This is a must read from Reynolds.  Anyone who has ever worked inside a large financial institution knows that this is true.  If your monster corporation comes out with a new product that is inferior to the competition, we are told to sell the shit to our existing customers.  I still say that our almost uniform dishonesty is at the root of the current meltdown.  This is about our banks and mortgage companies.

My Supreme Court Justice Nominee

One of 420 hot babes smoking shit.......

Racial Blackmail---Los Angeles

The freak show that was the Michael Jackson "funeral" was paid for by Los Angeles, a city with no money. Even better, there is no record that anyone in the City Hall Left crowd approved any of it; not the 3000 overtime cops, not the Staples Center world wide advertising for itself, the cost of blocking off most of down town for the convenience of the 750,000 mourners who didn't show up, yada yada yada. We get to pay $4million out of our empty coffers in order to avoid a "racism" charge in spite of the fact that nobody; not war heroes, polio vaccine inventors, or even corrupt politicians, has ever been sent out to the Promised Land on the public dime. This was a gathering of Welfare advocates and Left Democrats who once again feasted at the public trough, this time to honor a creepy talent who "loved" children.

Helen Thomas Burps

Is Helen Thomas the "Mack" character in the children's story, Yertle the Turtle?, a story about a nothing named Mack who rocked Yertle's kingdom that had piled atop his back and was crushing him.

Yertle the Turtle? What kind of political statement could be there? "Yertle the Turtle" is a Dr. Suess kids book about this little turtle named Mack who "went along" and allowed all the other turtles to ride on his back because King Yertle wanted to rule from high up. The load got heavier and heavier and nobody said anything. Finally the stack atop little Mack got too heavy so the little guy burped, a happenstance that resuted in moving the turtle pile just a smidge. And when he moved the entire turtle stack came tumbling down along with King Yertle. Helen Thomas may have burped today when she confronted Obama's mouthpiece and the mouthpiece burped, ever so slightly, but it may bring down the king..

On the far-away island of Sala-ma-Sond,
Yertle the Turtle was king of the pond.
A nice little pond. It was clean. It was neat.
The water was warm. There was plenty to eat.
The turtles had everything turtles might need.
And they were all happy. Quite happy indeed.

They were… until Yertle, the king of them all,
Decided the kingdom he ruled was too small.
“I’m ruler”, said Yertle, “of all that I see.
But I don’t see enough. That’s the trouble with me.
With this stone for a throne, I look down on my pond
But I cannot look down on the places beyond.
This throne that I sit on is too, too low down.
It ought to be higher!” he said with a frown.
“If I could sit high, how much greater I’d be!
What a king! I’d be ruler of all that I see!”

So Yertle the Turtle King, lifted his hand
And Yertle, the Turtle King, gave a command.
He ordered nine turtles to swim to his stone
And, using these turtles, he built a new throne.
He made each turtle stand on another one’s back
And he piled them all up in a nine-turtle stack.
And then Yertle climbed up. He sat down on the pile.
What a wonderful view! He could see ‘most a mile!

“All mine!” Yertle cried. “Oh, the things I now rule!
I’m the king of a cow! And I’m the king of a mule!
I’m the king of a house! And, what’s more, beyond that
I’m the king of a blueberry bush and a cat!
I’m Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!”

And all through the morning, he sat up there high
Saying over and over, “A great king am I!”
Until ‘long about noon. Then he heard a faint sigh.
“What’s that?” snapped the king,and he looked down the stack.
And he saw, at the bottom, a turtle named Mack.
Just a part of his throne. And this plain little turtle
Looked up and he said, “Beg your pardon, King Yertle.
I’ve pains in my back and my shoulders and knees.
How long must we stand here, Your Majesty, please?”

“SILENCE!” the King of the Turtles barked back.
“I’m king, and you’re only a turtle named Mack.”

“You stay in your place while I sit here and rule.
I’m the king of a cow! And I’m the king of a mule!
I’m the king of a house! And a bush! And a cat!
But that isn’t all. I’ll do better than that!
My throne shall be higher!” his royal voice thundered,
“So pile up more turtles! I want ’bout two hundred!”

“Turtles! More turtles!” he bellowed and brayed.
And the turtles ‘way down in the pond were afraid.
They trembled. They shook. But they came. They obeyed.
From all over the pond, they came swimming by dozens.
Whole families of turtles, with uncles and cousins.
And all of them stepped on the head of poor Mack.
One after another, they climbed up the stack.

