How we got here II:Glass Steagall

I wonder if Hillary will take credit for the sub-prime collapse?

you know how following Bill around is the same and being President at the time.

going out to drink!

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

I am looking forward to The Obama Speech tomorrow, this one will be for all the money.

Obama has painted himself into a corner with all this "I never knew The Rev felt that way" stuff.

No one is buyin that line...

Obama has to try a new approach tomorrow. Perhaps he will try to explain the difference between a 3% church and an 97% church. In other words, it's all a matter of interpretation.

Happy Saint Patricks day everyone! :)

Since there was a lot of drinking this weekend and today, I'll repost that strange pissing story from the last thread.

Boy Says Teacher Forced Him To Urinate In Lunchbox During Class

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Orange County Public Schools is investigating claims that a student was forced to use a lunchbox as a toilet in front of his class at Meadowbrook Middle School.

The teacher will not be coming to school. She will be relieved of her duty with pay as the school district investigates, officials said.
"If you gotta go, you gotta go," student Quonterious Thomas told Eyewitness News in an interview Monday.

Thomas, 13, says his language arts teacher, Jameeka Chambers, gave him two options when he had to go to the bathroom at Meadowbrook Middle School in Orange County. She said he could wait until the end of class or use her lunchbox in the back of the classroom.

The sixth grader said he used her lunchbox.
"If I had waited any longer, I would have peed on myself and that would have been even more embarrassing," Thomas said, adding that his entire class of 19 students and his teacher watched.
When Thomas told his mom, she said she didn't believe it at first and later realized how traumatized he was.

"I have never, in all the days been living, ever heard about anything happening in all my life. This is a really big shocker for me," said Shameka Bryant, Thomas' mom. continued...

http://www.wftv.com/news/15620442/detail.html

its more polite than go screw yourself

belly dancer vid from Sat! :)

Bush to host Iraq ally Saakashvili during war protests.
President Bush’s Coalition of the Willing has dwindled since its original strength in 2003. Of 14 major partners in the Coalition, eight leaders were defeated in elections, two stepped down, two were term limited, and two remained in office. This week, Bush will be hosting one of his few remaining allies, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, to discuss “common efforts to advance freedom and security around the world.” Saakashvili’s trip will coincide with “the height of the war protests on Pennsylvania Avenue.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/17/bush-to-host-iraq-ally-saakashvili-d...

--It made national news?
Submitted by impeachnow on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 6:31pm.--

Helloooo... :) We live near eachother...

S.P.I.T. = Stupid Pissed Idiotic Teens ;)

Now kids play nice with people on here.

You never know who the powers that be really are. ;)

As Sammer says... "Play Nice"

7 in 10 Iraqis want foreign forces out
As 5th anniv. of invasion looms, poll paints mixed picture of Iraqi attitudes.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Bush_celebrates_St_Patrick_s_Day_03...

Alice, do you got a URL of that belly dancer video?

That is quite a good exercise.

March 17, 2008
Chinook Salmon Vanish Without a Trace
By FELICITY BARRINGER
SACRAMENTO — Where did they go?

The Chinook salmon that swim upstream to spawn in the fall, the most robust run in the Sacramento River, have disappeared. The almost complete collapse of the richest and most dependable source of Chinook salmon south of Alaska left gloomy fisheries experts struggling for reliable explanations — and coming up dry.

Whatever the cause, there was widespread agreement among those attending a five-day meeting of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council here last week that the regional $150 million fishery, which usually opens for the four-month season on May 1, is almost certain to remain closed this year from northern Oregon to the Mexican border. A final decision on salmon fishing in the area is expected next month.

As a result, Chinook, or king salmon, the most prized species of Pacific wild salmon, will be hard to come by until the Alaskan season opens in July. Even then, wild Chinook are likely to be very expensive in markets and restaurants nationwide.

“It’s unprecedented that this fishery is in this kind of shape,” said Donald McIsaac, executive director of the council, which is organized under the auspices of the Commerce Department.

Fishermen think the Sacramento River was mismanaged in 2005, when this year’s fish first migrated downriver. Perhaps, they say, federal and state water managers drained too much water or drained at the wrong time to serve the state’s powerful agricultural interests and cities in arid Southern California. The fishermen think the fish were left susceptible to disease, or to predators, or to being sucked into diversion pumps and left to die in irrigation canals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/science/earth/17salmon.html?ei=5065&en...

Submitted by TheRealWFC on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 8:11pm.
Alice, do you got a URL of that belly dancer video?

:)

And yeah..I do...the price is correct English..

URL = Uniform Resource Location or the web site address

It probably was a video that was only on satellite or cable that hadn't made it onto a web site yet.

Like Bush/Republicans wanted .... how many Bearn Sterns would be holding that money?

