MLK Jnr RIP

Martin Luther King, Jr. January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968.

Is Mark To Market Sounding Alarm Bells?

European Union is looking to follow US "mark to market" accounting that was adopted here by the FASB [Financial Accounting Standards Board] on April 2.

Mark to market was the kind of accounting ENRON used. Should we be letting banks and corporations set the value of future assets and investments?

Will Geithner keep a better eye on things? Will the Obama Administration add safeguards? I'm sure you can spin these accounting changes any way you want. Let's see if we have learned from our mistakes.

Source: Bloomberg

Job Losses Match Reagan's 1983

As job losses mount, matching 25-year records from 1983, sure makes those Reagan memories a little more humbling. Ronnie pulled out of Lebanon inspiring Osama Bin Laden, raised taxes, set record deficits at the time, pretty much forgot what he was doing the last years of his Presidency ["I don't recall"], sold arms to Iran, funneled money illegally to the Contras, AND had record unemployment. We seldom remember all these details.

But boy, did his dyed black hair look good.

The good news is starting to come in, though.

Stocks rose yesterday for a fourth day as Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said measures to unfreeze credit markets were working.

Source: Bloomberg

Panorama Of New Yankee Stadium

Cool interactive panorama of new Yankee Stadium at NYT. You can pan from home plate, center field and the stands.

Why is the first game an exhibition game against the Cubs today?



Source: NYT

Iowa One-ups California On Same-sex Marriage

Iowa enters the 21st century. Imagine, Iowa is more progressive than California.

Iowa became the first state in the Midwest to approve same-sex marriage on Friday, after the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously decided that a 1998 law limiting marriage to a man and a woman was unconstitutional.

Source: NYT

MLK Jnr: April 3, 1968

Martin Luther King Jnr speech given on this day, April 3, in 1968. It was the day before he was killed.

"Abraham, Martin And John"

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
You know, I just looked around and he's gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and he's gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked 'round and he's gone.

Didn't you love the things that they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
And we'll be free
Some day soon, and it's a-gonna be one day ...

Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walk up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.

Dion performing the song:

Colin Powell Not Off The Hook

Colin Powell. Unforgivable. You worked with torturers. You knew. You got played. Your name influenced the rest of the world to let Bush and Cheney ruin our country.

The Principals Committee will all meet their fate. Your semantics won't save you.

Michelle Obama: First Among Ladies

Laura Bush killed a man. Michelle Obama killed at the G20. London is agog with our First Lady.

"Now we've met, will you please keep in touch?" - her Majesty the Queen, to Michelle Obama.

An inspiration to the world, let alone the young girls she spoke with yesterday:

"I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them.

I was surrounded by extraordinary women in my life who taught me about quiet strength and dignity.

Whether you come from a council estate or a country estate, your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude."

Source: Telegraph

House And Senate Pass Obama Budget

That's teamwork on behalf of a party who wants to overhaul health care, energy and education. The Democrats said the budgets reversed what they portrayed as the failed economic approach of the Bush administration and Republican-led Congresses. It's getting harder and harder to argue with pragmatic liberalism. Do you have a teleprompter or iPod "outrage" you want to report on, conservative media?

"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," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. "Staying true to these priorities will help turn around the economy for the many Americans who are underwater right now."

It figures real change will come without any GOP votes. Conservatives want to "conserve" what they already have. Any change in the stacked deck or status quo is an attack. They see suffering and unsustainable situations and immediately figure on how a tax break for a super wealthy person would be the solution.

Source: HuffPo

New Bruno Trailer [Sacha Baron Cohen]

Popping up on myspace, http://www.myspace.com/trailerpark.

Obama Leadership: Priceless

Imagine oxygen thief Bush, or better yet Grampy McCain or Freedom Fries Palin, trying to do this:

"The G-20 economic summit reached a final agreement to restore the world's economy Thursday only after President Barack Obama personally intervened and negotiated a compromise between France and China, White House officials said.

It was a remarkable stroke of personal diplomacy by a new president who's making his debut this week on the world stage."

Between Barack and Michelle, the Obama brand as of late, the global popularity, is priceless.

Source: McClatchy

Cramer: Depression Over

CNBC's Jim Cramer, "the depression is over". Goes on to praise the Fed, Geithner and Obama in helping the markets stabilize.

World leaders committing to new financial rules and $1.1 trillion for trade measures and guarantees and loans for poor countries didn't hurt. Still in a tough recession but we are seeing a bottoming.

