Ooops…

Ooops… 24 October 2009

Posted by marisacat in 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, DC Politics, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter.
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Schweine flue “emergency”. National no less. So……. what do we do? Shoot them or move them to higher ground? (Just kidding!)

You just know the WH considers this bad (baaad! baaad! bad-bad!) PR as they announced it Friday night.

UPDATE 3-Obama declares swine flu a national emergency

* Disaster proclamation intended as proactive measure

* CDC said swine flu widespread in 46 of 50 states (Adds details on new antiviral drug)

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama has declared 2009 H1N1 swine flu a national emergency, the White House said on Saturday.

The declaration will make it easier for U.S. medical facilities to handle a surge in flu patients by allowing the waiver of some requirements of Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health insurance programs as needed, the White House said in a statement.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that swine flu has become widespread in 46 of the 50 U.S. states, a level comparable to the peak of ordinary flu seasons but far earlier and with more waves of infection expected.

Obama signed the statement on Friday night. . . . .

A bit more:

The Health and Human Services Department is trying to deliver vaccines against H1N1 but says production is falling short of projections because companies are having trouble making them.

HHS has also moved to make available stockpiles of antiviral drugs oseltamivir, made by Roche AG (ROG.VX) under the brand name Tamiflu, and zanamivir, an inhaled drug made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) under the brand name Relenza.

On Friday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for an experimental new drug called peramivir, made by Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc (BCRX.O) and licensed to Shionogi & Co Ltd (4507.T).

The authorization allows the intravenous drug to be used in hospitalized patients who cannot take pills or inhale Relenza or when Tamiflu or Relenza do not seem to be helping.

Well… more meds can only help…

I am not sure what it is that is out there… if a designation of H1N1 is a diversion, illusion… or what. But something virulent and respiratory is traveling around and effectively killing children and pregnant women… or, at least, that is what is happening in our area.

And, as the head of the CDC snapped in frustration this week… you cannot yell at the cultures and make them grow faster. So, as is often the case, we are stuck in the mud. Or the concrete. Or the verbiage.

Stuck waiting, with no cover…

Comments»

1. marisacat - 24 October 2009: Oh too funny! I hope they all hit each other with mortar and bricks.

The Church of England is on a collision course with clergy who want to take property with them when they defect to Rome following a papal decision to help them convert en masse.

In Westminster today, hundreds of Anglo-Catholics were mulling over the impact of the apostolic constitution, which will create a section in the Roman Catholic church for ex-Anglicans who wish to retain parts of their spiritual heritage.

Delegates to the national assembly of the traditionalist group Forward in Faith, including dozens of clergy, heard they needed to address a key aspect of an “exodus” brought on by the ordination of women bishops. The Rev Geoffrey Kirk told the audience: “The Hebrews did not leave Egypt empty-handed. We must now apply ourselves to the task of securing our buildings and assets. We must ensure – for its own good and self-respect – that the Church of England is as generous in its dealings with us.”

When the initiative was announced, the Catholic archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, said people would face “formidable legal obstacles” if they wished to appropriate churches for their converted congregations. The Anglican bishop of Southwark, the Right Rev Tom Butler, has already written to his clergy warning against property seizure. . . . .

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BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: HaHA! I just bout my raffle tickets for some
exquisite stained glass from Oxfordshire brokered through the Delaware Diocese here…

I can’t wait for the planned auction on those carved church pews from Westminster Abbey – great for the porch – ..With any luck they should go with that Baptismal Font from St Paul’s in London that I plan to use as a birdbath in the garden…

ahh fuck, too funny!
Join us in the Body of Christ! Bring Bling!

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marisacat - 24 October 2009: i got a huge laugh out of it during the night….

😆 …. 🙄

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BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: And the Reverend ‘Poece of Work” Kirk saying it’s the perfectly Jewish thing to do.

…The Rev Geoffrey Kirk told the audience: “The Hebrews did not leave Egypt empty-handed.

Oh Yes -May They ALL ….all these Asshole “Men of the Cloth” ..render their garments..

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BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: Hilarious. Fuckin Benny 16 – The first Pope to initiate
a wholly Leveraged Buyout of another Denomination.

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marisacat - 24 October 2009: I am so amused.

And I really want to know where the African Anglican priests go………… as all the righties think they will wholesale defect. And the Holy Roman Church has had the hots for African penitents for decades.

Tally hoooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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catnip - 24 October 2009: They’re welcome to hire my movers.

