March 11, 2010

Tom Pauken's still a whiny bitch after all these years

I get that the Tribune is trying to fill some space and they're really trying to create discussion. But seriously, can we all agree that Tom Pauken is just too goddamn stupid to be given any opportunity to do anything other than go to my fucking cleaners and pick up my shirts?

This is the same fuckup who, as chair of the Texas Republican Party, got sidelined by that buttertroll Rove. Now, I know y'all think Rove is some sort of douche with a direct line to Satan, but in reality he can't do shit unless the other guy is crazy, stupid, completely incompetent or a combination of all of the above. Tom Pauken, just so you know, IS ALL OF THE FUCKING ABOVE.

Exhibit A

Fortunately, in my own state of Texas, Republican Gov. Rick Perry and the Republican-controlled Texas legislature have kept the growth of state spending at reasonable levels, tracking the rise of cost of living (the inflation index) and population growth. That was not the case, however, when George W. Bush was governor. Then, state spending grew far faster than inflation and population growth. Nor is that the case in many other states, which kept milking the cow of the productive private sector by imposing higher and higher taxes and spending more and more of the taxpayers’ money. Those high-tax states are feeling the pain, as companies and taxpayers, suffering from high taxes and the loss of good jobs, move elsewhere. Moreover, the drop in housing prices and the slowdown in the economy since 2007 means that many states are racking up even more debt to fund state government.

Tom, you can take your mouth off 39%'s dick now since he's already cashed his paycheck. This is bullshit chockablock with utter nonsense. How big a deficit are we going to run in the biennium? No one can say because our bright as a blacklight Comptroller keeps pushing out different numbers. However, we all know there will be one WHICH IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE ECONOMY IS IN RECESSION, PEOPLE ARE LOSING JOBS AND THE GOVERNMENT LOSES REVENUE. The government can't just magically stop spending, mostly because it provides essential services to people who didn't fucking disappear just because there is a recession and they can't pay their taxes. THAT is why when you're running surpluses, you don't cut taxes. Instead, you store up that cash to meet the needs you have down the road. That's what true conservatives do. Of course, Republicans have already ground through the surplus (which was smoke and mirrors anyway) AND still needed, what, $13 bn from the Feds? Wasn't it Perry, not too long ago, begging for more federal money from the Congressional delegation (so Schwarzenegger-esque) ?

On to Exhibit B

Even in an ostensibly low-tax state like Texas, many local taxing bodies have shown little fiscal restraint in recent years. The housing boom allowed many of these local governments to raise property taxes in a seemingly painless fashion through the “stealth tax” of skyrocketing appraisal values. Property-tax revenues rose ten percent or more annually without local governments actually raising the tax rate. Local officials could tell voters that they had not raised taxes since the tax rate hadn’t gone up, yet property-tax revenue grew from $9 billion in 1985 to $30 billion in 2004. That was approximately three times faster than the rate of inflation during the same period. Texas had the ninth-highest property taxes in the country until Governor Perry and the Texas legislature cut school property taxes by one third in 2006. Unfortunately, that set off a feeding frenzy among local taxing bodies, and a major portion of the education property tax cut was negated over the next three years.

I LOVE conservatives who don't know what the hell they're talking about but seem to want to talk at length in an effort to prove their ignorance. What Tommy doesn't realize because he's too stupid to get is that "the “stealth tax” of skyrocketing appraisal values" is nothing more than APPRECIATION. Ideally, when you buy an asset like, for example, real fucking property (aka, a house, Tom), it will increase in value over time. If the value of that asset is taxed, ideally it will be linked with your income so that an increase in the asset will also increase your income, easily enabling you to pay the higher tax. Of course, in Texas, wages have been essentially flat for more than 30 years (roughly about the time we elected that idiot old man, Clements), after adjusting for inflation. Meanwhile, house prices have gone up considerably. SEE THE PROBLEM? While you're still making basically the same $65k per year, your house is now worth 4 or 5 times what you paid for it and your taxes are 4 to 5 times higher.

Morons like Pauken wanted a cap on appraised value increases, as if a government could dictate such a measure. They did that in California and it's pretty much THE reason they're bankrupt. Well, that and the fact that their economy collapsed spectacularly because they allowed the kind of lending you can't do in Texas thanks to Democrats. Without those caps, property prices wouldn't have spiraled out of control.

What we need is a system of taxation that tracks income and population growth so we can pay for services (PUBLIC SAFETY, ROADS, SEWERS, SCHOOLS... you know, THAT STUFF) as all these new people come here. As it stands now, most new Texans don't pay dick for their first few years, but they sure as hell don't mind dropping the kids into public schools and clogging up the 35. And no, Tom, it ain't the 'messicans'. They pay a disproportionally high percentage of their income in taxes, something you and your conservatives-in-name-only would do well to remember the next time you moan and whine about how immigration is killing Texas.

Now we come to Exhibit C...

Unfunded pension liabilities at the local and state levels present another huge problem that most Americans do not even know exists. Shad Rowe, the former chairman of the Texas Pension Review Board, calls it a “time bomb.” The people who should care are taxpayers, “but they don’t know anything about it,” Mr. Rowe said in an interview with the Dallas Morning News. A report released in March 2009 revealed that the Texas Teachers Retirement Fund had unfunded liabilities of more than $40 billion as a result of the stock-market and hedge-fund collapse of 2008.

To paraphrase the immortal words of Dan Ackroyd, Tom you ignorant slut. TRS has been underfunded since before the meltdown and credit crisis, mostly because the Republican lege hasn't paid it's share. Oh, and those cola's you're whining about also aren't the problem, at least in TRS where the beneficiaries haven't even received one since 1995, you scumbag. And keep in mind, MOST of the money in TRS came from educators. It's their money and your buddy 39%'s appointees went and lost a bunch of it, then blamed it first on 9/11 and now on the Bush Credit Crisis.

It's profoundly insulting, Tom, for you to blame the innocent retirees who have tried to block some of the more damaging decisions at TRS. Every teacher in this state deserves far more than we give them and all you stupid Republicans can do is think of how best to blame them for your screw ups and deny them the retirement benefits they've earned. Think I'm lying? Not so much, as it turns out.

I'll leave you with this bon mot

Our motto needs to be, “Let’s do more with less.”

No, our motto needs to be, "Let's stop listening to old, stupid asshats and put the economy back on a more traditional footing which allows everyone to prosper."

Go fuck yourself, Tom Pauken, you obnoxious, detestable piece of shit.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 10, 2010

Ain't this just some bullshit

Apparently, there is some asinine petition from people calling themselves 'Senate Conservatives'. The first thing that told me this was a group of crazies is that they have selected for their leader well known liar and crazy deficit spender Sen. Jim DeMint.

The second thing was that they decided to endorse Michael Williams for Senator. Which is funny since he has absolutely no shot in hell since there will be some white Republican who will probably be their standard bearer. But enough about Elizabeth Ames Jones.

So, yeah, they're crazy. And their leader is saying this...

“Michael Williams is the Democrat Party’s worst nightmare. He’s a principled, outspoken conservative who will fight to stop the massive spending, bailouts and takeovers that have destroyed millions of jobs and piled a mountain of debt on our children and grandchildren,” said Senator DeMint.

Wait, wait, wait Senator DeMint. The country was losing jobs BEFORE President Obama took office. In fact, the economy you, your fellow Republicans and President W gave us was nothing more than a shell game with little job and wage growth, massive wealth concentration and, of course, a doubling of the national debt. The recession that was the direct result of Conservative folly (spending while cutting taxes on the rich and fuck the middle class) would have been a depression were it not for the Democrats and few Republicans who voted to save this nation, not let it sink into the oblivion. AND NOW YOU WANT TO BLAME YOUR MISTAKES ON DEMOCRATS??!?! Not so much, dickhead, but it's a super try. Oh, and Jim, it was President W that gave us TARP, not President Obama. Of course, left out of all this is the very real fact that TARP actually did help save us all from ruin.

In other news, 39% gave Senator Hutchison (whose campaign made Tony Sanchez look like the best.candidate.evah!) all the political cover she needed to stay in the Senate. Which sucks because that means three more years until we can finally get John Sharp sworn in.

Hey, if we have to have a conservative, let's at least have one that actually knows how to balance the books. It's clear Jim DeMint doesn't.

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February 18, 2010

Ugh, the mail...

There is literally nothing I love about primary season. For one thing, it's a chance for some asshat wannabe to run for office and screw around with the candidate who can actually, you know, WIN IN NOVEMBER. But what I REALLY hate, with the heat and intensity of the accretion disk of a black hole, about primaries are the mailers. Seriously, I get it but could we please keep them to a postcard format? Do they really need to be the size of damn place setting? Case in point, the oversize piece of shit I got from Scott Field who is running for a seat on the Third Court of Appeals. When I first saw it, I glanced at the logo and the obligatory pic of him with the family in a field of bluebonnets (it do SCREAM Texas, don't it) and thought (no joke) 'Uh, moron... is anyone running against you? Why the hell are sending out mail in the primary?'

I then shoved it in my bag and pulled it out just now while searching for a credit card bill. This time I took a little more notice of it and realized two things.

1) Scott has a hella bad stupidcut. Scott, if you're listening, the lady who cuts my hair is Amy Tsai. You shoot me an email and I'll throw you her number.

2) SCOTT IS A REPUBLICAN. Running against Melissa Goodwin for the REPUBLICAN NOMINATION FOR THE SEAT. This jumped out at me because I'm not a Republican.

Seriously, Scott, whoever did your mail sucks ass. You spent money sending a campaign piece to a quad D. I would have crawled into Randalls yesterday on a leg that had just broken as the result of a tragic accident involving me, a dump truck and Charo to vote early in the Democratic Primary. Which brings me to the point of this little post... if you're a Republican within one of the counties that make up the Third Court of Appeals, VOTE FOR MELISSA GOODWIN. At least she wasn't dumb enough to send a damn mail piece to me.

Oh, and just FYI... Kurt Kuhn is going to win this seat. You may as well give up now.

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February 17, 2010

Hank's spot on... as usual!

In response to the sideshow from the Three Stooges of Texas yesterday, Hank released this...

The announcement yesterday that Governor Perry, AG Abbott and Commissioner Staples have decided to waste taxpayer funds on a futile fight that was settled more than a year ago by the Supreme Court is more than unfortunate, it’s an inexcusable waste of money we don’t have since we are facing a budget, largely the responsibility of these men, that will be in deficit in the next biennium to the tune of $15-20 billion.

More than a year ago the US Supreme Court ruled that the EPA needed to regulate CO2 which makes this legal action a waste of taxpayer money on an election year stunt. The idea that this will somehow hurt Texas agriculture is a laughable one that only someone like Todd Staples could dream up. In point of fact, Texas stands to gain substantially from bioenergy production and refining. What’s been missing is a Commissioner of Agriculture who has the vision to see the future and prepare for it. Finally, to say that the EPA made its decision based solely on information from the IPCC is an outright lie, even bigger than the one Governor Perry told about people getting property tax relief and the story about the death of the TTC.

Texas needs leadership on this issue and this troika is instead providing ideological arguments on a scientific issue already settled by the courts.

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February 10, 2010

I stand corrected

A couple of days ago I implied that a now-famous image from the Perry-Palin-Patrick Three Ring Cirque d'Insanity looked like a product of Photoshop.

Since then, other pictures showing the sign have emerged so it now seems that the photo is genuine.

Excellent!

This just leaves me with two lingering questions.

First, given that the teapartiers often make reference to Original Intent, what was the phrase on the sign actually meant to be? Homeschooler? Or Homescholar?

Second (and maybe most intriguing), does the person who made the sign know that they're responsible for creating an instantly classic image of wingnut stupidity?

Posted by mayor mcsleaze at 10:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 08, 2010

Nugepocalypse: The Aftermath

Here's a short, somewhat snarky review of yesterday's Meeting of the Mindless in Houston town. The best part? That "Homescholers For Perry" sign doesn't look photoshopped at all.

Posted by mayor mcsleaze at 02:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 03, 2010

Rep. Brady with the stupid...

It's always good that the Republican caucus gives even their c-team the chance to go out on the field. It's super big of them and, well, reminds us all that there's someone standing up for stupid in Congress.

Today, it was Representative Kevin Brady who was interviewed by Bloomberg and decided to throw President Obama, Democrats and their mutual puppetmasters, the ever evil Unions, for not creating jobs by not passing weak trade deals negotiated by the weakest of all possible weak sisters, President George W. Bush. In point of fact, any time you hear Kevin say something is good, do some research. Today, he thinks we should pass a trade agreement with South Korea, despite the fact that it opens US markets to their companies far more than it opens their markets to our companies.

Kevin thinks we should pass it anyway since it would give us access to their markets (which people smarter than Kevin say won't happen) and made some demonstrably false claim about the Europeans selling stuff in S Korea like it was going out of style. Which they really aren't. He completely glossed over the fact that S Korea has a long, rich history of dumping products from cars to memory chips in the United States, bankrupting our manufacturers, and engaging in the kind of currency manipulation that would make a money launderer blush.

Of course I'm not the only one saying this is a piss poor deal...

A high-ranking Korean official recently admitted to me that the conclusion of the free trade deal between the U.S. and Korea would not result in any significant increase in U.S. exports to Korea.

Some are warning that the recent conclusion of a free-trade deal between the European Union and Korea will put the U.S. at a disadvantage in the Korean market. I'm not very worried about this. The Europeans are unlikely to gain much benefit from the deal and I'd be willing to bet that Korean exports to the EU will climb much more rapidly than EU exports to Korea.

Kevin, bubba, boneheaded decisions like this will put this entire country in the crapper. You're so willing to score cheap political points, you'll sell out your own constituents to do it. That's pretty fucking shameful.

Of course, if you really meant what you said then you need to resign from Congress. You're clearly too goddamn stupid to be there and Americans can't afford to have you running around fucking up the economy which is what your opinions and ideas will do.

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January 29, 2010

Three oh so very stupid people

I don't hate all Republicans. I don't even dislike all of them or think they're all stupid. But a very large number of R elected officials are, well, pretty fucking stupid. Recently I've started to actually think that Rep. Hensarling is coming out of his ideological shell and has finally realized that maybe a large part of what he's believed is, well, bullshit. It's always nice when people start acting like leaders instead of partisan hacks.

However, Jeb is kinda unique in the R caucus. There's still Rep. Gohmert from Tyler who, no shit, is worried that if DADT is repealed, he's going to be in a fox hole and some Teh Gay is going to try to make out with him. I think the motherfucker either doesn't own a mirror or, if he does, has somehow deluded himself into thinking he's irresistible to gay men. Here's what he looks like...

Louie, bubba, ain't nobody looking to hook up with you. I would be willing to bet even your wife makes you wear a paper bag to bed.

And of course, there are the three dipshits Belo decided to waste airtime on Friday night at 7 pm. I really don't have the mental energy to recap the whole stupid thing, especially since I've other things to do. However, here are a few of the things I noticed...

1) Hutchison finally was able to explain, if a little slowly, how that 2005 law Perry likes to tout actually makes it easier to force the conversion of free roads to toll roads. She did a clumsy job of explaining CDAs which isn't surprising because she supports them out of one side of her mouth, then criticizes Perry for them out of the other. Her answer on TXDOT funding was simply abysmal. No meat, no substance, no real solutions. She's old and tired.

2) Perry has officially lost the crazy crown. Well, kinda. His denial that his slush fund has been anything other than a failure actually prompted laughter from the people watching here. If this were a guy under psych eval, he'd be classified as massively delusional, probably as the result of a recent psychotic break. Someone get this mofo some thorazine, stat!

3) When you were in high school, you probably fell in love with Ayn Rand. You probably had friends that did the same. You also, by graduation, fell out of love with Ayn Rand and realized she was neither a brilliant philosopher nor a great writer. You figured out that she was over simplistic, sexually submissive, rather dull and unimaginative. Most of your friends did as well, except for one chick who was a lot like Rand. Debra Medina was that chick. She's a nurse turned small business woman who has made her living off medical billing which has absolutely nothing to do with the government. A government takeover of health care wouldn't be good for Debra Medina AT ALL. In fact, it would put her little parasitic business right out. Don't you love people who rail against the government yet are sucking off it's teat? Don't you also love people who've read just enough on a subject to make themselves look REALLY stupid when they discuss it with people who know far more? Like her AWESOME sales tax idea? Yeah. Fuckity nice that.

Frankly, the rest of the thing was pretty stupid. The Q&A was, well, like an episode of Jeopardy and largely useless in an age where the candidate, if they ever needed to know who the VERY FIRST GOVERNOR OF TEXAS WAS could look up J Pinckney Henderson (for whom Henderson County is named, just FYI) in less than 60 seconds. Even on a 2G mobile phone using T9. Kinda reminded me of this bit of ass at the Statesman that was really little more than Ken Herman playing LET'S BE A DICK TO THE LITTLE BROWN GUY WHO TALKS FUNNY BY ASKING QUESTIONS THE ANSWERS TO WHICH I WIKI'D 5 MINUTES BEFORE THE INTERVIEW. Dork.

The debate was a predictable waste of time. The panel did a great job for what it was... these were good, inquisitive, professional minds who were tasked with being panelists for a debate between liars and fools.

It's a lot like, I would assume, being a brilliant director forced by a studio to do a kids movie with dogs and cats.

Just FYI, I'm doing some policy work for Shami who is actually much smarter than Ken Herman. I feel pretty certain of that. It's also one of the reasons I've not been writing a lot about Shami on the blog. However, that little lynching on the Statesman's website deserved comment. I look forward to seeing Herman shoot similar gotcha footage with the other candidates.

Posted by mcblogger at 11:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 18, 2010

Defining irony...

In what is truly one of the more comical things to come out from the R side the primary, Sen. Hutchison has decided to come out in favor of term limits. This is, of course, funny because she made a promise to voters in 1994 to only serve two terms in the US Senate, a promise she broke in 2006.

39%'s campaign said something retarded about it and the comedy was lost. But still, for a briefly shining moment, something funny happened. And then a moron who works with other morons chimed in.

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January 14, 2010

A collection of incompetent retards

A few notes on the Republican Debate

1) KBH - No one aborts as child as it's being born. Just doesn't happen.
2) Perry - REALLY?!?!?! You love DoD? Come on, Governor... you also love Medicare and Medicaid or at least the part that comes from the Feds. Also, you were begging for TARP to pass. Quit lying you tan douchebag.
3) Medina - Your knowledge of the US Constitution is about as good as an aardvarks. Seriously, you don't know what you're talking about, especially when it comes to enumerated vs implied powers.

What's their answer to create jobs? CUT TAXES. Which is pretty stupid since the marginal utility of doing that would be bupkiss. REALLY. Not to mention that we couldn't fund schools or any public service (like DPS) or build roads. Debra goes one further into the crazy and wants to eliminate property taxes which, just FYI, has been the way primary way this state funded itself since it's inception. She wants to replace it with a sales tax. Dave Montgomery asked her how that would affect the poor (since, you know, a sales tax disproportionately effects the poor) and she said that it would create jobs and, I guess, magically eliminate the poor. Without educating them since there wouldn't be enough money for schools. Thanks a bunch for playing Debra Medina, RN (and also economist and Constitutional scholar).

And 39%... no one, not one of these assholes, called bullshit on the fact that we have the highest insurance rates int he country. And electricity rates. And teen pregnancy rates.

A collection of abject failures, incompetents and a fuckall crazy is what I watched Thursday night talking to one another. A complete goddamn waste of time.

Posted by mcblogger at 08:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

In anticipation of the R debate...

... Wayne Slater at the DMN put out this lovely column about some funny moments from debates past. I think he was especially nice about Kinkhole's performance in the 2006 Gubernatorial debate when he was basically a drooling slob (in other words, he was himself).

Make sure you check your local listings for the debate tonight. Here in Austin, it's on at 7 on KVUE and News8. And I've already put some money on Medina to thoroughly fuck things up for the other two clowns.

Posted by mcblogger at 04:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 11, 2010

Mary Peters takes a job in the private sector. Finally.

Apparently, TXDOT is hosting some sort of event that gives them time to jerk off their favorite toll companies and contractors. This time they even pulled in Bush Transportation Secretary Mary Peters...

Under Gov. Rick Perry, Texas emerged as the leader among states in pursuing private toll roads but that momentum was halted last year, when the Legislature allowed the legal authority for most private toll roads in Texas to lapse.

"That moratorium on public private partnerships should be removed," she said. "The state of Texas should put that in abeyance. Restoring (private toll roads) here in Texas could show the federal government that you are really serious about tackling your own transportation problems."

No one, including our intrepid reporter at the DMN (Michael, buddy, I'm not letting you turn into Ben Wear... you gotta man up and start REALLY blogging), even bother to call bullshit on this. PPP's are NOT a good solution for transportation funding for a couple of reasons

1) Private companies can not, ever, raise debt as cheaply as a state. Period. Which automatically means the cost of any project undertaken by a PPP will be more expensive than anything the state will do.

2) These projects are contracted under provisions designed to take most of the risk off the project (and put it on the taxpayer) through forbidding or penalizing improvements to alternate routes and off the private partner (and put it on the taxpayer) by limiting their losses, limiting their percentage of the capital structure (usually to less than that of the state) and guaranteeing a profit to the private partner.

3) In the end, indexing the fuels tax will take care of inflation in construction and maintenance costs and allow the costs to be spread more equitably. In contrast, tolls are not only regressive (harder on the poor than the rich) they are abusive.

Add it all up and 'innovative solutions' like public private partnerships are the most expensive funding solution available for transportation. So, it's curious why old Mary (despite the fact that she really doesn't have all that great a background in banking... she's never worked in finance, only as a bureaucrat in Arizona and Washington, DC). I guess it really shouldn't come as a surprise that SHE'S WORKING FOR A COMPANY THAT STANDS TO BENEFIT FROM PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS (good catch, Michael)

Zachry American Infrastructure, in partnership with ACS, was chosen by TxDOT as the Master Developer for Interstate 69 in Texas. Zachry American Infrastructure partnered with Cintra to form SH 130 Concession Company, which is developing SH 130 segments 5 and 6.

Peters is now a paid consultant -- or "senior adviser" -- to Zachry American Infrastructure, a private toll road (and other infrastructure) developer affiliated with Zachry Construction, a Texas construction company founded in 1924. TxDOT tapped the infrasture development firm to provide a master plan for Interstate 69 in Texas, and the company joined with Cintra to develop SH 130 in Austin.

According to Peters, we need to repeal the moratorium to show DC we're interested in fixing our own problems and following the Federal lead to PPP's. Problem is, the tide is shifting in DC on PPP's. Everyone knows this could well be the next asset bubble to pop up and no one in anxious for that. Nevermind that how expensive these 'partnerships' are for taxpayers.

We're CERTAIN this is all Mary is concerned about. We're quite sure that there is no way her opinion is being influenced by the fact that she and her employer stand to take (not make) a bunch of money off taxpayers and the government officials (Hey TXDOT!) dumb enough to buy the snake oil they're selling.

Posted by mcblogger at 08:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 06, 2010

Fuck Kay, 39% and you, too.

Goddamn if the stupid doesn't just make me want to bury someone up to their neck in cement, cover their head in peanut butter and birdseed and let the birds have a snack. I get that there are stupid people in the world, but I hate opinionated ignorance more than anything else, except maybe American Idol and those ass orange sours that Judson Candies makes.

And here, friends, is some motherfucking opinionated ignorance.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not for Kay. I think she's losing it mentally, like borderline Alzheimers. Frankly, I don't care who wins the R primary because we can beat any of the candidates who've filed on that side. Even White can beat them. However, this bullshit excuse making about Perry just pisses me off.

First off, this bill that kept existing roads from being tolled was mostly bullshit... When Krusee and Staples shoved through 3588 (the bill that established the legal framework for the TTC and selling our roads) they fucked up on a few things. Much of that got 'fixed' in 05. The brilliant part about the 'local election' is that you're basically doing this with a gun to your head. TXDOT comes to you and says 'you either vote for this or you get no road or improvements'. When the mafia does something like that, it's illegal. What Staples, Krusee and 39% (as well as EVERY OTHER REPUBLICAN WHO VOTED FOR THIS) did is give TXDOT a gun and tell them to go use it on their constituents.

New lanes built within existing right of way could be tolled. Even more exciting, it could be wrapped into a CDA and effectively sold to a private company and you'd never know the details of that contract. Like the details that say the existing road has to be downgraded to a frontage road or the ones that say no road that runs even remotely parallel to the toll road can be upgraded or repaired.

