Month: August 2015

In arking the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Paul Krugman noted that Katrina was the moment that the scales fell off the eyes of Americans to reveal who George W. Bush actually was: "Katrina was special in political terms because it revealed such a huge gap between image and reality. Ever since 9/11, former President George W. Bush had been posing as a strong, effective leader keeping America safe. He wasn't...It took a domestic disaster, which made his administration's cronyism and incompetence obvious to anyone with a TV set, to burst his bubble." He thinks we are witnessing a similar moment with Jeb Bush.

"Consider Jeb Bush, once hailed on the right as "the best governor in America," when in fact all he did was have the good luck to hold office during a huge housing bubble. Many people now seem baffled by Mr. Bush's inability to come up with coherent policy proposals, or any good rationale for his campaign. What happened to Jeb the smart, effective leader? He never existed."

I think Senator Chris Coons desires more war and thus he is a no on the Iran Deal. My evidence for this is that he is doing what fellow Senator Bob Menendez did: give a highly touted speech at a University to announce your decision. If he was a yes, he would just announce it in an interview or a press release like Tom Carper did, and like 30 other of his fellow Democratic Senators. I hope I am wrong, and I will publicly say I was wrong here tomorrow if Coons surprises me, and makes a big show of voting yes. But, that is not the feel I am getting. So if you feel like attending a speech to boo and heckle the Senator nonstop throughout his speech once he announces his no vote, here are the details.

WHAT: United States Senator Chris Coons announces position on nuclear deal with Iran. WHEN: Tuesday, September 1 at 2 p.m. WHERE: University of Delaware, Institute for Global Studies, 44 Kent Way, Newark, DE 19716 CONTACT: Sean Coit (Coons) at sean_coit@coons.senate.gov or 202-224-0351 or 202-794-0670 LIVESTREAM: http://www.udel.edu/udlive PARKING: Validation will be provided for the nearby Center for the Arts parking garage

The only thing that gives me pause in thinking that Coons will be a no is the fact that it is very clear to all concerned that Iran Deal will obtain the support of 34 Democratic Senators it needs to sustain the President's veto. Indeed, the only real suspenseful question is whether the Democrats can obtain the 41 votes they need to filibuster the rejection from ever getting to the President's desk. The warmongering campaign that Iran Deal opponents launched failed, and everyone knows it....

...for something. Let's face it. These old fuckers think that they are the only people who can get anything done. People like Biden look around and they see a bunch of sad sack losers with their eyes locked on the little TV screens they carry around all the time. Joe is running. Mark my words.

He lightly patted her ass. She looked so good tonight. She had on her Liz Claiborne dress. White down the back, covering the zipper. Cut just above the knees. Her simple black heels. Dark stockings that he’s pretty sure have lace at the top. He’ll wait to find out. The dress had no sleeves. Showing off her still stunning arms at 38. She still finds time to work out. It’s her security blanket. Her arms are freckled yes, the doctor said it’s nothing to worry about. Come back every six months. Her hair is still that auburn color. She doesn’t die it. Her eyes, bright, and yes of course blue. They shine when she is happy. Tonight she is happy. Simple and beautiful is his wife. My god how he loves her. “Are you ready?” he asks. Grabbing the keys off the hook in the kitchen. He’ll take the Mercedes, and leave the SUV for the baby sitter in case of emergency. Through the mudroom he steps, dog food pieces here and there, some slobber from the little guy. Who get’s a puppy with an infant? He opens the door to the garage. Smacks the button, the bulb flickers. I should probably change that he thinks to himself as he dances around to the right side of the garage. Happy. He cautiously opens the door, spots yet another ding. He enjoys driving her though. Dings and all. He owns it. Door ajar now, he dumps himself into the seat, starts her up. The 6 cylinder is still a thing of beauty. A soft rumble. He swipes at the seat warmers; he knows she doesn’t like her tushy cold. She gets in after a minute of him waiting, listening to the recent plight of his team. “Torn ACL, out for the season.” He doesn’t care, tonight is going to be fun.

Paul Krugman:

...Go back to the politics of 2009, when the new Obama administration was trying to cope with the most terrifying crisis since the 1930s. The outgoing Bush administration had already engineered a bank bailout, but the Obama team reinforced this effort with a temporary program of deficit spending, while the Federal Reserve sought to bolster the economy by buying lots of assets. And Republicans, across the board, predicted disaster. Deficit spending, they insisted, would cause soaring interest rates and bankruptcy; the Fed's efforts would "debase the dollar" and produce runaway inflation. None of it happened. Interest rates stayed very low, as did inflation. But the G.O.P. never acknowledged, after six full years of being wrong about everything, that the bad things it predicted failed to take place, or showed any willingness to rethink the doctrines that led to those bad predictions. Instead, the party's leading figures kept talking, year after year, as if the disasters they had predicted were actually happening. ...How would the men and women who would be president respond if crisis struck on their watch? And the answer, on the Republican side at least, seems to be: with bluster and China-bashing. Nowhere is there a hint that any of the G.O.P. candidates understand the problem, or the steps that might be needed if the world economy hits another pothole.

What are our state lawmakers doing about criminal enterprises chartered, incorporated, and employing tens of thousands of citizens in our state? As well as ripping those same people off? Seriously? Shouldn't they as LAWmakers be doing something? Don't they have a duty? Shouldn't they be focused on racketeering? Perhaps an employer engaged and convicted of energy market rigging: 5 banks guilty of rate-rigging, pay more than $5B?

Five major banks Wednesday agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay more than $5.5 billion in collective penalties to settle charges their traders routinely manipulated the world's foreign-exchange market for their own profit. The Department of Justice, the Federal Reserve and other U.S. and European authorities and regulators said corporate units of Citicorp(C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), London-based Barclays(BCS) and Royal Bank of Scotland(RBS) acknowledged their traders rigged foreign exchange prices of U.S. dollars and euros from Dec. 2007 to Jan. 2013.