San Diego's RepugnanThuglicans

Hmmmm. Last night I watched a TV ad for the local right-wing hate spew radio station . There's plenty of brainwashed, hate-spew loving, RepugnanThuglican freeptards in this city, what's up with the ad?

This morning I flipped on NPR (I thought) and was instantly irritated by a whiny, nasally voice and doubly irritated that she was complaining about Gwen Ifill ("Who is black." she said, and I thought, wtf? who cares?) and a book and the debate. I realized with horror that I was listening to AM radio (which is only safe for liberals from 3-6 weekdays on 1700 when Stacy Taylor is on) and that whiny, nasally voice was Laura Ingraham. Laura spent time as a "white collar criminal defense attorney" Ewwwww, what a way to wake up. I was instantly reminded of this National Geographic special I watched last week on stress. The animals studied were baboons, and humans. Put some Dockers and chambray shirts on the tailed bullies in the National Geographic special and you've got a portrait of most AM radio listeners in this city.

Stress: Portrait of a Killer
A National Geographic Special



It was fascinating.

Sarah Palin needs to sit down, shut her speaking in tongues mouth and watch it.

I can't wait till Palin makes an a$$ of herself at the debate. I happen to adore Gwen Ifill. I think Ms. Ifill is beautiful.

In the reading queue

Click on pics for more information.



After I finish this.


This essay by Richard Rodriguez is worth a listen. It's why I'm glad I never developed a taste for illegal drugs. Too many people die because of them. And yes, I do think it's stupid that marijuana is illegal, and even more stupid that alcohol and tobacco are legal.

Update 7:05 PM 10/1/2008 Tijuana body count 38 in the last 48 hours in the drug cartel war. Drug cartel violence killed more than 2,500 people last year

Reagan

PBS Presidents

Last night was the second part of the show on Reagan. Ahhh, yes St. Ronnie the Raygun. Fucking deluded asshole totally fucked up my first attempt to go out and pay my own rent as a young adult. I was going to install solar powered domestic hot water heating systems. He cut the tax breaks for people choosing to invest in renewable energy 25 years ago.

Asshole never made it out of the 50's in his own mind. I wish his acolytes would just fucking croak already, or at the very least, wake up and see the reality of his legacy.

At one point I was watching all of these metallic balloons at a "no nukes" rally and I was reminded that moneyed interests control even those at the top of the government. The metallic balloon manufacturers won the battle in California yesterday. Fuck safety and your electricity source, they're going to sell balloons.

Here's your congresswhores in action:
House members who voted ‘yes’ on bailout received 54 percent more from banks/securities firms.»

Corporate Crime Reporter stories

Professor Bowman Says It’s Either Regulation or Criminal Prosecution, Take Your Pick
22 Corporate Crime Reporter 36(12), September 22, 2008

Big business has been working for years to undermine civil regulation.

Into the void has stepped the Department of Justice.

Now, big business is crying foul.

No more criminal prosecution, they say.

Well, you can’t have it both ways.

With regulation crippled, business wrongdoing is shooting up.

And criminal prosecutors are just doing their job.

So, get used to it.

That in a nutshell is the take of Frank Bowman, a Professor at the University of Missouri College of Law.


Times Reporter Morgenson Says Paulson, Bernanke Lied about Meltdown
22 Corporate Crime Reporter 36, September 24, 2008

First the Bailout, Then the Bailiff
22 Corporate Crime Reporter 37(12), September 29, 2008

When McCain started blathering at the debate about how Corporate taxes are too high in the US at 35% I was screaming at the TV "Do they PAY those taxes, asshole?!?!"

NO, they don't.

Paulson sez we are angry on 60 minutes

Paulson: Economy Is In A Fragile Situation
Treasury Secretary Talks To Scott Pelley About The Controversial $700 Billion Bailout

No shit Paulson, how did it get that way, asshole?

No, No really, dickhead, what happened?

Man, I am so fucking sick of the foxes eating everything in the hen house, shitting in it and making us clean up after them. Are they gonna bring the chickens back? I don't fucking think so. I spotted this neat little gem in it:

SEC. 122 INCREASE IN STATUTORY LIMIT ON THE PUBLIC DEBT.

