chemistry

Today is the Second of December. Happy St. Bibiana's day! It's also Georges Seurat's birthday (1859).

Blow up your TV.

2,700 year old stash http://www.torontosun.com/news/weird/2008/11/27/7557641.html

More natural than alcohol; more natural than corn ferchrissakes*. And no, it doesn't kill brain cells; it actually helps make them.

The closest wild relative of modern maize is "too small and hard to obtain to be eaten directly, as each kernel is enclosed in a very hard bi-valve shell" (wikipedia).

It's NOT a 'bailout,'

it's a loan. The domestic auto industry is asking for a commercial loan, and make no mistake about this: it is essential for the short- and long-term health of our country and its economy.

If we were in better times, I might agree that we could let the industry fail, so that the workers might seek employment in other, newer, greener industries. But there are a few problems with that scenario:
1) Times are hard already. There are no other jobs for those millions who work in and support the auto industry (machinists, assembly-line workers, engineers, management, sales staffs in every small town in the country, parts manufacturers, etc). And not only are there no jobs, there is no viable social support network left after eight years of Bushcheney mismanagement. Most of those people are living paycheck-to-paycheck already.
2) Other jobs aren't there for them because these new greener industries haven't been given infrastructure support from government, for the simple reason that we've given all of that infrastructural support to the auto industry for the past eighty years or so. It would be great if all those people could find work making and selling wind turbines, or in recycling, or green energy, but let's face it: there are simply not enough jobs in those industries to go around. Yet, anyway: maybe if our government started showing some long-term support for such industries, this would change, but that's not something we can bank on in the short term. And here, the short term matters. Should these millions of workers suddenly find themselves out of work, it won't be long before they'll be unable to feed themselves and their families, and soon enough they'll be on the street, unable to care for even a common cold. It's not hard to imagine the impact of a potential flu epidemic on a situation like that. Not hard to imagine, but terrifying all the same. Remember 1918.
3) A collapse of our auto industry will affect every corner of the country, no matter how remote. Nearly every town in this country has a car dealership, not to mention automotive supply stores. Every state in this country depends desperately on taxes from new vehicles and vehicle sales. Unemployment will go through the roof, everywhere, while tax revenue will dwindle. That of course means a rise in demand for government support exactly when the government will be least able to provide it.

No one -I repeat: no one- would be served well by letting this industry fail. Don't get me wrong: I'm no fan of cars or big industry. But the magnitude of the short-term disaster would be such that we as a country might never recover. Millions of jobs will be lost. Millions of families will be affected- losing their health care, their health, their homes, their sense of well-being. These CEOs are not asking for a handout. They're not looking for free money. They're asking for a loan, something they can pay back (like Chrysler did, and quite unlike AIG or Goldman-Sachs ever will). How can we deny them that?

Moral compass?

Branch of the Seine near Giverny, Claude Monet, 1897.


On this day in 1263, Aleksandr Nevsky died.

In 1840, Claude Monet was born.

In 1900, Aaron Copland was born.

In 1919, according to the Fortean Times, an inquest in Shoreditch, London, established that a needle had been found in the heart of Rosina Newton, aged 13 months. 'There was no skin wound to show where it had entered the body.' The parents had no recollection of any injury to her.

c'est la vie

On this day in 1381, The Order of Fools was established by Adolphus, Count of Cleves. For centuries the members, mostly from the Flemish upper classes, held a week-long grand court every year and planned acts of charity. They wore the figure of a fool or jester embroidered on their mantles. The last reference to the Order is in some verses appended to Sebastian Brand's celebrated Navis Stultifera (Ship of Fools), published in Strasbourg in 1520.

In 1833, Aleksander Borodin was born.

In 1859, Jules Leotard performed the first Flying Trapeze act.

Smile

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it.
-- Voltaire

Ridiculous enough yet?
How about this?

Who is Ted Stevens?

Don't forget to vote. Vote early if you can- avoid the rush.

Going down.

