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12/28/2008

Boy, is she right, he will be judged, only not in the way she thinks. Wifey-Poo Laura Bush seems to think that history will be kind to her husband. First, it's a bit insulting to have his wife defending him - but then, way back in 2000 during the first campaign, he did have his Mama Babs on the Today Show defending him against charges that he is stupid. Doesn't mean much, though, really - they are biased parties, after all.

Laura thinks that Georgie "laid the groundwork for a Palestinian state, being the first president, as a matter of policy, to say that there should be one, and now, I think, laying the foundation that's going to lead to that Palestinian state — I can go on and on." I can go on and on, Mrs. BushCo, about how your husband refused time and time again to lay any diplomatic foundation whatsoever, so strike one on that count. Considering the Israelis and Palestinians were shooting at each other all this week. Actually, it looks like the Israelis were doing most of the shooting. So much for that foundation for the Palestinian state that your husband layed. More like an egg is what he layed. A great big goose egg.

She thinks he has done a good job with Iraq: "She rebuffed Bush administration critics who contend the U.S. turned its military might and resources to the war in Iraq before finishing the job in Afghanistan." Well, Mrs. BushCo, the war was waged on the big fat steaming pile of lies called "WMD", then it turned into "Spread Democracy" and then it turned into...hell, I don't even know what it is called now, but what it seems to be is a massive case of damage control gone wrong. Meanwhile, Afghanistan is beginning to fall under thumb of the extremists again, as we see below.

"Mrs. Bush noted that under her husband's watch, the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein and liberated millions of people in Afghanistan and Iraq from oppressive governments." Well, not really. Suicide Bombers still manage to take out a slew of people most days in Iraq, and the Taliban is back in black in Afghanistan. So much for liberating millions of people.

"She also highlighted the president's work to provide treatment for diseases like AIDS and malaria to millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa." Not quite. AIDS, and other deadly STD's are transmitted through unprotected sex. Your husband cut off federal funding for any clinic in any third-world country that even thinks about the word "abortion." As for condoms, those simple little items that can literally save the world, well, he put a big fat "no-no" on those too, even here in the states with that abstinence-only pipedream.

As for the flying loafers incident in Iraq last week, Laura says "it is an assault. And I think it should be treated that way. And I think people should think of it that way." Really? So what does that mean, that this man should be - hung, like Saddam was? Tried in the kangaroo-courts of Gitmo? Or maybe he should be "disappeared" into the torture cells of Egypt?

Laura goes on to say: "As bad as the incident is, in my view, it is a sign that Iraqis feel a lot freer to express themselves". Actually, I would call it "more frustrated and angry and ready to do worse than throw a shoe at Georgie Porgie."

On the Katrina debacle, "Mrs. Bush said she was sad that the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was not faster, but that debate over the federal response overshadowed heroic efforts during the tragedy of the U.S. Coast Guard and other responders. She said she does not think the media, in general, is 'fair'". Mrs. Bush, that response from the media was indeed less than fair, only insofar as it did not clamor immediately for your husbands impeachment for gross mismanagement and malfeasance regarding having all the National Guard troops in Iraq, and noone left here to help in time of extreme need - like in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Coast Guard?? They don't operate on land, and that's where the problems were. So what channel were you watching while people were raped and dying of heat and neglect and dehydration in the SuperDome? What channel were you watching when I saw footage of dead bodies all over New Orleans, and fears expressed of Cholera outbreaks? Must have been Faux News with (what should be) their motto of "all the news that doesn't really matter, all the time."

History will not judge him kindly, if I have to branch into the historian's trade myself, Mrs. Bush.

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12/22/2008

The Bee is taking a little Christmas break. I've got a toddler who knows what christmas is (presents and santa for us heathens), and she's getting mighty excited about all those presents under the tree. So, I'm taking a couple-3-4 days to spend more time watching her turn into a whirling dervish at the mere thought that in just a couple of days some wierdo dressed in red will come down the chimney and leave her something cool - like a drum set.

