Romney during the debate:

Every time I listen to someone like John Edwards get on TV and say there are two Americans, I just want to — I just want to throw something at the TV, because there are not two Americas. There’s one America. We are a nation united. We face extraordinary challenges right now. And Democrats dividing us and tearing down this country are doing exactly the wrong thing. We’re succeeding in Iraq. We’ve got tough challenges. We can overcome them. But we do not need to have that kind of divisive talk.

Edwards’ campaign responds:

In the debate tonight, Governor Romney was caught being deceptive about his own record. He is also being deceptive about whether there are two Americas – one for the most powerful and one for everyone else. News flash, Governor: The 98% of Americans who were not born to great wealth or who have not been given special privilege in our country struggle every day to make ends meet and provide opportunities for their families. No small part of their struggle is because the game has been rigged to protect those on top. It is not surprising Governor Romney proposes additional policies to assist the crowd on Easy Street. Unfortunately for him, the millions of Americans who live and work on Main Street know much more about the reality of where we are as a country.

Posted by Al Swearengen as Video, Politics, Economics at 12:50 AM MST

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Amanda Marcotte discusses abstinence education and the conservative war on facts:

What needs to happen is basic reframing. This isn’t about who wants who to have sex with who when, but about who wants kids to be healthy, and who is resigned to letting them get sick. Which is all you’re going to get with abstinence-only. But it’s more than just what “works” better in terms of reducing STDs and pregnancy rates (though comprehensive sex education does), but it’s a philosophical question, too. The very idea that schools should be in the business of reinforcing ignorance instead of improving knowledge is a violation of basic American ideals. Abstinence-only is part of a larger right wing strategy of defining the mission of public education as propagandistic—who cares if you teach them things that are enriching or even fucking correct? The schools are there to preach conservative, white, Christian cultural superiority to a captive audience, in this view. After all, it’s not just abstinence-only that’s part of the agenda. It’s also teaching creationism in schools, and teaching a propagandistic view of history that whitewashes issues like slavery (and that the South seceded over it) and the Indian genocide. Which is turn is about producing another generation of idiots who get boners at the idea of more imperialistic war-mongering, well up until they’re a few years in and realize it’s stupid, you know, after it’s too late to do anything short of damage control. (See: Iraq War)

See the article here

Posted by John Rove as Words at 11:28 AM MST

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According to Megan Mcardle people are having less children because they know social security will take care of them in their declining years, and we all know the only reason to have kids is that they lead to economic benefits for the parents.  I cannot see any other reason to bring a bunch of poop flinging yard apes into my life, and thanks to social security I don’t have to. Just the fact that social security keeps people from having 12 kids is reason enough to make sure that it stays solvent no matter how high taxes have to go. Plus, if you are one of those people who for some bizzarre reason wants to have kids, at least thanks to social security you wont be a burden to them, and fortunately you will not have to live with them.  Trust me proud dads out there, your children don’t want to change your diapers in your declining years. 

Posted by John Rove as Words at 12:59 PM MST

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You’re running on fumes in the morning and by dinnertime the thoughts can’t breathe. This game is all about the consistency of one or two senses at a time while the others rest up.  Any man worth half a bucket of piss can conjure up enough of it to at least act like the voices and attitudes aren’t making things worse.  What the hell do they know? 

Go to bed early. 

Walk over to the pencil sharperner and somehow get your head to fit through that hole.   

Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen at 12:09 AM MST

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This would be very funny if true

Posted by John Rove as Words at 2:04 AM MST

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Call it what you will…why sell at the end of a selloff? I’m out of reasons to doubt that a crash is not right around the corner. There’s much more I need to say, and most of that is below. I sold everything and lumped 100% of the portfolio into gold. Until the GDP, holiday shopping numbers, OPEC output and most importantly, the full extent of losses from CDOs are booked (Citi-logic be damned), I’m watching this ship sink from the stands.  (Links to previous updates: 11/8/07, 9/6/07, 7/19/07, “Buy Gold - Junk Bonds” 9/17/07, “Banking” 6/28/07,  “Why Gas Prices Are High” 5/19/07, “Exxon Loves You” 1/7/07, “Robert Nardelli - Home Depot” 1/4/07, “Bush’s Gift to CEOs” 12/27/06)

SELL - GOOG $666.00 (<– is that a sign?) 415 shares / ORCL $19.70 5468 / PBR $94.50 3782 / RMD $44.71 2400 / CNQ $71.76 1765

IAU $81.35 - 16,337 shares - avg price $77.70 Total Value - $1,329,020.80 - 20.16% gain since February

I’m absolutely amazed that Citi is making the argument that they can keep $40 billion plus worth of CDO paper off of the books. Shouldn’t the government step in and clarify the rule?  I think that one way to avoid a catastrophe would be to force the sector to take its medicine, so that we know where we actually stand heading into 2008. Allowing for there to be wiggle room here is even more dangerous than a poor holiday.