Free Democracy

Alice :)

You know there are millions of examples of so called incorrect english on blogs and on the internet including from self appointed grammar cops. We should be polite and "play nice" as Sam Seder requested since this is his blog.

By the way using my initials does make me a real WFC.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama waited 16 months to attempt the exorcism. But when he finally sat down with the Tribune editorial board Friday, Obama offered a lengthy and, to us, plausible explanation for the presence of now-indicted businessman Tony Rezko in his personal and political lives.

The most remarkable facet of Obama's 92-minute discussion was that, at the outset, he pledged to answer every question the three dozen Tribune journalists crammed into the room would put to him. And he did.

Along the way he confronted the starkest innuendo that has dogged him and his campaign for the presidency: the suggestion that the purchase of an adjacent lot by Rezko's wife subtly subsidized the Obamas' purchase of their home on Chicago's South Side. "This notion that somehow I got a discount and Rezko overpaid is simply not true ... simply, factually, incorrect," Obama said Friday, adding that he didn't need any intervention from Rezko to grease the purchase of the house.

snip

We fully expect the Clinton campaign, given its current desperation, to do whatever it must in order to keep the Rezko tin can tied to Obama's bumper.

When we endorsed Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination Jan. 27, we said we had formed our opinions of him during 12 years of scrutiny. We concluded that the professional judgment and personal decency with which he has managed himself and his ambition distinguish him.

Nothing Obama said in our editorial board room Friday diminishes that verdict.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0316edit1mar16,0,2616801....

Chicago Tribune stands by Obama endorsement!!

Why is it 'not' St Patrick's Day today?

The occasion is celebrated all over the world
You may be celebrating St Patrick's Day today as normal, but, at least according to Catholics and Anglicans, you're making a slight mistake. Why is that?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7300466.stm

Robert Kelley
Battling the Inland Sea
Floods, Public Policy, and the Sacramento Valley

"Of late historians have become increasingly interested in the vast re-ordering of the environment involved in the creation of America. Nowhere was this more true than in the Sacramento Valley where re-ordering edged into folly. Battling the Inland Sea is a powerful evocation of the losses and gains involved in battling the mighty Sacramento River. But more than this, it is an exploration of the national will as it sought to rearrange nature herself with such mixed results. Here is history dealing with the most elemental forces of land, water and engineering as they are shaped by public policy. Here is the profound drama of value and symbol which occurs when Americans come into conflict with forces over which they can exercise, as Robert Kelley shows, only the most transitory and pyrrhic victories."–Kevin Starr

the text at - books.google.com

or http://tinyurl.com/ywaapy

Excellent - very readable

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

Audit finds more than 200K public-records requests unanswered
Nick Juliano

The Freedom of Information Act is predicated on the notion that the government's documents are the property of its citizens and that people should have easy access to them.

Two years after President Bush signed an executive order designed to strengthen FOIA compliance and reduce backlogs of pending requests, an audit of public information procedures finds some progress but persistent problems. Hundreds of thousands of requests remain unanswered, and compliance with electronic requests has not kept pace with technological innovation.

"Many of the same old scofflaw agencies are still shirking their responsibilities to the public," said Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, which released the Knight Open Government Survey audit Monday.

One of the key goals of Bush's executive order, signed in December 2005, was for federal agencies to reduce their backlog of pending FOIA requests. The Knight audit found about 200,000 requests were still pending, and that some agencies' backlogs actually had increased in the two years since Bush signed the order.

The Department of Homeland Security was one agency where pending FOIA requests increased, from 82,544 in fiscal year 2005 to 83,661 in 2007, according to the audit. DHS "set an overarching goal of eliminating FOIA backlog" by the end of last year, but it did not augment this plan with "manageable interim targets," according to the report. DHS backlog reduced by only 25 percent during the audited time period.

The FBI was another agency singled out for failing to meet backlog-reduction targets. It "set several goals to process older requests ... but failed to meet all of them and pushed the completion dates back a year on two occasions," according to the audit.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Audit_finds_more_than_200K_publicrecords_0...

Re: Why is it 'not' St Patrick's Day today?

Any holier than thou self appointed grammar cops better write BBC News and chastise them about the use of "english" in this story posted above.

;)

New Yorker: Abu Ghraib abuses were 'de facto US policy'
Nick Juliano

Photographer wanted to expose 'what the military was allowing to happen'
Some of the most iconic images of the Iraq war came not from photojournalists on the front lines, but US soldiers carrying point-and-shoot digital cameras. In its latest issue, the New Yorker profiles the woman who snapped many of the photos depicting abuse at Abu Ghraib prison that the same magazine revealed nearly four years ago.

Like many of the soldiers in charge of the detained Iraqis at Abu Ghraib, Sabrina Harman had little experience running a prison. As Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris report, she and others in her Army Reserve unit didn't stick out at the prison, "where almost nothing was run according to military doctrine."