So, it's time to hang out with Jimmy Stewart who learns that every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings, to LOL at Clark Griswold blacking out half the city when the Mrs. figures out which plug goes into which outlet, to smile along when the Grinch's heart grows three times bigger and Little Cindy Lou Who gets her baubles back and to see if I can figure out just how how many batteries it takes to get to the center of today's tootsie roll pops. Oh, yeah, and I'll be cooking. Crab legs, possibly roast leg of lamb if I can get the gumption to go to the store Wednesday on my way home from work, and the ancient southern tradition known as Pecan Pie.

Ok, I'm not really cooking the pecan pie, but I do plan to put it in my own pie dish and pass it off as homemade.

I'll be perfecting my shoe throwing skills, thanks to my good buddy Tom Harper.

I'll be back - oh, let's say Friday. Possibly Saturday. Sunday at the absolute latest. Earlier if I hear that the air raid sirens are going off because BushCo managed to piss off the wrong sovereign nation in his thank-the-dog last days in office.

So here's wishing everyone a merry christmas. May no one be laid off, may no one lose anymore of their hair and may your day, however you spend it, be filled with good food and good cheer from friends, family or whoever makes you happy.

And here's a little somethin'somethin' to enjoy, if only so briefly:

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12/21/2008

I work full time. I am a glorified paper pusher. I am middle class - my family is that "Main Street" that was being talked about so much during the campaign. I work hard, and rarely have a complaint about my work product. I have not driven my company into the ground. I have not accepted, indeed begged for, a bailout of hundreds of billions of dollars because my company is in the toilet.

Bank CEO's and executives did drive their companies into the ground, they did beg for hundreds of billions of dollars to correct their mistakes, greed and excesses and they got that money nearly question-free.

So what did these banks do last year while their top brass was driving the companies into the 6 foot hole?

They partied hearty according to this AP Press article. Massages. Chauffeurs. Private company jets. Financial planning services. The executive bonus packages consisted of all of this extraneous bullpucky. All that, for screwing up so badly that the entire financial system of the Planet Earth went belly up, and is still on the ventilator.

I am so in the wrong racket. Who knew that you could get millions of dollars in bonus cash, lavish trips, drivers, maids, who knows what else, and be a massive waste-of-flesh&Oxygen at the same time? If I had known that way back in the day, I would have gone to Harvard Business School.

I almost have to laugh a great big belly-busting-pee-yourself-hysteria laugh. It's nearly the greatest scam movie of all time - only it's not a movie, and we're all left holding the empty bag.

I think that of all the people who are in the public arena and who could have run for president, we certainly got the smartest one. But I honestly don't know how in the world even he and the best economic team ever assembled in the course of human history could possibly solve this economic problem. When they tackle it on January 20 at approximately 6 p.m., they will need to start practicing some boot-camp-style induction training for the Banks. The execs will need to be fully trained in the art of how not to be the greediest, most reality displaced assholes in the universe. How about giving them the kick in the seat of the pants that the UAW just got so GM and Chrysler could keep making useless SUV's?

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12/18/2008

There just might be a method to Obama's madness. Or at least the perceived madness, perceived by several far-flung friends and Alternet. Rending of breasts and gnashing of teeth was abundant when it was announced that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates was being kept on for awhile after 1/20/09.

"He's a Bushite!" was the general "progressive" opinion. Well, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, and Gates seems to have earned that benefit of my doubt, at least for now. He is working on a plan for Obama to close Gitmo earlier than Obama's estimate of 2 years. Gates has ordered plans drafted for a closure of the hell-hole, just in case Obama "wished to tackle the issue 'early in his tenure.'"