Subsectiion (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting "$11,315,000,000,000"

Nice. My share of that just went to $37,717, and so did yours. Chalmers Johnson chimes in here. on how the recently passed a 612 billion dollar defense authorization bill for 2009 that didn't merit a blink.

Update 3:12 PM 9/29/2008

Afghanistan has seen 'spiral downwards': top US general

Unh huh, Johnson said yesterday

"In Afghanistan, our historically deaf generals and civilian strategists do not seem to understand that our defeat by the Afghan insurgents is inevitable. Since the time of Alexander the Great, no foreign intruder has ever prevailed over Afghan guerrillas defending their home turf. The first Anglo-Afghan War (1838-1842) marked a particularly humiliating defeat of British imperialism at the very height of English military power in the Victorian era. The Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) resulted in a Russian defeat so demoralizing that it contributed significantly to the disintegration of the former Soviet Union in 1991. We are now on track to repeat virtually all the errors committed by previous invaders of Afghanistan over the centuries."

Well, isn't there some other dude running things over there now? What does he think?

Oh. Iraq is fucked too?

EmTech 08: Audits, Open Source Needed With E-voting

EmTech 08: Audits, Open Source Needed With E-voting
Elizabeth Heichler, IDG News Service
Thursday, September 25, 2008 12:20 PM PDT

No shit. My dad's been saying this for years.

It might prevent stolen elections

Almost Saturday Squirrel Blogging

Are debates always this predictable? Have they always been so? Yeesh, what a snoozefest... Well, except for McInsane trying to change the things he's said and done.

Yeah, we will check your record and spend ten minutes on YouTube looking for clips of what you really said, old man.

Danny on the Real News

Tomgram: Snitow and Kaufman, Water Wars in America
posted September 25, 2008 1:04 pm
...administration officials are using the politics of fear and panic over the very financial mess they had a hand in creating to institutionalize a presidential power grab of startling magnitude. And then, of course, following the pattern of this administration, they will privatize that power, undoubtedly subcontracting the work of governmental buying and selling to the very financial characters involved in creating this mayhem....

Read the whole article to find out just how awful privatization of a water system in a US city can be.

Thirst. (documentary)

If you haven't read Naomi Klein's the Shock Doctrine , you need to.

The unwritten laws of discussing wages, politics and religion being impolite

Fuck it. Too fucking bad. This election is too important to cower beneath that middle class unwritten law bullshit. Fuck polite. Middle Class Republicans need to be shaken from their slumber with the facts. They have been voting against their own best interests by voting for a party that DOES NOT GIVE A GOOD FLYING FUCK ABOUT THEM, and DOES NOT CARE TO PROTECT THEM.

This is what I get whenever I leave information on my congressman's website regarding a vote when I want him to represent me:

Message from 50th Congressional District‏
From: UnattendedMailboxBilbray@mail.house.gov
Sent: Wed 9/24/08 5:36 PM
To: xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxx

Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate hearing from you. If you are writing about an issue before the House of Representatives, please be assured that I will take your views into account before I cast my vote, and will make every effort to respond to your concerns. Additionally, if you are requesting help with a federal agency, a member of my staff will respond to you in the coming days. Again, thank you for contacting me. BRIAN BILBRAY Member of Congress P.S. - If you are planning to visit Washington D.C. in the near future, my staff can help arrange a number of tours for you, including the U.S. Capitol, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Library of Congress. For assistance, please complete my tour request form.

Would you feel like your request for representation from your representative was getting through if every response from him came from "Unattended mailbox?"

The alternative press rocks

The Press and Phil Gramm
The alternative press leads on the policy roots of the credit crisis
By Elinore Longobardi Wed 24 Sep 2008 10:45 AM
The alternative press has led the way on the story of Phil Gramm and the policy roots of the financial crisis, beating the mainstream business and other media rather badly about the face and neck.

Another example of how the alterantive press pays attention and reports, in depth:

One Million Weapons to Iraq; Many Go Missing
Ooooops.

Diebold for McCain?

Click on the picture for the story. Is this OK since the name on the voting machine part of the company is now Premier Election Solutions?

Still, the company makes ATM machines and McCain is part of the attempted financial heist that is going on right now. Not the first time, Keating Five in 97 seconds anyone?

