Boobies 'R Us

A nice pair of Masked Boobies.

Political Thought For The Day

Saw this graffiti at a bus stop today:

"Democracy is like sex: It's a lot more fun when you're participating"

In spite of all that is wrong with our political system this election cycle, I do like that sentiment.

Well, this Can't Be Good....

From the BBC:

The US government's debts have ballooned so badly the National Debt Clock in New York has run out of digits to record the spiralling figure.

The digital counter marks the national debt level, but when that passed the $10 trillion point last month, the sign could not display the full amount.

The board was erected to highlight the $2.7 trillion level of debt in 1989.

The clock's owners say two more zeros will be added, allowing the clock to record a quadrillion dollars of debt.

UPDATE: As of 2 PM MST today, the above link had made it to the top of Yahoo's front page news, posibly as a result of the bank nationalization plan and the fact that the DJIA has another spectacularly shitty day. Earlier, I was going to call for a DOW of about 8200 prior to the elections; now I think we could drop as low as 6500 by the time we go to the polls.

Out Of Touch

I've been out of touch recently. I'm temporarily staying in a household with no TV or internet, and working as much as I can to make enough cash to move into a place of my own. I've heared that being away from TV/internet is healthy and cathartic, but I'm finding the experience to be more a source of frustration and discomfort. I want to obsess about obscure political details, damn it! I'm a political junkie, and I'm stuck going through withdrawal in the middle of a presidential campaign season.
Thanks to Gandhisxmas for his recent rants, and Sweaterman for his return. If it weren't for you guys, people might think this blog was dead. Our readership may be small, but I think of you all as friends and I feel badly about offering so little as of late. Even the Boobies have been inconsistent, and that's just not right. Anyway, I thank you for stopping by.

Here is an excerpt of an interview with Noam Chomsky where he talks about the election and the PR industry that has turned the US into a big stnking turd that is swiflty being flushed down the toilet.

http://www.alternet.org/audits/101530/chomsky%3A_%22if_the_u.s._carries_out_terrorism%2C_it_did_not_happen%22/

SG: One question on the elections: If Obama wins, will that bring any changes in U.S. foreign policy?

NC: The prior question is whether he will win; my assumption all along is that McCain will probably win. Now that he has picked Sarah Palin as his vice president, I think those probabilities have increased, for reasons that are understood by party managers and have been expressed very well by McCain's campaign manager. He said the election is not about issues, it is about character and personality, and so on. Meaning, it is not a serious election. That is the way U.S. elections are run. Issues are marginalized. They don't talk about them and the media coverage is about Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons or Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter.

McCain is supposed to be a specialist on national security issues. Why? Suppose that some Russian pilot was shot down bombing heavily populated areas in Kabul and tortured by Reagan's freedom fighters in the l980's. Well, we might feel sorry for him, but does that make him an expert on National Security? But McCain is an expert on national security because he was shot down bombing heavily populated urban areas in Hanoi and he was tortured by the Vietnamese. Well, we feel sorry for him, but he is no expert on National Security. But you can't say that. These elections are run by the public relations industry. The intellectual community goes along. Issues are marginalized. The focus is on personalities, on Jeremiah Wright's sermons, Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter, or whatever it may be. In that terrain, the Republicans have a big advantage. They also have a formidable slander and vilification machine which has yet to go into full operation. They can appeal to latent racism, as they are already doing. They can construct a class issue. Obama is the elite Harvard liberal; McCain is the down to earth ordinary American, and it so happens that he is one of the richest people in the Senate. Same thing they pulled for Bush. You have to vote for Bush because he is the kind of guy you would like to meet in a bar and have a beer with; he wants to go back to his Ranch in Texas and cut brush. In reality he was a spoiled fraternity boy who went to an elite university and joined a secret society where the future rulers of the world are trained, and was able to succeed in politics because his family had wealthy friends. I am convinced, personally, that Bush was trained to mispronounce words to say things like "mis-underestimate" or "nu-cu-ler", so liberal intellectuals would make jokes about it; then the Republican propaganda machine could say see these elitist liberals who run the world are making fun of us ordinary guys who did not go to Harvard (but he did go to Yale, but forget it).