I call that a good will gesture, and that earned Gates a little more respect from the Bee. I do not believe that every Bush appointee is inherently crooked or just plain sorry as hell. I suspect that some of them just might want to do the right thing for once, and under Obama, they just might be allowed to. Some of them being the qualifier in the above sentence. Not all can stay. Cheney, for example. No, he has to go. Far, far away, preferably. Jail would be nice.

The second "terror" to the progressive network is the announcement that evangelical pastor Rick Warren will be delivering an invocation at the inaugural.

From the article, here are some examples of the chastising Obama has gotten over this choice:

"[It's] shrewd politics, but if anyone is under any illusion that Obama is interested in advancing gay equality, they should probably sober up now," Andrew Sullivan wrote on the Atlantic Web site Wednesday.

People for the American Way President Kathryn Kolbert told CNN she is "deeply disappointed" with the choice of Warren and said the powerful platform at the inauguration should instead have been given to someone who has "consistent mainstream American values." "There is no substantive difference between Rick Warren and James Dobson," Kolbert said. "The only difference is tone. His tone is moderate, but his ideas are radical."

Ok, let's all take a deep breath, and see if we can look at this another way. Warren is against gay marriage, which is a sin in my book tantamount to saying we should all go back to 1967 when black and white couples couldn't marry.

However, here's a nice little rebuttal from the other way of looking at Warren that has also been floating around the internet - I do not know the originator, but I wish it was me:

• This will be the most open, accessible, and inclusive Inauguration in American history.

• In keeping with the spirit of unity and common purpose this Inauguration will reflect, the President-elect and Vice President-elect have chosen some of the world's most gifted artists and people with broad appeal to participate in the inaugural ceremonies.

• Pastor Rick Warren has a long history of activism on behalf of the disadvantaged and the downtrodden. He's devoted his life to performing good works for the poor and leads the evangelical movement in addressing the global HIV/AIDS crisis. In fact, the President-elect recently addressed Rick Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health to salute Warren's leadership in the struggle against HIV/AIDS and pledge his support to the effort in the years ahead.

• The President-elect disagrees with Pastor Warren on issues that affect the LGBT community. They disagree on other issues as well. But what's important is that they agree on many issues vital to the pursuit of social justice, including poverty relief and moving toward a sustainable planet; and they share a commitment to renewing America's promise by expanding opportunity at home and restoring our moral leadership abroad.

• As he's said again and again, the President-elect is committed to bringing together all sides of the faith discussion in search of common ground. That's the only way we'll be able to unite this country with the resolve and common purpose necessary to solve the challenges we face.

• The Inauguration will also involve Reverend Joseph Lowery, who will be delivering the official benediction at the Inauguration. Reverend Lowery is a giant of the civil rights movement who boasts a proudly progressive record on LGBT issues. He has been a leader in the struggle for civil rights for all Americans, gay or straight.

• And for the very first time, there will be a group representing the interests of LGBT Americans participating in the Inaugural Parade.

Warren isn't the best possible choice for preacher at the inaugural, but the pick could have been a lot worse, and I think I see a method in Obama's madness. Mainly, the beef against this Warren guy is that he's anti-choice and anti-gay marriage. I'll say that the anti-choice part probably won't be changed in Warren's psyche, ever. However, the anti-gay marriage part of his "socio-religio" makeup probably could be changed, given time and exposure to differing viewpoints.

Obama has said time and again that the doors are not closed to anyone of differing opinion, and personally I think that's great. In fact, it's refreshing.

There is also this: NPR recently did a piece on the evangelical vote. It seems that Obama did not give up in strongly evangelical parts of the country. As a consequence, he drew more of the young evangelical vote than Kerry did. McCain took 74% of the evangelical vote overall. However, in 2004, Bush took 84%. So, the republicans lost 10 points over last election. I believe that has everything to do with Obama courting the younger evangelicals, who tend to be more moderate and sometimes more liberal-leaning than the older extremists like Dobson. These younger evangelicals did not all vote for Obama, but more did than voted for Kerry, and maybe they are a little disaffected with the way their particular denominations have been made by the extremists to look like a bunch of bigots and drug addicts (Ted Haggert, Jerry Falwell, etc. etc.).

