More Fine Pics

McCain gets confused....

McCain took a leaf from his running mate's book this morning, saying:

"I'm an expert at bailouts, I've probably done it more than any other pilot around. You don't think they give just anyone another jet fighter after they auger one in, do you? I bailed out five times, and it could have been five more, if the Viet Cong hadn't found me and stuffed me into the Hanoi Hilton for five years. Longest place I've ever lived. I didn't have a table. I didn't have a chair, but I'm an expert at bailouts for sure.*"



*McCain didn't really say this ; )

Quote of the day

"If money isn't loosened, this sucker could go down" ~GW Bush

Pic of the day

In the 1980's I drove a Cadillac with a digital MPG counter on the dashboard. It could be toggled to either display the average or the real-time fuel consumption. I keep thinking that if all vehicles had that, people could more easily conserve their fuel.

You probably all know or have met one of those fantasy league players who are so totally into their "team" and their "team"'s standings that they continually obsess about it. This could be even bigger than that. With the price of gas where it is, everyone wants better mileage. The display could even cause people to drive better. My ex-husband was always bugging me about "the rabbit starts" when I used the Caddy.

This article talks about real-time MPG as if it's some kind of new and revolutionary tech - probably because it's being applied remotely to a new electric prototype. Teh tech is old, and IMHO, should be on all cars now.

Pickens...

I'm getting the feeling that someone in the Bush administration saw this commercial:



...and decided they kinda liked the idea of " The largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind". It has a nice ring to it, no?

The 700 billion figure is right there.

* Talk me down - please! *

Because this one's too juicy to pass up..

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation. ~ John McCain


...and a linkee to go with it: a modest proposal

UPDATE:

My sons says "GW just needs his snort..."

Another Fine UPDATE:

The differences between this proposed bailout and the three closest historical equivalents are immense. When the Reconstruction Finance Corporation of the 1930s pumped a total of $35 billion into U.S. corporations and financial institutions, there was close government supervision and quid pro quos at every step of the way. Much of the time, the RFC became a preferred shareholder, and often appointed board members. The Home Owners Loan Corporation, which eventually refinanced one in five mortgage loans, did not operate to bail out banks but to save homeowners. And the Resolution Trust Corporation of the 1980s, created to mop up the damage of the first speculative mortgage meltdown, the S&L collapse, did not pump in money to rescue bad investments; it sorted out good assets from bad after the fact, and made sure to purge bad executives as well as bad loans. And all three of these historic cases of public recapitalization were done without suspending judicial review.

~ Robert Kuttner of the American Prospect

This Pretty Much Crystallizes....

........MY thoughts on the matter!.......................

Quote of the day

They didn't believe in regulating the financial markets, but they sure want to regulate your crotch.~

Digby

I've committed to sending Planned Parenthood of CT $10/week until the election - with a thank you card sent in honor of Sara Palin - either at her AK Gov statehouse addy, or via McCain's election hdqts.

The Shock Doctrine

The Bush Administration's plan to bail out our financial industry is the worst case of Carpetbagging since the aftermath of the civil war. You might say that this plan is also being put into play at the end of a 30 year, bitterly fought class war.

Win win for the Bushco crony system. A final opening of the treasury for the republican con machine to take whatever it wants. The rich get richer, and the middle class is sold into wage-slavery. Banana Republic time. It's the ultimate Southern Strategy wrapped up in Montezuma's Revenge.

Desperation breeds. Call and write your representatives in DC and tell them not to sell us out: No bailout without strong Congressional regulation and oversight.

At this rate, it could be all over even before we get a chance to clean it all up.

There They Go Again...

Lying Liars never learn...

McPain's new ad: "The Journal reports Obama “air-dropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers” into Alaska to dig dirt on Governor Palin."

Reality: "Not a single person from DC or Chicago has traveled to Alaska to do research," he writes. Not a single Obama staffer, not a DNC staffer, not a hired gun, he says. ~ Mike Gehrke, the DNC's research chief, via e-mail.


...I guess her record and her interviews speak for themselves.