These are games run by the public relations industry, which is a huge industry. It spends enormous resources manipulating attitudes and opinions. They design and control elections so that public in effect is marginalized. They keep away from issues for a very good reason. We know a lot about American public opinion. It is a very heavily polled country, mainly because business wants to keep its finger on the public pulse. So there is a ton of information, valid information. On a host of major issues, domestic and international, both political parties are well to the right of the population. So therefore, you don't want to talk about issues, not if you want to keep the business parties in power. Further, the population is aware of this, but the press won't publish it; 80 percent of the population says the country is run by a few big interests, looking out for themselves, not the benefit of the people, By about 3 to one, people object to the fact that issues are not at the center of the campaigns. They want issues to be discussed, not personalities. Party managers know that, but they won't go along with it; it is too dangerous. They have got to make sure that the two factions of the business party, Republicans and Democrats, stay in power. So you don't deal with public concerns.

Really? This Is Your Weapon?! Really? This Is Your Genius?

Asked about Herritage's statement, Palin's foreign policy adviser, Steve Biegun, insisted the candidate's position was correct. Russia's "old behaviors" of aggressively flying into U.S. airspace have been exhibited recently, he said.

"Governor Palin told me that when Russian aircraft buzz American airspace and U.S. aircraft are mobilized at Elmendorf Air Force Base, she is informed by her National Guard commander," said Biegun, who did not offer any additional explanation for the contradiction.

"The point she was making is that the geographical location of Alaska has unique attributes. This doesn't happen to many states in the union," Biegun said. "Her point was that she's pretty up close to some of the big issues of international affairs."

Yeah, well so are all the families that host foreign exchange students, you stupid twat. Right up there, up-close and personal, as Jim McKay used to say, with those whole "foreignality" and "internationality" things.

Good lord this woman is dumber than a bag of dirt.

A Boobie Based Economy

The Friday Boobie reacts to today's economic news.

Can It Just Keep Getting Worse?

Fan, meet shit. Shit, meet fan. From this morning's news:

BEIJING, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Chinese regulators have told domestic banks to stop interbank lending to U.S. financial institutions to prevent possible losses during the financial crisis, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.

The Hong Kong newspaper cited unidentified industry sources as saying the instruction from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) applied to interbank lending of all currencies to U.S. banks but not to banks from other countries.

While I'm not eager to see the economy meltdown from the Big Shitpile into...um...a steaming lava-like mass of shit, and I completely oppose the 700 billion 1.2 trillion 1.8 trillion dollar bailout (and counting) I cannot for the life of me see that this is going to help.

Of course, Wall St. rejoices now that you and I are on the hook for that money.

UPDATE: As of this afternoon, Reuters has released a new article here, which softens the tone of the original somewhat to make it sound as if we are still trading with Chinese banks, but just that American financial firms are having minor difficulties:

U.S. and some other foreign banks were finding it more difficult to borrow money from the market because of concern about the health of the global financial system.

Some Chinese banks have temporarily stopped offering new lending to U.S. banks, in yuan and other currencies, three traders said.

However, they said foreign banks were not being excluded from trade completely and that the market was not panicking.

However, the South China Morning Post sounds a little more ominous below (sorry no link, but I'm not subscribed to the SCMP). The timing of these articles seems really suspicious and I wonder if they are just added pressure on Congress to pass that f*cking bailout plan....

Mainland lenders ordered to halt interbank deals with US firms
Jane Cai and Adam Chen in Beijing
Sep 25, 2008
Email to friend | Print a copy

Mainland regulators have told domestic banks to stop lending to United States financial institutions in the interbank market in a bid to prevent possible losses during the financial crisis, industry sources said yesterday.

The ban from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) applied to interbank lending of all currencies to US banks but not to banks from other countries, a source said.