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2. BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: BREAKING SCHWEINE FLU UPDATE from WASHINGTON:

Do NOT GATHER IN PUBLIC!
ESPECIALLY ON NOVEMBER 4th!
PARTICULARLY IN POLLING PLACES IN NEW JERSEY AND VIRGINIA!

Seriously now, could they be any more hapless?
Cue the “57 Varieties of Chess Level” talk—-
saying the Schweiny -H1NIE warning was put out to influence passage of the Robusto P.O.

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3. marisacat - 24 October 2009: oh puh puh leeze!

they strain human credulity

http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/1009/HuffPost_Gibbs_admits_mistake_re_Fox.html

HuffPost: Gibbs admits mistake re Fox

Huffington Post reports that Robert Gibbs told Fox News White House correspodent Major Garrett that the attempt to exclude Fox News from a series of interviews with Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation Kenneth R. Feinberg was a mistake by a young Treasury Department staffer. Fox News exec Michael Clemente comments.

Posted by Michael Calderone 05:32 PM

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4. marisacat - 24 October 2009: Speaking of the religious… I just saw this, a follow up to the post from you BHHM… of last thread (full text):

Church janitor charged in slaying of NJ priest

(AP) – 18 minutes ago

MORRISTOWN, N.J. — A janitor has been charged with murder in the slaying of priest whose body was found in the rectory of his northern New Jersey church.

Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi (Bee-AN-chee) said Saturday that 64-year-old Jose Feliciano stabbed the Rev. Ed Hinds 32 times on Thursday after the pair argued.

The 61-year-old Hinds was in his clerical robes when he was killed while brewing a cup of coffee in the rectory kitchen of St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Chatham.

His body was found Friday morning after he failed to appear for Mass.

The slaying rocked the New York City bedroom community of about 10,000 residents, where Hinds was familiar face and much-beloved presence. It was the first violent death in Chatham since a 1990 manslaughter case.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

So was it a heated discussion on church policy and they lost situational awareness? I mean, the pilots hope that one works for them!!

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BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: Stabbings? 32 times? ..Psycho sexual motivation much?
Crickets on that aspect at NJ.com’s lede on the arrest…

But c’mon – Stabbed 32 times? What? Over not enough Mop’n’Glo?.
And the way the story was originally put out was that there were “wounds consistent with homicide” but “Were NOT” readily apparent upon first examination. Riiiight. . 32 Stabs Wounds? Not “readily apparent ” upon discovery of the body? GMAB. You could tell they had the press on lockdown and the CC wasquickly went into Press Operations and Disaster Management mode as it Created quite the stir as the day went on…

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marisacat - 24 October 2009: I am wondering WHERE the stab wounds were.

“wounds consistent with homicide”… oh that is very funny…. could be anything frankly. yeah and “not readily apparent”

So… where were they? Frontal? or otherwise?

Neck, chest? Lower down? Rear side? hmmm

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marisacat - 24 October 2009: I also noticed on a second reading (frankly the “32” grabbed my faculties, first time around) that they are close in age. Hinds 61 and the killer 64.

I wonder what gives.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 24 October 2009: the initial reports were that the cops for focusing on “his work”, which the reportdroid I was watching described breathlessly as “working with the homeless”.

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marisacat - 24 October 2009: they just reported it on our local NBC news here… I guess due to the universal interest in things Catholic. 😆

Described as “much beloved”. Well.. not universally it seems………………. 🙄

***

PS they also said the body was not discovered for a full day…. so I am gathering it was stashed somewhere? Because the setting of the scene reports say he was in full clerical drag and “making coffee” so I assume in the rectory.

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5. marisacat - 24 October 2009: It’s Jules Crittenden, from the sorta right side of the messy bed…. but a hoot. He says they could nto fill the ballroom they had at the Copley Plaza… to be fair I would guess Deval was the fly in the soup. Such a dud from minute one. (Axelrod candidate/patient as well… LOL)

Maybe We Can’t!

The recently elected Democratic President of the United States can’t fill a room in bluest Massachusetts. Surveying the nearly half-empty Westin Copley ballroom, 2008 “Yes We Can” Hope-and-Changer Barack Obama says on behalf of his longtime political doppelganger Deval Patrick, who in 2006 was the “Together We Can” template O drew on:

“There really should be no doubt that this guy gets a second term. But let’s be honest. This is going to be a tough race … ” . . . . . . .

JC runs thru the coverage in Boston Herald and Boston Globe. Apparently it was strategised to miss the protestors, like here.

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BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: LOL. From the link-thru.

“I want to tell him we are with him. We have his back,” said Billie Jo Joy, a yoga teacher and artist,
who wore a dress of red Everlast boxing gloves
to Obama’s MIT appearance.

Nothing like a Pro Ob Yoga Artsy Pugilism to make the difference.

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6. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 October 2009: After the Billionaires Plundered Alabama Town, Troops Were Called in … Illegally

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marisacat - 24 October 2009: ugh. That is the classic horrible story. As we make a full return to the plantation (as I refer to what is happening):

In the billionaires’ Third World model for America, it makes awful sense that a Brazilian meat company would take control of a bankrupt, corrupt American chicken company. For Wall Street and the billionaires, the more they destroy in America, the richer they get, consequences be damned. And anyway, it’s not like Pilgrim’s Pride was a model of corporate responsibility while under American ownership; just read some of the comments on this recent Reuters article:

Gilmer, Texas, Sep. 8, 2009 — working as a supervisor in mt pleasant plant use to be injoyable, but lately they expect you to work 50/70 hours for no extra pay. pilgrims pride does not care about family life just their money. Everyone is afraid to say anything, because upper management may let you go with no warnning because you voiced your oppion

robert, Carrollton, Ga. — i work carrollton,ga former goldkist plant we were goldkist 1 plant now we fill like we in pure hell working for pilgrim pride these people want you to kiss there ass and work three times hard for same money no rasied in two years old chicken farmer . . . . .

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7. marisacat - 24 October 2009: hmmm

“wounds front and back of the body”.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/24/priest.killing/

I think the story is totally confused.

[W]hen the janitor was interviewed Saturday, after waiving his Miranda rights, he “confessed to the murder of Father Hinds,” an arrest affidavit said.

The priest’s body was discovered Friday morning in the rectory kitchen by Feliciano and others, according to the affidavit. An autopsy had concluded that Hinds died of “multiple sharp force injuries.”

Hinds had stab wounds to his upper torso and the back of his head, Bianchi said. The priest also had defensive wounds on his hands and contusions and bruises to his face, he said.

Hinds called 911 from his cell phone at 5:11 p.m. Thursday, saying he was being attacked and asking for help, Bianchi said.

The call was cut off and the 911 operator called back, Bianchi said. He said Feliciano answered and said “everything’s fine.”

The operator couldn’t send authorities because the calls were made from a cell phone and could not be traced, Bianchi said.

Feliciano “made a half-hearted attempt to do CPR in front of police. They said it was bizarre. He made about two or three compressions and said something like, ‘he’s dead,'” Bianchi told CNN. . . . .

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BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: Whatever it was it was PERSONAL.
Something fer chrissakes that’s wrapped up in their relationship…
The spin here is all muddy the waters…”inexplicable” …”no enemies”..”no reason whatsoever”.
Anything but deal with it. Manage the media instead.
What if it comes down to the guy asking to borrow some money or asking for a raise? God forbid.

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marisacat - 24 October 2009: agree… personal is the reason it is coming out confused and garbled.

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BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: ..like my take on the NJ elections…LOL.

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BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: Ooops…
This is JUICY.
As Booker was SUPPOSED to be there…hmmm.

Rendell and Booker make the case for gubernatorial contest as Obama referendum
By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter
Pa. Governor Ed Rendell today in Asbury Park

ASBURY PARK – The event at the West Side Community Center appeared to lack coherence from the beginning, as operatives with furrowed brows tried to figure out how to get more people burrowed in, while headliner Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell sat in a sedan outside in the rain and Newark Mayor Cory Booker was MIA.

I’ll dish a little tid from back in the day.. I did advance for Gore on an Event that had Rendell coming in on a Bus Tour when he was DNC chair..I’ll never forget it. One of HIS people on the Philly payroll was to meet him as the bus pulled in and fucked up his cheeseburger order. LOL. Rendell went off . his. fucking. rocker. It was insane. Like call the booby hatch insane. LOL. I can only imagine that beeftube today…sitting in a car in the rain outside of a small community center for a surrogate event and Having NJ’s new Darling – Booker – stand him up…That is priceless.

Rendell , Corzine and Robert Rubin have this agenda to privatize the Turnpikes in BOTH STATES. One Big Corporate / Rubin dominated chokehold on every person and thing of value traveling from the Port Authority up by New York to the OHIO border, Beyond if Strickland gets with the program…

Seems to me Booker is not playing ball with Ob and the White Boys on this..He wants to be Governor. Needs the Party in comeback mode next cycle to do it.. Codey Booker and the N Jersey Dems , not seeing a convincing win, necessary for spoils in any event, plum Left Ed in the car by his lonesome…Ain’t life grand?

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BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: ** I should say their faction of the north Jersey Dems…
Maybe Jesus will Heal All by next weekend…HAH!

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marisacat - 24 October 2009: I think Booker is keeping scarce… I heard Obama said, “Booker is in the house tonight”… which led me to think he was certainly not on the stage… and not in the front row.

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8. BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: Freaking about Heath Care “Reform” BOMBING???
Quick!
Head for the Cult of Personality photo spread bunker!

Absolutely bizarre. Pushed right on the top of the Dailykos Recommended List. A Shocker, I know. 🙄

I noticed they also have Axelrod out in front at HuffPo with the Axelrod daughter’s epilepsy.

Axelrods Share Their Personal Struggle

Is it me? Is this different then the usual? Or are they expecting imminent downgrade in the much vaunted WH Political Operations?

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marisacat - 24 October 2009: Death of Wade.

Shades of.

Never a good sign.

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BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: sorry for atrocious spelling…

Moving on to better botching

Ob’s venues in Jersey next Sunday?

An Arena in Camden..and the Prudential Center in Newark…
I would have thought they’d tried to pickyback off the Jersey/ Metro Philly media coverage of the two fer that day: the Phillies World Series Game and the (Jersey nee NY Giants @ Philly..I’m sorry but if they’re goin with the ministers to deliver the flock that Sunday Afternoon they are going to have to bus EVEN More operative in from DC New York and PA…Well at least they’ll have the DNC trendy eyewear set that they’ve decamped from Deeds campaign in Virginia..

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9. marisacat - 24 October 2009: sooo exciting:

Meet the Press: Sens. Cornyn and Schumer, CNBC’s Burnett, NYT’s Sorkin; roundtable with Jane Mayer, Joe Scarborough, Dan Senor, Tavis Smiley

This Week: John Podesta, Sen. McConnell

Face the Nation: Sens. McCain and Feingold

Fox News Sunday: Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah, Sens. Levin and Kyl, USCC’s Josten, AHIP’s Tuffin

State of the Union: Sens. Hatch, Nelson and Webb

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10. marisacat - 24 October 2009: Poor Bob Herbert. He’s so surprised at Bloomie playing the race card. WITH Guiliani at a Brooklyn venue. Appearing before Orthodox Jews.

What is next? Vapors? Passing out from the crimp of the whale bone corset?

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11. marisacat - 24 October 2009: hmm think that “war” with FOX will be ending soon.

[U]nfortunately for the Obama administration, four other networks are fully aware of the situation and have proof that the treasury department is lying. Fox did have the same interview as their competitors, only because the other networks came to FNC’s defense. They refused to do the interviews with Feinberg unless Fox was given the same opportunity.

Fox News Channel is not the only network reporting on this story. CBS Evening News with Katie Couric did a full length story on the ongoing feud, with reporter Chip Reid describing the other networks’ decision to standup to the White House bullying. “All the networks said that’s it, you’ve crossed the line,” Reid reported. . . . . .

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12. BooHooHooMan - 24 October 2009: PolitickerNJ has it that Booker DID show up eventually for the event with Rendell in Asbury Park…

The crowd rushed an oncoming figure who came through the double doors smiling broadly at faces in the Asbury Park crowd numbering about 50 people.

Gad. 50 People. They got problems. And they really better think twice about Arena venues next week for Ob, because the very ministers and ward heelers who took money from Corzine, if sensing collapse, will be on the phone to the NJGOP.

Fuck, Ed Rollins in Whitman’s 1993 Gubernatorial win came in and did just that…had the thing all set up, not just the ones who went for it upfront ….but made it real clear that the backdoor – and the vault – LOL – were open on Election Day…Whitman won by under 30,000 votes out of 2.5 million cast..

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marisacat - 24 October 2009: because the very ministers and ward heelers who took money from Corzine, if sensing collapse, will be on the phone to the NJGOP.

yeah.. he may play for the other-other side but I always pay attention to what Rollins says. I LOVED the story of paying the black ministers in that run, to sit at home. Made me laugh so hard.

The other one I listen to is Coelho … a lousy shit (CA whip in the House, at the time, ’92) who was the last straw for me, til Mike Davis’ op ed piece in the NYT got me to vote in 2000. (More’s the pity). Fortunately I recovered…

😆

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13. marisacat - 24 October 2009: FWIW, LAT

[I]n New Jersey, the election is in some measure a referendum on the Democratic incumbent, Jon Corzine, who has been in office nearly four years. Local issues loom large in New Jersey. A recent poll by Monmouth University showed that people see property taxes as the dominant issue, trumping the economy and healthcare.

Asked whether a campaign appearance by Obama on behalf of Corzine would affect their vote, 73% said no.

Conditions look even tougher for Democrats in Virginia. A recent survey by Public Policy Polling showed Deeds trailing Republican Bob McDonnell by 12 points.

Obama’s approval rating among white Virginia voters has slipped 3 points since the 2008 election, and, compounding the problem, black voters are not as excited about Deeds as they were about Obama, said Ron Faucheux, president of Clarus Research Group, a polling firm.

Worse for the Democrats, if any one constituency is energized this season it’s conservatives, who are angry about rising deficits, some pollsters said.

“There’s real anger on the right, and that anger isn’t matched by enthusiasm on the left,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “So the emotion is on the side of the far right. And voting has become very emotional.”. . . . .

Tht last line there seems kinda deadly, if it plays out.

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14. marisacat - 24 October 2009: hmmm. No end to it.

October 23, 2009

Obama Administration Aggressively Defends “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in Court

UNUSUAL MOVE GOES BEYOND GOVERNMENT’S “DUTY TO DEFEND”

(Los Angeles, CA) – In a move consistent with other contradictory behavior on LGBT issues, the Obama administration has directed its Justice Department to file an extraordinary motion to get Log Cabin Republicans’ lawsuit against the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law thrown out of court, despite a federal judge’s ruling that it can proceed. The 11th-hour move for interlocutory appeal, which seeks to stay proceedings and block discovery, was surprisingly formulated at the same time that President Obama was reassuring LGBT activists that he still firmly opposes the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner earlier this month in Washington, DC.

“After President Obama clearly stated that his highest priority for the LGBT community was to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, it is quite troubling to see this ‘about face,'” said Terry W. Hamilton, national Chairman of the Log Cabin Republicans. “This aggressive move by President Obama’s Justice Department seriously undermines not only his commitment to our community and to the defense of our nation, but it also casts doubt on the motives of those at the highest levels of LGBT leadership in Washington who refuse to criticize the President over this double speak.” . . . . . . .

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Madman in the Marketplace - 24 October 2009: it’s not an “about face” Hamilton … it’s what he DOES.

Geez, wake up.

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marisacat - 24 October 2009: yeah pretty silly on the part of whoever Hamilton is. Catch on or catch up… do something.

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15. Madman in the Marketplace - 25 October 2009: Silly libs at Huff Po thinks this constitutes “taking a stand”:

Feingold: No Public Option A “Strong Reason” Not To Support Reform

Increasingly, there are senators on the liberal side of the spectrum who say they won’t pass a plan that includes the trigger provision.

“To me that would be a very serious gap and it would be a very strong reason not to support it,” Sen. Russ Feingold told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “We need a public option. We need something that would cause some control over the abuses that have occurred in the insurance industry.”

Triggers, Feingold added, are “just an invitation for the insurance industry to manipulate the situation for a couple of years just so they can avoid the trigger and so they can convince members of Congress to delay it again. We need to do something now.”

Feingold did not say (nor was he asked) if he would participate in a filibuster of a bill that included triggers instead of an opt-out public plan. And that seems likely to be the major question mark going forward. While conservative Democrats may be comfortable allowing the broader effort to pass health care reform fail over their objections to the public plan, it’s not clear if their progressive counterparts will make that leap.

“Taking a stand” would be a statement that he WOULD filibuster a bill w/o the (fake) public option. Taking a stand would be “I will not vote for this without the public option”.

This is typical wishy washy donk bullshit.

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marisacat - 25 October 2009: I am convinced all of this late “phlap” over a rising PO is to put a halt to phone calls and emails to congress.

They, including Feingold, could give a flying hoo hoo.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 25 October 2009: I think that’s it, too. ESPECIALLY the stupid reports about that hack Reid moving left and pressuring Obama. Give me a break. “See rubes, we listened … now shut your fucking pieholes.”

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16. marisacat - 25 October 2009: LAT has a several pager (this is the one page version) of the Polanski Gailey events of 1977.

How a girl’s stark words got lost in the Polanski spectacle
Samantha Gailey, at 13, was unequivocal in her testimony against Polanski.

But her account was turned into something almost benign. . . . . .

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17. Madman in the Marketplace - 25 October 2009: Wow, judges now nixing lenders’ foreclosure claims entirely in court

At issue is the question of what legal rights do lenders or their agents have in foreclosure in the new byzantine world of securitized mortgages. In the New York case the judge nixed the entire claim as the mortgagee could not prove it had legal claim to the mortgage note. With the mortgagee unable to show ownership, the homeowner might even be able to stay in his home mortgage-free, Morgenson attests. That’s huge – and we should definitely expect an appeal.

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marisacat - 25 October 2009: the day that The Peace Prize came to SF, there was a one day (or maybe 18 hour) workshop out at the Cow palace (yes we have such a thing for just what it sounds like, cow auctions… and circuses and other events) to try to help people on the spot renegotiate their loans, people on their last chance. People drove in from all the surrounding states, even. waited in line 12 and 18 hours…

And some were helped. No other options… It was some sort of independent community organisation (not ACORN, an acronym like NOCA… NACO… NACA) that works on the spot with lender and borrower, if the borrower has ALL the paperwork… to lower either value of the loan or the interest… and for some reason seems to be able to actually do it.

Very desperate people.

And i have STILL not found out where he went between airport and the St Francis. There is not a word around. Some small private fundraiser I would imagine.

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18. Madman in the Marketplace - 25 October 2009: Leaping wolf snatches photo prize

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19. Madman in the Marketplace - 25 October 2009: “Strategic defaulting”

A growing number of underwater borrowers are walking away from their homes even if they can afford the payments, according to recent studies. More than 25 percent of mortgage defaults during this housing crisis have been so-called strategic defaults, according to a study published in June by professors at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago and the European University Institute. Another study by credit bureau Experian and Oliver Wyman, a strategic consulting firm, estimated that nearly 600,000 borrowers “strategically defaulted” on their mortgages in 2008, more than double the number from 2007.

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20. Madman in the Marketplace - 25 October 2009: Where the bailout money is going

The price of everything in the real economy is collapsing, and the banksters are going to use the money we lent them to buy it all up, including whatever the cash-strapped states privatize (starting with the highways). That’s one reason they’re not lending our own money back to us (which was the putative reason for the bailouts).

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marisacat - 25 October 2009: And they won’t be lending any time soon either.

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21. Madman in the Marketplace - 25 October 2009: Bohemian Bankruptcy – A tragedy by Drag Queen

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22. Madman in the Marketplace - 25 October 2009: She ain’t dead, she’s ascended

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, who some of us will recall from the 1980s, when her survivalist, apocalyptic cult, the Church Universal and Triumphant, was digging in in Montana, has died. Another end-of-the-world weirdo bites the dust before the world does.

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marisacat - 25 October 2009: I followed the link, but I cannot recall her.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 25 October 2009: her cult got a lot of notoriety in the ’80s when neighbors started freaking out about hoarding of weapons, underground bunkers and fuel that was leaking from the compound into the surrounding area. They believed in a weird combination of winger xtian beliefs with eastern mysticism and UFO beliefs. IIRC, “60 Minutes” did several stories about them.

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BooHooHooMan - 25 October 2009: Well now, she certainly had all bases covered. LOL

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marisacat - 25 October 2009: all bases covered

yes:

underground bunkers and fuel that was leaking from the compound into the surrounding area.

she seems to have been aiming to be a Super Fund site as well.

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BooHooHooMan - 25 October 2009: My only question regarding her Church is this:
Do they have any Assets and are they
willing to Join in Holy Catholic and Apostolic Union?

Hmm..12,000 acres in Montana..

She founded the Church Universal and Triumphant, as well as Summit University and Summit University Press. In 1983, claiming divine guidance, she relocated the church from California to a remote 12,000-acre site in Montana adjoining Yellowstone National Park, purchased from the magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes.

Sounds like a perfect fit!

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marisacat - 25 October 2009: The pope will call……….. a Montana outpost! Benny and Ganzy can wear tons of fur! And ermine mukluks.

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23. marisacat - 25 October 2009: Pity they are nto referring to themselves.

[M]r Obama said in a statement: “I strongly condemn these outrageous attacks on the Iraqi people, and send my deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones.

“These bombings serve no purpose other than the murder of innocent men, women and children, and they only reveal the hateful and destructive agenda of those who would deny the Iraqi people the future that they deserve.”

His Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: “These despicable terrorist attacks seek to undermine the impressive progress that Iraq has made towards stability and self-reliance. They will not succeed.” . . . . .

The BBC piece refers to Obama’s “fury” in the title. Don’t make me laugh too hard.

He then went golfing… and she ordered more of the custom jewel-toned Oscar de la Renta uniforms, er… suits she favors for stumping and stating. (or whatever they did.)

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24. BooHooHooMan - 25 October 2009: Madoff’s Big Feeder Picower found dead in swimming pool.

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25. BooHooHooMan - 25 October 2009: Madoff Client Jeffry Picower Netted $5 Billion—
Likely More Than Madoff Himself
by Jake Bernstein, ProPublica – June 23, 2009

Fortunately for the trustee and the federal investigators presently swarming over the case, Madoff apparently kept detailed notes of communications between his office and his clients. But despite this documentary evidence, which is cited but not provided in court documents, Picard’s complaint raises more questions than it answers. Above all, what was the exact relationship between the two men? The complaint is larded with the legal catch-all phrase, “knew or should have known,” to describe Picower’s cognizance of Madoff’s fraud, but the intricacies of the relationship are left to the imagination.

The Picowers’ withdrawals from Madoff accounts peaked at over $1 billion in 2003. Click to see full chart. The complaint states that the Picowers were beneficiaries of the Ponzi scheme for more than 20 years. The withdrawals listed between 1995 and 2008 reveal a pattern of large quarterly disbursements, transferred to Picower-controlled accounts by check or sometimes wire, that peak in 2003. Three years later something happens that causes the amount to drop precipitously. It recovers slightly the following year, but the highest-flying days are over for good.

One question is the role that Picower’s charitable giving played in all of this. The amount Picower withdrew for his foundation is separate from the quarterly withdrawals for his personal accounts. During the 1995-2008 time span, Picower took out about $291 million from Madoff for the foundation account. During the same period, the foundation doled out more than $235 million in donations, according to tax forms.

Perhaps the most pertinent question: If Picower withdrew $5.1 billion in “profit” from Madoff, where did all the money go? The Picowers own a home in Palm Beach that is appraised at a little over $28 million. They also have a 28.4-acre compound in Connecticut valued at $4.5 million. A search of numerous online sources, both aggregate databases and county property records for the couple, their daughter, and the companies named in the complaint, reveals few other major assets. If someone needed the skills to hide billions of dollars, few would be better equipped than Picower, an attorney and accountant who has been described as a “tax shelter expert.” Even so, it’s curious our search did not even uncover a boat or plane under the Picower name.

Messages left for Picower and his wife Barbara requesting comment for this story were not returned. Their lawyer, William Zabel, declined to comment to ProPublica on the Madoff matter. Earlier, Zabel told The Wall Street Journal that the couple “were in no way complicit in” Madoff’s scheme.

Emailed questions to David Sheehan, an attorney at Baker & Hostetler who is working alongside Picard on the case, went unanswered.

Picower, 67, began his career as an accountant and lawyer in New York but seems to have made much of his fortune as an investor in the medical industry. He has avoided media interviews and, with a few notable exceptions, succeeded in keeping a low profile. If the Picowers were recognized at all, prior to their Madoff notoriety, it was through praise for their philanthropy. Yet even here, their ties to Madoff loomed large. The growth of their largest foundation was attributed to their Madoff investments. Madoff himself served as a trustee on another Picower foundation.

Nothin like Popcorn served poolside. A real Class Act. Or Action….

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marisacat - 25 October 2009: 😆

Shouldn’t some of the NY Jewish investors be throwing themselves on FL bound planes, pitchforks in hand?

Just for the theatre of it all… and the idea of factions fighting factions.

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BooHooHooMan - 25 October 2009: LOL. …A Report I’d like to hear:

Edna Greenberg, 67, Highjacks Plane –
Demands New York Flight Land in Palm Beach.

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marisacat - 25 October 2009: Ms Greenberg was accompanied by her 92 year old, 4 ft 10 inch mother, Svetlana Molotov. Some furtive calls from the plane indicate Mrs Molotov was carrying the heavy weapons and might be wearing a knife belt.

Apparently they have handed the pilot a message to say, ‘don’t try switching on us, we will NOT agree to landing at WPB!’

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BooHooHooMan - 25 October 2009: 😆 😆 😆

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26. BooHooHooMan - 25 October 2009: Hmm.
My modified toaster/ microwave Political Karma Oscilloscope is picking up some changes in the media on
NJ Gov Race/ Referendum Donks 09.