The low-ranking reservist soldiers who took and appeared in the infamous images were singled out for opprobrium and punishment; they were represented, in government reports, in the press, and before courts-martial, as rogues who acted out of depravity. Yet the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib was de facto United States policy. The authorization of torture and the decriminalization of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of captives in wartime have been among the defining legacies of the current Administration; and the rules of interrogation that produced the abuses documented on the M.I. [Military Intelligence] block in the fall of 2003 were the direct expression of the hostility toward international law and military doctrine that was found in the White House, the Vice-President's office, and at the highest levels of the Justice and Defense Departments.
The article, which appears in the March 24 issue of the New Yorker, has not been posted online, but the magazine has posted additional photos and videos to augment the report.

Gourevitch and Morris trace Harman's evolving reactions to the horrors she witnesses -- "ricocheting from childish mockery to casual swagger to sympathy to cruelty to titillation to self-justification to self-doubt to outrage to identification to despair" -- through interviews and excerpts she sent home from the prison. In one October 2003 letter to Kelly, the woman Harman called her wife, the young MP writes what could now be seen as a grim foreshadow to the war in which American soldiers are still fighting and dying.

"These people will be our future terrorist," she writes one night after witnessing interrogators poking one detainees genitals with a stick and handcuffing another to his top bunk. "Kelly, its (sic) awful and you know how fucked I am in the head. Both sides of me think its (sic) wrong. I thought I could handle anything. I was wrong."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/New_Yorker_Abu_Ghraib_abuses_were_0317.htm...

You're near the bees..I'm near you... :)
Submitted by Alice on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 8:09pm.
------------------------------------
Hey Neighbor! it sure would be cool to be out and about wearing some sammy fan club hat or tie or ring and be able to spot others in the same club.
in fact I'm ging to the store right now I'll be wearing brown jeans and a white shirt if you see me say hello
(yes i know the liklihood of running into you is zippo in fact with my luck I'd run into someone like POT 97, sheeeit)

Bold Attempt to Settle Religion Issue

Buffeted by criticism of his controversial Christian pastor while continuing to quell rumors that he is a Muslim, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) took a bold step today to settle questions about his religious faith once and for all.

“I am converting to Judaism, effective immediately,” Mr. Obama told reporters at a press conference in Scarsdale, New York, adding that he would change his middle name from “Hussein” to “Murray.”

As a sign of commitment to his new faith, the Illinois Senator said that he anticipated being Bar Mitzvahed sometime between now and the crucial Pennsylvania primary and that he would no longer campaign on Saturdays.

In a subtle sign of the shift in his religious affiliation, Mr. Obama’s signature catchphrase “Yes, we can,” was nowhere to be found in his speech, replaced instead by “L’Chaim.”

While some political observers praised Mr. Obama’s conversion to Judaism as a shrewd tactic to put the issue of his religious identity to rest, the move raised the ire of one of his harshest critics, former Rep. Geradline Ferraro.

“Barack Murray Obama wouldn’t be in the position he’s in if he wasn’t Jewish,” said Ms. Ferraro to herself.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

Kristol issues a correction: ‘I regret the error.’»
In his New York Times column today, Bill Kristol asserted that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) “was in fact in the pews” when pastor Jeremiah Wright blamed the “arrogance” of the “United States of White America” for much of the world’s suffering. As Marc Ambinder pointed out, this claim was false; Obama was on his way to campaign in Miami. Kristol has now printed a (misspelled) correction in the online version of his column:

In this column, I cite a report that Sen. Obama had attended services at Trinity Church on July 22, 2007. The Obama camapaign [sic] has provided information showing that Sen. Obama did not attend Trinity that day. I regret the error.

This is the second time that Kristol has had to issue a correction to his NYT column since it began in early January.

UPDATE: Jay Ackroyd received a response from the New York Times public editor, who confirmed that Kristol was “wrong”:

Dear Reader,

Thank you for writing. Mr. Kristol has affixed to the top of his column a correction on this issue. You are correct, he was wrong.

Sincerely,

Michael McElroy
Office of the Public Editor
The New York Times

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/17/kristol-issues-a-correction-i-regret...

Letting the Market Drive Transportation
Bush Officials Criticized for Privatization

By Lyndsey Layton and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, March 17, 2008; A01

It took a few moments for Tyler Duvall, the top policymaker at the Department of Transportation, to digest the news from the Hill. But when he realized what it meant, he was stunned.

Last year, Congress decided not to dictate how the department could spend its discretionary funds. No earmarks, no strings, no arm-twisting from lawmakers to direct money to bus systems or other mass-transit projects in hundreds of communities nationwide.

Duvall and other top department officials were staring at nearly $1 billion. And they knew exactly how to spend it.

