Category: Wanker

Adventures in Hack Journalism

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In this case it is draw by crayon libertarian Declan McCullagh with an assist by Greg Sandoval, who have decided that the way to write a story about the suit against apple Apple and the publishers who colluded with them was to show that Apple was going to win this suit by consulting with law profs who have been paid by right wing think tanks or have a long history of opposing anti-trust law.

They quote Geoffrey Manne, who works for the Hoover institute, Dominick Armentano, whose Independent Institute is funded by the Olins, the Kochs, and served as a “straw buyer” for Microsoft for the purchase of ads regarding that antitrust litigation, and Richard Epstein, who is the godfather of libertarian legal theory.

In the process, they ignore the facts of the case, as Time Magazine (of all people) documents:

So the publishers worked urgently to hatch a scheme to raise e-book prices before $9.99 became an “entrenched consumer expectation,” according to the lawsuit. Publishing executives are said to have plotted, cloak-and-dagger-style, during meetings at upscale Manhattan restaurants, and tried to conceal their communications “to avoid leaving a paper trail.” A favorite meeting spot was the Chef’s Wine Cellar, a private room at Picholene, just off Central Park West. It’s clear from the complaint that the Department of Justice went so far as to obtain the mobile-phone records of major-publishing-house CEOs.

Meanwhile, Apple was debating business models as it planned to storm onto the e-book market with the iPad. At one point, according to the lawsuit, Apple “contemplated illegally dividing the digital content world with Amazon,” with audio-video going to Apple and e-books to Amazon. Instead, Apple, led by content honcho Eddy Cue, reached out to the publishers to propose that the industry shift from a wholesale model, in which retailers set the price, to an agency model, in which the publishers set the price and Apple, as the “agent,” would receive a 30% commission.

Apple’s then CEO Steve Jobs described the talks in a now infamous quote that appeared in Walter Isaacson’s Jobs biography: “We told the publishers, ‘We’ll go to the agency model, where you set the price, and we get our 30%, and yes, the customer pays a little more, but that’s what you want anyway.’” Apple played a special role in the plot, according to the government, acting as the “spoke” of a wheel of conspiracy by playing the major publishers off one another to ensure they all participated.

Even if Apple were not engaging in an illegal act on its own, it is engaging in an illegal conspiracy to fix prices, but the draw by crayon libertarian cannot extend his Rolodex beyond the usual suspects.

If the DoJ wanted to go RICO on their asses, it would get really ugly, but if you are a dedicated Randroid, you consult the usual suspects, and create the illusion that there is no “there” there.

Could They Both Lose?

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Well, it looks like the Republican primary is well and truly over, and we are into the general election silly season, case in point, he Ann Romney – Hillary Rosen contretemps:

Now, it’s Republicans pretending there’s a big national fight over a subject that most women basically agree on – the decision to work or stay home. Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen unintentionally set off this fake firestorm when she commented on CNN Wednesday night that Ann Romney – whom Mitt Romney has been referring to as his top adviser on women’s issues – has “never worked a day in her life.” Here’s the full quote:

“What you have is Mitt Romney running around the country, saying, ‘Well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues, and when I listen to my wife, that’s what I’m hearing.’ Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life. She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing, in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school, and why do we worry about their future.”

The Romney campaign pounced, with Ann Romney putting out her first-ever tweet: “I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work.”

So, we have Mitt Romney saying that his wife, who’s never had to worry about providing the necessities to her kids, would be his source for insight into women who have to work in this country, versus Hillary Rosen, who used to be chief counsel for the RIAA, where she viciously opposed fair use, and has spent her life selling her skills to the various corporate faces evil as a lobbyist.

To quote Henry Kissinger, “It’s a pity they can’t both lose.”

Please, just make it stop.

History Repeats Itself, First as Tragedy, Second as Farce

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So said Karl Marx, who must have had Allen “The Craziest Mother F%$#er in Congress” West in mind:

Voice Inside Allen West’s Head Told Him That 80 House Democrats Belong to the Communist Party [Updated]

One of the most ridiculous names — and there will be a lot of them — in the ongoing GOP veepstakes is Florida congressman, tea partier, and crazy person Allen West. Herman Cain, Sarah Palin, and fellow veepstakes participant Nikki Haley have all endorsed West as Romney’s running mate recently. We suspect, though, that none of them sincerely believe West is a viable option, and are simply currying favor with the tea-party wing of the GOP by flattering one of its champions. Because West is, actually, the exact type of person you don’t want as a running mate: A wildly outspoken, unpredictable loose cannon. His appearance at a town hall last night is just the latest example:

The conservative tea party icon also got in shots at Democrats and President Obama, who spoke Tuesday at Florida Atlantic University. West said Obama was “scared” to have a discussion with him. He later said “he’s heard” up to 80 U.S. House Democrats are Communist Party members, but wouldn’t name names.

