Too Poor To Own Horses, Short On Cash, A Gun And Bullet Shortage, But The Manure Wagon Is Full!
“Those Who Cannot Remember The Past Are Condemned To Repeat It.”
-George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905-
| All State Commercial (12 Recession Since 1930)
We Must Be Mentally Challenged |
| | AIG Versus Greenberg: The War Intensifies "Let me be clear: AIG's business model did not fail -- its management did." Thus did Maurice "Hank" Greenberg end his written testimony (PDF) before today's congressional hearing into the AIG rescue. There is now a full-blownpublic relations warbetween the ailing insurance giant and its founder and former CEO, Greenberg. Greenberg was ousted in 2005, following investigations by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Since the first AIG bailout in September 2008, Greenberg has tried to cast himself as a potential sage and savior when it comes to the increasingly expensive question of what the federal government should do about the company… AIG Declares War On Former CEO On the eve of his testimony before the House oversight committee, AIG has declared war on the company's former CEO, Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg. Greenberg is scheduled to be the sole witness at a hearing on the "collapse and rescue" of AIG, "and what it means for the U.S. economy," according to the panel's published agenda. AIG launched a pre-emptive strike Wednesday, putting out a four-page dossier attacking Greenberg's credibility. The 83-year-old Greenberg was forced out in 2005 amid a scandal over securities fraud. The once-mighty insurance giant's departure into exotic credit derivatives began under Greenberg in the mid 1980s -- and culminated last fall when the AIG's bad bets came due and forced a taxpayer bailout. "Given that Hank Greenberg led AIG into the credit default swap business, has repeatedly refused to testify under oath about a transaction he initiated when he was still AIG's CEO, and is being investigated by the SEC and the Justice Department, we don't understand how he can be viewed as having any credibility on any AIG issue," the company said in its statement. Greenberg could not be reached Wednesday night. He recently has appeared on television talk shows, including the Charlie Rose show on March 17, and criticized both the government intervention and current management of AIG. The company's titled its salvo: "The Greenberg Legacy." The first section includes 11 bullet points that recap history of the Financial Products division and Greenberg's role in originating it. Greenberg has tried to distance himself from the unit, which lost billions selling a form of insurance on toxic mortgage securities… On the April 1 edition of Fox Business Network's Fox Business, while reporting on several banks that had repaid TARP funds, Fox Business correspondent Sandra Smith falsely claimed that "the government, the Obama administration, deemed these banks necessary to receive these funds." In fact, as Fox Business itself has reported, the banks Smith mentioned obtained the funds under the Bush administration in December 2008. In her report, Smith reported that "[s]o far the banks that have returned money: Iberiabank of Louisiana, $90 million; Signature Bank of New York, $120 million; Old National Bancorp of Indiana returned $100 million that it received; and Bank of Marin of California received $28 million." | |
Asked if there is any truth to the oft-told story that years ago O’Reilly told Walter Cronkite “I will be you someday,” O’Reilly tersely replied: “Total bull.” For Once he’s right!
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| CUTE-CLEVER DUMB |
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Yes, please return with me to the days of yesteryear. The time of Joe McCarthy, when the hunting began, you know looking for commies in every facet of American life, in every shadow, behind every door and in every bedroom.
It has been pointed out by several in our community that our president is a Marxist. This is after the election season when he was deemed a socialist; you remember the socialist yard signs and bumper stickers. In addition the reenergized John Birch society is back. Please look for the “Get us out of the UN” signs along 395 to Carson City and the “Impeach Earl Warren” signs as well.
The Republicans are going to roll out their own proposed budget which will include tax cuts and no socialistic programs like universal healthcare. We can’t have healthcare for God’s sake. We would not get contributions from the insurance and pharmaceutical lobby.
The disapproval rating of the congressional Republicans is, drum roll here, 72 percent.
There are only 219 Republicans in all of Congress; they just keep losing members every time we have an election. The 219 (41 senators and 178 congressmen) seem to come from the lilly white states or the old slave states and have no vision. They are so concerned about the state of the economy that when the President held his news conference they went to a Britney Spears concert. Boy you have my vote of confidence.
