Archive for December, 2008

Twas The Night Before Christmas

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through both Houses
Not a creature was stirring, not even the louses.
The bailouts were stacked by the coffers with care,
In hopes that St. Paulson soon would be there.

The citizens had nestled as best as they could
After paying their taxes and foraging for food.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief and I in my cap,
Had settled our bones for a brief winter nap.

When out in the street there arose such a clatter
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I crawled in exhaustion
Tore open the shutters and flashed on my pension.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen trash
Gave the luster of xray and the color of ash.
When, what to my inundated eyes should appear
But a gas-guzzling sleigh, and eight oily reindeer.

With a big crafty driver and a pink piggy bank
I knew in a moment it must be St. Hank.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted and called them by name!

“Now Fannie! Now, Freddie! Now Citi and Lehman!
On Merrill! On Morgan! On AmEx and Goldman!
To the top of the porch! To the back of the vault!
Now dash away, dash away! Dash away, all!

As dry leaves that ‘fore the wild hurricane fly
When they meet with an obstacle mount to the sky,
So off to the Caymans the coursers they flew
With a sleigh full of loot, and Hank the Bank too.

Twelve Days of Christmas, Changed

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

On the first day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
Lip ser-vice to dem-o-cracy

On the second day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
Two chicken hawks
A-and lip ser-vice to dem-o-cracy.

On the third day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
Three Fre-ench whores
Two chicken hawks
A-and lip ser-vice to dem-o-cracy.

On the fourth day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
Four calling bids
Three Fre-ench whores
Two chicken hawks
A-and lip ser-vice to dem-o-cracy.

On the fifth day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
FIIIVE GOLD NESTEGGS
Fo-our calling bids
Three French whores
Two-o chicken hawks
A-and lip ser-vice to dem-o-cracy.

On the sixth day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
Six bailouts bailing
FIIIVE GOLD NESTEGGS
Fo-our calling bids
Three French whores
Two-o chicken hawks
A-and lip ser-vice to dem-o-cracy.

On the seventh day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
Seven geysers gushing
Six bailouts bailing
FIIIVE GOLD NESTEGGS
Fo-our calling bids
Three French whores
Two-o chicken hawks
A-and lip ser-vice to dem-o-cracy.

On the eighth day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
Eight cartels colluding
Seven geysers gushing
Six bailouts bailing
FIIIVE GOLD NESTEGGS
Fo-our calling bids
Three French whores
Two-o chicken hawks
A-and lip ser-vice to dem-o-cracy.

On the ninth day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
Nine warships warring
Eight cartels colluding
Seven geysers gushing
Six bailouts bailing
FIIIVE GOLD NESTEGGS
Fo-our calling bids
Three French whores
Two-o chicken hawks
A-and lip ser-vice to dem-o-cracy.

On the tenth day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
Ten senators scamming
Nine warships warring
Eight cartels colluding
Seven geysers gushing
Six bailouts bailing
FIIIVE GOLD NESTEGGS
Fo-our calling bids
Three French whores
Two-o chicken hawks
A-and lip ser-vice to dem-o-cracy.

On the eleventh day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
Eleven lawyers lying
Ten senators scamming
Nine warships warring
Eight cartels colluding
Seven geysers gushing
Six bailouts bailing
FIIIVE GOLD NESTEGGS
Fo-our calling bids
Three French whores
Two-o chicken hawks
A-and lip ser-vice to dem-o-cracy.

On the twelfth day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
Twelve taxpayers paying
Eleven lawyers lying
Ten senators scamming
Nine warships warring
Eight cartels colluding
Seven geysers gushing
Six bailouts bailing
FIIIVE GOLD NESTEGGS
Fo-our calling bids
Three French whores
Two-o chicken hawks
A-and lip ser-vice to dem-o-cracy.

On the thirteenth day of Christmas
My Changed Loves gave to me
Fruitcakes and Mi-is-er-y.

But then at the New Year
I to my Changed Loves sent
notice of declared in-de-pen-dence.

House Arrest in a Penthouse?

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

Bernard Madoff is a criminal of the highest, which is to say the lowest, order.

House arrest?  Photos of his penthouse, please.

We cannot even bring ourselves to put this Unmitigated Asshole behind bars over the holidays?

If he was a black gang member instead of a white gang leader, he would be remanded into custody at once.

I cry racial and economic discrimination, and I call for an investigation into the finances of the judge who sees fit to grant Bernard Madoff all the creature comforts that ill-gotten gains can buy.

Obush or Bushama?

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

George Bush, who I believe is a despicable human, made a surprise visit to Iraq and Afghanistan.  He didn’t go only to show off his Christmas greatcoat, no siree.  He also assured Afghanistan in no uncertain terms that, in the same way that Afghanistan could count on his Administration, Afghanistan can count on the next Administration. 