Then Yertle the Turtle was perched up so high,
He could see forty miles from his throne in the sky!
“Hooray!” shouted Yertle. “I’m the king of the trees!
I’m king of the birds! And I’m king of the bees!
I’m king of the butterflies! King of the air!
Ah, me! What a throne! What a wonderful chair!
I’m Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!”

Then again, from below, in the great heavy stack,
Came a groan from that plain little turtle named Mack.
“Your Majesty, please… I don’t like to complain,
But down here below, we are feeling great pain.
I know, up on top you are seeing great sights,
But down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights.
We turtles can’t stand it. Our shells will all crack!
Besides, we need food. We are starving!” groaned Mack.

“You hush up your mouth!” howled the mighty King Yertle.
“You’ve no right to talk to the world’s highest turtle.
I rule from the clouds! Over land! Over sea!
There’s nothing, no, NOTHING, that’s higher than me!”

But, while he was shouting, he saw with surprise
That the moon of the evening was starting to rise
Up over his head in the darkening skies.
“What’s THAT?” snorted Yertle. “Say, what IS that thing
That dares to be higher than Yertle the King?
I shall not allow it! I’ll go higher still!
I’ll build my throne higher! I can and I will!
I’ll call some more turtles. I’ll stack ‘em to heaven!
I need ’bout five thousand, six hundred and seven!”

But, as Yertle, the Turtle King, lifted his hand
And started to order and give the command,
That plain little turtle below in the stack,
That plain little turtle whose name was just Mack,
Decided he’d taken enough. And he had.
And that plain little lad got a bit mad.
And that plain little Mack did a plain little thing.
He burped!
And his burp shook the throne of the king!

And Yertle the Turtle, the king of the trees,
The king of the air and the birds and the bees,
The king of a house and a cow and a mule…
Well, that was the end of the Turtle King’s rule!
For Yertle, the King of all Sala-ma-Sond,
Fell off his high throne and fell Plunk! in the pond!

And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he,
Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And the turtles, of course… all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.

Story via Three Rivers, a Pittsburg Episcopal blog that's entertaining as hell.

NEW FIREFOX WARNING

Don't download to anything other than a file on your computer. In my case I've lost all sound, all YouTube and so on. AND YOU CAN'T CONTACT THE MOTHERFUCKERS......

POSTING THIS EMAIL. TAKE A READ

Times like these are too important for us not to hold government to the highest possible standards.

The House of Representatives is poised to take up debate on a health care bill in the coming weeks that will have a huge impact on each of our lives and our economy. The bad news is that if the last week is any example, it's not clear that we will even know what's in that bill. Indeed, it's not clear if even our representatives will have a chance to read the bill before they vote.

Whatever you think about the "Cap and Trade" bill that was passed by the House last week, or however you feel about health care reform, the process for considering legislation is not as transparent as we need it to be.

I'd bet you'd agree with us: Congress MUST read the bill and ensure that we, the public, have at least 72 hours to do the same.

http://readthebill.org

To be perfectly clear, I'm not here to argue the merits of energy or health care policy. But, I AM demanding that when Congress takes up such far-reaching issues, they MUST have a transparent process that doesn't just include lobbyists and Washington insiders.

The only way our demand is going to be heard is if we mobilize in large enough numbers that Congress can't ignore us. Already, *over 11,000 of you have signed our petition supporting a 72-hour rule, and we need 4,000 more to reach our goal of 15,000 before Congress goes on August recess.

Please join us and ask 3 other concerned friends to do the same. As we saw last week, what is happening in Congress is too important to let them make up their own minds about how they should operate. Unless we demand transparency and accountability, it sure doesn't look like they're going to give it to us.

http://readthebill.org

If you want to read more about what we learned through the Cap and Trade bill process, be sure to check out Paul Blumenthal's insights.

Be careful though; it may get you riled up.

You know what was most frustrating about the process? It's that for the last ten days our staff tried very hard to understand all that happened through the Cap and Trade bill, but nearly couldn't - which made me think about something else that happened last week.

On Friday, the House paid tribute to Michael Jackson in the middle of the debate on the House Floor. It just strikes me that if they really want to pay tribute, they can take a long look at the "man in the mirror," make a change, get this right, and Read the Bill.


Ellen


ps We'd love for any of you bloggers out there to join our Transparency Bloggers list-serve and help us raise awareness of what's going on with transparency in Congress. We need to be our own watchdogs on this, and your help is going to be critical. Sign up, and then send an intro email to the group: http://groups.google.com/group/transparency-bloggers

---

Michael...

The genius under the hat....