Disturbing. Oy vey... first we ignored them and let them be raised by television and video games, then we relegated them to anonymous slots in over-crowded, under-funded classrooms, then sent them out into an economy that neither had enough jobs for all of them, nor paid them a living wage. So then we trained them to kill while telling them they were being trained as peacekeepers, then sent them to where they were utterly unwelcome and greeted with hostility, ...and now they're home. I'm horrified, but not entirely surprised at what's happening.

Here's the deal: we are all human, and we all need a little love. Maybe I'm being simple-minded, but people only act anti-socially when they feel excluded. Maybe I'm being naive, but it seems to me that -more than anything else-- these people need to remember that we're all human, and most importantly, all in this together. Reach out to someone who's not expecting it, today.

Led Zeppelin without Robert Plant? Um... I've always been a purist, as far as group identities go: minor changes in the lineup of small combos make for major differences. I suppose I see such bands as entities in and of themselves: Pink Floyd without Roger Waters is like watching a headless zombie: you have to admire how it moves, but it doesn't say anything worth listening to. Imagine the Beatles without John Lennon --what?? The Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger? Queen without Freddie Mercury? It's just not the same- it'd be like ...well, it'd be like listening to Van Hagar. I mean, why bother?

Like father, like son?

Rather, like mother, like daughter. Though it does remind me of W's foreign policy...

The bubble to end all bubbles.

When I find I'm not as eloquent as my thoughts and ideas demand, I remain quiet.

On this day in 1787, “Don Giovanni” premiered in Prague. In 1884, Bela Lugosi was born. In 1923, Turkey became a republic, with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as its founder and first President. In 1929, this was Black Tuesday, the worst day of 1929's stock market crash. In 1969, the first-ever computer-to-computer link was established via ARPANET.

Lollipops and moonbeams

Our economy, our entire material culture really, is a tower with a roof of solid gold, built on a foundation of balloons and soap bubbles. Now we're supposed to be surprised that it's collapsing.

You probably don't remember this, but for years and years and years, nobody called what happened in VietNam a war. "No no," they'd say. "It wasn't a war, it couldn't be; America doesn't lose wars." No, it was just a conflict. The VietNam Conflict. Isn't that nice? Nice.

I wonder when we'll stop calling this mess in Iraq a "war"? We're not winning anything there, and we never will, because of course it's not a war, it's an occupation.

Why didn't we call our engagement in SE Asia a 'war'? Lots of reasons: we had just recently fought a real war with real enemies (WWII) and the pain of loss was still tangible; we were still mired down in Korea (that other 'conflict'); we had just suffered a series of horrible tragedies (all the assassinations of the '60's- JFK, MLK, RFK, Malcolm X, plus the attempts on George Wallace and others); ...but primarily because it just wasn't war, and we knew it. It was an occupation, plain and simple (and that's what all those Hippie protests were about- not anti-war: anti-occupation).

On this day in 1838, in response to what he termed "open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made war upon the people of this State,” Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs declared that “... the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description." This came three days after disaffected church leaders Thomas Marsh and Orson Hyde attested in an affidavit to Joseph Smith’s intention to conquer the world. Theodore Roosevelt was born on this day in 1858, and John Cleese was born in 1939.

A cautionary tale

Where your $700 billion in bailout money is going:
banker's pockets
other bankers' pockets
And not at all to where we need it.

This is a fun one- I laughed out loud. Just scroll over elements and click on them ...you know the routine.

And this is just ...interesting. And I mean really interesting.

Today is St. Crispin’s Day. Saint Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers! *cough*

In 1825, Johann Strauss II -the Waltz King- was born.

In 1838, Georges Bizet was born.

In 1881, Pablo Picasso was born.

In 1917, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky seized power in Moscow, from the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky, who had assumed power in July, indirectly following the abdication of Nicholas II in March. Nicholas turned power over to his brother Michael, but even as early as the 1905 uprising, all hope for the ruling Romanovs was lost. Michael hoped to hold an election, with “universal suffrage,” in which he would be elected leader of Russia, but the dice had been rolled long before. Historians differ as to whether Michael was ever actually Tsar. If he was, it would have been for only a day.

In 2002, Senator Paul Wellstone was killed under mysterious circumstances in the midst of a hotly contested election.

In 2005, Vice President Dick Cheney was revealed to have been the leak of Top Secret information regarding the identity of deep-cover CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Our country is ill.

