Saturday, October 16, 2010
Poor, Sad Christine O'Donnell: GOP Loves Smoke & Mirrors
The GOP: Things you do earlier in life do not matter. A shallow grasp of complex issues is folksy.
BUT, things your opponents do early in life are clear signs they are indeed secret agents from a foreign society here to brainwash you and force you into slavery.
Conservative 2010 Model: Where Have I Seen This Before?
"All the classic lines of our 1994 model but with an aggressive new sense of entitlement"
Friday, October 15, 2010
Do The Securitized Mortgages Really Exist?
So we have mortgages based on lies that were not intendend for the purposes normally associated with mortgage lending. Now we’re learning that the legal processes necessary to carry out the securitization process was in many — perhaps even most — cases not actually followed. The transfer of property rights that lies at the basis of a form of security that has wrought massive destruction may never have happened, meaning that mortgage-based securities, which nearly brought down the financial system and triggered a near-depression that has ruined countless lives, may not technically exist.
–Evil as privation in the world of finance « An und für sich
If there is a better argument for capitalism not just as fundamentally amoral but fundamentally not a system at all…
(via champagnecandy)
To this day, no one really knows what those securitized mortgage instruments are worth… It’s a market completely divorced from the reality of the original collateral. It’s just composed of “something” and the prices people are willing to pay for the unknowable “something”. I’ve been thinking that was actually an extension of the Enron model of creating markets from anything… I wonder if that’s true?
Quote From Obama's Interview With NYT
"Something that I have learned over the last couple of years is that I have to make decisions based on the long view. And I have to suppress my own desire for a short-term fix if I’m going to be able to lead the country effectively over the long term... I will keep on making that case, and I think that to point — to quote my vice president — I believe that voters are going to stop comparing me to the Almighty and compare me to the alternative." - President Obama
We're lucky to have him.
Cancer Is A Man-made Disease, Study Claims
Is the common nature of cancer worldwide purely a man-made phenomenon? That is what some researchers now suggest.
Still, other specialists in cancer and in human fossils have strong doubts about this notion.
Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for roughly one in eight of all deaths in 2004, according to the World Health Organization. However, scientists have only found one case of the disease in investigations of hundreds of Egyptian mummies, researcher Rosalie David at the University of Manchester in England said in a statement. (The researchers did not reply to repeated queries made via phone and e-mail.)
The rarity of cancer in mummies suggests it was scarce in antiquity, and "that cancer-causing factors are limited to societies affected by modern industrialization," researcher Michael Zimmerman at Villanova University in Pennsylvania said in a statement. "In an ancient society lacking surgical intervention, evidence of cancer should remain in all cases."
Zimmerman was the first to diagnose cancer in an Egyptian mummy by analyzing its tissues on a microscopic level, identifying rectal cancer in an unnamed mummy who had lived in the Dakhleh Oasis during the Ptolemaic period 1,600 to 1,800 years ago.
Story: Is it time to return to caveman parenting?
David and Zimmerman also analyzed ancient literature from Egypt and Greece for hints of cancer, as well as medical studies of human and animal remains going back to the age of dinosaurs. They suggested evidence of cancer in animal fossils, non-human primates and early humans was scarce, with a few dozen uncertain examples. As they analyzed ancient literature, they did not find descriptions of operations for breast and other cancers until the 17th century, and the first reports in the scientific literature of distinctive tumors have only occurred in the past 200 years, such as scrotal cancer in chimney sweepers in 1775, nasal cancer in snuff users in 1761 and Hodgkin's disease in 1832.
One possible reason cancers might have been comparatively rare in antiquity is that the short life span of individuals back then precluded the development of the disease. Still, the researchers did note some people in ancient Egypt and Greece did live long enough to develop such diseases as atherosclerosis, Paget's disease of bone, and osteoporosis.
'Sin' of modern societies
David and Zimmerman therefore argue that cancer nowadays is largely caused by man-made environmental factors such as pollution and diet. They detailed their findings in the October issue of the journal Nature Reviews Cancer."In industrialized societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death, but in ancient times, it was extremely rare," David said in a statement. "There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer."
Despite that statement, dinosaurs did develop cancer well before humans were on the scene. Also, others argue the short life spans of antiquity could be a profoundly effective reason as to why cancer might have been rare then.
"Cancer is very rare in modern societies in humans under age 30," oncologist Dr. John Glaspy at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center told LiveScience. "In ancient times, people rarely lived to be much older than that. So cancer was rare. The 'sin' of modern societies is having people live to be much older."
Story: 3 ways to lower your breast cancer risk
Another concern when examining the fossil record is that skeletal remains might not preserve cancers very well. "To see cancers with the skeletal record, you really have to have a tumor that's affecting bone," paleoanthropologist John Hawks at the University of Wisconsin at Madison said in a phone interview. "Although there might be few confirmed diagnoses of tumors in bones, it's because cancer is a difficult diagnosis to make from bone."