They used the money to seed five high-profile experiments, in New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Miami and Seattle, that feature "congestion pricing" -- tolls that increase when traffic is heavy. The idea is to reduce traffic by discouraging some motorists from driving during peak hours.

"It's almost sort of un-American that we should be forced to sit and be stuck in traffic," said D.J. Gribbin, the department's general counsel and liaison to the White House, who worked closely with Duvall on the project.

For Gribbin, Duvall and Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, the goal is not just to combat congestion but to upend the traditional way transportation projects are funded in this country. They believe that tolls paid by motorists, not tax dollars, should be used to construct and maintain roads.

They and other political appointees have spent the latter part of President Bush's two terms laboring behind the scenes to shrink the federal role in road-building and public transportation. They have also sought to turn highways into commodities that can be sold or leased to private firms and used by motorists for a price. In Duvall and Gribbin's view, unleashing the private sector and introducing market forces could lead to innovation and more choices for the public, much as the breakup of AT&T transformed telecommunications.

But their ideas and actions have alarmed transit advocates, the trucking industry, states struggling to build rail projects and members of Congress from both parties.

More here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/16/AR200803...

I got a email from another blogger with a link related to my St. Patricks day post:

St Patrick's Day Parade Is Not a Moveable Feast In Dublin

Friday January 11 2008

The Catholic Church may have been forced to switch St Patrick's Day to March 15, but the Dublin parade will go ahead as usual on March 17.

Bishops had decided to move the feast day back after it was discovered the festivities would clash with the second day of Holy Week, which is early this year.

But festival organisers confirmed yesterday they would hold the national parade in Dublin on the traditional date to avoid confusion.

"Our festival office has been inundated with phone calls from people wanting to know when St Patrick's Day will be celebrated this year," said Donal Shiels.

"We would like to take this opportunity to clear up any possible confusion in relation to the date well in advance of the big day and to confirm that the festivities will be held on March 17. We have invested a lot of money to market this date and sell it around the world. Moving it would confuse a lot of people.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/st-patricks-day-parade-is-not-a-...

Thanks for the email about Dublin. :)

as it is the deception...

Nah, just reality

Thank you for writing. Mr. Kristol has affixed to the top of his column a correction on this issue. You are correct, he was wrong.

I think it would be more correct to say "Mr. Kristol... 'is' wrong."

Ya know, as an ongoing condition of wrongness.

;)

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

Alice, I want to see the belly dancer video 8-)

That would be so bellicious.

Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.

George Eliot, English novelist (1819 - 1880)

Please have a beer for me. ;)

Do you know any POT97's in the real world? They exaggerate and obfuscate and marginalize thinking that others believe them or they are making a point... Sometimes they just come out and lie if they have to. Then when you press them on a matter because it actually involves something like their performance and they fold. You hear squeaky little voices from them. They sometimes will eek out an excuse for who to blame for their ridiculous positions on matters. They act like it was someone else's fault the whole time. Real slimy.

Happily others know what they are looking at when they are in the room together. Sometimes in extreme circumstances we all smile knowingly and nod. Those unspoken moments are pure comedy to me when I watch it go on.

I'll have a beer for you smcgee43, thanks! :)

And maybe I can post from a bar too!

When you come to a blog with the arrogance to cause trouble nothing we say will get it to stop. Even nic stealing.

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/2658#comment-164731

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

Submitted by TheRealWFC on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 8:49pm.

I'll have a beer for you smcgee43, thanks! :)

And maybe I can post from a bar too!

`

I've seen too many people posting from bars in this age of wireless.
It's no wonder politic blogs seem like a drunken get together sometimes.

Oh well that is reality, get used to it.

The sign of trolls on the blog. SPIT!!

KO is truely enjoying his #1 story today.

Reality. TV. Two more reasons to read.

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
---Ray Bradbury

My parents are both Aquarius == air or the wind

Sis is Aries == fire

I'm Taurus == earth

Earth Wind and Fire

: )

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

As someone that voted for Obama I'm wondering how badly he was hurt by all the mistakes his campaign made in the last month?

Specifically -

Nafta doublespeak

Preacher advisor problem

Close friend Tony Rezko turning out to be a criminal

Top campaign advisor calling opponent a monster

`

I could list more but I'm very concerned about all the mistakes that should have never been made.

toniD, registration with antispam features has cut trolling/spam way down in this blog and others as well

any word on sunshine jim? is he here under a pseudonick?

Busy! My Sister was visitin' last week & I took her back to Jersey for the weekend. Now I gotta catch up. Feh! Thank jayzeus I ain't involved or interested in the dem primaries, eh?

*smiles*

*

FYI - I am The Real WFC just like my real initials :)

Submitted by TheRealWFC on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 7:56pm.

For your information my real initials are WFC. As nicknames here are made available to the first person to register it with the blog powers that be, then there should be no problem with myself using my real initials.

----------------------------------------------------------

Really, gap? Hmmmmmmm?