It has cancer.

Is this what 'victory in Iraq' looks like? 'Coz it looks an awful lot like ignominious defeat, to me. Or maybe more like a dog running away from a fight with his tail between his legs.

From the New York Times:

As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy. After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.

Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.

In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.

Given the particularly ugly nature of Mr. McCain’s campaign, the urge to choose on the basis of raw emotion is strong. But there is a greater value in looking closely at the facts of life in America today and at the prescriptions the candidates offer. The differences are profound.

Read the rest of that here.

Another intelligent conservative endorses Obama

Maybe, finally, a step in the right direction for the economy?

And some fun video:
Jon Stewart on Republican divisiveness
Ron Howard shows his stripes
The ultimate (un-)endorsement

On this day in 1260, Chartres Cathedral was dedicated.

In 1929, George Crumb was born. Economists call it "Black Thursday," but not because of Crumb; they wouldn't have heard his weird music yet.

In 1945, the UN was born.

Priceless

Oh yeah, Reagan "won" the cold war. What's all this, then?

This kinda bothers me. How is it going to be helpful to erase memory? What will that do to the lessons learned from the experience? "This occurred without impacting the animal's ability to recall any other memories, the scientists say." How do they know? Did they ask the mouse? How would it know what it didn't remember? This is not only dumb science, it's dangerous: more like tinkering with your calculator to see what it'll do when you drag a screwdriver across the circuits than anything actually resembling Science, or intellectual analysis. The brain is not a toy. Not even a mouse's brain. Respect, people: R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Respect consciousness in all its forms.

In 1752, Nicolas Appert was born. He would live to invent the bouillon cube, and develop a new method of storing food, in cans.

In 1940, Pele was born. 1,281 goals in 22 years of soccer.

In 1958, Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced the Smurfs.

In 1959, “Weird Al” Yankovic was born.

In 1998, Swatch Internet Time was introduced.

Apples

Warm wishes to the Senator's grandmother and family.

Al-Qaeda endorses McCain while Ben Bernanke goes with Obama

Alaska funded Palin kids' travels

Keith Olbermann on fire

REPUBLICAN voter fraud ...the only kind anyone can find.

On this day in 4004 bce, at 6pm, God created the Heavens and the Earth, according to Bishop James Ussher.* Creation began at nightfall, around 6pm, but wasn’t official until the next day, a Sunday, natch. And in 1811, Franz Liszt was born.

We have apples coming out of our ears. These trees are dropping apples the size of volleyballs (well ok, not really volleyballs, but easily the size of croquet balls). I did not know apples would get that big. They do! We've tried two apple pie recipes so far, and made more applesauce than either of us thought we would eat (but we did, already). Admittedly, most of them have a bug or two, and a lot get nibbled by critters before we can get to them, but that still leaves us a LOT of apples to deal with. The city picks up yard waste every other week in a 60-gallon barrel- we've filled ours probably six times this summer, it's full now, and there are probably another 20 gallons of apples on the ground, and that's to say nothing of the big bucket of good apples I've picked that are just waiting to be made into something. I had been thinking that we might want to spray the trees for bugs next year, but now I'm almost afraid of getting more apples than we could even get rid of. As Phil said- at least they're not hedgeapples! Mmmm hedgeapplesauce....

No, still no pics of the new work yet: I've been busy takin care of more urgent business. Soon though, soon. I'm working on it!

El Dia de la Nacho

Feast day of Saints Hilarion and Ursula (and her 11[000?] virgins).

International Day of the Nacho (U.S. and Mexico).

In 1760, Katsushika Hokusai (printmaker: “Thirty-six views of Mt. Fuji”) was born.

In 1772, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (“Kubla Khan,” “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”) was born.

In 1805, Vice Adm. Horatio Nelson, leading the British fleet, defeated a French-Spanish alliance at the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson was injured, but just lived to see the end of the battle, after which his crew preserved his body in rum.

In 1917, John B. “Dizzy” Gillespie was born.