Hawks did note that modern lifestyles could certainly lead to much higher rates of cancer than in the past, but not necessarily due to pollution.
"When it comes to cancers such as breast cancer, we know the age that a woman first has children or not makes a lot of difference in whether they get breast cancer, and back then people had children early, which would have put them into a lower-risk category," Hawks said.
O'Donnell: "I've Got Sean Hannity In My Back Pocket"
"I’ve got Sean Hannity in my back pocket, and I can go on his show and raise money by attacking you guys."
Christine O’Donnell - according to two top GOP insiders…(via brooklynmutt)
Continue reading… Howard Finneman, HuffingtonPost
The mouthpiece of the GOP is the fundraising arm of the GOP and also employs the 4 top GOP Presidential candidates. Having a State TV station, sounds very unlike a communist or fascist government. Oh! wait. That is exactly what it sounds like.
Glad the Tea Baggers and Conservatives make those claims of “Obama as fascist” as their own favorite Fox network does the exact thing they have been scared into believing is going to happen to them. Glenn Beck gets to warn the rubes of fascism, as he himself, exploits his propaganda “history lessons” on a State-style cable network.
“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” - Verbal Kint
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Mortgage Crisis Blues: Their Own Mistakes As Basis For Compensation
"It could be 2008 all over again." Ariana Eunjung Cha & Jia Lynn Yang of the Washington Post: "For more than a decade, big lenders sold millions of mortgages around the globe at lightning speed without properly transferring the physical documents that prove who legally owned the loans. Now, some of the pension systems, hedge funds and other investors that took big losses on the loans are seeking to use this flaw to force banks to compensate them or even invalidate the mortgage trades themselves."
Will the taxpayer again ride to the rescue of banks?
I'm sure all those lightning fast transfers around the global banking and mortgage industries were forced by poor people given risky loans. That's what the Conservatives and Tea Baggers would have you believe.
Corporations are out to destroy socialistic policies, yet socialism and taxpayers always bailout corporations. It's so masochistic, yet it happens every time.
"Buyer beware" work for hedge funds, too.
For Senator and Governor in Connecticut
The bitter contest to replace retiring Senator Christopher Dodd pits the charm-free, experienced public servant against the splashy business executive. Connecticut voters should pick experience.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the Democrat, has led the way in attacking the tobacco plague, helped clean the region’s environment and supported hundreds of individuals treated unfairly by their health insurance companies, utilities or banks.
Mr. Blumenthal has troubled us by occasionally telling audiences, falsely, that he served in Vietnam. He has apologized in almost every public forum and made sure that he expressed his regret to real Vietnam veterans.
We have larger concerns with the Republican, Linda McMahon. She made her name and lots of money by running World Wrestling Entertainment, a noisy, demeaning business. Her policy positions, when you can discern them, are remixes of failed trickle-down ideas.
She has aligned herself with groups that oppose the minimum wage — even though she now says she would not cut this meager safety net. She essentially expects voters to take it on faith that she will do as well in government as she did in spectacle wrestling.
She is ready to spend as much as $50 million of her own money to win the race, but she does not seem ready to take on the issues of war, the economy, public welfare and justice in Washington.
For the United States Senate in Connecticut, we endorse Richard Blumenthal.
•
Connecticut voters have two worthy candidates for governor: Dan Malloy, the Democrat and former Stamford mayor, and Thomas Foley, the Republican and former ambassador. Mr. Malloy is the better choice.
Mr. Foley, who was a major fund-raiser for former President George W. Bush, worked in Iraq shortly after the invasion and then became ambassador to Ireland. He is fairly new to state issues, while Mr. Malloy is steeped in Connecticut’s problems and possibilities.
Both candidates have a way to go in explaining how they plan to tackle the enormous deficits next year. Mr. Foley has promised no borrowing and no new taxes, which would mean steep cuts to balance the $19 billion budget. Mr. Malloy, who is aligned with numerous unions, would have to disappoint these supporters to scale back state costs.
Mr. Foley has thrived in his investment business, although a company he ran in Georgia closed its doors after he sold it and left many unemployed. Mr. Malloy’s stewardship of Stamford brought growth and prosperity to the once bedraggled city.
We endorse Mr. Malloy for governor in Connecticut.
More home State news.
Blumenthal Widens Lead in Connecticut
A new Quinnipiac poll in Connecticut shows Richard Blumenthal (D) has opened up a double-digit lead once again over Linda McMahon (R) for U.S. Senate, 54% to 43%, among likely voters.
Even though I live in NYC, I vote in CT. Suck it, Linda.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
— Christine O’Donnell,
at tonight’s Senate debate, when asked if she believes in evolution.
Evan's Blog. Meh.
Obama vs. Huckabee?
