I'm not completely up on the whole new package of Obamatard Financial Reforms. I really don't plan to be, either, since wading through endless pages of financial terms and Senatorese about Sub-section 2651.V, appendix J, of United States Code... is about as rewarding as the wishful thinking that one day Arabs might actually discover their own retardation and make an effort to improve themselves has been. There are more constructive uses for my time; smoking, a vodka and tonic, and a hockey game come to mind.
But, you do have to pay attention to some aspects of this sort of thing, if only because if you don't, you miss the chance for a belly laugh and perhaps another insight into the Retards we let run our lives.
The Excuse for a new slew of Federal Regulations (i.e. Congressional and Presidential meddling in Financial Markets, in a subject they know little about, the creation of new Bureaucracies and the Strengthening of the Old and Ineffective Ones, and a smorgasbord of New Taxes) is that Wall Street Has Run Amok, and that it has Destroyed the American Free Market System, which required massive bailouts of every major financial firm on the planet. In order to Repair The Economy, and Save the Taxpayer from further abuse and grief, the government must, in the immortal words of Peter Arnett, "...destroy the village in order to save it..."
We need the government to be empowered to do things it's never been able to do before -- and give it the discretion to do it capriciously -- because the Old Way resulted in rampant fraud, crashing markets and a $700 billion bailout.
Hold yer horses there, Mr. Barack Hussein Ojerkoff!
The reason Wall Street failed (and I must admit, I'm not an expert here, just someone who watched how the Brokers and Bankers operate) , has nothing to do with regulations, or the lack of enforcement, thereof. In fact, you can trace most of the original problems directly TO regulations, or more specifically, Congressional action, and a lot of stupidity and greed on the part of people who should have known better, but who have no moral compass.
The first of these plagues was the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, a Depression-era safeguard which prohibited Banks, Brokerages, Mortgage Brokers and Insurance companies from being owned by the same entities, and their businesses intertwined. No sooner than this Law was repealed, than I saw the creation of Citigroup (where I was working at the time); it steadily acquired more and more business units, until by the time I left (2004), Citigroup contained the original Citibank and several regional/state banks (core banking services), Smith-Barney/Salomon Brothers/Nikko Securities and Schroeder's International (investment banking and securities trading -- and that's in addition to the previously-absorbed rumps of E.F. Hutton, and parts of the old Shearson-Lehman-American Express conglomerate), Traveler's Insurance (along with the Traveler's portfolio of smaller insurers), Primerica Corp. (mortgage lending and mortgage-backed securities), and approximately a dozen other, smaller operations, including several foreign (mainly Mexican) banks, or firms dedicated to more specific aspects of all-things-Financial.
The Idea was to create the Financial equivalent of a One-Stop Shopping Center, where you could walk into a Citi branch, and not only make a deposit, or get a new checkbook, but build a stock portfolio with your personal Smith-Barney financial advisor, apply for a mortgage through Primerica, get that college loan form your regional bank, buy auto or home insurance from a Traveler's Representative, all in a conveniently-located central location. And of course, all this cross-selling of services had it's benefits: if you used Citi finanical products exclusively, you got discounts, and you got other incentives mostly related to cheap promotional junk; you got free calculators, t-shirts, and other crap, all with that nifty Red Umbrella on it. If you had some scratch, you got better gifts. Eventually, Citibank grows to have it's fingers in every pie you can think of, and has money tied up in anything you can imagine. That's when it's not lending money to countries (Argentina and Russia, specifically) which default on billion-dollar loans more often than democrats make stupid statements.
The Second problem was a monetary policy promulgated by the "Genius", Alan Greenspan, who was so preoccupied by the specter of inflation, and struggling to understand an electronic revolution that overwhelmed a 70-year old's mental capacity, and who also made "Cheap Credit" his mantra. Cheap credit eventually made riskier investments easier, because cash was available at lower interest rates. That had two practical effects: it made the practice of borrowing money from the Fed at ridiculously-low interest rates, and then lending it (via mortgages and credit cards) at outrageous interest rates, very lucrative. It also helped to trap many Americans in debt. It made making riskier loans easier to hedge -- if there was a shortfall, you should be able to borrow money from the Fed to cover the losses, at practically no interest.
The practice of giving 300k mortgages to people who made less than 50k a year, at variable or higher interest rates, was a gold mine in this sort of environment. And it was safe, so long as everyone stayed gainfully employed, and managed the Minimum Monthly Payment. The practice of charging 18-25% interest on credit cards was even more lucrative, since people given access to more credit (thanks to loose interest policies and a consumer-based society hooked on the products of the Information Age) sucked the stuff up and began living via plastic instead of cash. They lost perspective on the value of money. If the suckers overextended themselves, no problem; Wall Street managed to get the bankruptcy laws changed so that no one walks away, anymore. It's all profit.
The final Nail in the Coffin was the belief that Everyone Deserves A Home of Their Own. That's a nice sentiment, but with all that easy credit and ridiculously-obtainable mortgages floating about, not to mention Congress driving the Banks to make this a reality for Low-Income people (i.e. deadbeats and minorities), or suffer the consequences, we created a certain mindset; not only do I deserve a Home of My Own, I Deserve a Home No one Else has Ever Lived in Before, Too -- and I can pay for it because there's all this Free Money flying around.
(A side note: this Homebuyer's Revolution led to another, smaller revolution; the vast array of Home-based television shows, like Dream House, or Home and Gardens TV, or those dumb shows where people renovate each other's houses based upon their own taste and such, and don't get me started on the whole A&E series of Gay Real Estate Agents and their House Flipping. They make this seem all-so-easy, and people laboring under the impression that a) money is easy to come by, and b) I can do what they just did made some of this appreciably worse).
The combination of easy mortgages, a marketplace who wanted more and unique housing, and government encouragement, the ability to pass off bad loans in as Mortgage-Backed Securities guaranteed by Freddie and Fannie at no risk, and the housing market was soon in full swing, producing New Homes like Inner-city crack whores produce illegitimate offspring; the market became saturated with houses that can only be sold so long as credit was easy to obtain..
And then, It Happened. Someone swiped half-a-Trillion dollars from the Economy on day in September 2008.
(Ed. Note: I say "someone" in the belief that the Fed, or anyone else involved, can never actually tell the truth about this event, and we will likely never know who was actually involved. If the Fed tells you it knows how it was done, and by whom, you might not like those answers, and might even begin to question why it was "they" were allowed to do what they did. If, on the other hand, the Fed should try to tell you that "it doesn't know How It Happened", that would be even worse. Either way, faith would be lost in the Federal Reserve System and the American Economy, and we'd be in an even bigger hole. I think, this, more than anything else, explains the speed and lack of debate, or even information, that preceded the $700 million Bailout. This country was either attacked economically by our enemies, either an act of economic terrorism or an attempt to weaken us in some way, or the Fed found itself the victim of a simple, and entirely-foreseeable-in-retrospect mistakes that someone probably brought to their attention, and which they failed to subsequently correct).
