Busting bagpipers in NYC

Posted on March 19, 2012 by oddmanout215

Call the music police!

When I’m assaulted in a public place by the sound of bad music, I shout “Somebody call the music police!” But I’m joking at such times. I don’t really expect anyone to dial 911 when Madonna is blaring from the speakers of a passing car, or when Billy Joel is soiling the sound system at my local CVS. Cops have better things to do, right?

Not true, it seems, on St. Patrick’s Day at Zuccotti Park in Manhattan, where hundreds of protesters staged a rally to mark the six-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. From Firedoglake:

The mood in the park was light and celebratory when the sounds of bagpipes were heard, approaching from the west. Hundreds in the park moved toward the noise, only to witness NYPD officers preventing the pipers from entering the park, arresting at least one. Some on the scene said that the pipers were not affiliated with OWS; they had come to NYC from Brittany to participate in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, and later decided to play for occupiers.

According to The New York Observer, police became more aggressive soon after confronting the pipers. They entered the park en masse and began clearing it.

Was it the maddening sound of the pipes that set them off? The fact that the pipers were French? We know only that scores of nonviolent protesters were arrested and, in some cases, beaten up. And that this was Michael Bloomberg’s way of reminding the world that his Praetorian Guard is ready to resume kicking ass and ignoring Constitutional rights, whenever they can get away with it, wherever OWS gathers.

Posted in economic collapse, Goldman Sachs, Great Recession, Occupy Wall Street, Wall Street | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

In D.C., ‘fat cat’ is a term of endearment

Posted on March 18, 2012 by oddmanout215

The worst social sickness of our time, the one that might eventually bring down this country, is the growing divide between rich and poor. But you rarely see honest stories about this sickness in our mainstream media, because to acknowledge its scope is to admit the two-party system in its current form is a fraud, existing merely to ensure the persistence of the status quo.

Fact: Every time the economy expands, the super-rich grow richer and the non-rich slip a few more rungs down the ladder. This has been true for decades, regardless of whether the president is a Republican or a Democrat.

From David Cay Johnston:

…While markets are a factor, I think the evidence makes clear that government policy is at the core of the differing fortunes of the vast majority and the super-rich.

Inaugural addresses of Franklin Roosevelt and Barack Obama bring this into sharp focus. Both spoke of the need for restoring confidence, while denouncing greed and irresponsible conduct. Roosevelt in 1933 specified “callous and selfish wrongdoing” by bankers abusing a “sacred trust.” Obama vaguely referred to the “consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some.”

Roosevelt said that “our greatest primary task is to put people to work.” Obama, again less specific, spoke of government that “helps families find jobs at a decent wage.”

Roosevelt brought in trustbusters, reformers and even an expert at Wall Street manipulations to implement policies benefiting the vast majority…

By contrast, while Obama called Wall Street executives “fat cats,” he surrounded himself with financial insiders with the exception of Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard bankruptcy expert now seeking election to the U.S. Senate. His administration has failed to prosecute the central figures in the frauds that created our economic distress…

Johnston mentions the changes that could make government healthy — increased spending on education and research, creation of jobs to rebuild our decaying infrastructure, an end to bailouts of “too big to fail” institutions, and tax reforms “to discourage capital withdrawals and offshoring and, instead, encourage reinvestment of profits at home.” Unfortunately, there currently are very few politicians with the integrity and resources to fight for these changes.

Footnote: To complain about the corrupt Dems, as I’ve done before, is not to say that we should sit out the 2012 elections. The GOP is a horror show of woman haters, climate-change deniers, racists, “free market” extremists, and worshipers of billionaires. Decent people have to vote against it. Too bad we can’t vote for someone — i.e., someone brave enough to fight for an overhaul of the whole rotten system.

Posted in campaign finance reform, climate change, Congress, economic collapse, globalization, Great Recession, mainstream media, Obama, Occupy Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

‘Will Ye Go Lassie Go’

Posted on March 17, 2012 by oddmanout215

It’s a good day to listen to “Will Ye Go Lassie Go” by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. It was also recorded by Joan Baez, and by the Byrds, as “Wild Mountain Thyme,” and has been sung for hundreds of years. It’s not really a sad song, not unless you’re already in a sad frame of mind… OK, it’s a sad song.