Republicans are kind of like a circular firing squad or a one-legged man going to a butt kicking contest? They seem to have forgotten the law of holes … stop digging.
They keep repeating we have to get back to our basic principles. You know the mantra “no” and “cut taxes.” The Democrats are to blame (Republicans like to blame) for the economic problems, the spending of $10 billion a month in Iraq, gay marriage, the killing of embryos, which is a life you know, for scientific research and for our dismal reputation throughout the world.
We must be thankful for these wise leaders who want to take us back to the days of the no-nothing party, to the days of libel, slander, character assassination, career ruination, back to good old fashioned, right up front hate and bigotry…those were the days.
Let’s see if I can go find some books to burn in the village square. Bring your own Beer and hot dogs, can’t afford to be very hospitable or generous; we’re in a Depression you know, or were you too busy with all the rest of this Republican Horse Shit to notice?
-Good Night And Go0d Luck-
The Right-Wing "Isms" Arms Race Heats Up
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Socialism, fascism, Maoism -- you want an ism, we carry 'em all! Read more
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Why is the Center For American Progress Cavorting With Neocons?
By Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports
Obama's favorite think tank is hosting a party on April 3rd, and they've invited leading neocon, Frederick Kagan. Read more »
The Center for American Progress, which was founded by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta in 2003, masqueraded as a “progressive,” semi-anti-war organization through the dark years of the Bush administration when it required little political courage to oppose the White House and wars that were portrayed as Bush’s or the Republicans’. While feigning opposition to the Iraq war, CAP refused to confront Democrats over their continued funding of that war. After Obama’s election, Podesta, of course, headed the transition team, which swiftly appointed hawkish Democrats from the Clinton era, kept on Robert Gates and other Republicans, sidelined progressives and in doing so won praise from neocons and other Republicans. Now that “their” guys -- big “D” Democrats -- are back in power, CAP has assumed its rightful place as a partisan front group for the Democratic Party’s power structure and for selling Obama’s wars to “progressives.”
As John Stauber, head of the Center for Media and Democracy, has pointed out, CAP “strongly supports Barack Obama’s escalation of the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” This week, CAP is officially unveiling its manifesto in support of Obama's aggression against Afghanistan -- a report called “Sustainable Security in Afghanistan: Crafting an Effective and Responsible Strategy for the Forgotten Front.” CAP uses the language of Empire -- U.S. interests, U.S. national power -- in describing its report, saying it is “the product of the Center’s review of U.S interests, goals, and strategy in Afghanistan and the region. Bearing in mind the vital U.S interests in the country and South Asia, the report concludes that the United States must attempt to build a national representative government that is able to govern, defend, and sustain itself. The report argues that reaching the ultimate objective of a resilient Afghan state will require a comprehensive and long-term approach that uses all elements of U.S national power.”
On April 3, CAP is hosting a little release party for the report in the form of a public discussion arrogantly titled, “A New Way Forward in Afghanistan,” which includes a leading neoconservative activist, Frederick Kagan, one of the lead proponents of the “surge” in Iraq. In addition to being a “Resident Scholar” at the American Enterprise Institute, which was basically Dick Cheney’s bunker away from the bunker in the 1990s, Kagan was also a major figure in advocating the agenda of the neocon-Project for a New American Century, which molded the Bush administration’s conquistador foreign policy. Kagan’s brother Robert along with his loony-bin necon buddy William Kristol started a new version of PNAC a few weeks ago, called the Foreign Policy Initiative. Another key figure in the group is Dan Senor (who is married to CNN’s Campbell Brown), formerly L. Paul Bremer’s right-hand in Iraq and a generally repulsive character. FPI’s primary objective thus far seems to be supporting Obama’s Afghanistan policy and encouraging it to get even more violent and bloody and open ended. Great bunch of fellas, really. See here and here for more on FPI.
So, rather than finding itself allied with anti-war groups and actually advocating a progressive agenda, CAP is turning to these vile neocons to declare “A New Way Forward in Afghanistan.”