I had the privilege of seeing Dizzy play once, in a park near 12th and Vine streets in downtown Kansas City. He had probably played in clubs within blocks of there, fifty years earlier when it was still the heart of the city (the neighborhood was just beginning a renaissance at the time I saw Diz). He walked slowly; you could tell the stairs to the stage weren't easy, but once he got up there, he smiled and lit up like a firework. It was a great time.

I'm still working on shooting my recent work. It's hard to do without proper lights!

You deserve a break

So, no political news today.

Horse stuck in a tree. No kidding.

You got yer Neolithic, and yer Paleolithic, and then you got yer stone age...

On this day in 1890, Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton was born. In 1973, President Nixon, in a last-ditch, selfish attempt to save himself from exposure to “the whole Bay of Pigs thing,” that the Watergate investigation threatened to reveal, overstepped his reach and ordered the dismissal of Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy AG William Ruckleshaus resigned in protest. Solicitor General Robert Bork later did the dirty work. This was the Saturday Night Massacre.

Coming up

Why do scandinavian countries have smaller prison populations?

On this day in 1973, helicopter pilot Laurence Coyne and three crew noticed a bright red light that seemed to be pacing them. Then a cigar-shaped metallic grey object with a red light in the 'nose' hovered in front of them. From the bottom emanated a green beam which suddenly filled the cockpit with green light. Then the object shot off and made a 45 degree change of course. The sighting had lasted about five minutes, and the object had appeared on the radar screens at Cleveland Hopkins Airport.

Let the sun shine in

About this Acorn thing.

Look for pics of some of my recent work tomorrow. I've been having some fun, playing in my scrap pile. I guess that means I need to shoot some pics today, though. I'll do that while the bread is rising. At some point, I have to climb up onto the roof and take a branch off the neighbor's walnut tree which is rubbing on our eaves.

We made a bunch of applesauce and a beautiful apple pie the other day. Yum! This year's garden was a bit of a dud, so it's been nice to have some produce come in. I hope next year's garden is half as productive as these apple trees have been: we'll be swimming in veggies! I've already gathered enough apples (in the three days since we baked the pie) to make as much applesauce again, and two more pies. We almost have to use them, too, because the yard-waste bin is full already (with bad apples and trimmage from some out-of-control shrubbery) and doesn't get picked up again for another week. Having found some plans online, I hope to build a small cider press next year. In the meantime, I expect to spend at least half the winter pruning the trees into a more manageable shape.

A major, major redesign of masteristvan.com is underway as we speak. It's finally in the hands of a professional. I have no idea what to expect, aside from something better/more functional/more accessible than I have now. I'm excited! Not only is it exciting to have the benefit of someone else's point of view; it's one less job I have to worry about doing by myself. She even understands marketing. Hallelujah!
Time for a new hobby!? HAHAHAHAA

On this day in 1931, Al Capone was convicted of two counts of tax evasion and sentenced to eleven years in prison. In an unrelated incident, Arthur Miller celebrated his 16th birthday.

And in 1967, "Hair" opened in an off-Broadway theater.

Un-FOX news

Palin revels in her popularity among the base

Judge sez "Not so fast, Gov'nor, there's some unfinished business here..."

The Republican Legacy, or, How Trickle-Down Economic Theory Came Home To Roost
Lower federal tax rates lead to higher local tax rates, because the money's got to come from somewhere. Just because Congress or some President says we can pay less, doesn't mean it costs less to make roads, move your garbage, provide clean water, police your street, protect your house from fire, protect your children from avaricious capitalist thugs, or insure your bank deposits. I'm so tired of harping on Reaganbushonomics. TAXES MAKE THE SYSTEM WORK. Pay your damn share already, geez.

Thomas Friedman is a hard-right Conservative, bordering on Neo-Con. So the harshness of this criticism -by him, of Sarah Palin-- is more than a little surprising. Refreshing, even.

It's Grover the muppet's birthday today. Happy birthday, Grover!

On this day in 1066, Saxon King Harold took an arrow in the eye, losing his life –and his kingdom- to William of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings.

In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt, former president and the Bull Moose Party candidate, was shot at close range by anarchist John Schrank while greeting the public in front of the Hotel Gilpatrick in Milwaukee during his campaign for the presidency. He was saved by the papers in his breast pocket and still managed to give a 90 minute address in Milwaukee after requesting his audience to be quiet because “there is a bullet in my body.”

In 1930, Ethel Merman held a high “C” for sixteen bars of “I Got Rhythm,” in her Broadway debut in George Gershwin’s “Girl Crazy.”

Gonna be a bright sunshiney day

On this day in 1547, Miguel de Cervantes was born.
In 1813, Guiseppe Verdi was born.
In 1835, Camille Saint-Saens was born.
In 1855, Joshua Stoddard patented the first calliope.
In 1919, the Chicago White Sox “lost” the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds in a fix that would later become known as the Black Sox scandal: eight members of the White Sox colluded with gamblers to throw games.
In 1940, John Lennon was born.
In 1986, “Phantom of the Opera” premiered in London.

Curses!

This is scary, and it has nothing to do with politics or the economy.

High roller, or crap shooter?
Answer: crap shooter.

Breakthrough in Troopergate

On this day in 1600, Jacopo Peri’s “Euridice” premiered in Florence. It is the earliest surviving opera.

Damn the torpedoes

source

Is she still talking? How embarrassing.

"Somebody hurt my feelings, so I'm going to punish the country."

Sarah Six-pack or Caribou Barbie?

Letter from Wasilla

That's right, Barbie: if you're gonna pull out that lame, already-debunked BS story about Obama having possibly associated with one guy who at one point might have had ties to a supposed terrorist organization, then I'm gonna have to tell the truth about your lying, skanky, pork-barrelin' ass. And here I was, trying to be the nice guy. Silly me, and I knew I was dealing with a Republican.

Republican Rule #1: break the law whenever possible, but accuse your opponent of doing so before he can accuse you.

Republican Rule #2: act unethically whenever it benefits you (your campaign, bank account, family, etc), and accuse your opponent of doing the same before he can accuse you.


On this day in 1829 the schooner Mermaid sailed from Sydney, Australia, but sank in a storm on the fifth day out. All hands survived, and were rescued off a rock by the Swiftsure, which was itself dashed on rocks five days later. The Governor Ready rescued both crews, but caught fire and was abandoned. Everyone was rescued by the Comet which sank five days later, and all hands were rescued by the Jupiter, which struck a reef two days later. Everyone was rescued by the City of Leeds. On board was Sarah Richley, sailing from England in search for her son. 'By chance' her son was one of the crew on the Mermaid.

And also, "Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble, tres bien ensemble..."

I think the only thing that worries me now, is the counting of the votes. I found Sarah's performance completely indefensible. Charming, but pathetic. Well-spoken, but ill-informed. Let's be honest: she'd make a fine talk show host, but a very poor Vice President. Frankly, what sounded like her own opinion (as opposed to the talking points she so obviously parroted, or the vapid rhetorical "folksy"crap she tossed off) did not sound at all like what we hear from McCain. I think she is so poorly informed that she thinks she's a Republican because she likes their soundbites, when in fact her views (excepting those regarding her faith) are predominantly Democratic. Democrats take care of people after all, and her idea of herself as agent of government seems to be that of Mother, "taking care of things." On the other hand, she struck me as the perfect 21st century fascist's poppet: far too willing to let herself be used to subvert the Constitution ("take care of things" like Dick Cheney does), turning the government against the people in the process.

On an entirely unrelated note (of course, of course), pay no attention to that man behind the curtain or his radiological effects.
What worries me more is the likelihood of them just hiring that job out to Halliburton.

What "maverick" really means

Are you registered to vote? Are you sure? Check, or register here. And don't forget to vote!


In 1283, Prince Dafydd ap Gruffydd, of Gwynedd in Wales, became the first notable person in recorded history to be executed by being drawn and quartered.

In 1789, George Washington declared that November 26 would be the National Thanks-giving Day.
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln designated the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday (then in 1941 but not on this day, at the urging of President Roosevelt, Congress moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday in November).

In 1955, Captain Kangaroo premiered.

