COINTELPOL™: A Minority Report

Go see The Hangover

2009-06-08T00:45:00.001-05:00

That is all.

"An act of terrorism derived from religious extremism"

2009-05-31T21:37:00.003-05:00

Abortion doc murdered:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/us/01tiller.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

My title is taken from a tweet by @matthew_ryan. Follow him on Twitter.

Like I said on Twitter I would like to add to his tweet but I think it says plenty. Not just about the media though but also about us as a country and our understanding of what terrorism actually is. Of course the nation's overall misunderstanding didn't just "happen" it was aided, abetted and thought up by BushCo.

Just read this and had to post it

2009-05-25T16:08:00.003-05:00

One of the most hilarious paragraphs I've read in a while. My favorite parts in red:

Gorilla tactics perpetrated by strangers: I think I'm going to go on Craigslist to inquire about the services of a female bodyguard. I mean, I can defend myself just fine - but because I don't lay a hand on a woman unless its a consensual slap on the ass mid-coitus while "Welcome to the Terrordome" plays in the background - I need a chick in my employ who will mercilessly chin check other women who take it upon themselves to recklessly grab my hair like they have misplaced their cerebellum. I used to let it slide if the woman was cute, only giving her a mild dressing down before trying to talk her into emotionless 4 minute sex with a struggling writer - now I give pretty women the exact same vitriol of contempt that I give beastly broads who decide to tug on my matted mane. I can't tell you how many women, I'm guessing to see if my hair was real or not, simply took a handful of my hair and yanked it like one of those church bells you see in old westerns. To add insult to injury, afterwords they usually just look at you to await your reaction. Fucking weird man. The other night, after a woman pulled my hair and then proceeded to ask if it bothered me or not - I immediately responded "Put it this way, if you were a man you'd be collecting your fucking teeth right now!" Yeah, I need to hire a female thug. Any takers?

From the wonderful Humanity Critic over at Vibe's blogs. Follow him on twitter too.

#Music Monday

2009-05-25T14:07:00.005-05:00

Getting down with twitter's #musicmonday. I give you this dope K'naan video for his dope song T.I.A. (This is Africa). I'm dedicating this to my girl Amelia, I love you baby! :

K'NAAN "T.I.A" music video directed by: NABIL from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

Via Okayplayer

Happy Memorial Day?

2009-05-25T12:25:00.005-05:00

Um, yeah not so much really. As Radley Balko said on twitter a little while ago, that doesn't really work now does it?

It's a shitty day here in the 'Lou. It's raining now again. Though luckily for me I got off of work today. I was supposed to be waiting table outside but that clearly was not going to happen. Our great manager Steve let me off. I wasn't sure what I would do today but so far I'm enjoying chilling in my sunroom surfing the net. I have some errands to run today but the weather is making me weary of going outside.

Usually a write a lot about politics and not so much about my life but I've been feeling very blah about that stuff lately. A lot of things seem to be in a holding pattern. Sure you've got tricky Dick & Eye of Newt all over our teevee screens recently. We've of course also got the President plus Colin Powell and Tom Ridge doing some push against those two clowns but what is actually getting done right now? Just seems like a lot of talk.

In some ways I'm just bored with all the pomp and circumstance. Not to mention the fact the we keep hearing from some other conservative douche about how they now realize that waterboarding is torture. No shit Sherlock we liberals have been telling you morons this for how long? Guess what? I didn't need to go thru that either to know that it's torture. Don't get me wrong though, I thoroughly enjoy watching these idiots gasp for air.

She's leaving on a jet plane

2009-05-20T23:25:00.009-05:00

My lady leaves the States tomorrow for Accra, Ghana. Needless to say I already miss her a lot. She left the 'Lou last Saturday but as of tomorrow afternoon we won't be able to talk at the drop of a hat.

Baby I will miss you much. Be smart and speak up for yourself. I can't wait to see you again in person.

I love you with all my heart. This is for you:

And Because Love Battles

And because love battles
not only in its burning agricultures
but also in the mouth of men and women,
I will finish off by taking the path away
to those who between my chest and your fragrance
want to interpose their obscure plant.

About me, nothing worse
they will tell you, my love,
than what I told you.

I lived in the prairies
before I got to know you
and I did not wait love but I was
laying in wait for and I jumped on the rose.

What more can they tell you?
I am neither good nor bad but a man,
and they will then associate the danger
of my life, which you know
and which with your passion you shared.

And good, this danger
is danger of love, of complete love
for all life,
for all lives,
and if this love brings us
the death and the prisons,
I am sure that your big eyes,
as when I kiss them,
will then close with pride,
into double pride, love,
with your pride and my pride.

But to my ears they will come before
to wear down the tour
of the sweet and hard love which binds us,
and they will say: “The one
you love,
is not a woman for you,
Why do you love her? I think
you could find one more beautiful,
more serious, more deep,
more other, you understand me, look how she’s light,
and what a head she has,
and look at how she dresses,
and etcetera and etcetera”.

And I in these lines say:
Like this I want you, love,
love, Like this I love you,
as you dress
and how your hair lifts up
and how your mouth smiles,
light as the water
of the spring upon the pure stones,
Like this I love you, beloved.

To bread I do not ask to teach me
but only not to lack during every day of life.
I don’t know anything about light, from where
it comes nor where it goes,
I only want the light to light up,
I do not ask to the night
explanations,
I wait for it and it envelops me,
And so you, bread and light
And shadow are.

You came to my life
with what you were bringing,
made
of light and bread and shadow I expected you,
and Like this I need you,
Like this I love you,
and to those who want to hear tomorrow
that which I will not tell them, let them read it here,
and let them back off today because it is early
for these arguments.

Tomorrow we will only give them
a leaf of the tree of our love, a leaf
which will fall on the earth
like if it had been made by our lips
like a kiss which falls
from our invincible heights
to show the fire and the tenderness
of a true love.

by
Pablo Neruda

Where you been? You ain't heard, got the word that I'm so sincerre

2009-05-19T17:30:00.005-05:00

What's popping ya'll? Been a minute huh?

You know how I do; I go through ups and downs with this blogging shit. I'm not the type of president that can write all the time. I frequently feel like I have nothing to say that hasn't been said. We're all supposed to be unique snowflakes, but of course we're not.

I haven't been writing mostly because of life. Shit happens as they say. My days in the 'Lou have been a little too drama filled for my own taste. Unfortunately a good deal of it self-inflicted. Bad decisions & no decisions can fuck up a life quick. Things are much better now. Though my love is leaving me for a summer in Ghana. I'll be dolo 'til August.

I have never lived alone. I've never wanted to except for the few months I had a couple of really, really annoying roommates who were worse than having no around. We'll see what happens. This isn't my town or home in anything more than the physical sense. Not sure it ever will be. Almost everyone I know here is someone who goes to school with Amelia so it can be awkward and lonely at times. Lot's of folks from other parts of the Midwest too. Not that I'm hating but not exactly "my peoples" if you know what I mean. Most people are gone for the summer too on top of it all so it's not like there will be so many folks to get to know outside of the law school connection context. A few folks I know & like will be here though like Joey.

Starting school in the fall gonna try to bust this shit out () in 2.5 years. Changing careers at 30 is harder than I thought it would be. 30 isn't old to be making this change. I've realized though that I've been making decisions for 10 years based upon always being in the restaurant business. Now as I try to make the switch a lot of decisions are coming back to bite me. It's not easy and it'll be a little harder w/o the lady to lean on for advice at the drop of a hat but I know I got this:

Anyways I will be trying to blog at least 3 times a week. That shit about blogging everyday prolly will never work for me. Sometimes I just don't feel like it and I ain't getting paid so what the fuck. Right? I'm also thinking about turning Amelia's "blog" into a food blog. It's something we have discussed before and as you can tell she's not using it. Who knows though I've got a lot of things I'd like to do this summer from visiting a friend in Denver to taking a trip to Memphis to painting and actually putting clothes away (mostly hers, ugh). I hoping for an at least mildly transformational summer. Who knows maybe by the end I have learned to swim, drive and be posting multiple times a day. Don't bet money on that last one.

Kenneth Jindal

2009-02-26T12:50:00.001-06:00

Hat tip TPM

The Lonely Stoner Seems To Free His Mind At Nite

2009-02-22T15:45:00.011-06:00

Genius top 10 time again. Today we got Kid Cudi's Day N Nite. Which I have been bumping for about 4 straight days now. For those that don't know this mix is created by iTunes' genius button from songs in my library. I pick a song, hit the button & then I take the 1st ten songs from the list.

I love this song. It feels like some other songs but it has it's own distinctiveness; one of those joints that as soon as the beat drops you know what it is. But you feel good about it. Real lyrics. He's talking about some ish here, not just some nonsense over a good beat. His website tells it true:

His first single “Day N Nite” is nothing more than a conscious awareness record about his faults and how he deals with them. “I’m sure everyone has been in at least one or two of the scenerios I mentioned in “Day N Night”. It was a record designed to let the people out there know—hey, we all have issues. But there’s ways to get through and there’s always a brighter day ahead filled with answers to the toughest situations; we all get lonely sometimes, its life.”

I understand that sentiment a little too well; that's why I'm happy it's not just some dark, lonely shit. Too many songs with this subject matter devolve into self-pity. I agree that Kanye has (re?)created the space for this kind of music. These kind of sonics + self-consciousness, and a willingness to lay some of you shit on the table. I enjoy boastfulness but I enjoy introspection too.

New Ish

2009-02-19T21:18:00.004-06:00

My homey Joey put me on to Kid Cudi's Day N Nite a while back. The vid just came out & I'm feeling it too ():

Shout out to The FADER for the vid.

"I Wanted To Get The Racist's Point Of View"

2009-02-18T15:45:00.005-06:00

BIG Shout out to WARN for this:

"Dolls can't move. You retarded?"

My favorite thing is how he keeps saying that white people are outnumbered. I guess a 2/3 majority just ain't what it used to be. Where's the hate for the Mexicans? Aka all Latinos. Very disappointing.

Why The Religious Argument Against Gay Marriage Is Bullshit

2009-02-17T12:42:00.002-06:00

Equality Maine cuts through the bull:

How would marriage equality affect my church?
That’s entirely up to your church. Remember, the issue is civil marriage, not religious marriage ceremonies. Religious institutions are not required to perform civil marriages, and may set their own boundaries for marriage. Some faith leaders will not perform marriages for people who have been divorced, for example, or for people of different religions. Marriage equality does not challenge the autonomy of religious institutions in any way. Advocates of marriage equality focus strictly on civil marriage, and leave decisions about religious marriage ceremonies to faith leaders.

Shout out Bill in Portland Maine

The TV Almost Gave Me A Stroke

2009-01-29T16:53:00.003-06:00

Amelia was just flipping channels & stopped briefly on Fox News. The unholy union of Ann Coulter & Glenn Beck were on the screen. They were so clearly delighted to be in each others company, it was an unbelievably sickening sight.

Kristol Gone, My Brain Rejoices

2009-01-26T14:12:00.007-06:00

This is William Kristol’s last column.

No sentence with Kristol's name has ever made me more joyous. I'd link to the piece directly but then I'd be linking to Bill Kristol op-ed. Here's the Daily Beast piece by Scott Horton on why Kristol has been dropped.

More Like This Please

2009-01-23T13:51:00.002-06:00

Obama to GOP: "I won". Time to bend over GOPers.

Longer Obama:

My President Is Black

2009-01-23T12:55:00.000-06:00

Via lot's of fucking places:

We Got 99 Problems

2009-01-22T21:21:00.002-06:00

But a Bush ain't one, via Pensons:

Swing Low

2009-01-21T22:08:00.002-06:00

This is pretty much how I feel about the fact that we now have a President Obama.
Coming for to carry me home!

Why I'm A Democrat

2009-01-16T16:01:00.003-06:00

John Cole on his conversion from GOP to Democrat. He gives it to you raw:

What has changed, however, is that I have seen a lot of the arguments that come from the Republicans for what they are- just bullshit. I have watched over the past few years and seen how nonsense bubbles up into the mainstream, and how distorted versions of events designed to distract and queer the debate turn an upside down version of events into the “conventional wisdom.”

This basically what it comes down to me. I have general overall disagreements with the GOP but one of the biggest problems I have with them, and the thing that makes it hard for me to take them seriously, is their seeming complete lack of intellectual honesty.

Gaza

2009-01-15T23:23:00.004-06:00

I'm been trying to get my exact thoughts together on the madness over there. I've been reading a lot, trying to really understand what's going on. I've come to a couple of conclusions:

I think Israeli conduct in this "war" is reprehensible, completely unnecessary & bound to backfire
I don't think anyone really knows what's going on, most disturbingly Israeli leaders.
Other people have said what I would say a lot better than I would say it.