Does Kay's ad suck? Oh, yeah. Unbelievable amounts of smelly ass. But it's not altogether wrong... our tax dollars paid for the ROW being used RIGHT NOW by SH 45, 1, 130 and roads in Harris County and North Texas. Future roads built within existing ROW can be tolled and even CDA'd through the newest bastard invention of the fucktard Houghton, pass through toll financing. Pay special attention to the fact that the 'private partner' assumes little to no risk and puts up very little of the capital raised by these 'innovative tools'. Remember, when you hear a Republican talk about Tolls, CDA's Public-Private Partnerships, Pass Through Financing or Innovative Financing Tools, it all means the exact same thing... CORPORATE WELFARE and a way to funnel your tax dollars to a private company.

One thing I'll say for progressive bloggers is that when our people fuck up, we call them on it. We don't get on our knees, unzip their pants and take their cocks into our mouths. Which is exactly what Republican bloggers, over and over again, keep fucking doing. What kind of a Texan makes excuses for people like Staples, Krusee, 39%?!?!?!?

Posted by mcblogger at 11:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 30, 2009

KBH's Transportation Plan FAIL

Anyone who expected guts or integrity from Senator Hutchison simply has to be disappointed by her Transportation Plan. In short, it's all a bunch of damn bullshit which comes as a huge surprise. Right up there with 39% going teabagging.

Posted by mcblogger at 02:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 29, 2009

Sen. KBH to unveil plan that sucks balls today

Sen. Hutchison will unveil her Transportation plan (with, hopefully, the funding piece) today in Dallas. The DMN had some good questions for her...

But the big questions in Texas are the ones that have dividing state leaders for years:

1) Are transportation planners and leaders like Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, right when they say Texas' fast-growing population requires enormous investments in new roads and bridges?

2) If so, how do we pay for those new projects, especially in our busiest cities, when the costs of simply maintaining the aging and growing system we already have continues to rise? New taxes? More toll roads by public entities willing to borrow billions? Capital from private firms willing to build them?

3) Is Texas wise in favoring roads over rail to such a large extent? And if something should change here, how quickly and with what money?

4) Finally, if the money is too tight at the state level, should local governments be allowed to ask their citizens to vote on new, local tax increases and fees to fund local roads?

We'll know soon enough tomorrow morning, given her other stops, and we'll report back here. Feel free to weigh in now with your thoughts and predictions, and with your feedback tomorrow.

OK, so you need to know that this is rolling at 3:25 this afternoon meaning that other than blogs, there won't be much coverage of this for a day or so. Which means she's not particularly comfortable with the plan and neither she nor her staff know the numbers well enough. To be honest, even if it's unalloyed anti-Perry goodness I'll still be asking why they didn't wait until they were a little more solid and could pull more coverage. Bad press hit planning, IMHO... but it really shouldn't surprise me since the MO of Hutchison's campaign has been incompetence wrapped in abject stupidity.

Meanwhile, nothing from Shami or Bill White yet on this. I know Shami is working on his because of friends working with the campaign and I'm sure White's folks are as well. Word of advice to the D's... just copy Hank's plan. There was a reason the press didn't rip it to shreds, it was solid as rock and I've seen the polling on increasing the gas tax. The privatization hit on Perry is BRUTALLY effective, by the way.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 10, 2009

Please, 39%, stop embarassing us!!

Granted, no one reads the Washington Times except Moonies and really, really stupid, but it's still a publication that gets cached on the web and simple searches reveal, once again, our Governor fully out of his depth...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday compared President Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, just months after being elected, to a freshman winning college football's Heisman Trophy.

"It raised a few eyebrows," said Mr. Perry, a Republican facing reelection. "And we'll just leave it at that."

Mr. Perry said Mr. Obama was elected in November amid great enthusiasm, but his efforts to reform U.S. health-care and limit carbon emissions have failed and are too costly.

"He is an amazingly popular president," he said onThe Washington Times' "America's Morning News" radio show."Most Americans, whether they agreed politically, were proud to elect an African American. But hope and change is all over with. Now we have to look at the policy."

Mr. Perrysaid passing the health-care reform legislation now on Capitol Hill "would bedevastating" in terms of consumer costs, limiting access to care and dissuading young people from becoming doctors.

"I think you're going to see a deterioration in medicine," he said.

Mr. Perry said U.S. cap-and-trade legislation on carbon emissions in based on "shoddy if not fraudulent evidence" that will cost the average Texas family $1,100 to $1,200 more a year.

"It means nothing more than higher costs for energy and losing jobs," he said.

Will these people never get over the 2008 election? I mean, even the most die-hard liberal is over Bush, but these people are going to be bitching about President Obama well into the 22nd century. You'll also notice that his typical bullshit negative arguments have changed recently... he's dropped the shit about the 'debt increases' and 'the failed stimulus'. Two reasons... 1) George Bush and Perry's fellow Republicans increased the debt far more than the Democrats and 2) The stimulus is finally arresting job losses and we're on a major upswing as confidence returns and the financial system returns to normal.

Now it's all about health care (he's lying here, by the way... a publicly run insurer will do nothing but hurt private insurance companies that are some of Perry's biggest contributors and whom have been squeezing Texans for decades) and Cap and Trade, about which he's also lying.

Posted by mcblogger at 02:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Talkin' some shit with Ted Delisi

As a Republican strategist, it's really gotta suck to live in Travis County. Maybe that explains Ted Delisi's oh-so-dour column about the prospects of Democrats next year. I mean, when you're living in an area that's thoroughly Democratic, economically vibrant and entrepreneurial, it's gotta be depressing. Austin is pretty far from anyone's idea of a Randian paradise but it IS pretty damn close (traffic aside) to most people's idea of an urban paradise.

It's also pretty close, economically, to what the rest of the state desperately wants... especially the rural areas and suburbs where people have been hit hard by a recession Republicans don't even think is really happening. Democrats have had neither the money or the message to carry to these areas a problem which is changing. This year.

The funniest thing about Ted's opinion is just how clueless it shows him to be about the state of affairs in his own party. If the Teabaggers were a party of their own, they'd outpoll Republicans. Which means that sterling Texas Republican brand is looking pretty tarnished right now. Couple that with a rapidly improving economy (thanks to a stimulus plan Republicans stupidly said wouldn't work... and have done everything in their power to make sure wouldn't) and more aggressive D strategy and you have the ingredients for a shift next year that'll put many Republicans on unemployment.

Sure, it'll take a lot of hard work, planning, some great candidates and a little luck. All of which seems to be falling into place for the Democrats this year. They already rid themselves of deadweight (so long, Chuckles) and now, not being in a position where they have to defend losers, they're positioned to mount a broad offensive.

Ted would realize all that if he wasn't doing his best imitation of a French general by solidly focusing on the past.

Posted by mcblogger at 11:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 09, 2009

Hopson (R - Traitor) files

Rep. Hopson filed for re-election as a Republican on the 7th which means there's now something else horrible that occurred on that day to distract us from the painful memory of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The write up in the Jacksonville Progress (attributed to Special, which usually means someone who loves the subject of the story wrote the story. So, yeah, it was probably Chuckles himself) was really funny but then it went right off the rails...

Also joining Cornyn at the mid-November press conference were new Republican Texas House Speaker Joe Straus and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples. Straus endorsed Hopson as “an outstanding public servant with integrity and commitment to conservative values.”

Staples said Hopson was following the path of other rural conservative Democrats who became Republicans, including Perry, former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, former Railroad Commissioner Kent Hance.

LOOKIT, this is important! Like when the crazy scientist finds the government official near the beginning of a Roland Emerich movie and explains that some disaster is rapidly approaching. YES, that kind of important.

One press conference in East Texas featured Sen. John Cornyn, Ag Commissioner Staples (who's going to get thoroughly pwn'd by Hank Gilbert) and Rep. Chuck Hopson! Don't you see? We narrowly escaped the formation of a black hole of suck which would have completely decimated the Piney Woods and, possibly, ALL LIFE ON EARTH. Only the lameness of Speaker Strauss, I'm speculating, averted disaster by providing a counterbalance to the malevolent stupidity of the other three.

In other news, Sen. Hutchison also filed to get stomped* by 39% and released a stupid statement about eminent domain restrictions that Farm Bureau wrote for her but which really won't do anything. I'm sure the D candidates in the Governor's race will take some time to beat her up about that.

*Just for little Matty and the fucktards over at the RPT (Hey Cathie, Bry-guy!), I'm using stomped figuratively. I do not actually think 39% will step on her. He'd probably like to, but I think she'd beat him up if he tried. And yeah, I totally think Hutchison could beat up 39%.

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December 08, 2009

What Republicans actually are good at...

Apparently, in an effort to show they're good at something other than fucking up the state and pissing off bloggers who really, really dislike them already and really, really LOVE making fun of how weak and stupid they are, they've now moved to pissing up the legs... drumroll, please... of Hispanics!

It's really very exciting to see Republicans embracing the 'open tent, open door' policy championed by Cathie Adams who knows all about that from the Eagle Forum where they simply love any diverse group of white people.

For all you budding Matt Lewis' and Bryan Preston's out there, I'm not saying the Republicans are literally pissing up the legs of people. It's Texan for angering people. I certainly hope your precious little virgin eyes haven't been strained by my horrible, obscene language and heartfelt desire to make fun of a bunch of racist crackers who are too stupid to realize that they're upsetting people THAT SUPPORT THEM.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 07, 2009

What a little candyass...

Well, Cathie and mooks over at the RPT tried to make hay on Friday. I wrote this in response and this little candyass referred to the post today with what I certainly hope is affected indignation...

The reference about "bloodying-up" Cathie is especially disturbing. Cathie Adams, of course, is the new Chairwoman of the Texas Republican Party.

Matt Lewis, for those of you who don't know, is some nancy halfwit from Virginia so you'll have to forgive him for not understanding Texan. Matty, 'bloodying up' is when you go on the attack in a political fight. It's a figure of speech like 'kick your ass'. So, don't worry... Cathie's in no physical danger. Her agenda to screw over Texans, however, is very much in danger.

Reached on the telephone, Republican Party of Texas Communications Director Bryan Preston had this to say: "The issue here is we have a blogger who repeatedly posts obscene material, and Bill White is advertising on their website. Is this the kind of political rhetoric that Bill White finds acceptable?

Brian, obscene? Like dumping a couple of hundred thousand kids off their insurance? Like underfunding schools? Like allowing insurance companies to rape the citizens of the state at will? Like allowing the electric companies to charge the most expensive rates in the country AND make it easy for them to pollute our air and water?

Shit, Brian... I could take a lesson from y'all. You guys have obscene down in a way that I can only hope to imitate one day. In comparison, the question of whether or not Rick Perry has a dildo that may (or may not) have been up his ass kinda looks sad. At least on the obscenity scale.

Oh, and y'all need to man up... this is Texas, not Virginia. Quit being a bunch twunts with all the whining about being mean. We haven't even really STARTED to be mean to y'all.

Posted by mcblogger at 03:47 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

December 06, 2009

Staples, you're such a douche

On Friday, within an hour of Hank Gilbert's announcement he was moving to the Ag Commissioner's race, Todd Staples tweeted this out...

After losing the ag race, losing in a local election & a deceptive run for gov, Hank Gilbert now says he is going to run for ag comm again

Team Gilbert, never missing a beat, was out with this shortly afterward...

@Todd_Staples One thing about losing a race, it makes you smarter the next time out. Welcome to the fight, Commissioner.

And now, because he's a chickenshit douchebag, Staples has banned a number of D's, including yours truly and Phillip Martin from @BOR. And it didn't go unnoticed.

Just so you know, Staples outspent Hank 22:1 in 2006. Pretty easy to win an election with those kinds of resources. The question now is how far the tables will turn... We already know Hank IS raising money and will continue to do so, straight through the primary and into the general. That, coupled with his high name ID due to his work opposing freeway privatization and championing private party right (two things Staples led on... in the opposite direction), means Staples has got a far more significant problem than many have realized.

I would wish the Commissioner good luck but we all know that would be disingenuous. It wouldn't matter anyway...

Posted by mcblogger at 04:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 04, 2009

Stay out of it, bitches...

The RPT, in response to this, tweeted this.

To Cathie and all our friends over at the RPT, you want to stay out of this. We'll bloody you up soon enough and you really don't want a premature boot (or Gucci slip on as the case is today) up your ass.

Don't think we can't do it, Cathie. You're playing in the big leagues now.

Posted by mcblogger at 01:04 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 03, 2009

I may not like Bernanke but I like the R's even less

I'm watching the super fun Senate confirmation hearing for Fed Chair Ben Bernanke. Aside from the par payouts on the CDS (Credit Default Swaps) written by AIG (many of which were lottery tickets), he's done a decent job or, at least, as decent a job as anyone could have done. The reality is that many of the problems we faced were created by Congress, not the Fed and certainly not Bernanke. That's not to say he didn't screw up or that mistakes weren't made. However, all things being equal, we aren't in the middle of a depression and that's what we were looking at a little over a year ago.

Watching Senators Bunning and Bennett (R-UT) pontificate makes me actually like Bernanke. First off, there's Bennett whining about inflation and 'Carter's inflation' in the 1970's that finally ended thanks to Paul Volcker and President Reagan. Of course, Sen. Bennett's kind of a moron. He didn't realize that it was actually President Nixon, through his control of then Fed Chair Arthur Burns who kept expansionary monetary policy in place despite pressures that were clearly building in the economy. And it was Carter's appointee to the Chair, Paul Volcker, who broke inflation, not President Reagan. Reagan's policies had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Then there's Senator Bunning. Bunning was pissed about the par payouts on the CDS contracts without even understand the terms of those contracts which really is the far bigger issue. As for the payout, Bernanke's hands actually were tied... the only way to renegotiate the payout on the contracts would have been for AIG to go into bankruptcy. Given the aftershocks of Lehman (a total freeze of the credit markets and the complete breakdown of structure finance, eliminating more than $5 trillion from the US banking system), that was wholly undesirable. If the contracts hadn't been paid at par, the creditors would have forced AIG into bankruptcy and the result would have been disaster.

That ain't the whole story, though. These contracts weren't just insurance policies (that's basically what CDS is... it's an insurance policy against risk of economic loss or to cover event risk), they were also lottery tickets. For example, with most types of insurance, the policy is for the full value of the property covered (either cash or replacement cost) or limited by a set coverage amount. That's the maximum the company will pay in the event of a full loss. However, insurers only actually pay (in property settlements) ACTUAL loss. With CDS, especially some of the crap contracts written by AIG, they were set to pay off the entire contract value, not just the actual loss. So, if Goldman Sachs had a swap contract in effect with AIG covering a Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO) the payout trigger might be a default rate of 15% on the CDO. But, the swap didn't pay off to cover the 15% loss, it paid out the full PAR value of the CDO, even though it was worth significantly less than par.

It's equivalent to me insuring my house for $280,000. Then, if there's a minor fire in the kitchen, instead of paying to repair the damage, they just cut me a check for $280,000 and then they own the house which, watch out, was only worth $100k.

THAT'S what Bunning should have been pissed about, the fact that those contracts were honored at all even though they were clearly fraudulent since I'm sure the valuations were based on representations and warranties made by the insured. If they'd been attacked that way, the court could have issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the counterparties (Goldman Sachs, for example) from collecting or forcing any payment. Then we could have broken it all apart.

So, yeah, instead of focusing on bullshit, how about looking at the really bad stuff, Senators?

Posted by mcblogger at 01:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 20, 2009

The inestimably stupid Dick Armey

OMG. I wish it was OK to beat stupid people senseless... if it was, I'd LOVE to introduce that fucktard Dick Armey's face to a hardcover copy of the Community Reinvestment Act since he's decided it (and not poor decision making at the banks) was the reason the banking industry melted down last year.

I guess Dick doesn't understand how easy it is for $600bn in liabilities to crush a mere $20 bn in equity (in the case of Lehman).

And thank you, Dr. Krugman, for nailing his ass. Yet again.

Posted by mcblogger at 11:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 19, 2009

Are the Republicans afraid?

Are they afraid of actually allowing the Constitution to work or of the terrorists? Both, maybe?

Posted by mcblogger at 08:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 13, 2009

Kay Bailey concedes to 39%

Senator Support Hose decided today NOT to resign prior to the primary. Instead, she's decided to continue her project in the Senate which consists, primarily, of fucking things up for her constituents. And wasting her contributors money in a vain attempt to beat 39% who will, because of this, beat her like she owes him money.

I find it interesting that this comes not long after Hank Gilbert's campaign rolled Kay's Magic 8 Ball. I also loved Hank's comment...

Anyone who says they are shocked by her announcement hasn't followed the lengthy trail of broken promises she's left in her wake, starting with her promise to serve only two terms. She is an unreliable and undependable public servant who dodges and weaves as it suits her political ambitions. Senator Hutchison has left her supporters and contributors holding the bag.

Cause and effect? Certainly didn't hurt. I do think it's funny that, once again, Gilbert's campaign is the only one with a pulse, hitting Republicans hard. And Hank even had time today to go live in the comments on a post at Kos regarding his LGBT policy.

B team member Tom Schieffer was busy telling that retarded little story about his tux while Kinky was trying to con someone into buying one of his books by promising that it was really written by someone with talent. Farouk Shami was busy scribbling out checks to every Democratic club in the state of Texas in a sad attempt to make up for years of neglect. Just like my mother. Which reminds me, if you have a Democratic club (especially one that endorses) you need to hop on the gravy train soon. I just set up three new clubs last week and am looking forward to making enough to have a very merry Christmas (Thanks Farouk! I can even say it like Ms. Texas, it's really something in real life).

39%, meanwhile, celebrated his rapidly approaching victory in the R primary with a 'close friend' at Charlies.

Posted by mcblogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

November 12, 2009

On defections...Rep. Hopson goes for a walk

Someone recently asked me how I am able to drink so much and not look a total wreck at the end of the night. That little story really has nothing to do with this post and the only reason I'm putting it in is that it makes me look good. Well, kinda...

So, Rep. Hopson decided to flip over to the Republicans because of President Obama in what is really one of the more craven political moves in a body known for craven political moves. Unlike the defection of Rep. England last year, this is all about Hopson wanting to save Hopson's ass and not realizing that he'd be better off staying on the D side... at least he can get through the D primary. The same can not be said of the R primary where he will face a reasonable, decent guy and (possibly) a nutter from the boob hatch who'll fling enough shit onto Chuck that he'll have no chance of survival.

The saddest thing is how hard this has been on some of our friends, like Harold Cook who is genuinely broken up about all this (see here and here). It's never easy to say good bye, especially to such a steadfast and loyal vote on things that would really help people in his district, like tort reform and electricity deregulation. However, say good bye we must as he's now on the other side suckling at the teat of Grover Norquist.

Have fun signing your pledge! Hope you too will enjoy being the political equivalent of a prison bitch!

(Sorry I'm late digging into this... I had better things to do than worry about What The Fuck Chuck was up to. I've never liked the fucker and have spent the last few years actively wishing he'd be killed in some tragic pharmacy accident.)

Posted by mcblogger at 07:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 10, 2009

So what ever happened to?

One of 39%'s appointees to a regulatory agency (TABC) thought it was OK to solicit donations for 39% from the people he regulates. The dumbass didn't think it was a problem. Folks in West Texas and Denton disagreed.

So, what's going on with that guy? Will the AG's office get involved?

Quit your snickering... sometimes Wheelie likes to do stuff about political corruption. Of course, that's rare but I think he wants to. I think so, at any rate. I like to think the best of people, even the ones who sue to build their wealth and then work ardently to restrict the rights of others to sue when injured. I think it was called tort reform?

Posted by mcblogger at 08:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 03, 2009

Sure. Right. Whatev.

So the Texas Tribune launched today with some interesting polling data... now, if someone can just explain to me how a man who won a contested primary in 2006 with almost 75% of the vote polls less than 1% in this poll AND it's not a colossal screw up, I'd love to hear it. And isn't it customary, in a real poll, to scrap the sample if a mistake is made and pull in a new one?

I wonder exactly how this polling of those who had already been polled was done? Did they send out an email? What was the time limit on that? How many people actually responded or were their previous responses locked in if they didn't respond in time?

And then there's the sample size of only 266 people which is about a third what you would expect. Sure, I get that you're pulling people out of a broader universe, but there's a reason why just about no one else does that... it doesn't produce valid results. Oh, and for those of you who still think this is reliable, keep in mind Zogby's internet poll had Barbara Ann within the MOE vs Sen. Hutchison in 2006. And look how that turned out. Speaking of Sen. Hutchison, she's now gone (in a little over a month) 12 points below Perry in this poll??!?

Seriously, Tribune, love you guys but this is just too jacked to be credible. But it's a nice try and the site looks pretty. I know things will get better!

Posted by mcblogger at 09:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A subtle psychotic beauty...

This is amazing...go on, take a look.

See what I mean by subtle?

h/t to MG@BOR

Posted by mcblogger at 09:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 30, 2009

ANOTHER State Agency lobbying?

Once again, it's just awesome to see a taxpayer funded agency using our money to lobby against something most people support. Thanks, Texas Railroad Commission for wasting time and our money and for allowing polluters to poison the air in North Texas.

Posted by mcblogger at 02:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 28, 2009

Why does Dewhearse lie?

I never thought our Lt. Governor was one of the crazies. So, imagine my surprise when he claimed he'd balanced the budget without help from the Feds, the same lie that 39% has been pushing all over the state like a bad check.

Jason Embry wasn't amused and called bullshit which isn't really all that surprising when you consider that Jason spends much of his day buried in 39%'s colon (just slightly below Gardner Selby) and 39% doesn't like Dewhearse.

Still, whatever his motivation, he did nail The Dew rather effectively, even if it was with all the wit of a lobotomized pekingese. Rep. Dunnam did it better.

Posted by mcblogger at 10:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 27, 2009

Kickin' Kay in the kooter

So, the fucktards that comprise the State Republican Executive Committee (what passes for leadership in the other party) elected themselves a new chair, which they had to do when Tina Fish got pulled over to 39%'s campaign in what we can only assume is an act of self-mutilation. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the new first lady of Teh Crazy, Cathie Adams.

Cathie's been involved in the Eagle Forum for so long she's actually got a tattoo of Schlafly's face on her inner thigh (it's the left one). That would matter except for the fact that, even in most Republican primaries, no one really gives a shit about the Eagle Forum or what they think. That tends to happen when you lie a lot to people about a homosexual agenda that doesn't exist. Cathie's other claim to fame was convincing a bunch of nutters to make her chair of the RPT. Which brings us to Sen. Hutchison. You see, Cathie had already endorsed 39%, but that was only because Larry Kilgore wouldn't return her calls (one of the few non-crazy things he's done in his entire life).

One thing that's certain is that she's not retracting her endorsement of 39%. It's also pretty clear Cathie doesn't like Sen. Hutchison and has decided to ride her ass to resign like a stud top in a gay porno.

Cathie Adams of Dallas, who also said she won’t be withdrawing her earlier endorsement of GOP Gov. Rick Perry’s re-election, said her hope that Hutchison acts on the resignation issue reflects concern among party activists waiting for Hutchison’s decision before setting their own political plans or making political commitments.

Adams singled out the possibility of Hutchison putting off her resignation until after the 2010 candidate filing period ends in early January, a scenario potentially leaving party leaders with the job of choosing some nominees for major statewide positions. That could happen if incumbents react to a Hutchison resignation after the filing deadline by deciding to either pursue Hutchison’s vacated seat or to chase other offices opened up in the wake of her resignation.

“It would help the people of the state of Texas to know more clearly, especially by (the candidate filing deadline of) Jan. 4,” Adams said, “because if she resigns after that, we’re going to throw things into quite an unknown.”

Cathie then whipped out her strap on and started rubbing it suggestively. At that point, everyone just started to back away from her.

Posted by mcblogger at 08:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 26, 2009

US Chamber of Commerce losing members?

Apparently, when an organization swings to the far right, companies choose to leave it. What. A. Shock.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 21, 2009

Fuckin' around with the FEC

If your wondering just how solid our campaign finance laws are, go look at this piece on the swiftboat network. Doesn't it make you feel good to know that laws designed to keep campaign fundraising transparent really do anything but?

Posted by mcblogger at 09:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 16, 2009

Yet another sign of the apocalypse

Mark it down, girls and boys... I'm agreeing with ARNOLD GARCIA

Toward the tail end of last week, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who are competing for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, both signed pledges not to raise state taxes. They did so at the behest of Grover Norquist, the anti-tax crusader who famously said he wanted government made small enough so that he could drown it in a bathtub.

Perry has wrapped himself in so many layers of fiscal conservatism over his two decades of elected service (starting with his election to the Texas House as a Democrat in 1984) that he wouldn't need a windbreaker in the dead of an Iceland winter.

But wait, there's more.

Perry waved the anti-tax banner even higher last week when he declared that he would like to see a constitutional amendment that would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to raise taxes.

Wow. Let's see somebody get inside that, as they say on the golf course.

The two-thirds proposition is a real head scratcher because Perry is plagiarizing ideas on how to run a state from California, of all places.