I suspect this is Obama's attempt at dismantling the Southern Strategy - and it shows his far-reaching vision and long-term planning. Picking a more moderate evangelical to take part in the inauguration could very well be a brilliant political maneuver. Warren is certainly more moderate than some of the other big-name evangelical preachers, and this could be the attempt to bring the moderates and left-leaning evangelicals into the light and banish the extremists back to the rocks they crawled out from under.

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12/16/2008

So, last night, I wrote this great post on Madoff's pyramid scheme. The post evidently got lost in the ether. I would re-create it, but it just wouldn't be the same. No, I don't do WordPress, I don't even do Notepad and cut'n'paste. I type directly into the site itself. Which can get dicey, but usually works out alright. What can I say, I'm lazy.

I have a couple of things to say about Madoff, and the ripping off of Elie Wiesel's foundation. How low can a con-man go? He ripped off a Holocaust Survivor? For crikey's sake, he deserves the death penalty for that one alone.

The second thing I have to say is: Rich people in Palm Beach Country Clubs and wherever else he went trolling for your skinflint dollars - piss off. I don't care if you got took. Welcome to Main Street, where we the common little people get taken for a ride by - well, usually by you, every single stinking day. Oh, you banks and wealthy investors lost $50 billion. When it reaches $700 Billion, then we'll talk about injustice.

And we wonder why our economy is in the outhouse? That was a rhetorical question - Too many of us know full well why the economy is in the shitter. Because guys like Madoff were running the show. The man was Chairman of Nasdaq. Doesn't that tell speak volumes about why the economy is so bloody bad right now? So, the next time I hear some Senator or House Rep prattling on and on about "we didn't see this meltdown coming," I'll be screaming at the TV "How could you NOT? YOU deregulated to Madoff's little heart's content! Madoff and every other cheat and swindler out there who told you he could make you some bucks!"

But at least there was some comic relief this week, in the form of projectile shoes aimed directly at Bush's head. This video has closed captioning with translation. However, when you see what the shoe thrower said, it's not really so funny anymore. And if you saw how Bush blew it off, it was even less funny.

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12/13/2008

Chicago Tribune employees Denise Joyce and Nancy Watkins have put together a book of Toddlers terrified of Santa Claus. 250 pictures of screaming, horrified and desperate to escape the clutches of that evil twinkle-eyed, white bearded imp AKA Kris Kringle, adorn the pages of their new book.

Yeah, well, I don't need to buy the stupid book, I lived through it this morning. The toddler absolutely did not, no way, no sir, no way you can make me, want to even look in Santa's general direction. When told to look at other children were sitting on Santa's lap and weren't the least bit afraid, she looked at us like we had just told her he was putting them in the oven with a nice oyster stuffing, and would soon be eating them for dinner.

Sometimes I think that young children actually understand the world better than we adults do. To us, Santa is just some guy in a red suit who always looks like he either needs to pee or eat. Not necessarily in that order.

But to a toddler, Santa can well be the almagamation of every single registered sex-offender in the country, blended with a bit of "old-man smell" (you know what I'm talking about, that musty, closed closet smell that old men can get, like they're mildewing from the inside out). To the toddler, that old fella in the red suit and hat, with the big white beard, looks like death him-fine-self come to take them across the River Styx, never to be heard from by mortals again, and panic ensues.

The funny thing is, though, the toddler carried around a stuffed Santa doll all day. Literally all day. Dolls = OK. Old guys dressed in red = no way, man, not on your life!

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12/9/2008

The American Heart Association conducted a study and found that American women are more likely to die of a heart attack because...well, just because they are female. We women just don't tend to get the care we need when we have symptoms of heart attacks. Like this is news? This same complaint was made at least 15 years ago, and evidently the medical profession still likes to tell us that we're hysterical, or depressed, or it's just in our heads.