Who said Ireland is “a land of happy wars and sad love songs?” It was Richard Sheridan, writer of The School for Scandal and other famously convoluted Restoration plays.

Footnote: How ironic is it that the Irish fought to throw English armies out of Ireland for hundreds of years and then, after all was finally going well, allowed themselves to be enslaved by a bunch of bankers?

Posted in arts, history, pop music | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

From the Gaelic for ‘water of life’

Posted on March 17, 2012 by oddmanout215

Leave it to the Irish to write a song in which the miracle of resurrection is achieved through spilled whiskey (from the Gaelic for “water of life”). This version of “Finnegan’s Wake,” by my deceased mother’s favorite band, brings back memories of the many resurrections I witnessed as a child.

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Bank on BofA ripping you off

Posted on March 17, 2012 by oddmanout215

Matt Taibbi starts his new Rolling Stone article with a Shock and Awe-style barrage of over-the-top analogies:

At least Bank of America got its name right. The ultimate Too Big to Fail bank really is America, a hypergluttonous ward of the state whose limitless fraud and criminal conspiracies we’ll all be paying for until the end of time… Take your eyes off them for 10 seconds and guaranteed, they’ll be into some shit again: This bank is like the world’s worst-behaved teenager, taking your car and running over kittens and fire hydrants on the way to Vegas for the weekend, maxing out your credit cards in the three days you spend at your aunt’s funeral. They’re out of control, yet they’ll never do time or go out of business, because the government remains creepily committed to their survival, like overindulgent parents who refuse to believe their 40-year-old live-at-home son could possibly be responsible for those dead hookers in the backyard…

Then Tiabbi dissects BofA’s large-scale scams and puts to rest the rumor that the Obama administration ever intended to make the bank pay back most of the money it stole. He takes a moment to strafe Hugh McColl, the driving force behind BofA’s expansion, a swaggering sack of shit who rewarded successful underlings with crystal hand grenades. He drops a cluster bomb on what’s left of BofA’s credibility:

In sum, Bank of America torched dozens of institutional investors with billions in worthless loans, repeatedly refused to abide by contractual obligations to buy them back, evaded hundreds of millions in local fees and taxes, pushed tens of thousands of people into foreclosure using phony documents, ignored multiple court orders to stop its illegal robo-signing, and exploited President Obama’s signature mortgage-relief program. The bank fixed the bids on bonds for schools and cities and utilities all over America, and even conspired to try to game the game itself – by fixing global interest rates!

All this before he even gets to TARP. Taibbi’s piece is both hilarious and infuriating, an indictment of a “too-big-too-fail” bank and the scoundrels in government who enable its criminality. Read the whole thing, but only if you have a strong stomach.

Footnote: Sorry about the excessive combat jargon. I’d been reading about the battle of Stalingrad. The Germans had just eaten the last of their horses.

Posted in economic collapse, Great Recession, mainstream media, Occupy Wall Street, The New Depression | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Vampire squid strikes back

Posted on March 15, 2012 by oddmanout215

Yes, it was fun to read that column by Goldman Sachs apostate Greg Smith, even though most of what he had to say about his former employer had already been reported in one form or another by Matt Taibbi, who years ago famously described Goldman as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”

And I’m not especially impressed by Smith’s self-serving act of contrition — although he gets points for revealing that some of his colleagues in the sales and trading department at Goldman referred to their easily manipulated clients as “muppets” — or by the predictable counterattack against him by Goldman and its allies at places such as The Wall Street Journal.

From ThinkProgress:

…Goldman has been quick to push back on Smith’s claims, portraying him as just a disgruntled employee. Some employees told Fox Business’ Charlie Gasparino that Smith doesn’t know what he’s talking about because he “never made more than $750,000 a year.”