Tax increases must pass by two-thirds vote of both houses of the California Legislature — a stipulation adopted by 12 other states.

So, how's that two-thirds deal working out in California?

Not so well. As you may recall, California legislators had a devil of a time passing a budget because Republicans and Democrats couldn't agree on taxes. The state government was issuing IOUs in the meantime, and the budget crisis was making for a national spectacle.

Perry was the leading voice in the choir of tut-tutters about how California politicos manage money.

In fairness to the Duke's adopted state, California legislators were also hamstrung by Proposition 13, which caps property taxes and was passed with great hoopla in the 1970s.

What Garcia didn't point out is that if CA had our property tax structure, they'd have been pretty close to surplus right now unlike Texas which needed more than $12 bn from PRESIDENT OBAMA to balance the budget. 39% failed to make apologies to the Tenth Amendment for that one.

So, once again we have two chickenshit Republicans who took time out of their lives to suck off Grover Norquist by pledging to throw us all under the bus if they're elected. This is 39%'s, what, 18th time doing this particular duty? I guess 39% really likes Grover's ball juice.

If you want to stop this bullshit, go here and volunteer. And drop a few bucks here if you can.

Posted by mcblogger at 11:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 14, 2009

Out of their element

If you thought the Bush folks, once the compliant media started getting a little more testy, seemed more incompetent, you were pretty much spot on...

after chris, Jonathan Horn, and I learned about the president’s $700-billion-bailout proposal and drafted the remarks announcing it to a stunned nation, Ed said the president wanted to see us in the Oval Office. The president looked relaxed and was sitting behind the Resolute desk. He felt he’d made the major decision that everyone had been asking for. That always seemed to relax him. He liked being decisive. Excuse me, boldly decisive. The president seemed to be thinking of his memoirs. “This might go in as a big decision,” he mused.

“Definitely, Mr. President,” someone else observed. “This is a large decision.”

The president asked his secretary, Karen, to bring him the Rose Garden remarks he’d just delivered that day, September 19, announcing his action plan. He got slightly exasperated when she was delayed in printing them out. When he finally got them, he put his half-glasses on and looked at them. “See, this was fine today,” he said. “But we got to make this understandable for the average cat.” He proposed an outline for another speech that talked about the situation our economy was in, how we’d gotten here, and how the administration’s plan was a solution.

“This is the last bullet we have,” the president said at one point, referring to the bailout. “If this doesn’t work…” He shook his head, and his voice trailed off. That wasn’t good enough for me. If this doesn’t work, then what? We’re done? America is over? I looked around at everyone else. What does that mean?

This is the problem when you have an incurious and frankly stupid President driven by ideology, not reality.

Posted by mcblogger at 02:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 09, 2009

GOP loves poor people. Who knew?

Every once in awhile, a local contributors’ letter to the AAS is so outlandish, that you are left speechless. Well, at least for a little while.

When Travis County Chairwoman Rosemary Edwards states in her diatribe against the city of Austin’s energy plan, that the GOP is concerned for poor people, even Jesus himself probably became faint. Her words might be encouraging if not for the fact that she has lead organized protests against Congressman Lloyd Doggett and the Democratic Party’s plan to provide affordable and accessible health care to the same poor people she professes her undying love.

Then she has the gall to involve the Austin Catholic Diocese in her partisan politics and take a Diocesan spokeswoman words out of context. While much of the church’s commitment to the poor and environment is found in the creed of St. Francis, the GOP’s new-found enlightenment comes from the screed of Karl Rove.

This is the GOP’s latest attempt to con us into believing they are compassionate conservatives, and gain inroads to the catholic community. Although local Republican operatives are pushing hard for the next bishop of Austin to be ultra conservative with a strong fondness for business, this movement is nationwide.

Some advice for Edwards – go back to just demanding President Obama’s birth certificate because your reputation is already one of a wacko, no reason to add liar.

Posted by Captain Kroc at 10:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 08, 2009

Wherever Sarah Palin goes...

...she's sure to make Americans in general and Alaskans in particular look like a bunch of low-brow, mouthbreathing hillbillies.

It was Sarah's trip to Asia and her first appearance since her resignation as Alaska's top Mum. In her state capital, she told us, you could see a moose in the middle of the city. It was not a common sight in Hong Kong. Why, in Alaska, where 20,000 square miles of the state was glacial and with only two humans per square mile, "it seems to me that God just chucked this bucketful of resources there". It was then we realised that whoever wrote the Palin sermon for her, they had – mercilessly – allowed some of the real Sarah to show through. Even husband Todd got a mention. He had flown with her into Hong Kong. And – here was a reference to the Alaska fish and caviar consumed in this "beautiful", "magnificent" and "libertarian" part of China – "some of the fruits of our labour, mine and Todd's, ended up on tables here". The caviar at the Hyatt, it should be added, comes from Iran.

Salmon caviar? Whoever heard of such a thing.

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October 07, 2009

Homeland Security and the 2016 Olympics

Did the current intrusive mess that is US Customs mean the loss of the 2016 Olympics? Very likely, according to the NYT

“Among the toughest questions posed to the Chicago bid team this week in Copenhagen was one that raised the issue of what kind of welcome foreigners would get from airport officials when they arrived in this country to attend the Games. Syed Shahid Ali, an I.O.C. member from Pakistan, in the question-and-answer session following Chicago’s official presentation, pointed out that entering the United States can be “a rather harrowing experience.”

Posted by mcblogger at 09:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 01, 2009

This makes me laugh...

A bill targeting ACORN may hit an unintended target, defense contractors. The bill is designed to cut off federal funds from contractors who commit fraud. Which would, coincidentally, effect many private companies from defense contractors like Lockheed Martin to small Katrina cleanup companies.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 29, 2009

I'll admit it... it was me...

Yes, it's true. It was me. I was the one who screwed up 39%'s little webcast event that Jason Embry was jerking off about this AM (by the way, that was some solid work, Jason... who did you have to give the hummer for that hard hitting piece).

I'm just kidding, I don't have the technical skill to screw up something like that. I wouldn't have bothered even if I did because it would have denied 39% a chance to spout stupid to the few true believers he still has under his spell. Plus, until we're done with the primary, I want him nice and plump.

Before I start to bust him up like a shit-filled pinata.

Phillip over at BOR has been doing an excellent job ripping into the epic failure that was Talkin' Texas. Basically, it all comes down to 39%'s lackluster team being thoroughly jacked up. Read more here, here and here. My favorite part is how 22,000 got to watch a speech before it was given. It's almost as funny as the obviousness of this as 39%'s fuckup, not some hacker being mean.

Pull up your big girl panties, 39% and quit whining.

As for Senator Senile, just keep your crazy old trap shut. No one gives a crap what you think about all this mostly because you keep talking about your cat. And your car keys.

And no, Senator, I don't want a quarter to rub your feet.

In other MASSIVE 39% CAMPAIGN FAILURES, a soon to be former staffer decided to bring Tina Fish on board.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 28, 2009

Moral relativism and the NYT

Shorter Ross Douthat : Sure Bush fucked up. But then he jumped on fixing shit and down the road that's all we'll remember. And then there's this...

This is not a blueprint that future presidents will want to follow. But the next time an Oval Office occupant sees his popularity dissolve and his ambitions turn to dust, he can take comfort from Bush’s example. It suggests that it’s possible to become a good president even — or especially — when you can no longer hope to be a great one.

This is, literally, like being terribly impressed with a dog for scratching back with it's hind legs to cover up the shit they've just laid in the yard. It doesn't get rid of the shit, it doesn't even cover it up, but at least the dog put some effort into helping.

And that would be cool if we didn't expect a little more from the men and women we elect to lead.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 21, 2009

Thank God For Oklahoma!

And thank God for OK Senator Tom Coburn, who makes our own John Cornyn look like Daniel Webster. And especially thank God for the insights of Coburn's aide Michael Schwartz, who told last week's Values Voter Conference that young people could be warned off pornography by telling them it could cause them to catch Teh Gay.

Schwartz told the crowd about Jim Johnson, a friend of his who turned an old hotel into a hospice for gay men dying of AIDS. “One of the things he said to me,” said Schwartz, “that I think is an astonishingly insightful remark… he said ‘All pornography is homosexual pornography, because all pornography turns your sexual drive inwards.”

There were murmurs and gasps from the crowd. “Now, think about that,” said Schwartz. “And if you tell an 11-year-old boy about that, do you think he’s going to want to get a copy of Playboy? I’m pretty sure he’ll lose interest. That’s the last thing he wants! You know, that’s a good comment, it’s a good point, and it’s a good thing to teach young people.”

Wait, Playboy turns you gay? Well, maybe if you read the articles...

Posted by mayor mcsleaze at 05:28 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 15, 2009

Attention WillCo D's : Find a candidate

Toll road lovin' Rep. Dan Gattis has announced a run for the seat being vacated by Sen. Ogden (who has his own issues, if rumors are to be believed).

So, y'all have a mission... find someone to run against this freakshow. This isn't a partisan thing, Dan Gattis is a stuffed shirt with no business in the House, let alone the Senate.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 06, 2009

Save Them Skule Chillurnz!!

I realize my planned weekly post on lawyerin' is now so overdue that more than a fortnight o' lawyerin' has gone uncovered, but that's not where the action is right now.

Where the action is, is in pointing out and staring at the tsunami wave of Stupid that has washed over this nation since word got out about the President wanting to speak directly to small children about such controversial, highly-charged partisan issues as staying in school.

The Mayor has already addressed this issue and nailed down what has to be the most reasonable hypothesis for explaining the hysteria, the last time out having gone so poorly and all. Still, you have to figure that even if there is a solemn pledge to suspend all air traffic and not read any goat stories this time around, that won't get people to come down from off the ceiling.

Here's what I think the President should do. Let this controversy continue to fester and blow up waaaay out of proportion. Let the Crazies pull their kids out of school. Let them carry their collective cow to full term. Let them have a completely drug-free natural cow birth. Then, when the day of the speech comes, President Obama should simply lead the children in the Lord's Prayer and sign off.

Now, I know that would be inappropriate and not entirely consistent with the Establishment Clause, blablabla....But talk about some heads exploding! THAT would be fun to watch! It would be like when the immovable object meets the irresistible force - what would happen? Would the Crazies' sheer unalloyed hatred of Obama compel them to object to a good old-fashioned Christian prayer in school, or would their fanatical devotion to school- sanctioned Protestant religious rituals force them to have to choke down their open abhorrence of Obama? I don't know which would happen. But it would be a really neat science experiment either way. (Hey! that would be ANOTHER tie-in to stuff about education!)

In fairness, it makes internal sense from Teh Crazy viewpoint to worry about potential indoctrination of schoolchildren. Because that's what THEIR fave U.S. President did when he had the opportunity. So logically, they expect Obama to do the same. We can all see where that would lead, right? Reach today's impressionable grade-schoolers, and you've captured the minds of a whole generation of young voters, just in time for the election of 2016, when Obama is conveniently up for his third ter-........oh, wait, that doesn't......

Ah, I give up. They're just batshit crazy.

P.S. - Props to MSNBC's John Harwood for saying so, out loud, on the air.

Posted by hbalczak at 11:54 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 04, 2009

Sweet Jesus, Jared Woodfill is a fucking liar

Harris County GOP Chair Jared Woodfill sent out an email earlier today telling subscribers that the President's speech to students will take hours and be political. It's not. It's about the importance of education and staying in school. But Jared, never one to waste an opportunity to act like a jackass, makes it out to be something sinister... "those horrible Democrats are at it again, this time they're going for your children!!" Nevermind that Reagan and Bush had similar events. Reagan even preached the gospel of supply side economics during his.

Now that was some indoctrination.

Please take a moment to call Harris County Schools and tell them to air the President's speech. Then take a moment to call 713-838-7900 and feel free to share your feelings about Jared Woodfill. My favorite word today is COCKSUCKER so maybe think about using that for Dear Old Jared.

Posted by mcblogger at 04:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 10, 2009

Health care reform : An update fit for a toilet!

I thought it might be time to give you folks a little update on the ongoing efforts of President Obama and some good people in Congress (mostly Democrats) to reform our health care system so that it serves us all a whole lot better. Now, you probably know I disagree with the President and the pro-reform members of Congress on the path they are taking toward a 'public option.

Yeah, I think we should nationalize all health insurance companies. Because they're wasteful, inefficient and only exist because of their lobbyists.

Still, I know they're as likely to pass nationalization as I am to put down this drink and swear off gin forever. So, let's just jump right in and see what's happening:

As it turns out, people are fucking stupid when it comes to this issue. Many older Americans who really LIKE the fact that they don't have to deal with private insurers seem to think that Medicare is (no shit) NOT A GOVERNMENT PROGRAM.

You know all those bullshit teabaggers who've been all over the place harassing electeds about health care reform? Turns out, it's insurance industry and Republican party astroturfing.

Speaking of health insurance companies again, exactly WHY ARE THE REPUBLICANS SO EAGER TO SAVE THEM?!?!?! And why are so many idiots being turned out to this rallies to defend horribly wasteful companies?

On the subject of things fit for a toilet, let's take a look at what's really driving all this astroturf mobs (via the DNC)

1. These disruptions are being funded and organized by out-of-district special-interest groups and insurance companies who fear that health insurance reform could help Americans, but hurt their bottom line. A group run by the same folks who made the "Swiftboat" ads against John Kerry is compiling a list of congressional events in August to disrupt. An insurance company coalition has stationed employees in 30 states to track where local lawmakers hold town-hall meetings.

No, I'm not entirely satisfied with what is possible. Some Democrats and just about ALL Republicans seem hellbent on preserving a broken and ineffective system of private insurers that are some of the most inefficiently run companies in the world. Health insurers in the US, from an investment standpoint, make the old Soviet state-run companies look like models of efficiency and customer service. The ONLY reason these companies exist is because of government. There is no rational reason for them.

And if you're invested in them, you're in an idiot. Seriously, learn to read an operating income statement.

Posted by mcblogger at 10:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 05, 2009

Are birthers and anti-choicers one and the same?

Amanda Marcotte thinks so... you will too after you read this.

Posted by mcblogger at 12:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 04, 2009

The most recent Republican screwups

Coby has a terrific post up about yet another GOP family man who cheated on this wife. This time, it was with a real girl!

Republican's ability to hide from the health care reality of the uninsured in this country is really very stunning. And also really very stupid.

The Angelides Commission, set up to determine the causes of the bursting credit bubble (AKA the 2008 Financial Crises) is populated by Republicans and Democrats. It would appear that the Democrats are mooks and the Republicans are class A idiots. Especially one Peter Wallison. Petey's from the American Enterprise Institute which is populated almost exclusively with fools willing to say anything for a buck. Petey's one of those morons who thinks that restricting dangerous financial products to the financially savvy is just un-American. Isn't it great we have someone taking up for the shysters who want to rob the rubes? It's like denying someone apple pie to keep them from obtaining a mortgage that far exceeds their capacity to repay!

It's simple, yo! He's going to use his little platform as part of this Commission to blame everything on the government. A sawbuck says a ton of the responsibility will lie, in Petey's eyes, with the Community Reinvestment Act. We already know it's a lie, but that won't stop Petey from fibbing. Again.

Oh, and while we're on the subject of think tank integrity, the American Conservative Union offered it's full throated endorsement and support to FedEx for the bargain basement price of $2mn. We at McBlogger are formally announcing our intention to seek their endorsement in exchange for a membership (paid ahead one month) to Blockbuster Total Access, a lottery ticket for next Wednesday and a book of Camel Snus coupons that, inexplicably, keep getting sent to me. And half a dozen doughnut holes from Krispy Kreme.

No one ever accused Pete Sessions of being smart. And it appears they were wise. It's also good to know we can add hypocrite to the list of things Pete Sessions actually is.

Stupidity, it turns out, isn't limited to serving Congressmen like Pete Sessions. It also applies to former Congressman like Dick Armey. Mr. Dick seems to think there's absolutely no way we could affect God's creation.

DICK ARMEY: What I’m suggesting is we have a sort of an eco-evangelical hysteria going on and it leads me to almost wonder if we are becoming a nation of environmental hypochondriacs that are willing to use the power of the state to impose enormous restrictions on the rights and the comforts of, and incomes of individuals who serve essentially a paranoia, a phobia, that has very little fact evidence in fact. Now these are observations that are popular to make because right now its almost taken as an article of faith that this crisis is real. Let me say I take it as an article of faith if the lord God almighty made the heavens and the Earth, and he made them to his satisfaction and it is quite pretentious of we little weaklings here on earth to think that, that we are going to destroy God’s creation. [...]

I guess no one told him about all those pesky species mankind has hunted to extinction.

Sen. Hutchison's people have been having some with 39%'s alleged gayness. Jobsanger has the deets.

Why are the Republicans telling the elderly that they'll be 'euthanized'? THEY already have really good government funded health care.

Seriously, Republicans, why would you scare the fuck out of sweet old people by lying to them?

With regard to the health care debate, Rayburn's old quote “Any jackass can kick a barn down, but it took a carpenter to build it" has just as much meaning today as it did back when he was Speaker of the US House. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you THE Jackasses.

It's always nice to see a bunch of poor trash get all worked up by a horrible Democrat whose only crime is trying to help make their miserable, poor people lives a little better. These are the folks who are barely scraping by, working-class, paycheck to paycheck slobs who make up the grassroots that the Republicans use as their collective cockwipe. Don't worry about these folks too much... they're on their socioeconomic way back to their roots as subsistence farmers.

Posted by mcblogger at 08:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 30, 2009

TDP calls out Sen. Hutchison on Sotomayor

Sen. Hutchison Breaks Promise, Opposes Sotomayor

I'd just like to add my thanks to TDP for addressing this head on and my laughter at Sen. Hutchison for being played. Again.

Posted by mcblogger at 12:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 29, 2009

Stupid talking points

As part of the healthcare/surtax debate, a silly little theme has risen regarding who will be affected by this surtax. The Republicans say it'll be small business, which really shouldn't surprise anyone because they're kinda known for lying.

Since the overwhelming majority of small business owners earn far less than $280,000, few “entrepreneurs that run these small businesses” will be affected by the tax. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities pointed out, “only 1.9 percent of filers with any small-business income are projected to face either of the top two income tax rates in 2009.” In fact, of people who file most of their income from their own business, “more than half have income below $30,000 and 80 percent make less than $100,000.” The few business owners who do qualify for the new tax should be able to afford it. Pat Garofalo explains that “no one likes paying higher taxes” but a household earning more than $350,000 “is not a household that is barely scraping by.”

The other lie is that the rich will leave if they suddenly have to start paying taxes more in line with their income. The talking point uses Maryland which enacted a high-income tax and has seen high income earners dwindle from their tax rolls. Of course, the Republicans say, this is because those folks are moving. However, as this article in Newsweek points out, that's not really the case... those people simply aren't earning as much as they did.

We are not, under any scenario, talking about taxes exceeding those that existed under Clinton. When we had a booming economy, low energy prices and government surpluses. The fact of the matter is that Republican ideology and economic thinking (the so-called supply side) is all a sham. Theoretically and empirically, the ideas of Milton Friedman as applied to tax rates rates under 45% is worthless.

In point of fact, sometimes too low a tax rate can be a disaster for a country and it's economy. Most of us learned that over the last eight years. Rep. Polis notwithstanding.

Posted by mcblogger at 01:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Salon wants you to know...

... what's happening to the losers who brought us Sarah Palin.

Disaster is often followed by recrimination, a bitter aspect of human nature that can be observed among the Republicans as the Sarah Palin fiasco continues to unfold. The Alaska governor's surprise resignation, amid negative press coverage in Vanity Fair and elsewhere, suddenly revived dormant feuding among campaign operatives and conservative media figures -- notably between Steve Schmidt, the former campaign manager, and Bill Kristol, the Weekly Standard editor and Fox News commentator.

In ordinary circumstances, all their bitchy backbiting, spinning and fabricating would be of little interest except as comic entertainment for political junkies. Who first called Palin a "diva"? Who insinuated that she might suffer from postpartum depression? Who searched computer files to find out which staffer was leaking these bilious tidbits to the press? And who cares now, eight months later, except for these losers?

Plainly there is no reason why anyone should care, except for one small nagging concern. It is worth remembering that these are the same people who chose Palin, a manifestly unqualified and incompetent politician unable to string together a series of coherent sentences, as the potential presidential successor to a 72-year-old cancer survivor. So it would be refreshing and salubrious to see the perpetrators of that contemptuous and cynical tactic held accountable for endangering the country.

Posted by mcblogger at 11:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 10, 2009

The RPT and their stupid emails

Not for nothing, but the Republicans in Texas have always had pretty shitty communication skills. From the appallingly retarded Tina Fish to the incoherent bullshit flowing forth from the gaping maw of 39%'s overscripted mouth like a river flush with water from the spring thaw, there just isn't anyone even worth beating up on.

Except for Hans Klinger who has now gone to live in Sen. Kay Bailey 'Shred those docs, bitch' Hutchison's colon. Hans, bubie, we miss you. At least you tempered your bullshit somewhat. Whoever is over their now, well, is just like the stuff clogging up a fat man's colon after a visit to Golden Corral.

The first thing up in their insipid little email is this Gallup poll which supposedly shows that the country is becoming more conservative. The reality is that it's the Republicans who are becoming more conservative. A majority of Americans either stayed the same or grew more liberal. Also of note is Gallup's use of the word 'liberal' which has, over the last few decades, taken on a decidedly pejorative connotation. If Gallup were after an accurate sample, why use it? The other poll is this one from Rasmussen which shows the President's astronomically high approval rating finally starting to drop a little. Which isn't really surprising considering his prevarication on health care reform, for example.

The Republicans also fail to mention 1) That Republicans in Congress still have approval ratings in the 20's. Even The Evil Demon Pelosi has a higher approval rating than the Congressional Republicans which has really got to be burning Tina Fish up and 2) That the average age of self identified Republicans is significantly higher than that of Democrats.

Then, there's this about the coup in Honduras which is based, in turn, on another blog which is based on a blog at the WSJ. All this in an effort to paint President Obama as clueless without even mentioning that the democratically elected president of Honduras was ousted by military forces. According to the WSJ, the Supreme Court of Honduras ordered all this which is interesting since President Zelaya wasn't impeached and there are serious questions as to the legality of any order given the military by the SC. Finally, the results of the election held to eliminate the one-term limit are still not known. In short, no one knows what the Honduran's want. A few wealthy members of the Honduran Congress, acting in concert with military leaders, effectively took control of a third world country.

And why would the WSJ be so eager to cast Zelaya as Chavez, part two? Let's just say he wasn't a big fan of allowing Bechtel to control water resources and then sell the water to the Honduran people. For example. He wasn't, in the parlance of the WSJ, pro-business.

But why should reality matter when it's soooo much more fun to live in this fantasy world where President Obama is the devil and all evil flows from him. Or a world in which he's woefully inadequate and extraordinarily ignorant. The story from the Republican's changes from situation to situation.

Posted by mcblogger at 04:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 06, 2009

What a statesman is The Dew

Actually, what a cocksucking piece of shit, but in this lovely article he's a real statesman in the mold of George Wallace.

“If the Senate job came open, I would probably give it a hard look,” he said. “I think that seat needs to stay in Republican hands.”

“I’m not trying to be partisan, but I think it’s probably in the Senate, in America’s best interest, if there’s a healthy balance of Republicans and Democrats in Congress. Republicans that are policy oriented and can stand up and say respectfully that they applaud the goal but there are perhaps better ways to get there that don’t do as much damage to the economy and cost as much in new taxes to the citizens of America.”

Oh, sure. Why would Texas want at least one Senator from the majority party? How foolish of Texans to actually want to have a voice with the majority!

As for not being partisan, Dewby, you kinda sealed the deal on that with the voter ID bullshit y'all pulled at the start of the session that caused it's ultimate demise. It was, in fact, the reason y'all had to come back for a special session.

Let's also remember that there was some HUGE losers from the special, not the least of which was Dewhurst himself, when privatization went down in flames and the asinine revolving fund died. Which means he doesn't have the juice he once did... and even if he DOES decide to run for re-elect, he faces an uphill battle in some of the areas where he's historically done well. It's fallout from not actually leading on transportation and it's going to hurt him, just like it'll hurt 39%.

Posted by mcblogger at 11:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 03, 2009

Palin Quits

Announces plan to hike Appalachian Trail.

Posted by mayor mcsleaze at 04:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 02, 2009

Fools and their money...

...never stay together for long. From QR:

U.S. Senate candidate Roger Williams reports that he raised more than $400,000 at a Saturday fundraiser in Weatherford. The former Secretary of State is exploring a run for the Senate seat when (or if) incumbent Kay Bailey Hutchison steps down to pursue the office of Governor.