Citigroup (amongst others) became Too Big To Fail, because it had been allowed to become a bloated, under-capitalized frat house of extreme risk-takers driven by the promise of easy credit, which would save them from their worst mistakes. The outrageous profits to be gained by gaming the system were too heady a brew to ignore, and Financial Professionals are all about getting while the getting is good, no questions asked, no ethical or professional line that can't be blurred by fine distinctions or willing stupidity . It was a game made easier by the Federal Reserve and several Acts of Congress.
When the System Failed, the solution was to "pump" $700 billion into it in order to keep all the "Too-Big-To-Fails-Afloat". It's actual effect was to dry up all that low-interest liquidity that encouraged the bad loans and the Plastic Economy in the first place, further exacerbating the problem. The $787 billion "Stimulus" bill further reduced the amount of available credit by restricting the money supply. The subsequent printing of money to pay for this "stimulus" has lessened the value of what cash can be obtained through inflation. The Wall Street firms may have gotten colossal amounts of bailout funds -- but they got it at the expense of every other business in America. And far from clearing the "toxic assets" from their books with that money, like they were supposed to, the Big Firms simply propped up their stock prices, which allowed their Executives (the one's who presided over this mess) to profit even more, and pay back the loans quickly in some cases. The speed involved in both the formulation of the original Bailout package, and the Stimulus Program, left little details like directing Wall Street on how to best spend that money and making certain they used it for that specific purpose, completely un-discussed, let alone enacted or included in the final product.
The Housing Market, one of the foundations of the economic system, is in disarray: it's got units it can't -- and perhaps never will -- sell. It's got houses that are going into foreclosure (because the sucking up of credit by the Fed and the Government are hurting their mortgage-holder's employers), and it will lose out on these, also. Large numbers of homes (old and new) will soon be empty, and simply left to rot, because high unemployment and harder-to-get credit will ensure there are no buyers.The Banks now hold so much worthless paper that the tellers are wiping their asses with it.
AIG, General Motors, Chrysler, General Electric, Citigroup, Shearson-Lehman, Goldman Sachs, Bear-Stearns/UBS, Merril Lynch, and their finance arms, are now owned, in large part, by the federal Government (incidentally, the Obama System of Government intervention is almost exactly how things worked in Nazi Germany). Obama already has command of these institutions by virtue of the bailout; now he wants the ability to micro-manage these companies for political ends, and to beat them up in the media to keep that Class Warfare theme going.
Obama now cites all this abuse and lack of oversight as a prime reason why we need a New Set of Rules. To Ensure that This NEVER Happens again. This is now something like my fifth or sixth "recession" and I've discovered that they always happen again, and usually for the same reasons.
People get greedy. People get stupid. Congress gets even greedier and stupider (because it's full of cloistered morons who don't know what the real world is like, and who expect to be bribed), and makes the process of being Greedy and Stupid much, much easier. We don't need Better Rules; we need Better Human Beings. The problem is, you're not likely to find either in the Government or The Boardroom.
Besides, we already had a system of punishing the guilty; It was called Bankruptcy Law, and it wasn't given the chance to work. The mentality (panic, really) of the time, was that bankruptcy was a giant No-No. It shouldn't be allowed to happen because the consequences would be so hideous (like the election of B.O. hasn't been a disaster?). The government didn't even allow the system it set up to work they way it was supposed to. It would have worked, too. And this "recession" would probably be a lot shallower and eventually shorter, if it had.
Having already facilitated the corruption of the Old System, then preventing the safeguards and punishments they mandated for that System to function -- all for selfish political ends -- the government, President Obama specifically, is now arguing that because The Old System Failed, because of our willing and purposeful failure to obey it's rules, we now require a Whole New System.
And there's no politics involved in it...at all.
Well, he's already sold the notion of "free" Healthcare, a political program that consists largely of staged media events and little of substance, Himself as a "post-racial-post-partisan" healer of Divine Origin, so why shouldn't he give this one a try, too?
The sooner we get a new Congress to rein this bastard in, the better off this country will be. We already have a system of laws to punish Goldman-Sachs. Let it work the way it's intended, and reserve judgement on whether or not new rules are required until the Goldman situation has been hashed out. The speed and lack of debate with which Obama is pushing this new initiative is part of the same pattern he's used on Healthcare and Cap-and-Trade, and seems to be his preferred method of operation; get the press release, get the photo-op, screw the details.
Showing posts with label Chris Dodd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Dodd. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Another One Bites the Dust...
And this Kennedy didn't even need to get shot first, although rumor has it that his brand of "shooting" has little to do with guns, if you get my drift...
By my count, that's about 10 major democrats (from both houses) who have decided to either resign, retire, or who have basically decided to not run for re-election in the last few months, not including two who simply dropped dead. Those were Edward Kennedy (who defied medical impossibility like the Lyin' of the Senate that he was, and grew a brain tumor in what appeared to be an empty skull) and John Murtha, who died from complications during a routine gallbladder operation that was (allegedly) botched so badly that you'd almost think it was paid for by the government...Oh, wait, Congresscritters have a great healthcare plan paid for by the taxpayer, don't they?
Good thing there's no tort reform in all that Health Care talk, and Abscam Johnny's family will be able to sue like a motherfucker. Boy, talk about a cheap way to avoid an ethics probe!
Still, there's a few more I'd like to show the door. I don't see why Harry, Nancy, Blanche Lincoln, Charlie Rangel, Barney Fwank, Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Anthony Weiner, Patrick Leahy, Bernie Sanders, John Kerry, Kirsten Gillibrand, Chucky Schumer, Maurice Hinchey should be so shy about beating a hasty retreat before they're embarassed anymore in public ....They should all get out now and beat the traffic in November.
Last week, The President vowed that he would "fight" and reassured his disciples that "I don't quit", but it appears as if his fellow travelers can't wait to throw in the towel themselves. In numbers that begin to stagger the mind. Why, even Arlen Specter, the newly-minted democrat was thinking of changing parties again, I hear -- but the American Asshole Sniffer Party told him to pike off --- they would rather have Khalid Sheik Mohammed on thier ticket.
At this rate, it's not difficult to begin to imagine somewhere near half of the democratic Congressional incumbancy could possibly take a powder before the mid-terms, if things continue this way. Frankly, I wouldn't mind if a near-equal number of republican incumbents followed them. At least then the Hallowed Halls of Congress might begin to smell somewhat cleaner just before that crisp, autumnal breeze blows through them and banishes the awful odor of Imperious Doofus right out of the drapery with a new generation of (we can hope!) principled politicians.
By my count, that's about 10 major democrats (from both houses) who have decided to either resign, retire, or who have basically decided to not run for re-election in the last few months, not including two who simply dropped dead. Those were Edward Kennedy (who defied medical impossibility like the Lyin' of the Senate that he was, and grew a brain tumor in what appeared to be an empty skull) and John Murtha, who died from complications during a routine gallbladder operation that was (allegedly) botched so badly that you'd almost think it was paid for by the government...Oh, wait, Congresscritters have a great healthcare plan paid for by the taxpayer, don't they?