Pray tell, how can the outgoing CEO make commitments on his replacement’s behalf?  That would nullify the purpose of voting in a new executive gang, would it not?  And THIS replacement is not shy about associating himself with the word-not-to-say-the-action Change.  Are we to understand that Mr. Change is really just a case of the same Powers That Be pulling the strings of a different marionette?

Then — heresy of all heresies, questioning the premise — WHY can Afghanistan count on the United States?  When I’m in a bind, like now, I NEVER look to Afghanistan for assistance or support and Afghanistan never fails to disappoint by not offering any assistance or support.

Me, I’m for reviewing ALL our alliances.  It’s a dog eat dog, quid pro quo world.  What have the recipients of all our foreign aid done for us lately . . . besides hoot and holler for Obama and thereby scare the bejeezus out of an already timid electorate?

But first I’m for reviewing all of Obama’s alliances — from affiliation by birth, forward.  You know why?  This bullshit about him being unaware of corruption in Chicago politics is exactly that, bullshit.  Just like it was bullshit about him being unaware of Jeremiah Wright’s incendiary remarks.  Something is rotten in the District of Columbia and I, for one, have no intention of recognizing and submitting to another usurper Administration.

Topple The Family Dynasties

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

If I could deposit one piece of advice in the bottom of my countrymen’s slender Christmas stockings, it would be to TOPPLE THE CARTEL OF FAMILY DYNASTIES that contrive for the rest of us to sit on hard forgiving benches in the peanut gallery, hooting and hollering at the farce of their privileged antics.

Ms. Caroline Kennedy will sally into the Senate, to replace Hillary Clinton and compensate for the can’t-happen-soon-enough death of her reckless lush of an uncle?  Biden’s son will take Biden’s seat?  Hillary Clinton and Jenna Bush’s husband are in the wings, along with McCain’s sons? 

I urge the American people to join me not only in crying FOUL, but in determining that ENOUGH REALLY IS ENOUGH.

We of the Baby Boom generation have only to look at the Bailout Bonanza and our own children to know that WE are where the buck stops on not meaning what we say, not following through on our ultimatums, not letting people suffer their own consequences, and not letting punishments suit the offenses.

The absolute LAST thing we need in these hours of crisis is more spoiled and entitled offspring of uber privileged American Aristocracy tip-toeing their Prada pumps into the pond scum.

Dallas Bank Robbery

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

As I type, a bank robbery is going on at a Chase Bank in Dallas, Texas.  Why wouldn’t there be bank robberies?  Why wouldn’t there be piracy on the high seas?  One bad apple spoils the whole bunch, yes?  Yes.  And one bad banker spoils the whole deal. 

I’ll say this for bad old-fashioned Pirates — they wore cool costumes while they raped and pillaged.  Today’s pirates are so ragtag.  Still, I am sick to death of The Suit.  Emerging Market in makeovers of Antagonists!

Arizona police are asking for permission to buy, carry and use their own semi-automatic weapons on the job.  A drunken mother of three died in a holding cell in the Phoenix airport.  A young man was sodomized with a night stick by a band of rogue policemen in a Brooklyn subway station.

Nuthin’ says Economic Stimulus like U.S. troops deployed on U.S. soil, eh?  You betcha, Smart Money is ALWAYS lookin’ to invest in areas with military roadblocks.

Come to think of it, maybe Halliburton can come up with some investment dollars.  I can’t think of any recipient of government largesse that better deserves or can better afford to hold some of the toxic assets.  It’d be the patriotic thing to do.

Again and again, I would draw the American taxpayers’ attention to the perversity.  Henry Paulson demanded $700 billion.  The House said NO.  Paulson came back asking for $850 billion, featuring $150 billion of earmarks for reluctant legislators, and the bailout passed — on the preposterous theory that more spending will correct overspending.

Detroit came asking for $25 billion.  The Senate said NO.  Detroit came back asking for $34 billion.  The Senate said NO.  George Bush says they’ll get the money anyway, $40 billion . . . we’ll FIND it.  One way or another, by hook or by crook.

All so we can make cars we can’t afford, fiscally or environmentally, to perpetuate a paradigm that is wasteful and inefficient.  Also so all the people who clamored for Change will not have to feel the cost of Change, absence of a reality base being what got us into this mess.

The Royal We flat-out REFUSES to be bold and innovative — refuses even to ALLOW bold innovation — if it will erode the profits and market shares of heartless, soul-less Ruling Elite whose greed literally knows no bounds.

Who died and said that Record Profits are desirable?  In my view, considering that life is short and you can’t take it with you, sustained record profits are to be viewed with greatest skepticism and the associated profiteer with greatest suspicion.