You know, this is so Joe McCarthy in Wheeling West Virginia on February 9, 1950, and it’s farce, and I’d call Allen West is a f%$#ing clown, but this would be unfair to people who make clown pr0n.

BTW, don’t Google the term “Clown Porn”.  Or if you do, don’t let me know.  I have way too much that I need to un-know already.

Atrios is an Ill Conceived Son of a Wombat

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You see, he’s been blogging for 10 years, so in honor of this, he is doing a list of the top ten wankers of the decade, a list I will follow with some enthusiam.

That being said, he is getting above, or below himself:

It’s time to begin the weeks long celebration of 10 years of the world’s suckiest blog, hosted by yours truly, the world’s suckiest blogger. There will be some laughs, some tears, and of course there will be lots and lots of wankers. Some our old friends, the ponies, might make some guest appearances if we put some appropriate snacks out to tempt them. We’ll start counting down to the ONE TRUE WANKER OF THE DECADE, beginning with roughly daily announcements of the 9 runners up, with #9 being announced today at precisely noon o’clock. The determination of all the winners has been made using the highly scientific system known as “what I happened to remember this morning,” though I did give a slight bit of thought on what to emphasize. It’s the wanker of the decade, not the wanker of the day, so I’ll try hard to reach into the past to remind us of some quality wanking from the Golden Age Of Wanking. Emphasis will be on media figures, though I’m not entirely ruling out politicians or similar. No posthumous awards, excluding some otherwise likely candidates.

(emphasis mine)

I object, I’m the world’s suckiest blogger.

That being said, his list promises to be entertaining, if somewhat scary.

Why scary? Because number 10 on his list is Megan McArdle, aka Jane Galt.

It’s not scary that she is on the list, but it’s scary that she is so low on the list.  If she’s number 10, I would peg Ms. “Math is hard” at number 3, this could get scary.

Even money says that Tom Friedman is number 1.

Nice Takedown

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Once again, the stupidest journalist in America, Juan Williams is doing what he is bought and paid for, being a tool who alibis for racism, and is claiming, in response to the Trayvon Martin killing, that the black community is ignoring black on black violence.

Ta-Nehisi Coates notes that if Williams knew how to use the Google, he would have found multiple mass actions against violence within the community.

I’m not surprised that Juan Williams did not mention these folks. After all, he’s probably afraid to go into those neighborhoods.

If They Get Arrested, I Will Pay for the Gloves

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By a 5-4 majority, the Supreme Court has said that authorities can strip search you whenever they arrest you.

When juxtaposed with another ruling that allows cops to arrest you for anything, (Seriously, not fastening a seat belt, because the cop in question had a vendetta, and for taking a sip of coke eating one french fry on the DC subway) it means that Rush Limbaugh’s constant refrain of, “Grab your ankles,” has become reality.

World’s Greatest Deliberative Body, My Ass

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Now that Olympia Snowe is leaving the Senate, she is complaining that she did not get enough face time from Obama:

Retiring moderate Republican senator still prizes “bipartisanship” over actually passing legislation

Retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe has finished grading the president’s report card. President Obama gets an “F” in bipartisanship, where “bipartisanship” is defined as “constantly stroking the fragile egos of self-important Senate moderates.”

Snowe is not seeking reelection because the Republican Party wholly merged with the conservative movement and then began enforcing much stricter party discipline than it had in the past, and she would likely lose a primary election to a more right-wing candidate. But in her high-minded version of what happened, she is leaving because of “partisanship,” an evil spell cast on the formerly fraternal and cooperative United States Senate by comity-hating wizards.

………

So instead of cap-and-trade, we got nothing. Instead of the DREAM Act, we got nothing. If healthcare reform had failed, we’d have nothing. If Snowe’s stated goal was to maintain the status quo, because she doesn’t care about immigration and doesn’t believe in climate change, then she’d be totally doing a very good job. But she claims to care about climate change and want to do something about immigration, which leads me to believe that she’s horrible at being a senator. It is the incompetent political maneuvering of “moderates” like Snowe, and not “partisanship,” that leads directly to Senate inaction. If what she needed, in order to be swayed to the side of passing legislation to address problems, was for the president to make a much bigger public show of courting her, then she’s a bizarre and repulsive specimen. Being against everything because people aren’t paying you enough attention is so much worse than being against everything on principle.