The uncertainty is what’s causing a worldwide hemoraging of capital out of our markets. We don’t have our shop in order, and it is pretty obvious to me at this point that Bernake & Paulson are hoping to paper over way too much at way too crucial a moment.  Dropping rates further at the expense of the dollar is something that makes me want to cry.  What we’re doing now is the equivalent of shooting up dope with borrowed needles…it’ll catch up with us sooner or later. The answer isn’t to keep getting high, but to get clean!

Posted by Al Swearengen as Economics at 1:58 AM MST

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We’re nearing the latest Presidential campaign here in America, and on Control Congress especially, there seems to be a lot of anxiety over economic issues. I share in this anxiety, but my analysis of what plagues us is often very different from John’s and that of other posters. My number one concern heading into 2008 is that distraction will win out once again, as the basic tenets of economic theory go ignored in lieu of things like the debate over immigration. The problem I have with illegal immigration isn’t that it deprives jobs from native Americans, but that it lowers wages across the board. Employing illegal immigrants is a crime, and the risk/reward is such that employers are likely to commit that crime because it benefits them in so many ways. The largest benefit to employers is that they no longer have as many obligations to their labor force as they once did. An illegal worker is someone who is scared, and this reality tilts the scales unfairly towards their employer. When this group is exploited in such a way, it adversely effects the wages paid to legal workers.

Organized labor has been demonized by big business and the political party that represents them, and the laws that protect workers have been diminished or underenforced since the 1980s. No longer is an employer charged with a crime when they fire workers involved in organizing a union. By the same token, workers who might organize and serve as an internal check on a company’s exploitation of undocumented laborers, instead are forced to keep their head down. Meanwhile, the real wage of low income workers has been outpaced by inflation year after year, while the compensation paid to CEOs and other top positions in US corporations has gone from 40 times what a low wage employee earns in the 1970s, to over 550 times that amount in the late 1990s. To compound this problem of inequality, starting in the 1980s, taxes paid by the top 1% of earners has gone down over 50%, while taxes on the middle class have gone up. Look to the incredible growth in debt obligations from 1980 to today, now totaling well over $7 trillion, and only the most intellectually dishonest person capable of operating a calculator will argue that this isn’t a direct result of tax cuts.

Middle class families and low income families spend everything they make, with savings rates at times in negative territory due to the amount of debt each has taken on in order to purchase homes, cars and pay the bills. When the credit dries up, and millions fail to make mortgage payments, lose their jobs or get sick without having insurance, not only do they individually suffer, but their purchasing power is diminished. When wages fail to keep up with inflation, over time people spend less money and drive less. Demand diminishes, supply must react through the elimination of jobs, and GDP growth lags compared with historic periods where the income gap was much smaller. Anyone interested in learning about the effect of the income gap on GDP growth, can focus on the economies of the 1950s and 1960s to get a taste of what I’m laying out here. The American middle class is what made our country’s strength legitimate. Meaning, the economy wasn’t reliant on so much risk, credit, government spending on military production, and two income households.

Conservative economic policies have been given their chance to work since the early 1980s, and when the economy is discussed today, we’re not talking about the income gap, regressive tax policy or the decline of organized labor. Why is that? Certainly these factors have played a large role in reducing the middle class, while also creating the insane amount of debt we are burdened with today. Yet for the most part they go ignored in lieu of immigration or trade policy. It is obvious that both of those issues effect the economy, both with the lowering of wages and the export of manufacturing jobs, but if we continue to act as if those two factors alone have brought us to where we are today, then we’re missing the bigger picture. Not only that, but we’re ignoring the most fundamental truths about supply and demand. Even more importantly, we’re ignoring our own history, and the economic policies from that history which actually worked to the benefit of most Americans. Right now we’re living on borrowed money as a nation, and while wages lag in comparison with inflation and productivity, it is time for all of us to take a look at the arguments put forth in favor of the economic policies of the past 25 years, and honestly evaluate which ones were wrong based on the facts.