Until the profiteers and sociopaths are made to suffer consequences for their duplicity, underhandedness, graft et al, it is ridiculous to think they will alter their behavior.  They are making money and enjoying privileged lifestyles doing things exactly the way they’re doing them.  What is their motivation to change?  So we will LIKE them better?  

It would be so helpful to the cause of Reform — critical to restoration of worldwide confidence in the American marketplace — if American voters would disabuse themselves of the fanciful notion that Government Officials care about them.  Believing in Santa Claus makes more sense.

The Grinches Who Stole The Holiday Spirit

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

On the chance that there are people who pay attention to this blog — other than me and the Porno ‘n Spam people whose email addresses and websites I am collecting for publication and for forwarding to our world renowned and much feared Federal Authorities — I would offer a few thoughts for contemplation over the “holiday” season.

First, it is vaguely shameful that we are even having one.  Oh, I know . . . we NEED the holiday sales, blah blah.  Just like we NEED people to be able to get loans to buy brand new cars.  We may be depressed but, hey, at least we don’t drive Used.  Six long years at war with no end in sight and teetering on the brink of economic collapse, million of Americans thrown onto the street, millions more out of work, God forbid that we shouldn’t bring maximum resources and energy to bear on decorations, gifts and assorted festivities.  

Let the Whiners eat Christmas cookies.  Let the Spoil Sports drink egg nog.

I am of the considered opinion that the American economy is in substantially worse shape than Leaders (I use the word generously) and Newsmakers (I use the word contemptuously) are reporting.  Moreover, logically presuming that President Elect Barack Obama — PEBO, within the constellation of Alphabet Assignees — is not withholding his best ideas for last,  I am of the considered opinion that the bailout and relief efforts, as well as the looming stimulus efforts, are misguided in large measure and unprincipled in even larger measure.  Additionally, because the hodgepodge of plots and plans emanate from the same Players and Pawns who got us into this mess, we can anticipate further mismanagement mayhem.  

I don’t know about anyone else but I have lots and lots of ideas for progressive prosperity.  Plus, I’m an idea person, not an execution person.  My ideas will be free for the taking . . . RUN with them.  Make us all proud!  Make us all prosperous!  The more good ideas that are set into motion, the better chance I have of running into one of them to the enhancement of my life experience.  But I’m waiting to see whether we’re gonna get rid of the Bad Guys or not.

So is the rest of the world — in particular, so are the Major Investors — waiting to see whether we signal profoundest Change by getting rid of our OWN Bad Guys instead of making Bogey Men out of everyone else’s.  Made In America, these bastards are, smelted in the hallowed halls of some of our most respected institutions of higher learning.  Our bailouts have announced to the world and the next generation that crime pays in America.  

Remember when Hank the Bank HAD to have $700 “by Friday,” to circumvent the collapse of the entire financial sector?  BY FRIDAY.  Listen to him, now that he’s got $350 billion yet in his hot hand . . . “We have time,” he says casually of the auto industry.  We have time to see Henry Paulson’s portfolio, that’s for sure.

All this scrambling and spending to “cushion the fall”?  Bullshit.  Cushion the fall for THEM.  The Big Boys are losing money now.  Most of us have already BEEN bushwhacked.  If capital-G-and-growing Government DOES manage to cushion the blow, you know what will happen?  Nothing.  People don’t learn lessons for which they have been spared the consequences.  Anyone who’s raised a kid knows that.

‘Course what do the Big Boys know about raising kids?  They have servants for that.  

The pampered families and extravagant households of the Big Boys and Elected Officials, that’s apparently what we’re gonna have to put on the kitchen table next, in order to establish a reality base for everyone.

Let the private investigations begin.  Rigorous prosecutions with an eye on equality before the law — conscienceless Robber Barons pick up court costs and legal fees, PLUS we’ll seize assets.  That’s not just economic stimulus, that’s Spiritual Stimulus.  Abject humiliation and financial ruination of Kingpins, THAT’S the formula for cleaning up THIS toxic waste.  

Let’s clear the game board of Assholes, so we can get back to the business of DOING business instead of the business of POLICING businessmen.

All I want for Christmas is the death penalty for Traitors.

Let Them Eat Chocolate

Friday, December 12th, 2008

 

Let Them Eat Chocolate

Let Them Eat Chocolate

 

Yeah man, that violence in Mumbai was really something, wasn’t it?  Right smack inside a landmark hotel, orchestrated by terrorists including some who contrived to be employed by the hospitality industry icon that they would bomb.  In other words, An Inside Job.

A question.  Pray tell, what do you suppose would be the reaction if it had been the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, or the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills?  Pandemonium, no?  