The Senate is not a great deliberative body.  It is a support group for narcissistic sociopaths.

Even more than the insane members of the Senate *cough*Jim Demint*cough* *cough*Tom Coburn*cough*, it is those who worship at the alter of bipartisanship, because their efforts are nothing more than preening for an imagined audience when there are real issues that need to be addressed.

The problem is that the Senate is a broken institution, and it has been for some time, because of people like Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, etc. who value the appearance of being reasonable over actually being reasonable, and care not a fig for being effective representatives of the citizenry.

Because He is Wrong on EVERYTHING?

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Larry “I’m wrong about everything” Summers is a leading candidate for the next head of the World Bank.

Seriously.

Larry Summers wanted to export toxic waste to Africa, helped personal friends loot Russia during its “market reforms”, and has been wrong about everything he’s ever done in real world policy, and so he fails up to head the World Bank.

Well, it is a prime position for someone who thinks that countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted.  (Yeah, he claims that it was all a joke ……… now)

Seriously: the is a class of people in the United States, and they fail over, and over again, but they keep falling up.

And people say that the Ivy League schools are over rated.

I can’t speak to the quality of the education, but the value of the connections are priceless.

Not Enough Bullets…

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Seriously, if I read one more story about these parasites complaining because they can’t do whatever they want whenever they want, I’ll go postal:

Andrew Schiff was sitting in a traffic jam in California this month after giving a speech at an investment conference about gold. He turned off the satellite radio, got out of the car and screamed a profanity.

“I’m not Zen at all, and when I’m freaking out about the situation, where I’m stuck like a rat in a trap on a highway with no way to get out, it’s very hard,” Schiff, director of marketing for broker-dealer Euro Pacific Capital Inc., said in an interview.

Schiff, 46, is facing another kind of jam this year: Paid a lower bonus, he said the $350,000 he earns, enough to put him in the country’s top 1 percent by income, doesn’t cover his family’s private-school tuition, a Kent, Connecticut, summer rental and the upgrade they would like from their 1,200-square- foot Brooklyn duplex.

“I feel stuck,” Schiff said. “The New York that I wanted to have is still just beyond my reach.”

The smaller bonus checks that hit accounts across the financial-services industry this month are making it difficult to maintain the lifestyles that Wall Street workers expect, according to interviews with bankers and their accountants, therapists, advisers and headhunters.

“People who don’t have money don’t understand the stress,” said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. “Could you imagine what it’s like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?”

…………

If they feel so bad about driving a “Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet (the Volkswagen of supercars.)”, or to go to a market in Brooklyn to score cheaper salmon, I have a suggestion for them, be the guy from Fight Club.

You know the one:

And this button-down, Oxford-cloth psycho might just snap, and then stalk from office to office with an Armalite AR-10 carbine gas-powered semi-automatic weapon, pumping round after round into colleagues and co-workers. This might be someone you’ve known for years. Someone very, very close to you.

Save one round for yourself, and you will do the world a favor.

F%$# Me!

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And not in a good way, because that fatuous preening faux Democrat Bob Kerrey has decided to change his mind and run for the Nebraska Senate:

Kerrey had announced earlier this month that would not try to return to the Senate, citing his family in New York City.

“Doing things the conventional way has never been my strong suit,” he said in a statement. “I came to realize that my previous decision was the easy one, not the right one. My commitment to serve Nebraska and America, and to be part of the debate about the challenges we face, was too strong to dismiss.”

His wife went from opposing to supporting the idea, according to a Democratic official, and that played a big role in his reversal.

“My family supports this decision 100 percent,” Kerrey said in his statement.

Just what we need, another Fox News Democrat who leads with cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Grover Norquist and the Club for Growth guys have it right, moving the dialogue in your direction is more important than winning any election, and when the party supports people who try to undermine core party values, the dicussion moves in the wrong way.

They Posthumously Baptized Anne Frank Again?!?!!?

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Oh those whacky Mormons:

Anne Frank, one of the most renowned Jewish victims of the Holocaust, has allegedly been baptized -again- in a Mormon temple. The proxy ritual, known as a ‘baptism for the dead’ reportedly happened in the Dominican Republic.

On Saturday, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was said to have performed the ceremony posthumously, according to whistle blower Helen Radkey.

Radkey, a Salt Lake city researcher and former member of the church, discovered that Anne Frank, who died in a concentration camp at 15, was baptized by proxy over the weekend.