On that last count I've assembled some links: first I've got Glenn Greenwald doing what he does best, making sense. Number two, Greenwald again. This time ripping Tom Friedman a new one over this op-ed. Next up, Daniel Larison makes me unsure that he's a conservative with his use of actual logic. Last & certainly not least we have the great Bill Moyers. Via:

One more thing. This makes me really angry. Once again I'll let someone else do the talking, John Cole over @ Balloon Juice:

I am not sure what Israel has on us that they can extract billions of American taxpayer dollars every year and dictate our foreign policy, but it must be something pretty good. The craziest thing about this is the silence of the jingosphere. Had this been any other nation bossing around Bush’s Secretary of State, or, god forbid, France, can you imagine the wingnut Voltron that would have been formed in outrage? As it is, crickets.

When it comes to Israel it's like we're living in Bizarro World.

Edited for grammar.

Mario Batali Talks Sex, We Almost Throw Up

2009-01-15T17:41:00.004-06:00

My lady, Amelia is an avid reader of Jezebel, a Gawker Media blog with an inaccurate tag line: "Celebrity, Sex, Fashion for Women". The blog is really a lot less superficial than that line makes it sound. When she came home from school today she came upon this Jezebel post, featuring a picture of a naked Anthony Bourdain holding a bone & a link to a video of Tony discussing sex and food with Mario Batali of all people.

Obviously it's not the Batali discussing food that we found offensive. Batali makes a gross, coming from his mouth at least, little joke about things that make people happy. UGH! Watch it. I won't ruin it.

Video from Serious Eats:

Oscar Grant Muderer Arrested

2009-01-14T15:08:00.004-06:00

Finally! Took 'em too long but from what I saw this is the right move. We'll see what happens next.

Via T-NC

Added:

Exactly.

Deep Thought

2009-01-14T15:06:00.000-06:00

There's a thin line between Good Negro & Uppity Negro.

Has Ray Lewis Stopped Thanking God Yet?

2009-01-11T01:17:00.003-06:00

I'm a religious guy, but Ray please STFU:

Pause.

Links: Laugh of the Weekend & More Words On Oscar Grant

2009-01-10T20:26:00.005-06:00

The AZ Cardinals are putting a whooping on Carolina right now. I don't have a dog in this fight so meh. The end of 2008 bad mojo continues to walk with me, and us. I just wanted to drop a couple of links both from the Jelani Cobb's American Exception blog. First is the laugh of the weekend, then we have his words on the recent shootings of young Black males around the country.

I hope I'm not beating a dead horse with my focus on this, but you have to understand how disturbing it is to me. It really seems like cops are allowed to & have no problem killing young Black males. This kind of stuff is the crux of basically all issues minority communities have with the police.

UPDATE:

We have co-laughs of the weekend this week. This is just too funny not to share.

Shout out to LGM

I Do It For My Culture

2009-01-10T01:04:00.002-06:00

I co-sign this :

Corollary #1: Any negative social phenomenon that can be construed to originate in Black culture will be construed to originate in Black culture, no matter how irrelevant Black culture is to the cause of the phenomenon.
...
Corollary #2: All social phenomena said to originate in Black culture are almost invariably negative, or consistently portrayed to be negative.

Malik makes a point that I make a lot in my daily life nowadays. There are a lot of issues that are American or human problems that are frequently portrayed in the media (news, film & tee vee) as Black only problems. Check out the full post including one commenter's willful missing of Malik's point.

Laugh Of The Day

2009-01-09T23:34:00.004-06:00

Now to utterly & completely change the subject, Thom Brennaman needs to get off his knees. OMFG, please shut the fuck up! This man should never be allowed to announce anything other than the AKC dog show ever again. Video via:

New Video of Oscar Grant Murder

2009-01-09T21:34:00.004-06:00

From T-NC via commenter & fellow blogger SGWHITEINFLA comes a new clearer version from Raw Story:

I disagree with Coates' conclusion that it's not murder, but beyond that I've said my piece.

"..nothing happens, it's just another nigger dead"

2009-01-08T15:33:00.009-06:00

A new year, and 2 new police shootings of unarmed Black men:

What is there to say? I guess I'm mildly surprised at these specific instances. If only because they are particularly egregious. The first man, Oscar Grant III, was on his stomach with another officer's knee on him when he was shot dead. The second, Robbie Tolan, was on the ground in his driveway.

Grant was a 22 y.o. butcher's apprentice & father. Some are speculating that the officer may have been reaching for his taser & accidentally pulled his gun instead. That idea though seems to be debunked in the same comment. Even if that was the case this officer seems to be guilty of at least manslaughter. Watching that video I see no reason why he would be going for his taser either. As I said Grant was face down on the ground with another officer's knee in his back. Protests turned into riots after his memorial service yesterday. Another in a long line of stupid, pointless reactions to police violence. Hopefully things will get back to normal quickly for those affected.

Robbie Tolan was just coming back from Jack In The Box with his cousin when cops rolled up on them with guns drawn. They suspected the car they were driving was stolen because Tolan was DWB in a mostly white neighborhood. It wasn't of course, it belonged to his parents. One of whom is former MLB player Bobby Tolan. Robbie's parents heard the commotion & came outside. There was some sort of altercation in which Robbie's mom was thrown against the garage door. Tolan who was on his back on the ground began to sit up & ask what was happening to his mother. That's when he was shot. Lucky for him he's still alive. The thing that angers me most about this case (beyond the actual shooting) is Byron Holloway, Assistant Chief of the Bellaire Police Department saying "...any allegation of racial profiling, I don't think that's going to float." OH REALLY ASSHOLE? Then why the fuck are your cops stopping two Black males @ 2 am in a mostly white area? They still haven't given a reason as to why they thought the car was stolen, so until further notice that's my reason. It might continue to be even after their "reason" comes out.

The only way this stuff is going to stop is when cops start getting prosecuted for these crimes & going to jail. People routinely get locked immediately after shootings, accidental or not. I have no idea why these two cops aren't in jail right now, any other citizen would probably be locked up (except maybe Dick Cheney).

Shout out Balloon Juice & Raw Story

The Worst Travel Experience of My Life

2009-01-05T15:28:00.002-06:00

So me & Amelia got driven to the airport on Saturday by her brother. We were supposed to catch a 5:15 flight to Cincinatti then catch a connector into St Louis. Sounds simple enough, right?

Well It seems Delta didn't assign a captain for our flight to Cincinatti. Did you get that? They didn't schedule enough pilots for our flight! Are you fucking kidding me. I really don't comprehend how an AIRLINE can forget to schedule enough PILOTS. Then we are told that all other flights (Delta's & other airlines) are not only full but overbooked. We're told that there will be a 10:30pm flight to Cincinatti & we will be able to get connections to out final destination in the morning. They say Delta will provide hotel accomodations.

After an hour & a half waiting in line just to get speak to someone at the gate, why I don't there were only 6 or 7 people in front of us, we decided to call Delta & see if that would be faster. At some point the 10:30 flight to Cincinatti was cancelled, I'm not sure how we came to know this because they never anounced it. We finally got through to Delta on the phone after maybe 40 minutes of holding. We ended up having to catch a flight to Atlanta from which we would be able to get a connector to StL. The plane we were getting on was the returning charter of the WVU football team.

The flight to Atlanta was supposed to leave at 840 pm. At around 830 pm they announced that the flight had landed & would be coming from the other side of the airport, soit would be about 20 minutes before we board. Around 910 pm they made same the announcement again. At a little after 10 pm we were informed that no one had told the Atlanta flight crew that they were supposed to come over to us, and they had already taken off for Atlanta & were just then turning around to come back & get us.

The plane didn't take off until around 11 pm. We arrived in Atlanta around 1240 am. We were told that we would find out about our hotel accomadations once we landed. They said we would be met at the gate, we were not. We headed down to baggage, maybe 4 or 5 bags came through, none of them ours. Amelia went off to find out about the hotel while I continued to wait for our bags. After about half an hour the baggage carousel turned off. I went to baggage service area & was told that our bags would be at our final destination.

I don't currently own a cell phone, it was victim of a drunken trip to the washing machine, and I had no idea where Amelia was so I went to see if I could find a pay phone. I did, but I had no change. I found where you can use your credit card, I knew it would be expensive but I had no other choice; I figured to 2 minute phone call would be maybe 3-4 bucks max. Nope, try 12 dollars. Anyways I got through to Amelia, who was on a long line at the other end of the space I was in. Once I found her she told me that the line she was on was to check-in, the other line, with about 200 people on it, was for hotel accomadations. We were not even going to get a minor amount of decent sleep. We were on the check-in line because Amelia had tried to use the computer kiosks to no avail. At about 2 or 23o am I saw the kiosk computers reload & I decided to try again. This time it worked;we got off line & went to get some coffee & a bite. We found a Wendy's & some bootleg Atlanta version of Panera open. We decided on the bootleg Panera; we sat, ate, talked & tried to not fall asleep. A little after 4 am we made out way to our gate.

Our flight was at 730 am & eventually I gave in to my body & kinda/sorta layed down with my head in Amelia's lap. Our flight back to St Louis, amazingly, went off without a hitch. Much to our shock our luggage was even there to greet us. We took the MetroLink home from the airport & finally got some much needed sleep.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T16:58:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to pass that along to all of my 4 (maybe 5) readers. Been back in StL since Sunday, but not blogging for a variety of reasons. Number 1 being the worst travel experience of my life, more on that soon, which I feel like I'm still recovering from. I'm also recovering from my New Year's festivities. Top it all off with some life drama. The last of quarter of 2008 wasn't that great for ya boy; I got big plans for 2009 which should melt away the issues carried over from the last year. One of my New Year's resolutions is to blog at least once everyday, I know I won't do it but hopefully it won't because of a lack of effort. One of your resolutions should be to read & comment on my blog more often but seriously I wish all of you the best in the coming year.

I Really Suck At This

2008-12-21T08:34:00.003-06:00

I don't know why but I just can't get myself to post everyday. Some of it is just circumstances. Amelia took her last law school final on Thursday. We had seen so little of each other over the past month we just spent lots of time together over the last few days. A friend is giving us a ride to PA today. Amelia's brother lives there with his family; we're spending the holidays with them. So not much if any posting over the next week. I wish you all the best & happy holidays.

Terrible, Terrible Decision

2008-12-17T17:18:00.013-06:00

Obama has chosen Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration. I don't have much to say because so many have already said it. This is very, very disappointing & in light of what went down on election day how can anyone in the LGBT community not take this a big fuck you. Why couldn't/wouldn't Obama have picked an actual religious moderate in stead of a person who plays one on teevee. I would say it's highly probably he gets booed by a large swath of people if he's at the inauguration. This choice has really got me down right now.

via TPM

Update:

This comment at Balloon Juice has me thinking a little differently. At first my thought was I'd would have been fine with just an actual religious moderate. But considering how much symbolism the choice seems to be about, I really would like to see a progressive person of faith up there. I'm Catholic, not dogmatic by any stretch of the imagination but I consider myself a religious person. I'm also a liberal. I get really, really tired of people seeing faith in this country as a matter of concern only to "conservatives". It would be nice to see a progressive preacher get up there talk about religious values from a liberal perspective. Conservatives don't own faith & I'm tired of them & the Traditonal Media thinking they do.

Again:

The very next comment in that Balloon Juice thread posits a reason for this:

Mazacote Yorquest

You know what no one is commenting on, at least from my look at the Big Orange? The benediction is being given by Joseph Lowery, of "good crazy" fame. Warren is no more going to be Obama’s "personal pastor" than Lowery is (or at least Lowery would be before Warren).

I don’t like this pick either, but in my reptilian brain it seems politically brilliant. Co-opt the fuck out of Rick Warren, knock the leg from under the suburban white megachurch people. Take away their fake grievances as excluded people. For the more fuzzy-headed, make Rick Warren a vague non-partisan rah rah America useful idiot, instead of just a Republican one.
Seduce him with power, make him want to be the next Billy Graham. He will bite, and tone down the anti-gay crap in exchange for an ego inflation.
Then pursue the agenda you were going to anyway.

Okay, maybe. Even that's the case I still don't like it. It gives this guy greater legitimacy & potentially gives him even greater influence. (edit): Ezra agrees.

Laugh Of The Day

2008-12-17T16:36:00.002-06:00

From Matt Y:

I’ve been assuming that all this was just a side effect of conservatives making policy errors because their movement is corrupt and intellectually bankrupt, but maybe it’s a deliberate plan to accelerate change.