The CBRC was not available for comment yesterday.

The decree appears to be Beijing's first attempt to erect defences against the deepening US financial meltdown after the mainland's major lenders reported billions of US dollars in exposure to the credit crisis.

Lending transactions on the mainland interbank market totalled 10.65 trillion yuan (HK$12.17 trillion) last year, according to the People's Bank of China.

In the first eight months of this year, transactions totalled 10.11 trillion yuan, up 104 per cent from a year earlier.

At the end of last year, the mainland interbank market had 717 members, including banks, securities companies and trust companies.

Another banking source said the CBRC issued the ban after obtaining data about the exposure of mainland banks to bonds issued by bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings.

Top officials said they were keeping a close watch on the crisis and warned mainland financial institutions to be cautious in their daily business and overseas expansion.

"The international transaction volume of Chinese banks is not big. Those concerning subprime loans are probably lower than US$10 billion," deputy central bank governor Ma Delun wrote this week in the China Business Post, a PBOC-affiliated newspaper.

But the deteriorating situation in the US has shocked top officials.

Mr Ma said that among the unexpected developments was the effect the crisis was having on normal assets, not just problematic assets; its impact on the whole credit market, not just single products; and its effect on Europe and other nations, not only the US.

The exposure of seven listed mainland banks to bonds related to Lehman Brothers totalled US$721 million.

Mainland banks had US$9.8 billion in exposure to US subprime loans at the end of last year and US$25 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by June 30.

More as it unfolds...

The Future's Not What It Used To Be

Having ruined everything he touched during his time in office, Shrub is now decimating the next administration, no matter who wins in November. The current Wall Street bailout proposal will balloon the deficit to such an extent that the next president will enter office with their budgetary hands tied by an empty treasury. Forget any new spending on social programs such as health care; that money is already being stolen.
My paranoid side is thinking that this is the republican plan to destroy an Obama administration before he even gets elected. The corporate greedheads see him coming, and have decided that they better steal the nations wealth now, before Obama has a chance to use it to promote the common good. If they don't steal it now, they might not get another chance. As the dollar drops in value, it takes a lot more of them to buy a yacht or a private jet. If that same money were to fall into the hands of working Americans, they're likely to spend it in ways that don't enrich the already wealthy, and the republicans wouldn't want that to happen. Obama might even encourage a functional social economic system that helped average people, and that would be a threat to the oligarchy. In fact, it would be their worst nightmare.
Even before this latest economic "crisis", Sweaterman and I have discussed the mess that will be inherited by the next president. Sweaterman has even gone so far as to suggest that we let St. Sleazy McCain win, in order to permanently destroy the republican brand of economics. While I don't agree (the consequences of such a disaster are too painful to contemplate), I do understand the sentiment. Obama seems like a genuine 'nice guy', and it would be a shame to have him end up taking the blame for the consequences of the republicans corruption. The deck is already being stacked against him.
I suppose there is one positive side to all of this: should McCain win, he'll find it very difficult to afford more wars.

Added: Obama seems to have noticed:

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama said Tuesday that the huge costs of a financial bailout meant that he probably wouldn't be able to deliver everything he was promising in his campaign, at least not as quickly as he'd hoped.
"Does that mean that I can do everything that I've called for in this campaign right away? Probably not. I think we're going to have to phase it in. And a lot of it's
going to depend on what our tax revenues look like," Obama said on NBC.
The Democrat didn't identify which proposals he might delay if the government spends up to $700 billion to shore up the country's financial system, as the Bush
administration has proposed. Congress is negotiating the terms of the bailout this week in hopes of completing action by the weekend.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/v-print/story/52949.html

A Boobie for Friday

Nice blue feet.

