Category: Media
The First 100 Days
It’s an artificial piece of media driven bullsh@#.
‘Nuff said.
Ross Douthat is a F$#@ing Moron
So, the latest New York Times OP/ED page 
conservative affirmative action case has his debut editorial for the paper, and what is his trenchant analysis?
It’s that the Republicans should have nominated Richard Milhaus Cheney as their presidential nominee in 2008.
I guess that’s because Cheney is such a photogenic and friendly dude, whether talking about his penis (top picture), or simply snarling at the American public (bottom).
Of course this is not really what the author believes. He wanted Cheney to run because he would have been beaten like a baby seal while showing how the right wing orthodoxy needs to be repackaged: It’s simply link bait, as Froomkin notes.
He wants people to read him, so Douthat says something outrageous, and finishes with, “And when he went down to a landslide loss, the conservative movement might – might! – have been jolted into the kind of rethinking that’s necessary if it hopes to regain power.”
No. Simply put, he is being a tool to get buzz, and it increasingly appears that the Republican Neocons are simply some sort of truly subversive performance art group.
I miss William Safire, who while right wing, had a brain, and could actually string together words in an attractive way.
Between Tierney, Kristol, and now Douthat, it appears that the sure sign that you are really, really, stupid is getting a regular Times OP/ED slot.
Yes, I know, I am really describing him being an asshole, not stupid, but his argument boils down to, “We should have nominated Dick Cheney, and we would have lost much better.”
That’s Doug “The Stupidest Motherf^%$er on the Planet” Feith stupid, and the New York Times already has a surfeit of stupid among their regular columnists, with Maureen Dowd, who covers politics like she is a junior high schooler dissing a classmates choice in shoes.
Still it appears that but it appears that Andrew Rosenthal, the Editorial Page Editor, feels that they need some more stupid.
More Google Ads Mishugas
So I come across this add when I bring up my blog, an add offering “Ann Coulter Free” (no link, I don’t want to drive her traffic).
I do not involve myself in what Google® Adsense® serves, I just make fun of them when it they get it wrong, and this ad is very, very wrong.
Truth be told, I don’t want Ann Coulter free, I want Ann Coulter in jail for vote fraud.
Someone Else Recommends Disbanding the USAF
Only this time, as opposed to being a proposal in the milblogosphere, it’s a retired Marine corps officer, Paul Kane on the OP/ED pages of the New York Times.
I agreed with it then, and I agree with it now.
He also suggests that the services abandon up or out, where officers are discharged if they get passed over for promotion twice, which is a good idea too.
Up or out tends to create sycophants, because having a poor review given out of enmity can destroy a career, and is one reason that our current military is so top heavy (1 officer per 5 enlisted men, as opposed to the 1:10 it had through most of its history).
We Have Entered Bizarro World: Part II of Many
Seriously, Shepard Smith of Fox News pounding the table and saying, “We don’t f&^$ing torture?”
Interestingly enough, the big issue here is not Shepard Smith showing common decency, but the fact that we are all using the word “torture”.
It changes the dialogue to use that word, and makes it clear just how repulsive the whole concept is.
The New York Times Calls for Jay Bybee’s Impeachment
Read the whole editorial, it’s brutal, and calls for a thorough investigation of everyone who conspired on this, and the penultimate ‘graph calls for the Congress to remove Jay Bybee as a federal court judge:
These memos make it clear that Mr. Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution. Congress should impeach him. And if the administration will not conduct a thorough investigation of these issues, then Congress has a constitutional duty to hold the executive branch accountable. If that means putting Donald Rumsfeld and Alberto Gonzales on the stand, even Dick Cheney, we are sure Americans can handle it.
(emphasis mine)
Somehow, I do not expect Mr. Bybee to go quietly though.
Hopefully, he’ll rat on his fellow conspirators, but I would not expect that either.
Swedish Pirate Party Beats Greens in Polls After Pirate Bay Conviction
I would have expected a bounce in the numbers for this party following the trial; they were in the low single digits before hand, but they seem to be riding a rising wave right now, and might secure a seat in the European Parliament.
I’m not surprised.
Treasury Formally Denies Right Wing Racist Nut Job Blog Post
White supremacist wing nut Hal Turner has posted on his blog (no link to him, ever) that he has an advance copy of the Treasury’s bank stress tests, and that it shows that 16 out of the top 19 banks are already insolvent.
Were it from anyone else, I might be inclined to believe it, as it jibes with my sense of the state of the banking industry, but from him, I’d just as soon ignore it.
Only, I’m posting about it, which begs the question, “Why are you reading this?”