Maybe I Understated The Situation

2008-12-16T19:41:00.003-06:00

The GOP is increasingly becoming a southern party.

I am. At least according to this great post by Nate over @ at 538. The money shot:

The upshot of this is that the House popular vote tends to discount those areas where a party is so dominant as to discourage competition, because less competition in a district also means fewer votes in that district. Congressional Districts have roughly the same number of people as one another, and so a fairer way to evaluate the House might simply be take the average of the vote share received by each party across all 435 districts (giving a candidate credit for 100 percent of the vote when he runs unopposed). If we do things this way, then we find that the Democrats won, on average, 56.0 percent of the vote on November 4th, and the Republicans 41.3 percent. That's a difference of 14.7 points, far more formidable than nominal 8.9 point advantage that the popular vote total gave them.

Even in districts where the Republicans did compete, moreover, they were often not truly competitive. The Democrats had 126 districts that they won by 40 points or more (including races that they won uncontested); these are what I call Democrat-Dominant Districts (DDD's). These districts represent approximately half of the Democratic seats in the House, and nearly 30 percent of the House in its entirety. By contrast, the Republicans had only had 30 districts that they won by 40 or more points, of which 22 are in the South.

The shorter version is the GOP is fucked & doubly so if the Dems do some serious redistricting after the next census, but seriously you need to read the whole post & check out the graphs. Beautiful work by Mr. Silver as usual.

I Bet No One Saw This Coming

2008-12-16T19:10:00.004-06:00

Shoe hurler being tortured? Can't say I'm shocked by the accusation or that it might actually be true:

The brother of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush has said that the reporter has been beaten in custody.

Muntadar al-Zaidi has allegedly suffered a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC.
Mr Zaidi threw his shoes at Mr Bush at a news conference, calling him "a dog".
A spokesperson for the Iraqi military says the journalist is in good health and said the allegations were untrue.
It is unclear whether the reporter may have been injured when he was wrestled to the floor at the news conference, or at a later point.

Italics mine. You would think since this made so many headlines that whoever has the man in custody would be handling him with kids gloves, but who knows. As this BBC story reports, there have been two days of demonstrations in Iraq on Zaidi's behalf. The Iraqis should be charging this guy straight up with whatever they got & let the law take it's course. I don't think he deserves to be tortured but I also don't think a beating in his future was unforeseeable after throwing his shoes at the POTUS. It was a dumb, reckless act committed against a man who deserves worse than a shoe upside the head, but is not worth risking bodily harm or worse over.

Shout out to dday

Another Addition

2008-12-16T15:19:00.004-06:00

to the Team of Ballers (via):

Duncan was co-captain of the Harvard basketball team and after graduation he played professionally in Australia for several years. That puts him a cut above the pick-up crew that you’ll see in the rest of the administration.

On the real, Obama needs to show up at the Rucker to ball with his team.

Update:
via Daniel Strauss, here's Dana Goldstein with a more serious take on Mr. Duncan.

Southern Strategy?

2008-12-16T14:23:00.004-06:00

No not that one., this one:

“You look at the South,” Shelby said. “You take — not just Mercedes in my hometown — but BMW, Honda and all of them. These companies are flourishing with American workers made in America.”
But the flourishing of the transplants didn’t come without significant taxpayer help. Shelby’s Alabama, for example, secured construction of a Mercedes-Benz plant in 1993 by offering $253 million in state and local tax breaks, worker training and land improvement. For Honda, the state’s sweetener surrounding a 1999 deal to build a mini-van plant was $158 million in similar perks, adding $90 million in enticements when the company expanded the plant three years later. A 2001 deal with Toyota left the company with $29 million in taxpayer gifts.

Alabama is hardly alone. Corker’s Tennessee recently lured Volkswagen to build a manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, offering the German automaker tax breaks, training and land preparation that could total $577 million. In 2005, the state inspired Nissan to relocate its headquarters from southern California by offering $197 million in incentives, including $20 million in utility savings.

In 1992, South Carolina snagged a BMW plant for $150 million in giveaways. In Mississippi in 2003, Nissan was lured with $363 million. In Georgia, a still-under-construction Kia plant received breaks estimated to be $415 million. The list goes on.

Supporters of these deals contend that the economic activity spurred by the arrival of the automakers is worth the up-front costs. Yet some experts say that, considering the ever-growing size of the incentive packages, there’s little evidence to support that claim.

My question is to what end? Obviously these politicos will gain lots of electoral benefits by bringing business to their states but what does this do for the party nationally? Not much that I can see. The GOP is increasingly becoming a southern party. They torpedoed the auto bailout; seemingly to make a point about unions. They scream about free markets while trying to dictate wages at the Big Three. Where is this thinking taking them? Who are they representing? The Washington Independent story shows that doling out subsidies isn't necessarily a win-win proposition for these states:

Others wonder if the incentive packages don’t go too far to divert taxpayer dollars from vital state services. When Tennessee courted Nissan in 2005, for example, its $197 million gift came about the same time the state was cutting 170,000 low-income adults from its Medicaid rolls. A 1998 Time magazine report found that an Alabama elementary school adjacent to the Mercedes plant was home to 540 kids in a building designed to hold 290.
“The Mercedes-Benz plant illustrates a fundamental principle of corporate welfare,” the article read. “Everyone else pays for economic incentives — either with higher taxes, fewer services or both.”

So what we have are GOP Senators potentially dealing a serious blow to the economy while trying to make things easier for foreign car companies in their home states. The same companies that already have a competitive advantage over our companies because they don't have to worry about providing health insurance for their workers here, because they don't have union employees, or back home, because their gov'ts pick up the tab. USA! USA! USA!

Shout out to Yglesias

Update:
Seems I've echoed Eugene Robinson on this one:

They have managed to position their party as being against unions, against America's domestic industrial patrimony, against the blue-collar working class -- and also, incredibly, against the Rust Belt states, such as Michigan and Ohio, that are home to UAW-represented auto plants and that also regularly tip the balance of presidential elections.
And for what? The Republican senators who voted to kill the bailout knew full well that the White House was determined to find some way to tide the automakers over. It was as if they couldn't help themselves. Even lemmings must be shaking their heads in dismay.

Barely Made It

2008-12-15T23:57:00.005-06:00

Almost didn't get a post in today. I didn't have my laptop for most of the day, so I would have given myself half a mulligan. I went to dinner with Amelia & a couple of friends around 6pm, then came home & watched Heroes. Then I just chilled with Amelia for few hours since we haven't seen each other much do to her mucho studying for law school finals. I lost track of time so here I am 3 minutes before midnight.

Inspired by Daniel's post, I want to talk a little about St Louis' public transportation. It's not bad. Remember, I'm a New Yorker, so that's fairly high praise. I don't really know any other city's public transportation system to compare NY's to but I can't imagine, considering the state of public transportation in this country, that any other town has one as good. Subway & buses in NY get you pretty much everywhere in the city & without long distances between most stops. It's not the cleanest by any stretch of the imagination but it's probably the most comprehensive in the U.S. if not the world.

St Louis' Metrolink (lightrail) & MetroBus are pretty good at getting you around the St Louis city & some places in the county. In my 4 months I've found the system to be overwhlemingly on time. The MetroLink especially. MetroBus is usually on time within 2-3 minutes. The 01 WUSTL Gold, one of 2 buses than run through the WUSTL campus and the one I take the most, is frequently 1-2 minutes early. The train gets you to Cardinals & Rams games, downtown, the SLU, WUSTL & UMSL campuses, the airport, the (formerly?) growing Delmar Loop, Forest Park (St Louis' Central Park), the mall & the Central West End. The bus get you everywhere in between & some places around these areas.

Unfortunately Metro will be cutting service & raising fares starting early next year. A measure (Prop M) to raise sales taxes by half a cent (you read that right) in St Louis county was defeated by 8000 votes. That defeat also sent a quarter cent sales tax raise in the City of St Louis down the tubes with it. The two measures are tied together; the city passed it's sales tax increase years ago but for some reason it was written so that it doesn't kick it 'til county residents approve their tax as well. The taxes would have went to keep metro running at current levels & provided for future expansion. The comment section in the Post-Dispatch's story about the failure of Prop M was filled with a few theories on why it as voted down: Metro runs at a loss, the people who ride it should have to pay through fare increases, the county people who voted against it are selfish cheap bastards, yadda, yadda, yadda. I think most public transportation operates at a lost though & public transport benefits everybody in some way or another. Less car traffic is one way, less pollution is another & an easy way to get to sporting events another. Metro is going stop running extra trains during sporting events too.

Just goes to show a lot of people still refuse to see all the good public transportation brings. St Louis city proper is in many ways a dying city. The city once had over 850,000 residents but now it's estimated to be about 350,000. Which is 1.6% more than 8 years ago but things like this don't help. I don't know but I get the feeling people don't want to move to cities without decent public transportation. Like I said my experience is only in NY but to me public transportation is the bloodline of a city. It can bring people in from the surrounding area who otherwise might not do so. It can help revitalize parts of a city which need it. Business always sprouts up around popular train & bus lines.

People from the St Louis county executive's office say we'll probably see the measure before the voters again within a year & a half. Hopefully it'll pass next time around. This city needs it to in the worst way.

The Sheer Stupidity of Rod Blagojevich, Part Deux

2008-12-14T23:00:00.003-06:00

From the Dept. of You Can't Make This Stuff Up:
Rod Blagojevich is considering having R. Kelly's criminal attorney represent him. There's not much to say about this other than, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING BLAGO?

You Feeling Brave..., Go 'head Get Gully

2008-12-14T17:20:00.009-06:00

This has to be one of the top five gulliest things of at least this decade. I really, really wanted to post a video here but the BBC video doesn't have embedding, and it's the best vid I've seen because it has Bush's comments afterwards. He says he didn't feel threatened but he looked pretty shook to me. Even if he really wasn't scared, he should have been. My man threw those shoes like Rob Dibble threw a baseball. If they would have connected we would have seen blood. He was pretty accurate too, Bush's deft duck kept his skull from being wrecked. While this is fairly amusing, I'm not really down with throwing shit at world leaders. That being said I don't really blame the guy either. Bush & the GOP have been a disaster in this country & around the world. Any ill that befalls him I look at as karma.

The N.Y. Jets

2008-12-14T15:02:00.004-06:00

This was going to be a post about how much the Jets suck. But they managed to pull a win out of their ass today. Someone on the Bills decided to run a pass play with less than 2 minutes to go in the game, and Buffalo up by 3 points. The Bills were killing the Jets on the ground today. Especially Marshawn Lynch (who is one ugly mofo btw). The Jets could barely tackle Lynch all day & he got 127 yards on the ground. On the deciding drive Lynch had a couple of strong runs for a 1st down & another for 4 yards on 1st down. For some reason the Bills decide to throw the ball on 2nd & 6. Losman dropped back & rolled out under pressure from Abe Elam. Elam got to Losman, and caused a fumble. Shaun Ellis eventually scooped up it up, & after running over some offensive lineman rumbled in for a TD. Two interceptions later, with a turnover on downs by the Jets sandwiched in between, the game was over.

Unfortunately this is not anywhere near the game I was looking out of the Jets today. They started out fast. Jumping out to an 14-3 lead by the end of the 1st quarter but after that it was slow roll down hill. The defense was awful the last 3 quarters & Favre was not good in the 2nd half. Besides the fumble recovery for a TD the only other real bright spots after the 1st quarter was a 47 yard TD run by the awesome Leon Washington & an interception by Hank Poteat that lead to a FG. Tim Graham of ESPN.com hits it on the head in his rapid reaction:

The Jets were desperate for a victory after dropping two in a row against opponents they were favored against. Maybe beating the Bills will inject some confidence, but how they escaped must be disconcerting to their fans.

Emphasis mine. That's pretty much it. I'm ecstatic the Jets won but it wasn't pretty & wasn't impressive. It looked like we were going to romp at first but then the Jets seemed to devolve back to the way they were playing the two previous games as the game went along. The defensive line has been getting zero pressure the last 3 weeks, thus the secondary has been getting picked apart by guys like Shaun Hill. Who? Exactly. The offense hasn't been able to make the plays when needed. There just seems to be few signs of the team that won 5 games in row, capped off with a dismantling of the NFL leading Titans. Fortunately the Jets control their own destiny. We got the 3-11 Seahawks next week followed by will most likely be a show down for 1st place (and maybe the only playoff spot to come out of the AFC east) @ the meadowlands with Miami the last week of the season. After the Titans game I thought we would run the table the rest of the way but now I'd say it's 50-50 we even make the playoffs. Any given Sunday indeed.