Shep Smith Goofing On Glenn Beck

Shep Smith goofing on Glenn Beck a few weeks ago before Glenn's big 9/12 announcement. Not enough fake tears.

Dow Passes 8000

The first time in weeks, the Dow Jones passes 8000.

Maybe Fox News will report on how Obama used the wrong salad fork at a G20 luncheon.

The conservative populism mirage in America must be stewing nicely on this news.

"Makers" And "Takers" Misses Creating Value

Wrote about this faulty conservative populism yesterday. Then saw this post on Andrew Sullivan from one of his readers:

"I'm a professor at a state university. My education was paid for by the government, my salary comes from the government, and most likely I'll retire on a government pension. I guess that means that I primarily rely on government to get me through my life, putting me solidly on the "taker" side of the ledger. If the shoe fits I'm willing to wear it, but I can't see how the world would be a better place if I moved to the private sector. Through my government funded research and the government subsidized training I give my students, I believe I support the long-term health of our economy much more than I could as a scientist in private industry focused on product development and short-term profits.

Everyone takes something from the government, and everyone makes something for society. To pretend that's not true by setting up a simplistic divide between makers and takers just obscures the real questions we should be addressing."

With all the Madoff-style frauds, paper profits of the finance world and Wall St. scams, there is a difference between producing "wealth" and producing "something of value."

There are quite a few more letters on his site, I suggest checking the link below.

Source: Andrew Sullivan

Right Wing Media Get Queen iPod Story Wrong

Conservatives in media are dicks. The latest? The Queen of England had an iPod from 2005 is their "embarrassing" fact. God knows nothing has changed with in iPod in 4 years. They defo had the iPod Touch 32Gig video with Wi-fi back then. I'm sure she can access the AppStore with her 2005 iPod.

Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity and the rest are complete dicks about it and completely in over their heads about simple iPod features. Something, as they would say, a 5-year old or someone with Google would know. Makes their freak-out and "outrage" so trivial. 100% made up story reported as news.

You had 8 years of Bush acting and speaking like a jackass and this is what your report on as "embarrassing"? You have our President leading the G20, the market is up massively, the global outlook is picking up, America is getting its standing back in the world and you run with this bullshit?

Watch the video and see the Queen requested it, and the Queen's former spokesman said the Obamas "scored a hit". Besides the iPod she also received a signed copy of Rogers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma, her favorite show.

Somehow that missed the Fox News hacks.



Source: DailyKos

Holder Abandons Bush Era Political Prosecutions

Attorney General Eric Holder calls off the Fed dogs on convict Ted Stevens. Unlike the Right Wing ideologues, the libs have some integrity. Holder makes clear that he appreciates the gravity of the damage done to the department’s reputation during the Bush era.

Attorney General Eric Holder has decided that the Justice Department should abandon the corruption conviction secured against former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. The bombshell decision has nothing to do with the merits of the case against Stevens–it stems from a recognition that the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section behaved unethically in the conduct of the case—withholding vital evidence from the defense, among other things. Holder is himself a former Public Integrity prosecutor. He made the right call in the Stevens case.

Would Alberto Gonzales overturn a conviction on a Democrat from the Clinton years?

Other Justice Department political prosecutions under investigation are the Gov. Siegelman case in Alabama, the prosecutions of Paul Minor and two Mississippi judges, and the prosecution of Cyril Wecht in Pittsburgh.

Source: Harpers

New House GOP Budget On April 1: Coincidence?

The House GOP delivered their new Budget on April 1. Coincidence?

"If you expected a GOP alternative to the failed policies of the past that got our country into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, then I have two words for you: April Fool's," said Kenneth Baer, OMB communications director.

After 14 years of GOP ruled Congress, the only "health care reform" they could come up with was the "prescription drug plan" that is basically a give away to big pharma and contributes significantly to the costs they now claim to be cutting by gutting Medicare.

Austan Goolsbee, an economic adviser to the president and increasingly active administration spokesman, told MSNBC: "Well, look, I thought it was most appropriate that this thing came out on April Fools' Day because this thing is the biggest April Fools' Joke and cruelest that we have had in years. If you look at what they are doing...they are calling for putting in a multi-trillion dollar additional tax cut for the highest income Americans, they are now talking about privatizing Medicare turning it into a voucher so that they can cut it substantially. That's not the reform of an entitlement -- it is the gutting of a program."

