Blog Entries

Dear Chairman Volcker,

LooseKannon — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0100

Paul Volcker is remembered by Reagan Democrats as the Fed Chairman who engineered the “Reagan Recovery”. He’s now an Obama endorser.

Despite that apparent bias, the following quote, from Saturday’s NY Times in an article describing the immense job of implementing the bailout, is worth focusing on:

“With anyone short of the stature and honesty of a Paul Volcker running it, you need to worry a lot about conflicts of interest,” said A [...]

Frank, Fannie, Freddie and Connecticut's Congressional Delegation

Don Pesci — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0100

In the wake of the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, not to mention derivate failures such as Wall Street and Main Street, the conflict of interest prize of the decade must go to New York US Rep. Barney Frank.

"It's absolutely a conflict," said Dan Gainor, vice president of the Business & Media Institute. "He was voting on Fannie Mae at a time when he was involved with a Fannie Mae executive. How is that not germane?"

Frank, Moses, Fannie and [...]

The Clown Princess

LooseKannon — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0100

Sarah Palin now joins Emmett Kelly and Bozo as one of history’s iconic clowns.

The primary purpose of a circus clown isn’t to make people laugh. It’s to be a diversion.

While the crew is busy moving props between acts, or if the elephant has an, umm, accident, the clowns come out to distract the audience from the heavy lifting while maintaining the suspension of disbelief that something as phantasmagorical as a circus or a political campaign requires.

P [...]

and the winner is�..

LooseKannon — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0100

Following Senate passage of their new version of the bailout bill Wednesday evening, we were treated to another anti-climactic non-event last night. Palin resuscitated Palin, Biden minded his manners, and nothing earth shattering or even mildly consequential happened.

As predict [...]

Test

jburgess84 — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0100

Just testing to see if this works.

Bush's Brainless Bailout Bill

gregjaye08 — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0100

Isn't it ironic, when we are facing a great energy crisis the Congress does nothing. But when the bankers cry help it is a real crisis and action must be taken. Something is wrong with this picture.

I liken the Bailout Bill to being as much of a travesty as the Amnesty Bill. Here is the final roll call of Ohio's U.S. Senators and Representatives on the Bailout Bill in their respective chambers:

Democrats -

U.S. Senator - Sherrod Brown, [...]

Sarah, A Woman for All Seasons

Don Pesci — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0100

After viewing the debate, what strikes me most forcefully is how wrong everyone was about Palin, except of course the people in Alaska, who knew she was not an air-head, as was widely reported by wishful thinking progressives. I'm afraid her performance may destroy both the joke lines of the late night comics and the rather brutal cynicism of the usual Connecticut liberal air-head commentators.

Sarah, A Woman for All Seasons

For Dems and Country�s Sake, Ifill Should Recuse Herself

LooseKannon — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0100

The moderator of tonight’s vice-presidential debate, Gwen Ifill, host of PBS’s Washinton Week, is also the author of the early 2009 release Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.

One would think, upon first glance, that this favors Biden and the Democrats. Republicans have been howling that Ifill’s participation is a travesty, and that it mocks the concept of a level playing field

The Republicans are wrong.

Katie Couric and Charles [...]

�How To Pass the Damn Bailout� Update

LooseKannon — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0100

“Recovery plan” my a… nevermind.

The Senate passed their version of the bailout plan last night and calling the event anti-climactic would be attributing far more drama and import to it than it deserves. Everyone’s waiting for the House to stop bickering and start producing. The jury, in the form of the credit markets and the stock market, is out until then.

So, you House hooligans, if you want to escape DC relatively unscathed an [...]

The Republicans are Marketing Stupid

lrandall — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0100

The Republicans are falling back on a strategy that helped get George W. Bush elected - they're setting expectations low for Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and trying to market stupid. If they repeat the same mantra over and over that she's 'just a regular Joe six-pack', and that she resonates with the American people, the hope is that the public will forgive her inexperience, her incompetance, her policy statement blunders, and her extremist views.

Is that wh [...]

The Founders, Fannie, Freddie and the Congress

Don Pesci — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0100

Just when you are thinking that John Adams is a crusty old republican who does not translate well into a modern idiom, he tantalizes you with this tasty morsel on lawgivers: "One useless man is a tragedy. Two are a law firm. More are a congress."

