Data points

David Letterman: "I feel like an ugly date!"

"It's not based on any particular data point. We just wanted to choose a really large number."
-- Treasury spokes-woman on the $700B bailout figure

On this day in 1687, the Parthenon was destroyed, in a war between the Venetians and the Turks. The Venetians sent a mortar through a gable window, igniting a Turkish store of gunpowder.
In either 1775 or 1783, John Chapman, later known as Johnny Appleseed, was born. He did not wear shoes.
in 1898, George Gershwin was born.
in 1957, “West Side Story” opened on Broadway.
In 1969, the Beatles released “Abbey Road.”
In 2001, Enron president Ken Lay urged his employees to buy Enron stock. He had been selling his own for a year, for a gain of $146 million. Enron would file for bankruptcy on December 2.

The waiting is the hardest part

Seems the bushcheney administration saw all this mess coming. And apparently let it happen on purpose. Gee, thanks, guys. I always knew you were looking out for ...yourselves.

So I agree with Naomi Klein: Now Is the Time to Resist Wall Street's Shock Doctrine.

Clearly, Republican John McCain doesn't know quite what to do. So he (wisely?) cancelled his appearance with the hard-hitting Dave Letterman so he could get back to Washington (I guess telephones and email aren't fast enough? what?), but somehow fell into an interview with softball pitcher Katie Couric. Hmm. Prepared to be president? Hah. Not even prepared to be a line cook.

On this day in 1906, Dmitri Shostakovich was born.

Just desserts

This is so good I had to share it in its entirety. Michael Tomasky writes at the Guardian UK:

Since John McCain so desperately and obviously wanted to change the subject, permit me to begin by not taking the bait and not changing the subject.

Wednesday was the worst day of the campaign for McCain. The revelations about Rick Davis' firm doing lobbying work for Freddie Mac had the potential, and still may have the potential, to cost Davis his job. Certainly the story had the potential to eat up a lot of cable television time over the next two days. Over the long term, and most importantly, the story has the power, if used properly by the Democrats, to dissolve any morsel of credibility McCain had on the subject of dealing with the current fiscal crisis.

So keep that straight. The cable coverage of McCain's ridiculous gambit about suspending his campaign and delaying Friday night's debate is not making that link explicit, because that's just not the sort of thing television does except when it really slaps them in the face, like when Bill Clinton bombed Sudan the night the House of Representatives voted the impeachment articles.

But I can guarantee you, if you think the McCain brain trust wasn't manically trying to conjure up a way to wriggle out of the Davis mess and hand the media a new story to yak about, then I have a non-bridge in Alaska to non-sell you.

This was also the day when the Washington Post and ABC released a poll showing McCain nine points behind Barack Obama. On Hardball, Chris Matthews is, to his credit, making this connection: that McCain is changing the subject because he's dropping in the polls. In fact the desperation of McCain's move makes one think that maybe his own internal polls show a gloomier picture still.

What a joke. What an unserious and contemptible joke. And so typically dishonest. Now that Obama has spoken, we know that it was Obama who called McCain, first suggesting that the two issue a bipartisan joint statement on the crisis. This obviously got McCain and Steve Schmidt thinking. Hey, maybe we can put country first here and … oops, scratch that. Since we're in such a tight spot today anyway, maybe we can put naked politics first here and go public, steal his thunder, act like we were the white hats who came up with the idea. Yeah! And while we're at it, let's take it a step further. Let's don the sack cloth of piety and insist that we feel this is so important we even think the debate should be suspended.

Think about the kind of mind that's required to even think up something like this. I could never think up something like this. Most average people, of whatever political persuasion, could never do it. Some pundits are talking about desperation and Hail Mary passes and so on, but that doesn't really begin to describe the deviousness at work here.