Writing Everyday

2008-12-14T15:01:00.001-06:00

Spurred on by my homey Hill Rat's comment, I'm going to try my hand at writing everyday again. I going back to school & I really want to get my chops up. Writing a blog is probably not the best way to do it but I have written anything that was graded in a decade. I try to keep my blog writing grammatically correct for this reason. I have a whole bunch of saved links with subjects that I want to write about but I always seem to do something other than write. Today will hopefully be the start of a long run.

This Is Pretty Awesome

2008-12-13T21:58:00.002-06:00

It speaks for itself:

The Sheer Stupidity of Rod Blagojevich

2008-12-09T13:20:00.007-06:00

Seriously folks how dumb do you have to be to try & "sell or trade" the president-elect's Senate seat. Blagojevich was already under investigation for his dealings with Tony Rezko. Bulldog U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, of the Valerie Plame investigation, was the guy watching him. If you know anything about Fitzgerald than you know this is a guy who you should be walking on eggshells around if he's got his eye on you. Yet Blago, who has been described as "like George W. Bush but not as bright", decided he was going to try & extract something from the president-elect in return for naming Obama's preferred candidate to his Senate seat (Obama, obviously, didn't play ball). Here's Blago yesterday saying he doesn't think there's anything hanging over his head & that he welcomes wiretapping:

Josh Marshall at TPM puts it best:

Even setting aside the primordial level of corruption of trying to sell the senate seat of the President-elect of the United States, I never fail to be amazed at the brazenness and stupidity of some political crooks. I mean, I think everyone involved in politics or interested in political corruption in the country had to know that Blagojevich's phones were tapped and probably his offices were bugged, and that Pat Fitzgerald had him under the craziest level of scrutiny. And he tries to sell the senate seat with that hanging over his head? That's simply amazing. I guess you could say he's just a traditionalist, trying to keep up heritage of Chicago machine politics. But with some of these characters, it must just be pathological.

As usual for folks like Blago, the Senate seat stuff is just the tip of the iceberg he is also charged with "illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co." I'd bet money he'll be charged with some Rezko related wrongdoing at some point also. This clown also thought he might be able to run for prez in 2016. I repeat, this fool was under already investigation for stuff unrelated to Obama's Senate seat & was pretty much living under the threat of indictment. Yet he still thought he could win the presidency one day. Pardon me, bwahahahahahah!, okay I'm done.

Something I don't understand is why elected officials have to be pressured to step down from their posts. I get that it's innocent until proven guilty but you can't really "serve the people" while fighting criminal charges in court. All elected officials should have to resign their positions once a prosecutor brings charges against them. Especially if it involves political corruption or worse.

The hand wringing has already begun. I like Sam Stein, but geez. Fitzgerald specifically said the Obama was not being looked at for any wrongdoing :

He added that the complaint “makes no allegations about the president-elect whatsoever.” In one passage of the complaint, Mr. Blagojevich is quoted cursing Mr. Obama in apparent frustration that “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation.”

Stein himself says:

There is absolutely nothing in the affidavit to suggest that the SEIU (who did not immediately return request for comment) or Obama were aware of this scheming. But the taint -- or at least the potential of taint -- is very real.

Eh, sure the potential exists. The potential also exists that GW Bush's terms as president will be looked at fondly in 50 years, but I wouldn't bet a dollar on it. There is some evidence that Rahm Emmanuel may have been the person who tipped off the feds about Blago reaching out to Obama. That, of course, makes even less likely that Obama will feel any fallout from this stuff.

Big shout out to TPM for there usual great reporting.

Update:

TPM's Greg Sargent reports that a source close to Rahm has denied any involvement by Emmanuel. Obama did have an hand in Blagojevich's downfall though, indirectly & not in a way you might guess. According to the NY Times, Obama made a call to, mentor & president of the Illinois Senate, Emil Jones:

..to urge passage of a state ethics bill....

Mr. Jones was a critic of the legislation, which sought to curb the influence of money in politics, as was Mr. Blagojevich, who had vetoed it. But after the call from Mr. Obama, the Senate overrode the veto, prompting the governor to press state contractors for campaign contributions before the law’s restrictions could take effect on Jan. 1, prosecutors say.

Tipped off to Mr. Blagojevich’s efforts, federal agents obtained wiretaps for his phones and eventually overheard what they say was scheming by the governor to profit from his appointment of a successor to the United States Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Obama.

Unfortunately the rest of the article by Mike McIntire and Jeff Zeleny devolves from there. They deem it necessary to rehash any potentially embarrassing connections Obama had, even though we went over this stuff numerous times during the primary & the GE. It seems to be the media's little game for the day.

Predictably there are already people telling Obama what he has to do.

A side note. I've been super duper gung-ho about investigating the Bush administration in light of all the other shit we have to deal with that they fucked up. But I think Hilzoy has this right:

Oh, and one more thing: it's clearer than ever to me that Obama and the Congress should give Patrick Fitzgerald the job of investigating the Bush administration's war crimes. Give him complete freedom from interference, and let the chips fall where they may.

Chef David Chang

2008-12-08T22:54:00.002-06:00

Great interview, what else is new, by Charlie Rose with Momofuku chef David Chang:

Some how I never made it to any of Chef Chang's restaurants. Judging from the philosophy he espouses in this interview & all the rave reviews his restaurants have received I'm sure I would love his food. He wants to give his employees health insurance. You probably have no idea how much that means for a restaurant owner to say that out loud.

This Looks Like It's Gonna Be Great

2008-12-07T03:03:00.002-06:00

Doubt, starring some of the finest talents of our time, Meryl Streep & Philip Seymour Hoffman. It's based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play Doubt: A Parable. I found the preview riveting, can't wait to see the real deal.

Kill Bill

2008-12-07T01:40:00.006-06:00

The Bride is fighting Gogo right now. This movie is the definition of badass.

You know for a second there, I kinda did.

I think we all have a thing for righteous fury & vengeance, at the very least in the movies. I think Tarantino does it well. Here comes the Crazy 88. Let the killing begin! The music in this film is pretty fucking kick-ass too. I'm watching this on TNT, so all the over the top blood spurting has been edited out. I get that but you know what I don't get? Why do they dub "curse" words instead of just muting them? It not only sounds terrible but it's terribly obvious when you dub pussy with party or fuck with freak. It's dumb, please stop doing it.

You might think I'm going to go into some long diatribe about why I love Kill Bill but you'd be wrong. I've had a few glasses of wine & it's late. I'm not very wordy at times like these (not writing at least, I'd probably talk your ear off though). I wouldn't have too many words anyway. I love it on a very visceral level; the way you might feel about tasty dish. You don't exactly know what all the flavors are, but you know it tastes freaking good & you'll have it again. By the way, QT clearly is/was in love with Uma. Maybe not in a romantic way but at the very least he's in love with the idea of her.

Shout out to my homey Pai Mei, you are one funny dude:

Rise and let me look at your ridiculous face.

Haiku: Kill Bill

2008-12-07T01:16:00.003-06:00

Beatrix Kiddo,
Bright Yellow Suit. It's Badass.
Oh, She's Badass too

O'Reilly Radio Soon To Be No More

2008-12-05T12:56:00.002-06:00

There will be a precipitous drop in noise pollution early next year.

"The Buck Will Stop With Me"

2008-12-03T03:25:00.001-06:00

President-elect Obama said what I have been saying all along when it comes to his team. From the Caucus blog of the NY Times:

‘Buck Will Stop With Me’ | 11:20 a.m.
Q: How can you ensure that the staff will be smoothly-functioning team of rivals?

Mr. Obama gave a lengthy answer here. He said that they have worked together before, have respect for each other and are outstanding public servants. “They would not have agreed to join my administration and I wouldn’t have asked them unless we share a core vision on what’s needed to keep the American people safe,” he said. He said his picks would not have left their current jobs if they weren’t convinced they could work together as an effective team.

He also added that he is a strong believer in having strong personalities and strong opinions. People in the White House can “get wrapped up in group think” but he said he will welcome vigorous debate inside the White House. But understand, he said, “I will be setting policy as president,” and he will be responsible for the vision this team is carrying out. “The buck will stop with me.”

I have never understood why people on the left & the right seem to see Obama as not in control. There is no reason to believe that he won't be running the show. What ever policy comes out of Obama's administration will be Obama's policy. Clinton being SoS doesn't change that & Gates staying on as SoD doesn't change that. Good or bad, I will assume all policy emanating from the white house, starting on Jan 20th 2009, comes from the man at the top.

WaPo reported yesterday that a lot of Gates' deputies most likely won't be staying on. Obama people will be sliding into the vacated positions. This is as it should be of course, especially since Gates will almost certainly not be staying on for Obama's full term. Yet some still don't think Obama will be calling the shots.

Haiku

2008-12-03T01:47:00.004-06:00

Inspired by Hill Rat:

Life and Death, crazy
What are we to do but cry?
I miss my Pops...too.

To The Traditional Media: Stop Making Shit Up

2008-11-30T13:54:00.003-06:00

I'm sure there are legions of Obama supporters and voters gritting their teeth at his decision to offer Hillary Clinton appointment as secretary of state.

This is from Richard Reeves' column for the UPS. The Economist was also peddling this nonsense this week too, in addition to some ideas as to why Hillary shouldn't be SoS that I've already debunked. This is fantasy folks. Most vitriol after the primary was from a very small number of Hillaryites. I have been an Obama supporter since the beginning of his campaign. Everyone I know supported Obama. No one hated Hillary. All my friends & family would have gladly supported Hillary if she was the nominee. Yes there were some Obama supporters who hated Hillary & vice versa, but in my extensive experience around liberal blogosphere, during the primary & the GE, they were mostly people who hated her before Barack came along.

The traditional media insists upon telling stories of Democratic intra-party strife. During the GE all we heard about was the hurt felt by all these Clinton supporters & whether or not they would "come home" to the Democratic party. That was overblown & now this non-existent teeth gritting of Obama supporters over Hillary's nod for SoS. With Samantha Power back on board with Obama's transition team, we've been getting a spate of stories that make it seem as if it's a surprise. Even though Obama is close to her & she's a brilliant woman.

The traditional media loves to peddle drama not matter which party it comes from, but to me it seems they especially love it when it involves Democrats. So take stories & proclamations about Obama supporters "teeth gritting" with about 10 grains of salt.

Amelia's Blog

2008-11-30T02:31:00.006-06:00

My lady has literally just started a new blog, 320Lincoln. She'll be writing about random things like I do, but we sometimes have wildly different interests as you will come to find out. She'll be posting about serious & ludicrous things alike. Generally, she'll be a better writer than me.

How Many Squirrels Must Die

2008-11-27T00:00:00.006-06:00

for you to look fly:

Chappelle's Show

Dave's Revenge Part 1

Charlie Murphy Clips
Buy Chappelle's Show DVDs

Black Comedy
True Hollywood Stories

Me & some friends were popping off a few Chappelle's Show quotes last night. Man I love (loved?) that show. Amelia & I were watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion show tonight & they played a clip of Sheree saying she wouldn't put NeNe & fashion together in the same sentence. For whatever reason it made me think of the above clip. I'm not a fur person, I would never wear or buy it for anyone else. In fact I think it's just a down right ridiculous look, so this is even funnier to me.

Update:
OMFG:

Ay come on man, you scratching your balls over my breakfast! You got ball hair on top of you head. That's not a joke! That is ball hair, that's coarse

Chappelle's Show

Frankenstein

Charlie Murphy Clips
Buy Chappelle's Show DVDs

Black Comedy
True Hollywood Stories

Maybe God Is Telling You Something

2008-11-25T14:00:00.003-06:00

Hehehe:
Ann Coulter, ...broke her jaw and the mouth...has been wired shut

Racial Disparities Persist Despite Obama Election

2008-11-24T15:43:00.007-06:00

No shit Sherlock.

Please make it stop now. Golly gee, I can't figure out why Obama the Magic Negro hasn't solved all of teh Blacks problems yet. He hasn't even taken power yet & he's already a failure. Why can't he close the deal?

Someone please tell Stephen Ohlemacher, the AP & any other writers and/or reporters who want to write about this nonsense to cease & desist. You have to be as dumb as Isaiah Thomas after an overdose to even entertain the idea that Obama's election would bring racism & Black/American problems to an end.

I Think I'm Gonna Bomb A Town

2008-11-23T14:32:00.005-06:00

The Jets just layed a whooping on the Titans. That was for jacking our old name! Beautiful game. Not much to say really. The Jets handled them easily. It's like the Titans were never in the game, they were for most of it, but at no point did I think they would win. NY was in control the whole way. A total team effort. Favre spread the ball around, Leon broke a big run, Jones grinded it out & the defense was stout. Of course I thought the Titans were overrated anyways.