Based on his campaign’s release, Williams now appears satisfied that he can mount a successful campaign. “This event was one of the final major events in the exploratory phase of my campaign. In this phase, I am testing the water,” said Williams. “Based on what I saw on Saturday, the water is just right for diving in.”

Among the luminaries at Williams’ event were: former Dallas Cowboys players Bob Lilly and Rayfield Wright, former football announcer Pat Summerall, U.S. Rep. Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth) and boxing promoter Don King.

Keep throwin' money down the rabbit hole, R's!

Posted by mcblogger at 12:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 29, 2009

Good idea, 39%

As it turns out, turning down the unemployment money from the Feds was one of the dumber decisions ever made by 39% since we'll now have to go begging DC for the money to cover the gap between demand by people out of work and available unemployment funds.

Is there ANYTHING 39% does that isn't a shell game?

Posted by mcblogger at 02:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 25, 2009

But, no, Senator Graham. They just want the coverage you get

Apparently, Sen. Lindsey Graham thinks a true universal coverage plan would be a disaster...

"The reason you are not going to have a government-run health care pass the Senate is because it will be devastating for this country," he said. "The last thing in the world I think that Democrats and Republicans will do at the end of the day is create a government-run health care system."

Now, this WAS on Stephanopolous so no one pressed Sweetness to back up his claim. Afterall, the government runs Medicare quite well with little waste and overhead. In fact, it runs far better than ANY private health insurance company. VA runs pretty well as well despite the fact that it's facilities need to be updated which was a funding failure on the part of the Republicans when they were in charge that the Democrats are now rectifying.

Graham himself also gets really extraordinary health insurance coverage as a member of Congress. Does he really view his coverage as a disaster? If so, would he be willing to forego it and pay for coverage through a private entity? I might have a little more respect for his position then. Right now he just looks like yet another hypocrite.

Why is it such a disaster to give all Americans access to the same health care that Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. John Cornyn enjoy? We WASTE enough in the private system to cover everyone. So why aren't we doing that? Why are the Republicans and a few Democrats playing with lives of Americans?

Posted by mcblogger at 08:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 23, 2009

39%'s been busy with the vetoes

First up was this piece in the Austin Chronicle regarding the partisan vintage of the bills 39% has been vetoing. I know it will come as a shock, but the overwhelming majority are Republican bills.

Just kidding! Nah, they're mostly Democratic and bi-partisan bills which, now that I think about it, is par for the course for a man who could only get 39% of Texans to vote for him. Some of these bills are pretty important. Some of them would have done a lot of good. None of it will receive a lot of attention. What will, however, really burn his ass is the veto of HB 2142 and the signature of SB 882.

2142 was the bill that put some taxpayer friendly restrictions on the pro-toll propaganda campaign being run b y TXDOT known as Keep Texas Moving. This one will be a huge favorite with the crowds in East Texas along the 69 corridor.

SB 882 was the bill by Spendthrift John Carona that actually PAID money to firms who bid on TXDOT projects but were not selected. Of course, the whiny refrain is that even bidding on these projects is expensive and without this there would have been fewer bids. Which is a load of crap because a company that can't afford the scratch to put together a proposal shouldn't even be in the damn running for a project. In point of fact, I could set up an engineering firm specifically to bid on TXDOT projects with the expectation that I'd lose every time... but I'd be richly paid for the loss. This process and this bill are an egregious waste of taxpayer funds.

And 39% took the additional step of signing it. Of course, I doubt the Hutchison crew is smart enough to pick up on this. Democrats, however, are so it'll come up in the general regardless of the R candidate.

I was ready for a real fight in 2010 but if you mooks are just going to make it easy, then go and keep (to use the words of a friend of mine) tripping over your own dicks.

Posted by mcblogger at 10:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 19, 2009

There's being the opposition...

... and then there's just being stupid.

Last week, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor said Obama’s handling of the faltering U.S. auto industry is “almost like looking at Putin's Russia.”

That came as Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) was drawing heat from Democrats for saying that he told Chinese leaders that “the budget numbers that the U.S. has put forward should not be believed” and that Congress would spend more than what is contained in the budget.

Just days before, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said at a fundraising dinner for House and Senate Republicans that Obama’s efforts to stimulate the economy and save automakers have “already failed.”

How the HELL is managing GM's bankruptcy like Putin's Russia, Rep. Cantor? What possible good can come from talking people out of buying US Treasuries, Rep. Kirk? Seriously, if you guys hadn't jacked the budget with ill-advised tax cuts that did nothing to stimulate the economy, we would easily be able to finance bringing the country out of the worst recession since the Depression.

As for you, Newt, you're just stupid. The stimulus is just now starting to work it's way into the economy. While unemployment is growing, it's not growing nearly as rapidly as it was. Jobs are being saved. Oh, and it's a hell of a lot better than Reagan's tax cut in '81.

What would be really nice is if Republicans with no real foundation in business or economics would shut up and quit sniping. And, yeah, that means you Pete Sessions...

And Sessions has drawn some heat for saying to the New York Times last month that the Obama administration deliberately sought to “diminish employment and diminish stock prices” in order to “divide and conquer” in Washington. Prior to that, Sessions suggested Republicans could take lessons about “insurgency” from the Taliban.

REALLY? The President is rooting for the failure of the nation he leads?

I can stand argument over policy, but blind stupidity and hatred are just ridiculous. PLEASE keep it up, Republican leadership!

Posted by mcblogger at 12:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 16, 2009

You have to be kidding me?

There's bad and then there's bad...

South Carolina GOP activist and former chairman of the state elections commission Rusty DePass has apologized for saying a gorilla that escaped from a zoo was an "ancestor" of Michelle Obama.

The controversy started when FITSNews, a local politics Website, obtained a screengrab of DePass's comment on Facebook.

After an aide to state Attorney General Henry McMaster detailed the escape of the gorilla from Columbia's Riverbanks Zoo, DePass responded with a comment: "I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors - probably harmless."

DePass later admitted to WIS News that he was referring to Michelle Obama and said, "I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone. The comment was clearly in jest."

Well, as long as you were just joking you fat, pasty white, sack of shit...

Posted by mcblogger at 12:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 15, 2009

Medical tourism, part two

You know that stupid Republican talking point about how horrible socialized medicine is? The one about how the Canadians are coming over the border in droves to get treatment here in the US? Turns out, it's not really true which I'm sure will come as a HOOOOOOGE surprise to you because you know that Republican politicos are always honest, right?

The best part...

Driven by rising health care costs at home, nearly 1 million Californians cross the border each year to seek medical care in Mexico, according a new paper by UCLA researchers and colleagues published today in the journal Medical Care.

$20 says there are similar numbers in Texas.

Posted by mcblogger at 08:59 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

June 11, 2009

Remembering Dr. Tiller and some sad news

Abortion is a really ridiculous and polarizing issue about which every man should really stay quiet. Still, that doesn't stop a seemingly endless parade of fat, old, white men from pontificating endlessly about it. The result is that doctors who perform these operations and their staffs live in a constant state of fear.

It's so easy to paint one dimensional caricatures of people that will be believed, especially when you don't know the person. Thankfully, someone took the time to write this about Dr. Tiller so you can get an idea who he really was and what he really did.

The 9-year-old girl had been raped by her father. She was 18 weeks pregnant. Carrying the baby to term, going through labor and delivery, would have ripped her small body apart.

There was no doctor in her rural Southern town to provide her with an abortion. No area hospital would even consider taking her case.

Susan Hill, the president of the National Women’s Health Foundation, which operates reproductive health clinics in areas where abortion services are scarce or nonexisistent, called Dr. George Tiller, the Wichita, Kan., ob-gyn who last Sunday was shot to death by an abortion foe in the entry foyer of his church.

She begged.

“I only asked him for a favor when it was a really desperate story, not a semi-desperate story,” she told me this week. Tiller was known to abortion providers — and opponents — as the “doctor of last resort” — the one who took the patients no one else would touch.

“He took her for free,” she said. “He kept her three days. He checked her himself every few hours. She and her sister came back to me and said he couldn’t have been more wonderful. That’s just the way he was.”

No one likes abortion and anyone who thinks differently is either delusional or stupid. It's necessary, not a necessary evil but a necessary medical procedure best provided in safe, clean environments by professionals. And now that Dr. Tiller's office has closed because of his murder, anti-choice groups are freaking out about how it will make them look... and what they'll do to recruit to new members.

It's time to put an end to all this nonsense. A woman's right to choose her own course of treatment for a medical condition, like an out of control pregnancy, is unassailable. Any who attempt to interfere with it should be prosecuted under Federal, not state, law. And no protests should be allowed within a 2 mile radius of any facility that performs these procedures.

No need to moderate what you folks have to say... it's clear you'll say anything to keep money flowing into your groups. But we CAN dictate from where you get to speak. And you shouldn't be anywhere near women who are making a heartbreaking decision.

Posted by mcblogger at 02:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 09, 2009

Nothing like a little hyperbole...

Now, this is some funny...

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee urged Christians to get involved in politics to preserve the presence of religion in American life.

"I think this is one of the most critical moments in American history," Gingrich said. "We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism."

They and other speakers warned about the continuing availability of abortion, the spread of gay rights, and attempts to remove religion from American public life and school history books.

Disgraced former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich decides to pander to religious conservatives. About how the pagans are taking over. And the gays. And abortionists. And the book editors. I think we should be concerned about serial divorcees with a penchant for making wild accusations.

Never one to be upstaged, former Gov. Mike Huckabee had this to say...

Huckabee told the audience he was disturbed to hear President Barack Obama say during his speech in Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday that one nation shouldn't be exalted over another.

"The notion that we are just one of many among equals is nonsense," Huckabee said. The United States is a "blessed" nation, he said, calling American revolutionaries' defeat of the British empire "a miracle from God's hand."

With a not-so-minor assist from the favorite European punching bag of the Republican Party, France. And the Spanish who went to war with the British opportunistically, but it did help us out here. But don't let facts get in the way of a lovely theocratic soundbite.

Posted by mcblogger at 01:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 30, 2009

How much would you pay...

... for the autobiography of the most hated Vice President since Spiro Agnew?

"A person familiar with discussions Mr. Cheney has had with publishers said he was seeking more than $2 million for his advance. That sum may prove hard to get in this economic climate, especially given his generally low approval ratings, which publishers view as a potential -- but not certain -- harbinger for sales."

We'd be THRILLED to offer Vice President Cheney $198.56 for this book. In coupons. Only as long as he can come up with a reasonable refutation of this.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 29, 2009

Watching Rep. Culberson self destruct...

... is almost as fun as watching the neighbor I hate run over his own garbage can and then be forced to pick up the contents from the street.

Go see it for yourself.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 28, 2009

Are they stupid at the RPT?

My God, would someone please buy the Republican Party of Texas a goddamn clue? I'll be happy to chip in $100 to the effort. I got an email from them this morning asking list recipients to kill HB 300, which is an awesome idea. In fact, I was so blown away I decided to read it thinking they couldn't possibly be agreeing with me.

They weren't. Their opposition to the bill is based on SB 855, not on privatization. Not on the Transportation Bank. Not on the MOUNTAIN of other bad crap in the stupid bill. They want everyone to call the House conferees and browbeat them into killing the gas tax but LEAVE THE REST OF THE BILL INTACT.

It surprises me that the RPT would be OK with allowing TXDOT to gamble with money from the pension funds and leaving taxpayers on the hook for corporate welfare. It's stunning to me that they would be so grandly dismissive of their base in East Texas who are adamantly opposed to TTC 69.

But, I guess I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Not only does this have the potentional to kill this bill, it also gives Democrats a ton of good hits for the general in 2010. For that, I guess I should say 'Thank You, RPT!'

Posted by mcblogger at 01:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 27, 2009

While the House burns...

... it's good to know Speaker Straus is worrying about his re-election to Speaker in 2011.

Posted by mcblogger at 02:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 26, 2009

Wasting away near Andrews

A little over a month ago, we pointed you to an article over at The Observer in which they complained about a douchebag who left TCEQ to become a lobbyist for Waste Control, not long after overriding the professionals at the agency (he was a mere political appointee, by 39% natch) and giving Waste Control a permit for a dump in West Texas.

As it turns out, there's a little more to the story. See, the whole reason the dump out near Andrews (which, just for kicks, was financed BY the voters there who recently and just barely passed a $75 million bond) exists is because of the hard work of Texas Legislators like Rep. Myra Crownover, Rep. Betty Brown and our favorite fatass (next to Sen. Carona), Rep. Linda Harper Brown. See, Harold Simmons, the investor who controls Waste Control, needed some legislation passed back in 2003 to be able to use the dump site to deposit rad waste. Seriously, RADIOACTIVE WASTE. The Representatives also got big, big checks for their campaign accounts from Mr. Simmons.

What the Legislature couldn't do for Simmons was get a permit from TCEQ which the staff at the agency, of course, recommended against because they didn't think it was a good idea for hazardous waste to be so close to the Ogallala Aquifer. Of course, the radwaste won't be the only thing dumped out at the site. It'll also be receiving dredged sediment from the Hudson River that is shot through and through with PCBs.

And that's where this douchebag, Glenn Shankle, comes in. Prior to overriding the TCEQ staff, he met with former Republican Congressman Kent Hance (who's an investor in WC) and other folks from WC about their application. And no one will ever know if any of them made him a promise of money or job after he left TCEQ. But, you have to admit, THIS DOESN'T PASS THE MOTHERFUCKING SMELL TEST.

And neither will the crap being dumped out new Andrews.

Posted by mcblogger at 11:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 10, 2009

No, no... it's not that. I really do think you're a retard.

I have a friend we'll call Dave but whose real name is Ken. Dave is kind of a pretentious jackass who talks about going to fabulous events like gallery openings and book readings and fundraisers that are very expensive (he gets to go to these because of his magical check writing ability... dumbass thinks it's all because they like him). Dave lives in OC but acts like he lives in LA. Honestly, once you're on the 405 there's really not much of a difference between the two... the southland all kind of blends together. However, while people in OC might say they live in LA, people in LA would beat you to death if you mistake them for someone from OC.

I've seen it happen. I have blood stained jeans to prove it.

Dave also, like oh so many in OC, is a Republican which is funny because he's also a sistah. A deeply closeted sistah, but a cocksucking, assmunching, buttfucking sistah nonetheless. When we both worked for the same bank, Dave liked to pretend he was straight which was funny as hell to me and a lot of others because, well, the boy had a vag. I can, if pressed, pass for straight. Dave couldn't. Ever. Needless to say, it was kind of comical when he tried to talk to the straight guys about chicks and stuff and sports.

Last year, Dave developed a crush on Republican heartthrob Mr. The Plumber. Unbeknown to Dave, Mr. The Plumber doesn't like the gays. At all.

"People don't understand the dictionary — it's called queer," Wurzelbacher told Christianity Today in an interview published this week. "Queer means strange and unusual. It's not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we're supposed to do — what man and woman are for."

He added, "I've had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they're people, and they're going to do their thing."

So. Much. Here... First, I'll be honest and admit I've never really understood the dictionary. People have forEVER been telling me that I'm simply too stupid to comprehend a reference guide that gives definitions for a vast number of words which are all, conveniently, arranged alphabetically.

As for queer being a slur, like so many things it depends on tone and inflection of the speaker. It's a lot like the word 'nigger'. When you say it with a smile in a friendly tone of voice to a black person, like "It's soooo good to see you! How are you doing, you old nigger!" Black people just, you know, fucking LOVE it. Same with The Gays and queer. Or faggot which is another word that is not, at all, offensive when someone who is not a faggot uses it to refer to someone who is The Gay. Really, people should completely feel comfortable using words that used to be considered extremely pejorative. As long as you say them nicely, it's all good. Score one, Mr. The Plumber.

Now as for not letting The Gays play with his kids, that's a tough one. On the one hand, The Gays usually love children. On the other hand, they just can't stop themselves from LOVING the children. It's a sickness which is why the overwhelming number of pedophiles (lovers of children) are The Gay. Mr. The Plumber, being extremely wise and knowledgeable, just wants to protect his little plumbers. Chalk another one up for Mr. The Plumber, 2-0.

Now, on the subject of what men and women are for, I think what Mr. The Plumber means is that God specifically says that women are for the pleasure of men. More to the point, you ladies are only here to satisfy the raw sexual urges of Mr. The Plumber. So, you all have that to look forward to. SCORE, Mr. The Plumber, 3-0.

Finally, it's great to know that Mr. The Plumber has some friends that are actually The Gay. It always makes me feel better if, when people say offensive things about different groups of people, they will just let us know that they have friends in that group. It also shows that Mr. The Plumber has a great depth of knowledge about The Gays.

I sent this to Dave and his response was that I needed to stop rubbing McCain's loss in his face. I told Dave that wouldn't happen because, much like a dog that shit in the house, he has to be trained. And he really needs to do a better job picking his objet de masturbation.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 05, 2009

Not a fucking chance, 41...

Apparently, Bush 41 (who I once supported.... what? I was a kid and didn't know better. PLUS, compared to his kid, he was a Democrat) thinks that there's some future, in politics, for members of the Bush family.

"Maybe Jeb someday. I want to see Jeb in there." George P. Bush, Jeb's son, "wants to do something. I think he might."

No. Not at all. We've had two of you assholes and that's more than enough.

Posted by mcblogger at 03:57 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 04, 2009

Oh. Michelle... bless your heart!

Recently, Michelle Bachmann has said some really stupid things. First, there was the hoot-smalley flap in which Michelle, who apparently slept through multiple history and economics classes, blamed FDR for the 'Hoot-Smalley' tariff which he supposedly signed into law. There is no such bill, but the crew at FDL thinks it has something to do with her white zin preference.

For those of you interested in the historical record, SMOOT-HAWLEY tariff was authored by two Republicans, passed into law by a Republican Congress and signed into law by Republican Herbert Hoover. But Michelle did get something right... it spurred the depression to go even deeper. It also played a small part in electing FDR since he campaigned for it's repeal.

Nevertheless, Michelle decided to press on and that SAME day she declared that it was surely more than coincidence that the last time swine flu popped up there was another Democrat in the White House, Jimmy Carter. Which may be true in an alternate reality but it's not in this one. In fact, the swine flu popped up in 1976 and Gerald Ford was President that whole year. And he had scads of people vaccinated which turned out to be a super bad idea that ended up paralyzing a bunch of them.

There was this letter in the Minneapolis StarTrib. It's pretty funny but the real hilarity is in the comments which are all anti-Michelle....

Crazy?
People thought Katherine Harris in FL was crazy. Compared to Michelle Bachman, she now appears to have been very sane. I hope the people in Bachman's district are happy to have added her to making MN a laughing stock. Between her & Norm I know when planes fly over MN the passengers & crew must errupt in laughter. Thanks a lot Dumb & Dumber

Yes, we do. Every single time we even think about MN, we laugh a little bit.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 02, 2009

Having some fun with Dr. McLeroy

The Texas Observer has some great stuff up about the comical buffoon many of us know as the Chairman of the State Board Of Education.

Sadly, Dr. McLeroy won't be chairing the SBOE any more.

Posted by mcblogger at 02:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 30, 2009

Quit whining. Do your job.

Hank Gilbert has a great post over at BOR regarding what's going on in the Lege on transportation.

HB 300 is out of committee and bound for calenders, then the floor. This is the TXDOT sunset bill which became an omnibus transportation bill with all the bells and whistles that everyone wanted. That's what Republicans do when they want a really nasty piece of constituent unfriendly legislation to pass... they give all the members a little something they want, then attach it to the bill. The members, when called on the carpet about it, then whine about how it had this one really good thing even though it had some really bad things in it. This is, of course, an admission of their wholesale failure to do their jobs to adequately fund transportation in this state. I'd rather they just get to work and fix the mess.

This, my friends, is some bullshit. NONE OF YOU LISTENED TO THE RECO'S OF THE DAMN SUNSET COMMITTEE. Gone is the statewide elected commissioner, replaced with yet another appointed commission. Even still, the really nasty stuff is coming out of the Senate, courtesy of the fatnesses, Sen. Carona and Sen. Nichols. Nichols, you may remember, was front and center with 39% during his rambling 10th Amendment speech. You can bet that's going to be a picture in some collateral sent out to his constituents that are supporting KBH.

On the Senate side, things have gone from bad to worse with transportation bill after bill being passed, none of them good and none of them get us any close to a rational solution. Many take us back. For instance, an amendment Sen. Nichols authored basically removes all oversight from the comprehensive development agreements that create the public private partnerships. See, right now CDA's are subject to oversight by the AG's office, Comptroller and an independent auditor. Nichols wants to remove all that bothersome crap and leave it all to TXDOT, the agency that made a ONE BILLION DOLLAR accounting error.

And then there's the transportation bank which will be used to credit enhance debt issued by the toll authorities. Read that last line one more time, then read this on AIG. Yeah, this motherfucker is going to leave our noses open for BILLIONS if not HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS. From Texas Monthly...

Subject to constitutional limitations, a transportation revolving fund can be used to provide loans or credit enhancement, or to serve as a reserve fund for debt financing or the cost of operation and maintenance. This would allow public and private entities, particularly local tolling authorities, to mitigate certain project financial risks which limit access to the capital markets, or to access additional financing for needed projects.

Just so you know, a 'credit enhancement' in the fixed income world is how you turn a really bad credit that's likely to default into a GORGEOUS prime credit that's likely to pay out perfectly. Sounds like magic, right? Nah, it's insurance. Let's say you have bad credit but your dad has great credit. He cosigns on a loan for you, thereby adding a credit enhancement to the note that insures payment of it... he's saying he'll pay if you don't. Voila! Instant credit enhancement for the creditor holding your loan.

This is, in effect, what this bank will be doing. The problem is, the enhancements won't be limited to true loss, nor will they be limited to face amount. To sell this junk without a tax backing it up, the bank will have to really juice the enhancement which will basically turn them into abnormal lottery tickets which will make the debt being issued to finance the toll roads VERY attractive.

Yeah, you read it right, abnormal lottery tickets. Unlike regular lottery tickets, these will pay, probably if the bonds don't even default... we'll have to see when the first tranche is sold. They'll pay using our tax dollars. Now, if you want a sweetheart deal like the bond investors and toll developers will be getting, just make your check payable to the Campaign to Re-elect Sen. Nichols and Sen. Carona.

Nichols, for his part, has received more money from toll road interests than any other Senator, just in case you thought I was being unnecessarily harsh. And, just FYI, NO SENATOR VOTED AGAINST THIS. Not a single Democrat.

But don't fear, boys and girls, the House D's may have some fun with all this.

Posted by mcblogger at 02:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 29, 2009

A cornucopia of funny

Or, if you're stupid, a horn of plenty filled with amusing things like...

39% has asked the Fed's for help with the drought. The RECORD drought. There are two funny things here, the most obvious being 39%'s having to ask Big Poppa O in DC for help. Like a tit baby. The second was this...

Texas' current prolonged dry spell is among many to hit the state since the 1950s, said Travis Miller, associate head of the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University. The most severe drought recorded in Texas history stretched from 1950 to 1957 . That drought caused agricultural damage equaling more than $3 billion, according to a 1959 report by the Texas Board of Water Engineers, or roughly $24 billion in 2008 dollars .

Other serious droughts struck in 1996, 1998, 2000-02 and 2006, Miller said.

Nah, the planet's not getting warmer. And there's no way it's altering weather patterns at all. I'm sure it's just coincidence that, other than the 50's drought, are next most serious droughts have all occurred in the last 13 years.

And kudos to the Statesman for their artful subtlety.

39% also asked the Fed's for help on the swine flu thing.

Gov. Rick Perry has asked for 37,430 courses of anti-viral medicine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because of the swine flu outbreak.

Isn't it nice that we're actually part of a larger, more advanced country? That we can ask for money to help with disasters and disease?

Posted by mcblogger at 09:27 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 27, 2009

Gaffes? You sure you want to go there?

Hans whatever-the-hell-his-name-is and the Republican Party of Texas have a little contest they're running for people who receive their emails to vote on Vice President Biden's best gaffes.

In the spirit of stupid bullshit, we thought this was a great idea but that it would be infinitely funnier to pick out THE BEST REPUBLICAN GAFFES!

1) Condi Rice - The Mushroom Cloud warning about nukes in Iraq that was a lie!
2) VP Cheney - The lie that evidence exists linking Iraq and Al Qaida!
3) President GW Bush - Mission Accomplished!
4) President GW Bush - Is our children learning?
5) President GW Bush - Bin Laden... dead or alive!
6) Karl Rove - Permanent Republican Majority!
7) VP Cheney - Deficits don't matter!
8) ALL members of President Bush's admin - The Iraq invasion will pay for itself!
9) President GW Bush - Iraq's different religious sects won't attack each other!
10) 39% - Texas can secede.
11) AG Wheelie Abbott - I'LL SUE!
12) Comptroller Susan Combs - Let's change the computer system!
13) Ag Commission Staples - Inspect the peanut butter plant? But why?