This is like a man who gets caught cheating on his wife and then, with his back against the wall and with confrontation looming, goes out and intentionally wrecks the car, contriving to break a few ribs and get rushed to the hospital, all to delay the inevitable conflict and in the cynical knowledge that, in front of the doctors and until the wounds are bound, the wife will be forced to offer sympathy. Males are messed up creatures, but believe me, only a rather small percentage of us is really capable of thinking this connivingly.

Will it work? I don't think so. Granted, 98% of Americans don't know about the Rick Davis story, and probably around 90% don't know about the Washington Post poll. So some people may buy it. But I don't believe most will. It just looks too sneaky. Even if one doesn't smell desperation, the odor of weirdness is all over the move.

And it looks unpresidential. Obama came out and looked presidential. Presidents need to be able to handle two problems at once, he said. Now is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from us. We both have big planes. They can get us from Washington to Mississippi pretty quickly if need be. His press conference offered, in fact, a good look at how he would be as president. He seeks non-confrontation. But he slips his points in steadily and coolly. Pretty smooth performance.

And he seems to be winning. Perhaps inevitably, one polling outfit did a snap poll on all this. Results?

Hold the debate as scheduled: 50%
Hold it but focus on the economy not foreign policy: 36%.
Postpone: 10%.

Suspend campaigns: 14%
Continue campaign: 31%
Re-focus campaign: 48%

Oopsie.

The commission on presidential debates stated shortly after Obama spoke that the debate will go on. If the commission says it and Obama says it, it will go on, I suspect. But we have yet to see which chess piece McCain moves next. Who can imagine that? Think of the most cynical thing you can think of, then double it.

Abraham Lincoln ran for re-election while leading the Union troops in the civil war. Franklin Roosevelt ran for re-election in the midst of terrible depression in 1936, a far worse economic crisis than we have right now, and in 1944 while prosecuting the second world war.

If John McCain can't debate while thinking about the country's economy, then he's even more ill-equipped to hold the job than I think he is. But of course he is capable of doing both. His proposal is not serious. It is just a rancidly political act. That he goes before cameras and tries to pass it off as nonpolitical, hoping that people will buy it, is what makes it contemptible.

When Mario Cuomo was governor of New York, he devoted a speech to improving the lot of children in New York state. He declared "The decade of the child." When, after a year or two, it became clear that somehow child poverty rates had stayed more or less the same, a joke began circulating around Albany: but he didn't mean this decade.

We've reached a similar point today, but far worse, because Cuomo's intentions were at least decent. John McCain's intentions have to do with nothing loftier than the next news cycle. He is the man who said country first. He just didn't mean this country.

OUCH! That's gotta hurt

Wowzers, Jimmy- even TIME thinks McCain has gone too far. Finally, I'm not an extremist! Yay!! Time to go a little farther left, I guess... haha
About Hanky-pank Paulson's bailout thing. People who are paid to know better, apparently deliberately over-extended their businesses. This was no 'accident.' They are bankers, ferchrissakes, they are paid very well to know how the business works. This was deliberate, and they should suffer the consequences, not us. This is criminal. I want to see people hang, at least metaphorically. I have no sympathy for thieves and bandits. None.

Here are some questions to ask (from Poynter Online):

"Do we need a bailout of American and foreign banks? Show us in detail the reasons for this, and the numbers: make the case.

Is there a market solution to this? If so, why impose a government solution? If not, what does that tell us about our entire economic theory?

Is there a less expensive solution?

How do we know this will not just be a downpayment on a much bigger bailout?

Is there a solution that provides direct help to those who took out these loans, rather than those who sold them?

If AIG and others are too big to fail, what does that tell us about government anti-trust policy and regulatory policy and inaction?

Why have both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley made clear that they want IN on this deal? Get skeptical and ask the basic questions -- who benefits, how much and what makes this plan so attractive that Goldman and MS want to participate? Ditto for GE. That they and others want to be included should prompt a great deal of skeptical questioning.

How does banning short selling of the stocks of 900 companies help the markets? (The markets are heavily biased toward the sell side, so why constrain the shorts, who often turn out to be right about stocks whose share prices has been artificially inflated?)

