Thursday, November 25, 2010

Last Call

One last thing to be thankful for, via Digby:

Elizabeth Warren was the first senior Obama administration official to recognize the potentially incendiary impact of a bill that would have made it significantly easier for mortgage companies to foreclose on homes, and her subsequent warnings played a crucial role in persuading the President to veto the measure, according to freshly released documents and people familiar with the deliberations.

Yeah, that's right:  Elizabeth Warren persuaded the President to pocket veto the MERS Get Out Of Jail Free Bill.

It's going to be ugly for her now.  The banks know she has to go or they are in real trouble.  Expect to see continued brutal GOP opposition against anything she suggests regarding protecting the American people from the banks.

More Stuff To Be Thankful For

While you're watching the Lions and Cowboys get slapped around later this afternoon, some more perspective courtesy Barry Ritholtz.

Eighty-five percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2009, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (14.7 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year.

Something to consider on this holiday when we give thanks for what we have.  As the holiday season kicks into high gear, please consider helping those less fortunate than yourself:
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. ~ Winston Churchill

Indeed. If you happen to have any leftover canned goods you didn't open up or anything you can donate to a food bank this weekend, this is the time to do it. One in seven of us need help setting the table this year. Odds are very, very good someone you know is in that particular boat.

Help out if you can.  There but for the grace of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and all that.  Americans stick together when things get bad.  Be thankful for that.

Today In Village Idiocy

Dean Broder has declared that Sen. Lisa Murkowski's write-in victory in Alaska means America wants bipartisan everything, which is about the most single inane thing one could possibly draw from her win.

The demographics required that Murkowski seek support from Democrats and independents, as well as Republicans. But she said their expectations did not differ from group to group. "I think what they are looking for is the same thing that any Alaskan is looking for: Represent our state. Work together with people that have opposing viewpoints to build good policy that allows our state and our nation to go in a positive direction.

"I think that's what voters are looking for. I don't think that most are looking for somebody that is going to follow the litmus test of one party or another, and never deviate from it. I think they want us to think, and I think they want us to work cooperatively together. So, that's my pledge to all Alaskans, regardless of whether you are the most conservative Republican or the most liberal Democrat, I'm going to try to find a way that we can find common ground to help the state and to help our country."

Want to know what the election was about? That's an authoritative answer

And as usual, Broder doesn't know a damned thing. What the Alaska election was about was that a unique electorate who felt betrayed by Governor Half-Term liked Lisa Murkowski, and they realized that the best way to keep Joe Miller and his unique brand of earmark hating crazy out of the Senate was to put her back into office.

What the election means is that Lisa Murkowski knew Alaska far, far better than Sarah Palin did and Murkowski bet that she could win on a coalition of people who didn't want Joe Miller to be their Senator.  There's not really anything applicable to the other 49 states here, much less being the lesson of the entire 2010 election.  It was all about Alaska telling their former Governor and Joe Miller to go to straight to hell.

Broder is a senile old goofball, or he'd realize that Murkowski's platitudes were just that.  No, Lisa Murkowski saw an opportunity to stick it to her rival, to get her Senate seat back, and to continue on the gravy train.  Enlightened self-interest, with enough abject horror at the thought of Sen. Joe Miller that she was able to pull it out.

That's it.  No grand unifying lesson here...other than Sarah Palin's dismal favorability ratings are well earned.

Something To Be Very Thankful For

And while I understand times are hard for many of us, it's good to keep some perspective in mind.  In Ireland, the banks there are being bailed out and the balance of the pain is being put on the backs of working-class Irish.  Marcy Wheeler:

The Fianna Fail government in Ireland has released the austerity plan it promised in response for the big bank bailout the rest of Europe forced on it.

There’s a lot that’s awful in it: big cuts in pension, huge increases in tuition costs, and a ludicrous claim that this austerity plan will help Ireland’s economy grow.

But I think the most telling aspect of it is that it lowers minimum wage from 8.65 euro to 7.65, a cut of 11.5%. But it retains Ireland’s controversial 12.5% corporate tax.

Meanwhile, the bond markets are none too impressed with Ireland’s plan.

There are lot of reasons to treat the plan with skepticism, if not outright derision. But I think the lack of confidence that this will work is the increasing likelihood that the governments on which the banksters are relying to push through this bankster bailout may not survive.

Imagine what would happen here if the minimum wage was lowered in order to cut corporate taxes.  You'd have riots...well, that is if anyone knew about it or cared.  Like Marcy I don't see Brian Cowen's government being able to pass anything like this without being tossed out on their arses.

And they're not even pretending to be for "the common people" here.  This will not end well.

StupidiNews, Turkey Day Edition!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours this year.  A light day on the blog of course, but here's your news.

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