Vote in the comments of email to mcblogger@mcblogger.com!

Posted by mcblogger at 03:07 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

You go, Sharon Killer! No, really, GO.

The House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence will be holding a hearing today on whether or not to begin impeachment proceedings against Judge Keller. Go tell them what you think.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 24, 2009

Michele Bachmann helps Democrats?

When it comes to fundraising, the answer is yes...

El Tinklenberg (D), who challenged Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) last year but lost, raised so much money in the final days of his election campaign that he couldn't spend it fast enough, according to CQ Politics.

As a result, Tinklenberg just transferred $250,000 in leftover campaign funds to the DCCC.

Thank YOU, Michele!

Posted by mcblogger at 11:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 23, 2009

Dumb. Hicks.

This was bound to happen. However, we're sooo damn lucky it didn't happen first in Texas.

Warren County, Ohio won't be getting new buses. The county commissioners rejected the over $350,000 from the federal stimulus package to upgrade their public transportation. Said commissioner Mike Kilburn, in a line straight out of an Onion article, "I’ll let Warren County go broke before taking any of Obama’s filthy money."

The money was "specifically for transit improvements in rural areas to improve transportation for disabled people, seniors and others needing access to health care and educational opportunities." Of course, in a sign of compassion, Kilburn said, "I'm tired of paying for people who don't have." And then he waved to everyone around him to come watch him skull fuck a live puppy.

Posted by mcblogger at 08:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 21, 2009

A ratfucker says what?

As if it wasn't bad enough that disgraced former Presidential adviser Karl Rove was relegated to commencement addresses in BFE, it's sad to say that the only place he can get published is the Wall Street Journal, the cornshit crusted asshole of American journalism.

But, hell, that's what happens when you spend the last eight years lying to people. And printing anything that Stephen Moore actually takes the time to vomit out. Wait... this isn't where I was going, is it? That's right, this is about Karl Rove, the worlds most famous ratfucker.

Now, you have to understand. Republicans have always been well served by their ratfuckers. Karl's just the latest in a long line that goes all the way back to the guys who helped out William McKinley. What made Karl so special was his aura of invincibility. See, people (and by people I mean the press) forgot that he used to make sloppy mistakes. That his instincts were wrong. They forgot that his rise to preeminence was more the result of the general trend toward conservatism in this country as the me-too boomers aged and accumulated political power.

In short, the press made the mistake of confusing chicken salad with chicken shit.

Unfortunately for Karl, Gen X and the millenials are rapidly moving the boomers aside. And despite the doe-eyed naïveté of the millenials, even they see through nasty partisan bullshit (my generation has always been cynical and nasty... we'd slash open Karl's fleshy throat just as soon as look at him, metaphorically speaking of course). So he's losing the base he could manipulate at the same time the population is shifting to people who are anything but respectful.

We at McBlogger seriously are sorry for poor Karl. It takes some real balls to think that last week's teabagging was something other than a glorified circle jerk with a bunch of people whose only unifying characteristic is that they hate the black guy in the Oval Office.

Build a movement on that shaky ground, Karl.

Posted by mcblogger at 02:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 16, 2009

They shoot traitors, don't they?

Imagine my pride and unsurpassed joy to see my Governor advocate, in a roundabout way, secession from the Union.

Let us all pray that 39% does continue to go off the rails and ends up being prosecuted for treason against the United States. Until then, I would like to know what the Lege plans to do about all this. I mean the Democrats, of course, since it's clear from Senator Nichols and Rep. Berman that the Republicans have no problems actively supporting traitorous seditionists. Having a seditious Governor just don't sit well with us ordinary Texans. Until then, TB has some nice bits contrasting Perry then and now. It would seem that in addition to being a traitor, he's also a hypocrite who has no problem asking for Federal aid when he needs it.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:42 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 15, 2009

Pathetic...

Karl-Thomas over at BOR has more details on the Austin Teabaggin' Event and I just have to say you guys are a bunch of morons.

REP. WAYNE CHRISTIAN? Seriously, that guy? Old boy is a dirt leg. And Peggy Venable has to be the biggest clown of them all representing a stupidly named group called Americans For Prosperity. REALLY, PEGGY? There are Americans who are AGAINST prosperity? I'm going to start a group called Americans For Ignoring Peggy Venable And Her Asshat Allies (AFIPVAHAA, for those of you who are fond of acronyms).

The funny thing about all this is that these people need the folks who will attend these rallies. They will need them if they have any hope of staying in power, a prospect that looks ever bleaker for 39%. What they also need to do is distract them from the fact that these speakers and the party they represent got us into this mess.

And the Democrats are fixing it. Republicans fuck it up, Democrats come in and fix it.

Finally, I hope the city and park cops will be on hand for the throwing of the teabags into Lake Lady Bird. Littering tickets seem more than appropriate and these people can certainly take the time to go fight the citation in municourt... after all, they have nothing better to do on a Wednesday than go to City Hall to listen to fucktards bleat on about the very people trying to save us from a Depression.

Of course, that's nothing new for Republicans. They're great at using national catastrophes as campaign props. You know, look and act tough to hide the fact that you're thoroughly incompetent. It's worked wonders for Buttertroll.

Posted by mcblogger at 10:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 14, 2009

Dick Armey likes a little teabagging

According to Krugman, our good buddy former Rep. Dick Armey is really behind all this teabagging fun. With some generous support from some winger nutjobs who, to look at them, are queerer than the child that would result from the union of Charles Nelson Riley and Paul Lynde (it's you, Scaife).

Matt found some cool stuff too regarding all the teabagging fun to be had tomorrow. Apparently, there is a website where you can see folks getting teabagged IN REAL TIME. Usually you have to go to a seedy bar in boys town for that kind of action (or subscribe to an expensive website, but I wouldn't know about such things). Needless to say, most fauxservatives are super pumped about all this man on man action. In fact, some of them are even creating partnerships so they can enjoy the teabagging with other like minded teabaggers.

We all know that we will be steamy, sweaty, and hot on April 15, tax day, and hard at work to complete our taxes and will look for much needed relief. The GOP can provide that relief with a group tea bagging. All individuals who are interested in tea bagging can be provided a partner. "Tea bagging is best performed with two consenting tax paying adults" says the organizer of the event, Richard Head.

Finally, Tom Tomorrow had this to offer (HT to PDiddie)
View image

The really ironic thing about all this is that these people who are sooo upset about the bailouts are mostly poor trash who don't pay a goddamn thing in taxes. So, tomorrow, while I'm working to pay for their Social Security benes and they're protesting the bailout which their failed ideology necessitated, I'll think about MY teabag. And how much I'd like to slap some of these tards in the face with it.

Fucking trash.

Posted by mcblogger at 04:20 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 13, 2009

Another take on Buttertroll as commencement speaker

Yeah, this made me laugh. A lot.

Posted by mcblogger at 12:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 09, 2009

SB 220 - Senate D's galatic fuck up.

To start with, I should be honest. SB 220, or as it's been more aptly named by a number of folks, THE TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZED CONVERSION OF PUBLIC ROADS TO TOLL ROADS BILL, passed the Senate with a vote of all 31 Senators last Wednesday. Not a single Democrat or Republican stood in opposition. Which really makes them all 39%'s bitch. Or Cintra-Zachry/Bluebonnet's, depending on who exactly is lubing them up.

Our own Senator Watson, whom I've tried to give the benefit of the doubt, voted FOR this piece of legislation which allows TXDOT to very easily turn existing, taxpayer funded, public roads into a toll roads. It does nothing to fix the long term funding hole in Texas for infrastructure. It does make it infinitely easier to convert an existing highway into a toll road. Why would Senator Watson do such a thing? My guess would be it's because we need roads and rather than standing up for our long term interests, he's caving to the shallow desires of toll interests and the short sighted Greater Austin Chamber crowd dying to get the roads built as tollways now. Sounds great until you realize you can't just get out of this a few years later... this is one horrendous marriage we're going to be trapped in.

I've given Senator Watson almost two weeks to just TELL US WHY he voted for the bill. He failed to respond, probably because he was working on another craptastic edition of his hokey 'what's up' email, the Watson Wire. Either that or he was thinking of taking another gutsy stand on giving poor kids insurance, which is really gutsy here in Austin where we give the homeless health insurance. Or, maybe he was just grandstanding on the budget. Speaking of, here's my favorite part...

"It's just kicking the can down the road without making the structural changes we need to in the budget," said Watson.

Yeah, no foolin' you, is there Kirk? Shame you couldn't pick up on how much 220 was doing, functionally, the same goddamn thing and soaking Texas taxpayers in the process.

There's an old saying that Democrats are their own worst enemies. It's true as hell in this case as they are alienating the very voters they need to be swinging towards us. Good job, Senate D's! What, you really thought no one would notice? Or did you just buy Sen. Nichols sales pitch hook, line and sinker?

The worst part is that you denied us an issue with which to browbeat Republicans in 2010. Now, you'll try to cover your ass by whining about bipartisanship and getting something done to help alleviate infrastructure problems. But it's all bullshit and you're a bunch of weak goddamn sisters who've done far too little research.

Actually, that may be going a bit too far. We'll still beat the R's with it, but some of y'all are going to get hit as well. It's called collateral damage. And if you don't get hit with SB 220, you will sure as hell get hit with SB 17.

You folks are supposed to be SMARTER than the Republicans. ACT LIKE IT.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 08, 2009

REALLY, Betty Brown?

Oh. Dear. Betty Brown.

Voting against troops is sure to be hella popular in Henderson County. In the primary AND the general.

Posted by mcblogger at 01:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tea parties, Teabagging and a whole lotta funny

Apparently, the big new thing in the Republican party is teabagging at tea parties. They're having one in Austin on the 15th and 39% is going to be there. I wonder if Wayne Christian will be teabagging him. Or maybe Peggy Venable who, we hear, is hung like a cat. Shit you not, brother.

It really shouldn't surprise anyone that 39% is so eager to take a cock and balls in the face.

MEANWHILE, we'd like to urge you to print out this image and send to every Republican lawmaker who wants to grandstand about the economy during a crisis they helped, in large part, CREATE. We'd also like you to email the image to Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, That Obese Drug Addict, and Loofah Boy.

Actually, forget printing this out... just email it to people. And spread the word. They seem to think teabagging is soooo much fun, let's show them what teabag really looks like so that maybe next time they'll be more careful when choosing their protest imagery.

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April 06, 2009

What a bunch of damn bullshit...Part 2

"The American public understands something must be askew if every single Republican votes against something."

-- Minority Whip Eric Cantor, when asked by reporters why Republicans have said "no" to nearly everything the Democrats have proposed.

This is a post about the deficit and the irrational thinking of Senators Nelson and Bayh. I included this quote from that twerp Cantor because the Republicans aren't principled when they talk about deficits. To a man and woman, they helped Bush turn a surplus into ever expanding deficits. Their sudden conversion to fiscal responsibility is craven and opportunistic. It's also EXACTLY the wrong thing, and the American people know it. This isn't about them, though. The Republicans in Congress are a lost cause and our only way through as a nation will involve removing them from office, cycle by cycle.

This is about two Democrats who are thoroughly out of their minds if they think their path is the right one. We have seen, in stark relief, that we will be needing a lot more in terms of stimulus. And in terms of making desperately needed improvements and upgrades to our education, transportation and public safety infrastructure. Making these improvements gives us greater room for faster economic growth with low inflation which in turn helps cut the debt we build up now by running deficits.

Real unemployment in this country is 12.5%-19%, depending on whose estimate is used off the BLS numbers. That makes this the worst economic downturn since the Depression. In an environment like this, your focus should be on alleviating pain and suffering while pushing every lever possible to build into a recovery. Which you can do with debt. It's this that has Bayh so worried:

"[U]nder this budget, our national debt skyrockets from $11.1 trillion today to an estimated $17 trillion in 2014. As a percentage of our gross domestic product, it reaches a precarious 66.5 percent. The deficit remains larger than our projected economic growth, an unsustainable state of affairs. This budget will increase our borrowing from and dependence upon foreign nations. I cannot support such results. We can do better, and for the sake of our nation and our children’s future, we must."

What is so stunning about this statement from Senator Bayh is just how utterly clueless it shows him to be. Whether willful or genuine ignorance is the reason, it's shocking coming from someone in a position of power. The projections to which Bayh refers are based on low or no growth over the next few years. They do not take into account resurgent economic growth or the effects of improved infrastructure on economic efficiency (which, by the way, allows the economy to grow at a rapid click with real wage growth and low inflation, kind of a Goldilocks economy we should be so lucky to enjoy).

This is not the time to use scare tactics or play politics in a vain attempt to make yourself appear more important than your colleagues. It would be great if Bayh and Nelson would pick something else to stand out on.

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MOTO : Is Dave Carney really such a self important 'tard?

Let this be the last thing we ever say about the 2006 Governors Race.

At the Statesman, they are covering the Bell v. Perry suit regarding 39%'s efforts to hide the true identity of some of his donors. Embry has an article here about the suit, but the first link is to a blog entry that covers what Embry found in the depo. Here's the quote that caught my eye...

“Chris Bell was so inept and had not gotten any traction, our real concern was that Kinky Friedman, who basically got outed as a fraud and a racist, was going to — was going to collapse and that that vote would go to Carole Strayhorn. And — because they had already rejected — you know, theoretically Democrats aren’t with a Democrat. They’ve already rejected him.

So the theory would be that if Kinky collapsed, all that vote would go to Carole, and it’s very difficult to stop an independent candidate, you know, in that her resources to money was pretty significant as being the comptroller and some of her deep-pocket supporters. So we had a strategy to pump up Bell.

In fact, at our state convention, Governor Perry, you know, started to talk about Chris Bell exclusively because we wanted to make him the bogeyman so Democrats would rally around him and that he wouldn’t collapse too far. At some point he wasn’t even a 15 — you know, 15 percent of the polls. We had to make him credible, so we made him our bogeyman so that Strayhorn wouldn’t get any traction from what we assumed would be the collapse of Friedman.

Friedman did collapse, but not as much as, you know, we were worried if he ultimately, and so we’re, you know, in a five-way race. It was very difficult. But we had to prop up Bell as much as possible, and the thought was if Perry is worried about Bell, then the Democrats and independents, you know, that were left of center, would rally around Bell. It didn’t really work, but we did keep him up — prop him up so that, you know, Carole never got any traction.”

Dave, no lie amigo, you are the biggest MOTO of all time. Focusing on Bell as your only 'true' challenger was your only shot not only to keep focus on him; It also neatly kept you from getting into the mud with Carole where she would have whupped 39%'s ass.

It was your ONLY play and completely obvious. What makes this piece so unbelievable is that Carney seems quite proud of how clever he was when, in reality, he had no other option if he wanted to win. Even still and with the expenditure of more money than all the other candidates combined, Carney couldn't manage to get a sitting governor over 50%. Against a fuckwit 'humorist', a Congressman defeated in his own party's primary and a delusional Comptroller.

The mistake the Democrats made was in not taking out a contract on Carole and Kinky.

Oh... Dave, by the way, super nice work on the Speaker's race, pal.

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April 01, 2009

I'm with her...

Spot on, Bo.

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March 27, 2009

Chickenshit Keller

Sharon Keller, the judge who decided to close up shop at 5 because hearing a death sentence appeal would have kept her from seeing American Idol, has posted a response to the charges of misconduct she faces.

No joke, she blames everyone other than herself. Way to really own it, Sharon. Good to see your 'tough on crime' bullshit only extends to the stuff you don't get called on the carpet about. Kuffner has more.

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March 26, 2009

Crazy as a shithouse rat

Finally, someone has the footage of the financial services committee hearing in which Michelle Bachmann made an ass out of herself... by not understanding Constitutional authority.

Watching it again, I'm irritated with my own empathy for making me wince with embarrassment at her stupidity. THIS is the modern Republican party... too stupid to even realize how foolish they look. To wit...

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NYT calls bullshit on 39%

OK, so the NYT beat us to the punch by a few days.

Or if that’s not enough, they should look at what other sensible governors — both Democrat and Republican — are doing throughout the rest of the country: accepting the aid as a lifeline for pulling their states and the country out of desperation.

The unemployment portion of the federal stimulus package offers generous support to the states. To accept it, these states must make two reasonable changes in their unemployment insurance law. They must expand eligibility requirements that bar too many low-income workers from receiving compensation. And they must choose from a menu of options that include extending benefits to part-time workers and those who leave jobs because of family emergencies.

The claim by some governors that the unemployment aid would lead directly to tax increases has also been discredited. New taxes are triggered automatically when unemployment trust funds fall below specified levels. In many cases, filling their coffers with stimulus aid would actually postpone tax increases. When the stimulus money is spent, states would also be free to revert to the old unemployment insurance laws.

In Texas, Governor Perry’s decision to reject the money has sown considerable anger in the State Legislature. A House committee urged the full Legislature to overturn the governor’s decision. Lawmakers acted after seeing projections that the state unemployment fund was on track to run out of money in the fall, which would drive up taxes.

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March 24, 2009

So Dodd was telling the truth...

... and the Administration and Republicans have been lying?

EW's spot on... these contracts would have been busted by a BK judge had Treasury and the Fed not stepped in to pull AIG back from the brink. Abrogate the bonus contracts and let's move on.

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Sucking at math...

Not that I'm Carl Jacobi, but I'm least better at math than certain Republicans. First up, we have history professor and former ethically challenged Speaker of the US House Rep. Newt Gingrich. Apparently, Newtie thinks that cap and trade will be all expense, no benefit which is about like saying when I go to Neiman's and spend money I don't get anything in return. Maybe this one isn't so much a math error for Newt as it is an accounting error... You know, when you spend money on something and you receive an asset in return.

Nah, it's a math error because he can't even correctly determine the cost to the average family in the US.

While Newt's a dumbass, the real winner of this weeks STOOOPIDFUCK contest is Rick Perry who shunned more than $500mn in the stimulus plan (because it would cost Texas businesses $15mn a year in 10 years) and replaced it with a tax that will cost Texas businesses more than $800mn. This year.

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March 19, 2009

Preparing For A Second Career, or, What President Bush Is Doing Right Now

Seriously, jokes about the economy?

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March 17, 2009

Speaker Strauss faces problems (but not from D's)

Rumors have been floating around for days that there is a movement afoot to oust Speaker Strauss. The ringleaders were said to be Democrats which Rep. Martinez-Fisher and Rep. Dunnam put to bed this morning. Which leaves only the source (Texas Insider - a hard-right Republican blog) thinking there is a movement.

Speculation now turns to Republicans who may be plotting to unseat the Speaker now that the Democrats have been conclusively ruled out. Rep.'s Bohac, Berman and Brown are just a few of the names I've heard. Pink Dome is reporting that there is a list but that there are only 18 names on it.

If there IS a move to remove the Speaker, it ain't coming from the Democrats.

(About damn time you came back, PD)

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March 12, 2009

Probably the only time I will link to Andrew Sullivan...

Really, spot on...

Just to recap: the last president believed that he had the inherent power to suspend both the First and the Fourth amendments, he had the power to seize anyone in the US or world, disappear and torture them, and ordered his legal goons to come up with patently absurd legal rationales for all of it. And much of official Washington carried on as normal - and those of us who actually stood up and opposed this were regarded as "hysterics".

Something is rotten in a country where this can happen with such impunity - and when, even now, highly regarded and respected journalists and commentators simply move on or roll their eyes or sigh world-weary sighs.

One thing... read this and think about Tom Scheiffer's inability to acknowledge that voting for Bush was kind of a bad idea. I'm not saying it's a deal killer for me, just that it would be nice to find a mind at work that can actually see just how far down the rabbit hole we went.

Also, I'm big on admitting mistakes.

PDiddy has more on our recently ended Presidential Dictatorship.

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March 11, 2009

Teh Baby Jesus Weeps Because Of The Stupid

I'm used to Republicans being dumb. What I'm not used to are Democrats being dumb. But first, the Republicans...

Boehner said Americans want government to practice the same financial restraint they have been forced to exercise: “It’s time for government to tighten their belts and show the American people that we ‘get’ it.”(CBS)

Uhm, actually, Americans want an expansionist fiscal and monetary policy. What Boehner is saying is "Let's fill the whole in the economy, by creating an even bigger one by cutting government spending!" Honestly, this would make sense if there was too much demand and the government was soaking up capital that could be better used by private companies. But that's not the case right now and we need government spending MUCH, MUCH MORE. As we've noted before though, Boehner is a stupid, ignorant little man whose brain is calcified by the ideological equivalent of shit. I can excuse him (even if I do think CBS is retarded for airing anything the moron had to say) because he comes by his stupidity naturally.

Sen. Bayh, on the other hand, really should know better than to paraphrase the House minority leader...

“The American people and businesses are tightening their belts,” Bayh added. “I think we need to show that the government can economize as well.”

A couple of things...

1) The Democratic Party IS the goddamn moderate party. The damn thing is made up of centrists. The entire party. The Greens are to our left and the Republicans are too the far right. WE'RE THE MIDDLE. So we don't need Senators from flyover states (and VA... we noticed you,Horse Face) to act as if they are the center of the party. Collectively, you represent fewer people than Sen. Boxer.

2) 'Belt tightening' isn't going to get us out of the economic hole. The Depression finally evaporated when WWII came and kicked off the largest public spending project in history. The US debt went to 140% of GDP. Right now, we're at 65%. We have a long way to go if needed. It will be nice to know that we'll have you chickenshits wringing your hands all the way up.

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March 01, 2009

So much for Santelli's rant

As it turns out, it was nothing more than Republican astroturf. And you'll never believe who broke the story...

Is it any wonder newspaper's are dying?

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February 25, 2009

You know you've fucked up...

...when even Pat Robertson and Jeb Bush call you out.

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February 13, 2009

Junio John Speaks

The stimulus bill is not going to work, mostly because of the tax cuts/rebates, which Junior John now says don't work. Which is kinda funny since part of the reason he's voting against it is because it's not 100% tax cuts.

He also conveniently ignores the fact that the overweight toward tax cuts in the bill are the result of compromises to Republicans. Then he mentions a CBO study that says this bill will eventually crowd out private investment. Which is hilarious since this bill isn't even a tenth of the size of the US economy.

Finally, Sen. Cornyn flat out lies about the efficacy of tax cuts vs. spending saying that spending is about half as effective.

It's never been more clear than now that we need a real Democrat in the Senate representing Texas. I don't know that either Sharp or White are that guy. I have no idea what they think about fiscal stimulus in a deflationary environment. I can tell you this, listening to Cornyn makes it clear that we can not afford to elect another ideologue more committed to politics than actually governing.

Which means, Sharp and White camps, you better get some goddamn good people to tell you what to say or I'm going to rain shit all over you both.

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February 10, 2009

Note to Rep. Neugebauer

Dear Rep. Randy... you really shouldn't talk about the economy. Or how to pull us out of recession. Or how to keep us out of a depression. Or adding federal debt (which, by the way, there is a tremendous demand for) to finance stimulus.

Randy, buddy, I gotta tell you your ignorance of basic finance and market dynamics is pretty scary. You know the old saying about keeping ones mouth shut?

Quit using talking points and playing politics. There is more at stake here than playing asshole in a stupid attempt to rebuild your moribund party.

Hate you lots,

McB

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February 05, 2009

Circling the goddamn drain...

I read this yesterday...

I used to be optimistic about the capacity of our political leaders and central bankers to avoid the policy mistakes that could turn the current global recession into a deep and lasting global depression. Now I’m not so sure.

I'm not quite as worried about some of Buiter's concerns, least of all protectionism (mostly because there's going to be so much demand from China's infrastructure stimulus that basic materials are going to rebound sharply, even in the US). However, I AM concerned about the weakness in Washington. And the more I think about it, the more I'm ready to say, simply, FUCK IT. I can do that. I have money and I can survive a two year depression. Most of you can't.

In fact, a real depression would probably be good for me as it would allow me too pick up some great assets at 90% off their real value. Hell, I might just bail and leave you all here to rot. Maybe I'll be back when you fucks get your heads screwed on right.

Why am I saying all this? Because the public has turned against the stimulus bill. Democrats are actively working against their party and their President with the Republicans on more of this tax cut nonsense. The Republicans are easy... any failure of this bill will lead to a lot of economic pain and Democrats are going to get blamed. The Democrats working against this? They're harder to explain... I think it has something to do with a fundamental inability to understand economics and how to maintain a capitalist economy. I also think they're as goddamn stupid as this guy. Or this idiot who seems to think TARP was a bailout for the wealthy. Guess he wasn't paying attention nor does he seem to care that's it's left the Treasury with actual assets. Because he and those like him never understood TARP or TAF, they've been beating a political drum about it for a while. Now that beat has started to poison the Stimulus Bill.

It's kinda understandable, especially since the media is doing such a bang up job explaining all this to the American people. It almost makes me want to embrace what I see happening, the impoverishment of whole swaths of the country.