Another Seeking Federal Bailout

Today another firm announced that it will seek federal bailout to avoid an impending financial disaster. The Pygalgia Group, a minor Back Street blogging company (not yet incorporated), is in danger of failing according to a company spokesman.
"Our assets have seriously decreased in value in the face of the current market, and our revenues will not meet our obligations." said company president Pygalgia. "Part of this is due to a lack of production in two of our major sectors, Zymurgian and Sweaterman. Neither are expected to meet expectations in the coming weeks. The Gandhisxmas sector has performed well, and is expected to continue to do so, but this will not be enough to make up for the shortfall."
Advertising revenue for the Pygalgia Group has not met expectations, and will again be $0.00 (as it has been throughout the blogs history) forcing the company to reevaluate its advertising strategy.
Valued at over $30,ooo (see right), Pygalgia plans to seek a $30 billion federal emergency loan, but is open to other investment offers.
"As bad as it looks right now" said Pygalgia "we're much closer to solvent than AIG or WAMU. With the right package of assistance, we could be back up to speed in a matter of weeks. Or at least buying our own beer."

Socialism Done Wrong

Monkeyfister (http://www.monkeyfister.blogspot.com/) has a great post pointing out how the republicans are even getting socialism wrong: you're supposed to nationalize profitable companies; not bankrupt ones. But this got me thinking about our new taxpayer owned enterprises:
We, the taxpayers, now own (80% of) the nations largest insurance company. But none of us will get insurance out of the deal. I know I'm still uninsured.
We, the taxpayers, now own the nations two largest mortgage brokers. But I doubt that any of us will get help with housing out of the deal. I know I'm still homeless.
If this were a socialist country, at least those things would be guaranteed. But republicans aren't truly socialists; they're oligarchs. And so the fruits of these nationalizations will only go to the rich.
And at the same time that we pour $85 billion into AIG, the people of Houston and Galveston are not getting relief from hurricane Ike. That Federal Emergency Management Agency? Not available in cases of actual emergency. Republicans have to cut spending somewhere, don't you know.

Pie Chart

See, it isn't all that complex. If only our economy were so robust.

Economics

Watching the Wall Street meltdown, I'm seeing the huge disconnect between classes. Being amongst the poor, I don't have to worry about my stock portfolio falling. Most of the folks I know live paycheck to paycheck, and invest in a night out when they can. We balance our books by paying our bills and spending what's left.
But the major investment banks don't have to follow such simple rules. They can simply inflate the value of their assets to create a false 'bottom line' and if reality intrudes they get a government bailout. At least, that's the way it usually works. After all, the government always has a few extra billion for the rich. Okay, it comes from the taxpayers (us) or an increase in the deficit (us), but it's not like it's real money. The country isn't bankrupt as long as it can borrow more (unlike regular people), and the first rule of Wall Street is "there are no rules." In the circles of high finance greed is good, lying is rewarded, and oversight (regulations) are removed by buying up a few congressmen (St. Sleazy McCain and crew).
Which is why they really wanted to privatize Social Security. All that money going to regular people when it could so easily be stolen for the much more deserving rich. Face it, Grandma won't spend her Social Security check on a congressman or deregulating Ponzi schemes.
It was all a fine system (for the rich) until someone started to notice that all those pieces of paper weren't worth what they claimed. In fact, most of them were beyond worthless. The 'assets' added up to nothing but a very large debt.
Now they're busy trying to figure out how to foist this debt off onto the regular people; the homeowners, the taxpayers, anybody who hasn't bought a congressman. And it's going to hurt a lot of us.
I'm fairly safe, being among the poorest of the poor. They can't get much from me because I haven't got it. I'm only semi-employed (or semi-unemployed), semi-homeless, and completely broke. If my bank failed, the FDIC would laugh at my account. I'm not going to get billions in a federal bailout. Hell, a thousand dollars looks huge to me (please feel free to use the "donate" button on the right if you can spare it, or any other amount) and my economy has been tanking for a long time.
The republican greedheads have had their way for a long time, but reality is starting to piss on their "trickle-down" theory of economics. We can't afford another four years of criminal insanity guiding our economic policy. The question becomes "how badly will people have to be hurt before they realize this?"