The Proper Way To Speculate

2008-11-19T12:12:00.001-06:00

Greenwald gives us all a lesson on how to rhapsodize about potential cabinet appointments. No wild accusations, just a point by point & fact by fact overview of Eric Holder's pros & cons as he understands them to be. He also explicitly states that this is probably not his final word on Holder:

this choice, as a preliminary matter, seems like a step in the right direction.

I feel like this should be obvious but I have read too many people who seem to think whatever they have to say on a matter is the be all to end all. As if people & choices can only be properly understood through their way of thinking. We all will make snap judgements of course, we are human but there has been an off putting lack of true consideration in a lot of liberal quarters for potential Obama appointees.

Same as Greenwald, I'm just so weary already of all the endless specula1tion & bashing that has gone on. Obviously we need to make our voices heard but we should do so armed with facts, not just with anger. Let's make sure what we think we know is actually reality.

meaning of the title

2008-11-18T23:21:00.007-06:00

COINTELPOL™ (counter intelligence politics™) is a play on COINTELPRO, the fbi's infamous counter intelligence program. COINTELPRO was started by the FBI in 1956 as a means to fraction the American communist party. Of course that was not enough. J. Edgar Hoover enlarged the program to try and bring down (successfully in some cases) the Black Panther party ("Purpose of counterintelligence action is to disrupt the Black Panther Party and it is immaterial whether facts exist to substantiate the charge.") (Hoover), the Nation of Islam, the entire New Left, MLK's Southern Christian Leadership Conference & the KKK.

Former gang member Cle Sloan's documentary Bastards of the Party postulates that COINTELPRO is directly responsible for the crips and bloods gangs by actively working to and successfully helping bring down the Black Panther Party.

In one particularly heinous incident in 1965, civil rights activist and mother of five Viola Liuzzo was murdered by KKK members after the Selma marches. One of the klansmen in the car from which shots were fired was an FBI informant. Soon after her death COINTELPRO began spreading lies that she was a communist and had abandoned her children to have sex with blacks involved in the civil rights movement. Our government @ work.

Update:

The above was originally written Feb. 27th, 2007.

I wanted to add a little more than just talking about COINTELPRO & talk about what I want/hope this blog to be about. The phrase "a minority report" is not alluding to me seeing the future; I'm Black & at the time I started this I thought it was clever, maybe I still do. I'm very interested in many different things. Recently, I was obsessed with the presidential election. I would definitely say I'm a political junkie of sorts. I would like to go into politics, gov't or maybe a non-profit or ngo in the future (hopefully nothing I say on here will be used against me).

I'm 29, I was born in Haiti & spent 27 & a half years in Brooklyn, NY. Now I live in StL, MO. I'm a liberal but I don't consider my self to be an orthodox one. I probably will seem orthodox to those that don't know me very well. Especially since I will frequently write in the heat of the moment. I believe there are two sides to every political story but that you will rarely get the best story from the right. I'm trying to get my writing chops up & trying to get to the real me as writer. We'll see what happens, in the meantime hopefully you'll keep reading.

Hillary Clinton, SoS ?

2008-11-18T13:35:00.009-06:00

Updated below.

I have to jump into this argument because I keep reading that Hillary will undermine Obama & not be a team player. I have read this numerous places but most recently from Ken Silverstein over at Harper's (via Hill Rat).

This just doesn't make any sense to me for a few reasons. I want to address Silverstein's points:

1. If Hillary wants the job, she wants it to be a large part of her legacy and/or she wants to use it as a jumping off point for another future white house run. Now where in either of those goals does it make sense for her to undermine Obama? She already has a bad reputation for being being underhanded & untrustworthy, why would she want to feed those kinds storylines? From such a high profile post, where you are expected to totally put your ego aside for the greater good, it would utterly destroy her reputation, legacy & future aspirations. Hillary has never shown that level of self-destruction. TPM is reporting that some Obama people think she will be a team player. This is a judgement call & right now I trust Obama to make it.

2. This is the most farcical of all. He couldn't fire her under any circumstances because of political considerations? That's ridiculous. Worse yet Silverstein doesn't even give any reasons for why he thinks that. Memo to Ken: Obama won the election handily. This is in the same neighborhood of all the right-wingers who talk about Obama being controlled by Dems in congress. Despite all Obama has done there seem to be a lot of people out there who think he has no power. I just don't get this.

3. Bill's conflict of interests. That's what vetting is for. This is another argument made by many people. I trust Obama as his team to make the right call on this stuff. This is exactly the kind of judgement call Obama & his team earned the right to make. If Hillary becomes SoS, I will believe that one way or another the situation with Bill's dealing has been resolved enough for Barack to take her in. Again, right now that's enough for me & I think should be enough for most people.

4. Hillary's management style. I think this is pretty much a moot point. The buck doesn't stop with her, it stop with Obama. She will not be the top dog. Also, her campaign obviously had serious issues but to say that her managing style is to pit one faction against the other seems pretty ridiculous. People in her camp fought, that doesn't mean that that's her management style. Obama ran a campaign that was free from infighting (publicly at least). There is no good reason to believe that he would allow any of that stuff in the white house.

5. Henry Kissinger's endorsement is ~~a non sequitur~~ irrelevant.

Update:

I wanted let be known that I am actually pretty neutral on Hillary becoming SoS. I don't know enough about her or the other candidates' foreign policy chops beyond their reps. I just think a lot of the arguments against her (specifically the ones above, a couple of which have been made by a lot of different people) just aren't that convincing.

Update#2:

Krugman, as usual, makes a great point:

Everywhere you look, there’s stuff about Bill Clinton’s donors and all that, often with the implication that there must inherently be something dirty going on, because, well, just because.

But I guess that’s just the way things are. After all, do you remember all the grief President Bush got over his family’s questionable business ties?

Neither do I.

The Roots: Get Busy

2008-11-18T13:26:00.005-06:00

My band 'bout 70 strong like Fela.

I just really listened to this track. D O P E. I really like this. It's one of those joints that I nod my head to in a really deliberate fashion. Love the drums. If the beat was person Black hit him with a baseball bat upside the head. Dice Raw hits it along the same line. I didn't like Peedi's verse at first but the 2nd time I did. I'd really love to see a live performance this song.

On the retirement note, the video that Joey posted is no longer available. Suspicious? Maybe. I don't know but about 20% of me has believed from the beginning that this is a hoax. Mostly because it's fuckin' Jimmy Fallon! He is not funny.

Please Don't Categorize This As Music

2008-11-16T17:52:00.006-06:00

Since I agree with Jamelle that Jay-Z's American Gangsta is an underrated album today's genius top 10 root is No Hook.

The List:

I think American Gangsta is a very good album. It seems like it kind of fly under the radar. Maybe I'm wrong about that since I don't listen to the radio or watch MTV or BET. I think it's a great example of who Jay is. He gives a little something to everybody. He's a very good storyteller. His lyricism is on point. Got that pop sound. I've always been more a lyricist type but even on that front I'm more of a mixture of Leno & Letterman than straight Dave. I guess that's why I've always been a huge fan on Jay & was more eh on folks like NaS.

Comparing rap to poetry is not new of course but No Hook sounds poetic in a different way than most rap songs to me. Jay's got a kind of subtle stutter stop cadence on this track. I can visualize his lyrics in stanzas. That's something I can't ever remember doing before. Not that this is some sort of groundbreaking track, it's not, but it's subtly different to me in some very good ways.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention The Roots semi-retirement. We have a Roots track on this playlist. I still haven't really listened to Rising Down yet so I don't have much to say about the album or this track. I do love the beginning of Get Busy, especially because Black Thought hits the track like a Bruce Lee kick. One of favorite things about The Roots is the Tarik attacks their tracks. He always rides their beats so skillfully. I'm very curious about what them becoming the house band for Late Night means for him professionally. They're a truly talented group; able to play any style of music well, Black is one of the best MCs out there & they are one of the best live acts you will ever see in any genre let alone Hip Hop.

Kos v Nader

2008-11-16T14:08:00.006-06:00

Some folks out there need to get a clue. This Kos rant where he tells Nader & his supporters to fuck off has caused a little stir over at the Great Orange Satan. I stand firmly with Kos on this one. I'm so tired of pious liberals. No one will ever make these people happy. The person they are looking for does not exist. They are like militant vegetarians & vegans. Very few people can afford to eat like that. Very few people can afford to wait for the Perfect Progressive®. You may not think there is a big difference between Dems & the GOP but there are millions of people who do know & can tell the difference in their daily lives. The parents of the dead soldier, the brother of tortured Abu Ghraib inmate, the gay couple that just got married in MA, the drug addict that got rehab instead of jail. Obviously all Dems don't fall on what I would call the right side of all issues but on a national or statewide scale if I want to vote for the person that's closest to my ideals that can actually win that person will be a Democrat.

Where are all these great & magical pure progressive/liberal people that are going to win & change the world? How do you make a difference if you don't have any recognized power? Change doesn't come over night. It never has & it never will. Humans are not built like that. Every progressive milestone in history came because of years of hard work. People out there fighting bit by bit to get what they can. Sometimes you have to accept scraps because you can't fight at all if you starve to death.

This is not about quelling criticism. It's about facing up to what the actual playing field is not what we wish it were. I'm a lib all the way but I don't believe in deluding myself or patting myself on the back for being pure. From your pure liberal ivory tower, maybe you don't comprehend the difference between Dems in power or Repubs in power but I do. I grew up in a poor hood & I know what the difference between Reagan & Clinton was. Lots of parents of soldiers & parents of civilians in Iraq they can give you a pretty good hypothesis on what the difference between Gore & Bush would have been two.

So if you to take your ball & go home, if you want to only vote for that pure mythical progressive than I do say fuck you. Some of us have work to do. The shit that actually changes people's lives not just makes ourselves feel good because we stayed "pure". Blood is on you hands as well.

This is a man who called our 1st Black president an Uncle Tom. Fuck him. All of you who want to get on here and defend that mofo, defend that too.

Obama is not the mythological Liberal beast come to vanquish all before him. That person doesn't exist. We will get more progressives into office by voting for the more progressive person that can actually win. Not by voting for the person we wish could win. You want more Libs start by fighting for & supporting them locally, or run for office your damn self. From the ground up folks. We will never have a truly progressive person as president if we don't get more & more progressives winning locally. Stop bitching & whining & get to work.

Naderites you're not progressives. Progressives are for you know progress. Tell me how you voting for Nader has brought progress?

Haitian School Collapse

2008-11-13T01:44:00.005-06:00

I barely know what to say about this story. I was born in Haiti in 1979. Baby Doc's regime was still going strong. I was brought here by my father less than 2 years later. The country of my birth has always been a kind of mystery to me. I've only been back once since I left. I still feel a connection to Ayiti, as we say in Kreyol, however small & tenuous.

The school collapse is just another symptom of the poverty, corruption & general lawlessness that has gripped the country seemingly since it's birth. It was the 1st Black republic in the world, it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. I don't claim to know a lot about Ayiti. All I know is what I read in the papers here in the U.S. & the little info that trickles to me from my mother. She listens to Haitian radio back in N.Y. It's just a very sad situation.

Haiti comes from the Taino word for mountainous land Ayti. It was once full of forests & fertile soil. Massive deforestation & the erosion that followed has destroyed once fertile land. This in return contributes to poverty & widespread malnourishment. I have no idea what we can do to turn it around. A functioning & competent gov't free of corruption seems like the best place to start. Ditto for the police force. Both of course suffer from the, well earned, low confidence the people have in them.

I don't know folks, I'll have to continue my thoughts on this at a later date. This is tough for me to write about.

Jets vs Rams Live Blog

2008-11-09T12:30:00.028-06:00

12:31 Bulger gets rocked by Abe Elam. A crushing sack by the DB. Bulger fumbles, Pace picks it up & rambles in for a TD. Rams challenged but the ruling stands.

12:35 17-0 J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets. Rams don't get it passed the 15 on the Kickoff return.

12:36 Toss to Pittman stopped for a 4 yard loss.

12:37 3 & out for the Rams. Not looking good for St Louis right now.

12:49 Jets go for it on 4th & 2 & get it.

12:51 3rd & 4 inside the 10. Leon gets the 1st, then Jones runs it in for the TD. 24-0 Jets.

1:01 Jets fumble force & recovery overturned because of a questionable holding call on Hank Poteat.

1:03 Rams punt again, Leon takes it back 16 yards into Rams territory.

1:09 Feely hits a 49 yarder. 27-0 Jets.

