Timb's Blog

Don't be surprised if we see more of these:

The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.

The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms.

Those and other regulations would help clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities, ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming, relax drinking-water standards and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining.

Because it didn't work for 8 years under Reagan, and it hasn't worked for 8 years under King George II the God Emperor Bush II. May as well give it one more try.

I'll be up icy and icarol's way on business during the day, but back in time to hand out free candy to the neighborhood welfare queens kids. Who's going trick or treating? What are you going to wear?

I'm thinking of wrapping myself in an ace bandage and tying a balloon to each foot. I can hand out candy as "dick" cheney. After the little free-loaders get their loot I can tell them to "go %&^$ yourself!"

BTW, did you know it's all the Democrat's fault that America is polarized?

One of them is even small enough to fit in your pants.

I'm bookmarking this one so I can read it when I get home from work.

"christians" praying at a golden calf, hoping that "god" will save our economy. (Presumably so a wing nut Preznit can appoint more wing nut judges, but I'll read the whole thing later.)

That's it, I give up. I just give up.

by Nance Griggs

Those among us who have recognized the hypocrisy of the GOP over the years – a charge which, when made, often fell on deaf ears – have now been fully vindicated, thanks to the McCain campaign, its supporters, its defenders, and its hard-core adherents.

While Republican voters screamed for McCain to take off the gloves, what actually slipped off was the mask that Republican powers-that-be have hidden behind for decades – and the face that was exposed for all the world to see was, to say the least, not a pretty one.

Read more! »

(Will American learn for the second time in 30 years that "trickle down" doesn't work? I doubt it. Obama's a "socialist" for wanting to restore taxation to 2001 levels.)

Hong Kong shares plunge 13% as fears of global recession sweep markets. Nikkei closes at 26-year low. Dow at 8085 in pre-market trading.

Global food crisis escalating.

OPEC to cut oil output further: Iran (to keep prices up)

Banks Have No Intention Of Using Bailout Money To Make New Loans

Wall Street Bonuses Survive

The bailout is now the hottest lobbying game in town.

Number Of Yard Sales Booms As People Seek Cash Flow

No curbs on Wall Street pay despite meltdown

If you're a typical American: Your home value has declined. Your 401(k) has declined. Your wages haven't kept up with inflation (and the gap between "rich" and "poor" has grown.) If you're in your 50s or 60s you've decided to wait a few more years before retirement and you're not sure where you'll get health insurance when you finally do. Odds are you're not even planning to leave anything but whatever's left in your house to your kids.

This is our legacy for the past 8 years.

Are you proud?

I stayed up and watched the end of last night's world series game, so the teevee was still on Fox when I turned it on this morning.

I immediately started laughing. The topic on Fox and Friends was "Has Media Bias Gotten Worse?"

(No one on the panel was able to make the connection between "john McSame has received more negative coverage than Barack Obama" and "John McSame is a worse candidate than Barack Obama".)

Of course, I never expected them to make the connection between "media bias" and "Fox News".

This, ladies and gentlemen, does constitute voter fraud.

The choice cut:

An agreement announced today by Obama for America, the Republican National Committee, the Democratic National Committee, the Michigan Republican Party, the Michigan Democratic Party, the Macomb County Republican Party, the Macomb County Democratic Party, and plaintiffs Duane Maletski, Sharon Lopez, and Frances M. Zick protects the voting rights of foreclosure victims. The settlement acknowledges the existence of an illegal scheme by the Republicans to use mortgage foreclosure lists to deny foreclosure victims their right to vote. This settlement has the force of law behind it and ensures that Republicans cannot disenfranchise families facing foreclosure.

As I said previously, even if I register Mickey Mouse and Pacman Jones to vote, both must show up during November 4th in order for my deception to bear fruit. This conduct by the Michigan Republican Party requires no such organized effort. It is a systematic suppression of those who suffered the worst from our economic crisis. I am in no way saying that the McCain campaign or the conservative movement in general endorses such despicable acts; but, given the disportionate amount of play the ACORN "scandal" has recieved, I thought we should put some focus on real fraud.

Phillies take game 3.

Pbbbbblt, speedy. ;->

That is all.

Billy and uzi will like this one.

Check out the videos.

A few rednecks tell the camera how they really feel about Obama. Caution explicit language and utter stupidity.

Dow down more than 500 in pre-market trading. S&P temporarily shut down over night. OPEC cut production in an emergency meeting and prices fell 5%. Gold under $700 (biggest weekly drop in 25 years), silver under $9. Foreign markets all down. Our two biggest lenders; Nikkei in Japan down more than 9%, Hang Seng (China) down over 8%. Unemployment rising, major companies bankrupt or reporting record losses.