When Jefferson retired from public service, he wrote to a friend, "I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty," a b [...]

Religious Constitutional Suicide Pact

Custom Maid Politics — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:00:00 +0100

On Sunday September 28, 2008, 33 evangelical Protestant pastors, including the vice presidential candidate on the American Independent Party ticket, in 22 states launched a "pulpit initiative" in hopes of influencing the presidential election. The initiative was conceived by Arizona based Alliance Defense Fund which hoped to overturn the Internal Revenue Code's ban on political endorsements by tax-exempt organizations, including churches. The pastors argued that the ban ─ [...]

The Morning After

LooseKannon — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:00:00 +0100

From Bloomberg.com:

Judd Gregg, the Senate Banking Committee’s ranking Republican, and Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, said a deal would eventually pass. Obama called for calm after the House vote, saying the plan “will get done.” Republican John McCain urged lawmakers to “go back to the drawing board”.

From the above, Obama looks like the candidate who can cross party lines and reach a consensus in a measured, calming way. [...]

9% Maverick, 91% Nightmare

lrandall — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:00:00 +0100

Not only has McCain proven himself to inconsistent, unpredictable, lacking in judgment, hotheaded and out-of-touch, he’s a jerk, too. Witness his unnecessary behavior at the first Presidential Debate. His demeanor was condescending, dismissive, and paternalistic. He’s repeatedly lashed out at journalists who have tried communicating with his poor VP choice, Sarah Palin. I thought that Rudy Giuliani’s performance at the Republican Convention won him the as [...]

Good News, Bad News

LooseKannon — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:00:00 +0100

The good news:

From the polls, it looks like the economy trumps everything. Advantage team Obama. The job for them now is no fatal blunders, but it may be a bit early for the prevent defense.

The bad news:

The next president is going to inherit a multitude of mighty and potentially destructive storms.

Pelosi�s Panic

LooseKannon — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:00:00 +0100

It looks like the bailout/rescue bill isn’t going to pass. The markets are being hit hard.

If the bill doesn’t pass, it was Speaker Pelosi’s partisan pitch in the House earlier today that blew it.

It’s not clear what happens with the legislation from here, but Republicans and Democrats alike made statesman-like speeches in the House chamber earlier today. Pelosi’s started off that way, and ended up attacking the Bush administration [...]

A Decent Man

LooseKannon — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:00:00 +0100

Ben Stein, the Republican economist, speechwriter, and raconteur, has transcended party lines with his column in today’s NY Times. His identification with the innocent victims of the current economic crisis validates the belief that decency is a quality that’s independent of party affiliation.

Ben Stein is a decent man.

The piece, entitled “In Financial Food Chains, Little Guys Can’t Win”, is a temporary respite from the DC darkness, [...]

Passports and Prayers

LooseKannon — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:00:00 +0100

John McCain has now squandered the good will that has, up until now, been extended to him by members of both parties in deference to the strength of character he displayed while enduring his stay at the Hanoi Hilton.

His last gasp attempt to revive his campaign, at the expense of tens of millions of Americans, whose jobs and ways of life are being put in jeopardy by McCain injecting his economically challenged self into a process that was grinding its way towards resolution, is shamele [...]

"HUCKABEE" Reviewed. LOL, Change the Station

The Mad Irish Man — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 03:00:00 +0100

Here is a 1000% Honest and un-biased Review of Mike Huckabee’s new show on FOX

(trust me you won’t get one of these ANYWHERE else.)

Well folks the mostly un-anticipated show of former POTUS candidate and Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee ‘premiered’ on FOX this weekend, as a result here is my ‘review’.

Now mind you this ‘review’ isn’t for yo [...]

WASHINGTON REACHES AGREEMENT ON BAIL OUT!

The Mad Irish Man — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 03:00:00 +0100

The Democrats QUICKLY jumped in front of the camera to take FULL CREDIT for any and all 'good' aspects of the new agreement.

You can view the agreement on financialservices.house.gov YOU WILL NOT BE HAPPY! IT IS COMPLETE AND TOTAL BS!!!!!!!!!

PLEASE TAKE A LOOK....POST YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW TERRIBLE THIS IS AND SIGN THE PETITION TO END DEFICIT

SPENDING NOW!!! Shared with the My Fellow McCain Victory 08 Bloggers at 84 Rules,Adam J Sch [...]