1:15 Rams fumble it away. 1 & 10 for the Jets, inside the Rams 35.

1:17 Jones goes over 100 in the 1st half for the first time in his career. Rams drop another interception. Feely makes another field goal. 30-0 Jets.

1:21 Kerry Rhodes intercepts a horrible pass by Bulger & takes it back 50 yards to the Rams 18. This is a woeful performance by the Rams.

1:27 Playaction by Favre & he throws a TD to Keller on 3rd & goal. 37-0 Jets.

1:30 Are you kidding me? Rams fumble it away again!

1:32 Add insult to injury. Feely hits a 55 yarder to make it 40-0. How the hell did this team lose to Oakland?

1:48 Trent Green starts the 2nd half in place of Bulger.

1:56 Rams finally get on the board with a FG.

2:00 Why is Favre still in this game? They play the Pats on Thursday. Get him out of there Mangini!

2:14 Hank Poteat with an interception in the endzone for the Jets. He takes it back 4o yards. The Rams' misery continues.

2:17 Favre is still in the game. WHY!!!!!!!!

2:28 Jones scores his 3rd TD of the day 47-3 Jets. Favre better not come out for another drive.

2:39 Favre out, Clemens in. Finally. Still a really dumb decision to have/let Favre come out to start the 2nd half. They have a short week ahead of them with the Pats coming up on Thursday. Luckily Favre made it out with no issues.

2:48 Leon completely changes direction on a great run.

2:51 Mangini finally cracks a smile on the sideline. Game over. Jets win. Bring on the Pats.

Stoked Awards

2008-11-06T23:50:00.007-06:00

A friend of mine is a Stoked mentor. The following video is on his facebook:

A blurb about Stoked from the Stoked Awards website:

Co-founded in 2005 by Steve Larosiliere and Sal Masekela, Stoked Mentoring is a unique non-profit organization based in New York and Los Angeles that provides innovative mentoring programs exposing "at risk" youth and their mentors to action sports. These activities are used as a means to develop and foster resiliency, determination and success. Through hands-on partnerships with social service agencies, Stoked presents and oversees several programs annually including Snow Mentor, Skate Mentor and Surf Mentor. For further information about our programs, events and sponsorship opportunities, please visit the Stoked website at www.stoked.org.

I don't know about you but this is pretty dope stuff. Especially if we're talking about "inner city youth". One of the problems some kids who grow up in the "hood" have is not being able to see beyond their block or neighborhood. Exposing them to these sports, which are not associated with inner cities for the most part, is a great way to help them ~~get~~ gain some perspective in my opinion. Of course if you have been in say NY recently you may have noticed a decent amount of young Black & Latino kids riding skateboards. So in a lot of ways the founders were very prescient with Stoked. This is a great a organization & Obama doesn't need your money anymore so why don't you drop 'em a little something. I will.

Still WE Rise

2008-11-05T17:30:00.009-06:00

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou

Morning In America

2008-11-05T10:36:00.005-06:00

I think this is such a good post title for this moment that I have to steal it from a friend.

We Did It!

2008-11-04T23:40:00.001-06:00

Yes We Can! Si Se Puede!

1 Day

2008-11-03T16:34:00.008-06:00

My father passed away a couple of years ago and he won't get to see me do all the great things I hope to do in my life. He won't get to know my children & I wont get to talk to him about the many things I hope learn. My mother is still here though & in good health. Barack Obama is on the verge of becoming president but his last living parent has passed away. I can not imagine what it must be like for all the people who raised you & helped make you who you are not be around to witness it. My heart goes out to Barack, his family & to all whose loved ones aren't or weren't around to see them make it.

Because It's Sunday: Genius Top Ten - Updated

2008-11-02T16:00:00.009-06:00

Yes I'm jacking this from Jamelle.

I'm trying to figure out ways to pull my personality out of myself & put it into this blog. Music is very important to me. I also believe that a person's musical taste can tell you a lot about them. Personally I think my music taste says that I am interested in a very wide variety of things, which I am. These are 10 songs that came up when I hit the genius button in my itunes playlist.

The root:
Konichiwa Bitches
Robyn from Robyn

The list:

Shove It f. Spank Rock
Santogold from Santogold

Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above
CSS from Cansei de Ser Sexy

Lights & Music
Cut Copy from In Ghost Colours

I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You
Black Kids from Partie Traumatic

On The Radio
Regina Spektor from Begin To Hope

Time to Pretend (Radio Version)
MGMT from Oracular Spectacular

How I Could Just Kill a Man
Charlotte Sometimes from Waves and the Both of Us

Cheap and Cheerful
The Kills from Midnight Boom

I'm a Lady f. Trouble Andrew
Santogold from Santogold

Dirty Harry
Gorillaz from Demon Days

I originally wanted to put up the MGMT video but for some reason all of the videos I could find on youtube have the embedding disabled. I really love that song. Konichiwa Bitches is a song I randomly found last night while watching Chappelle's Show. The racial draft skit came on. The Wu-Tang clan gets chosen by the Asian delegation. At the end of their speech GZA says konichiwa bitches! For whatever reason I decided to google the phrase. Robyn's song is the 1st thing that comes up. I listened to it, liked it & downloaded it. The list is pretty much all dance-pop slash electronica type stuff. I really enjoy all the songs on this list a lot. Just good fun music, though my favorite, Time to Pretend, is kind of a bleak look at "rock star life".

Update: I had not idea that the above Robyn is the same Robyn of this:

Of course during the 90's I didn't know the name of any artist that wasn't doing Hip Hop. I vividly remember this song but I just wasn't actively following anyone but Hip Hop & R&B artists.

3 Days

2008-11-01T13:09:00.001-05:00

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

6 Days

2008-10-29T15:23:00.004-05:00

The Art of War:

7 Days

2008-10-28T14:11:00.002-05:00

No Reservations

2008-10-27T17:01:00.013-05:00

I'm watching a re-run of No Reservations. Tony is in NY this episode. It opens with him reciting a short scathing monologue about family & tourist friendly NY. The screen pans over shots of the sanitized Times Square. It's a great opening scene.

I'm don't pine for the old Times Square by any stretch of the imagination. I hated the old T.S. but I hate the new one as well. The old T.S. was nasty, sleazy, dirty & dangerous. The new one is still dirty but now only in the unkempt sense. It's been Disneyfied. It's not really scary anymore. It's just really, really fucking annoying. You have the tourists, who seem near ubiquitous now. Especially those from Europe. Ever since the dollar went into the toilet like a drunk WUSTL undergrad the fucking euros have been everywhere in NY. Personally I find them just as annoying as "fat behemoths from somewhere else" that Tony rails against at one point during this episode. One of the funny things about living in StL is how much I realy like the people here so far. Here on their turf they are great. Back in NY I wanted pretty much nothing to do with their ilk.

"There's a right way & a wrong way to handle balls, as you know". Me & Bourdain have pretty much have the same food eating sense. We love haughty, high-fallutin' food as well as the "lowly" stuff, both are authentically NY. Gray's Papaya, Polish food in Greenpoint, Egyptian & Greek food in Astoria, east Asian food in Flushing, south Asian food in Forest Hills, of course pizza from my hometown Brooklyn & of course that NY classic: Street Meat!

I really miss NY. Tony's hanging out with some sushi chefs having some sake right now, after getting some late night yakitori. This is one of the things that makes NY great. The ability to get great food basically any time of day. In case you don't know I've been in the restarant biz for almost 10 years now. A few of those years spent as a cook. I LOVE FOOD. I haven't written about food since I've been in StL. That should tell you a lot. Went out the other night, got drunk & got hungry as usually happens. There is pretty much no place to get good food after a night of good drinking in StL.

New episode starting. Tony opens with an ode to the people who's backs the restaurant business is built & thrives in America: Latinos & specifically Mexicans. Who's really cooking your food he asks. He pretty much shows how a lot of southwestern culture & food is basically Mexican food & culture. Yes that includes you Texas.

"En la botella wey".

You Can Vote However You Like

2008-10-27T01:33:00.009-05:00

Shout out to D. Myrie. Thanks for putting me on to this awesome vid.

The power of Hip Hop used for good. Again. Reason #475 why you tube is awesome. This kind of stuff really makes my day. I don't know anything about being a teacher but I remember who my favorite teachers were. I also remember who my best teachers were, because they were one & the same. I bet this guy is a good teacher. I think a lot of his students will remember him for a long time. Not because he turned something they learned into hip hop song but because for me active engagement & straightforward, simple teaching were the easiest & most fun ways to learn. I can't know for sure but this kind of thing strikes me as the fruits of that kind of teacher.

Obama/McCain Soundboard

2008-10-26T16:28:00.003-05:00

This is awesome.

Shout out to Hill Rat for putting me on.

Sunday NFL Live Blogging

2008-10-26T14:05:00.019-05:00

2:05 Why is Favre turning the ball over left & right the last couple of games? I know the guy has always been prone to these bad streaks but come on.

2:09 Meanwhile some guy named Tyler Thigpen is 22-30 with over 250 yards & 2 TD's for KC.
Arrrrgh.

2:10 I can't afford NFL Sunday ticket so I can't watch any Jets games & I'm forced to follow their games on ESPN gamecast. It's times like this I really hate St Louis. I have no desire to be out at bar watching the game either. I strongly anticipate the day when I can watch games on my large screen HDTV.

2:15 Jets are in the red zone. Better get a TD.

2:17 Nice. 1st & goal on the KC 2.

2:18 TD Jets.

2:18 Hobbs on the Pats almost takes a KR back for a TD but instead he got tackled by the kicker. Pathetic.

2:35 Favre throws another interception. This time from in the red zone. Oh, it also went all the way back for a touchdown. WTF.

2:48 This is killing me. Not only can I not watch the game, I have to not watch the game while they lose. Can't even yell at my teevee.

2:56 OKAY. Back in the redzone. Don't fuck it up Favre!!

3:01 TD. Favre to Coles.

3:03 OKAY. Time for some D. 45 secs to go KC with the ball on the 50.

3:07 4 and 1 for KC from the Jets 31. 21 secs left.

3:10 Game. Over.

3:15 Looks like we got the G-Men-Steelers game here in STL. Nice. Not a Giants fan but I'll root for them usually. My gf's sister-law is a huge Steelers fan so I like to needle her. Go Giants!!

What happened to the vauted Republican attack machine?

2008-10-24T19:45:00.003-05:00

Remember all the crap we heard during the primaries about how Obama wasn't vetted enough? The GOP attack machine was supposedly going to make mince meat out of him. What happened to that?

Yes a large part of this has to do with the fact Ayers & Wright came out during the primaries & not during the general. I think Ayers would have pretty much made no difference anyways but Wright depending on the timing would have done moderate to very serious damage to Barack's candidacy.
I don't think it would have knocked him out of the box but he would not have the commanding lead he holds currently in polls.

The thought process behind the GOP machine taking him down was not really based around specific attacks though. It was based on the thought that Obama was too naive, too untested to face down what was supposed to be relentless attacks. Obama of course has proved to be the coolest cat to come down the political road in a long, long time. Maybe ever in modern history. He taunted McCain into bringing up Ayers in the final debate & in the process through McCain off what was his best debate performance up to that point (that's not saying much but still).

This might just be a function of the awful campaign McCain has run. The best they have done so far are the celebrity ads, which I always thought was pretty pathetic. They were also mightly helped along by a pathetic tradmed. The best line of attack I think they had was the experience meme but of course they threw that out the window with the Palin selection.

In a sense Obama is the new teflon don. Especially as it pertains to character attacks. The right keeps trying to paint him as the loony lefty but all people have to do is turn on the teevee & see for themselves. There is nothing about Barack that will strike you as self-evidently radical. Obama & his family are the exact opposite, self-evidently normal & American. They are the stereotypical American family, living the "American dream". This is why a lot of McCain's attacks have backfired on him. A lot of folks want to like Obama & have found reasons to.

You can argue if not for the economy these attacks would be more effective but you would be mostly wrong. One of Obama's biggest gifts as a politician his abililty to swat aside attacks with ease, grace & a bit of mocking indignation. Ayers is the perfect example: "come on I was 8".

We also have the stench of desparation that pervades every piece of the McCain camp ever since his campaign "suspension". All your attacks become less & less effective the more desparate the public percieves you to be. So there are many things that contributed to the pathetic GOP attacks against Obama but the biggest problem was Obama himself. The man is unflappable, whip smart & knows how to make lemonade.