I think that regressive taxation and the income gap are two areas that can be fixed through legislation, and without the type of costly police or foreign policy initiatives that could be rolled out with the type of attitude that made our occupation of Iraq such a nightmare. At this point I’m more confident in the not-so-sweet science of economics than I am our ability to affect favorable change through large idealistic initiatives. There are things that can be done, and just because it clashes with the conventional wisdom of political economists (most of whom have been wrong about most things in the past 25 years), they shouldn’t be pushed aside. Let’s expand the arena of economic debate leading in to 2008, and make the case for what can be done at the lowest cost to achieve the highest benefit.

Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, Economics at 4:28 PM MST

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Classic rerun:

Posted by Al Swearengen as Video, Military at 3:59 AM MST

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Here’s the link.  h/t The Antagonist

1. Main Page‎ [1,897,388]
2. Homosexuality‎ [1,488,013]
3. Homosexuality and Hepatitis‎ [516,193]
4. Homosexuality and Promiscuity‎ [416,767]
5. Homosexuality and Parasites‎ [387,438]
6. Homosexuality and Gonorrhea‎ [328,045]
7. Homosexuality and Domestic Violence‎ [325,547]
8. Gay Bowel Syndrome‎ [314,076]
9. Homosexuality and Syphilis‎ [262,015]
10. Homosexuality and Mental Health‎ [249,14]

Posted by Al Swearengen as Politics, Religion at 6:50 PM MST

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The push to get a ballot initiative on how California’s electoral votes are cast in the Presidential election is gaining signatures. How are Republicans accomplishing this?

Posted by Al Swearengen as Politics at 1:25 AM MST

4 Comments »

For Awhile I lived in the DC area and one of the best things about living there was the commuter trains.  I lived in Sterling a suburb of DC, but within minutes I could get to the city by hopping on a commuter train, the same was true when I briefly lived in Yonkers New York, get on a train and a few minutes later I was in the city.

Sounds like other people are starting to appreciate trains as much as I did:

Last week, the Senate passed a measure that would provide $10 billion for Amtrak over the next six years. The legislation, if passed, would not only go a long way towards helping Amtrak get out of its financial hole, but the infusion of cash would provide a major boost of investment in our rail infrastructure at a time when demand for passenger trains is growing.

Contrary to popular opinion, since the mid 1990s, we have seen an explosion in rail demand and service, primarily focused among commuter and short to medium intercity routes. From 1995 to 2005, commuter rail usage grew over 20 percent, from 352 to 423 million passenger trips. Over the same period, 421 miles of new commuter and light rail track has been built.

Public transportation where I live now primarily uses busses and as much as I want to use them I cannot stand taking the bus. Trains are nice in that they don’t stop every other block and for the most part it is very relaxing to take a train a bus not so much; plus trains generally run on time. Not to mention that if you are out drinking or something you probably will not get a DUI for taking the train.

The article mentions that trains are very efficient:

But the demand for passenger rail is only part of the story. An investment in a national rail system makes economic sense as well. A single railroad track, just 6 feet across, has the capacity of a superhighway 10 times wider. And just like highway spending, the jobs created by rail construction will more than pay for the original investment. As for energy savings, even the most conservative studies give trains an advantage of 4 to 1 over cars and airplanes

See the entire article here.

Posted by John Rove as Words at 1:58 PM MST

3 Comments »

If this is true it seems like he is trying to be the victim hoping people will come to his defense. 

Former Bay State Gov. Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign furiously denied rumors yesterday that his own supporters were involved in calls placed to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire that spread anti-Romney smears under the guise of conducting a poll.
Political strategists and bloggers slung accusations at Romney’s camp yesterday after a scathing article appeared in the National Review titled “Did Mitt Romney Push Poll Himself?” which identified several Romney supporters at Western Wats, a Utah-based firm believed to have made the calls. The practice of using phony polls to plant a negative message is commonly known as push-polling.

It is interesting that the “talk tough” party spends a lot of time complaining about how mean everyone is to them.