$700 billion borrowed from taxpayers used to fund bonuses for executives. Taxpayers unable to borrow for anything but war. Spending ends as hoarding begins.

Government broken. GOP unrepentant. Democrats in hiding.

We're on our own, and it's gonna be a rough ride.

1 Minute YouTube. Watch it all the way to the end.

Here is a video of a chimp riding a Segway.

Drudge is all over the story of the helpless McCain supporter who was mugged and mutilated by the big scary black man.

Now, let me be clear about this. If this happened the way this woman claims then I spit on the guy who did it. Not only is it a vicious brutal attack that anyone should condemn, but it's an EXTREMELY stupid thing for an "Obama supporter" to do.

However, it smells of bullshit.

So, here's the question. Have you ever had a black eye that didn't swell shut?

"...the woman refused medical assistance at the scene and said she would go to the hospital the next day."

Uh-huh.

And a robber, who already had his money, took the time to carve a nicely rounded upside-down "B" on this woman's face with his fingernail. She didn't scream. No one saw it. All because a car parked on a busy street had a "McCain" sticker on it.

Uh-huh.

Palin says she considers herself intellectual

Palin said if she and husband Todd had had a sixth child, they had already picked a name for a boy joining siblings Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig.

"I always wanted a son named Zamboni," she said.

"Now where did I put those nuke-ya-ler codes?", she wondered...

Link

(Not work safe, but funny as hell.)

Serve them.

The 10 Most Disappointing Treats for Trick-or-Treaters

This is funny.

The last sentence in the third paragraph made me literally laugh out loud.

The "not do anything" part reminds me of a story from the rent strike I mentioned a week or two ago. I'll have to tell you guys about it, some time.

Sometimes you can't believe things even when you read them yourself.

Almost 50 grand for a painting of one of the biggest fools of the shameful Bush years? Gimme a friggin' break.

Flipping through The Washington Post this morning I came across a fascinating story about an age-old Washington tradition. It is one that kicks into high gear toward the end of any administration: the painting of official portraits. You might even remember when President and Mrs. Bush invited President and Sen. Clinton to the White House for the unveiling of the Clintons' official portraits.

But what you may not know is that this little perk isn't reserved for presidents. Cabinet secretaries get them too.

So what's the big deal, you say? Well, according to The Washington Post, the costs of these portraits ranges from$7,500 to nearly $50,000.

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld went high end. The Pentagon, The Post reports, is currently awaiting delivery of Rumsfeld's portrait. Total cost: $46,790. Watch CNN's Campbell Brown make her case

The Commerce Department is spending $35,000 on a portrait of Secretary Carlos Gutierrez; $25,000 for the former NASA administrator, $29,500 for the outgoing head of the EPA, and the list goes on and on.

Feds rush to ease endangered species rules

Oct. 21, 2008
WASHINGTON - Rushing to ease endangered species rules before President Bush leaves office, U.S. Interior Department officials are trying to review 200,000 comments from the public in just 32 hours, according to an e-mail obtained by The Associated Press.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has called a team of 15 people to Washington this week to pore through letters and online comments about a proposal to exclude greenhouse gases and the advice of federal biologists from decisions about whether dams, power plants and other federal projects could harm species. That would be the biggest change in endangered species rules since 1986.

In an e-mail last week to Fish and Wildlife managers across the country, Bryan Arroyo, head of the agency's endangered species program, said the team would work eight hours a day starting Tuesday to the close of business on Friday to sort through the comments. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's office, according to the e-mail, will be responsible for analyzing and responding to them.

Read more! »

The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Gotta love that "down home touch". No burlap bags and rope belts for sister Sarah, you betcha.

Wow! Looking at "the news" these days you'd think we weren't in multiple wars, aren't facing the possibility of a worldwide economic paradigm shift, global climate change and our dependence on middle eastern oil have gone away, unemployment is low and a stable housing market is a sign of future economic strength, and the RW hasn't finally tipped it's hand that it's a murderous band of thugs.

Nope. Apparently the only problem we face is "our taxes are too high" "taxes on the ultra-wealthy are too high".

OK, setting all the bullshit that passes for "news" aside, here's all I think I need to know about the national elections:

Read more! »

A few days ago I wondered why the price of nearly everything was falling. I asked what was going on, financially, and got some good feedback.

Again, I'm no economic wizard, and this is certainly not intended as "advice". Have you ever heard of "deflation"?