The answer is that I’m posting because a Treasury Department Spokesman formally denied Turner’s claims:
A U.S. Treasury spokesman said there’s no basis to a blog posting that buffeted financial stocks by saying that most of the nation’s largest banks are insolvent.
Andrew Williams, a Treasury spokesman, dismissed the report from Hal Turner of North Bergen, New Jersey, “particularly given we don’t have stress test results yet.” Turner has advocated violence against blacks, Jews and immigrants on his Web site and Internet radio show, according to the Anti- Defamation League, created in 1913 to monitor anti-Semitism.
Why is the US Department of the Treasury responding to what amounts to semi-literate scrawls on the wall of a bathroom stall?
I see three possibilities, in no particular order:
- Turner has a friend in the Treasury, who thought that an official denial would get him some air play.
- He actually has preliminary stress test documents.
- The Treasury has come to the conclusion that its credibility, and that of the US banking industry is so pathetically low that they have no choice but to respond.
Honestly, none of these alternatives are particularly good ones, and if I had to place a bet, it would be on the last one, which would indicate that in less than 100 days, Mssrs. Geithner & Summers have completely pissed away their credibility, and they know it.
Park Dae-sun Acquitted
He is a prominent Korean economic blogger who was was brought up on charges for making dire predictions:
Mr. Park, an unemployed 31-year-old, gained an almost prophet-like status among many South Koreans after he correctly predicted the collapse of the U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, the crash of the South Korean currency — the won — and the effects on South Korea of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis.
It appears that he also published some data in error, such as when he, “wrote that the government had banned financial firms and major companies from buying dollars in an effort to arrest the fall of the Korean won,” and the government charged him with, “spreading false data in public with a harmful intent,” and faced up to 5 years in prison. (!)
Considering my accuracy, I’d be facing life without parole.
Where Olbermann Gets It Wrong
I watched Keith Olbermann’s special comment from last night on Youtube, as I was too busy wrapping Passover to watch the show.
While I generally agree with him, I find him powerful even when I disagree with him, or find his conclusions lacking, as was the case last night, and I’m not referring to the Kaiser thing.*
In this case, I believe that KO did not go far enough.
While he is correct that letting people off for “just following orders”, as is implied by the statements that those , “carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice,” will not be subject to prosecution.
This is wrong, and there is a bigger point, made ably by Glenn Greenwald, that there is a real and legally binding obligation obligation under the Convention Against Torture, which was signed in 1988 and ratified in 1994, to actively pursue and prosecute torturers ( roll Article 7 para 7):
The State Party in territory under whose jurisdiction a person alleged to have committed any offence referred to in article 4 is found, shall in the cases contemplated in article 5, if it does not extradite him, submit the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution.
This is not to say that refraining from after the little fish to target the big fish is a violation of this.
That is a legitimate prosecution strategy.
However, it increasingly appears that President Obama and Attorney General Holder do not intend to go after anyone, and in so doing, they are, but not going after anyone, with the explanation that this is, “moving forward”.
This is a obstruction of the prosecution of these acts is a war crime, and if this means no prosecution, it is an affirmative act to obstruct the course of justice.
Certainly, there are alternate venues, such as some sort of “Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” but all indications are that the White House are fighting even this weak tea.
I believe that, in the absence for support for some sort of fact official fact finding process, it makes Eric Holder and Barack Obama accessories after the fact to a crime against humanity.
In the short form, people who actively work to subvert any process of judicial or semi-judicial fact finding inquiry, outside of the context of legitimate activities of defense counsel, are war criminals, including the current President and Attorney General of the United States of America if they choose to continue this course.
That being, said, I am an engineer, not a lawyer, dammit,‡ and I would be interested in hearing opinions from people with a deeper knowledge of both US and international law.
*The Kaiser committed no war crimes by the standards of the day, notwithstanding the accusations of amputation Belgian babies hands† made in the early days of the war. The rules had not yet caught up with the technology of war, and if the Kaiser were guilty, than every participant in the war would have been guilty.
†Ironically, the Belgians, during the genocide phase of their rule over what was then the Belgian Congo DID require their native levees to return a human hand for each bullet fired, in order to prevent them from “wasting” bullets hunting game for food, along with holding families hostage, etc.
‡I LOVE IT when I get to go all Doctor McCoy!!!
Economics Update
Well, let’s start with the good news, that the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index has risen to a 7 month high, I think largely on Obama being president more than anything else, seeing as how the manufacturing reports from the
New York and Philadelphia Federal Reserve Banks, continue to show contraction, though the press is still crowing about how these reports show that the rate of contraction is easing, despite the fact that manufacturing fell in March by the largest amount since VE day, almost 64 years ago.