And in 1973, Eddie Webb was 'buzzed' by a UFO on a highway near Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In the driving mirror of his tractor-trailer rig he saw the rapid approach of a silvery, spinning, humming, 'turnip-shaped' thing 30 feet in diameter, which shone a beam of light at his rear wheel. Looking out his window, he was blinded by the beam. He was hospitalized for a week, and afterwards started legal proceedings to get workman's compensation, but couldn't prove the legal existence of the UFO.

Mike's Rescue Plan

Here's How to Fix the Wall Street Mess

By Michael Moore

Friends,

The richest 400 Americans -- that's right, just four hundred people -- own MORE than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. 400 rich Americans have got more stashed away than half the entire country! Their combined net worth is $1.6 trillion. During the eight years of the Bush Administration, their wealth has increased by nearly $700 billion -- the same amount that they are now demanding we give to them for the "bailout." Why don't they just spend the money they made under Bush to bail themselves out? They'd still have nearly a trillion dollars left over to spread amongst themselves!

Of course, they are not going to do that -- at least not voluntarily. George W. Bush was handed a $127 billion surplus when Bill Clinton left office. Because that money was OUR money and not his, he did what the rich prefer to do -- spend it and never look back. Now we have a $9.5 trillion debt. Why on earth would we even think of giving these robber barons any more of our money?

I would like to propose my own bailout plan. My suggestions, listed below, are predicated on the singular and simple belief that the rich must pull themselves up by their own platinum bootstraps. Sorry, fellows, but you drilled it into our heads one too many times: There... is... no... free... lunch. And thank you for encouraging us to hate people on welfare! So, there will be no handouts from us to you. The Senate, tonight, is going to try to rush their version of a "bailout" bill to a vote. They must be stopped. We did it on Monday with the House, and we can do it again today with the Senate.

It is clear, though, that we cannot simply keep protesting without proposing exactly what it is we think Congress should do. So, after consulting with a number of people smarter than Phil Gramm, here is my proposal, now known as "Mike's Rescue Plan." It has 10 simple, straightforward points. They are:

1. APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO CRIMINALLY INDICT ANYONE ON WALL STREET WHO KNOWINGLY CONTRIBUTED TO THIS COLLAPSE. Before any new money is expended, Congress must commit, by resolution, to criminally prosecute anyone who had anything to do with the attempted sacking of our economy. This means that anyone who committed insider trading, securities fraud or any action that helped bring about this collapse must go to jail. This Congress must call for a Special Prosecutor who will vigorously go after everyone who created the mess, and anyone else who attempts to scam the public in the future.

2. THE RICH MUST PAY FOR THEIR OWN BAILOUT. They may have to live in 5 houses instead of 7. They may have to drive 9 cars instead of 13. The chef for their mini-terriers may have to be reassigned. But there is no way in hell, after forcing family incomes to go down more than $2,000 dollars during the Bush years, that working people and the middle class are going to fork over one dime to underwrite the next yacht purchase.

If they truly need the $700 billion they say they need, well, here is an easy way they can raise it:

a) Every couple who makes over a million dollars a year and every single taxpayer who makes over $500,000 a year will pay a 10% surcharge tax for five years. (It's the Senator Sanders plan. He's like Colonel Sanders, only he's out to fry the right chickens.) That means the rich will still be paying less income tax than when Carter was president. This will raise a total of $300 billion.

b) Like nearly every other democracy, charge a 0.25% tax on every stock transaction. This will raise more than $200 billion in a year.

c) Because every stockholder is a patriotic American, stockholders will forgo receiving a dividend check for one quarter and instead this money will go the treasury to help pay for the bailout.

d) 25% of major U.S. corporations currently pay NO federal income tax. Federal corporate tax revenues currently amount to 1.7% of the GDP compared to 5% in the 1950s. If we raise the corporate income tax back to the level of the 1950s, that gives us an extra $500 billion.

All of this combined should be enough to end the calamity. The rich will get to keep their mansions and their servants, and our United States government ("COUNTRY FIRST!") will have a little leftover to repair some roads, bridges and schools.

3. BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE LOSING THEIR HOMES, NOT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BUILD AN EIGHTH HOME. There are 1.3 million homes in foreclosure right now. That is what is at the heart of this problem. So instead of giving the money to the banks as a gift, pay down each of these mortgages by $100,000. Force the banks to renegotiate the mortgage so the homeowner can pay on its current value. To insure that this help does no go to speculators and those who have tried to make money by flipping houses, this bailout is only for people's primary residence. And in return for the $100K paydown on the existing mortgage, the government gets to share in the holding of the mortgage so that it can get some of its money back. Thus, the total initial cost of fixing the mortgage crisis at its roots (instead of with the greedy lenders) is $150 billion, not $700 billion.

And let's set the record straight. People who have defaulted on their mortgages are not "bad risks." They are our fellow Americans, and all they wanted was what we all want and most of us still get: a home to call their own. But during the Bush years, millions of them lost the decent paying jobs they had. Six million fell into poverty. Seven million lost their health insurance. And every one of them saw their real wages go down by $2,000. Those who dare to look down on these Americans who got hit with one bad break after another should be ashamed. We are a better, stronger, safer and happier society when all of our citizens can afford to live in a home that they own.

4. IF YOUR BANK OR COMPANY GETS ANY OF OUR MONEY IN A "BAILOUT," THEN WE OWN YOU. Sorry, that's how it's done. If the bank gives me money so I can buy a house, the bank "owns" that house until I pay it all back -- with interest. Same deal for Wall Street. Whatever money you need to stay afloat, if our government considers you a safe risk -- and necessary for the good of the country -- then you can get a loan, but we will own you. If you default, we will sell you. This is how the Swedish government did it and it worked.

5. ALL REGULATIONS MUST BE RESTORED. THE REAGAN REVOLUTION IS DEAD. This catastrophe happened because we let the fox have the keys to the henhouse. In 1999, Phil Gramm authored a bill to remove all the regulations that governed Wall Street and our banking system. The bill passed and Clinton signed it. Here's what Sen. Phil Gramm, McCain's chief economic advisor, said at the bill signing:

"In the 1930s ... it was believed that government was the answer. It was believed that stability and growth came from government overriding the functioning of free markets.

"We are here today to repeal [that] because we have learned that government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we promote economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom.

"I am proud to be here because this is an important bill; it is a deregulatory bill. I believe that that is the wave of the future, and I am awfully proud to have been a part of making it a reality."

This bill must be repealed. Bill Clinton can help by leading the effort for the repeal of the Gramm bill and the reinstating of even tougher regulations regarding our financial institutions. And when they're done with that, they can restore the regulations for the airlines, the inspection of our food, the oil industry, OSHA, and every other entity that affects our daily lives. All oversight provisions for any "bailout" must have enforcement monies attached to them and criminal penalties for all offenders.

6. IF IT'S TOO BIG TO FAIL, THEN THAT MEANS IT'S TOO BIG TO EXIST. Allowing the creation of these mega-mergers and not enforcing the monopoly and anti-trust laws has allowed a number of financial institutions and corporations to become so large, the very thought of their collapse means an even bigger collapse across the entire economy. No one or two companies should have this kind of power. The so-called "economic Pearl Harbor" can't happen when you have hundreds -- thousands -- of institutions where people have their money. When you have a dozen auto companies, if one goes belly-up, we don't face a national disaster. If you have three separately-owned daily newspapers in your town, then one media company can't call all the shots (I know... What am I thinking?! Who reads a paper anymore? Sure glad all those mergers and buyouts left us with a strong and free press!). Laws must be enacted to prevent companies from being so large and dominant that with one slingshot to the eye, the giant falls and dies. And no institution should be allowed to set up money schemes that no one can understand. If you can't explain it in two sentences, you shouldn't be taking anyone's money.

7. NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD BE PAID MORE THAN 40 TIMES THEIR AVERAGE EMPLOYEE, AND NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD RECEIVE ANY KIND OF "PARACHUTE" OTHER THAN THE VERY GENEROUS SALARY HE OR SHE MADE WHILE WORKING FOR THE COMPANY. In 1980, the average American CEO made 45 times what their employees made. By 2003, they were making 254 times what their workers made. After 8 years of Bush, they now make over 400 times what their average employee makes. How this can happen at publicly held companies is beyond reason. In Britain, the average CEO makes 28 times what their average employee makes. In Japan, it's only 17 times! The last I heard, the CEO of Toyota was living the high life in Tokyo. How does he do it on so little money? Seriously, this is an outrage. We have created the mess we're in by letting the people at the top become bloated beyond belief with millions of dollars. This has to stop. Not only should no executive who receives help out of this mess profit from it, but any executive who was in charge of running his company into the ground should be fired before the company receives any help.