Deflation is a prolonged and widespread decline in prices that causes consumers and businesses to curbing spending as they wait for prices to fall further. It also increases the burden of any given amount of debt.

Fears of a global recession have triggered a slump in oil prices, which fell to about $70 a barrel last week from a record peak in July of $147.

Read more! »

Unrepentent Bushies must be so proud.

CALEDONIA — A campaign worker going door to door on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama was allegedly assaulted Saturday afternoon by a resident of a home where a campaign call was made.

In a telephone interview broadcast Saturday night, WISN-TV (Channel 12) identified the worker as Nancy Takehara, 58, of Chicago.

Sgt. Toby Schey of the Caledonia Police Department said Saturday night that there was no medical assistance requested by Takehara, who said the suspect hit her in the face and pulled her hair.

“The man terrified me,” Takehara said in the television interview.

This guy was first.

It used to be the motto of the KKK. Now it's the official policy of some of McCain-Palin's strongest supporters.

Surprise, shock and some fear in a local neighborhood, after an anti-Obama display is hung from a tree. The display is at a home at Symmes and Hicks Road in Fairfield.

And the person who put it there says the message isn't political, it's racist. Shawn Ley spoke with the man who isn't shy about his views.

There it is, right above the "McCain-Palin" sign: a make-shift ghost, hanging from a noose. A Barack Obama sign attached upside down. Obama's middle name: "Hussein" spray painted and misspelled above.

Mike Lunsford hung the ghost in his yard. He spoke to us off-camera, saying his views could hurt his employers business ... but he says make no mistake: He doesn't want an African American running the country.

Lunsford says he believes Barack Obama is not a "full blooded American." And he says the United States is a white, Christian nation - and only with white Christians should be in power.

Throw in Michele Bachmann's interview on Tweety's show and you've got the complete picture of how the religious right has changed the GOP. (Gotta give Tweety credit on this one.)

Does anyone know what's going on?

I was going to post about gold being at $788 this morning and it might be a good time to buy, but then I thought better of it. I have no idea what's happening, and therefore shouldn't say anything that looks like "advice".

Gold's down. Pt's WAY down. Oil's down. The stock market is down. A couple of days ago it looked like long term bonds are up, and they're about the only thing that is (besides interest rates). This last makes sense in light of the "credit crunch", which is a good thing (IMO) for a nation that's addicted to spending what they don't have. But looking at the rest, another way to say it is, "that paper (fiat money) dollar in your hand is worth more vs commodities OR stocks than it was a couple of weeks ago."

Unemployment in America is up, wages have been stagnant for years and there's no sign that's going to change soon. As a matter of fact, most signs point to the job market getting worse, with people afraid to leave a job for greener pastures and working conditions sliding down the shitter as a consequence.

Worldwide economies are slowing, and many large retail chains (Sharper Image and Mervyns come to mind) are going banko, along with banks. It seems safe to say that "we're in a readjustment period", but why would the dollar benefit?

I know that the market is flooded with gold, right now, as cash strapped holders are selling off, but why is oil AND the market down?

Can anyone make sense of this?

I'm seriously considering moving my retirement account back into the market, but "fear" is the operative word.

Is it because America appears headed back to sanity, with a Democratic President and Congress (with a more "liberal" judicial branch soon to follow)?

I hope no one posts "investment advice", but if anyone can boil this down for me (us) I'd be interested in hearing your theories.

(Note the date.)

Barack Obama for President

Friday, October 17, 2008

Joe the Plumber may be related to Charles Keating.

I will give $1.00 to McCain's election fund, up to $100, for every verifiable case of a fraudulent registration (reference the accusations against ACORN for definition) that resulted in a fraudulent vote being cast in an American election.

For example, show me a single case of someone who registered using the false name "Donald Duck" being allowed to vote, and that vote being counted, in an election for political office in America and McCain gets $1.00.

I expect to donate $0 to McCain's campaign.

After sleeping on it I have formed an impression of what I watched, last night.

The calm, collected monologue of Dr. Cool vs the wind and fury of Professor Huffnpuff.

Watch at least the first 10 seconds. You can see the air going out of McSame's balloon.

No one (with talent) likes you.

Matt Taibbi and Byron York Butt Heads Over Whether McCain Deserves Blame for the Wall Street Meltdown

Are you an American citizen? Yes? Then, as far as the world's concerned, you signed your name to this:

The Bush administration issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding against al-Qaeda suspects -- documents prompted by worries among intelligence officials about a possible backlash if details of the program became public.