It is my understanding that among “causes” for hatred of us by fundamentalist Extremists is our extravagant frivolity and crass commercialism.  Not to play Ebeneezer Scrooge but I will suggest that our many large hotels and every single one of our palace shopping malls is equally vulnerable.  

I have just been listening to a surprisingly upbeat Shepard Smith, in particular his “Around the World in 80 Seconds” segment that could only remind an already hostile world about their collective standing in our self-absorbed and self-important eyes.  While people are starving the world over, Peruvian chefs have painstakingly hand-crafted out of chocolate a replica of the Inca citadel Machu Picchu.  

Chocolate.  A trusty Google search ascertains in .42 seconds that 352 pounds of chocolate were used to build a 2,000-part design that stands almost 10 feet high and 6 feet across.  It’s on public display at the Marriott Hotel in Lima — they hope it will help with Tourism.  

Remember Tourism, that thing that upwardly mobile Americans used to enjoy?  Big spenders, we were — there just aren’t enough souvenirs on earth, as far as we’re concerned.  Good times, good times.  Remember when people liked us?   We-e-ell . . . not quite everyone, eh?  I would like to think I am not the only American who caught the bit about the terrorists singling out Americans for special brutality.    

Denial is not a river in Egypt.

Someone in a dealer-plate brand new Bentley was shot on ‘The 10′ freeway this morning in Los Angeles.

God help the Conscienceless Uber Rich if the shit really hits the fan.  They get no sympathy from me.

Color Over Principle

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

Not exactly, but almost exactly, I transcribed remarks made by “Representative” Bobby Rush (D-IL) on C-SPAN, pursuant to Blogojevich’s arrest for brazen corruption.   

 ”I am astounded, stunned and appalled.  I’m in pain because once again it seems as though the CEO of a state has fallen victim [I LOVE that] to greed and gross malfeasance in office.  People have been dealt a terrible blow.

 They are entitled [ENTITLED?] to look to the CEO of a state to try to help them deliver themselves from the pain of this economic downturn, this recession that we’re all going through.  So I really am pained as are all the people of Illinois.

I am committed, as I have been, to a long term principle [PRINCIPLE?] that whosever selects the replacement for President Elect Barack Obama, that that person chooses an African American.

In the midst of this hubbub and indeed hysteria, that principle is still cogent for me and rises up even out of the controversy that whoever chooses the next senator from the state of Illinois that that person indeed chooses an African American.

We do not currently have any African Americans in the senate.  There are three or four Hispanics, two or three Asians, a number of women, but there are no African Americans in the Senate.  And I think that is shameful that we don’t have an African American in the senate, so I have been for the three weeks, two weeks as a matter of fact, leading a petition drive trying to petition Governor Blogojevich to appoint an African American to replace Obama.

 I am currently now assembling a team of lawyers to ascertain what is the legal avenue, what are the legal options in order to ensure that, one, we have quickly a decision to replace President Elect’s seat and, two, that we can have the best and most favorable way to position ourselves to make sure that that person is an African American. [Huh?]

We are studying the issues around a special election but it is my feeling that a special election would probably put MY community at a disadvantage in that we would be hard pressed to come up with the money and the mechanism to elect an African American in the next two to three months. [See Obama’s campaign surplus.] And I believe that the process, that the mechanism for a special election will have to take place no later than April because the people of the state of Illinois deserve to have another U.S. senator. 

But I’m again personally, I feel in pain that this Governor had no limits that he was bound by.  It seems to me that in his mind, anything goes. 

And he’s been a friend of mine, but until I read the actual conversations and his reported comments, I never really believed that he just had very little restraints and restrictions on what he would and would not do.”

Bobby Rush…who stands firmly if not clearly on the point that it is an African American’s “turn” for a senate seat…answered the first reporter’s question thusly, at which point I had to turn off the television. 

“I have been trying to operate based on a principle rather than on a personality.”

 

Coulda fooled me, and did.  Based on the flimsy evidence of his own words, I’da said that “representative” Bobby Rush operates on the basis of Race.

He should be recalled from office at the earliest opportunity.

And someone needs to quit pussy footing around just cuz our president-elect is black.  Someone needs to roll up their sleeves and get to the bottom of WHY, until his arrest, pond scum Rod Blogojevich has enjoyed a substantially higher favorability ranking among black Illinois voters than among all Illinois voters. 

 

America Doesn’t Do Czars

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

A CAR Czar?  Are we kidding me?

Okay.  THEN FIRE THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION.

Unless we plan to have also a Plane Czar, a Truck Czar, a Train Czar, a Bus Czar and, for those millions of contraptions that are being shipped “free” and billed to Medicare, a Scooter Czar.

And IF we are going to have a Minister of Everything, Czar is in poor taste.  Like American politics.

What we need is an Executioner.