Just thieve another nic, add another identity, then rationalize it (in your own little psychotic pea-brain, of course), eh, LEGION?

You give honest, hard-working shit-disturbers, like gare (the house PieceOfShit), a bad name. Or would that be a good name?

Bruhahahahaha!

*

Later, kiddies. L@L'll be burnin' some midnight oil ce soir.

Lost state still has independent streak

Lost Calif. State Still Has Independent Streak More Than 60 Years After End of Movement

MICHELLE LOCKE
AP News

Mar 17, 2008 15:04 EST

In extreme Northern California, far from the bright lights of Hollywood and the foggy charms of San Francisco, is a place unknown to most people: a handful of counties that once sought to make themselves into a separate state called Jefferson.

The idea lasted only a few days in 1941 before it was quashed by the attack on Pearl Harbor. But for a few who remember its history, the movement embodies the mindset of this sparsely populated country that still longs for more autonomy.

"We've always fostered an independent streak up here," said Pete LaFortune, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce in Yreka (pronounced why-REEK-ah), about 270 miles north of San Francisco.

More than six decades later, many residents of the mountainous region along the California-Oregon border continue to complain that their concerns are overlooked and undervalued by decision makers in more populated areas.

The State of Jefferson began as part publicity stunt, part political gesture. Even today, the movement is made up of tourist-friendly whimsy intertwined with more serious themes of discontent.

In the Palace Barber Shop on Yreka's main drag hangs an animal skull decorated with the XX brand adopted by the Jeffersonians of 1941 to signify their disgust with being "double-crossed" by authorities.

"A lot of the laws and different things that affect us are voted on by people who've never been here and don't know anything about us," said John Lisle, a barber at the shop, which stands on a site that is said to have offered haircuts since Yreka was a Gold Rush town.

Another barber, Richard Pease, agreed: "When we vote on something, it doesn't make much difference at all because one precinct down there outnumbers the whole county here. You vote, but you feel like your vote is going down the tube."

Siskiyou County, home to Yreka, has about 46,000 residents spread over 6,400 square miles. Although registered Republicans have only a modest edge over registered Democrats, residents are often at odds with more liberal parts of the state.

The 1941 secessionists were angry about the region's poor roads, which became useless in winter.

"Our Roads are Not Passable, Hardly Jackassable," went the rallying cry.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Lost_state_still_has_independent_st...

Submitted by rctowns on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 9:12pm.
any word on sunshine jim? is he here under a pseudonick?

--whats with SJ?

hows he feeling is he still sick?

was having connectivity problems? not sure.

re http://www.samsedershow.com/node/2658#comment-164680

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

fyi, I have no idea who you are at-large but you must hate that the owner of this blog requested that people posting play nice without the "shit disturbing" and trolling that you engage in.

It is obvious that you certainly are not a liberal with the type of personal attack & trolling hate without any reason you engage in. I suggest that you run along to your hate blogs and throw your unamerican personal attacks elsewhere.

and fyi goofy kid at-large, I have every right to use my initials just as anyone has.

you are done for tonight mr "Bruhahahahaha!" personal attack troll

is live - on the air NOW.

Zeitgeist - The Movie

Submitted by Liberal-at-large on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 9:15pm.

earth2 liberal-at-large Sam Seder doesnt want your trolling hate
new
Submitted by TheRealWFC on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 9:32pm.

===================================================

I always wondered why they just don't ban shit throwing trolling idiots like that @large kid.
He seems to be violating every request/rule the admins said here.

Sometimes its hard to admin a blog though.

how is Idaho??? Cold? Beautiful country..

4.2 million accounts breached
by Chris in Paris · 3/17/2008 09:20:00 PM ET · Link
Discuss this post here: Comment (0) · reddit · FARK ·· Digg It!

During the authorization process? Pathetic.
A security breach at an East Coast supermarket chain exposed 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers and led to 1,800 cases of fraud, the Hannaford Bros. grocery chain announced Monday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23678909/

∞♥∞

My dad always wanted to move there...

Krugman: The big bailout is coming
by Chris in Paris · 3/17/2008 10:54:00 AM ET · Link
Discuss this post here: Comment (0) · reddit · FARK ·· Digg It!

It's not if, it's when. The only question left is how well we implement the bailout. Do we trust the people who led is into this abyss to do it properly? I sure as hell don't, but that's probably what we're going to get. In case I haven't mentioned it in the last ten minutes, McCain's economic team is central to the economic problems we are facing, so don't forget it.
As Bear goes, so will go the rest of the financial system. And if history is any guide, the coming taxpayer-financed bailout will end up costing a lot of money.

The U.S. savings and loan crisis of the 1980s ended up costing taxpayers 3.2 percent of G.D.P., the equivalent of $450 billion today. Some estimates put the fiscal cost of Japan’s post-bubble cleanup at more than 20 percent of G.D.P. — the equivalent of $3 trillion for the United States.