Read more! »

Iraqi puppy in adoption controversy alive, military says

Oct. 14, 2008, 11:41PM

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi puppy adopted by an American soldier but was refused a flight to the U.S., is alive, the military said Tuesday, giving hope to an animal rescue group that is trying to take it to the United States.

The case has cast a spotlight on Defense Department rules that prohibit soldiers in the U.S. Central Command, which includes Iraq, from adopting pets or transporting them home.

Army Sgt. Gwen Beberg, 28, of Minneapolis, tried to send Ratchet home with the help of Operation Baghdad Pups earlier this month as she prepared to leave Iraq. But the dog was reportedly confiscated by a U.S. officer before it could reach the Baghdad International Airport, raising concern about the animal's fate.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Cmdr. David Russell said in an e-mail that the dog was alive, but he could provide no other details. More than 30,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Army to let the puppy go home with Beberg.

Read more! »

http://palinaspresident.com/

April 25, 2006

Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy Expose Stealth Campaign of Super-Wealthy to Repeal Federal Estate Tax

Report Identifies 18 Families Behind Multimillion-Dollar Deceptive Lobbying Campaign

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The multimillion-dollar lobbying effort to repeal the federal estate tax has been aggressively led by 18 super-wealthy families, according to a report released today by Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy at a press conference in Washington, D.C. The report details for the first time the vast money, influence and deceptive marketing techniques behind the rhetoric in the campaign to repeal the tax.

Read more! »

When ya gotta go, you gotta go.

So there was no stopping an Okaloosa Island man, whom cops clocked at 65 in a 35 zone, reports the Northwest Florida Daily News.

The driver got out of the car and immediately peed on himself while asking the deputy if he was in trouble.

When the deputy asked the driver if he'd been drinking he confessed.

Might as well, considering the driver handed the cop a half-full bottle of rum.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — The American economist Paul R. Krugman won the Nobel economics prize on Monday for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity.

The shrill, keening wail of the RW will continue, now convinced that even the Nobel prize committee is "out to get us". Much will be made of his prediction of a "double dip recession" being mis-timed, while the fact that his prediction was correct in all but timing will be overlooked. Bush kicked the can down the road, but the current collapse was inevitable and Krugman saw it coming.

Gore, now Krugman ... it's clear, to a winger, that the truth has a liberal bias.

(As Revealed to Todd Palin After Several Busch Light 40-Ouncers)

I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska statute 39.152.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska statute 39.152.110(a) provides

"The legislature affirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust."

(IOW, she's guilty of this according to a bipartisan committee, page 8)

Edit: My bad. Wrong penalties.

pdf

A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty

By TIM DICKINSONPosted Oct 16, 2008 (Read the whole thing in Rolling Stone.)

Excerpt:

Read more! »

Update: This week, Brave New Films released a new video focused on McCain's temper, featuring "original interviews with former U.S. Senator from Arizona Dennis DeConcini, former Arizona Republican Party Executive Director Jon Hinz, former Arizona Republic Editor Pat Murphy, and Eleanor Apodaca, sister of a Vietnam POW/MIA soldier. All four attest to McCain's explosive anger, three of them with personal anecdotes."

4:21 on YouTube

I almost hate to remind everyone, but this failing economy was PLANNED AND EXECUTED by the GOP.

"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years," "(Norquist) says, "to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.

06/01/2001

President Bush's tax cut finally has passed, but there's no time for the true believers in this downtown conference room to celebrate.

Grover Norquist calls on a White House official, who rises to thank more than 100 conservative activists for their help in passing the sort of sweeping tax relief this group has been pursuing for years at weekly strategy sessions known as "the Wednesday Meeting."

snip

Bush has been sending a representative to the Wednesday Meeting for two years, since before he formally announced his presidential candidacy. Now a White House aide attends each week. Vice President Cheney sends his own representative. So do GOP congressional leaders, right-leaning think tanks, conservative advocacy groups and some like-minded K Street lobbyists.

...in overnight trading. Expect a rally today (but not likely back over 10,000).

But you should also expect EXTREME volatility until AT LEAST early next year. Whether "the rescue" "the bailout" works, or not, remains to be seen but the underlying recklessness still isn't being adequately addressed.

If you have the nerve you could do well in these times. I lack the nerve. I'm in "safe havens", all the way.

Obama also said he was surprised some of those attacks weren't brought up by his opponent at the debate Tuesday night at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.

"I am surprised that, you know, we've been seeing some pretty over-the-top attacks coming out of the McCain campaign over the last several days, that he wasn't willing to say it to my face. But I guess we've got one last debate. So presumably, if he ends up feeling that he needs to, he will raise it during the debate."

"Bring it on."

