The U.S. banking system.
What do you call a type of scam in which all of the participants in a Ponzi scheme fund are other Ponzi schemes?
March 6, 2009I might vote for John McCain, if…
October 23, 2008I’ve been hearing lots of reports on the News about “John McCain attacking Barack Obama.” Now I’m not really sure why this is News, since he’s been doing this pretty consistently but, that got me thinking… It WOULD be News if John McCain attacked Barack Obama with a hammer.
I’d vote for John McCain if he attacked Barack Obama with a hammer, simply for originality!
When’s the last time a politician attacked another politician with a blunt instrument? I think you’d have to go back all the way to the 1820’s to the floor of the US Senate when one Senator – who I can’t remember the name of – bludgeoned another Senator ‘Whoitsface’ to death with the top of his cane. This is true. Look it up; I’m too lazy.
Okay, so maybe John McCain cracking Barack Obama’s head open like a ripe melon isn’t a very original idea, afterall. You lose my vote John McCain.
Who’s Disgraceful Now, Mr. Mayor?
October 21, 2008Demand a public vote on term limits!!!!
Go to http://itsourdecision.org/ to send a letter to your city council member.
Mike Bloomberg, by his own standards: He’s not just a hypocrite, he’s “disgraceful.”
“The public wants term limits and while there may be — it may be that the City Council has a right to override them, deliberately saying to the public ‘we don’t care what you think’ is, I would use the word, ‘disgraceful.’ ” — Michael R. Bloomberg, Nov. 22, 2005.
Reputation of New York City Council ‘Hanging in the Balance’
October 21, 2008If you watched the New York City Council hearings on NY1 you were lucky enough to hear Richard D. Emery (of the amazing civil rights law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP) who passionately presented the prime position for why the city council should not enact legislation overturning the term limits laws enacted by the people of New York in both 1993 and 1996. This is what he said:
“Next witness: Richard D. Emery, a lawyer who was involved in the litigation in the 1980s that resulted in the Board of Estimate being declared unconstitutional. The board was abolished in a 1989 charter revision vote, and the City Council was enlarged and given more power.
“We could do it, but it would be wrong,” Mr. Emery said of the Council’s extending term limits on its own, citing “moral corrosiveness” and “self-interest” that he said the Council should avoid.
“Sitting in the lap of the mayor” as the process goes forward will ruin the Council’s reputation, he said, warning, “Your reputation as a body is at stake here. … It’s hanging in the balance. Either you opt for the principled position — which is to go back to the people, even though you don’t have to — or you take the self-interested road and put the Council in the position of ignominy it was in the past.” (except from the New York Times.)
A final thing I found pretty amusing during the hearings, which you wouldn’t pick up from reading accounts in the press, was that at the end of a feisty testimony by former Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern, there was some testy back and forth between him and the hearing chairman, and corrupt Bloomberg stooge, Simcha Felder.
Stern said, “I’ve been watching city government closely for 50 years, amazing considering how young I look,” he said jokingly, including 40 years of public service.
“I must say this current action shocks me” more than any other public dispute over the years, he said. Mr. Stern said “there is a very good argument for three terms instead of two,” but that for the Council acting on its own seemed like “a putsch” and “sleazy.”
Mr. Stern said, “Nobody is for this except for the handful that will directly benefit or are being paid to show up.”
At the end of his comments, Stern, underhisbreath yet into the mic, told Felder to “go fuck yourself” in Yiddish. This is why I love New York.
Bloomberg Bribes his way into a third term
October 21, 2008Mayor Doomberg is nothing more than a corrupt demagogue. He likes to say that he’s not a politician, but he’s worse than any politician. His effort to overturn term limits by doing a runaround on the people of New York who twice approved term limits by referendum not only smacks of a lack of ethics and arrogance (as well as blatant lies, breaking his own promises that he was in favor of term limits) but it is a raw demonstration of the worst form of patronage politics – the kind of politics that corrupt autocratic
governments engagement.
Doomberg would feel at home in a Latin American country as a caudillo strongman. In asking the groups he makes “donations” to to testify on his behalf, Doomberg belies his charitable acts, and demonstrates that he’s merely engaged in bribery, not philanthropy. The same is true in his threat to bankroll candidates who ran against opponents to his horrible proposal for congestion pricing. Mayor Doomberg is the prime example of why we should not have billionaire plutocrats running government. They argue they are better because they are insulated from politics – that is exactly why they are worse, they have no accountability and can run roughshod over the political process. Mike Doomberg doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself, his rich friends, and his own Power. He’s a slimy, untrustworthy person. Think about it. If you had a friend who was a lifelong Democrat, but then he told you he’s going to be a Republican, just so he can get elected – what would you think of him, and his integrity? Very little. And then that person not only runs as a Republican, but he supports major national Republican candidates and policies?! And then, as thanks to the party that elected him, he double crosses them and says he has NO party? C’mon! How can you trust a sleazeball like that? You can’t. Because he wants to make the rules of the game up as he goes along.
In an article in the New York Times,
Fred Siegel, a professor of history at Cooper Union who has studied New York City politics for decades, said Mr. Bloomberg had cynically “reversed the flow of money” in politics to build the illusion, if not the reality, of widespread support.
“The traditional politicians are bought by special interest groups, but Bloomberg buys special interest groups,” he said.
So here’s how I feel about term limits, independent of how I feel about Doomberg:
Term limits are good for preventing politicians from becoming entrenched because the power of incumbency is has a strong effect on a complacent voting public. However, in a democracy, we should be able to vote for whoever we want. If I think Rosie Mendez has done an excellent job as city councilmember, why shouldn’t I be allowed to vote for her to represent me again, and again, and again, as long as I like the job she’s doing? What I would like to see is term limits for legislators of 3 terms, with a one term cooling off period, after which they can run again. For executive positions I would want a two term limit, followed by a cooling off period, before being allowed to run again. The executive position has so much power it is dangerous to let someone serve three consecutive terms. I think this scenario would be the healthiest for democracy and representation in the city (and I’d like to see it applied to the state and federal level, as well.)
Water on the brain
October 13, 2008
I wonder if people hear things differently based on the shape of their head…?
Do hydrocephalic water babies hear music differently than we do?
Should we care?
If you see someone with an odd shaped head, ask them what the world sounds like to them. Then compare their response with a less freakishly formed person…
The solution to the financial crisis
October 13, 2008
The markets need to be calmed down. That is understood. How to do it is not. I figured out a solution to the financial market crisis.
We don’t need to spend $700 billion. We need Samuel L. Jackson.
Treasury Secretary Paulson needs to hire Samuel L. Jackson to bitch slap the bejeezus out of the entire market, while yelling “Bitch, be cool!”
Every stock trader, market maker, specialist, and financial CEO must report and line up to be bitch slapped and calmed the fuck down. They will be cool and the markets will follow in being cool.
The only costs associated with this are transportation and a vocal coach for Mr. L. Jackson, as well as his fee. I propose cash, although as the crisis worsens we may need to tempt him with out choicest pussy! All volunteers who ‘spread’em for Uncle Samuel!’ get their college debt annulled.
Think about it. It’s the right thing to do. We can do it! And it sure beats any other solutions they’ve come up with so far.
Hello world! You suck!
October 13, 2008This is not a blog. It is a website. That is all.
I'm Okay, You're Okay! (IM OK UR OK) 