8. STRENGTHEN THE FDIC AND MAKE IT A MODEL FOR PROTECTING NOT ONLY PEOPLE'S SAVINGS, BUT ALSO THEIR PENSIONS AND THEIR HOMES. Obama was correct yesterday to propose expanding FDIC protection of people's savings in their banks to $250,000. But this same sort of government insurance must be given to our nation's pension funds. People should never have to worry about whether or not the money they've put away for their old age will be there. This will mean strict government oversight of companies who manage their employees' funds -- or perhaps it means that the companies will have to turn over those funds and their management to the government. People's private retirement funds must also be protected, but perhaps it's time to consider not having one's retirement invested in the casino known as the stock market. Our government should have a solemn duty to guarantee that no one who grows old in this country has to worry about ending up destitute.

9. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH, CALM DOWN, AND NOT LET FEAR RULE THE DAY. Turn off the TV! We are not in the Second Great Depression. The sky is not falling. Pundits and politicians are lying to us so fast and furious it's hard not to be affected by all the fear mongering. Even I, yesterday, wrote to you and repeated what I heard on the news, that the Dow had the biggest one day drop in its history. Well, that's true in terms of points, but its 7% drop came nowhere close to Black Monday in 1987 when the stock market in one day lost 23% of its value. In the '80s, 3,000 banks closed, but America didn't go out of business. These institutions have always had their ups and downs and eventually it works out. It has to, because the rich do not like their wealth being disrupted! They have a vested interest in calming things down and getting back into the Jacuzzi.

As crazy as things are right now, tens of thousands of people got a car loan this week. Thousands went to the bank and got a mortgage to buy a home. Students just back to college found banks more than happy to put them into hock for the next 15 years with a student loan. Life has gone on. Not a single person has lost any of their money if it's in a bank or a treasury note or a CD. And the most amazing thing is that the American public hasn't bought the scare campaign. The citizens didn't blink, and instead told Congress to take that bailout and shove it. THAT was impressive. Why didn't the population succumb to the fright-filled warnings from their president and his cronies? Well, you can only say 'Saddam has da bomb' so many times before the people realize you're a lying sack of shite. After eight long years, the nation is worn out and simply can't take it any longer.

10. CREATE A NATIONAL BANK, A "PEOPLE'S BANK." If we really are itching to print up a trillion dollars, instead of giving it to a few rich people, why don't we give it to ourselves? Now that we own Freddie and Fannie, why not set up a people's bank? One that can provide low-interest loans for all sorts of people who want to own a home, start a small business, go to school, come up with the cure for cancer or create the next great invention. And now that we own AIG, the country's largest insurance company, let's take the next step and provide health insurance for everyone. Medicare for all. It will save us so much money in the long run. And we won't be 12th on the life expectancy list. We'll be able to have a longer life, enjoying our government-protected pension, and living to see the day when the corporate criminals who caused so much misery are let out of prison so that we can help reacclimate them to civilian life -- a life with one nice home and a gas-free car that was invented with help from the People's Bank.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Call your Senators now. Here's a backup link in case we crash that site again. They are going to attempt their own version of the Looting of America tonight. And let your reps know if you agree with my 10-point plan.

Higher!

Wall Street Casino ...and McCain noshes while it burns.

The best I can say about Mr McCain Others -even old friends of his-- aren't so kind.

What does Sarah Palin have in common with Gray Davis?

Staunch conservative Carl Bernstein chimes in.

In 1963, New York city disc jockey Murray the K first played “She Loves You.”
In 1968, “Hey Jude” (the single) went #1, stayed there for nine weeks.
In 1978, Pope John Paul I was assassinated (poison) after 33 days as Pope, because he would not support the Vatican’s move into the banking industry. But you didn’t hear that from me.

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.