Good thing there's no tort reform in all that Health Care talk, and Abscam Johnny's family will be able to sue like a motherfucker. Boy, talk about a cheap way to avoid an ethics probe!
Still, there's a few more I'd like to show the door. I don't see why Harry, Nancy, Blanche Lincoln, Charlie Rangel, Barney Fwank, Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Anthony Weiner, Patrick Leahy, Bernie Sanders, John Kerry, Kirsten Gillibrand, Chucky Schumer, Maurice Hinchey should be so shy about beating a hasty retreat before they're embarassed anymore in public ....They should all get out now and beat the traffic in November.
Last week, The President vowed that he would "fight" and reassured his disciples that "I don't quit", but it appears as if his fellow travelers can't wait to throw in the towel themselves. In numbers that begin to stagger the mind. Why, even Arlen Specter, the newly-minted democrat was thinking of changing parties again, I hear -- but the American Asshole Sniffer Party told him to pike off --- they would rather have Khalid Sheik Mohammed on thier ticket.
At this rate, it's not difficult to begin to imagine somewhere near half of the democratic Congressional incumbancy could possibly take a powder before the mid-terms, if things continue this way. Frankly, I wouldn't mind if a near-equal number of republican incumbents followed them. At least then the Hallowed Halls of Congress might begin to smell somewhat cleaner just before that crisp, autumnal breeze blows through them and banishes the awful odor of Imperious Doofus right out of the drapery with a new generation of (we can hope!) principled politicians.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Baby Boomers and Healthcare...
The current battle over Healthcare directly springs from Boomer selfishness; the Baby Boomers are, without a doubt, the most health-obsessed people in the history of mankind. They have brought us the jogging craze, the aerobics craze, the macrobiotic and organic diets, steroid abuse, vitamin abuse, herbal remedies, the healing power of crystals, holistic medicine, Yoga and Pilates. They believe they have the right to live forever.
They expect to live forever, perpetually young, and free of every minor complaint. You'll notice that all of the ultra-expensive-but-marginally-effective drug advertising these days is aimed specifically at Baby Boomers, and their lifestyle of convenience: once-a-month osteoporosis treatments (because they're too busy to devote 18 seconds a day to taking a pill with a glass of water), erectile dysfunction medications that swear you can get a boner on a schedule (because it pays to have that 36-hour zone of boner-on-a-moment's-notice piece of mind), miracle cures for leaky bladders, overgrown prostates, pattern baldness, vaginal dryness, graying and thinning hair, and made-up "diseases" like Chronic Dry Eye (take your fucking contacts out and wear glasses once in a while, you vain motherfucker!) and Restless Leg Syndrome (do they get up and walk away of their own volition? How about you get off your recliner and go take a walk?). All pushed by exquisitely-tanned-and-well-preserved-through-extensive-plastic-surgery Baby-Boomer actors, who seem to portray the ideal retirement life centered around recreating the 60's -- only with mountain bikes and spandex shorts-- where eternal youth is measured in orgasms,or merely the ability to fuck at all. And of course, they expect it all to come at someone else's expense.
Because being a Baby Boomer means never having to answer for anything, even taking care of your own health. They try to avoid the consequences of Old Age with the same fervor their parents devoted to fighting the scourge of Nazism. Consequences (from anything) are for other people, and in this case, so are the bills. Oh, and if they don't get what they want, why, they'll have nothing but medically-extended years to do nothing at all --- except vote....for people like Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry. People who think like they do, because they are the same people.
Not that the last crop of politicos was any better. George W. Bush's idea of "reforming" medicare was to add the "Prescription Drug Plan", a $1-trillion dollar waste, that was negotiated into existence by Boomers, will almost exclusively be abused by Boomers, and paid for by non-Boomers forever.
The battle over who gets this "healthcare" is typically framed in terms of Citizens-vs-Illegal Aliens, Unions-vs-Private Sector, Black-vs-White, and to a certain extent, all of that is true: the democratic party would like to give even yet more "free" shit to a new demographic (Hispanics) which will replace the old, disappearing demographics of blacks who haven't realized that the fight for Civil Rights was won 40 years ago, and Union Labor. However, the real battle lines are being drawn between those with pre-and-post 1965-birth dates.
Because it is the pre-1965 folks who will receive all the benefits, and all the post-19665 folks who will pay for it (I have chosen 1965 arbitrarily, but it seems as reasonable a starting point as any). That, above all else, is probably why that promise to see everything on C-Span has been broken; because if we saw what was truly going on, we would see a bunch of Baby Boomers conspiring to reserve the privilege taxpayer-funded of medical care all to themselves. Because they're the ones who will have to retire soon, in greater numbers than ever before seen in history, and do so with portfolios that have been destroyed by the economic collapses of recent years (collapses engineered by other Baby Boomers, naturally). All the major players in this drama, Pelosi, Reid, Landrieu, Nelson, Schumer, Bayh, Dorgan, Dodd, Frank, and even Martha Coakley (although she's too dumb to realize it) are all Baby Boomers themselves. There's not a person under 40 in that smoky, political backroom, I'll bet.
I was reminded of all this this morning because first thing, I turned on my television, and I was assaulted, again, by the image of half-a-dozen-aging-hippy-garage-banders singing a paean to the virtues of the erection, and the little pill that brought it to them, but which has 72 other side effects and restrictions which would probably kill a brontosaur under normal conditions.
It's only a short leap from paying for hip replacements and heart valves, to a demand that Government start paying for aphrodisiacs, breast and penile implants, maybe even labioplasty, for octogenarians, just so they can try all those new-fangled-and-totally-free parts out.
They expect to live forever, perpetually young, and free of every minor complaint. You'll notice that all of the ultra-expensive-but-marginally-effective drug advertising these days is aimed specifically at Baby Boomers, and their lifestyle of convenience: once-a-month osteoporosis treatments (because they're too busy to devote 18 seconds a day to taking a pill with a glass of water), erectile dysfunction medications that swear you can get a boner on a schedule (because it pays to have that 36-hour zone of boner-on-a-moment's-notice piece of mind), miracle cures for leaky bladders, overgrown prostates, pattern baldness, vaginal dryness, graying and thinning hair, and made-up "diseases" like Chronic Dry Eye (take your fucking contacts out and wear glasses once in a while, you vain motherfucker!) and Restless Leg Syndrome (do they get up and walk away of their own volition? How about you get off your recliner and go take a walk?). All pushed by exquisitely-tanned-and-well-preserved-through-extensive-plastic-surgery Baby-Boomer actors, who seem to portray the ideal retirement life centered around recreating the 60's -- only with mountain bikes and spandex shorts-- where eternal youth is measured in orgasms,or merely the ability to fuck at all. And of course, they expect it all to come at someone else's expense.