All the while our President sits on the sidelines, going on TV, seemingly content to let the whole thing go down the drain while the partisan bitterness he refuses to engage in consumes the Capital. Of course, he could step in and really decimate the Republicans. Maybe he will. But I certainly doubt it. My question, for now, is the same as this one... WHY ON EARTH WOULD OBAMA HAVE EMPOWERED THE GODDAMN STUPID REPUBLICANS??!?!?!?!?!?! Or, WHY THROW THEM ANY BONES IN THE FORM OF TAX CUTS THAT DON'T WORK? Has it occurred to anyone other than myself that President Obama and the Democrats are wasting our money on Republican ideas we know damn well won't work?!?!?!

Maybe, just maybe, the CHANGE we could believe in was nothing more than ineptitude. Not that asshat McCain would have been any better. I'm thinking more along the lines of Clinton or Edwards. God knows either of them would have already passed a much better bill and they would have browbeat the Republicans to do it.

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February 04, 2009

Ambition FAIL

Goddamnit, TinaFish. Could you suck MORE?

We were extremely excited about the prospect of TinaFish being in a position to fuck up the Republicans on a national level. Now we'll have to be content with her incompetence being limited to Texas. It's our mistake for getting our hopes up. The outcome, we should have realized, was entirely dependent on TinaFish actually appearing like she knew how to do anything more complicated than breathing.

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February 03, 2009

Stupid people saying stupid things

EOW pointed to an article at TPM regarding the lack of traction on the stimulus plan...

ThinkProgress has admirably demonstrated that the cable networks continue to tip the scales in favor of Republicans by booking like twice or even three times as many Republicans as Democrats to discuss the Stimulus Bill. But that only tells us what we already know, which is that the Washington press establishment is still wired for Republicans. But there is a Democratic president. And he does have the bully pulpit. And he needs to make this argument, which he's not. Absent that, we can't be surprised and the Democrats are not in much of a position to complain if the vacuum is filled by a bunch of Republicans making statements that are either demonstrable nonsense or just lies.

Look at what people are talking about and you wouldn't get the sense that we're actually in the midst of a major economic crisis that will likely send unemployment well into double digits if nothing is done quickly -- and a crisis that is in large measure the result of the economic policies that the Boehners and Cantors and McConnells are telling us, all the evidence to the contrary, will now save us. Everyone who's taking this situation seriously realizes that spending is the pivotal part of what the government needs to do to stabilize the economy in the face of this crisis. The multipliers for spending versus tax cuts simply leaves no question about that. Ask McCain economic advisor Mark Zandi. The solid critiques from the right aren't about whether spending is needed but which types are most efficient.

At the core, this is going to have to be us talking it up since President Obama and Co. can't manage to do a goddamn thing right since taking office. Oh, I'm sure some of you will point to Gitmo and say THERE but it's the big ticket stuff, like actually VETTING Cabinet noms that they seem to be fucking up nicely.

The economy needs this. I've worked in various parts of the banking industry for more than a decade and can tell you, this is BAD. The situation we're in is precisely the result of greed coupled with a lax regulatory structure and weak legal enforcement. In short, this is the ultimate economic paradise that the policies of Boehner and Cantor and McConnell (not to mention our own Junior John) have already led us to. Only in their idiotic world would more of the same be good. I don't know why I should be surprised since the only one out of the three that's ever held a real job (Boehner) was a salesman. For a packaging company that didn't actually make anything, they just sold what was made by others.

In other words, what these morons have to say about regulation and the efficacy of fiscal stimulus is questionable. At best. Especially in light of the fact that they've been saying the same thing for decades, they got what they wanted and we're all enjoying the ruin where it was destined to lead.

It is not enough any more to support our plan. That time has passed and the Republicans simply will NOT let it go. All that's left is for us to attack THEM. THEY caused this. WE'RE going to fix this.

And it's time the President get geared up and get into the fight. A CHANGE would be a President that actually did something right.

It's time to give old school, knock the other into the dirt and kick him when he's down, politics one last spin.

Say it with me, boys and girls, "TAX CUTS AS STIMULUS DON'T WORK". They didn't work last year, they won't work this year. TARP has started to work to stabilize the financial system. We need this to the economy itself working again and put people back to work. It would also be nice if Geithner would step on the banks to start lending again.

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February 01, 2009

In other news...

Conyers has issued another subpoena for Rove...

"Change has come to Washington, and I hope Karl Rove is ready for it," Conyers said. "After two years of stonewalling, it's time for him to talk."

Robert D. Luskin, an attorney for Rove, said his client will "abide by a final decision from the courts." Luskin noted that Bush, in a letter to Rove, recently reasserted executive privilege.

"It's generally agreed that former presidents retain executive privilege as to matters occurring during their term," Luskin said. "We'll solicit the views of the new White House counsel and, if there is a disagreement, assume that the matter will be resolved among the courts, the president and the former president."

For my money, I think Bush's biggest fuckup was not giving a full pardon to Karl Rove. Now, the son of a bitch is toast. Well, he is as long as the President decides to uphold the rule of law instead of executive privilege.

Via Stop The Death Penalty comes a link to an op/ed in the Statesman talking about how ridic it is that the Federal Courts have to step in to stop an execution our Governor (and the Criminal Court of Appeals) were too gutless to stop.

Ladies and Gentleman, the return of SCIENCE

Collin County now has a toll road authority! I can't WAIT to hear about all the fights between them and the NTTA!

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January 31, 2009

Transportation funding and the constrained budget

If the estimates from the Office of Fucked In The Head Tall Bitch are to be believed, Texas faces a strained budget that may have a negative impact on transportation funding. According to Ben Wear.

But for transportation advocates, having $9.1 billion less for the state's general fund carried extra sting: Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and then-House Speaker Tom Craddick (remember him?) had all but promised in a letter last summer to grab general fund dollars with both hands and use them on roads. Now, who knows?

See, considering that the Feds are about rain infrastructure money down all over the land, you'd think Texas would be OK. You'd be wrong. Texans bucked the national trend and STRENGTHENED the Republican Caucus in our House delegation and re-elected Junior John, The Huntress of the Skeet, who has spent the last couple of weeks pissing off Democrats in the Congress. And our new President.

Not to mention the fact that our stupid little Republican caucus from Texas voted against the stimulus. Even 'moderate' Michael McCaul voted along ideological lines against the best interests of his district. Cornyn's claim is that the plan won't work. He wants tax cuts but people WAY smarter than Cornyn say cuts won't work.

I'M ONE OF THEM.

Watch as Texas gets FUCKED on infrastructure stimulus thanks to a bunch of Republicans too stupid to understand that their ideology has failed, that tax cuts aren't a panacea and that sometimes the government has got to spend money.

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January 30, 2009

Fuck you very much, Lance Armstrong

Now, for the vast majority of you who don't live in Austin it'll probably come as a shock that we don't like Lance Armstrong. Seriously, many of us will actively try to run his scrawny ass off the road.

This won't help at all.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong this afternoon called on the Legislature to make Texas the 25th state to pass a statewide smoking ban.

“This is something that is very, very personal for me,” said the seven-time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor.

Armstrong, just back from the Tour Down Under cycling race in Australia, stood outside the Capitol surrounded by lawmakers who support a proposal that would ban smoking in all indoor workplaces in Texas, including restaurants and bars.

Hey, Fuckhead, you had BALL CANCER. You don't get that from second hand smoke.

Of course, Lance The Douche wasn't alone in his fight to make bars less fun...

“If Texans want to smoke … despite all the reasons they shouldn’t, they can do so,” said state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services. “But the rest of us should have the freedom to breathe in oxygen without inhaling secondhand smoke.”

A poll released today shows that 68 percent of Texans favor such a ban. Baselice & Associates was hired by Smoke-Free Texas, a group supporting the smoking ban, to conduct the survey of 601 registered voters.

Smokers were less likely to support the ban than non-smokers. Seventy-eight percent of non-smokers favored the ban, compared to 60 percent of former smokers and 46 percent of smokers.

Hey, Jane, I'm worried about hair bleaching chemicals destroying drinkable water. I shouldn't have to suffer with bad water because you can't stand being natural. As for the validity of this 'poll', we already know how Baseslice works. What we ALSO know is that the smoking ban in Austin BARELY passed. IN AUSTIN.

The bill’s authors, Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Denton, and Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, tried unsuccessfully to pass a statewide ban in 2007. Ellis said it’ll be a tough fight against tobacco companies — even if they don’t publicly oppose the bill.

“Big Tobacco does not want this to pass, and they are a powerful force to go up against,” Ellis said.

Ok, Rodney, you just became my least favorite Democrat for being a fucktard and working with these intellectually inferior mommystaters.

Tell you assholes what... I'll quit smoking as soon as you DO YOUR GODDAMN JOBS TO FUND SCHOOLS AND TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE. Until then, if you don't like smokey bars, don't go to them and quit telling the rest of us what the hell to do. I pay my insurance, not the state, don't act like my choice is costing you money.

Finally, why not just put this on the ballot and let us, the stupid voters, decide?

Dicks.

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January 27, 2009

Eleven million?!?

Governor Palin reportedly wants $11 mn for her new book, 'Pick Me! Pick Me!'. Will anyone be dumb enough to pay the tab, hire her a ghostwriter and actually put the thing out to a Barnes and Noble near you?

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January 26, 2009

The man in black

What the hell is 39% trying to do? Is he trying to anger the ghosts of Johnny and June?

What an asshole.

(photo from AAS)

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39% and Grandmother Longlegs

Texas is abuzz about the latest in the R deathmatch which will be 39% vs. Sen. Hutchison. Kuff has his analysis here, David Mauro has some deets up on Hutchison's planning and supporter list and Gardner Selby has this up at the Statesman regarding the omnipresent abortion issue which will, of course, play a critical role in the R primary due to the fact that most R primary voters are more concerned about someone they don't know having an abortion than whether or not THEIR kids have good schools.

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January 06, 2009

Is Vicki Truitt lying?

It certainly looks that way, according to what John over at Bay Area Houston has uncovered. Apparently, Vicki is getting off with a slap on the wrist from the ethics commission for illegally using campaign funds for her personal benefit. What has me pretty skeptical of Vicki's honesty is the inability of her mortgage company to locate the documentation related to the financing of the condo her husband bought which she's been paying for with her campaign funds (in the past, you'd call this robbing Peter to pay Paul).

Here's the thing... it's REALLY easy to get a copy of a loan. My employer has everything on scanned in and we can pull it off a remote server. So, if one of my counterparties has a file that gets tagged for audit, I can print or email a copy of the complete loan to them. Even with the loans that closed long ago, it's pretty easy because the vast majority have a MERS number that will tell you where the original collateral package actually is as well as the loan details.

Perhaps if the Ethics Comm would ask Vicki for that they might be able to get an accurate picture. I certainly doubt Vicki's excuse that the documents were lost, especially on a loan of this type.

`

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December 18, 2008

CRA... the talking point that just won't die.

Seriously, R's, get a new talking point.

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December 16, 2008

Michael Williams run for Senate

Michael Williams, who was just re-elected to the Texas Railroad Commission, announced today that he would like to run for US Senate if Kay Bailey resigns.

In other news, similar announcements were made by

A sack of dirt
A potted plant
My mother
A bottle of Welch's concord grape juice
A book about the work of Salvador Dali
The clock on my desk at also tells the temperature immediately around my desk
An iPhone
A lit cigarette thrown out of a car moving at 70 on MoPac

... all of which stand more of a chance of getting elected to US Senate than the idiot Michael Williams. Mikey, let me clue you in, the racist crackers in East Texas who DIDN'T vote for Obama because he was black had no idea you were.

Get it, moron?

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December 14, 2008

Around Texas

Ron Kirk for Transportation Secretary? He wasn't a great Mayor of Dallas. He wasn't a good Senate candidate. Now the President-elect wants to put him in charge of the Transportation Department? Let's keep in mind this is the same Ron Kirk who thinks tolls are just nifty. His point is the same one most of the 'thinking liberals' make, namely that gas taxes disproportionately effect the poor. What these well intentioned people never pick up on is that when you're tolling damn near every road, you drive up the costs for all consumers creating the very problem your tolls were meant to avoid. Either in terms of paying the toll or sitting in traffic on a surface road or increased costs at stores that sell good transported by trucks that paid the tolls, the poor (even those who don't drive) end up getting soaked. As Democrats, we've always been pragmatic when looking at problems, costs associated with those problems and how best to fund them.

Unfortunately, it's become accepted as gospel that tolls are the best funding solution in Democratic circles, no matter how wrong that thesis is. Kirk is a part of that problem and that makes him a very unsuitable choice.

The reality is we need someone dedicated to transportation who can come at our infrastructure problems with innovative, multimodal solutions. We need someone who can recommend sensible, long term financial structures not someone who will simply kick the can down the road, soaking taxpayers in the process.

Elizabeth Ames Jones has decided to run for Senate. Lucky, aren't we?

Am I the only one who thinks this bitch is the candidate equivalent of fruitcake? Pretty but absolutely worthless? And trust me, this isn't a Democrat vs. Republican thing. This bitch is as dumb as a box of fucking rocks. Click the goddamn links.

For you Dallasites, there's a delay in the plans to reconstruct LBJ. Apparently, the firms need some more time to figure out how to dig out 6 additional toll lanes underneath the freeway. And rebuild the free part of the road. I feel for y'all... you're actually going to have to use surface roads for about five years.

Oh and the Trinity Toll Road is kinda moving forward. But not really.

Austin has low electric rates. Who knew?

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December 11, 2008

This week in Teh Gay

Wednesday was a Day Without Gays, where gays took the day off to protest Prop 8. Or the return of polyester, I wasn't really sure since I didn't get the memo. PDiddie has more which is funny since he's not Teh Gay and seems to know more about what's going on with my team than I.

On the subject of Prop 8, here are some good protest pics

Mike Huckabee was recently on The Daily Show where he got spanked by Jon Stewart. Huckabee wanted to, at one point, make it clear that he was not a homophobe which is exceedingly difficult when you're speaking out against equal rights for gays and lesbians. And, in the case of Prop 8, openly discriminating against them.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mike Huckabee Pt. 2

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

My favorite part is when Stewart asks Huckabee when HE decided not to be gay.

Apparently, Teh Gays all need to be in 'education's camps. So say a couple of amateur hour politicos up in Oklahoma. A word of advice for the peeps up in OK, people who scream the loudest about how horrible Teh Gays are usually...

1) Know only one gay person
2) Are gay themselves
3) Are still getting over being rejected by the person in point 1

Just in case you think I'm exaggerating this...

We have to get rid of that and start curing those sinners. It's past time that this nation stopped placating sin and start putting them in education programs. Courts can force drug offenders into treatment centers and violent people into anger management. There's no reason our courts can't do that with homos.

Sure thing... tell you what, you come on down to Texas and pick me up, K? I promise, I won't shoot you with my shotgun, I'll just beat the fucking hell out of you in my front lawn.

And yeah, you slimy hick, I can do it.

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December 08, 2008

Pret-a-porter with Cynthia Dunbar

Oh, my.

Yeah, I think I'll let the elegance of Cynthia herself carry this post.

Dunbar (on p. 100) calls public education a “subtly deceptive tool of perversion.” She charges that the establishment of public schools is unconstitutional and even “tyrannical” because it threatens the authority of families, granted by God through Scripture, to direct the instruction of their children (p. 103). Dunbar, who has home-schooled her children and sent them to private schools, bases that charge on her belief that “the underlying authority for our constitutional form of government stems directly from biblical precedents.” (p. xv)

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December 03, 2008

It's AWESOME when R's self destruct

Over at FDL, Blue Texan caught us up on Sen. Saxby Chambliss who is apparently trying to prove that he is absolutely clueless. Just FYI, a recession is two quarters of contraction in GDP.

In other news, Republican freakshow Sarah Palin spent the day in Georgia campaigning for Chambliss. Apparently, it did some good since the idiotic people of Georgia have re-elected Chambliss.

Mr. Chambliss, 65, a pro-business conservative, campaigned in the runoff on a platform of limiting Mr. Obama’s ability to pass legislation in a Democratic-controlled Congress, and many voters interviewed Tuesday said thebalance of power in the Senate had been an important factor in their choice of a candidate.

“If you can’t have a little back-and-forth arguing between the parties, then the party in power will make mistakes,” said Ron Zukowski, a computer expert in Atlanta who voted for Mr. Chambliss. “This was my chance to say no, and I said no. ”

First off, Chambliss is pro-business as long as they are massive multinationals. Second, Mr. Zukowski, it's great that you're a computer expert and really sad that you are so stupid as a voter. Just wait until Mr. Chambliss votes to make it easier for your employer to ship your job overseas.

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November 23, 2008

The SBOE : Still chock full of nuts

Like an Almond Joy, the State Board of Education is full of nuts. From McLeroy (who claims to be a dentist... I'm guessing from the Dr. Christian Szell School of Dentistry) to Dunbar, religious right Republicans have managed to stack up quite a majority on the SBOE. TFN, having recently released a survey of teachers and professors regarding evolution (the result? More than 90% support the teaching of it exclusively in schools), was liveblogging the SBOE meeting yesterday.

From what I can tell, it's pretty clear that Boardmembers were completely unconcerned with what those far better educated than themselves had to say. It was abundantly clear that these folks were mentally calcified into their own belief system and grasping at straws (the Discovery Institute? REALLY?!?!?) for any way to refute arguments made by speakers throughout the day who advocated the teaching of evolution as science, without prevarication.

My favorite line...

5:37 p.m. - The pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Shiner, TX just told the board to leave the religion to him and keep it out of the classroom. I think we can all raise a tall glass of Shiner Bock to that!

And that's the bottom line... this is about putting the religious beliefs of a few into schools and being taught to all our children. I certainly, were I a parent, would not want my children taught the lunatic belief system of Cynthia Dunbar. I would want my children to be taught real, unadulterated science.

And there are no doubts or weaknesses in evolution. Period. It's not that we don't want to see them, 'Dr.' McLeroy... it's that none of what you and your fellow creationists have to say makes any sense. There are gaps in the fossil record, but there are no gaps in the theory.

It's clear these sad, sad little people have pretty weak faith. Otherwise, they wouldn't spend so much time and energy trying to see something that clearly isn't there. Faith is about not having any proof. Which makes these folks pretty weak Christians.

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November 19, 2008

Speaker's Race : The bullshit be a-flyin'

Yet ANOTHER R has filed, Solomons, and Kuff has the deets. Which brings the total number of Republican speaker candidates to 1,908. Which means the R's are pretty well fractured.

The D's on the other hand, are hanging together according to Phillip at BOR. Considering that we're more than six weeks out from this thing, it's unlikely to get settled now and it's unlikely anyone will be able to announce they're the winner until sometime around Christmas.

All this comes down to a coalition to beat Craddick. Phillip puts his absolute top at 71 with Craddick D's. Which means one of the opposition candidates has to get to 72 and it'll be the Democrats (with a block of 64), if Fatass wins, who will decide which R gets the chair. If she doesn't then it will be a minority of R's who decide which D becomes speaker.

My money is still on Merritt. For one thing, he's well known and liked by the members from East Texas. He's a solid guy who can be trusted to run the House for the members rather than the lobby and he's already helped some fend off challenges from Craddick acolytes.

If anyone is hearing anything different, post it up in the comments.

One last thing, according to a comment Colin Struther left at BOR, Turner's candidacy is basically a pass through to Craddick.

turner candidacy isn't real

it is a placeholder for Democrats that want to vote for craddick.

by pledging their allegiance to sly, when forced to choose between 2 repubs they can say that the guy they pledged to asked them to follow him and as a result he is speaker pro tem.

any pledge to turner should be rightfully considered a commitment to craddick.

sly's candidacy just isn't real and i've found no evidence to the contrary.

This doesn't come as a big shock since Turner has basically taken up residence inside Craddick's colon since late 2002. Phillip doesn't think that's the case at all. He seems to think that Turner's candidacy is somehow real. You'll have to excuse Phillip. He's in Boston right now enjoying the era of good feelings and has forgotten what it's like to live in a state desperately in need of regime change.

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November 18, 2008

ImmiGRATING on my last nerve

Vince has an excellent recap up for all the shiteriffic legislation that Leo Berman has filed to usher in what promises to be a truly vile session of the Lege. The bills are mostly unconstitutional and will only end up, if they pass, costing the state money to defend until they are ultimately struck down. It's really little more than politics as usual from a douche you could best serve his constituents (and all Texans) by sticking a gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger. My favorite...

Might As Well Call It A Tax On Businesses. HB 266 would require that no government agency, city, etc., enter into a contract with a private business unless that business participates in an electronic status verification system to verify the citizenship of all of its employees. Such programs can be very costly, and would prohibit a lot of small businesses from doing business with the government simply because they can’t afford the cost. An affidavit certifying that they’ve checked the papers/Social Security Cards of all their employees would be far more efficient, although is still unnecessary.

I'm certain this will go well with Chambers of Commerce across the state.

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November 17, 2008

One of these douchebags is pissed at Palin

Via CNN comes word that one of these people is mad at Sarah Palin because it appeared like she was assuming the mantle of leader in the Republican Party.

Am I the only one who thinks it was 39%? You know, the guy who wants national office so bad his little, incompetent, rat brain does cartwheels at the thought?

Posted by mcblogger at 02:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 15, 2008

This just in...

THIS GUY LIES.

Posted by mcblogger at 03:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 08, 2008

Why, yes. Losing IS for losers

Seriously, I'm not even trying to gloat but y'all make it easy. In 2010, we are going to mop the floor with you dipshits. Kay Bailey, if she actually steps up this time to run, will come through the general so bruised and damaged that she'll be worthless for her one term.

Doubt it? You had the best of all possible worlds for Republicans here in Texas in 2008. Even still, you bitches lost ground and came far closer than you should have.

Watch as we bring your irresponsible and questionable leadership to an end.

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November 05, 2008

Failure...

Posted by mcblogger at 12:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 02, 2008

Diana, you might want to change your church

Running right up to the line separating the public from the spiritual (AKA, the separation of church and state), Father McNeil at St. William Parish in RR has issued a letter to all parishioners reminding them of their obligation as good Catholics not to vote for those who support abortion. The letter is clearly targeted at Diana Maldonado.

Please note, this is NOT a letter coming from Joel McNeil, this is a letter coming from Father Joel McNeil of the St. William Parish.

The letter also makes mention of the 'redefinition of marriage', a homophobic rhetorical device designed to give otherwise nice people a reason to discriminate at the ballot box. Maldonado has, at no point, indicated her support for equality for gays and lesbians in unions under state law only. So, we have to ask, why DID Father McNeil choose to throw that in? No one is asking him to perform gay marriage ceremonies. The Catholic Church doesn't recognize them. That absolutely would not change, even if there were changes in Federal law. It's that whole 'separation of church and state' thing.

I'll withhold additional comment on this. I think something from Captain Kroc may be more appropriate since he is our resident Catholic.

Posted by mcblogger at 11:00 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

October 31, 2008

In which a crook speaks to tweety

I'm not posting the video here, you can see it by clicking here. I just can't put up an embedded video of Tom Delay, one of the nastiest, most ignorant people in the universe.

Far more disgusting is what Tweety says about him at the end. Chris Matthews, I thought your show was 'Hardball' not 'Hardballs (in my mouth)'. Seriously, yo, watching you fellate Tom Delay is sick. Like watching japscat. It's not that I want to censor Tom Delay... it would just be nice if one of our infotainment journalists were smart enough to call him on his shit. AND PRESS HIM DOWN WHEN HE'S WRONG.

Of course, that's not Matthew's style. He's only a tiger with State Senators.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 30, 2008

What gives AT&T nightsweats?

Apparently, AT&T is all hot and nervous about D's winning next week, mostly because they've had the R's in the bag for a decade. Still, they really needn't worry so much... after all, it was all but one of the Republicans and a few D's who voted for retroactive immunity for T and it's competitors.

Posted by mcblogger at 10:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

You SUCK : Governor Sanford (SC) Edition

South Carolina Governor Sanford spent Wednesday in Washington at hearings regarding another stimulus package. People on both sides agree one is needed to boost states and cities, mostly to rebuild crumbling infrastructure (which is, coincidentally, the single BEST thing you can do for commerce nationally) and to get consumer (and then business) confidence back up.

...House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee demonstrated bipartisan support for tens of billions of dollars for infrastructure projects such as highway construction, water and sewer projects and modernization of schools and public housing.

There, lawmakers and witnesses such as New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, touted public works projects for both creating jobs and making the economy more efficient.

"Every billion dollars in spending on infrastructure, on highway and transportation expenditures does result in 35,000 new jobs," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla.