Just as the baby boomers are entering retirement they want to play games with the entitlement programs they paid into their whole lives. That will work.

How can the authors of the Road To Ruins epic we are living now, then turn around and re-hash the same tax cut ideas and call it "The Republican Road To Recovery"?

Source: HuffPo

Makers And Takers? Culture Issues For Idiots

Seeing this more and more as the new cultural divide in America, as told by the Right: the makers and the takers, the producers of wealth and the recipients of redistribution.

How simple. One person makes, and the other person takes. I'm glad that redistributed money does not pave the roads, pay for police and firemen, teach our kids, cover our military and thousands of other things.

And I'm sure the real ire of their distributed "wealth", old people and food stamp recipients, I'm sure they don't go out and buy products that keep all these companies making profits. I'm sure they sit on their Social Security checks and food stamps so they can build some wealth, too.

The only reason people are allowed to accumulate money is because a fully functioning society is there to buy and use services. Collectively, through redistribution, the society moves forward.

And what about the alleged "makers" who are complete "takers"? Wall St, Banks and Financial sectors scammed the world of billions. But I'm sure you're mad at the guy who gets $126 a week in food stamps and spends all of it at his local supermarket that employs his neighbors.

Not sure what guides these people in the cultural divides: it's not a Bible, it's not an economics book, it's not a history book and it's surely not compassion or common sense. Is it your WWJD bracelet?

Obama, Medvedev Pledge to Reduce Nuclear Arsenals

Once again, Obama is, in one day, mending the massive two-term mistakes of Bush. It takes more than looking an ex-KGB is the eyes to get things done.

"The U.S. and Russia agreed to open a new round of arms control talks aimed at cutting their weapons stockpiles and curtailing the spread of nuclear arms to Iran and North Korea.

President Barack Obama said he expects results by July, when he will visit Moscow for talks with President Dmitry Medvedev."

Looks like that missile shield in Eastern Europe and failed Cold War tactics used by Bush were tremendous FAILS. Glad we wasted those years.

Check out the body language. Get a room guys.



Source: Bloomberg

Letterman To O'Reilly: You're Too Smart To Believe What You're Saying

O'Reilly on Letterman. Gets interesting at 3:20 on Limbaugh:

"He's too smart to believe what he is saying"

Colbert Exposes Beck The Carnie Huckster

Stephen Colbert did a pretty funny segment on Fox's ass clown Glenn Beck. Check out the Jimmy Swaggart fake tears on the huckster Beck.

Beck is launching his ominous 9/12 Project:

"The 9-12 project is not for families directly affected by 9/11, just people building their careers on it", noted Colbert

Using his trademark Fox strawman, "them", Beck is out to inspire his nations of mental shut-ins to be in constant fear of "them", but also be the leader who will overpower "them" with his trusty sidekick, the toupee'd hairball Chuck Norris.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The 10/31 Project
comedycentral.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

Lest we forget Beck's true colors on 9/11.

VIDEO: Obamas Arrive In UK Ahead Of G20

Let's compare the pre and post G20 trip hype. Going in, the press has Obama about to get beat up for being American. We'll see.

I love the way they say Buh-RACK Obama.



Source: BBC

The Dick Cheney PWNED

Darth Cheney PWNED by Petraeus. How much more clear can it be when the commander of our troops has to tell Cheney to shut the fuck up?

How pathologically obvious is Cheney's sadistic love for torturing Iraqis? He would not say to torture a Canadian or a Brit or Japanese person. Maybe if they were brown enough he would. He seems to only have it in for the Iraqis. Maybe someone broke his heart back in 1991.

Will someone get The Dick's pathetic response to this?

Everyone who has served in Iraq understands that Lynndie England has had a bigger impact on the mission there than the average battalion S-3.

Walgreens To Offer Free Health Care

The Obama Effect hits Walgreens. But what do you do when you HAVE a job and can't afford halthcare?

Drugstore operator Walgreen will offer free clinic visits to the unemployed and uninsured for the rest of the year, providing tests and routine treatment for minor ailments through its walk-in clinics - though patients will still pay for percriptions.

Walgreen said patients who lose their job and health insurance after March 31 will be able to get free treatment at its in-store Take Care clinics for respiratory problems, allergies, infections and skin conditions, among other ailments. Typically those treatments cost $59 or more for patients with no insurance.