He was the culture for two decades. Almost everyone in pop tried to do what he was doing and failed. VH1 is showing nothing but Michael videos this weekend, calling attention to the fact that Network TV has reduced itself to simply an asterisk in a culture they helped create. Looking at the endless array of Michael Jackson videos today we can see that his talent was either that he was a dancer/mover, a singer, a musician, an extraordinary choreographer, or he just looked better in tight fitting clothes than any man on the planet. Or all of the above. I think he also hired the absolute best directors available, (check out "Black or White"), people who had a free reign to create their vision on the canvass known as Michael Jackson. Bob Fosse, the great choreographer (All That Jazz, Chicago, etc.), gave up dancing because he knew he couldn't be better than Fred Astaire. Lots of choreographers packed it in when they realized they could never be as good as Fosse.

More than just one really good singer of the 40s tried to imitate Sinatra and failed. Everyone tried to out do Astaire before they realized that Astaire looked better in a tux than any man alive and everyone else packed it in. Elvis wannabees still litter the music landscapes with their boring imitations. The Beatles expanded pop music to horizons nobody knew existed. But after all is said and done there are precious few in or out of show biz that can match the dazzling pyrotechnical creativity of Michael Jackson. He will not be remembered as a freak in white clown makeup, and thank God for that.

Take a look at VH1 today and be appropriately amazed. And if you check closely you'll realize that it was never the glove that was Jackson ID, it was the "hat." Nobody ever wore a hat in the ways that he did and his use of it was the most important feature of his visuals. RIP at last Michael

Emailer DF says this is the BEST CLEAN JOKE EVER

An Italian, a Scotsman and a Chinese man, are hired at a Construction site. The foreman points out a huge pile of sand.

He says to the Italian guy, 'You're in charge of sweeping.'

To the Scotsman he says, 'You're in charge of shoveling.'

And to the Chinese guy, 'You're in charge of supplies.'

He then says, 'Now, I have to leave for a little while. I expect you men to make a dent in that pile of sand.' So when the foreman returns after being away for a couple of hours the pile of sand is untouched. He asks the Italian, 'Why didn't you sweep any of it?'

The Italian replies, 'I no hava no broom. You saida to the Chinesea fella that he a wasa ina charge of supplies, but he hasa disappeared and I no coulda finda him nowhere.'

Then the foreman turns to the Scotsman and says 'And you, I thought I told you to shovel this pile.' The Scotsman replies, 'Aye, that ye did laddie, boot ah could nae get meself a shoovel. Ye left th' Chinese laddie in chairge of supplies, boot ah couldna fin' him neither.'

The foreman is really angry now.. He storms off toward the pile of sand to look for the Chinese gent.. Just then, the Chinese man leaps out from behind the pile of sand and yells,

" SUPPLIES!!!!

PBS Frontline has done the best Madoff analysis out there. Answers the question: who helped? Answer is that almost everybody who was anybody. Good stuff but the tape is about 40 minutes long......

A ton of art, interior decor, living spaces etc. at Cool Hunter, one of the best sites on the web. A full hour's worth of cool...

From Fabius Maximus

Perfidy: The act of violating faith or allegiance; violation of a promise or vow, or of trust reposed.

ABC News proudly announces what seems likely to be a betrayal of their public trust as journalists, joining the Obama Administration to produce propaganda supporting their proposal for health care reform. If that proves to be true, at least they are open about this – so Americans seeking real news can look elsewhere.

1. ABC news refuses to air paid ads during its White House health care presentation, the Drudge Report has learned, including a paid-for alternative viewpoint. (Source: Drudge Report)
2. Letter to ABC News from the Ken McKay (Chief of Staff to the Republican National Committee) protests this “glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda”, esp the refusal of ABC News to include any presentation by Republican Party leaders.
3. Response by Kerry Smith (SVP, ABC News) to the RNC letter — “no one watching, listening to, or reading ABC News will lack for an understanding of all sides of these important questions.”
4. An excellent analysis of this by Zenpundit: Well at Least We Know ABC is Immune to Intellectual Embarassment.

This is not about the health care crisis. It’s about people — including in this case, the executives of ABC News — willingness to throw away a key component of our system in order to push a government policy initiative. No matter how valuable that initiative, IMO this does not justify corruption of our already poorly functioning social mechanism for informing the American people about the world.

As usual, Fabius has a hell of a post......

INSIDE IRAN: It's The Godfather, Part IV

INSIDE IRAN: It's The Godfather, Part IV

With all the talk about the "election" in Iran, here's a little stop sign. You could call this piece, "It's the Mullahs, Stupid." Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the current PM, exists only at their pleasure and it was the Mullahs who allowed the election to turn out they way it has.