Because being a Baby Boomer means never having to answer for anything, even taking care of your own health. They try to avoid the consequences of Old Age with the same fervor their parents devoted to fighting the scourge of Nazism. Consequences (from anything) are for other people, and in this case, so are the bills. Oh, and if they don't get what they want, why, they'll have nothing but medically-extended years to do nothing at all --- except vote....for people like Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry. People who think like they do, because they are the same people.
Not that the last crop of politicos was any better. George W. Bush's idea of "reforming" medicare was to add the "Prescription Drug Plan", a $1-trillion dollar waste, that was negotiated into existence by Boomers, will almost exclusively be abused by Boomers, and paid for by non-Boomers forever.
The battle over who gets this "healthcare" is typically framed in terms of Citizens-vs-Illegal Aliens, Unions-vs-Private Sector, Black-vs-White, and to a certain extent, all of that is true: the democratic party would like to give even yet more "free" shit to a new demographic (Hispanics) which will replace the old, disappearing demographics of blacks who haven't realized that the fight for Civil Rights was won 40 years ago, and Union Labor. However, the real battle lines are being drawn between those with pre-and-post 1965-birth dates.
Because it is the pre-1965 folks who will receive all the benefits, and all the post-19665 folks who will pay for it (I have chosen 1965 arbitrarily, but it seems as reasonable a starting point as any). That, above all else, is probably why that promise to see everything on C-Span has been broken; because if we saw what was truly going on, we would see a bunch of Baby Boomers conspiring to reserve the privilege taxpayer-funded of medical care all to themselves. Because they're the ones who will have to retire soon, in greater numbers than ever before seen in history, and do so with portfolios that have been destroyed by the economic collapses of recent years (collapses engineered by other Baby Boomers, naturally). All the major players in this drama, Pelosi, Reid, Landrieu, Nelson, Schumer, Bayh, Dorgan, Dodd, Frank, and even Martha Coakley (although she's too dumb to realize it) are all Baby Boomers themselves. There's not a person under 40 in that smoky, political backroom, I'll bet.
I was reminded of all this this morning because first thing, I turned on my television, and I was assaulted, again, by the image of half-a-dozen-aging-hippy-garage-banders singing a paean to the virtues of the erection, and the little pill that brought it to them, but which has 72 other side effects and restrictions which would probably kill a brontosaur under normal conditions.
It's only a short leap from paying for hip replacements and heart valves, to a demand that Government start paying for aphrodisiacs, breast and penile implants, maybe even labioplasty, for octogenarians, just so they can try all those new-fangled-and-totally-free parts out.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Draining The Swamp...
Just a quick list of democratic "lawmakers" and officials who have wound up on the wrong side of an ethics investigation, or who have some dubious qualifications for office, who best represent the graft that Nancy Pelosi said she would clean up. In no particular order, I give you the Most Ethical and Transparent Government EVAH:
Secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geithner - Tax cheat who didn't even pay his taxes when his employer gave him the money and instructions to do so! Crony capitalist who orchestrated the TARP fiasco, who is now accused of helping AIG hide losses from government regulators. Geithner is at the heart of all things Wall Street bailout-related because of his former job as chief of the NY Fed, but it also seems that Geithner has been in bed with many of the major players at AIG, Citi, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs, amongst others. He won't come clean, and he won't resign, and the taxpayer is on the hook for $750 billion that went to his cronies. By the way; Geithner was allowed to pay his unpaid taxes without fines or penalty. Why don't you try to get that sort of deal from the IRS?
Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis - another tax cheat. Solis "forgot" to pay taxes...four times. Even when the IRS "reminded" her to pay them. Four times. Solis was also "permitted" to pay the back taxes she owed (four times) without a fine or penalty, and nary a word said in public. Once again, I invite you to try the IRS on that sort of thing and see if they don't fine you within an inch of your life.
Attorney General, Eric Holder - the man who accused America of cowardice for it's inability to deal with the subject of race (hey, the Klan knew how to deal with the subject of race. Would you prefer we went back to those days, Mr. AG? I think we're doing rather better than that, no thanks to people like you), wants to give terrorists the same rights as any other criminal defendant in our civilian courts. Recently, questions have been raised about his motivations, as it appears the AG may have a conflict of interest in this sort of thing; a law firm he worked for before becoming the AG has defended several terrorists in U.S. civilian and military trials already, garnering a lot of government cash in the process,probably. Mr. Holder himself is yet to be accused of anything, hell, when he appears in front of Congress he apears to not know anything -- at all -- but he may want to rethink that whole "try the Undibombers in the Public Square" thing.
Rep. Barney Frank (Homo - Massachusetts) - Co-Orchestrator of the looming Fannie/Freddie collapse, proponent of the massive 'Stimulus' boondoggle that will cost more than expected and do less than advertised. Barney Fwank was diddling one of Fannie or Freddie's (I forget which) chief executives, who was possibly using his romantic influence with the Representative to keep regulators and reformers away from his agency. Barney stood in the path of reform no fewer than seven times. He never reported his conflict of interest, i.e. fucking one of the executives of an agency he was supposed to be regulating. Barney is also a classic example of why some people in this country continue to call for the stoning of gays in the public square; he is one of the most insufferable human beings alive (Michelle Obama is a distant second). There has been no ethic investigation of Barney's behavior whatsoever.
Sen. Chris Dodd (Dipshit - Connecticut) - Another of the Wall Street defenders, Dodd also had as many fingers (figuratively-speaking) in Fannie (not someones actual Fannie, we mean Fannie Mae, the mortgage thingy. Dodd, so far as we know, isn't quite as gay as Barney Frank). He's up to his neck in mortgage scandal money, having received two "sweetheart" mortgage deals from Angelo Mozillo, former CEO fo Nationwide, which is now defunct. Dodd's fingerprints are all over the AIG mess, and he slipped a provision into a bill int he middle of the night to allow AIG to pay huge bonuses to dipshit executives with Taxpayer money. Dodd's only saving grace was that he's finally resigned, given the reality inevitable loss in the mid-terms. The ethics investigation done on Dodd was a model of speed, efficiency and whitewash, which went by so fast and touched him so lightly that it just might as well have never happened. He can now retire to that Irish "cottage" of his, and hopefully, he will never contaminate these shores again. Oh, and Senator? We're still waiting for the documents!
Sen. Mary Landrieu (Thief - Louisiana) - The recipient of the Famous "Louisiana Purchase", and we don't mean the land deal that Jefferson swung on the French and which led to the exploits of Lewis and Clark. No, we're talking the $300 million dollars Harry Reid promised Mary for her "yea" vote on Healthcare. The stink of this one is that it wasn't even hidden; it happened in broad daylight, on the senate floor, and was being reported on by the cable networks before the proposition was even complete. To date, Landrieu hasn't even expressed a shred of remorse or shame over her actions, and says even less than the statue of Lincoln at the memorial.