If these numbers shock you, they should. But the big bailout is coming. The only question is how well it will be managed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/opinion/17krugman.html?ref=opinion

Bank of England injects $10 billion into UK banks
by Chris in Paris · 3/17/2008 08:45:00 AM ET · Link
Discuss this post here: Comment (0) · reddit · FARK ·· Digg It!

Let the market self regulate? This is getting to be painfully expensive and there is no end in sight.
The Bank of England said it would offer five billion pounds of three-day funds later on Monday in an exceptional fine-tuning operation designed to bring overnight interest rates down.

"This action is being taken in response to conditions in the short-term money markets this morning," the Bank said in a statement.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/23669851

Cat and Girl versus Legitimacy

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

WP, you know how to tell when someone is a real psychotic like that @large kid?

1) when you have no idea what the hell they are talking about

2) when they troll blogs like this with nonsense shit disturbing rants like the mad at the world @large did ranting with words like psychotic that clearly labels them for what they are

oh well... the blogs and internet are full of idiots like that kid

nothing new

How they come here and want to take over!

Later!

In all of this bloggerata stuff I'm still wondering where the belly dancer video is? ;)

As the old saying goes - Hope springs eternal

day by day

fading - in pain

got her act together -ready to go. Lessening her ties to this world.

doing excellent - "In the circumstances" I begin to say,
but that lessens her excellence.

How is she doing you ask? I say "excellent," and that alone feels right.

Her excellence is very beautiful.

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

Later toniD you informative poster

I linked you to it up above - at

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/2671#comment-165900

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

Yellowstone's wild, free-roaming buffalo herd is under siege.

The Bush Administration is turning America's greatest national park into a killing ground for hundreds of mighty bison -- better known as American buffalo.

We must speak out against this cold-blooded cruelty NOW -- because every week, more of these noble creatures are being herded into cattle trucks to be slaughtered.

This winter alone, more than 1,000 wild bison have been brutally killed by the National Park Service and the Montana Department of Livestock -- or shipped to slaughterhouses.

And come May, newborn calves are just as likely to be killed as their mothers.

We cannot stand by and let this massacre continue: Send a protest message now.

Right now, it's still winter in Yellowstone, and these unsuspecting buffalo are following historic migratory routes in search of food at lower elevations where there is less snow.

When the buffalo venture near or beyond the park's boundary, they will continue to be rounded up and killed -- unless we start a national outcry.

What makes this sacrifice so senseless is that it's all to protect 12 to 16 domestic cows and steers that graze near the park from the theoretical risk of a disease -- brucellosis -- that has never been transmitted from bison to cattle in a natural setting.

Yes, you read those numbers right: 1,000 wild bison slaughtered to protect a little more than a dozen cows outside the park that have most likely been vaccinated against the disease, or easily could be.

Please speak out and stop the slaughter. Yellowstone's buffalo are a national treasure: America's last, free-roaming herd. The National Park Service should be their guardian, not their executioner.

Our goal this week is to create a virtual "stampede" of 50,000 protest messages that will convince the National Park Service to call a halt to the killing.

Together, we must speak out to spare the lives of Yellowstone's surviving buffalo so that they can again roam wild and free.

http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/Act_Now_To_Protect_Buffalo

Interesting word there of "Bloggerata" WisePolitics.

I didn't even know it existed.

WisePolitics on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 9:56pm.
new
Submitted by jbenet on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 9:59pm.

I linked you to it up above - at

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/2671#comment-165900

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

Obama has been struggling to deal with the comments of Rev. Jeremiah Wright for several days, since videotaped sermons surfaced in which Wright said, among other things, that African-Americans should sing "God Damn America" instead of "God Bless America."

Obama pointedly ended a speech at a community college in western Pennsylvania Monday morning with the words "God Bless America"—an uncharacteristic closing for him.

earth2 liberal-at-large, Sam Seder doesnt want your trolling hate
Submitted by TheRealWFC on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 9:32pm.

fyi, I have no idea who you are at-large but you must hate that the owner of this blog requested that people posting play nice without the "shit disturbing" and trolling that you engage in.
___________________________________________________________________

Don't worry too much about stupid trolls like that RealWFC.

It's typical of rude unthinking kids that like to shit disturb blogs and such with hating rants. Sure the admin should ban trolls like that @large one bu† †hey have their hands full just doing what they are doing with content.

On to politics and strange conspiracies :)

Part 1 just started in repeat I guess here on the East coast.
Opinions?

Reality. TV. Two more reasons to read.

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
---Ray Bradbury

Odd isn't it what folks miss in thier upbringing?

Brought up in the world of the 3%, Obama has never stopped to understand how the 97% looks at America and what they find unacceptable.