Taking the rate of change month to month is stupid, it’s the noisiest way to measure things, but there is real pressure to report prosperity “just around the corner,” because the alternative is to make real systemic changes that would have to be to the disadvantage of people like bank and brokerage presidents.
The fact that housing starts fell again, (top pic) and the weekly jobless numbers remained at very high levels, they dropped a bit, but continuing claims (bottom pic) remained at scary numbers. (click pics to be taken to the Calculated Risk posts in question)
CRE is suffering too, with office vacancies rising to a 3 year high.
Citi actually reported better quarterly numbers than expected, losing about 18¢ a share, less than the forecast 32¢.
Part of the problem is that we are still seeing distressed bonds selling for 3.5¢ on the dollar:
Credit-default swaps traders set a value of 3.25 cents on the dollar for bonds of an AbitibiBowater Inc. unit to settle derivatives linked to the newsprint maker that’s now in bankruptcy protection.
The price means sellers of credit swaps guaranteeing as much as $1.1 billion against a default by the Abitibi- Consolidated unit would pay 96.75 cents on the dollar to settle the contracts. Eleven dealers, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc and Morgan Stanley, bid in the auction, which was administered by Markit Group Ltd. and broker Creditex Group Inc.
Oh…..My…..Ghod!
This might explain why BankUnited has been given 20 days by regulators to find a buyer, or they will be shut down.
Meanwhile, oil rose slightly on the consumer confidence numbers, as did the US dollar and Pound Sterling.
Adventures in Bad Marketing
Pfizer sent Viagra® boxer shorts as a freebie to Irish doctors.
It’s a good thing that it wasn’t Burger King sending out Home of the Whopper® thongs.
If anyone finds a pic out there, email me a link to the pic.
Goldman Sachs Lawfirm Goes Postal On Blogger
Lawyers for Goldman Sachs have gone postal on GoldmanSachs666.com, a website dedicated to criticizing the firm, and so their lawyers have sent a cease and desist letter against the blogger, despite the fact that there is a clear disclaimer, and there is no way to confuse the two sites:
My guess is that Goldman knows that there are a lot of people out there who have damning information, and they really don’t want a clearing house, but as soon as you send a C&D, you explode the exposure of the site.
Stupid, but intellect is not a requirement for a Wall Street banker. If it were, they would not have f%$#ed up the economy so badly.
Supermarket Checkout Horror
So I’m picking up some groceries at the local Wegmans, and I’m waiting in line, and then I see it…The cover of OK Magazine, and it’s got Kathy Griffin in a bikini!!!! (click image for full size…if you dare)
Tekeli Li!!!!!
Tekeli Li!!!!!
Tekeli Li!!!!!
Tekeli Li!!!!!
I Guess that the AP Boycott by Blogs is Back On Again
Truth be told, I never ended mine, and have used alternate sources for stories where ever possible.
In any case, I try to post a link and a summary, and perhaps a sentence or two, which should fall under fair use.
The article, though is rather odd, as it keeps mentioning Google News and Yahoo, which runs no ads, and is a search service, which would generally be construed as fair use, and Huffington post, which licenses what it publishes from the AP.
We Are Doomed
Remember what Jon Stewart did to Jim Cramer and CNBC’s predictions, well that hasn’t stopped Jim Cramer from making more predictions, and now he is predicting that the “depression is over”.
We are unbelievably screwed.
H/T Option Armageddon.
Jon Stewart on Limbaugh Leaving New York
What can I say, but “you go girl,” funnier than Governor Paterson, but Stewart is a professional.
Brilliant
Credit Where Credit is Due
In response to Rush Limbaugh saying that he would sell his condo and leave New York because of the income tax increase, Governor David Paterson has told him Don’t let the door hit your butt on the way out:
If I knew that would be the resultI would’ve thought about the taxes earlier.
I still think that David Paterson is a tool, but I have to give him credit for the perfect response.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Bankruptcy Updates
The Department Store Chain Gottschalks twill be filing for liquidation, and mall developer General Growth Properties has managed to put off bankruptcy, for a while at least.
I think that it is likely that GGP will go chapter 11, at which point, Thomas Friedman, whose wife is a Bucksbaum, the family that owns the developer, may have to downsize his lifestyle….I’m so sad for him (not).
Finally, the Sun-Times Media Group has filed for bankruptcy, and before you start wringing your hands over how these are dark days for newspapers, note that Conrad Black and His Evil Minions™, most notably David Radler, looted the company, and have gone to jail for doing so.
In a way, it’s a microcosm of what is wrong with the news business: Bankers take over from journalists, generate fantastic profit margins by destroying journalism at these institutions through draconian cuts, and then they walk away, leaving bleached bones.