I did say people agree but that's not really true. It was MOST EVERYONE on one side and Governor Sanford stupidly on the other. Sanford, it appears, has not had that stunning Come-To-Jesus moment where we all realize that we're not islands unto ourselves, no matter how much we love Ayn Rand.

"I'm here to beg of you not to approve or advance the contemplated $150 billion stimulus package," Sanford said. "This $150 billion salve may in fact further infect our economy with unnecessary government influence and unintended fiscal consequences."

By Sanford's count, the federal government has already pumped $2 trillion into the economy this year through a previous stimulus package, the financial services bailout, and rescue actions for specific firms.

After Paterson and Sanford offered heady arguments featuring quotes from noted economists and novelist Ayn Rand, the committee heard from another witness, Mayor Douglas Palmer of Trenton, N.J.

He had a much simpler message, quoting "that great poet John Lennon of the Beatles."

"Help!" the mayor said.

Would someone, please, take aside our ertswhile Realtor turned politician and explain to him that little actual money has been spent... and it's entirely probable that little actually will be spent before the markets recover?

You might also want to clue him into the fact that Rand just doesn't, you know, jive well with the real world. Where we live. You know the type of people who are obsessed with the overly simplistic Rand? People like this guy...
o
Who is apparently the next Governor from South Carolina.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Vouchers... again.

Like cockroaches, vouchers keep popping up despite the best efforts of EVERYONE to get rid of them. WHY? Because James Leininger wants MORE government money than he already gets. In late 2006, it was Sen. Shapiro who was talking about this. Now, it's Bill Keffer in his quixotic quest to retake the seat he lost to Rep. Allen Vaught.

Let's be clear... these vouchers will not be enough, on their own, for most families with ASD kids. Further, it's the responsibility of the district to provide for special needs kids, and children with ASD fall into that group. However, they often don't have the money to create the learning environment these parents demand. BECAUSE PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE UNDERFUNDED. THERE is one part of the reality these parents don't want to face. The other is that even with a voucher, they still wouldn't be able to afford the school.

This honestly pisses me off because we need to be doing better for ALL TEXAS CHILDREN, regardless of their abilities. Bill Keffer, time and again, has done everything he can to make that impossible. It's high time we stop worrying just about individual kids and start focusing on solutions that will help all kids.

Help out Rep. Vaught.

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October 29, 2008

And you thought Palin was the only one

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you Jeri Thompson. Fresh off forcing her geriatric husband to run for President, Jeri has decided to take on Sarah Palin as her cause du jour. As part of Team Palin, she'll remind Americans just why they hate bitchy, hungry, nasty women.

Jeri, have a jelly donut and STFU. 'Governer' Palin represents fewer people than the Mayor of Austin and her accomplishments include, well, nothing. Even the pipeline she's all about is a pipe dream.

And make sure that donut comes from Krispy Kreme, K?

Posted by mcblogger at 08:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Really? No, I mean REALLY?

Joe The (unlicensed) Plumber wants to run for Congress.

Today he was busy campaigning for McThuselah in his native OH (you know, where he owes back taxes) talking about how afraid he was of Obama tax plan (which is funny since he doesn't, you know, pay his taxes) and how Obama would destroy Israel, which is an obvious lie, kind of like Joe's plan to buy a business and make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Seriously, Republicans, THIS SCHMUCK IS THE BEST YOU CAN DO?!?!?!?!

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Hypocrisy is my FAVORITE

Why does ANYONE still listen to Rove?

Posted by mcblogger at 09:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 28, 2008

The market is ALWAYS right... even when it doesn't really exist

Isn't it great when we have the free market to help us realize savings in fantasy land? It'll come as no surprise that electricity dereg has failed if you've been, you know, READING this blog regularly (which reminds me, we need to talk... we need to see you more often. Think of McBlogger as something you do every morning. Like pooping). But in case you're one of the millions who haven't been reading us, the Texas Observer has this.

Posted by mcblogger at 08:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sarah Palin, 2008...

...meet Iranian show mom, 1988.

Posted by mcblogger at 03:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

In which Mike McCaul (and Mike Rosen)...

...get their dicks knocked in the dirt.

Vince over at Capital Annex (who is now an ardent supporter of Larry Joe Doherty) penned a piece in the primary that wasn't terribly flattering for LJD. One of the many mouthbreathers that do webwork for Republicans (the doucheriffic Colton Brugger) decided to post that particular piece on an anti-Larry Joe website.

They didn't bother to get Vince's permission.

Now, content can be used pretty freely from most bloggers. Sometimes people ask in advance and, as a general rule, I let people use stuff gratis as long as they blockquote and link back to me even if they don't ask. However, I reserve the right to pull back that implied permission. At any time. So do most bloggers. Once we send you a notice, you better pull the content down.

And that's just what Vince did. By sending a notice to the McCaul campaign, he expected them to comply and remove the post since they were, ostensibly, running the site. BUT, being the morons they are, they decided to issue a press release mocking the demand (we think that was the idea of legendary dipshit Mike Rosen formerly of Fox 7). So Vince, being the nice, patient person he is, decided to send a letter to their service provider.

And within hours, all of Brugger's sites were down. Not just the anti-LJD site, ALL OF THEM.

Just FYI, if you get a DMCA notice from someone, heed it. K, Mike? And for all you folks wondering about LJD's chances, McCaul is worried. And the 10th is in play.

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October 24, 2008

You SUCK : Michelle Bachmann Edition

We knew Michelle Bachmann was hella stupid but we had no idea she was aspiring to be the female version of Joe McCarthy.

BACHMANN: And they can’t take it because the point is what are Barack Obama’s policies? Are they for America or will they be against traditional American ideals and values? And I’ll tell you what. Punishing tax rates, redistribution of wealth, socialized medicine, inputing censorship in the form of the un-Fairness Doctrine and taking away the secret ballot from the worker has nothing to do with traditional American values. That’s why your listeners need to know. Otherwise the United States may be literally changed forever.

Given how stupid and wrong she was on the Economic Stabilization Act, I'd sooner listen to a drunk bum on the street than Michella. It's good to know that her challenger is doing well and it's heartening that her special brand of hate mixed with idiocy in a venti-size cup is winning friends and influencing people... to endorse Democrats.

Go support Michelle's opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg.

Posted by mcblogger at 01:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 21, 2008

But, Senator McCain! She IS a liar!

Click here for Sen. McCain's latest race baiting piece of filthy advertising. It's what prompted me to wonder exactly HOW Senator McCain could claim Senator Obama was out of bounds for calling Governor Palin a liar. She DOES lie. It's been well documented and she continues to do it.

I think what's really eating McSame is that a black man is telling the truth about a white woman. The reality is that she's incompetent and a liar. Of course, lying and philandering is nothing new to John. Just ask his first wife.

Time to put the n*gger in his place, right Senator McCain? I know how you can pull yourself up! Talk some more about your imprisonment. We've not heard nearly enough about that and why you think it qualifies you to be President.

Posted by mcblogger at 11:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 17, 2008

Calling Bullshit : Uhm... but you're poor.

During the debate Wednesday night, you may have missed the mention of 'Joe The Plumber' by Sen. McCain. Since he mentioned it only ten thousand times. Basically, the story (and it IS a story) is that Joe Wurzelbacher came up to Sen. Obama during a campaign event and said he was planning on buying a business that earned between $250-280,000 per year and that he wouldn't be able to do that under Obama's tax plan.

I know it will come as a shock, but Sen. McCain tried to use that Wednesday night to prove Sen. Obama just hates small businesses.

Now, the truth is you pay taxes on income, not gross revenues. So, Joe's purchase would have to net him income of $250,000 and would probably cost him at least five times earnings which would put the purchase price at $1,250,000. Now, Joe is a pretty average, lower middle class guy. Here he is talking to Senator Obama...

I know looks can be deceiving, but this does not look like a guy who has $100 in checking, let alone $1.25 million. But maybe he could get a loan... except, he's probably pretty close on debt to income ratios given that he has an income tax lien against him, meaning he's actually spending way more than he makes. So much, in fact, that he can't even pay his taxes.

Wait... a guy who doesn't pay his taxes is bitching about paying taxes? Uh oh, Joe.

So basically, his planning to buy the business that earns more than $250,000 per year is dependent on the death of a rich relative. Or a lotto win. His fears about Obama taxing his newfound income? Completely unfounded and, frankly, more than a little stupid. However, one thing this has brought up is that Joe is not a licensed plumber and in his area of Ohio, they license plumbers. He also lied about his union membership (he was never a member of the local). And in the end all he's worried about, should his dream fantastically materialize and enable him to own a plumbing business earning more than $250,000 per year (most plumbers don't earn that, just FYI) he'd pay a grand total of $900 more PER YEAR. But, if he was confused and was confusing sales with income...

And his question to Mr. Obama about paying taxes? According to some tax analysts, if Mr. Wurzelbacher’s gross receipts from his business is $250,000 — and not his taxable income — then he would not have to pay higher taxes under Mr. Obama’s plan, and probably would be eligible for a tax cut.

At least Joe gets to feel like Britney Spears.

As a final note, I'm tired of poor people bitching all the time about taxes they don't pay. And voting based on pipe dreams that will never come true. And Joe, even if you do buy the two man business of your dreams, $63k is about your max. So you have nothing to worry about.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 16, 2008

Peering into the future

With all the hubbub and anxiety surrounding the election and the economy, some recent accomplishments in time-travel technology have been overlooked. It is now possible, through the magic of YouTube, to peer into the future, if only for brief moments.

For example, here's a snippet showing Senator McThuselah a few years after his embarrassing landslide loss in next month's election. Apparently, he gets out of politics altogether and becomes a film producer.

What's really impressive about this technology is that it even shows alternative future scenarios! Apparently, in a parallel future, McThuselah snaps in a major way and winds up in jail, where he is visited in jail by his friend, G. Gordon Liddy, who apparently decides to start wearing a toupee in the future

...or, maybe he has a total change of heart about the environment and becomes a leading advocate in the treehugging movement?

It works in reverse, too! Here he is telling his first wife he wants a divorce

Posted by hbalczak at 12:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 15, 2008

Tonight, I lost all respect for Sen. McCain

I've seen some really dumb people in my life. Many of them have been politicians. One of them, as of tonight, is John McCain.

I once had respect for him, until he became George W. Bush's bitch in 2000. I did still think he was fairly intelligent and honest. I now look at him as just another lying politician. What I really hate is someone who will try to play guilt by association. I'm disgusted by people who will lie about trade and the economy. I hate someone who will tell me he'll balance the budget by cutting less than 1/2 of 1%.

Senator McCain, how are we supposed to build nuclear power plants with a spending freeze? How am I supposed to RUN MY GODDAMN CAR OFF A FUCKING NUKE PLANT?

It's time to call a senile old bastard, a senile old bastard. And it's very obvious that John McCain left his integrity in his first term and was never the man I thought he was. See you later you miserable, old, lying fuckball.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 14, 2008

So... What Is The Market Value Of A Kidney These Days Anyway?

If there was a Nobel Prize for Crazy, Don Zimmerman would be a strong contender.

Posted by mayor mcsleaze at 07:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 07, 2008

Palin, McCain, Gramm and the Stupid House Republicans

The NYT ran a great piece last weekend taking Little Sister Sarah to task for her admiration of the job Dick (Just Call Me Dick) Cheney and his 'reimagining' of the Constitution to expand the role of the Vice President.

The Constitution does not state or imply any flexibility in the office of vice president. It gives the vice president no legislative responsibilities other than casting a tie-breaking vote in the Senate when needed and no executive powers at all. The vice president’s constitutional role is to be ready to serve if the president dies or becomes incapacitated.

Any president deserves a vice president who will be a sound adviser and trustworthy supporter. But the American people also deserve and need a vice president who understands and respects the balance of power — and the limits of his or her own power. That is fundamental to our democracy.

So far, Ms. Palin has it exactly, frighteningly wrong.

Little Sister Sarah has been talking about the specious link between Obama and some guy in Chicago (they once served on a board together. And they live in the same neighborhood so you can totally understand her assumption that they're the best of friends) which led someone at the WaPo to talk about McCain's friendship with the craziest A&M prof in recorded history, Phil Gramm. He's the good ole boy with the fish eyes who thinks it's just great (GREAT!) that we deregulated financial services so that they could run amok.

Take a bow, Jeb Hensarling. You've now separated yourself and your fellow Stupid House Republicans from even the Republican mainstream.

Conservatives? My ass. Combined, y'all don't have the intellectual capacity to handle a job as a cashier at Wal Mart.

Posted by mcblogger at 01:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 06, 2008

McCain (hearts) Deregulation

It's the part with Phil Gramm at the end that's the best. Never before has a dumber person spoken more authoritatively on subjects about which he knows absolutely nothing.

Seriously, Phil, you're a BIG reason why I'm not a shareholder in UBS. Any company dumb enough to have you on the Board of Directors is clearly not an organization that cares about it's owners.

Posted by mcblogger at 01:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Stupid, Sebastian. Very Stupid.

Those who comprise the pseudo-intellectual backbone of the right are mounting a stirring, if misguided and thoroughly wrong, defense of deregulation. First up today, Sebastian Mallaby in the WaPo which is apparently trying to compete more vigorously with the WaTimes.

If that doesn't convince you that deregulation is the wrong scapegoat, consider this: The appetite for toxic mortgages was fueled by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the super-regulated housing finance companies. Calomiris calculates that Fannie and Freddie bought more than a third of the $3 trillion in junk mortgages created during the bubble and that they did so because heavy government oversight obliged them to push money toward marginal home purchasers. There's a vigorous argument about whether Calomiris's number is too high. But everyone concedes that Fannie and Freddie poured fuel on the fire to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.

OK, first off it's clear that Mallaby is completely ignorant of this. This WAS an absolute failure of deregulation at all levels. Mallaby wishes to cast the final blame on cheap money from the Chinese (their recycled trade profits) and the investors all over the world with an appetite (Mallaby stupidly assumes) for risky sub-prime credits. First off, money is money and whether it's cheap or expensive, prudent underwriting standards are a constant. The rules don't really change. You can't justify, ever, giving someone a loan with a balance more than 20 times their annual salary. Needless to say, you can blame China all you want but it's still a decision that someone IN THE UNITED STATES made to make these loans.

Second, Mallaby's ignorance of structured finance and the sales plans for these securities really should disqualify him from writing on this topic. Of course, the WaPo doesn't know any better so they'll let any idiot fill their pages with pap. As long as they work for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the AEI or (in Mallaby's case) the CFR. But I digress... Back to blaming the buyer. The reality is that these investors DO deserve some of the blame. These are folks who manage billions in assets and frankly should have been a little more concerned with the tranching, the credit classes (and homogeneity) in those tranches and the overall credit profile. They should have been concerned about the credit enhancements... why WERE they needed? Who was the counterparty on those insurance policies? What was their reserve? In their defense, some managers DID dig into these questions. They received assurances that the pools in the CDO were perfectly constructed, the enhancements (credit default swaps) were solid which brought the credit rating (according to the ratings agencies) up to A and the counterparties on the CDS were all well rated. None of that was a lie... well, not exactly, The consistency in the pool was at issue, as was the historic risk on low documentation loans (not to mention those which added to that layer of risk with a high loan to value ratio and relatively low FICO scores). However, even some of the issuers didn't understand the risks they had ultimate underwriting responsibility for at the pool level. That aside, these investors were paying A paper prices on C credits. When these credits began to perform like C credits, THEN they started asking questions which caused the systemic breakdown because the answers weren't what they were expecting.

Not to mention the fact that the enhancements became effectively worthless as issuers folded up shop.

As a side note, Mallaby should maybe take a look at this. While the NYT did a pretty piss poor job on the story, it's still pretty clear that the decisions made by FNMA and FHLMC weren't forced by regulation. They weren't even coerced, despite the tilt of the reporter. In reality, Fannie (in this case) was trying to compete with aggressive investment and commercial banks who were offering extremely risky loans. In other words, this was a failure of the leadership who made the decision to chase the market rather than stay the rational course.

The interesting thing is the argument that these 'toxic mortgages' , or at least the ones clogging balance sheets, are always made to poor and minority borrowers. Which isn't true... Alt A (which comprises the vast majority of these 'toxic mortgages') wasn't much for low income or risky credit profiles. And of course, Mallaby (much like the NYT) makes no mention of the fact that the majority of these loans, the overwhelming majority, are still performing. Which means this is all more a panic than an actual financial avalanche. It's obvious why Mallaby doesn't want to talk about the failure of the market because it acknowledges Mr. Market's #1 flaw... it's made up of PEOPLE. Irrational, sometimes stupid, people.

Finally, all this talk on both sides ignores one simple fact... if tax policy had been different, restructured to really promote wage growth and low inflation (you can have both), this probably wouldn't have happened. This was a case of the mortgage industry trying to find ways to make loans to a populace that really couldn't afford them anymore. Sure, eventually something would have stopped up the system and at some point we'd have had a day of reckoning. However, it would have been a lot easier. If you really want to tack this disaster on an economic theory or concept, supply-side economics is a pretty great scapegoat because of it's unerring ability to concentrate wealth at the top.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 03, 2008

33 Pastors Agree

To tell the IRS to piss off.

We told you this was going to happen. Apparently, these people just have to tell their congregants that Obama is the devil. And that the little Baby Jesus will cry if you vote for him.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:52 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 29, 2008

How To Lose Friends And Destroy Economies

What awful things could Nancy Pelosi have possibly said to make the Congressional repubs get all pouty and sink the bill today? Click the Supersize, and read the Speaker's remarks courtesy of The Page. Sounds like the GOP "leadership" is pissing up a tree when they claim their feelings were hurt.

“Madam Speaker, when was the last time someone asked you for $700 billion?

It is a number that is staggering, but tells us only the costs of the Bush Administration’s failed economic policies—policies built on budgetary recklessness, on an anything goes mentality, with no regulation, no supervision, and no discipline in the system.

Democrats believe in the free market, which can and does create jobs, wealth, and capital, but left to its own devices it has created chaos.

That chaos is the dismal picture painted by Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke a week and a half ago in the Capitol.

As they pointed out, we confront a crisis of historic magnitude that has the ability to do serious injury not simply to our economy, but to the American people: not just to Wall Street, but to everyday Americans on Main Street.

It is our responsibility today, to help avert that catastrophic outcome.

Let us be clear: This is a crisis caused on Wall Street. But it is a crisis that reaches to Main Street in every city and town of the United States.

It is a crisis that freezes credit, causes families to lose their homes, cripples small businesses, and makes it harder to find jobs.

It is a crisis that never had to happen. It is now the duty of every Member of this body to recognize that the failure to act responsibly, with full protections for the American taxpayer, would compound the damage already done to the financial security of millions of American families.

Over the past several days, we have worked with our Republican colleagues to fashion an alternative to the original plan of the Bush Administration.

I must recognize the outstanding leadership provided by Chairman Barney Frank, whose enormous intellectual and strategic abilities have never before been so urgently needed, or so widely admired.

I also want to recognize Rahm Emanuel, who combined his deep knowledge of financial institutions with his pragmatic policy experience, to resolve key disagreements.

Secretary Paulson deserves credit for working day and night to help reach an agreement and for his flexibility in negotiating changes to his original proposal.

Democrats insisted that legislation responding to this crisis must protect the American people and Main Street from the meltdown on Wall Street.

The American people did not decide to dangerously weaken our regulatory and oversight policies. They did not make unwise and risky financial deals. They did not jeopardize the economic security of the nation. And they must not pay the cost of this emergency recovery and stabilization bill.

So we insisted that this bill contain several key provisions:

This legislation must contain independent and ongoing oversight to ensure that the recovery program is managed with full transparency and strict accountability.

The legislation must do everything possible to allow as many people to stay in their homes rather than face foreclosure.

The corporate CEOs whose companies will benefit from the public’s participation in this recovery must not benefit by exorbitant salaries and golden parachute retirement bonuses.

Our message to Wall Street is this: the party is over. The era of golden parachutes for high-flying Wall Street operators is over. No longer will the U.S. taxpayer bailout the recklessness of Wall Street.

The taxpayers who bear the risk in this recovery must share in the upside as the economy recovers.

And should this program not pay for itself, the financial institutions that benefited, not the taxpayers, must bear responsibility for making up the difference.

These were the Democratic demands to safeguard the American taxpayer, to help the economy recover, and to impose tough accountability as a central component of this recovery effort.

This legislation is not the end of congressional activity on this crisis. Over the course of the next few weeks, we will continue to hold investigative and oversight hearings to find out how the crisis developed, where mistakes were made, and how the recovery must be managed to protect the middle class and the American taxpayer.

With passage of this legislation today, we can begin the difficult job of turning our economy around, of helping those who depend on a growing economy and stable financial institutions for a secure retirement, for the education of their children, for jobs and small business credit.

Today we must act for those Americans, for Main Street, and we must act now, with the bipartisan spirit of cooperation which allowed us to fashion this legislation.

This not enough. We are also working to restore our nation’s economic strength by passing a new economic recovery stimulus package—a robust, job creating bill—that will help Americans struggling with high prices, get our economy back on track, and renew the American Dream.

Today, we will act to avert this crisis, but informed by our experience of the past eight years with the failed economic leadership that has left us left capable of meeting the challenges of the future.

We choose a different path. In the new year, with a new Congress and a new president, we will break free with a failed past and take America in a New Direction to a better future.”

Posted by mayor mcsleaze at 03:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 26, 2008

Gas pains

As part of the 'Ike Tours Texas' fallout, refiners on the Gulf are still shut down which is causing spot shortages in Atlanta (which sucks anyway) and in Tennessee. And, apparently, Dallas. Here's what caught my eye (and keep in mind the effected refiners account for 20% of US capacity)

U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 11.5 million barrels per day during the week ending September 19, down more than 1.7 million barrels per day from the previous week's average. Refineries operated at 66.7 percent of their operable capacity last week. Gasoline production fell last week, averaging about 8.0 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production decreased last week, averaging nearly 3.3 million barrels per day. (EIA)

So, refineries effected by Ike account for 20% of US refining capacity and we're down to 66%??!?! That seems strange at a time where wholesale gasoline recently spiked to $5/gal.

Then I saw this and start to think maybe there is something going on.

SO, we have a massive crude and gasoline supply disruption as a result of a hurricane. Combine that with newfound regulatory zeal from governments around the world, all of whom are looking to strangle speculation and suddenly refiners have decided to artificially (for 'repairs') reduce the gasoline available in the market?

Methinks this is a pretty clear cut case of supply manipulation. They can't play with the price since the speculators (those still left in the business now that LEH is gone and MS and GS are under scrutiny) have had to cut back. So they energy companies themselves have decided to create an artificial supply constraint by shutting in capacity unaffected by Ike.

Ain't it nice that the oil companies care so much about their customers?

Posted by mcblogger at 04:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The House Republicans and their STUPID plan

You know, House Republicans are half-wits at the best of times. These AREN'T the best of times. Below is a summary of their principles and my comments. I can't tell you how mindnumbingly stupid this little plan is. This is so poorly thought out and it's so obvious that the players involved are completely out of their depth that here's no way to sufficiently ridicule this.

HR : Rather than providing taxpayer funded purchases of frozen mortgage assets, we should adopt a mortgage insurance approach to solve the problem.

McB : Well, that's a bit like fixing the barn door after the horses are already out. Further, all the private insurance has failed and now you want to activate a government insurance plan that doesn't give taxpayers an asset but instead an open ended liability? At least with Paulson's plan, we weren't on the hook for anything more than what we paid for the asset. And those assets are, at their base, mortgages and behind them is real property.

HR : Currently the federal government insures approximately half of all mortgage backed securities. (MBS) We can insure the rest of current outstanding MBS; however, rather than taxpayers funding insurance, the holders of these assets should pay for it. Treasury Department can design a system to charge premiums to the holders of MBS to fully finance this insurance.

McB : Only Freddie and Fannie insure MBS. So you want to now EXPAND the Agencies? As for the people in financial services paying for this, there isn't any equity left, you idiots. DO YOU GET THAT?! THIS IS A BREAK DOWN IN THE MARKET.

All this does is put us on the hook for another $5 TRILLION. As we step in to 'insure' loans that weren't written to the Agencies tough guidelines. It's a bit like insuring someone who drives a car. Without looking at their driving record or claim history. Which is a prescription for open ended risk.

HR : Have Private Capital Injection to the Financial Markets, Not Tax Dollars. Instead of injecting taxpayer capital into the market to produce liquidity, private capital can be drawn into the market by removing regulatory and tax barriers that are currently blocking private capital formation. Too much private capital is sitting on the sidelines during this crisis.

McB : Well, first off you have $2.5-3 trillion in private capital that has simply ceased to exist. There isn't enough out there. The market is functionally UNREGULATED as is and the tax barriers are, for the most part, non-existent. You guys took care of that in 2001 and 2003. There's nothing more you can do to juice and cutting the tax rates that remain won't do anything to achieve your goals in even a marginal way (the taxes are minimal now as is). Just look at a goddamn Laffer Curve, you morons, and plot it out. You're on the left hand side. You can't achieve marginal gains from here by cutting taxes. They're so low that it doesn't change the risk/reward ratio substantively.