Thank you for letting us go through this with you and with her...

Winter Soldiers? one huge mp3 or something like that? All I can find are single vids that I can't keep to watch at home...

My guess is that Obama is actually telling the truth about his deep involvement in the church, but lying (very badly) about knowing nothing about its pastor’s excesses.

The idea that he didn’t realize until a few days ago that mainstream America would view Wright’s remarks (which even Barack himself now describes as “appalling”) as explosive and unacceptable is a troubling indication of Obama’s enclosure in a politically correct bubble, and his profound estrangement from the faith and patriotism commitments of ordinary Americans.

This is so beautifully written and I almost hate to intrude, but when I read Alice's response further down @ thanking you for allowing us to go through this with you...having gone through my own loss recently I just wanted to let you know that I will keep you all in my thoughts and that I wish I could help in some small way if there was a way to do so.
Peaceful gentle thoughts being sent your way.
N-kitti

Alice
Submitted by jbenet on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 9:56pm.
day by day

fading - in pain

got her act together -ready to go. Lessening her ties to this world.

doing excellent - "In the circumstances" I begin to say,
but that lessens her excellence.

How is she doing you ask? I say "excellent," and that alone feels right.

Her excellence is very beautiful.

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

Reality. TV. Two more reasons to read.

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
---Ray Bradbury

Mel & Britney Have Been 'Meeting Regularly'

By Ken Lee
March 17, 2008

Mel Gibson and Britney Spears's dinner over the weekend wasn't their first meeting.

The pair and their families have met a number of times since Spears checked out from her second hospitalization last month, a source tells PEOPLE.

"Mel and his wife Robin clearly saw a woman in crisis and wanted to extend themselves in any way possible," the source says.

"There's just a handful of people in the world who understand the kind of intense attention that Britney goes through, and how to raise a family with some semblance of privacy and how to keep one's family intact and out of the limelight," the source adds.

"There are no expectations, there is no agenda. It's simply an act of human kindness – one neighbor reaching out to the other."

Gibson and Spears used to be neighbors when the singer previously lived in Malibu.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20184804,00.html

you were pretty clear too t.

ha

anyway....
Kevin © on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 8:36pm. - snarky much?

So ready for pool weather.

You mean how to act "white"? Do you think the coloreds have the mental capacity to lead this country? We don't mind Sambo for President here.

The 97% has nothing to do with race. I has everything to do with Love of America. Goddamn America is offensive to all in the 97% while at the same time easily explained by the 3% as normal reaction to life in America.

puhleez.

someun pass me a paper bag. PLEASE!

wow - thanks

makes me tear up

you know -- just a little communication and sharing.

Just in those simple words

it is a help Nk. Thank you.

: )

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

James? How is your sister?

or I would have.

I'd like to know what you think.

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

for what? Why is he saying "goddamn America"?

warcomeshome.org

ivaw.org

This is my predictions for Obama, the media, AAR and his various supporters.

Everything fades eventually-Obama's charm will of course fade, the question has always been when and will it happen in time for it to help Hillary.

My opinion is that the Wright scandal is the final tipping point. I can feel a change happening-people are reaching a state of being just a little weary of Obama and his holier than tho speeches.When he gives his speech on Race tomorrow look at how people react. I don't think this one is going to work with the public although the press will still support him.

The next step will be people will get annoyed by him, and finally people will start to mock him. Hillary will end up with more actual votes by the convention and national polls will show her beating Maccain and Obama losing to Maccain and the super delegates will be forced to pick her. Hillary will again offer Obama the Vice presidency knowing Obama will reject it and he will.

The craven media, which is responsible for drawing the nation into the war with Iraq and which has supported Obama because he shifted the blame from them to Hillary, and her alone, will have to find someone else to blame and will focus on Maccain.

AAR having alienated half of its audience will suffer financial setbacks and in short order go off the air.

The various moronic supporters of Obama will as often happens in these circumstances forget they ever supported him.

No one listens to a wolf-but lets see if I'm right.

SNL was just ahead of the curve.

he may be referring to social injustice.

Joe L. Allbrighton, for example, is rich. He owns media companies. And he is also the CEO or Riggs bank. Joseph Bush has a majority share of Riggs.

They have had to deal with fines for not keeping details of monies that were transfered to Dubai to fund the 9/11 attacks. Media companies like the God Damn America line from a black preacher because it works on the Southern Strategy.

Again, it comes from the same fascist right that own the media companies.

Doesn't matter. Race is always a good thing to talk about. Even during an election. It's important that we learn to love one another and there will be bruises. To be expected.

Fact is the gap between the haves and have nots have widened considerably. In this country and also as compared to some of the poorest places in the world.

So there is an interesting dynamic. If Obama is going to kindle hope, this would be a good time to tell us where that comes from. I'm confident he will.