And of course, the financial press has begun reporting anonymous attacks on Smith, quoting “people familiar with the matter” saying that Smith was angry with the size of his bonus and his lack of promotion…”

There you are. You can tell the guy is a loser because he never made more than $750,000 a year and because he only got a “small bonus.” I wonder what “small” means in that racket?

Update: Goldman continues to respond to Smith’s confessional op-ed with its usual arrogance, although its shares dropped 3.4 percent in New York trading on Wednesday.

Posted in economic collapse, Goldman Sachs, Great Recession, mainstream media, New York Times, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

PA voter ID battle not over

Posted on March 15, 2012 by oddmanout215

Pennsylvania legislators on Wednesday pushed through a bill requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls. Gov. Tom Corbett quickly signed the bill into law, and said it sets a “simple and clear standard to protect the integrity of our elections.”

Yes, integrity. Everybody knows this sneaky corporate stooge, this governor who is despised in all parts of the state not dominated by crackers, signed the bill to block as many Democrats as possible from voting, and that the bill was part of a voter suppression campaign fueled by rich Republicans and aimed at Republican-governed states.

On the bright side, passage of the bill was only Round One in the battle over voter rights in PA. From Reuters:

Pennsylvania joined several Republican-governed states, including Texas, Kansas and Wisconsin, that have adopted stricter voter identification laws, arguing they were needed to prevent ballot box fraud. Supporters say the laws are no different from needing identification to board an airplane or obtain a library card.

But some civil rights groups say such laws discriminate against the poor who may not be able to pay fees for copies of legal documents such as birth certificates, and that they could suppress minority votes. Democrats say voter identification measures are aimed at squeezing out university students and senior citizens who tend to vote for Democrats…

Other states have encountered setbacks trying to impose voter identification requirements. A judge issued an injunction earlier this week against Wisconsin’s law, and the U.S. Justice Department blocked a new voter identification law in Texas.

The Justice Department, which also blocked a voter identification law in South Carolina from taking effect, said the Texas law could harm Hispanic voters who lack identification documents.

“Our legal team is currently mapping a strategy for overturning this voter suppression bill,” ACLU of Pennsylvania Executive Director Reggie Shuford said in a statement…

Footnote: It’s interesting that the proudly penny-pinching Corbett eagerly backed a scheme that would cost the state so much money:

The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center estimated the legislation would cost $11 million. In order to withstand legal challenges, the state must provide photo IDs for free, notify and educate voters about the new voting restrictions, hire more election staff, and purchase additional photo ID equipment.

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CNN reports government conspiracy!

Posted on March 14, 2012 by oddmanout215

Did you hear about this thing called the military-industrial complex, a deep-seated alliance between the U.S. government and American corporations that makes sure we are almost always involved in wars, declared or undeclared? Dwight Eisenhower identified it in 1961, and this week CNN caught on. From Raw Story:

CNN commentator Jack Cafferty railed against the United States’ ongoing involvement in Afghanistan following the alleged murder of 16 Afghan civilians by a rogue U.S. soldier.

“How much is enough?” he said Tuesday. “The United States has been in Afghanistan for more than ten years. And President Obama insists we will remain in Afghanistan until the end of 2014. Why? What will be accomplished by staying in that godforsaken hellhole for another 20 months that hasn’t been accomplished in 10 and a half years…?”

“Why don’t the American people have anything to say about what we’re doing?” Cafferty added. “We have no voice in any of this stuff any more. They go into Iraq, they go into Afghanistan, they might go into Iran. We got nothing. We’re just kept in the dark and the government does whatever the hell it feels like doing, or preferably what it is being told to do by the people who pay the politicians’ bills. Remember that warning from Dwight Eisenhower about the military-industrial complex? It’s got this country by the throat.”

Yes, I’m being a smart-ass. Cafferty’s commentary was on the money and necessary, if only because so many Americans are still asleep to the fact that the two wars on the other side of the world are killing our credibility, not to mention hundreds of thousands of people.

But still — why weren’t the talking heads stating the obvious years ago?