The situation also stirred conflict between the two religions, as the Mormon church vowed to stop the posthumous baptisms. But the ritual has been carried out at least nine times in Frank’s case, over 10 years, from 1989 to 1999. Radkey said she made the discovery of the incident when Frank’s name appeared in a database for proxy baptism, which is usually only open to Mormons.

It is so on, bitches.

The Stupidest Thing Ever Written

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Surprisingly enough, it’s not Thomas Friedman who wrote this, it was David Graeber, in his book, Debt: The First 5000 Years.

I have to admit that I have not actually read this book, (and now, I never will) I am relying on a review from LizardBreath at Unfogged, and this is what she finds:

But then he starts talking about how democratic methods of structuring organizations are often more efficient than rigid hierarchies, and so will often arise spontaneously when people really need to be get things done. And he uses Apple Computers as an example:

Apple Computers is a famous example: it was founded by (mostly Republican) computer engineers who broke from IBM in Silicon Valley in the 1980s, forming little democratic circles of twenty to forty people with their laptops in each other’s garages.

I don’t know all that much about the history of Apple or of the computer business generally, but I’m pretty sure that’s as wrong as it could possibly be. Apple was founded by two guys, neither of whom (AFAIK) worked for IBM (maybe for a very short time? But certainly not extendedly). It was notoriously a rigid, top-down hierarchy, it was founded in the ’70s, not the ’80s, and who had a laptop until the very end of the ’80s? That’s a whole lot of wrong for one sentence.

It’s so stupid, that I am amazed that this wasn’t written by Tom Friedman.

Quote of the Day

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A lawyer for Mr. Strauss-Kahn appeared to confirm that he had attended the events, saying that his client would not have been aware if the women who entertained him were prostitutes.

“He could easily not have known, because as you can imagine, at these kinds of parties you’re not always dressed, and I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman,” the lawyer, Henri Leclerc, told a French radio station, Europe 1, in December.

—Dominique Strauss-Kahn lawyer

The rich REALLY are not like you and me.

H/t Brad Delong.

We Are a Nation of F%$#ing Ingrates

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In the latest episode of this, we have farmers complaining because the Iraqi people have decided not to buy their overpriced rice:

The talk of the day among Ray Stoesser and other rice farmers is Iraq’s decision not to buy U.S. rice, a stinging move that adds to a stressful year punctuated by everything from drought to unusual heat.

Stoesser and other farmers know Iraqis struggled during the U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation. They know most countries , and people , buy based on price.

But at the moment, with production costs rising, export markets shrinking and rice prices dropping, it’s difficult to be rational and suppress emotions so intimately intertwined with their land and livelihood.

“That’s just not right,” the 63-year-old Stoesser fumed. “If we’ve got some rice to sell, they ought to pay a premium for it just because this is the country that freed them.”

Iraq imports most of its rice, about 1 million metric tons per year, making it a significant player in the global market. In the past decade, about 10 percent to 15 percent of that total came from the United States. But Iraq hasn’t bought any U.S. rice since late 2010.

“You would think with all that we’ve done over there, there would be a way to get them to do business with us,” said Ronald Gertson, who grows rice in Lissie, Texas.

So, we invade their country, setting off massive ethnic cleansing, a collapse of their infrastructure, a retreat to reactionary religious oppression, daily violence, and a political leadership who take their orders from Tehran.

And that’s ignoring the fact that we caused over 100,000 deaths, and over a million refugees.

And they are supposed to be grateful that we broke their country and are in the process of stealing their oil?

What the f%$# is wrong with these farmers?

H/t Atrios.

Wanker of the Day

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John Corrigan, who thinks that people deserve to have their home stolen by the banks:

That can lead to confusion over who had the legal right to process the foreclosure. But it doesn’t mean the foreclosure itself was unwarranted.

So, foreclosing on someone who doesn’t have a mortgage, or for a mortgage that doesn’t belong to you, or illegally evading billions in title fees, or defrauding investors in mortgage backed securities is all OK, because you are robbing bad people.

H/t Atrios.

You Have Got To Be Kidding

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Guess what, the heavy duty Randroids out there are now going after their enemy du jour, George Bailey, president of the Bailey building and loan:

It’s been a standing joke for ages to claim that some free-market Randroid was so clueless that he or she would watch “It’s A Wonderful Life” and cheer for Mr. Potter while hissing at George Bailey. It would be the equivalent, say, of someone hoping that Scrooge would tell the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future to sod off or that Spielberg would leave E.T. to die alone in a ditch in Southern California or that Dorothy would be stranded in Oz for the rest of her life as the Wizard’s concubine.