Another Prairie Dog Bites Dust

From a Cute Overload contest:



Fantastic, and one of my favorite songs too.

Check out the rest of them here

Back Talk

Sarah Barracuda

From Wasilla:

'Sarah Barracuda' -- she's proud of that name now, she uses it in her campaigns," said her former mentor. "But she got that name from the way she conducted herself with her own teammates. She was vicious to the other girls, always playing up to the coach and pointing out when the other girls made mistakes. She was the coach's favorite and he gave her more playing time than her skills warranted. My niece was on her team; she was a very good player. I used to sit there in the stands, and I would wonder, Why on earth is Sarah getting so much playing time?

Excellent article by some of Sara Palin's early colleagues about her "executive experience". She admitted six months into being the mayor of Wasilla that she was unprepared, and had to hire a city manager to do her job for her.

go read!

Jill Greenberg captures...

.....the soul of a presidential nominee.

....While some in the republican party have found the soul of a VP nominee!



And, if you want a looksee inside of Palin's church :


Sarah Palin's Churches and The Third Wave from Bruce Wilson on Vimeo. Check out this vid that has been banned by youTube. Found it on Huffpo

Psssst : be afraid, be really, really afraid - afraid enough to do something!

Things We Knew in the Sixties

When my then teenage daughter came home with anti abortion materials she picked up from her friends in school, I gave her pretty much this same speech. I went from being a very cool parent to getting glances out of the corners of her friend's eyes. At least they knew who to come to if they ever needed me.

I've been pregnant when I desperately wanted to be pregnant. I've been pregnant when it was an "aww darn" moment, and when it was the most horrifying thing that I could think of happening to me. I've also experienced miscarrying a wished and hoped for baby. Your life can bounce back from an "awww darn", but there can be valid reasons that sometimes... what should be good news makes your heart pound in dismay.


Ted Rall says it better.

Procurement

Every Christmas our small machine tool company used to get a letter* from the big defense contractors in the area about how to deal with their buyers during the X-mas season. Pretty much any gratuities other than pens and notepads were banned. That even included meals.

Recently I saw a republican politician who had written a book about corruption in DC on one of the late nite talk shows. He said with a straight face that Congress usually spends about a week or two on business as the new session opens, and then the rest of their term is spent raising the funds they need in order to be reelected.

I think all of our politicians should go on the govt contractor's program. If they all were required to use only public money for the elections, we could get more than a couple of weeks work out of them in exchange for their amazing salaries and benefits. They would cater to the voters rather than their biggest corporate funders, and they would have the time to craft laws that would strengthen the US rather than enrich the most fortunate among us.

Simple common sense, you say?

That's probably why we won't see it in our lifetimes.



*we used to get those letters until they outsourced all their procurement facilities...

Back Talk

I love this guy!

Hattip to Firedoglake

Aack!

So, there I was this morning, driving to work as the sun was rising - fantastic gold limning the corn in the fields, a light fog surrounding a farmhouse like a snuggly blanket... I stopped the car, slammed on the caution lights, and started snapping away! Ooooo I must be getting some great pics, I thought, and then looked down at the camera.

"NO CARD" it said.

"DANG" I said.

I searched desperately in my camera bag - I know I have two or three of those little buggers around - but no dice.

So - here's some from the archives, inspired by my screensaver(which does a slideshow). Enjoy.

as always, click to embiggen

*and a happy birthday callout to my friend Meg, in Oregon!

Pic of the day

Snarkalicious!

Why the media should apologize

...... truely snarkalicious - read it!

Lying liars....

....Never learn

Quote of the day

A couple weeks ago, Sara Palin said on the notion of being VP: "I can't decide whether or not I'm ready for the job until someone tells me exactly what it is a VP does. I don't really know; at least I hope I can help advance my state and put Alaska ahead of everything else."
When asked about the Iraq war a mere 2 months ago. She said, "I haven't really thought anything about the Iraq War; actually I know nothing; I Haven't really followed it..."

She thinks the founding fathers penned the Pledge - complete with the "Under God" clause!

Good god, I surely hope McSame/Palin goes down in flames - and soon!