Once again, McSame is going in the favorite. The town hall format favors him, and he's insisted for months that Obama is a pussy for not agreeing to doing town halls with him weekly, even multiple times per week.

I hope Obama can at last hold his own, but he's definitely the underdog, tonight.

Last week, Glenn Greenwald published a piece called "The right's two-pronged religion of rage and self-pity" that seems a fair summary of what we're up against.

The Right in this country -- meaning the faction that followed George Bush for the last eight years -- long ago ceased being a movement of political ideas and is driven by two, and only two, extreme emotions: (1) intense, aggressive rage towards their revolving door of enemies, and (2) bottomless self-pity over how unfairly they're being treated. As their imminent defeat looks increasingly likely (potentially on a humiliating scale), these two impulses are in maximum overdrive, feeding off one another in endless self-perpetuation (the more they lose, the more victimized they feel, the more they rage against their enemies who oppress them, etc.).

The Right's rejection by the public can't possibly be due to anything they have done. It can only be due to some extremely vicious enemy that oppresses them uniquely and so very unfairly. For the moment, they're only losing because The Leftist Mainstream Media hates them and is deeply biased against them.

Read more! »

About a week ago I hedged my bet that the DOW will fall below 10K by adding "before the end of the year".

It could happen today.

Pre-market trading has it at 10,100, and markets are falling around the world.

The "crisis", if there is one, is a crisis of confidence. Bailing out the same people and companies that caused this stress isn't the way to restore confidence.

Elect someone sane.

Cut military spending.

End the wars.

Help people stay in their homes.

Stop sending our jobs overseas to make a quick buck.

Banish corporate farming.

Launch an Apollo-scale energy independence program.

Assure us that if we're sick we won't be left to die.

It's common sense, but I fear we have none.

Making some sense of $700b
By James Carroll, October 6, 2008

HOW MUCH is 700 billion? The mind registers the number with such imprecision as to make it meaningless. One blogger proposed this way of grasping the figure: As a stack of $100 bills, it would reach 54 miles high. But who can imagine that? On the other hand, someone at the Smithsonian once calculated that counting to one billion, at the rate of one digit per second, would take 30 years. By that scale, counting to 700 billion would take 21,000 years.

Come again? That stretch of time takes us back to the cave painters of Lascaux, the glacial age, the last Neanderthals. The mind is not helped.

Read more! »

Stolen from DU.

My 13 year old grandson just coined a new word ...

He said the word was palinate. I didn't get it so he told me to ask him a question. So I asked him "How are you doing in school?" He answered ... "I would like to tell you about my World of Warcraft addiction." I still didn't get it lol.

He looked at me like I was dumber than dumb and said ... PALINATE Grandma ... It's when you give an answer to a question that has nothing to do with the question ... like Sarah Palin does.

So I've been PALINIZED!

"I may not answer your questions the way you like..."

That should turn anyone off.

We've just lived through 8 years of that.

We've got you covered.

http://interviewpalin.com/

Q: Why should the US elect Senator McCain?

A: John McCain has a great plan to get caught up in this terror. They need to pursue those and we need to have nuclear weapons, what can we do it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the public trust. And that contract that should be wiped off the face of the earth. That's not a part of, I guess, that culture. The way that I can give you examples of things that John McCain and I have not and I think that I do bring to this table, and that's with the Bush administration that we send those out to make sure that an eye on Russia.

...and so is the trumpet.

Now I see why Todd married her. Wonder if she'll play the skin flute in the debate with Biden?

10. Suspicious Russian tourists spotted across the Bering strait in Dezhnevo

9. Wrasslin' a bear

8. Learns Tina Fey will be watching

7. When taken on tour of White House by McCain handlers, is "inadvertently" locked in Cheney's man-sized safe

6. Schedule for memorizing state capitals thrown off by need for new schedule to memorize states

5. Speechless after finally looking up what "MILF" stands for

4. On deadline to finish her book, Namin' Your Baby the Alaskan Way

3. Needs more time to really nail those hilarious hair-plug zingers

2. No matter how hard she scrubs, she can't get Kissinger's moral stank off of her

1. Stuck in traffic on the Bridge to Nowhere

David Weinberger

by Glenn Greenwald

I wrote earlier today about the sudden right-wing resistance to vast executive authority that has emerged in opposition to the Paulson plan, but still, this post from Ed Morrissey at Michelle Malkin's Hot Air -- full-fledged advocates of every last expansion of unfettered executive power over the last eight years -- is just so exquisite, so perfectly constructed, so unbearably hilarious, that it really expands the definition of "self-satire" and demanded its own featured space:

Read more! »