Fresh Boobies

OK, Boobie fans, I got these up on Friday. This punctuality may not happen in the future, but we're all good for this week.

As They Debate Porcine Cosmetology

Modern American politics has degenerated into something below reality television in intellectual content. Major financial institutions are failing. Health care has become a luxury. The energy companies are (literally) in bed with the government. Two wars are going badly, and the lead terrorists are still free. Unemployment and homelessness are up, along with the cost of food. And another hurricane is about to hit (but climate change isn't a real problem). Along with a few dozen other major issues.
The latest republican TV star, Sarah the moosehunter, is ready to go to war with Russia (even if her reason is purely hypothetical) and anybody else she doesn't like. The actual republican candidate, St. Sleazy McCain (remember him?), is sounding more and more senile between rounds of lying.
But this election race is still close, thanks to the media. Because it's really important to debate the meaning of "lipstick on a pig."
Maybe America deserves four more years of republican rule.

Seven Years Later

Another anniversary with Bin Laden still on the loose, and what have we learned? One lesson should be extremely clear: shrub and the republicans are completely incompetent. Afghanistan continues to be a haven for the Taliban and drug lords. Pakistan is an unstable ally at best, albeit better armed thanks to shrub. In the course of the past seven years, shrub and co. have utterly failed to bring the perpetrators of 9/11 any closer to justice or elimination. We've caught a few (including a dangerous driver), but Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri are still out there making videos. In short, the "war on terror" (what a stupid phrase) is a complete failure with regards to al-Qaeda.
Instead, in perhaps the worst blunder in modern military history, shrub chose to invade Iraq. Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 or al-Qaeda, but he looked like an invitingly bad guy (with oil) for shrub to target. In the post-9/11 hysteria it was easy to generate enough propaganda to sell the war to the American people, so off we went. Now, after more than five years of occupation, Iraq is a $10 billion a month quagmire with no possible positive ending in sight. The republicans keep trying to tell us "we're winning", but the question remains "winning what?"
9/11 was a tragedy for America, but shrub and the republicans made it into a disaster for the rest of the world, especially the Iraqi's. Think about this as they campaign to remain in power another four years.

Enough Palin, Let's Focus

The media and the political blogs seem to be "all Palin, all the time" lately. Enough already. She's a lying corrupt corporate shill? Of course she is. She's a republican.
Let us get back to what matters: we need to defeat St. Sleazy McCain and the rest of the republican greedheads if we are to have any hope of saving America's (and the rest of the world's) future. It really is that simple. Nearly eight years of shrub have shown the damage republicans can do to peoples lives. We can't afford four more.
Obama isn't the messiah or the savior, but he has common sense and common decency. That's a big improvement on what we're getting now. I wasn't a big fan of Bill Clinton either, but at least he wasn't ruining the country, the planet, or peoples lives for the profit of a few corporations. When the choice is between 'mediocre' and 'absolute evil', 'mediocre' starts looking pretty good.
The Palin trivia may be fun, but it's distracting from the real fight. She is only a symptom of the disease that is the current republican party. We need to restore the health of America.

Observing Obama's Speech

Last night I watched Obama's speech while in a bar. There were four of us, all political junkies, watching a corner TV while most of the crowd watched College Football.
I'm pretty cynical about political speeches. Rhetoric is what I expect to hear, and Obama has proven a master at it.
But something happened as the speech progressed. More and more people began joining us to watch, leaving behind the football game. By the halfway point, there were about 25 people in the corner of the bar watching and listening. Not the political junkie people, but the average folk. And then, they began applauding. By the end, they were cheering.
I've stated before that I don't hold great expectations of an Obama presidency, only that it would be much less bad than a McCain presidency. But maybe, just maybe, Obama's ability to inspire people could lead to something greater. Maybe the rhetoric can change the reality.

Bringing Back the Boobies

Sorry that the Boobies didn't make it for a few weeks. I'm a bad blogger.