Diabetic women are more likely to die after a heart attack, probably because, among other factors, "Fewer women than men had had procedures to open clogged arteries prior to their first heart attack, and women were less likely to be treated with blood pressure drugs called beta-blockers or ACE inhibitors. Nevertheless, (the team) attribute the higher death rate in diabetic women younger than 65, relative to diabetic men of the same age, to risk factors rather than treament differences."

Really? The diabetes/heart attack study was conducted at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. Maybe they have the same problem the AHA identified, and women just don't get the treatment that men get.

Meanwhile, Dow is laying off 5,000 full time jobs. Sony is cutting 8,000 world wide.

According to the Census Bureau, it has finally been figured out that a hell of a lot of people were living paycheck to paycheck and hand to mouth well before the economic crisis hit late last year.

Paul Krugman says that 10% unemployment could become reality without a big fat economic stimulus. I agree with him on the stimulus. I hate to break it to Krugman, but we're already at 10% unemployment after the books are un-cooked.

Perhaps I should have called this piece "Obvious 2" and declared another "State the Obvious" day as a national holiday.

There was a grain of decent in the news today. The Chicago employees of the Repbulic Windows and Doors in Chicago, who have been having themselves a good old-fashioned sit-in for the past few days, won. Bank of America caved to all the really nasty press they got when they told Republic that the Bank had frozen its credit line and had to pay Bank of America before it could pay its own employees. Go workers! Die Bank of America - and how about paying back that public welfare check you got for $25 BILLION DOLLARS with your credit card rates of 28%.

WalMart got smacked with a $54 million settlement of a class action lawsuit that alleged that WalMart was stiffing workers by cutting their breaks short making them work off the clock in Minnesota - 2 million times. That equates to a penance of approximately $27 per violation. Not enough in the Bee's estimation - how about adding a few zeros to that settlement amount? I suppose it does equate to some small victory over Walmartistan, but not big enough by any stretch of the imagination. Oh, no, Walmart can afford much, much more.

WalMart workers everywhere: Take a lesson from your brothers and sisters at Republic Windows and Doors. Take over the stores until they "allow" you to unionize. Aye, there's the rub - do you need to allow WalMart to "allow" you to unionize?

No. Let this be the beginning of the end of predatory corporate labor practices. Get mad as hell, and tell them you're not going to take it anymore.

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12/6/2008

Yesterday we learned that another 533,000 jobs were lost in November. Official estimates are that unemployment is now around 6.7%. Unofficial estimates place it closer to 11%.

Since the Union Busting Reagan years, unions have been on the decline. Due to a massive anti-union and disinformation campaign waged by the GOP for the last 30 years, Unions aren't even popular with the average worker. Various "free market" ideologies have led to rulings, laws and executive orders which make it difficult at best for workers to form unions.

And for the most part, the average American worker has just sat back and taken it. Plants closed, jobs were outsourced to countries where mega-corporations could get cheap slave labor without having to pay those pesky "benefits" like healthcare, pensions for workers who put their life's blood into the company and regular paychecks. Those megacorporation wouldn't need to worry about paying overtime, because in China and Thailand, there was no such thing. What did Americans do about this situation? Well, they voted in Reagan twice, George H.W. Bush once, and George W. Bush twice. Men whose ideology dictated that the American worker was not a concern. If they couldn't live on $2.00 per day like the Chinese do, well, that's the worker's problem, not the employer's problem. The employer has to compete! And as we have seen from the unconscionably inflated pay-rates of CEO's of the Big3, that is part of competing. At least in GOP-la-la land. WalMart could not possibly compete if it had to pay healthcare for the majority of it.

Of course WalMart could compete. The above is a smoke-screen for the real concerns of sociopathic corporations: shareholder happiness and greed.