Posted in history, humor, Iraq war, mainstream media | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

New chapter in jolly-good scandal

Posted on March 14, 2012 by oddmanout215

From GUARDIAN UK

Rupert Murdoch’s right-hand gal is back in the news and back in jail. How much damage will her latest setback do to Britain’s PM, David Cameron? From Guardian UK:

Rebekah Brooks is among six people arrested by Scotland Yard detectives on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, as part of the investigation into phone hacking. The former News International chief executive was arrested at her home in Oxfordshire by detectives from Operation Weeting. Sources also said that her husband, racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks, was arrested…

The former Sun and News of the World editor was held in the summer 48 hours after she resigned as News International’s chief executive.

Rebekah Brooks became editor of the News of the World in 2000, before moving to the same position at the Sun in 2003. A close confidante of Rupert Murdoch in her time at the titles, she was elevated to become chief executive at News International in 2009, until she was forced to resign in July of last year as hacking allegations mounted in the wake of the revelation that a phone belonging to missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler was targeted.

Both Rebekah and Charlie Brooks are close Oxfordshire neighbours of David Cameron. Their friendship with the prime minister came under fresh scrutiny recently after Cameron admitted he did ride a retired police horse lent to Rebekah Brooks by Scotland Yard in 2008…

The Cameron angle was stressed in today’s Daily Beast:

Some Murdoch watchers have even insinuated that Cameron’s friendship with Rebekah Brooks could be stronger than his friendship with her husband. Rebekah was a guest at Cameron’s 40th-birthday party in October 2006, even though her future husband was reportedly not on the list. And a Vanity Fair story last month claimed the two were so close that Cameron signed letters to her, “Love, David.”

Pull yourself together, man! Don’t you know those hot-tempered redheads — Daily Beast called Rebekah the “flame-haired Murdoch favorite” — are nothing but trouble? I thought you were a stalwart advocate of austerity… or did you merely mean austerity for the poor?

Footnote: Why did the Daily Beast article sound like something out of Vanity Fair? Oh, of course — Tina Brown.

Posted in Great Recession, mainstream media | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Santorum, the ‘stealth lobbyist’

Posted on March 13, 2012 by oddmanout215

The headline alone was enough to make me laugh: “Santorum accuses Fox News of shilling for Romney.” This is like Madonna accusing a rival diva of lip-synching. It’s another example of why many of us use the words “Christian” and “hypocrite” interchangeably.

According to Raw Story, Santorum complained to Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade that “[Romney] has had a 10-to-1 money advantage. He has Fox News shilling for him every day. No offense, Brian, but I see it.”

Santorum should choose his words more carefully. “Shilling” might as easily describe what he did for a living after he lost his U.S. Senate seat. From ABC News:

Rick Santorum entered Congress with modest means. But not long after he left in 2006, the former two-term senator reaped the rewards of his time on Capitol Hill, earning more than $1 million last year in cash and stock for advising corporate clients, sharing his insights with social organizations, and consulting for media outlets.

“He has been, essentially, a stealth lobbyist,” said Bill Allison, editorial director for the Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group. “He has been hired to try to influence policy on behalf of his clients without crossing the thresholds that would require him to report what he’s doing.”

The rural Pennsylvania politician who boasts his common man appeal has traveled a familiar path for those who have left public service, Allison said. After helping to shape policy on the Senate finance and banking committees, Santorum accepted paid consultant jobs for insurance and energy firms with key issues pending before the politician’s former colleagues.

The work has been lucrative — in 1996 he reported assets ranging from $155,000 to $475,000 on the personal financial disclosure form he filed with the Senate. The report he filed in August 2011 as he began his presidential bid show his assets are now valued between $1.9 million and $4 million, including rental properties and robust investment and college savings funds.

A shill gets paid to enthusiastically promote an entity, often without disclosing the extent of his ties to that entity. Is there a difference between a shill and an under-the-radar influence peddler such as Santorum? Maybe, but I’ll bet you’d have a hard time making the distinction to any reasonable person.

Posted in Congress, mainstream media, Mitt Romney, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment