‘Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain’
Filed Under Bullshit, Politics | 2 Comments
Finally and officially, the 2012 political bullshit starts today.
Republicans are gathered like hogs at the trough as the Iowa caucuses gather to select somebody to head the GOP into November, but there’s a long, hard, pot-holed road ahead — millions of dollars squandered and 13 nonsensical debates later, all is at last hung out to dry in the sunlight of reality.
Yesterday, Mitt Romney blubbered so boldly: “We’re going to win this thing with all of our passion and strength…”
Is he another Newt Gingrich?
Newt early last month: “They’re not going to be the nominee…I’m going to be the nominee. It’s very hard not to look at the recent polls, and think, odds are very high, I’m going to be the nominee.”
And yesterday: “I don’t think I’m going to win. I think if you look at the numbers, I think that volume of negativity has done enough damage.”
Maybe he’s talking about all those nabobs of negativity culled from his own antics.
And through the last few months, each of these clowns had their time in the prime — Michele Bachmann, the early obvious nominee; then Rick Perry, but oops; then Herman Cain and his wonderful way with females; then Newt with intellectual history punching the airwaves and odds so high it’s way-hard to see the ground; and now the guy nobody wants — Romney.
However, they have attempted with much success to ignore a huge, nasty-faced elephant in the room — the last Republican in the White House.
In all the mindless squawk on taxes, war, and President Obama during all the ludicrous campaigning, the entire GOP apparatus has maintained a blissful silence on the guy who near-single-handily put the planet in the shitty spot it is now — George Jr.
One thing Republicans are hoping for is a giant, collective memory loss by US peoples.
Under George Jr.’s tenure, the whole show went to shit in a wire basket and the GOP seeks to put that whole episode in the way-background and focus on Obama, but will the trick play out among the 99 percent who saw their lives shattered by eight years of arrogant incompetence.
The problem, though, is what George Jr. did created such a enormous gap in any kind of GOP reasoning that one could easily drive an entire herd of elephants through with room to spare.
(Illustration found here).
Just take the money and run.
From the New York Times:
In 2001, President George W. Bush inherited a surplus, with projections by the Congressional Budget Office for ever-increasing surpluses, assuming continuation of the good economy and President Bill Clinton’s policies.
But every year starting in 2002, the budget fell into deficit.
In January 2009, just before President Obama took office, the budget office projected a $1.2 trillion deficit for 2009 and deficits in subsequent years, based on continuing Mr. Bush’s policies and the effects of recession.
Mr. Obama’s policies in 2009 and 2010, including the stimulus package, added to the deficits in those years but are largely temporary.
…
First, the Bush tax cuts have had a huge damaging effect.
If all of them expired as scheduled at the end of 2012, future deficits would be cut by about half, to sustainable levels.
And those mangled, horrible wars?
Bob Gates said it all: “In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as General MacArthur so delicately put it.”
Hundreds of thousands dead, at least two counties — Afghanistan and Iraq — have been for all purposes destroyed and literally trillions of dollars flushed down the graveyard drain.
As this political season starts to heat up, all Obama has to do is point to George Jr. and say, ‘Remember and Beware.’
Never has so, so few caused so much damage.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
“Republicans talk a lot about losing their way during the last decade, and when they do they’re talking about the Bush years,” said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont-McKenna College.
“For Republicans, the Bush administration has become the `yadda yadda yadda’ period of American history.”
…
The former president himself has been all but invisible since leaving office in 2009 with a Gallup approval rating of just 34 percent.
His predecessor, Democrat Bill Clinton, had a 66 percent approval rating in early 2001 when he stepped down after two terms marred by a sex scandal and impeachment.
In a presidential contest dominated by concerns over the weak economy, government spending and the $15 trillion federal debt, the Republican candidates have been loath to acknowledge the extent to which Bush administration policies contributed to those problems.
Republicans also controlled Congress for six of the eight years Bush was in the White House, clearing the way for many of his policies to be enacted.
…
Bush still has loyal supporters who believe his legacy will be vindicated by history.
But even they say the GOP field won’t be embracing him anytime soon.
“Sad to say, they’re looking at polling data that indicates they’re better off not bringing him into the campaign,” former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer said.
“I think President Bush has made America a safer nation and better nation and I’m proud of it.
But politics isn’t about what’s fair, it’s about winning.”
In other words, little Ari, it’s okay to cheat, lie and don’t speak ill of even a criminal.
Scream Into The Horror of The Night
Filed Under Bullshit, Crime, War & Politics | Leave a Comment
Announce that whatever new approach the U.S. decides on, the U.S. is doing so on a trial basis.
This will give us the ability to readjust and move to another course, if necessary, and therefore not “lose.”
– Donald H. Rumsfeld memorandum, Nov. 6, 2006
(Illustration found here).
In the annuals of world history there’s near-about no match for the horror of the US invasion of Iraq and all its far-flung ugly consequences.
Despite any rational reasoning beyond greed, George Jr.’s little party tipped the world into the hellish crevasse it now finds itself and murdered thousands of Iraqi innocents in the process — and despite the guffaws, a tribunal in Malaysia right-recently found George Jr. and his suck-buddy, Tony Blair, guilty of war crimes for their instigation of the slaughter: The Malaysian tribunal judges ruled that the decision to wage war against Iraq by the two former heads of government was a flagrant abuse of law and an act of aggression that led to large-scale massacres of the Iraqi people.
Why hasn’t the rest of the world jumped?
Nobel Peace Prize nominee, political scientist Michael Haas on just the noncompliance of rational, humane justice:
First, however, it is useful to recall that when the Afghan War began, General Tommy Franks ordered compliance with the Geneva Conventions on October 17, 2001.
On November 13 he was countermanded by an executive order in the form of a military order from President George W. Bush regarding prisoners who were then being collected, though no specific mention was made of the Geneva Conventions.
When the first prisoners arrived at the Naval Base on January 11, 2002, the commanding general, Brigadier General Rick Baccus, ordered compliance with the Geneva Conventions.
His order was then rescinded on February 7 by another executive order signed by George W. Bush making specific reference to the inapplicability of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 but not the 1929 Geneva Convention.
On Guantanamo alone George Jr. and ‘The Dick‘ Cheney should be jailed with the keys thrown into the muddy Potomac River.
And so today, in fanfare and a shitload of lying bullshit, the US ended its “official” military presence in Iraq with a so-called flag-casing ceremony in Baghdad — US defence honcho Leon Panetta added his body weight in bullshit, too.
From Aljazeera English:
Nearly nine years after the start of the controversial invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and sparked years of violence, Panetta told Iraqis “Your children will have a better future”, and said the US and Iraq would have “a new relationship rooted in mutual interest and mutual respect”.
“We are not about turn our backs on all that has been sacrificed and accomplished in Iraq,” Panetta said.
“Iraq will be tested in the days ahead by terrorism, by those who would seek to divide, by economic and social issues … by the demands of democracy itself,” he said, while adding that the US would be a “committed friend and … partner” to the country.
General Lloyd Austin, the commander of US forces in Iraq, said that the country would be “a source of stability and inspiration in the region”.
And the locals?
“If the Americans have achieved anything, they have achieved it to their own benefit in the first place.
They are the ones who get benefits from this issue.
As for Iraqis, maybe they have the change they have been waiting for, but they paid high price for it as you can see the killings, devastation and sectarian violence.
And up to now the situation is still unstable,” said Qassim Abdullah, an Iraqi citizen.
What benefits?
The Iraqi people see the benefit — a yearly celebration of the US departure.
Via Pakistan’s Daily Times:
Shouting slogans in support of the “resistance,” the demonstrators held up banners and placards inscribed with phrases like, “Now we are free” and “Fallujah is the flame of the resistance.”
In the centre of the city surrounded by the Iraqi army, demonstrators carried posters bearing photos of apparent insurgents, faces covered and carrying weapons.
They also held up pictures of US soldiers killed and military vehicles destroyed in the two major offensives against the city in 2004.
The demonstration was dubbed the first annual “festival to celebrate the role of the resistance.”
In the place of flowers.
President Obama traveled yesterday to Fort Bragg, N.C., to add his two-cents worth to the madness, claiming the Iraqi adventure “an extraordinary achievement,” and let it go at that.
And, of course, the US will continue to have a presence in country: The embassy compound is by far the largest the world has ever seen, at one and a half square miles, big enough for 94 football fields. It cost three quarters of a billion dollars to build (coming in about $150 million over budget). Inside its high walls, guard towers and machine-gun emplacements lie not just the embassy itself, but more than 20 other buildings, including residential quarters, a gym and swimming pool, commercial facilities, a power station and a water-treatment plant.
Along with all this shit, a staff of 16,000.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama Al Nujaifi has called that high number of personnel “illogical.”
Not by warped, horrifying US logic, however.
Again, one wonders, why the jails aren’t full of George Jr.’s lackeys.
Pump It Up!
Filed Under Cloud gazing, Economy, Energy, Environment | Leave a Comment
Yesterday, I put another $20 worth of gas in the old Jeep — and, lo and behold — the price of a gallon of regular has dropped four cents to $3.95 in just two weeks.
After seemingly being stuck at $3.99 a gallon for months, it was odd to see a difference in the numbers.
Prices are down in California and the rest of the US, but way-higher than last year.
From the LA Times: The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in California today is $3.710, according to AAA. Prices in California have fallen by 13.1 cents a gallon over the last month, but a gallon of gasoline cost only $3.164 on the same day last year. The current price is also 29.5 cents a gallon higher than the old record for this day, which was set in 2007.
National average is down 5.6 cents over the last month to $3.295 a gallon, although just one year ago at this date the price was at $2.86 a gallon — still nearly 20 cents higher than the old record.
(Illustration found here).
Beer prices at my store carries a similar characteristic as gas at the pump — the cost goes up by a dime one week, drops a nickel the next, providing a happy incentive to the buyer for the moment, seemingly unaware total price has gone up a quarter the past month.
Way up, a little down, up again, then down a little less — a process which eliminates price shock.
Oil itself is also getting banged around.
From liveoilprices: In London, Brent crude oil futures for January 2012 delivery was trading at $109.01, 08.30 GMT this morning on the ICE Futures Exchange.
And WTI: US Light crude oil futures for January 2012 delivery was trading at $97.79 a barrel, 08.15 GMT this morning in electronic trading on the NYMEX.
Prices are choppy due to the horror of the 17-nation Eurozone blow-out, which forecasters seem to think will lead to a break-up of the confederation, and eventually-quickly to a break-up of whatever kind of global economy the world is experiencing right now — investors continue to shun European government bonds, driving interest rates up and thereby digging a deeper hole for countries that need to refinance debt.
The US is hiding, or just too scared to come out and play.
In deflecting the shit across the pond, the US received a temporary/smoke-screen-bounce for the economy from Black Friday/Cyber Monday, which pumped up retailers for the upcoming big-spending holiday season.
Reportedly, last Friday was the largest single-day sales in US retail history — Overall, Black Friday 2011 sales set records, pulling in $52.4 billion, according to figures from the National Retail Foundation.
And yesterday, a record again with nearly $1.2 billion (yes, that’s billion) spent on Internet buying — nearly half-a-billion dollars more than last year.
Despite overall records for the weekend, which now includes Thanksgiving, (was) up 16 percent from $45 billion last year, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation, the money may not be there for the next month.
From CNN Money:
“Black Friday is only one piece of the puzzle,” noted NRF spokeswoman Ellen Davis.
“You could have the best Black Friday in the world but the rest of the season wouldn’t match up and that’s what happened in 2008.”
Typically, sales over Black Friday weekend comprise 10 percent of total holiday sales.
But, in 2008, experts believe many consumers rushed out during Black Friday weekend to take advantage of the best bargains then hunkered down for the rest of the season.
“A lot of people went out as a result of desperation because they knew the deals were really good,” Davis said.
“In some ways, the economic environment is very similar to 2008 but shoppers are acting very differently.”
The difference is in cash on hand:
“The strong holiday sales figures thus far underscores how bargain conscious American consumers still are and it doesn’t guarantee those strong results will hold over the next several weeks,” said Greg McBride, Bankrate’s senior financial analyst.
“Consumers are still worried about their savings, job security, debt and net worth,” he said.
All ingredients for staying alive.
And all this could be just another wad of bullshit — Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture says: If it’s the Monday after Black Friday, then its national hype the fabricated data day!
In other words, all that information in the above might be just inflation of results.