HR : Temporary tax relief provisions can help companies free up capital to maintain operations, create jobs, and lend to one another. In addition, we should allow for a temporary suspension of dividend payments by financial institutions and other regulatory measures to address the problems surrounding private capital liquidity.

McB : Uhm. Most companies are running at a loss. We discussed this. As for the dividends, keep in mind that those dividends go mostly to people who are retired. Are you really so nasty, House Republicans, that you'd force a little old lady to eat cat food just to make a goddamn point?

Quit with the taxes. You've already functionally bankrupted us and we can't handle more of your fiscal irresponsibility. Which is why Republicans are now the MINORITY.

HR : Immediate Transparency, Oversight, and Market Reform. Require participating firms to disclose to Treasury the value of their mortgage assets on their books, the value of any private bids within the last year for such assets, and their last audit report.

McB : Smells like the beginning of REGULATION. Well, even a broken clock is right twice a day so it's no surprise you'd stumble across something. HOWEVER, there's not enough here to make a decision on the cost of insuring. Even here you folks are miserable failures. I'd love it if one of you could be given the reins of a public insurance company. So I could short the hell out of the stock. I LOVE profiting from other's stupidity.

HR : Wall Street Executives should not benefit from taxpayer funding. Call on the SEC to review the performance of the Credit Rating Agencies and their ability to accurately reflect the risks of these failed investment securities.

McB : Sounds like you too have a problem with CEO pay but the meat's not there. So this really IS nothing more than a political ploy?

HR : Create a blue ribbon panel with representatives of Treasury, SEC, and the Fed to make recommendations to Congress for reforms of the financial sector by January 1, 2009.

McB : Really? Hey, morons. The panel already exists. It's been meeting with Congress all week. And it thinks your plan sucks balls.

This 'PACKAGE' was put together by people who are intellectually inadequate. WOEFULLY inadequate.

(thanks to Politico)

Posted by mcblogger at 10:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Oh, Jeb. You moronic fool...

It'll come as little surprise to those of us in Texas that our own Rep. Jeb Hensarling is leading the little rebellion of House Republicans against what was, until they stepped into the fray and began playing politics, a bipartisan plan.

Hensarling has always been an advocate of ideology over reality. Now, he's taking that to it's ultimate extreme by supporting a market solution to the financial crisis we now face. What's terrifying is that even at this late date he has not realized that the crisis itself was brought on by a complete breakdown of the market. Which he now proposes to legislate back into operation. With loan guarantees and insurance.

Here's the problem... the market has consistently, by not working, activated every form of insurance placed on it to offset declines in value. That's what brought down AIG. Which means that should his plan go forward, it'll be taxpayers that take it on the chin because he proposes to have the government backstop LOSSES, not hold and service ASSETS for eventual sale.

The plan, which has not been transformed into legislation, seeks to insure mortgage-backed assets at prices and premiums set by the government, creating a virtual backstop for all the debt. This would not require an initial outlay of taxpayers’ funds in the neighborhood of Paulson's $700 billion.

But the Treasury Department has expressed concerns about whether an insurance model would provide the economy with the immediate stimulus it needs. And taxpayers would have to foot the cost for a major financial slide because the government would be required to make up those losses.

Jeb, just like Fannie and Freddie, how long do you think it will take the market to push through the stops and activate the insurance. What will you do then? Cry that you were wrong?

I don't know what more I should expect from someone who's business experience includes working for his Daddy's little company and some kind of insurance company that you can't find out anything about. Oh, and Green Mountain Energy which is anything but green.

Jeb, you're a tiny, underpowered mind operating among giants this week. Instead of trying to throw your stupid, irresponsible and irrational bull into the mix, why not let those smarter than you take the lead?

You know, Jeb, it's better to keep ones mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it and remove all doubt.

Posted by mcblogger at 01:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 25, 2008

Doubling down (craving crow with seconds)

So this morning I wake up to this story.

Really? Why, I never. How dare the Bush administration demand concessions it can probably get from this Congress...for reasons COMPLETELY INEXFUCKINGPLICABLE considering the mood of the electorate.

Go ahead, bitches. I dare you. Sack up and take on the 19% bogeyman or else go suck on Karl Rove's subpoena and stop sending me fundraising letters.

Crow is best served as a two-course meal. Damn I'm craving some.

Posted by hbalczak at 01:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 24, 2008

May you live in interesting times...

This financial crisis is finally waning. They always end when buyers finally realize that the firesale won't last forever and they dip back into the market to buy deeply discounted assets. We got a big boost of this yesterday.

Until now, Mr. Buffett, who has navigated the stock market with legendary prowess, has largely refrained from investing in the stricken financial industry, saying repeatedly that things could get worse.

Thousands of people on and off Wall Street follow Mr. Buffett’s moves, so his decision to invest in Goldman immediately heartened investors. After falling nearly 1.5 percent during the day, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index erased half its loss in after-hours trading Tuesday evening on news of the investment.

“Buffett is saying he’s confident,” said Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company.

Mr. Buffett’s conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, unveiled the move only days after Goldman, long the premier investment house on Wall Street, embarked on a radical plan to transform itself into a traditional bank to ensure its survival. Goldman, which examined various options over the last week as its shares tumbled and some clients abandoned the firm, also said Tuesday it would sell at least $2.5 billion of common stock to the public.

The difference between Buffett and others is that HE can afford to hold something for decades until BRK makes a profit on it. Even if he dies, there is management at BRK that thinks exactly like him. And his success has not been the result of luck, it's research and thorough analysis. It's making the right decision.

Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.

Last night and this morning I posted a couple of emails to Carl Whitmarsh in Houston regarding something he'd sent out on his massive email list. The first article was this from George Will. Now, George has never been a big fan of McCain. However, that's not the meat of the article. It's the craptastic analysis of the US falling into socialism. Here's what I sent to Carl:

It's funny to me that McCain would attack Cox for not regulating the very securities that McCain voted to keep unregulated.

I LOVE the way conservatives have decided that this is socialism, as if the entire
capital market is now under the absolute control of the Treasury and Fed. Their
plan, buying assets that the free market has assigned zero value to, is absolutely
sound. Why? Because occasionally the market goes crazy and won't buy something
that's worth a dollar even if it's discounted to 10 cents. The market, in short, is
not always right.

The Fed was CREATED to avoid panic and provide liquidity in times of market
dislocations. Which is exactly what we have now.

That being said, Paulson's plan, as presented on Sunday, is a thoroughgoing mess.
There will have to be oversight. There will have to be caps on CEO compensation.
However, the basic idea to add liquidity to our deflated economy is a good one.

The second comment was related to a piece Harvey Kronberg ran from Royal Masset

I love Royal but he's wrong on what's happening in the financial industry. This is a panic, pure and simple, and it should wake people up to the reality that markets are far from perfect.

Markets are nothing more than buyers and sellers. Period. They are dependent on
humans and their imperfect decision making. The idea that markets self regulate with
minimal impacts is ALWAYS wrong. They do self regulate and in the process create
what can charitably be called distress.

Regulation and enforcement, while imperfect and sometimes overreaching, is a hell of
a lot better than mass unemployment and starvation.

That's the lesson most of the 'free market' Republican's have never learned.

Of course, there are number of others who have problems with buying assets. They see another solution, lend directly to the banks.

Here's why you can't just lend money to banks, allow them to take the losses in selling these assets, and then repay the debt over time. For one thing, these losses are going to (in many cases) wipe out all the equity in banks, rendering many insolvent. You can't replace that equity with debt owed to the government. Debt is Debt. For another, the market is so freaked out and dislocated (not to mention fearful) that no one wants these securities at any price. It's not that these securities aren't worth something. After all, the vast majority are A paper mortgage credits. It's that investors can't see the value and won't take ANY risk.

What is needed is a prime mover to get these assets moving, worked out and restore the market. That prime mover is the only entity capable of operating for the long haul, the Federal Government.

The issue is that these assets, when marked to market, have no value because the market is buying and selling NOTHING. However, the loans underneath are STILL performing. On a cashflow basis, many are performing exactly as predicted. We may now need to look at discounted cash flow as a value model to fall back on when MtoM fails. Which it is prone to do when the market seizes up. Which it, of course, does from time to time despite what the Republicans say.

We have to stabilize home prices which means we need people with jobs who can buy homes with mortgages. Unfortunately, as this crisis deepens, it begins to effect employment AND the ability of people to secure financing for homes. Without a market, the value of homes continues to drop. In the end, we fall into a Depression. THAT'S the end result of doing nothing.

Finally, there are some lesson we all need to take from this experience...

1) Regulation and enforcement are not obstacles to the success of the market. They are ESSENTIAL to the success of the market.
2) Capitalism has not failed. What failed was our obligation to oversee it and make it work for the majority.
3) Just because something is valued at nothing right now, it doesn't mean it's worthless.

One last point... one that everyone needs to understand unequivocally, if we don't do this the whole damn country fails. THAT'S the reality and all the whining about taxpayers footing the bill (which is a load of crap) isn't going to change it.

Posted by mcblogger at 03:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Methinks they doth protest well enough (and that's what has me worried)

So if we're to believe our eyes and ears, the Administration's bailout proposal sure has everyone on the Hill all frothing at the mouth.

I don't know about you folks, but it makes me real nervous-like when the Democratic congressional leadership rails this loudly about a Bush proposal this feculent. Because all too often, the squallin' and wall-eyed fits give way to The Big Cave-In [see, e.g., FISA, reauthorization of Iraq War funding, domestic spending levels, etc.].

At times, it seems as if this sort of rending of garments and gnashing of teeth is almost a kind of obligatory theatrical foreshadowing of a preordained tragic climax wherein vile douchebaggery and bitchassedness prevail over courage and righteousness. For you English majors out there not yet done with the metaphor, I suppose the denoument would be the part where said players engage in post hoc bitching about how the executive branch has usurped all the power and singlehandedly ruined the country and that's why only our side can provide the bold, gallant leadership the nation needs, bleh bleh bleh.

(And I type this while aiming Ye Olde Stinkeye in your direction, Nancy, Steny and Harry.)

Hopefully, things will be different this time. Maybe Democrats on the Hill will say, in one, big, loud unified voice, "I'm Rick James, bitch!" and imprint the Will of the People upon the forehead of Connecticut-native George W. Bush with the almighty knucklebling of Article One power. Maybe instead of handing a blank government check to the Gamma Beta House and hoping they'll notice the phrase "public service project" written on the memo line, Congress will pass some completely pinstriped-ass-whuppin' legislation and rock the nation with a new number one hit single, "Smells Like CEO Comeuppance."

Lord, I hope that happens. But I know better than to emotionally invest in that prospect. Kind of like how I learned, as a kid, to tense up any time I saw Charlie Brown on television hauling ass toward Lucy holding a football.

You know, a big heaping plate of pungent raw crow sure would taste good right about now.

Posted by hbalczak at 01:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Now I know who my Grandfather would have voted for

My Grandfather, for those of you who were unaware, was a HOOGE fan of Barry Goldwater. So is this guy.

And he's voting for Obama. Just kinda made me feel, in a way, that I'm exactly where I belong.

Posted by hbalczak at 12:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 23, 2008

Rewriting history, with Kevin Hassett

Bloomberg is carrying some rather odious commentary from Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute, the right wing institute which provides little in the way of real information and research but is LONG on commentary.

According to Kevin, this is all the fault of the Democrats because they wouldn't reform Fannie and Freddie. What Kevin doesn't point out is that the bill in question would have so severely curtailed Fannie and Freddie that it would have eliminated them as real competitors and an effective counterbalance to the banks. Kevin claims, stupidly, that the failure of Bear Stearns was caused by... Fannie Mae.

30 to 1 leverage in a CDO of CDO's had NOTHING to do with it, right Kev? Neither did Bear's never ending hunger for riskier and riskier sub-prime garbage that was priced inadequately for the inherent risk, I'm sure. Of course, I understand how you can make mistakes, Kev. After all, it's easy when you ignore reality.

Kevin also points out that FNMA is holding $388 bn in sub-prime and Alt A credits. That's true. Considering that at the height Wall Street was issuing $600-700 bn PER YEAR in sub-prime issues, it kinda dwarfs Fannie Mae's holdings. I'd also like to know just who issued those sub-prime credits on Fannie's books. I'd be willing to bet some of them show Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Credit Suisse as the vintners.

Of course, Kevin leaves all that out and points out his own ignorance of structured finance and the house cards by alluding that AIG was also collapsed (as if by magic) by Fannie Mae. AIG is even easier than Bear... they wrote too much insurance, too cheaply and when the call came for more collateral from counterparties, they couldn't sell assets fast enough... because they were carrying some the same assets they were insuring against default.

Brill business strategy, especially for an insurer.

Of course, Kevin can be excused for not knowing any of this. He is, after all, a political moron and (again) completely ignorant of finance. His only real work experience in business is at the AEI and as a McSame campaign adviser. Which puts him right up there with other economic luminaries like Carly Fiorina and the crew of lobbyists that McSame calls his close friends and advisers.

Posted by mcblogger at 10:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 22, 2008

Everyone starts to get it...

It's becoming painfully obvious that even our friends on the right are beginning to realize that Sarah Palin's not ready for prime time. It's also becoming pretty clear that McCain's ads have been over the top which we've all been saying. But now, even Karl Rove is saying it which prompted this from the Obama campaign...

"In case anyone was still wondering whether John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest campaign in history, today Karl Rove - the man who held the previous record - said McCain's ads have gone too far," said Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor.

On the topic of what the Dems in Congress could be doing, it's also abundantly clear that THEY are getting it. First up is our old buddy Nancy P who finally decided to take the gloves off and hit the glib, ridiculous and more than little incompetent Palin in the mouth.

Pelosi compared Palin's resume to that of President Bush's before he assumed the mantle of commander in chief. "I have a very high standard for president of the United States," the Speaker said. "I guess George Bush has proven that anybody can do it, but can they do it well? I think he has not. I think he has done great harm and damage to our country. I don't think this is something that you'd take a chance on. I think I've yet to see the credentials and the depth that the most powerful position in the world, the president of the United States, that somebody with her resume is able to take over that job."

Yeah, I know it's not much but at least Pelosi is finally off dead center and saying SOMETHING. Honestly, her mealy mouthed bullshit irritates the hell out of me, too. However, this is at least a sign of life and a hit. Luckily, we're getting much better stuff out of the Senate.

"One Senator -- John McCain -- woke up yesterday morning, surveyed the state of the U.S. economy, summoned the ghost of his fellow Republican, Herbert Hoover, and declared, 'The fundamentals of our economy are strong,'" said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, before laying responsibility for the current woes in part on McCain's economic adviser Phil Gramm.

Goddamn, Harry! Where the fuck have you been??!?! Welcome to the party and keep on chatting up the band. We're sick of their usual tune and we want them singing yours.

Finally, I leave you with ... well... this.

Posted by mcblogger at 12:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 21, 2008

A special invitation to the Secretary of the Treasury

Go FUCK yourself, Hank.

Seriously, THIS is what you came up with? A massive expansion of the Executive Branch, no help for homeowners and absolute power with a blank check?

It's clear to me now that Paulson has got to go and we need Bob Rubin back at Treasury. Larry Summers is wrong for the job (honestly, he's a dumbass anyway) and Rubin is the only one with the kind influence in financial and political circles to get something done. He's also far smarter than Paulson which should help.

We need to re-regulate commodities and derivative trading (fuck you, Phil Gramm, you dirt leg moron) and begin requiring a lot more capital be held by companies wishing to operate in the securities industry. No more of this 30 to 1 leverage bullshit. But I don't see that it this little 'plan'. I also don't see anything to help expand efforts already proceeding to pull borrowers out of bad mortgages. No, I'm not talking about a cram down and share the wealth plan (seriously, why even bother, Ian? You gonna give everyone who's upside down on a car note a bail out, too? Just get them outta the bad loan and regular appreciation will work out the gap), just a reworking of underwriting guidelines and insuring to allow people to get into affordable mortgages.

We needed real solutions and an indication of some sort of contrition. Instead, we get a brazen attempt to steal still more power for an out of control President.

Congress should act. The Democrats should write one hell of a bill and tell the President to sign it or we'll let everything go down the tubes.

Enough bullshit and politics. And Chairman Frank should immediately demand Paulson's resignation.

Posted by mcblogger at 04:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

No, REALLY, Senator. We know where you REALLY stand

Y'all know I'd rather walk on my own tongue than say something nasty about someone...

BUT...

John McCain as REFORMER and REGULATOR?!?! Didn't we go over this already?

YEAH, we did. Which makes me wonder why this old, stupid bastard is trying to keep this shit up? It makes me so goddamn mad I just want to strike someone. How else can you DEAL with someone who lies just to lie, completely irrationally and has no sense of remorse about it. You don't reason with that person and debating with them is like arguing with a television.

Seriously am I the only one just sick of it? And the fact that media is covering it as if it were something other than categorical bullshit?

Posted by mcblogger at 01:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 20, 2008

Thanks, but I'm really busy that day...

Last night while having drinks with Barfly, she asked a very interesting question regarding AK First Dude Todd Palin's refusal to heed a subpoena.

Since when do you have the choice? I mean, Karl Rove was subpoenaed and he just said THA SHITS to all that. Now this Palin asshat has decided he'll not show up to answer TrooooooperGate (HATE THAT NAME) questions.

So can we all start ignoring subpoenas? Tell Congress to go fuck itself because it's just one giant bitch?

Posted by mcblogger at 01:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 19, 2008

Republican plot with a special twist

The Obama campaign has filed suit in federal court to keep Republicans in Michigan from using foreclosure lists to challenge voters at the polls. How's THAT for a Republican plan? You lose your house and we take away your right to vote.

Of course, that's nothing compared to what's allegedly being talked about here in Texas... using Ike to keep people who've lost homes from voting. No, no... you read correctly. Texas Republicans are looking for a way to keep people who lost their homes to a natural disaster from voting.

Posted by mcblogger at 07:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 18, 2008

Goodbye, Carly...

And with that, the McCain campaign does the same thing that Hewlett-Packard's board and shareholders did so many years ago.

You suck, Carly. No really, you do. No, YOU suck. K? Great.

Honestly, when will Republicans learn that modern managers are a mostly retarded bunch?

Posted by mcblogger at 01:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 16, 2008

What HAS Tricky Ricky screwed up now?

First up, Vince posts this at Capitol Annex (which is not, as you might think, a site about banking) regarding the confusions over the PODs. Apparently, the State had to back down it's participation in the recovery due to poor planning and really retarded logistics.

Seriously, go read the article. First off, they deploy resources without know where they were ultimately going to be needed. Second, they don't admit the mistake, they just drop others in the grease. Finally, the City of Houston and Harris County personnel jump in and fill the gaps. And where's FEMA during all this? Well, the skeletal frame of Mike Chertoff has been spotted wandering the streets.

Tricky Ricky, unwilling to admit how bad the State has botched relief and recovery, has instead decided to try to keep the media out. Which is, as you can tell, going splendidly.

Say goodbye to '10, Goodhair.

Posted by mcblogger at 10:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 15, 2008

But you voted for it, Senator...

Think Progress has a great hit up about Palin and McCain's support of the Agency bailout (I'll post my thoughts in the supersize).

In an op-ed in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) reluctantly endorsed the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, arguing that the two institutions' lobbyists are the "primary contributors to this great debacle." McCain and Palin wrote that, should they be elected, their administration would "no longer use taxpayer backing to serve lobbyists, management, boards and shareholders."

Here's the thing, John. You VOTED, over and over again, to deregulate. Because you thought that would free up the Invisible Hand and we'd all be better off. Lo and behold, you and the other Republicans discovered that what the Democrats knew and were SCREAMING all along was right... business needs oversight because left to it's own devices, it'll foul it's own bed.

Now that it's all come crashing down, you can't admit your error and are, like a degenerate gambler, doubling down in an all-or-nothing effort to deflect blame and avoid the inevitable conclusion that your ideology is a bankrupt as the banking system.

But, I guess I'd do the same thing if so many of the staffers, senior advisers and FRIENDS were lobbyists at one point or another for the Agencies. You should be proud, John McCain. You've mastered the art of talking out of both sides of your mouth.

As for the bailout, I'm pretty disappointed but not really surprised. For one thing, there were easier ways to inject capital into Fannie and Freddie without taking on as much risk or wiping out the poor shareholders. I am THRILLED to see management turned out of both companies as I had absolutely no respect for either of them. All in all though, the Friedmanites engineered their chance and now Fannie and Freddie are on the chopping block.

What kills me about this is that it was purely and simply a crisis of confidence. People were afraid the government wouldn't backstop the Agencies which forced them to do just that. And then there is Lehman today which is reporting close to $640 bn in assets and a little over $600 bn in liabilities. Sounds good, right? We'll see how much of that is marketable and how much is pure level three and untradable at any price. I'd also like to know non-performance in the mortgage pools. But that's just my curiosity... I have a feeling that as bad as things are, they ain't that bad.

What brings down a bank like Lehman is the same thing that brought down Bear and would bring down any investment bank. Their funding, the money they need to revolve to float their balance sheet, evaporated. Without it, the bank couldn't survive. The fun part of all this is figuring out how much of this was Lehman... and how much was the result of it's financiers getting cold feet (not to mention it's counterparties).

This should SOLIDLY put the lie to all those morons on the right who think everything would be better... without as much regulation. As predicted, no regulation means common sense is replaced with raw greed and poor credit decisions. Discipline, when billions are involved, goes out the window when their is no examiner coming into your office a few times a year to make sure you haven't gone hog wild.

Posted by mcblogger at 08:57 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

PULL!

And here is Eileen's review of Governor Palin with Charlie Gibson. The verdict? Exceeded the already low expectations. On the downside.

Posted by mcblogger at 09:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 14, 2008

McLiar

It's a special kind of douchebag that gets called out by Joy Behar...

JOY BEHAR: "There are ads running from your campaign, one of them is saying that Obama, when he said you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig, was talking about Sarah. There's another ad that says that Obama was interested in teaching sex education to kindergarteners. Now, we know that those two ads are untrue, they're lies. And yet you at the end of it say I approve these messages. Do you really approve them?"

JOHN MCCAIN: "Actually, they are not lies." [ABC, "The View," 9/12/08]

Where once I had respect for Senator McCain, I have nothing left but cynicism and extreme distrust. Or, to put it in terms we'd use here in Texas, I wouldn't piss on that son of a bitch if he was on fire and I'd just drank a case of beer (set it to an East or West Texas accent to really get how perfect it is).

Fuck that old Bastard. Fuck him straight to hell.

And his staff...

Good Job, Ari Melber!

Posted by mcblogger at 03:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 10, 2008

Damn, Obama... that's not the phrase to use!

As reported earlier, the RETARDS (still looking at you former Governor Swift) at the McCain campaign are demanding an apology from Obama for his comment in reference to McCain's weak effort to label himself as a change agent (you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig) which they interpreted (they're dumb like that) as a slam on their pathetic Veep candidate. In short they thought Obama was calling Sarah Palin a

First off, I don't really want to get into a discussion on Governor Palin's sexual proclivities. I do know from experience that people who project a very dominant personality in public tend to be extremely submissive in the bedroom (not to mention being into some pretty gross stuff). AND YES, IT'S DISAPPOINTING.

Second, a quaint, parochial phrase might be a great idea, but you have to be careful which one you choose. I'd like to recommend

You can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit

to describe McCain and his worthless ideas.

What? I want to HEAR Jane Swift actually ask if Sen. Obama is calling Sen. McCain a chickenshit. Then I want her head to explode from the resulting apoplexy when the Obama campaign laughs at her.

Posted by mcblogger at 01:24 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

This just in : The Palin Truth Squad is...

FULL OF RETARDS

Just so there is absolutely no mistake, YES, JANE SWIFT, I'M CALLING YOU A RETARD. YOU AND THE OTHERS ON THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN TAKING PART IN YOUR SQUAD.

Sorry, just wanted to make sure, if by some miracle you saw this, that you understood my meaning completely.

Posted by mcblogger at 12:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 09, 2008

What a lovely per diem you have there, Sarah!

While everyone knew Palin's rep as a reformer was as undeserved as McCain's for being a maverick (what we would call just another angry old man), what we didn't know was exactly HOW ballsy she was about sucking off government's teat...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

The governor also has charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife.

Palin, who earns $125,000 a year, claimed and received $16,951 as her allowance, which officials say was permitted because her official "duty station" is Juneau, according to an analysis of her travel documents by The Washington Post.

The governor's daughters and husband charged the state $43,490 to travel, and many of the trips were between their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away, the documents show.</