What the article fails to mention though:

1) you must have applied for or be receiving unemployment benefits, AND

2) you, your spouse/same-sex domestic partner, OR you or your spouse/same-sex domestic partner's dependent child (18 months through 18 years of age) MUST HAVE received services at a Take Care Clinic PRIOR TO the date of your employment termination.

Source: HuffPo

Wealthy College Applicants Get Leg Up. Who Knew?

This article will really warm your heart:

Facing fallen endowments and needier students, many colleges are looking more favorably on wealthier applicants as they make their admissions decisions this year.

What an admission. That rich people have a leg up on the rest of us. Who knew? Nothing like setting up a permanent over-class.

The problem is that education is getting so expensive, even as schools have hundreds of millions in endowment. They could use part of that endowment money and make tuition almost free, but they want to exclude people, not on merit, but on means.

George W. Bush went to Yale and Harvard. End of story.

Source: NYT

UK Bankers Begging For Alimony Relief

Although this is the UK, it's the same all over: I guess she's not into you without all the money

Here's a shocker, the UK richie-riches are begging to re-negotiate their divorce settlements.

Bankers and other high earners in the U.K. are asking to reduce their divorce settlements as the financial crisis shrinks their net worth, according to five family-law attorneys, including Julian Lipson of Withers LLP.

Would these same bankers re-negotiate the mortgages to people who have been hit by hard times?

Funny the vindictive nature of society in that the high wage earners need a break and usually get it, but the low-end types who file for bankruptcy or get hit hard with medical bills need to learn a lesson.

Source: Bloomberg

Let's Argue Apples And Apples

Why does every story about the US car industry and it's disadvantageous legacy costs versus the Japanese car industry omit this little detail: Japan has universal healthcare.

In the Japanese health care system, healthcare services, including free screening examinations for particular diseases, prenatal care, and infectious disease control, are provided by national and local governments. Payment for personal medical services is offered through a universal health care insurance system that provides relative equality of access, with fees set by a government committee. People without insurance through employers can participate in a national health insurance program administered by local governments. Since 1973, all elderly persons have been covered by government-sponsored insurance. Patients are free to select physicians or facilities of their choice.

It is compulsory to be enrolled in a Japanese insurance program if you are a resident of Japan. The two main categories of health insurance are referred to as Kenkō-Hoken 健康保険 ([social] health insurance) and Kokumin-Kenkō-Hoken 国民健康保険 (national health insurance). National health insurance is generally reserved for self-employed people and students, where as social insurance is normally for corporate employees

Source: Wikepedia

Tea Bagger Fail Of The Day

From a March 27 "tea party" in Hartford, CT. May want to use spell check next time. Or is that too liberal? Must feel good when you and your buddy can't spot the misspelling, then appear in papers across the country.

And the lady with the "not my wealth" sign. Are you mad at Bush losing 40% of your wealth in his last year alone? Are you looking for sympathy because you have wealth?

Say what you will about the 3% taxes Obama looks to let return to the top 1% of the country under Bush's tax plan, they don't cause your 401k to implode or complete industries to fail.

Glad your anger is in the right place, you have such great awareness of the situation. Your sign should instead read, "not my sense of entitlement".

I know you're punch drunk from Bush, but now you're just swatting at air with these feckless tea parties. And "going Galt"? You have centuries of uplifting literature and stories and you pick an Ayn Rand character who drops out of society when the going gets rough to exemplify your current attitude? Grow a pair.

Ask the person you bought those cool shades from if you can also buy a clue.



Source: CrooksAndLiars

Single Largest Cigarette Tax To Kick In April 1

The medical costs of smoking are staggering. The burden they put on the health care industry effects us all. This is a step in the right direction:

President Obama signed a law early in his administration to raise taxes from 39 cents to $1.01 per pack of cigarettes and from 19.5 cents to 50 cents per pound for chewing tobacco.

This will cut smoking, stop people from starting to smoke in the first place, raise money through taxes, and help cut medical costs.

The tax increase is only the first move in a recharged anti-smoking campaign. Congress also is considering legislation to empower the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. That could lead to reformulated cigarettes. Obama, who has agonized over his own cigarette habit, said he would sign such a bill.

I wish anyone who is trying to stop smoking good luck. Maybe the money issue will be the tipping point in helping you quit. The new tax increase alone works out to be $226.30/year for pack-a-day smokers.