McCain: Keating 5 Anyone? The De-Regulator Champion wants to now Regulate Wall Street, WOW what a FLIP FLOP

Iran and Russia messing around in Latin America

(click to enlarge)

Bolivia: The Spies Who Spun Me

Update Thursday, September 25, 2008
22:43 Mecca time, 19:43 GMT
Putin and Chavez in nuclear talks

Stephen Zunes
Posted September 22, 2008 05:30 PM (EST)
U.S. Intervention in Bolivia

24 Sep 2008
The Monroe Doctrine: Circling the drain
President Bush has distanced himself farther from Latin America than any president in recent history, creating a dangerous vacuum.
By Southern Pulse Network Staff

Posted on Wed, Sep. 24, 2008
AIM DANIEL McGROARTY: It's (still) foreign policy, stupid (scroll down)

Ok, here's a little on the financial meltdown.


Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke just straight out lied about the subprime meltdown.

mp4 stream from Democracy Now-- Naomi Klein warns of the Shock Doctrine at work in the Wall Street bailout, this is only step one.

This is a must see, she tears into those thieving bastards like they so richly deserve! Major H/T to Ornery Bastard's buddy Joe over at Left Edge North!
Posted by Bustednuckles at 10:12 AM

Financial Fascism
...for what is proposed is not the nationalization of private corporations but rather a corporate takeover of government....

Ahmadinejad and Bush at the UN, a couple of loudmouthed morons

The rhetoric retards battle it out.


I wonder who's asking

"Is Your Vote Safe?"
RFK Jr., Mike Papantonio:Monday 22 September 2008
by: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Ring of Fire

A Time to Fight by Jim Webb

At first I thought this was going to be a snoozefest. I'm pleasantly surprised.

For someone in the Senate to write "...our country has been increasingly calcifying along class lines, in a way we have not seen for more than a century and to an extent that maybe unprecedented in our entire history. This is no longer a simple queston of haves and have-nots. Every social and economic indicator shows that America now has an upper class that has swung exponentially away from the rest of society. To make matter worse, many of those at the very top now tend to view their inordinate success a s simply a function of their innate talent in a brave new world of socioeconomic Darwinism and have become openly consumed by self-justifying greed." -- is wonderful.



Somewhat related

Economists Warn Anti-Bush Merchandise Market Close To Collapse

The problem with this PBS poll

Do you think Sarah Palin is qualified to serve as Vice President of the United States?

Obviously the freeptards have discovered that you can vote multiple times. Go neutralize them, pleeaaaasssseeee.

Palin's Witch Hunting Pastor (Olbermann)

Who's the elitist candidate?

click to enlarge

hat tip to johniwanski.com

E pluribus hokum or When the gamblers bail out the casino

Sep 23, 2008
By Spengler

Why should American taxpayers give US Treasury Secretary "Hank" Paulson a blank check to bail out the shareholders of busted banks?...

... Even better, why not let the Chinese, or the Saudis or other foreign investors take control of failed American banks? They've got the money, and they gladly would pay a premium for an inside seat at the American table.

60 minutes

So far McCain is continuing to take lobbed softball questions from Pelley. Bleh. McCain answers by spewing bullshit talking points

Much harder on Obama

How much longer do we have to put up with this crap?

Dam building

We're Paying the Price Today for Decades of Relentless Dam Building
Thursday 18 September 2008
»
by: Rachel Olivieri, AlterNet

...Aldo Leopold, the legendary and visionary U.S. Forest Service land manager of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s said dams make the land sick and provide only a temporary prosperity followed by tremendous vulnerability. This ecological reality is incontrovertible - all dams have an end date.
California leads the list with dams near self-cancellation. Within the next generation, 85 percent of all U.S. dams will have degenerated to the point of exhausting their operational lifespan of fifty years requiring decommissioning or massive repairs and upgrades. Now consider that every sweet spot in every geologically sane canyon that might reasonably hold a dam already has an aging dam, what then?...

McCain busted by PBS reporter Judy Woodruff hypocritically talking about Obama doing 1/10 of what he is doing

McCain cites contributions from Freddie and Fannie to Obama...blah blah blah, and yet, McCain has received "$169,000 from lobbyists", & blah blah blah. .. "more than ten times what Obama has received from them."

