abortion must always be framed as tragic, etcer…ugh.
Been busy with work thru the meltdown in our town… & country. Had no mindspace/timespace for anything lengthy, so what popped up as most fitting was just a blunt:
(Works for me, on the fly. Credit to punks, ©1970s/80s )
It has been so unavoidably and obnoxiously IN YOUR FACE, the rampant greed in this town and, frankly, elsewhere, in my other haunts, like in NC where the building boom exploded too… all my haunts seem infected, with views of sky, trees, sea and sound erased by sprawl — even Topsail Island’s gorgeous south point/bird sanctuary has been threatened by privatized concerns (which I petitioned against while visiting a couple of summers ago, but still appears to be under threat). Only my upstate NY getaway remains unsullied – the town buys family farms to keep the land from developers.
Excess pumped out 24/7, capitalism engorged on steroids and given free rein… It is with relief, to me, that this bubble has burst. Although I have little faith in the “remedies” (they seem capable of making bubbles from bubbles, will likely not stray too far from the toxic field), there was at least some pause to view the liars with their pricey pants on fire, pants caught down, always panting for more, more, more… and then there was none.
(By the way, has anyone yet heard how we, the bailouters, are to see the promised payback in our forced investment, how it is to actually come back to us? I always seem to miss that.)
Oh snap! How ’bout that OJ…
Poetic justice, looks like to me. Same day to the day, not guilty, now guilty. He could get life…
Dawgawnit and dagnabbit!
He always looks like the eternally guilty kid with the crumbs glued to his face who cant believe mom and dad still havent discovered he’s the one who violated the cookie jar. Only in his case it’s two human lives he took and the crumbs are blood. Always waiting for the other shoe to drop. This, what I observe, whilst he is in my view.
Otherwise, he played a lot of golf and collected a nice pension.
Hey hey NYCee…
110
the rampant greed in this town and, frankly, elsewhere, in my other haunts
Oh yeah… The era of Venture Capitalism (still going strong btw, in some venues) ws just the last whack at this town. The harshness and single mindedness of the greed and dismissal for all others ws (is) palpable.
And it was equally palpable that following the extended recession of ’89 – mid late nineties (if one is honest) that we needed a bubble to dig us out, E voila! dot com dot died. Everyone i knew who lost a ton (which means more than they could ever afford, even if a few thousand) and was totally ignorant of where their money was, had financial advisors. And what ws the true reality of dot com dot died… ”small” companies fluffed fluffed fluffed and taken public when they never ever should have been. All that the work of VC and Wall St Masters of the U.
Lotta office furniture on the second hand market.. what can I say.
And here we go again.
**
On that Dkos abortion thread… I got a kick out of “Sarah Pawlenty” who arrived to tell everyone what a great tragedy abortion is. LOL
nuuuu thred…
…………….. 8) …………………..
Was just listening to BB King and Ray Charles, and Boo Hoo Hoo Man came to my thoughts……thinking about that last post he made, featuring BB King’s: The Thrill is Gone at pff,….does anyone know how he is doing?…………….I hope you and yours are safe from harm Boo Hoo Hoo Man!………….