How is banning short selling of this growing list of companies show a commitment to "free markets," a stated goal of this and a long list of previous administrations?

During this short selling ban, why are there no parallel controls on insiders getting out of their positions?"

RESIST THE BAILOUT. It is a con.

AIG is not being bailed out because of bad debt. AIG is being bailed out because they are very, very closely tied to private security firm Kroll- the private version of the CIA, only more powerful and less restricted. Kroll does all the dirty work that the CIA used to do, back when Poppy Bush was in charge (and before, to be fair to ol' Poppy -don't have me anthraxed!). For this reason, and this reason alone, they say AIG "cannot be allowed to fail."

If you ever have trouble making sense of what a talking head is talking about, big red flags should start to wave in your head (metaphorically of course). If it doesn't make sense to you, then it probably doesn't make sense at all, and you're probably being conned. Lies are always confusing, and the truth always makes sense. If your questions aren't answered to your satisfaction; if you still don't understand the explanation, don't buy it.

October surprise? Don't forget this...

Financial terrorism

More on the Russia-Venezuela situation: Russia engages in 'gangland' diplomacy as it sends warships to the Caribbean.
Financial terrorism:
Randi Rhodes is pretty damn sharp. Go Randi! Listen to her show, it's great fun. The whole bailout plan sounds like antisocialism, to me. Unfettered capitalism is antisocial. Not only that, it's anti-human.

Wilbur Ross is "disturbed about the slippery slope that we have gotten into, where if you're stupid but really big the government will bail you out; if you're stupid but medium-sized, you die. That's going to encourage very bad behavior by very big institutions. I think that's a terrible pattern to set." I find it interesting that he's still planning on investing in industries that have been hit hard by the oil crunch. I'm trying to divine the wisdom there: he's probably counting on prices rising even farther, which implies that he's counting on a continued rise in demand for the oil as well. He may be right about demand, but that being said, I don't think we're going to burn the last of our precious petroleum in our gas tanks. More likely, it will be used in plastics, pharmaceuticals and pesticides/herbicides. Rising oil prices are going to hurt, bad, unless we find alternatives. And I'm not talking alternative fuels.

Please consider taking some action on this buyout: Call Congress, or send this letter, or write a letter to the editor of your local paper, hell- just talk about it to your friends and neighbors. This is OUR problem: the pigs have broken into the corn silo. WE need to stop them, 'coz they sure as hell won't stop themselves. "We're not going to chart a new course with the same pilot."

John McCain was a joke in the 2000 election, he was a joke in the 2004 election, and he's still a joke. I will never forget, however, that George Dumbya Bush was a joke in 1999 too....
McCain's personal fleet of cars
McCain's 'transition coach' lobbied for Freddie Mac as it collapsed
CNN gets fed up with McCain's bullshit
CNN gets fed up with Palin's bullshit
McCain trips and stumbles over his own bullshit

On this day in 1930, Ray Charles was born.
In 1932, the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd merge to form the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In 1949, Bruce Springsteen was born.
And in 1969, the headline “Clues Hint at Beatle’s Death,” in the Northern Star (Northern Illinois State [Hi Valerie and Rob and family!]), propelled rumors of Paul McCartney’s untimely demise by reporting on a story published in Drake University's newspaper (the Times-Delphic) reporting Paul's death.

Hunches

Trouble with a capital T ...and that rhymes with V and that stands for Venezuela. This could get very hot, very fast. It is, after all, our nation's standing policy that America IS the primary power in the western hemisphere. A president like Dumbya or Cheney (or Grampa or Caribou Barbie, for that matter...) will not let this go without comment or response. Honestly, I doubt Obama or Biden would either, but the critical difference is that the Republicans have demonstrated their willingness to meet diplomacy with force. One wonders where they'll get the soldiers.... Oh! Maybe they'll just get the Fed to print some more! Oh wait, that's money....