House, Senate Pass Budget Plans Without GOP Votes
Budget Resolutions Project A $1.2 Trillion Deficit For 2010.
By David Espo, Andrew Taylor
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Friday, April 03, 2009
WASHINGTON — Acting in quick succession, the House and Senate approved budgets Thursday night drawn to President Barack Obama's specifications and pointing the way toward major legislation this year on health care, energy and education.
"It's going to take a lot of work to clean up the mess we inherited, and passing this budget is a critical step in the right direction," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "Staying true to these priorities will help turn around the economy for the many Americans who are underwater right now."
Republicans in both houses accused Democrats of drafting plans that would hurt the recession-ravaged economy in the long run, rather than help it, and saddle future generations with too much debt.
"We haven't just placed a burden upon posterity as Washington feared — we've strapped an unbearable yoke on our children and grandchildren," Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, said after the House vote.
But a Republican alternative fared poorly in the House, where 38 GOP lawmakers voted against a plan supported by their own leadership. Officials ascribed much of the opposition to a provision that called for eliminating traditional fee-for-service Medicare for individuals who reach age 65 in 2020 or later and replacing it with coverage from private insurance companies.
Senate Republicans decided not to produce a comprehensive alternative budget, although John McCain, R-Ariz., and others advanced one that would have retained Bush-era tax cuts, spent more on defense and curbed spending on Medicare. It failed 60-38, a near-party line vote.
On a long day and night, the House was first to vote and approved its version of the budget on a 233-196 vote without a single Republican supporting it. It calls for spending $3.6 trillion for the 2010 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 and includes a deficit of $1.2 trillion.
The Senate acted a few hours later, with Vice President Joe Biden presiding. The vote was 55-43 — again with no Republicans supporting the measure — for a slightly different blueprint that calls for spending $3.5 trillion but also forecasts a deficit of $1.2 trillion.
The budget plans don't require Obama's signature, but the House and Senate will have to reconcile their two versions after a two-week congressional recess.
"We are not that far apart," said Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., chairman of the House Budget Committee.
All I can say is: Spratt is smoking some pretty powerful stuff or has had too many liquid lunches!
Future Food Recall Alert!
A team at the state-run International Medical Center of Japan has managed, in co-operation with Sekisui Chemical Co, to extract vanilla scent from Cow Dung.
"A one-hour heating and pressuring process allows cow feces to produce vanillin, the main component of the vanilla-bean extract. The vanillin extracted from the feces could be used in products such as shampoo and aromatic candles, but not in food," said lead researcher Mayu Yamamoto.
Vanillin is used to give fragrance to many personal care products, from perfumes, to hair and skin care products. Still, as the vanilla bean crop varies from year to year, this determines also a fluctuation in the vanilla's price.
In 2005, major perfume producers reported that lower prices for vanillin had affected their gains, because of the higher supplies from Madagascar that plummeted the market price for the commodity.
Big perfume companies have developed an array of synthetic vanillin fragrances, but the naturally-derived ingredients and natural alternatives for getting the chemical are welcomed.
But the new product will face a tough task in adding aroma to your ice cream, even if it is identical to vanilla bean-extracted vanillin.
"This component is exactly the same, but it would be difficult for people to accept it in food, given the recent rules of disclosing the origins of ingredients," said Yamamoto.
This technology would also solve the issue of the disposal of the huge amounts of dung produced by cattle farming, while bringing potential revenue.
"The production cost using dung is less than a half that of making vanillin out of vanilla beans. The feces of grass-eating animals is abundant with lignin, the chemical compound that exists in plants and trees and is used to produce vanilla aroma. Lignin is difficult to decompose. Farmers are troubled by how to dispose properly of animal excrement. We tried to solve this from a recycling viewpoint. After taking the vanillin, the processed feces could be returned to the soil," she added.
By 1-2 years a machine handling several tons of dung daily could be available.
And That My Brothers And Sisters
Is A Load Of Democrat Cow Shit;
We’re Too Poor To Own Horses.
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