Here's the deal. Think Soviet Union in the last days dissolving to Yeltsen. Think crony capitalism, think criminals in charge of every business; police, a force of Hells Angels type motorcycle thugs called the Hezbollah militia working for the cops; the Revolutionary Guards who also work for the mullahs; and a secret police. The real power is a handful of clerics and their associates who call the shots behind the curtain and have gotten very rich in the process. These clerics have been getting rich running businesses given to them by Rafsanjani. The mullahs run things through murder and intimidation.

How they run Iran

After the 1979 revolution the mullahs seized virtually everything of value--banks, hotels, car and chemical companies, makers of drugs and consumer goods, and so on. What distinguishes Iran is that many of these assets were given to Islamic charitable foundations that are also controlled by the clerics.

According to businessmen and former foundation executives, the charities now serve as slush funds for the mullahs and their supporters.

What exists in Iran now is a dictatorship run by a a bunch of shadows, which are entities that are hidden from view; a shadow government that--the U.S. State Department suspects--finances terrorist groups abroad through a shadow foreign policy. Its economy is dominated by shadow business empires and its power is protected by a shadow army of enforcers.

Ostensibly, the country has been run by Rafsanjani for the past 24 years. He's an opportunist and very smart. He has "privatized" the economy by divvying up the spoils to loyalists, and like a Mafia Godfather, he takes pieces of everything. He has gotten very rich in the process.

It is the youth that is making the most noise right now, but don't confuse a rigged election with power. Here is the raw data on the Iranian population, an estimate from U.S. Census Bureau; U.S. Department of Labor.

Population IRAN 67 million; USA 283 million

Percent under 25: IRAN 65% USA 35%

GDP per capita: IRAN $1,800 USA $37,000

Inflation: IRAN 25% USA 2%

Unemployment: IRAN: 18% USA 4%

Iran is pretty rich, only nobody but family is getting the money.

The family owns: the country's largest copper mine; the state-owned TV network; a governor of Kerman province; an outfit that dominates Iran's $400 million pistachio export business; key positions in the Ministry of Oil; the Tehran Metro construction project (an estimated $700 million spent so far), every single one of them are Rafsinjani family members. Today, operating through various foundations (more later) and front companies, the family is also believed to control one of Iran's biggest oil engineering companies; a plant assembling Daewoo automobiles; and Iran's best private airline. Remember, all these better paid workers will be loyal to the government, the ones getting paid crap are ripe.

So guess why young people are pissed? They earn $1,800 per year while the Rafsanjani family, their secret police and other flunkies, together with their mullah buddies are multi millionaires and billionaires with wealth in real property all over the world. Anybody who reports this in the press is killed.

The balance of the economy is controlled by the Islamic foundations, which now sack the country and pocket the money too. They are just organized crime. If you get successful you are supposed to donate 20% of what you make to charity. The mullahs stop by and extort the money. Failure to "donate" will result in somebody saying you're a bad Muslim and you are tossed in jail. Don't think these "foundations" or "charities" are small time. One, The Mostazafan Foundation, employs up to 400,000 workers and has assets that in all probability exceed $10 billion. Among its holdings: the former Hyatt and Hilton hotels in Tehran; the highly successful Zam-Zam soft drink company (once Pepsi); an international shipping line; companies producing oil products and cement; swaths of farmland, as well as urban real estate.

Keep in mind that all these "employees" of all these criminal enterprises will be loyal to the government. Think the Baath loyalists in Iraq. Oh, don't forget that these "foundations" hire the thugs too.

So what you have is a mullahocracy of thugs with billions in business deals, and more billions in cash. They stand ready to spend what is necessary to stay in power. When push comes to shove they have always murdered to stay around.

The MSM would have you believe that a bunch of directionless kids marching in the streets without guns can throw these guys out; that there actually is such a thing as a real election. Do you believe it?

Nobody scares these guys; not countries, the UN, Third World jerk offs that they bribe, or the world media who they pay off too. They only fear the United States and until we really rattle the cage nothing will change.

The USA is going to have to figure a way to topple these billionaires and I think and hope we are working on it. Keep in mind we cut off Al Qaeda money and funding. We can do some real financial damage to these guys.

If we have the cajones......

1 comments:

rhuddan said...

Why Rafsanjani? How's his power different from Khomenei's and Ahmadinejad's? After all, they've all been "President" at some point so how has the divergence in their paths affected or reflected the power balance?

Fucking Apple: store close to my house was literally closed down by the crowds before opening. I have no idea about the size of the crowd or the sales but they were out in force with credit cards in hand. It's hard to believe that we are in the worst recession since 1931 with all the people ready to buy right now.