And, the average American workers just sat back and took it - in fact, voted in the turkeys time and time again who have, through their stubborn insistance that "free market" equalled "perfect market," put us all in the precarious economic situation we are in now. In fact, most of the rest of the world is in this situation, too.

Today, it is possible that the worker's revolution has begun. In Chicago, Republic Windows and Doors announced that it would shut its doors in 3 days. It also told its Union workers that it couldn't pay them wages owed to them, because its creditor, Bank of America, wouldn't allow it.

What did the workers do? Did they say "Ok" and walk off with their tails between their legs and their humiliation profound? No. The workers, 250 of them, took over the building and said hell no, we won't go. They will occupy the building until their are assured that wages owed to them will be paid to them. They contend that the company signed a contract, the company should own up to its responsibilities. The company already violated the 60 day notice law when it only gave 3 days notice.

What are the workers doing to the building while they occupy it? Are they trashing work stations, breaking windows or spray-painting colorful euphemisms on the walls? No, they are cleaning the building and shoveling snow.

But let's go back to Bank of America for just a moment. Bank of America recently got a $25 billion chunk of bailout money. Money paid for by you, and me and every other little taxpayer on Main Street. But Bank of America says that a company cannot pay its workers because that company owes Bank of America. Did I miss something? Since when does a welfare-recipient Bank get to tell a vinyl window company in Chicago that just because the window company owes Bank of America money, its workers should just be screwed out of pay that is due to them?

Bank of America might have a problem with enforcing their "belief" that what they are owed, after taking a $25 BILLION DOLLAR HANDOUT, takes precendent over what the workers of the debtor company are owed. They might have that problem because yesterday a Federal Judge here in not-so-sunny Richmond, Virginia said that Circuit City, which filed bankruptcy, may indeed pay its employees what is due to them before paying creditors what is due to them - and that is what you call legal precedent. Yes, a company can, and should, pay its employees before its creditors. Especially ideologically deficient creditors such as Bank of America who have no problem taking handouts from the general public. I personally believe that Bank of America should have to pay credit-card style interest rates on every dime it takes from the public till - 28% sounds good.

What can one little incident of workers taking over their factory in Chicago mean in the long run? It could mean the return of the Unions, and a forcing of a return by the Union leadership to the root reasons that Unions ever existed in the first place: To protect workers from the deadly whims of the "markets" and the politicians and the wealthy. This could be the beginning of a new worker's revolution in America. Crisis often is the root cause of change, and this is what we could be witnessing now. The crisis requisite to the enactment of exquisite and deliciously profound change in generally accepted treatment of workers is certainly in existence tonight.

I hope, for all our sakes', that this takeover is a harbinger of a much needed change.

Now, WalMart workers, Unite! Form your unions. If WalMart threatens to close its doors, then take over the building. You have your precedent, the workers of the Republic Windows and Doors Company just placed floodlights to show you the way.

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12/6/2008

A few days after the Election, the Barak Obama Transition Team unveiled Change.gov. This website, truly unique in US politics, and indicative of PE Obama's status as a modern man, contained detailed Agenda items.

A few days after the website went up, the Agenda items came down. In their place was a vague statement of progress.

And oh, but how Rush Limbaugh crowed. "What are they hiding?" was the main question, interlaced with the usual yammering and stammering about the dangers of socialism.

The Bee, who occasionally will subject herself to a minute or two of Rush approximately once per week (anymore than that and I would be taken to the nearest hospital raving, drooling and generally pissing myself). I said "Bee, don't you worry, the site is new, every new site has bugs that need to be worked out. Hell, your own site is so woefully behind the times itself that you have no reason to complain, so give them some time to settle in, and get the substantive portions of the website completed."

Well, what I told myself a few weeks ago was correct. I stand vindicated. Take that, Rush, you big mean bullying nasty fat man.