Sen. Ben Nelson (Dickhead - Nebraska) - Recipient of another infamous bribe, the "Cornhusker Kickback", in which his state of Nebraska would essentially get Medicare for all eternity at the expense of the other 49 states. Fortunately for us, the people of Nebraska have some sense of propriety and fair-play, and howled so loudly that Nelson began to backtrack even before the ink was dry on that Harry Reid promise (bribe). Now Nelson is in danger of being voted out of office, and plenty panicked about his future. I would suggest he start acquiring a taste for orange jumpsuits, since accepting a bribe for a vote is supposed to be a crime in this country. Unfortunately, he'll wriggle free of this one.
Rep. Charlie Rangel (Hemmorhoid - New York) - the Man who runs the Ways and Means Committee in the House, which writes the very tax laws you struggle with every year, apparently doesn't know, or even bother to follow them, himself. He even said as much, claiming the tax code (which he helped construct) is so complex that even he doesn't know what's in it. When Charlie isn't hiding scads of income like $75,000 in rent from his overseas hideaway, four rent-controlled apartments, illegal deductions for using those apartments for campaign purposes, and accepting all sorts of illegal donations in return for his help in getting some asshole's name on a university building or something, he's busy spending your money faster than the government can collect it, and then even faster than it can borrow it from China. Oh, btw, Charlie was allowed to pay his back taxes without interest or penalty attached. It seems the IRS is in a forgiving mood these days,perhaps I shall give them a miss this year?
Rep. John Murtha (Windbag - Pennsylvania) - Murtha has been up to his ass in scandal since ABSCAM in the mid-70's. He's been up to his neck in shady defense-contractor dealings practically forever, and he's been the recipient of more campaign contributions from defense contractors than any other member of Congress. Yet, this is the man who has denigrated US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq since the beginning of those wars, even going as far as to compare them to the Nazis. He should be shot just for treason just on that basis alone, but instead, the idiots in Pennsylvania (the so-called Bitter Clingers) sent this liberal piece of shit thief back Congress. There has still been no investigation of Murtha's alleged crimes, but Pelosi bent over backwards and practically blew every member of the Ethics Committee in order to nail Randall "Duke" Cunningham on his shady shenanigans with defense contractors. The pot calls the kettle black, methinks.
I know I'm forgetting more of the democratic rogues gallery, like Dorgan, Ackerman, Jefferson, the SEIU, ACORN amongst others. But you get the point.
The rallying cry of the last mid-term election cycle for democrats was the "culture of corruption" that surrounded republicans, with their associations with Jack Abramoff, the Cunningham scnadal, and the "indiscretions" of Senator Craig and Congressmen Foley (both of which involved allegations of inappropriate gay sex, which apparently no one can be bothered to act shocked at when Barney Frank is involved), whom they also used to tar "family-oriented" republicans with the label "hypocrite". Nancy Pelosi, upon her coronation which had all the splendor of Elvis Vegas show but none of the charm, claimed she would "drain the swamp" of Washington, and then Barack Obama came along and cried "transparency on C-Span" (a trick which Bill Clinton once used, too). Somewhere between "Drain the Swamp" and "Hope n' stuff", they've lost their way.
That's if they ever meant any of it in the first place.
Update: I must not have had enough coffee at the time, but I almost forgot: the democratic Secretary of State of Taxachsetts is threatening to delay the certification of Scott Brown, a republican running in a special election for the Senate Seat formerly occupied by the enormous-drunken-alleged-rapist-alleged-manslaughtering-cancer-couldn't-have-happened-to-a-nicer-guy Ted Kennedy, should he win, just so that the dems could keep their 60-vote majority to pass "Healthcare Reform Legislation". This, incidentally, was announced PUBLICLY. They don't even bother to hide conspiracy anymore.
Secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geithner - Tax cheat who didn't even pay his taxes when his employer gave him the money and instructions to do so! Crony capitalist who orchestrated the TARP fiasco, who is now accused of helping AIG hide losses from government regulators. Geithner is at the heart of all things Wall Street bailout-related because of his former job as chief of the NY Fed, but it also seems that Geithner has been in bed with many of the major players at AIG, Citi, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs, amongst others. He won't come clean, and he won't resign, and the taxpayer is on the hook for $750 billion that went to his cronies. By the way; Geithner was allowed to pay his unpaid taxes without fines or penalty. Why don't you try to get that sort of deal from the IRS?
Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis - another tax cheat. Solis "forgot" to pay taxes...four times. Even when the IRS "reminded" her to pay them. Four times. Solis was also "permitted" to pay the back taxes she owed (four times) without a fine or penalty, and nary a word said in public. Once again, I invite you to try the IRS on that sort of thing and see if they don't fine you within an inch of your life.
Attorney General, Eric Holder - the man who accused America of cowardice for it's inability to deal with the subject of race (hey, the Klan knew how to deal with the subject of race. Would you prefer we went back to those days, Mr. AG? I think we're doing rather better than that, no thanks to people like you), wants to give terrorists the same rights as any other criminal defendant in our civilian courts. Recently, questions have been raised about his motivations, as it appears the AG may have a conflict of interest in this sort of thing; a law firm he worked for before becoming the AG has defended several terrorists in U.S. civilian and military trials already, garnering a lot of government cash in the process,probably. Mr. Holder himself is yet to be accused of anything, hell, when he appears in front of Congress he apears to not know anything -- at all -- but he may want to rethink that whole "try the Undibombers in the Public Square" thing.
Rep. Barney Frank (Homo - Massachusetts) - Co-Orchestrator of the looming Fannie/Freddie collapse, proponent of the massive 'Stimulus' boondoggle that will cost more than expected and do less than advertised. Barney Fwank was diddling one of Fannie or Freddie's (I forget which) chief executives, who was possibly using his romantic influence with the Representative to keep regulators and reformers away from his agency. Barney stood in the path of reform no fewer than seven times. He never reported his conflict of interest, i.e. fucking one of the executives of an agency he was supposed to be regulating. Barney is also a classic example of why some people in this country continue to call for the stoning of gays in the public square; he is one of the most insufferable human beings alive (Michelle Obama is a distant second). There has been no ethic investigation of Barney's behavior whatsoever.
Sen. Chris Dodd (Dipshit - Connecticut) - Another of the Wall Street defenders, Dodd also had as many fingers (figuratively-speaking) in Fannie (not someones actual Fannie, we mean Fannie Mae, the mortgage thingy. Dodd, so far as we know, isn't quite as gay as Barney Frank). He's up to his neck in mortgage scandal money, having received two "sweetheart" mortgage deals from Angelo Mozillo, former CEO fo Nationwide, which is now defunct. Dodd's fingerprints are all over the AIG mess, and he slipped a provision into a bill int he middle of the night to allow AIG to pay huge bonuses to dipshit executives with Taxpayer money. Dodd's only saving grace was that he's finally resigned, given the reality inevitable loss in the mid-terms. The ethics investigation done on Dodd was a model of speed, efficiency and whitewash, which went by so fast and touched him so lightly that it just might as well have never happened. He can now retire to that Irish "cottage" of his, and hopefully, he will never contaminate these shores again. Oh, and Senator? We're still waiting for the documents!