Once Upon A Time: McCain on Taxes

2008-10-24T18:57:00.000-05:00

Shout out to Yglesias for this one:

McCain is an unbelievable hypocrite. He decided months ago the only thing that matter was winning the presidency. There many reasons not to vote for John S. McCain but one of the biggest has got to be that he will be beholden to the right wing base if he wins. He has already mortgaged his biggest strength, was his maverick persona, in an attempt to win. Why should we believe he will buck the base if they put him in power? Even if you believe McCain was really once a man of principle there is no sight of that man anymore. He's run a dirty campaign, full of ugly smears & outright lies. He choice for veep is not only unqualified but from also a crazy Christian. A member of the agents of intolerance he once railed against.

This video gave me a feeling of sadness. I remember thinking back in 2000 things would be ok if McCain became president. The video above is the man I remember. A man not ideologically rigid, a man not willing to win at all costs and, most importantly to me, a man of common sense. I do not think I would have not have supported McCain against Obama even if he still seemed like that man in the video but I would have respect for him. I would not have the large fear him becoming president, as I do now.

"We're votin' for the nigger"

2008-10-24T18:33:00.002-05:00

So a canvasser goes to a woman's door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she's planning to vote for. She isn't sure, has to ask her husband who she's voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, "We're votin' for the n***er!"

Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: "We're voting for the n***er."

I'm a little late with this one but I wanted to touch on it a bit. The above anecdote was relayed to Sean Quinn of fivethirtyeight.com two separate times, once from straight from the horses mouth. To paraphrase Sean how is McCain going to win this election if people like this are not voting for him? If Obama is acceptable to bigots, you have to assume that he's become okay with a large swath of voters. A new WaPo/ABC News polls proves it, with 56 percent of voters saying that Obama has the kind of experience it takes to be an effective president. Now that's not a huge number but it's his high for the year & 4 points higher than Bush's numbers on the eve of the 2000 election. If you consider that it's highly unlikely that Obama will get 56% of the actual vote than that number comes off a lot better.

"They need an effective prayer strategy"

2008-10-23T15:55:00.003-05:00

Hillary Clinton campaign spokesman Phil Singer on what McCain could do to increase his chances of winning.

Kinda Sorta Conceding Colorado?

2008-10-22T22:56:00.003-05:00

According to this report from CNN's John King some of McCain's top advisers are pretty much writing off Colorado. I find this very surprising. Mostly because Kerry states + Iowa, New Mexico & Colorado = Obama victory. Obama leads by double digits in Iowa. Obama hasn't led by less than 5 points in any poll of New Mexico in over a month & is currently over 50%.

The McCain camp has pushed back on this assertion:

Two senior aides didn't deny that Colorado appeared challenging, but pointed to the two key indicators of any campaign's intent, time and money, to make the case that they were still holding out hope there.

"We didn't send Gov. Palin there for no reason," said one, a reference to the vice presidential nominee's three rallies across the state today.

That's not exactly a ringing endorsement of their chances in CO. Colorado's numbers over the last month are pretty much the same as NM's but I always thought it would be an easier win for McCain. Colorado Springs is a base of the religious right & it has a much smaller percentage of Hispanics than NM, which at 43% has the highest percentage in the country.

I have a pollster.com map of PA at the top of this post because apparently the McCain campaign seems to be betting on winning PA if they can't win CO. Unless numerous polls are demonstrably wrong this line thinking is delusional. In my opinion if McCain does not win CO he's fucking done sun. According to the same J. Martin post quoted above McCain's campaign thinks they might able to take MN & WI to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. MN & WI are polling much closer than PA but they are both polling better for Obama then CO or NM. I'll let you come to your own conclusion on that scenario.

McCain's camp is grasping at straws. Short of a big unforeseen event happening that overwhelmingly favors him, McCain will lose. Obama isn't even going to campaign in any Kerry states the rest of the way:

He and his aides appear so confident of his prospects that apart from a brief stop in Madison, Wis., next Thursday, Obama currently has no plans during the next 10 days to return to Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New Hampshire or any other state that voted for John Kerry in 2004.

That tells you all you need to know about what the Obama camp thinks about their chances in PA, MN & WI (The WI event was canceled so Barack could go visit his ailing grandmother). It's all offense from here on out. Now mind you Barack doesn't even need to win CO & NM to win the election. Kerry states + VA is another path to victory for Obama. I think most likely this will ebd up being a fairly large Obama win. It ain't over 'til it's over but with less than 10 days to go:

Update 10/27 : Obama is in PA today, so he hasn't stopped campaigning in all Kerry states.

Thank You McCain Supporters

2008-10-21T15:07:00.004-05:00

Finally we get some people on the GOP side standing up to this bullshit. While I believe that McCain & Palin are waging a subtler smear campaign around the same ignorance. It's great to see some of his supporters fighting back. It's mind boggling how complicit the American public & media have been in spreading these smears against Muslims. Colin Powell's very powerful statement on MTP on Sunday hopefully is the beginning of a turning tide. As Muslims have become a target for racism, xenophobia & religious intolerance too many people on both sides of the political divide have either stood idly by or actively particepated in it. Democrats hold no high on this issue. I've seen & heard too many stories with some Dems saying Obama is a Muslim like he was part of evil race from outer space. We are all better than this. Let's remember what this country stands for.

Obama Rally Saint Louis, MO

2008-10-21T13:25:00.009-05:00

1 of 100,000. I didn't get nearly as close as I'd hoped so the pictures of the speakers aren't great but that's what happens when 100,000 people show up. The line stretched for blocks. It was an amazingly beautiful day to be at a rally:

Thank You Campbell Brown

2008-10-14T19:22:00.006-05:00

via Jason Linkins:

Obama made this point a few months ago. It was a little late but needed to be said nonetheless. Finally someone in the media calls out this bigoted crap for what it is. Thank you Campbell Brown.

Joe Biden Is Ill On The MIC!

2008-10-14T01:23:00.009-05:00

Wow. Biden played out Palin like Biggie did Kwame. An even clearer victory for Joey B than at the veep debate. Sarah, you're fucking done sun!

Shout out to T-NC for putting me on to the illdoctrine.com video below that led me to this one.

This is just plain funny as hell.

"Mad Men Wanna Be Me Like I'm Don Fucking Draper"

2008-10-13T00:00:00.003-05:00

Because it's midnight:

For me, this is why You Tube exists. This kind of shit brings me so much joy I can't describe it. I owe a large debt to The Human Resource over @ Start Snitching for putting me on to this. I wanna thank Modern Jackass Magasin for getting together with the Southern Mothers to make this video.

BTW Olafur Eliasson is a Danish artist. He did this:

And this:

He was also the break dancing champion of Scandinavia

Yes I'm Jacking This From Coates

2008-10-12T16:59:00.010-05:00

Because it's Sunday:

Because it's my day off:

Shout out to blackink & T-NC

Update:
This is also a psuedo response to T-NC's post about this video. I left a comment in that post about what I my experience has been with what hip hop under 25 are listening to.

ACORN

2008-10-09T19:37:00.010-05:00

I believe that ACORN does some great work. So I of course have been concerned by the accusations of voter registration fraud being levied at the organization. I have quoted below parts of an internal memo from ACORN's directors, Bertha Lewis and Steve Kest, to political allies. I have not quoted the memo in full you can read the full memo in Ambinder's post which is where I originally read it myself. Now some of the claims made by ACORN's directors can not be easily fact checked but I think most of them can be.

Why does the right have such a problem with ACORN? Obviously they seem to have some points on the registration stuff as Ambinder points out. I think though it's mostly because the people the register are, demographically, largely Democratic voters. From the memo, all emphasis mine:

An estimated 60-70 percent of our applicants are people of color.

At least HALF of all are registrations are from young people between 18-29.

Fact: ACORN has implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field, but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic.

Fact: ACORN flags incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in, but these warnings are often ignored by election officials. Often these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards.

Fact: Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card, so there is NO incentive for them to falsify cards. ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the relatively rare cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement.

Fact: No charges have ever been brought against ACORN itself. Convictions against individual former ACORN workers have been accomplished with our full cooperation, using the evidence obtained through our quality control and verification processes.

Fact: Voter fraud by individuals is extremely rare, and incredibly difficult. There has never been a single proven case of anyone, anywhere, casting an illegal vote as a result of a phony voter registration. Even if someone wanted to influence the election this way, it would not work.

Fact: Most election officials have recognized ACORN's good work and praised our quality control systems. Even in the cities where election officials have complained about ACORN, the applications in question represent less than 1% of the thousands and thousands of registrations ACORN has collected.

Fact: Our accusers not only fail to provide any evidence, they fail to suggest a motive: there is virtually no chance anyone would be able to vote fraudulently, so there is no reason to deliberately submit phony registrations. ACORN is committed to ensuring that the greatest possible numbers of people are registered and allowed to vote, so there is also NO incentive to "disrupt the system" with phony cards.

These are the facts, and the truth is that a relatively small group of political operatives are trying to orchestrate hysteria about "voter fraud" and manufacture public outrage that they can use to further suppress the votes of millions of low-income and minority Americans.

Republicans have been yelling about voter fraud for years now. Yet I think there is maybe one instance of anyone ever being convicted of trying to vote illegally in the last 30 years. There is a very big difference between voter registration fraud & actual voter fraud. No one is going to the polls claiming to be Daffy Duck. Ben Smith on the subject, emphasis his:

The key distinction here is between voter fraud and voter registration fraud, one of which is truly dangerous, the other a petty crime.
The former would be, say, voting the cemeteries or stuffing the ballot boxes. This has happened occasionally in American history, though I can think of recent instances only in rare local races. Practically speaking, this can most easily be done by whoever is actually administering the election, which is why partisan observers carefully oversee the vote-counting process.

The latter is putting the names of fake voters on the rolls, something that happens primarily when organizations, like Acorn, pay contractors for new voter registrations. That can be a crime, and it messes up the voter files, but there's virtually no evidence these imaginary people then vote in November. The current stories about Acorn don't even allege a plan to affect the November vote.

big hat tip to Marc Ambinder

Hannity Gets Owned

2008-10-09T01:19:00.008-05:00

hat tip to Glenn Greenwald

Greenwald's post is a must read. I don't have much to add beyond what he said.

I hate Hannity with the fire of a thousand suns. This guy is maybe the most despicable person in media today. To paraphrase Howard Stern, Hannity is the king of right-wing hack media.

Hannity's "logic" is utterly ridiculous. He is allowed to center his show around a virulent anti-semite because he is a "journalist" but Obama can't sit on a board with Ayers. Come on. First of all no one thinks Hannity is a journalist. Secondly Hannity makes it sound as if Martin's appearance on his show was adversarial in nature when it was not. Martin was on his show to promote smears Hannity already believed. I'm glad Gibbs asked him if he was an anti-semite. It's that kind of retort that exposes this guilt by association non-sense.

Ayers & Obama UPDATE!

2008-10-08T14:42:00.003-05:00

Mr. Ayers and Ms. Dohrn hosted the gathering, in their town house three blocks from Mr. Obama’s home, at which State Senator Alice J. Palmer, who planned to run for Congress, introduced Mr. Obama to a few Democratic friends as her chosen successor. That was one of several such neighborhood events as Mr. Obama prepared to run, said A. J. Wolf, the 84-year-old emeritus rabbi of KAM Isaiah Israel Synagogue, across the street from Mr. Obama’s current house.

“If you ask my wife, we had the first coffee for Barack,” Rabbi Wolf said.

This gathering & the fact Barack Obama was on one board with Mr. Ayers is the basis of attacks against Sen. Obama accusing him of "palling around" with a terrorist. As the above paragraph from this NY Times article shows you could make an argument that Obama's political career was launched in the home of Mr. Ayers but it was not Ayers' or his wife's doing. Alice Palmer just happened to choose that night to introduce Sen. Obama as her chosen successor. It was not a fundraiser for Obama. From an NPR article on the subject (all emphasis in quotes mine) :

To help Obama in the Democratic primary race to succeed her, Palmer organized a few informal meetings to introduce Obama to her supporters in the fall of 1995, including the gathering at Ayers' house. It was not a fundraiser, as some reports have stated. And it was not the meeting that launched Obama's political career, as other Obama critics have alleged.

Let's move on to the the two boards they were both on. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge & the Woods Fund. Who was Walter Annenberg? From the above NPR article:

Walter Annenberg, a lifelong Republican and former ambassador who was appointed by Presidents Nixon and Reagan, funded an ambitious program to reform urban education in many cities in the mid 1990s.

How did Mr. Obama come to be the chairman of the board? The Times continues:

Mr. Ayers played no role in Mr. Obama’s appointment. Instead, it was suggested by Deborah Leff, then president of the Joyce Foundation, a Chicago-based group whose board Mr. Obama, a young lawyer, had joined the previous year. At a lunch with two other foundation heads, Patricia A. Graham of the Spencer Foundation and Adele Simmons of the MacArthur Foundation, Ms. Leff suggested that Mr. Obama would make a good board chairman, she said in an interview. Mr. Ayers was not present and had not suggested Mr. Obama, she said.