But, of course, this, or so everyone thought, was all just cute and snarky hyperbole. No one, not even the High Priestess Ayn Rand herself, could possibly actually watch “It’s A Wonderful Life” and come away not sobbing like a child but instead thinking that George Bailey was a social parasite spouting vile commie propaganda against the heroic Mr. Potter, the job creator who knew what was really best for the people of Bedford Falls.

Yes, they are demonizing the hero, played by honest to God war hero Jimmy Stewart, of Frank Capra’s treacly bit of cinema, It’s a Wonderful Life, which is considered by many (not me) to be an American cinematic icon.*

Seriously, what the f%$# are wrong with these folks?

I’m beginning to understand what led Ayn Rand to have a doting crush on one William Edward Hickman, a monster who kidnapped and dismembered a twelve year old girl, it’s because Randian libertarianism is not so much a philosophy as it is a beard to conceal from the rest of the world that they are sociopaths.

*Personally, I’m not a big fan of the movie, and it was viewed as a resounding failure when released.  My interest was in the fact that it became popular when it passed out of copyright, and TV stations showed it repeatedly in the holiday season, creating a classic.  My interest is how a series of court rulings allowed it to be snatched out of the public domain.

Duke, Meet Newt

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In the middle of the Republican establishment’s heads exploding over the possibility of a Newt candidacy, Gingrich has been endorsed by former Congressman, and convicted felon, Randall “Duke” Cunningham:

Jailed ex-Congressman Duke Cunningham wants Newt Gingrich to know he’s got the Republican presidential candidate’s back.

Cunningham apparently has been watching the Republican presidential primary debates while spending 100 months in a Tucson, Ariz. federal prison. Cunningham, a Republican who represented northern San Diego, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion in 2005 in one of the biggest federal bribery scandals in recent memory.

Cunningham tells Gingrich in an electronic message he says he sent to the candidate last month that his fellow prisoners, and their families, support Gingrich

Heh.

Since When Were Swiss Bank Acounts Acceptable?

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On NPR this morning, one of their bankster apologists was noting that Romney closed his Swiss bank account because recent US crack-downs on tax evaders using these accounts made them politically suspect.

What fairy tale land have these folks been living in?

I’m 49 years old, and for as long as I can remember, “Swiss Bank Account” has been synonymous with  tax evasion and concealing the proceeds of illegal activities.

My conclusion is that these guys must have the political and financial acumen of Little Orphan Annie.

New Gingrich, Whiny Bitch

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It appears that Newt just can’t get his debate on without a dawg pound in the audience, so hew is threatening to skip debates if they don’t allow the audience to cheer and boo, because it’s important to allow the audience to boo the golden rule, and cheer allowing grannies to die:

Newt Gingrich insists his fans will not be silenced.

Mr. Gingrich, a former House speaker, on Tuesday morning threatened not participate in any future debates with audiences that have been instructed to be silent. That was the case on Monday, when Brian Williams of NBC News asked the audience of about 500 people who assembled for a debate in Tampa to hold their applause until the commercial breaks.

In an interview with the morning show “Fox and Friends,” Mr. Gingrich said NBC’s rules amounted to stifling free speech. In what has become a standard line of attack for his anti-establishment campaign, Mr. Gingrich blamed the media for trying to silence a dissenting point of view.

“I wish in retrospect I’d protested when Brian Williams took them out of it because I think it’s wrong,” Mr. Gingrich said. “And I think he took them out of it because the media is terrified that the audience is going to side with the candidates against the media, which is what they’ve done in every debate.”

Seriously, it appears that Gingrich can’t be at his best without an audience of inbred sociopath teabagger bigots, I guess.

He’s the perfect Republican.

Oh My F%$#ing Ghod!

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The Obama administration is floating Larry Summers as the next head of the World Bank:

President Barack Obama may put his mark on the World Bank by nominating Lawrence Summers, his former National Economic Council director, to lead the bank when Robert Zoellick’s term expires later this year, according to two people familiar with the matter.

While a Summers nomination may draw criticism from some Democrats who disagree with his past stances on deregulating the financial industry, he has support inside the administration from top officials, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and current NEC Director Gene Sperling, said one of the people.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also being considered, along with other candidates, said the other person. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.

Larry Summers’ record was too toxic for Obama to nominate him as secretary of the treasury, and the parts of his record that aren’t rife with incompetence or corruption show that he is completely incapable of operating in an environment like the World bank, which requires consensus.

There is no eleventy dimensional chess.  This is just stupid and arrogant.

H/t Felix Salmon.