Sen. Mary Landrieu (Thief - Louisiana) - The recipient of the Famous "Louisiana Purchase", and we don't mean the land deal that Jefferson swung on the French and which led to the exploits of Lewis and Clark. No, we're talking the $300 million dollars Harry Reid promised Mary for her "yea" vote on Healthcare. The stink of this one is that it wasn't even hidden; it happened in broad daylight, on the senate floor, and was being reported on by the cable networks before the proposition was even complete. To date, Landrieu hasn't even expressed a shred of remorse or shame over her actions, and says even less than the statue of Lincoln at the memorial.
Sen. Ben Nelson (Dickhead - Nebraska) - Recipient of another infamous bribe, the "Cornhusker Kickback", in which his state of Nebraska would essentially get Medicare for all eternity at the expense of the other 49 states. Fortunately for us, the people of Nebraska have some sense of propriety and fair-play, and howled so loudly that Nelson began to backtrack even before the ink was dry on that Harry Reid promise (bribe). Now Nelson is in danger of being voted out of office, and plenty panicked about his future. I would suggest he start acquiring a taste for orange jumpsuits, since accepting a bribe for a vote is supposed to be a crime in this country. Unfortunately, he'll wriggle free of this one.
Rep. Charlie Rangel (Hemmorhoid - New York) - the Man who runs the Ways and Means Committee in the House, which writes the very tax laws you struggle with every year, apparently doesn't know, or even bother to follow them, himself. He even said as much, claiming the tax code (which he helped construct) is so complex that even he doesn't know what's in it. When Charlie isn't hiding scads of income like $75,000 in rent from his overseas hideaway, four rent-controlled apartments, illegal deductions for using those apartments for campaign purposes, and accepting all sorts of illegal donations in return for his help in getting some asshole's name on a university building or something, he's busy spending your money faster than the government can collect it, and then even faster than it can borrow it from China. Oh, btw, Charlie was allowed to pay his back taxes without interest or penalty attached. It seems the IRS is in a forgiving mood these days,perhaps I shall give them a miss this year?
Rep. John Murtha (Windbag - Pennsylvania) - Murtha has been up to his ass in scandal since ABSCAM in the mid-70's. He's been up to his neck in shady defense-contractor dealings practically forever, and he's been the recipient of more campaign contributions from defense contractors than any other member of Congress. Yet, this is the man who has denigrated US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq since the beginning of those wars, even going as far as to compare them to the Nazis. He should be shot just for treason just on that basis alone, but instead, the idiots in Pennsylvania (the so-called Bitter Clingers) sent this liberal piece of shit thief back Congress. There has still been no investigation of Murtha's alleged crimes, but Pelosi bent over backwards and practically blew every member of the Ethics Committee in order to nail Randall "Duke" Cunningham on his shady shenanigans with defense contractors. The pot calls the kettle black, methinks.
I know I'm forgetting more of the democratic rogues gallery, like Dorgan, Ackerman, Jefferson, the SEIU, ACORN amongst others. But you get the point.
The rallying cry of the last mid-term election cycle for democrats was the "culture of corruption" that surrounded republicans, with their associations with Jack Abramoff, the Cunningham scnadal, and the "indiscretions" of Senator Craig and Congressmen Foley (both of which involved allegations of inappropriate gay sex, which apparently no one can be bothered to act shocked at when Barney Frank is involved), whom they also used to tar "family-oriented" republicans with the label "hypocrite". Nancy Pelosi, upon her coronation which had all the splendor of Elvis Vegas show but none of the charm, claimed she would "drain the swamp" of Washington, and then Barack Obama came along and cried "transparency on C-Span" (a trick which Bill Clinton once used, too). Somewhere between "Drain the Swamp" and "Hope n' stuff", they've lost their way.
That's if they ever meant any of it in the first place.
Update: I must not have had enough coffee at the time, but I almost forgot: the democratic Secretary of State of Taxachsetts is threatening to delay the certification of Scott Brown, a republican running in a special election for the Senate Seat formerly occupied by the enormous-drunken-alleged-rapist-alleged-manslaughtering-cancer-couldn't-have-happened-to-a-nicer-guy Ted Kennedy, should he win, just so that the dems could keep their 60-vote majority to pass "Healthcare Reform Legislation". This, incidentally, was announced PUBLICLY. They don't even bother to hide conspiracy anymore.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Message To Bankers: Up Yours!
I read this and I started laughing. It's almost touching when the New York Times tries to make a banker a sympathetic figure.
Bankers are crying because people who can pay their mortgages are now refusing to, basically daring the bank to foreclose on them knowing full well that the banks will either renegotiate the loan on much more favorable terms to the consumer, or playing a game of chicken -- delaying foreclosure until the very last minute because who wants a house worth less than the mortgage attached to it, and what bank wants to take possession of said property? The public is now in a position to blackmail the bank, which is a far cry from how the banks conducted business just two years ago...when they had the power to blackmail us.
Well, you reap what you sow. You wouldn't be in this boat if you followed reasonable business practices which, in part, meant only lending money to people who seemed as if they were likely to pay it back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know about Barney Fwank, and Chris Dodd and Fannie and Freddie and how they forced you to make bad loans, but then again, I wonder how many campaign checks from Citi, Chase, BofA and Nationwide have Barney and Chrissy's name on them? Don't tell me you didn't hedge your bets and send support to the men who held knives at your throat. Don't tell me you didn't speak up when George Bush tried to reform Fannie and Freddie seven times because a fat faggot and a second-generation con man held guns to your heads. Barney and Chrissy had power, and you sucked up to them.
Now you get to pay for it.
And you can also blame the President, the other asshole you fawned all over, because he made it possible for people to get government funds to cover payments while the mortgages were re-negotiated, only to see most of those recipients default again within six months. It pays not to pay your mortgage nowadays; you get free money, sympathy, and government attention. Why would I want to pay any bill nowadays in the knowledge that, eventually, the solution to the problem will simply be another government bailout. Speaking of which, the TARP money you guys got was supposed to fix your books so that this wouldn't be a problem, but no -- you used the money to shore up stock prices and then cashed in your personal options to enrich yourself, and then used the inflated windfalls you got on public stocks that went from $1 to 4$ to try to weasel out of the TARP requirements. Yeah, that worked out well, right?
Well, then don't be surprised when people stop paying for things they otherwise could afford. The precedent has been set. By you, and the government. Be prepared when this "Fuck them! I'm not paying..." mentality extends to credit cards, revolving credit lines, car loans, college loans and much, much more. Especially since you now charge more interest than the Mafia. To the idiot who regularly buys a Big Mac with a credit card, that costs $20 with interest by the end of the month, and then pays the bill; I hope you enjoy it and don't be surprised when the banks start to refer to you as "Dear Valued Customer..." and offer you a lot of really cool stuff --along with astronomically-higher fees for everything...