Listen for yourself to the mp3 file



By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
Iran plays the mediator
Sep 20, 2008
...Palin should be aware of the importance of courting Iran at this critical hour, rather than strengthening the caricature of Iran painted by simplistic anti-Tehran voices in the US. The nation's recent diplomatic interventions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Russia and Georgia, are an enlightening indication of Iran's capacity to act as a "main pillar of regional stability", to paraphrase Ahmadinejad in his latest interview...

Right. This stuff can be published and read with comprehension all around the world. Molly McMooseturd isn't reading it, she's reading whatever the neocon bastards are writing for her teleprompter.

Hiding out today

Screw the economy, well except for this, today I flop out on the bed and read. Inspirational, I hope, I paid twleve bucks for the damn thing. I don't remember ever buying a Sports Illustrated magazine. I'll resurface when I think the currency wars are under control....


3:54 PM 9/19/2008 Obviously I can't ignore all this and go read about MP except in fits and starts. Do you really think that the following articles have nothing to do with the financial shit-storm going on in the US? Think again.

If crowd control is necessary inside the US, the Army will do it.
Fucking Fabulous.hat tip Danny

Venezuela-Russia ties deepen despite US pressure
By IAN JAMES – 21 hours ago

Russia snubs US with arms sales Tony Halpin in Moscow and Alexi Mostrous in Washington September 19, 2008
Venezuela-Russia ties deepen despite US pressure
By IAN JAMES – 21 hours ago

Russia seeks oil control with OPEC move
Russia is seeking to work with OPEC in a move that will unnerve European countries worried that Moscow is seeking to raise the oil price and control energy supplies

Conyers Calls on McCain to Halt GOP Voter Suppression Efforts
By Kate Klonick - September 19, 2008, 2:56PM

OC Repugs won't get to drool over Molly McMooseturd

Nope, nope nope, she won't be there, you betcha , but here she is proving what a ballsy idiot she is

Whoa, lookee here, all the Palin factoids with sources linked in one post

Moving on.
Why the San Diego Union Tribune is commonly known as "the fiswrap", it's for sale, ya think it's in the CIA budget?

Informed voters?

Questions for McCain and Obama on the Economic Carnage
By Nieman Watchdog.

Analysis: McCain leads a dual life as powerbroker
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008
By GLEN JOHNSON Associated Press Writer

VIENNA, Ohio (AP) - John McCain embraces and expels Washington like an accordion player belting out a song.

Squeeze in and he touts his vast knowledge of the capital city. Draw out and he casts himself a reformer bent on changing its ways.

It's a remarkable dichotomy echoed throughout the Republican establishment, as a party that's held the White House for the past eight years tries to retain its grip in what has shaped up as a change election.

High Turnout, New Procedures May Mean an Election Day Mess

In 2004, voters in Columbus, Ohio, waited in long lines to cast ballots. This year, election officials there have added poll workers and voting machines.
By Mary Pat Flaherty
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 18, 2008; Page A01

Faced with a surge in voter registrations leading up to Nov. 4, election officials across the country are bracing for long lines, equipment failures and confusion over polling procedures that could cost thousands the chance to cast a ballot.
Lost Homes, Lost Votes: Are Republicans Trying to Block Foreclosed Homeowners from Voting in Michigan?

and finally, metering your intenet flow to make you pay more.

McCain campaign ads

Lemmee break it down for you.


Pick a paper, any paper


McCain Blasts Wall Street Failure, Neglects To Mention His Adviser Helped Cause It

Oil and money

Crude Oil Tumbles as Wall Street Turmoil Adds to Demand Concern
By Mark Shenk
Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil tumbled, taking its two- day decline to more than $10 a barrel, on concern that turmoil on Wall Street may weaken the global economy and cut fuel demand.

Europe Trade Deficit Widens to Record on Energy Costs (Update1)
By Fergal O'Brien
Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Europe's trade gap widened to a record in July as a cooling global economy damped exports and crude oil's advance to a record boosted the energy deficit.

Lower oil price, weaker euro boost German indicator
16 September 2008, 14:17 CET
(FRANKFURT) - Germany's closely watched ZEW economic indicator strengthened in its latest reading released Tuesday, boosted by lower oil prices and a weaker euro and beating expectations.