Source: AP/Yahoo

Vanity Fair: An Oral History of the Bush White House

A must read at Vanity Fair: "Farewell to All That: An Oral History of the Bush White House". They go point by point, person by person. Relive the horror!

The threat of 9/11 ignored. The threat of Iraq hyped and manipulated. Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. Hurricane Katrina. The shredding of civil liberties. The rise of Iran. Global warming. Economic disaster. How did one two-term presidency go so wrong? A sweeping draft of history—distilled from scores of interviews—offers fresh insight into the roles of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and other key players.

The Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight [pictured below]



So many abuses, so many failures, you forget how many. But there are new ones, too:

Lawrence Wilkerson, top aide and later chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell: The Cheney team had, for example, technological supremacy over the National Security Council staff. That is to say, they could read their e-mails. I remember one particular member of the N.S.C. staff wouldn’t use e-mail because he knew they were reading it. He did a test case, kind of like the Midway battle, when we’d broken the Japanese code. He thought he’d broken the code, so he sent a test e-mail out that he knew would rile Scooter [Libby], and within an hour Scooter was in his office.

You really have to check out the article.

Source: Vanity Fair

Glenn Beck: Conservatism For Toddlers

Rising Fox star and conservative alarmist leader du jour, Glenn Beck. The dis-evolution of the GOP. He is like the Fisher-Price version for kids, part of the "my first right wing nut" series. I recommend an IQ of 70 for this clip.

“I say on the air all time, ‘if you take what I say as gospel, you’re an idiot.’“ Glenn Beck

Note To Douglas Feith: Lawyer Up

The Bush Torturers™ are starting to feel the international heat. As I wrote 2 days ago, Spain is looking to bring 6 Bush top officials to court over there use of torture. One of the bigger losers of the Bush-era Pentagon was Douglas Feith. A neo-con and well-known supporter of Israel's right-wing Likud Party, Feith has convenient amnesia about his role in bringing America into war, as well as, his key role in cherry picking intelligence to justify said war.

Feith, a survivor of charisma bypass surgery, took Spain's charges lightly, claiming they “make no sense,” adding, “they criticize me for promoting a controversial position that I never advocated.” So how does the Pentagon you work at, where you are #3 in command, shred the Geneva Conventions and introduce torture, yet you play no part in advocating the policies?

Gonzalo Boye, one of the lawyers filing the complaint, responded to Feith, saying, “If they [Bush officials] are innocent, they shouldn’t be afraid” to come to court:

“I would recommend that Mr. Feith first of all read the complaint, and secondly that he get a very good lawyer,” Boye said. “If he is so sure of what he is saying — then the address of the national court is #22 Genova Street, second floor.”

And if past is prologue, look at Feith in 1987 under Reagan:

During his time in the Pentagon in the Reagan administration, Feith was instrumental in getting the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Weinberger and Shultz all to recommend (successfully) to the President not to ratify changes to the Geneva Conventions. The changes, known as Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, would have allowed non-state militants to be treated as combatants and prisoners of war even if they had engaged in practices that endangered non-combatants or otherwise violated the laws of war. Reagan informed the United States Senate in 1987 that he would not ratify Protocol I.

Never advocated?

Source: thinkProgress

The Constant Underestimation Of Obama

As per usual, before any big event his entire political career, President Obama is given small odds to get anything done. This time it is the upcoming G20 in London. All the memes I see are about how Obama is going to be met with the world's anger and how he is "persona non grata" for being American.

Not being able to predict the future, I can't tell you what is going to happen, but one is for sure: Obama always come through passing expectations.

This is the time in history when the world needs to come together to solve this global problem. Who better than Obama?

As Paul Krugman notes:

Like many other economists, I’ve been revisiting the Great Depression, looking for lessons that might help us avoid a repeat performance. And one thing that stands out from the history of the early 1930s is the extent to which the world’s response to crisis was crippled by the inability of the world’s major economies to cooperate.

The details of our current crisis are very different, but the need for cooperation is no less. President Obama got it exactly right last week when he declared: “All of us are going to have to take steps in order to lift the economy. We don’t want a situation in which some countries are making extraordinary efforts and other countries aren’t.”

Obama is that guy to get the nations to pull together. Not saying he will, but he is our best shot.

Watch all the post-G20 press be on how popular Obama was in London. Then they will use that popularity against him, say he's "too popular in France" and the cycle continues.