Change.gov now has an expanded agenda listing, and I recommend that my readers (all 2 of you) take a look, peruse at your leisure. It's nice to have a president who knows how to really involve all the little Main Streeters like me.

If you have not seen Your Seat At The Table, you should definitely take a look. It might come across as a tad bit patronizing, and get a lot of "yeah, right!" reactions, but honestly - when is the last time a US President have a rat's behind about what we little people think, even enough to the extent of having a transition website, much less one where the average citizen can leave a comment or two?

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12/3/2008

But really, I am going to have to move on. No pun intended.

"But Bee, why? Why are you jilting us?" AlterNet asks in my own alternative universe, where they actually give a rip about anything a lowly little blogger like me would have to say.

Well, let me tell you why, AlterNet. You see, it all started right after the Election of Barak Obama. You see, I like Obama. I like him a lot. I haven't seen a single statement, or cabinet pick, or interview yet that made me cringe, or flinch or beat my head into the wall.

But AlterNet, you have been the most negative voice in the "progressive" indy internet community, and I am sick of the whining.

You have complained about every single cabinet pick, and in fact have been rather shrill in your pronouncements that "We don't know the real Obama." It all just smacks of "Obama pals around with terrorists." I find it difficult to take seriously when your candor becomes...how do I say this nicely? So Neo-Con Swift-boat'ish.

For example, today you have a headline in my email that screams "10 Ways the Corporate Media Tried to Make You Think Obama Was a Liberal." Come'on. Next to the last 8 years of religio-conservative rule, Barry Goldwater would look like a flaming liberal. Granted, in today's conservative party, he would be considered just that, but I digress. So what if Obama wants his White House to have a more bi-partisan flavor? What exactly is wrong with that?

AlterNet, you've pooh-poohed every single cabinet pick as "Clintonite," as if that were a bad thing. What I see is Obama picking the good parts of the Clinton Administration, which really wasn't all that bad overall. Even a staunchly republican co-worker today admitted that she thinks that Obama is doing a pretty good job so far. The man works magic, it seems.

AlterNet, you seemed to expect an armed revolution of - well, of 1776 proportions. Don't you understand that if you start a wholesale change of every single facet of American life all at the same time, that it will just scare the bejeebers out of us and the rest of the world? The Change was simple: No more George Bush. Back to rational leaders who ponder their actions and words carefully before smacking another country with firepower or shooting off their mouth indiscriminately. Frankly, that's all the change I was really looking for. So far, I have received way more than I expected.

I have heard talk of closing Gitmo. If that little closure is all PE Obama does during his presidency, then he will have done well.

I have seen some decent, seriously smart people nominated to cabinet positions. Even Wall Street likes his economic team, if the gains made on Monday were any indicator. That's saying something, because Wall Street doesn't seem to like anyone anymore, and jumps at it's own shadow at least 3 times a day. I think that Hillary was actually a decent enough choice for Secretary of State. I think that without the distractions of the partisan elbow-throwing of the Senate Floor, she might even flourish in the position. Besides, it makes it a bit more difficult to run in 2012. It might not be so easy to run against her boss.

AlterNet, I understand you have your pet peeves. So do I. But your articles are taking a strident tone of "betrayal" that just sounds, well, like a personal problem, or a personal vendetta. The man hasn't even taken office yet. Let's give the guy a chance to show us what he's really capable of, before we start crying "off with 'is 'ead!" and issuing manifestos of vengeance. Did you expect the man to appoint bloggers to cabinet level positions?

These are not isolated incidents. I am getting this personal vendetta in my email box daily, and it seems like the headlines get more shrewish with each passing day. Now, if Obama starts trying to destroy the country like Bush did, I will put aside my party allegiance and lay into him just like I have laid into Bush in the past. In fact, it would make finding something to blog about easier. However, nothing has given me that sinking feeling that makes me say "Oh, Lordy, did he just say what I think he said?? Is there someplace we can just hide for the next four years? I can't stand the embarrassment!"