James
I am glad that with a few simple words that I could help ease a small minutia of the experience you and your family are going thru at this time. Know from my experience, that being truely present for your sister and for yourself during this time is the greatest gift you can give to yourself and to your family. It is by being truely present and open and honest at these times that our hearts allow us the strength to make it thru each moment with the dignity we all wish for and deserve. And know, that if I am here, then I am available for you if you need an ear or should I say "an eye or two". And know that I have found my way thru it all to the otherside of it all more whole than before, but I know that you cannot see that far at this time and you shouldn't even try. Take things one moment at a time and you will find your way as you help your family find theirs as well.
N-kitti and her fur kitties

Nefferkitti on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 10:30pm.
Submitted by jbenet on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 10:47pm.
wow - thanks

makes me tear up

you know -- just a little communication and sharing.

Just in those simple words

it is a help Nk. Thank you.

Reality. TV. Two more reasons to read.

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
---Ray Bradbury

I watched it last night -very good.
Parts 3 & 4 on next Sunday. It is amazing what
our forefathers went through to make a great country.
I never knew that Mr. Adams defended & won his case
on the British Soldiers who supposedly killed 8 men
in a fight. There is more to it than that - you have to either watch the movie or read the book.
My opinion is it is well done.

I was able to get a ticket to see Sen. Obama when he comes to Charlotte, NC this Wednesday, 3/19.... i'm glad he's not waiting until after PA to come through.....

hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures from inside the "Grady Cole Center" on wed. night.....

So far - I am quite impressed with the quality of the creation of the 'period' of the piece. Granted I spent many years in theatre so I tend to have an eye for this kind of thing when watching something set in another time.
The historical events from the point of view of Adams and the portrayal of his relationship with his wife I am impressed with - When studying this history growing up we never really heard about the women at all, and later on my memory of the input of Abigal comes from the play 1776 which I saw on Broadway a few years ago.
Part 2 will cover the Continental Congress so that I cannot comment on yet. Except for the wigs...I cannot imagine how uncomfortable they must have been.
N-kitti

no hbo -- John Adams
Submitted by jbenet on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 10:54pm.
or I would have.

I'd like to know what you think.

Reality. TV. Two more reasons to read.

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
---Ray Bradbury

The rate at which some of the world's glaciers are melting has more than doubled, data from the United Nations Environment Programme has shown.

Average glacial shrinkage has risen from 30 centimetres per year between 1980 and 1999, to 1.5 metres in 2006.

Some of the biggest losses have occurred in the Alps and Pyrenees mountain ranges in Europe.

Experts have called for "immediate action" to reverse the trend, which is seen as a key climate change indicator.

Estimates for 2006 indicate shrinkage of 1.4 metres of 'water equivalent' compared to half a metre in 2005.

Achim Steiner, Under-Secretary General of the UN and executive director of its environment programme (UNEP), said: "Millions if not billions of people depend directly or indirectly on these natural water storage facilities for drinking water, agriculture, industry and power generation during key parts of the year.

"There are many canaries emerging in the climate change coal mine. The glaciers are perhaps among those making the most noise and it is absolutely essential that everyone sits up and takes notice.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031708EA.shtml

Fernando Thank you for asking.
re http://www.samsedershow.com/node/2671#comment-165927

=The I Ching told me yesterday
30. Li / The Clinging, Fire
changes to
23. Po / Splitting Apart

=The lower trigram stands for the earth, whose attributes are docility and devotion. The upper trigram stands for the mountain, whose attribute is stillness.
This suggests that one should submit to the bad time and remain quiet.

Which is hard for a hammer wielding Thor - bull in a china shop - kind of guy like myself. The familial relationships exist despite the circumstances.

=It is early morning and work begins.
The mind has been closed to the outside world in sleep; now its connections with the world begin again.
The traces of one's impressions run crisscross.
Activity and haste prevail.
It is important then to preserve inner composure and not to allow oneself to be swept along by the bustle of life.
If one is serious and composed, he can acquire the clarity of mind needed for coming to terms with the innumerable impressions that pour in.
It is precisely at the beginning that serious concentration is important,
because the beginning holds the seed of all that is to follow.

The warning---
=Nine in the fourth place means:

=Its coming is sudden;
It flames up, dies down, is thrown away.

=Clarity of mind has the same relation to life that fire has to wood. Fire clings to wood, but also consumes it. Clarity of mind is rooted in life but can also consume it. Everything depends upon how the clarity functions. Here the image used is that of a meteor or a straw fire. A man who is excitable and restless may rise quickly to prominence but produces no lasting effects. Thus matters end badly when a man spends himself too rapidly and consumes himself like a meteor.

=By cultivating in himself an attitude of compliance and voluntary dependence, man acquires clarity without sharpness and finds his place in the world.

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

Except for the wigs...I cannot imagine how uncomfortable they must have been.

N-kitti