A couple of persistent hunches are bothering me today. Something tells me the airline industry and possibly the media industry as well are in for a big shakeup in the next few years. Airlines are almost obvious- with fuel prices rising, their already-precarious profitability will be put severely at risk. Maybe that recent spate of accidents will make passengers look twice at Amtrak or something, I don't know (I know I'm not eager to fly anytime soon, if ever again). Add to these accidents the massive scheduling problems they had such a hard time with earlier this year, and people may begin to see the value of the alternatives. If it takes three hours to cycle through two airports, plus an hour or so in the air (assuming no in-flight delays... hah!), suddenly a five-hour drive or three-hour train ride might not seem as bad. Ticket prices sure as hell aren't coming down. "Competition" in the airline industry is only a matter of how little they can get away with paying their employees.

Insurance might play a part in this, too. As health care approaches a single-payer solution, insurance companies will have to either raise their rates or find a replacement for all those lost health-care dollars. Keep an eye on your home and auto insurance rates for clues.

I'm not sure how a media industry collapse would be caused, or transpire, but experience sure shows us that massive consolidation of industry -apparently any industry-- is unhealthy. Significant difference between this industry and most others is that the media don't rely on us as customers- we're mostly irrelevant to them until their advertisers start to balk.

The fiscal recklessness of a(nother) Republican BushCheneyMcCain administration just might ensure that my hunches come to pass.

One step forward VS two steps back

Obama on taxes. Specific enough for ya? Federal income tax is important (duh?)- it mostly comes back to you in the form of local infrastructure- police, fire departments, roads, water supply, fun things like that. Lower taxes at the federal level always means higher taxes at the local level: property taxes, state income taxes, and sales taxes. The money has to come from somewhere, after all.

Obama on the economy. Yeah, it's a trifle dry, but hey, that's economics. The point is, he has specific plans, with good strong justification for his ideas. McCain ...has nothing but more of Bush's mess in store.

McCain on the economy
McCain on health care. Stunning.
McCain on ...honesty.

Remember: Obama graduated from Princeton, then graduated top of his class at Harvard Law, where he was also the first black President of the esteemed Harvard Law Review. McCain barely graduated, landing fourth from the bottom of his class at a military academy to which he was probably granted admission based on his military legacy.

On this day in 1776, Nathan Hale was hanged. “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”
In 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
In 1869, Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” premiered in Munich.
In 1964, “Fiddler on the Roof” opened on Broadway.

On the home front: I'm not sure I can believe it yet, but I'm actually working on a new serigraph. What am I thinking?!?! Actually, in part, I'm being a little superstitious: I did the last one four years ago- a set of elephant 'portraits.' Yeah, elephants. Elephants are cool and all, though I don't fixate on them (as one might say I fixate on, say, goats, or cats); I did it in response to a conversation I had had with a friend who was really into elephants (he died of brain cancer before I could finish the print), but they're also the Republican "mascot." And of course, the Republican candidate "won." I'm not doing donkey portraits this time though. Or asses.

No, I'm doing a circle. Just a brushstroke. There's a work in the Spencer gallery in Lawrence KS, a Japanese ink painting on a large screen. It's so simple, so beautiful- a big circle, so spontaneous, so perfect: one big brushstroke with black ink. One of my favorite art objects, ever. I've ogled it for hours, thought about it for years, and finally decided to do a little homage: so I'm trying to imitate it with a serigraph. Very VERY different medium, in that the original was completely spontaneous and 'accidental,' whereas mine is sort-of rehearsed-spontaneous, a little practiced, but still largely accidental (that comes with doing circles freehand). I think the beauty of doing it with a serigraph is that screen printing is at once very controlled and rehearsed, while at the same time the results are very variable, depending on the qualities of ink and screen and paper, the skill of the artist-printer, and the environmental conditions (hot/cold, humid/dry, etc). I don't claim to be any good at screen printing: there's TONS I don't know; I probably don't even know enough to ask good questions about it, but I try anyway. Can't hurt, right?