This offer propped up on WaPo with tomorrows dateline…
Seems to me like a Donk face saving floater put out there,
given the quotes inside……

N.J. incumbent Corzine struggles ahead of gubernatorial Vote

By Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 26, 2009

ELIZABETH, N..J. — A year into his first term, which he won touting the financial expertise that had made him a multi-millionaire, Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) proposed selling New Jersey’s famous toll roads to private companies. The idea was to lease them back at a profit to help retire a $30 billion debt that the governor recognized as a millstone on the state’s financial health. But the plan carried substantial risk even before Corzine, who already suffered a reputation for lacking the common touch, insisted on the program’s name:

“Asset Monetization.”

“I mean, you should laugh,” said Peter Woolley, who runs polling for Fairleigh Dickinson University. ‘Let’s go to the voters and talk about “asset monetization!” ‘

That’s precisely what Corzine did, scheduling more than 21 “Financial Restructuring and Debt Reduction” town halls across a state that was sending his approval rating plummeting long before the start of the recession.

“At one point I told him, ‘Just stop it,”’ said senate president Richard J. Codey, who preceded Corzine as governor and remains popular. “I said to him, ‘It’s very hard to get up on a stage before 1,000 people, do a Power Point presentation on how their tolls should go up 800 percent, and be persuasive.'”

The toll roads debacle helps explain why Corzine is running barely even in his race for re-election, despite an extraordinary array of advantages: The Democrat entered the race with a vast personal fortune, a 4 to 3 advantage in voter registration and the powers of incumbency.

And the Asbury Park Press endorsed the R, Chris Christie ( I guess the CC parents figured Jesus was out for a first name) …
They endorsed Corzine last time around….
Hardly beating Christie’s drum either… the shift itself is what I noticed….

Corzine’s halfway measures on everything from curbing spending and borrowing, ending the excesses of the public employee unions and implementing reforms aimed at transforming the culture of corruption and self-serving decision-making in New Jersey have fallen far short of what is required to put New Jersey back on track.

It’s time to give someone else a chance. Republican Chris Christie offers New Jersey voters the best hope for turning things around. We support his candidacy, but only as a better alternative to four more years of Corzine.

::

Corzine has done nothing to warrant re-election. In many areas he has left the state in worse shape than when he found it. Given the legacy left by Gov. Jim McGreevey, that’s no small achievement.

The various endorsements will have little impact.. But as the tone shifts , this OTHER guest Op- Ed at the APP did catch my eye.. given the guy who wrote it, and the political dynamics behind it..

BATEMAN: Why I’m not voting for an old friend for governor (Web extra)

Iam writing to explain why I am not voting for my old friend Chris Daggett for governor of New Jersey and why I support Chris Christie. I suspect I know Daggett, the Independent candidate for governor, better than almost anybody in New Jersey. He worked hard and effectively in my 1977 gubernatorial campaign.

In 1978, after my loss, I started a business-governmental consulting company. Daggett was my first employee. We spent our first year or so going back and forth to Hartford, Conn., trying to reorganize the governmental relations operation of The Travelers Insurance Co.

Yada yada…. He hits on the GOP TPM ..Brings up the Back Mininister Cash from Corzine’s Charitable Foundation ( Translation / STREET MONEY.) Doesn’t matter, cookie cutter stuff, but this does given the shitheels position…

Ray Bateman Jr. is a former state senator and chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.

The Guy runs the Meadowlands. With a new Football Stadium set to go up. a guy totally dug in across the ‘aisle” with the North Jersey Dems, the construction unions, and Codey’s faction, which is now puttin out the ass-clown on Corzine in WaPO…While Corzine has AFSCME and SEIU….

And old wart face Tom Kean, Daggets former Patron, has gotten off the “sidelines”… and is hitting events….with Christie. Gotta love it. He and his kid would have used a Christie lost so young Kean would run for Gov in 2013.

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marisacat - 25 October 2009: hmm I sense the Democratic Reich is failing? Felled by the toll roads… or a stammer in VA… expensive drapes in Boston… or or or or or or or or.

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27. marisacat - 25 October 2009: hmm Ob’s all but checked out (golf, more golf, wanna play golf!) and the stupid white boys behind him are……….. stupider than ever.

Axelrod tells 60 Minutes his daughter’s epilepsy is like “terrorism of the brain”.

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28. marisacat - 26 October 2009: gnu…

LIINK

…………………… 😯 ……………………

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