Here's another good nugget from the New York Times Magazine piece on President Obama:"Obama advisers expect to incorporate the reelection campaign around March and think the Tea Party ultimately will reelect him by pulling Republican nominee to the right. They doubt Sarah Palin will run, figure Mitt Romney can't get nomination because of his Massachusetts health care program and guess that Obama may end up running against Mike Huckabee."
2010 mid-terms are the last gasp by the Right for decades. Obsolete by their own making.
What Part Of "We The People" Is A Corporation?
Tom Turnipseed
The Foreclosure Spin: How Can Conservatives Blame The Poor
With all the bundling of mortgages, sold around the world as securities, based on shoddy paperwork on the front end and back end of these sales, the big question in many cases is: who actually owns the deed/mortgage on the foreclosed home?
You have multiple claims on each home because so many pieces of the original mortgage are owned by multiple investors all trying to get “their” money back.
As with all banking scandals and bubbles, it is the job of Conservatives to go spin this as “poor black people misrepresented their loan applications and caused this problem” throughout the media, deflecting all blame from the flawed markets, blind with greed risk analysis firms, and unregulated, corruption-inducing capitalism.
Well try and spin this one.
Did these risky applicants force the entire banking and mortgage industries, and now the foreclosures market, to forget how to fundamentally operate? A guy making nothing, with no assets and no job forced the hand of the entire housing market? And the mortgage market?
For Republicans, Tea Baggers and complete partisan hacks, the answer is yes. Blame the little guy when you know it was obviously the big guy’s fault.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Pro-Life Is A Crock
We are all pro-life. I'm not pro-death. I feel we should care about all people and protect choices so that the Government is not deciding for you to have your baby.
Never Let A Good Crisis Go To Waste
Next time you hear a Republican complain about big intrusive government, ask them how much more secure they feel now than they did on September 10, 2001. Then remind them Cheney’s Department of Homeland Security was the largest expansion of Federal government spending, payroll, and power since World War II. Do they feel like the Republicans gave them their money’s worth the last time they promised they knew what they were doing? And do they like knowing their phones are tapped?
You know, they try to talk about Rahm Emmanuel’s quote about letting a “good crisis go to waste”, all the while not noticing that the Republicans certainly didn’t let 9/11 go to waste. DHS, the Patriot Act, the war in Iraq, it was all “justified” by 9/11.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Glenn Beck 'Blew My Mind' Says The Right Wing Extremist
In jailhouse interviews, the right-wing extremist charged in that Oakland freeway shooting last July says Glenn Beck is more schoolteacher than newscaster: "It was the things he exposed that blew my mind. Beck would never say anything about a conspiracy, would never advocate violence, he'll never do anything like, of this nature, but he'll give you every ounce of evidence that you could possibly need."
Fox News gives Glenn Beck unchecked airwaves to push his toxic patchwork of deception and messages of violent retribution.
[Byron] Williams is charged with allegedly opening fire on police on Interstate 580 in Oakland, California, while on his way to "start a revolution" by attacking members of the ACLU and the Tides Foundation.
Potential blood on their hands and all they could only care about are ratings.
GOP Senate Blocks Nobel Winner In Economics
- Ezra Klein
Sunday, October 10, 2010
SNL Parodies O'Donnell: The Tea Party Is All Acting Anyways
Saying "I am not a witch" as part of your campaign platform does not embarrass the Tea Party. It's all acting anyways.
'SNL' Does The Best Parody Of Christine O'Donnell's 'Not A Witch' Ad Yet (VIDEO)
Master Of Logic
“I’m going to create man and woman with original sin. Then I’m going to impregnate a woman with myself as her child, so that I can be born in human form. Once alive, I will kill myself as a sacrifice to myself. To save you from the sin I originally condemned you to. Ta dah!”
God - master of logic since the beginning of time.
America's Plutonomy
"Major corporations recognize that the federal government remains an indispensable source of both critical legal protections and vast treasure chests of plunder.
For Corporate Amercia, “Big Government” means huge federal contracts (no-bid in the case of favored outfits like Halliburton and Blackwater), massive subsidies, tax breaks, investment guarantees, low-cost oil and mineral leases, and of course, the “too big to fail” doctrine which will remain in place despite reforms of Wall Street practices.
The virtually unconditional bailout of Wall Street is perhaps the most clear-cut example. The banks got bailed out, yet have shown their gratitude to the public by awarding themselves huge bonuses, while withholding loans from small businesses and families, and conducting foreclosures at such a rapid pace (10 times the daily volume during the Great Depression) that several major banks have failed to follow all procedures required before kicking a family out of their home.
Citibank, in a confidential document, describes the U.S. economic system as nothing less than “a plutonomy” where the super-rich thrive regardless of the fate of the bottom 90%. The richest 1% now take home 23.5% of all US income, more than the bottom half."
— America’s ‘Plutonomy’ Drives Warped Electoral Season