Give the man a chance. And when you have some better ideas, and not just mealey little "Obama is the devil" pieces to put across, I'll be happy to read them. Until then, I can just go listen to Rush and get the same nauseating return for my time investment. AlterNet, the lesson the republicans failed to learn on November 4 is that we, those "Main Street" citizens, are sick up to our eyebrows of the scare-mongering. We are sick to our hairlines of being told we should be afraid of terrorists, second-hand smoke and Obama's so-called "centrist" tendencies. Being a centrist is actually a good thing for a President of the United States to be. So get off it already.

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12/1/2008

This must be a National holiday. It must be "State The Obvious" day.

The Fed finally conceded that the country is in a recession and has been since December 2007. Of course the Dow tanked. I'm not sure why this was a surprise to Wall Street, as it certainly wasn't a surprise to any of us out here on Main Street. In fact, it was obvious to most of us here on the proverbial Main Street.

The Bush Administration presided over de-regulations which helped that mortgage and economic meltdown leave us all sinking in the fear of a coming Depression. I for one, am not surprised by this "revelation" either. WaMu's home loan president said “These mortgages have been considered more safe and sound for portfolio lenders than many fixed rate mortgages,” and the dummies in BushLand believed it. This does not surprise me, either. Obviously, WaMu's home loan president was either an idiot, or a greedy pig who wanted to keep the merry-go-round of toxic loans going for as long as possible.

Bush says "I'm sorry." And let's see what he's sorry for:

The economic crisis hit on his watch, so he's sorry for not overseeing more governmental regulation of the housing markets. And he still manages to blame Clinton when he says "I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so" before he became president." I think Bushie hit the nail on the head when he said it happened on his watch. If he thought that the economic policies of the Clinton administration were wrong, Bushie could have made corrections to those "wrong" policies which led, 8 years after Clinton left office, in Bushies mind, led to the current crisis. However, he's not that smart, and he surrounded himself with others who also aren't all that smart, so what we got was 8 years of instant-gratification greed and stupidity. To blame Clinton now is just another example of self-gratification by the idiots. That is certainly obvious.

According to Bush, "It is hard for the average citizen to understand how frozen the system became and how over-leveraged the system became".

No, Thank-God-Soon-To-Be-Former-President Bush, it really isn't so hard for the average citizen to understand the economic mess you presided over, and did everything you could to continue in the form of last minute binges of de-regulations designed to make it even harder for your successor to get a handle on the nuclear-reactor-meltdowns of the financial markets and economic system of the US and most of the world. We understand it all too well. That's why your republican buddies got their behinds booted out of Congress and the White House for probably the next generation. We understand all too well how your pig-headed "faith" that free-markets would solve all the world's woes led to massive de-regulation which led to the ability of the unconscionably greedy to make a TON of money and run. Here's the obvious: The market is run by humans, and humans are greedy. If they are allowed to run unchecked, they will slash, burn, rape, pillage and rampage uncontrollably, to the detriment of the rest of society. This is exactly what happened. Obvious.

Bush is sorry that "the "intelligence failure" regarding the extent of the Saddam Hussein threat to the United States." Of course, he went on in his typically nonsensical way when "Asked if he would have ordered the U.S.-led invasion if intelligence reports had accurately indicated that Saddam did not have the weapons, Bush replied: "You know, that's an interesting question. That is a do-over that I can't do. It's hard for me to speculate."' Well, Mr. Thank-God-Soon-To-Be-Former-President Bush, it is not so difficult for me to speculate. I, and many others like me, knew for a fact that your "intelligence" was fake, was wrong, was imagined in the war-fevered minds of yourself and your little cohorts in crime. We knew you were full of it in 2002. We're not all as stupid as your followers, that 20% who still think you "did a heckuvajob." That's patently obvious.

Does anyone mind if Obama starts early? Perhaps tomorrow morning?

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