Update: The government may now be walking away from Mortgage Modification. (H/T Instapundit)
Bankers are crying because people who can pay their mortgages are now refusing to, basically daring the bank to foreclose on them knowing full well that the banks will either renegotiate the loan on much more favorable terms to the consumer, or playing a game of chicken -- delaying foreclosure until the very last minute because who wants a house worth less than the mortgage attached to it, and what bank wants to take possession of said property? The public is now in a position to blackmail the bank, which is a far cry from how the banks conducted business just two years ago...when they had the power to blackmail us.
Well, you reap what you sow. You wouldn't be in this boat if you followed reasonable business practices which, in part, meant only lending money to people who seemed as if they were likely to pay it back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know about Barney Fwank, and Chris Dodd and Fannie and Freddie and how they forced you to make bad loans, but then again, I wonder how many campaign checks from Citi, Chase, BofA and Nationwide have Barney and Chrissy's name on them? Don't tell me you didn't hedge your bets and send support to the men who held knives at your throat. Don't tell me you didn't speak up when George Bush tried to reform Fannie and Freddie seven times because a fat faggot and a second-generation con man held guns to your heads. Barney and Chrissy had power, and you sucked up to them.
Now you get to pay for it.
And you can also blame the President, the other asshole you fawned all over, because he made it possible for people to get government funds to cover payments while the mortgages were re-negotiated, only to see most of those recipients default again within six months. It pays not to pay your mortgage nowadays; you get free money, sympathy, and government attention. Why would I want to pay any bill nowadays in the knowledge that, eventually, the solution to the problem will simply be another government bailout. Speaking of which, the TARP money you guys got was supposed to fix your books so that this wouldn't be a problem, but no -- you used the money to shore up stock prices and then cashed in your personal options to enrich yourself, and then used the inflated windfalls you got on public stocks that went from $1 to 4$ to try to weasel out of the TARP requirements. Yeah, that worked out well, right?
Well, then don't be surprised when people stop paying for things they otherwise could afford. The precedent has been set. By you, and the government. Be prepared when this "Fuck them! I'm not paying..." mentality extends to credit cards, revolving credit lines, car loans, college loans and much, much more. Especially since you now charge more interest than the Mafia. To the idiot who regularly buys a Big Mac with a credit card, that costs $20 with interest by the end of the month, and then pays the bill; I hope you enjoy it and don't be surprised when the banks start to refer to you as "Dear Valued Customer..." and offer you a lot of really cool stuff --along with astronomically-higher fees for everything...
Update: The government may now be walking away from Mortgage Modification. (H/T Instapundit)
Ben Nelson Has Near-Death Experience, Film at 11...
...and now he regrets his pro-Healthcare vote on the Senate floor, you know, the one with the great, big bribe, the infamous Cornhusker Kickback, in it?
Nelson has seen Chris Dodd and Byron Dorgan decide to jump ship before they suffer the (rightfully-deserved) ignominy of electoral defeat, but he doesn't have the same sense of self-preservation to do what they did and quit. He apparently still believes he might survive this vote, electorally, and now he's beginning to walk it back in the hopes that attention spans are short, and memories shorter. He believes he can rehabilitate himself in the minds of the electorate.
In this way, Senator Nelson is like the absolute monarchs of old, men like Constantine The Great, for example, who professed a belief in Christianity, but who reserved the sacrament of baptism until they were on their dead beds. In this way, they could sin as much as they pleased in life, only to claim absolution from their sins at the very last moment -- in effect, robbing God of his right to judgement, while they had the blood of thousands washed from their hands by the baptismal water -- in a last, great fit of Royal Arrogance.
I'm an agnostic, so I don't believe in concepts like the divine forgiveness of sins, or God's final judgement, but if there were to be a God, I rather doubt Constantine would have gotten away with it. She's probably too smart for that old trick (it's my opinion that if God exists, it has to be a woman, because only a woman could weave that many logical contradictions into a religion, and then demand to be worshipped with a straight face). Senator Nelson shouldn't get away with such a cheap trick, either. Neither should Blanche Lincoln or Mary Landrieu (who, as of this writing, is the subject of a nascent recall campaign against her).
Nelson has seen Chris Dodd and Byron Dorgan decide to jump ship before they suffer the (rightfully-deserved) ignominy of electoral defeat, but he doesn't have the same sense of self-preservation to do what they did and quit. He apparently still believes he might survive this vote, electorally, and now he's beginning to walk it back in the hopes that attention spans are short, and memories shorter. He believes he can rehabilitate himself in the minds of the electorate.
In this way, Senator Nelson is like the absolute monarchs of old, men like Constantine The Great, for example, who professed a belief in Christianity, but who reserved the sacrament of baptism until they were on their dead beds. In this way, they could sin as much as they pleased in life, only to claim absolution from their sins at the very last moment -- in effect, robbing God of his right to judgement, while they had the blood of thousands washed from their hands by the baptismal water -- in a last, great fit of Royal Arrogance.
I'm an agnostic, so I don't believe in concepts like the divine forgiveness of sins, or God's final judgement, but if there were to be a God, I rather doubt Constantine would have gotten away with it. She's probably too smart for that old trick (it's my opinion that if God exists, it has to be a woman, because only a woman could weave that many logical contradictions into a religion, and then demand to be worshipped with a straight face). Senator Nelson shouldn't get away with such a cheap trick, either. Neither should Blanche Lincoln or Mary Landrieu (who, as of this writing, is the subject of a nascent recall campaign against her).
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
The Rats Were the First off the Titanic, Too...
So, Chris Dodd has announced his retirement? It's about two years too late, if you ask me, and it's not all about "spending more time" with his family, and it's not about giving another democrat a chance in the Senate, as he tried to imply. It's about Chris Dodd being to slimy for even democrats to support anymore.
The up-side for Dodd is that, well, at least he won't have to defend his (abysmal and near-criminal) record anymore. He won't have to say another word (he hopes) about sweetheart mortgage deals, under-valued Irish real estate, fucking up on Fannie and Freddie, and slipping provisions in bills to ensure that fat cat morons at AIG get exorbitant bonuses for running their company into the sewer, paid with taxpayer money. Besides, he's already dodged that 'Ethics" bullet. It's speaks volumes to the man's sense of propriety that he gives the speech in front of another piece of pricey real estate; his Connecticut home -- a converted and refurbished 1850's schoolhouse. I wonder if Senator Dodd used his good offices to swing a sweetheart deal from the local school board for that one? A man who supposedly 'fought for the little guy' quits on him in front of a million-dollar home.
Whatever Dodd might say in public, the truth of the matter is that he simply understood that he could not win a general election run. His own support amongst democrats had eroded to about 33% (I think that's Rassmussen), and it's rumored that the democratic bigwigs have been pressuring him, behind the scenes, to pack it in. The slime was too thick, too sticky, it couldn't be washed off. You could, as Barack Obama used to be fond of saying, put lipstick on this pig.
Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say.
And is isn't rather ironic that Sen. Dodd's father was once hounded out of office under a cloud of scandal? I guess the turd doesn't fall far from the asshole, does it? That probably means that the sort of damage-control speech he gave today was simply old hat.
More: Here's a take from Ed Driscoll at PajamasMedia on Dodd's resignation,and what it means to dems. And in what is only the first of many such pieces (all of which will be absolute nonsense), Tea Party supporters take credit for Dodd's downfall. The jury is out on that one; that Dodd was simply too scummy to 're-invent' himself one last time is probably closer to the truth.
Update: Blanche Lincoln has 'retired', and so has Byron Dorgan. That's one Healthcare vote victim, and another Mortgage Scandal on the democratic (small 'd' intentional) scoreboard. Smelling blood in the water? Don't get too excited; the GOP lineup is not much better.
The up-side for Dodd is that, well, at least he won't have to defend his (abysmal and near-criminal) record anymore. He won't have to say another word (he hopes) about sweetheart mortgage deals, under-valued Irish real estate, fucking up on Fannie and Freddie, and slipping provisions in bills to ensure that fat cat morons at AIG get exorbitant bonuses for running their company into the sewer, paid with taxpayer money. Besides, he's already dodged that 'Ethics" bullet. It's speaks volumes to the man's sense of propriety that he gives the speech in front of another piece of pricey real estate; his Connecticut home -- a converted and refurbished 1850's schoolhouse. I wonder if Senator Dodd used his good offices to swing a sweetheart deal from the local school board for that one? A man who supposedly 'fought for the little guy' quits on him in front of a million-dollar home.
Whatever Dodd might say in public, the truth of the matter is that he simply understood that he could not win a general election run. His own support amongst democrats had eroded to about 33% (I think that's Rassmussen), and it's rumored that the democratic bigwigs have been pressuring him, behind the scenes, to pack it in. The slime was too thick, too sticky, it couldn't be washed off. You could, as Barack Obama used to be fond of saying, put lipstick on this pig.
Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say.
And is isn't rather ironic that Sen. Dodd's father was once hounded out of office under a cloud of scandal? I guess the turd doesn't fall far from the asshole, does it? That probably means that the sort of damage-control speech he gave today was simply old hat.
More: Here's a take from Ed Driscoll at PajamasMedia on Dodd's resignation,and what it means to dems. And in what is only the first of many such pieces (all of which will be absolute nonsense), Tea Party supporters take credit for Dodd's downfall. The jury is out on that one; that Dodd was simply too scummy to 're-invent' himself one last time is probably closer to the truth.
Update: Blanche Lincoln has 'retired', and so has Byron Dorgan. That's one Healthcare vote victim, and another Mortgage Scandal on the democratic (small 'd' intentional) scoreboard. Smelling blood in the water? Don't get too excited; the GOP lineup is not much better.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
A New Year's Resolution...
Judicial Watch lists the 10 most corrupt politicians of 2009. I wonder how many are up for re-election in 2010 and 2012?
Can we make a resolution, one and all, that when these criminals come up for re-election, that none of them gets your vote?
The country needs to be saved by us, the citizens, exercising common sense and good judgement because our so-called "leaders" are devoid of either. Make these your priorities in the coming mid-term elections:
1. Re-establish the power of The Governed over The Government,
2. Say NO to graft, dishonesty, and stupidity.
3. Hold President Obama and Nancy Pelosi to their pledges on Transparency and Ethics. We want all bills on the Internet five days before any voting takes place, we want to know what gets said in closed-door ethics hearings, we want up-and-down votes when called for, we want debates --we have the right to know what you're doing before you do it.
4. Say NO to a government take-over of 1/6 of the US Economy with a policy crafted in the Senate Men's Room in the dark of night. We want the government out of our financial institutions and GM, as soon as possible. No more bailouts, ever.
5. Pray for and support our troops, urge our leadership to fight the Islamonazis, and bring them all home victorious and safe.
6. Put Chris Dodd and Charlie Rangel in prison, where they belong, Tar-and-feather Barney Frank (he might enjoy certain jailhouse activities a just a wee too much), chip in to buy John Kerry a personality, please give to the John Ensign I-Can't-Stop-Cheating-On-My-Wife-Fund -- he has an ex-paramour to bribe into silence.
7. Demand lower taxes and less government interference in your personal lives.
8. Keeps your eyes and ears open for Muslims Terrorists, since Homeland Security ain't.
9. Dispel the rumor that a Congresscritter can go through life anonymously -- keep in touch with your Congressional Delegates and let them know you care, you're watching -- you pay taxes and you vote.
10. Find like-minded people, form your own Tea Parties, and get involved in discussions of local politics and political action. Don't wait for the Republican or Democratic Party to do anything for you, because they won't if they believe they can get away with it. Make yourself heard, and your presence felt.
Can we make a resolution, one and all, that when these criminals come up for re-election, that none of them gets your vote?
The country needs to be saved by us, the citizens, exercising common sense and good judgement because our so-called "leaders" are devoid of either. Make these your priorities in the coming mid-term elections:
1. Re-establish the power of The Governed over The Government,
2. Say NO to graft, dishonesty, and stupidity.
3. Hold President Obama and Nancy Pelosi to their pledges on Transparency and Ethics. We want all bills on the Internet five days before any voting takes place, we want to know what gets said in closed-door ethics hearings, we want up-and-down votes when called for, we want debates --we have the right to know what you're doing before you do it.
4. Say NO to a government take-over of 1/6 of the US Economy with a policy crafted in the Senate Men's Room in the dark of night. We want the government out of our financial institutions and GM, as soon as possible. No more bailouts, ever.
5. Pray for and support our troops, urge our leadership to fight the Islamonazis, and bring them all home victorious and safe.
6. Put Chris Dodd and Charlie Rangel in prison, where they belong, Tar-and-feather Barney Frank (he might enjoy certain jailhouse activities a just a wee too much), chip in to buy John Kerry a personality, please give to the John Ensign I-Can't-Stop-Cheating-On-My-Wife-Fund -- he has an ex-paramour to bribe into silence.
7. Demand lower taxes and less government interference in your personal lives.
8. Keeps your eyes and ears open for Muslims Terrorists, since Homeland Security ain't.
9. Dispel the rumor that a Congresscritter can go through life anonymously -- keep in touch with your Congressional Delegates and let them know you care, you're watching -- you pay taxes and you vote.
10. Find like-minded people, form your own Tea Parties, and get involved in discussions of local politics and political action. Don't wait for the Republican or Democratic Party to do anything for you, because they won't if they believe they can get away with it. Make yourself heard, and your presence felt.
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