And Ritholtz, who’s one of the better dudes putting financial shit together, even goes so far as to wager a bet:
Here is my challenge to the CEOs of the National Retail Federation and ShopperTrak: $1,000 to the charity of the winners choice that your forecasts for Black Friday, the Thanksgiving weekend and the entire holiday shopping season are wildly off.
I bet you your forecasts miss the mark by at least 10 percent-20 percent (though I believe its closer to 40-50 percent).
Pump it up, then pump it down, shake the facts all around.
‘Stupid Says, As Stupid Is’
Filed Under Bullshit, Economy, Finance, Politics | Leave a Comment
My apologies to one of Forrest‘s most-beloved quips, but US politics has become so much more than stupid talking, it’s mean-spirited pure ugly — especially amongst Republicans.
Hence, the supposedly GOP presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich on OWS:
“Now, that is a pretty good symptom of how much the left has collapsed as a moral system in this country and why you need to reassert something as simple as saying to them, ‘Go get a job right after you take a bath.’”
(Illustration found here).
This the guy sharp-tongued Rachel Maddow most-rightly called a “bottom feeding” scammer, full of “hypocrisy moment(s)” and who’s full-time profession has been selling access to himself as someone who is influential because of his time as a public servant. He has been marketing the Speakership of the House for his own private financial gain to anybody who will pay him.” (h/t Raw Story)
Maddow is cool, but for me only in short doses, little bursts of energized, well put-together tid-bits, which after awhile rags the nerves somehow — she does, however, a good job tearing a gut-sized, new asshole on Newt.
And I agree — but the bigger shit-pile notion is the strange state of the US of A when someone as obviously detestable as Newt could be anywhere near where he’s at in the shape of things.
Newt is a bluster-master of idiot bullshit.
On Friday, at a talk at Harvard, Newt said child law labor laws are “stupid,” and “entrap” youngsters into poverty.
Via Politico: Newt also revealed how to save failing schools — fire the janitors, hire the local students and let them get paid for upkeep.
And the bottom-line to all this buffoonery — “…give people a chance to rise very rapidly.”
Man lives not by bullshit alone and hot air rises.
‘Enduring’ Mystery
Filed Under Cloud gazing, Media | Leave a Comment
As events go, 1981 had its share of weird and nefarious shit — Ronald Reagan was inaugurated president in January, was shot and wounded in March and recovered enough by July to nominate Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Supreme Court justice; Pope John Paul II is shot in May; Charles and Diana marry in July; MTV launches in August; and so forth.
And my most-favorite actress, Natalie Wood, died on my birthday in a boating accident off Catalina Island, California.
Two decades later to the day, my most-favorite Beatle, George Harrison, would die on my birthday — odd that.
On Thursday, the LA Sheriff’s Department announced the re-opening of the investigation into Wood’s death: Homicide investigators are taking a new look at one of Hollywood’s most enduring mysteries after they were contacted by people who claimed they had “additional information” about the drowning, the sheriff’s department said in a statement.
A puzzle to be sure, but not that so ‘enduring.’
(Illustration found here).
Wood was a multi-talented actress who was going through a dry period at the time of her death.
She was then working on a two-bit science-fiction movie, “Brainstorm,” and had been involved in a string of bad TV movies and theater junk — her last really good flick was more than a decade in the past, “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” (Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon were nominated for supporting Oscars).
Wood was married to a jerk (I think), Robert Wagner — always felt she could have done a lot better — and she and Wagner always sailed their boat, Splendour, all over south California waters.
On this particular trip, Wood’s co-star in Brainstorm, Christopher Walken, was invited along.
Reportedly, Wood and Wagner got into a big argument, and later Wood wound up dead.
This whole affair seemed to have been settled decades ago, but Wood’s sister, Lana Wood, said that although she believes no foul play was involved, there might be something else: “I just want the truth to come out, the real story,” she said last year.
No matter, the results of the newest investigation could be interesting.
A press conference on the matter is set for today.
Wood was also in just one movie with my favorite actor, Steve McQueen (no, he didn’t die on my birthday, though, he was short a couple of weeks in 1980), in 1963′s, “Love with the Proper Stranger,” which Wood was nominated for an Oscar.
The artwork above was from that film.
Meanwhile, back to the more-horrid events of 2011…