Ms. Graham said she invited Mr. Obama to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Chicago and was impressed.

“At the end of the dinner I said, ‘I really want you to be chairman.’ He said, ‘I’ll do it if you’ll be vice chairman,’ ” Ms. Graham recalled, and she agreed.

Contrary to popular belief Mr. Ayers did not serve on the CAC board . Ayers & Obama did according to the CAC records attend at least six meetings together but the board met at least 16 times. It is also a myth that Obama steered CAC grant money to Ayers' projects, as with most myths there is of course is a huge problem with it. Ayers, Anne Hallett & Warren Chapman, wrote the grant proposal that won Chicago the funding from the Annenberg Foundation. Ayers didn't need Obama to steer money to anything, Ayers was already an integral figure way before Obama was brought on. The NPR article continues:

..those knowledgeable of the school reform group say it is likely there were other informal sessions of the group that they both attended. But no one on the board or on the Annenberg Challenge staff remembers Obama being any closer to Ayers than to any other member of the board. The Annenberg board also included several civic, business and education leaders, many of them Republicans.

The NY Times continues:

But the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers

The Times on the Woods Fund:

In addition, from 2000 to 2002, the two men also overlapped on the seven-member board of the Woods Fund, a Chicago charity that had supported Mr. Obama’s first work as a community organizer in the 1980s. Officials there said the board met about a dozen times during those three years but declined to make public the minutes, saying they wanted members to be candid in assessing people and organizations applying for grants.

A board member at the time, R. Eden Martin, a corporate lawyer and president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, described both men as conscientious in examining proposed community projects but could recall nothing remarkable about their dealings with each other. “You had people who were liberal and some who were pretty conservative, but we usually reached a consensus,” Mr. Martin said of the panel.

Obama joined this organization in 1993. Ayers didn't come on until 7 years later. The board met 12 times mostly to approve grants. That. Is. It.

I want to focus a little on Mr. Ayers. I will not defend his terrorist actions or the actions of the group he founded. My point though is that there is more to this man than his actions of many years ago. He lives in Obama's neighborhood & attended board meetings that Obama was at about 2 dozen times. Now I can't tell you for sure Obama didn't know Ayers background but you can argue that there is no reason for him that he really would be aware of it. Ayers was a widely respected educator in Chicago when Obama met him. I don't know about you but I don't do background checks on my colleagues & even calling them colleagues is a bit of stretch. NPR has more:

Regardless of his background, it was never a problem for anyone — including Republicans and Chicago's most powerful business leaders — to work with Ayers on Chicago's public schools. In fact, Ayers is widely respected in the field of urban education.

"It was never a concern by any of us in the Chicago school reform movement that he had led a fugitive life years earlier," said former Illinois state Republican Rep. Diana Nelson, who worked with both Obama and Ayers over the years. "It's ridiculous. There is no reason at all to smear Barack Obama with this association. It's nonsensical, and it just makes me crazy. It's so silly."

Ayers is a man widely accepted in Chicago society. Now you can argue what that says about Chicago, especially as it pertains to Chi town's history of corrupt politics but you would be missing the point entirely. Ayers was no radical when Barack Obama met him. There was no reason for Obama not to serve on a board with the man. This wasn't some radical underground group, it was a public education reform fund that got it's money from a Nixon & Reagan appointee.

Since the Obama-Ayers connection is all about trying to Barack seem like some crazy leftist I leave with one final quote from the NY Times:

“I saw no evidence of a radical streak, either overt or covert, when we were together at Harvard Law School,” said Bradford A. Berenson, who worked on the Harvard Law Review with Mr. Obama and who served as associate White House counsel under President Bush. Mr. Berenson, who is backing Mr. McCain, described his fellow student as “a pragmatic liberal” whose moderation frustrated others at the law review whose views were much farther to the left.

UPDATE:
Since the McCain camp want to play the associations game, Seth Colter Walls over @ HuffPo has a story on a suporter of McCain. The name will sound very familiar.

My Fellow Prisoners?

2008-10-08T14:18:00.004-05:00

This makes me wonder what is going on in that guy's head. This kind of stuff makes me very nervous.

hat tip to jedreport

It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over But...

2008-10-07T01:40:00.012-05:00

A month out & things are looking very, very good.
It's pretty much all GOTV efforts now. If you've been following fivethirtyeight.com's running coverage of various state GOTV ops by the McCain & Obama camps you know it's not looking good for Sen. McCain:

Let’s be clear. We've observed no comparison between these ground campaigns. To begin with, there’s a 4-1 ratio of offices in most states. We walk into McCain offices to find them closed, empty, one person, two people, sometimes three people making calls. Many times one person is calling while the other small clutch of volunteers are chatting amongst themselves. In one state, McCain’s state field director sat in one of these offices and, sotto voce, complained to us that only one man was making calls while the others were talking to each other about how much they didn't like Obama, which was true. But the field director made no effort to change this. This was the state field director.

Ouch. The whole post is a must read for people trying to get a handle on the campaigns respective ground games.

End Game

2008-10-05T19:31:00.004-05:00

Starting today, the election has shifted to a surprisingly familiar form of political discourse. With unemployment at record highs, stock market numbers plummeting, and the passage of a financial "bailout" that everyone is counting on, but no one is sure of, the McCain campaign has decided to shift from the economy to the nuclear warfare. By nuclear, I mean the politics of personal destruction. The McCain campaign has decided to set issues aside and focus on Senator Obama's "character and his associates". Suddenly, after weeks and months on trying to pin Obama as celebrity, inexperienced, most liberal senator, and elitist, the McCain campaign will finish these last 30 days with the narrative that Obama is a dangerous and untrustworthy radical. We will be told that Obama's "associations" with William Ayers, Tony Rezco, and Reverend Wright disqualifies him from getting our votes on Nov. 4th. Now, I can dispel each and everyone of these allegations --none of which are new--however, I will refer you to a great website that will dismiss all of these lies:http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/obama.asp

Instead, I want to talk about John McCain. Senator McCain, a man that I have great respect for, am man who served his country proudly, spending 51/2 years in North Vietnamese concentration camp. A man that to this day, still suffers through the physical ailments of his captivity. A man who came to Washington to serve 3 decades of honorable service in the Senate. I am so disheartened, because I expected more from him. In 2000, during the Republican primary battles in South Carolina, republican operatives, spread the false and malicious rumor that McCain fathered a black child out of wedlock. That child is his adoptive daughter that Cindy McCain fell in love with on one of her humanitarian trips to Bangladesh. McCain ended up losing the primary to George Bush. How much of an effect did these allegations actually have in the primary race? Who Knows? What I do know is that these lies were spread to damage the McCain brand. McCain decried these type of attacks. In 2004 when the Swift Boat veterans for truth manipulated John Kerry's war record for George Bush's political gains, John McCain decried those attacks.

Eight years later, in the middle of a heated battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, sudden revelations of an outrageous and inflammatory sermon by Barack's pastor came to light. Reverend Wright was seen cursing America behind the pulpit. Rumors spread that Barack was in the church when Wright gave the sermon. Republicans activist such as Sean Hannity (Fox News) tried to use this issue as a wedge to scare White voters away from Barack. In an interview with Hannity, Jack Kemp, a friend and senior advisor of John McCain, told Hannity that He--meaning McCain--wanted these elections to be about the issues. What has changed?

Thirty days from the election, John McCain is behind by an average of 8 points in the all the polls. McCain is starting to fall behind in all of the battle ground states, and states that were once safely red (Virginia, North Carolina, Nevada, Florida, Colorado) are trending blue. During the first debate, McCain was projected to destroy Obama. Obama came out on top. Sarah Palin, even with her low expectation, managed to lose her Vice Presidential debate to Joe Biden. The train-wreck that is our economy, is being attributed to the past 8 years of republican executive rule. McCain's pet issue, eliminating earmarks, has not won him many new votes. All McCain has left is to attack Obama's credibility and character.

The question is will this work? Historically, negative campaigns work for the candidate who is already leading. Think Bush in 88 with the Willie Horton add, or Bush in 2004 with the Swifter Boaters. McCain is not currently leading, and these type of attacks might come across as cynical to the public who are already tiresome of the huber partisan rhetoric of the past 16 years. But the bigger question for The Honorable Senator from Arizona is: do you want it to work? A man who claims to take the word honor very seriously. A man who says that he would rather lose and election than lose a war. I ask you Senator McCain, are you willing to win an election if it means you would lose your honor?

Who's Fault Is It?

2008-10-02T01:32:00.009-05:00

According to this Thomas Frank commentary we know who's fault it isn't. Frank speaks with Bill Black, a professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City & according to Frank: "an authority on the Savings and Loan debacle of the 1980s." Mr. Black offers these thoughts:

...four entities that under conservative economic theory should have exercised effective market discipline -- the appraisers, the originators of the mortgages, the rating agencies, and the investment banking firms that packaged the subprime mortgage-backed securities." Instead of "disciplining" the markets, these private actors "served as the four horsemen of the financial apocalypse, aiding the accounting fraud and inflating the housing bubble." It is they, Mr. Black says, who "turned a crisis into a catastrophe." [...]
There is no way to measure the number of people who took out mortgages they knew they couldn't afford, of course, but for what it's worth, a 2007 report by the Mortgage Bankers Association reports that the FBI estimates "80 percent of all reported fraud losses arise from fraud for profit schemes that involve industry insiders." That means the lenders, not the borrowers.

Economist Austan Goolsbee writes:

And do not forget that the vast majority of even subprime borrowers have been making their payments. Indeed, fewer than 15 percent of borrowers in this most risky group have even been delinquent on a payment, much less defaulted.
When contemplating ways to prevent excessive mortgages for the 13 percent of subprime borrowers whose loans go sour, regulators must be careful that they do not wreck the ability of the other 87 percent to obtain mortgages.

Chris Rock on Larry King Live

2008-09-29T14:28:00.004-05:00

I love the fact that Rock calls out King on asking him to respond to the craziest quote from a black politician he can find. This is the kind of bullshit I'm talking about. It's like oh we got a black guy on lets ask him a question about some crazy shit another black person said.

"I don't believe Bin Laden really existed... A seven foot diabetic muslim"

LMFAO

Calling A Black Man A "Thug"

2008-09-25T15:56:00.010-05:00

Sound racist to you? It does to me. Not likely that you would hear someone say that about a white man. It's the same as people asking Palin if she can take care of her children while being vp. Most likely you wouldn't ask that of a man.

Yet today I was told I was "playing the race card" & "being a victim" by calling that nonsense out. Let's look at the definition of thug: 'A person, often a criminal, who treats others violently and roughly, especially for hire." Sound like a stereotype of any particular racial group?

You can argue that I shouldn't have even bothered to respond. Ypu can argue that someone calling Barack Obama a thug is so patently ridiculous on it's face as to not warrant a rebuttal. The problem is we have let this stuff slide too many times. I'm not saying fuck anybody up for it but we need to call it out, we need to let it be known it's not ok. Minorities in this country have to deal with this subtle racist bullshit everyday. Why should we put up with it? We have to stand there & be uncomfortable when you watch some white guy shake everyone's hand normally then they get to you & they have to give you a pound or a high five. Or when they come up to you & say "yo what up dawg" I mean seriously. Stop this shit. You may not get why it's offensive but I'm telling you it is. Cut. It. Out.

OK. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE!! SE. RI. OUS. LY. A QUOTE FROM A TREASURY SPOKESWOMAN (UPDATED)

2008-09-25T01:35:00.012-05:00

From this Forbes.com article.

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!

This has got to be a bad dream. I mean for the love of God. These people are unbelievable.

This is bullshit. NO. FUCKING. DEAL.

UPDATE:

Bailout Questions from Marc Ambinder; emphasis mine:

So where did the $700 billion number come from?

We already know the answer to that.

Sec. Paulson told congress yesterday that the plan was to spend roughly 50 billion a month,

Sen. Schumer asked: why not $150 billion then, and let the next administration do a re-evaluation in January? No real answer.

So, why $700 billion? Where is it all going? And why do they need it all at once? And how do they know how much it'll cost without knowing what criteria they're going to use to buy firms?

And what's to prevent Paulson from engineering the bailout, and then, once he leaves office, taking the helm of one of these companies as it transitions back to the private sector?

And did the administration really have a bailout proposal stashed away for weeks without informing Congress?

NO. FUCKING. DEAL. (not 700 billion at least)