Treasury to Sell Bills to Bolster Fed Balance Sheet (Update2)

By Rebecca Christie and John Brinsley
Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Treasury will sell more debt to enable the Federal Reserve to expand its balance sheet, a sign of the strains created by the biggest extension of central-bank credit to financial companies since the Great Depression.
The program starts today with a $40 billion auction of 35- day bills, a day after the government agreed to take over American International Group Inc., the Treasury said in a statement in Washington

MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES

( Toyota Unhappy About Proposed $7,500 Tax Credit for Chevy Volt
Brandon Hill (Blog) - September 17, 2008 12:00 AM )

House Adopts Plan to Ease Offshore Drilling Ban
By CARL HULSE
Published: September 16, 2008
WASHINGTON — The House on Tuesday night approved a measure that would ease a longstanding ban on offshore oil drilling and try to spur greater use of alternative fuels as Democrats and Republicans engaged in a bitter pre-election clash over America’s energy future.


TFN NEWS BRIEFING: Oil and utilities highlights to 15:45 BST

GOP lies, steals, cheats, so what's new?

Yeah. I got nuthin, but BradBlog does.

Jews being targeted with Anti-Obama push-polls bullcrap in FL (swing state)

Voter caging in Michigan.

. Mark Crispin Miller on why they chose Sarah Palin

I can haz this for lunch?

FLOW

MOVIE REVIEW
Review: 'Flow'
Irena Salina's documentary looks at all things water and the effects a dwindling supply has on health, prosperity and security.

Blue Covenant
The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water
Maude Barlow

Interestingly, Ms. Barlow says during the local NPR interview that the United States, Canada and Australia are the biggest "virtual water" exporters. She speaks of agriculture taking the level of the Oglalla aquifer down and it NOT recharging. And of corporate power overtaking the commons.

She's speaks of 12 years worth of water, and I missed what area she was referring to.

She speaks of the water rationing in Australia. She speaks of the ridiculous wastage of water in Southern California, which can be changed.

Hey Oprah, ya hear that? This ain't Chicago !!!

Ms. Barlow also fielded a call from a local discussing the planned desalination plant, the problems it could solve, and create. Desalination is not only very expensive, it causes other problems in the ocean. She mentioned that she had seen black ocean in Saudi Arabia. Then she fielded a call from one of the Lost boys of Sudan (we have a few of them here) who said that the water wars have already begun in his homeland.

She also mentioned exponential population growth, and how it stresses our water supplies. The number she floated was 3 billion in the next 40 years, even though people are having smaller families. That sounds like a low estimate to me considering that the world population doubled (increased by more than 3 billion) in my lifetime.

On a more personal note, I find it amazing that I could have been born and raised in San Diego, spent 6 years in year-round competive swimming (the majority of the pools here are outdoors, helloooo evaporation?) and not known until a couple of years ago that 90% of the water in this city is imported.

John Hiatt -- Cry Love

I've had this song stuck in my head all day. My favorite lyrics?

"The trust of a woman in his hand
But he was a little boy, not a man
You loved him stronger than he could feel
Yeah he was wrapped up in himself like an orange peel"

Steve Coll on “The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century”

Democracy Now!
September 15, 2008

Steve Coll on “The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century”
Nearly seven years after the first bombs were dropped on Afghanistan, the US war there continues to escalate. President Bush recently announced he will send an additional 5,000 troops to Afghanistan. Both major party presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, have pledged to send more troops if elected. The United States launched the war in Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attacks. The stated purpose of the invasion was to capture Osama bin Laden and remove the Taliban regime, which had provided support and safe harbor to al-Qaeda. Osama bin Laden is known worldwide as the founder of al-Qaeda and the mastermind of 9/11. But much less is known of his sprawling Saudi family and their multiple ties to the United States. A new book by award-winning journalist Steve Coll details the complicated family history of Osama bin Laden, one of 54 children born to Mohammed bin Laden.

Fascinating. Horrifying. Pretty easy to loathe. It's also easy to loathe our government's dealing with the Islamist extremists through the CIA against Russia in Afghanistan in the 80's.

Bin Laden's Soft Support
How the next president can win over the world's most alienated Muslims.
By Kenneth Ballen