See the article here

Josh Marshall who is much smarter than me weighs in here

Posted by John Rove as Words at 1:20 PM MST

1 Comment »

This generation is something alright…let’s see if the baby boomers can turn EVERY American into a war mongering, illiterate, drug addict (anyone want an ambien?) by the time they’re all collecting those social security checks that were supposedly “never going to be there by the time we retired.” Maybe if the boomers spent a little less time pissing and moaning about what their neighbor was doing, and a little more time making sure they left a better world for the rest of us, we wouldn’t be FORGETTING HOW TO READ. Maybe it’s because I’m a liberal, but reading is probably the most enjoyable thing I do on a non-sex day. It really pisses me off that we’ve basically doubled our national debt in 7 years by fighting a stupid war while cutting taxes for the rich, and in the meantime getting dumber every day.

I know one thing…we’re going to need more than just basketball players reading to kids on television commercials to get this trend moving back in the right direction. We’re going to have to push the boomers aside once and for all, study up on what the rest of the world is doing to educate, employ and provide health care for its people, and admit finally that we have a problem. That’s the first step towards recovery…right? Anyways, for the parents reading this, take the time to make sure your spawn don’t end up being illiterate mopes watching TV every night of their adult lives. Set a good example. And badger Congress for more money in education. The boomer and replica young Republicans will insist that when you spend money on schools, books and paychecks, it’s a waste. They’d rather we spend that money on some missiles or overpriced Halliburton chili-mac. Ignore them. They’ve had their chance to govern, and from Reagan until today, movement conservatism has been most likely to result in stories like this one:

(WaPo) Americans are reading less and their reading proficiency is declining at troubling rates, according to a report that the National Endowment for the Arts will issue today. The trend is particularly strong among older teens and young adults, and if it is not reversed, the NEA report suggests, it will have a profound negative effect on the nation’s economic and civic future. “This is really alarming data,” said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. “Luckily, we still have an opportunity to address it, but if we wait 10, 20 years, I think it may be too late.”

Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen at 11:17 PM MST

1 Comment »

Here’s something interesting.  Since the right went so far in attacking the man…I seem to remember the administration going with the patented, “We’ll let the generals on the ground decide how things are going.”  Ah, those wise, honest generals and their talk of progress.  Indeed, the military is sure to give it to us straight, just like Westmoreland did in Vietnam.  Anyways, since Murtha actually took part in that war, the chickenhawks had to stuff an extra cucumber into their pants before hitting the talk shows to tell all of us how the congressman really didn’t know anything about war or the military. 

Posted by Al Swearengen as Military at 3:48 PM MST

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Here’s a review of Hunter’s biography: (JOE KLEIN - NYTimes) On July 2, 1974, I started work as deputy Washington bureau chief for Rolling Stone magazine. My unlikely boss was Richard Goodwin, the former Kennedy speechwriter, who invited me to join him in temporary residence at Ethel Kennedy’s home in McLean, Va. (the owner was in Hyannis for the summer). On July 3, Hunter Thompson joined us. Much of what ensued that holiday weekend is lost in the mists of history and a fog of controlled substances. There were extensive conversations about the viability of renting a truck, filling it with rats and dumping them on the White House lawn. There was also an effort to remove all the Andy Williams songs from the Kennedy jukebox and replace them with Otis Redding. But mostly I remember having a marathon conversation with Hunter about books and writers, settling finally on Joseph Conrad’s exhortation in “Lord Jim”: “In the destructive element immerse!”

This was, no surprise, one of Hunter’s favorite lines, and it led him into an astonishingly candid assessment of his own career, which was then at its peak. He had published his two brilliant “Fear and Loathing” books, and he was worried about what came next. He didn’t want to become a dull parody of himself but feared he lacked the gumption to jump the gravy train. I asked if he’d ever thought about stowing the psychedelic pyrotechnics — his “gonzo” journalism — and sitting down and writing a serious, straight-ahead novel. Well, of course he had. But, he said, “Without that,” and he glanced over at the satchel in which he carried his array of vegetation and chemicals, “I’d have the brain of a second-rate accountant.”

Hunter Thompson was always much more, and sometimes a bit less, than the sum of his ribald public persona. In compiling this oral history, Jann Wenner and Corey Seymour could easily have succumbed to the same temptation that Hunter did: to celebrate the myth, to recount a numbing parade of hilarious, drug-addled Hunter stories, and to miss the man. Read the rest of this entry �

Posted by Al Swearengen as Words at 2:44 AM MST

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