As you should know by now, the Bush administration came to the rescue of the financial industry with a $1 TRILLION (no typo, with a "T") federal bailout:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/19/politics/politico/thecrypt/main4459802.shtml

Before you can even get your head around that astronomical number, here´s what the federal bailout means to you:

• The $1 trillion federal bailout does nothing but reward greed and bad behavior. After countless CEOs driven by blind greed ran the American financial system to the ground, the Bush administration rewards their performance with your tax dollars. Socialism is alive and well in America, but only for those with a membership in a yatch club. They won't lose their villas.
  
  
• The $1 trillion bailout will only keep the market from imploding... for now. It will not punish those CEOs and companies that brought about this mess, but rather encourage the same behavior. Financial corporations will not change the way they worked. In consequence:
  
  
• The next market implosion will be even bigger, and there will not be a bailout to save us.
  
  
• Together with the cost of the disastrous war in Iraq, Americans will be saddled with a gargantuan national debt from generations to come. Your great-grand kids are thanking you from the future.
  
  
• Of course, your money will be worth less than before, and the chances of rising inflation out of control are greater than ever. Stretching your paycheck to the end of the month will be tougher and tougher.
  
  
• The Bush administration didn't just pull a trillion dollars out of a hat. This massive amount of money given away to ailing CEOs will come at the expense of the poorest amongst us. Expect social services, infrastructure maintenance budgets, public services, and such to be cut down even more.
  
  For example, expect worse roads, crumbling schools, less police and firemen coverage, etc.
  
  
• Note to those residents of the Red States: since your states tend to be more dependent on federal aid, expect the above to be even worse for you. Hey, at least you didn't vote for those "socialists" Gore or Kerry!
  
  
• Following up on that topic, that money will have to come from somewhere. Expect more borrowing from such democracy-loving nations like China, Saudi Arabia, or the United Arab Emirates. This, in consequence, will make us less independent, and more indebted to their interests.
  
  
• The $1 trillion dollar bailout also reminds us that the Bush administration started by giving away your money to the richest among us (massive tax cuts), and continued by provided billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to cronies to supply the Iraq war. Now, the Bush administration ends its 8-year run by giving away $1 trillion of the treasury (aka: your tax dollars) to greedy and inefficient CEOs that ran our economy to the ground.
  
  In 8 long years, the only consistent thing the Bush administration has done is let the richest and most privileged amongst us to raid the treasury at their will.
  Once again, your great-grand kids are thinking you from the future, from the comfort of their cardboard shanty towns.
  

So beware, while the economy won't implode right now, things will get tighter and tougher in the years to come, and the downward spiral will continue, only at a slower pace. Things will be particularly bad for middle class working families, as they'll carry the burden of this debt.

PS (on edit): REMEMBER ALL THIS THE NEXT TIME THEY TELL YOU WHY AMERICA CAN'T HAVE A NATIONAL HEALTH PLAN.

Apparently, providing heath care for all Americans is a waste of money, that rewards bad behavior for people that don´t earn it or contribute to society. Next time a Republican tells you their half-assed reasons why it´s ok for a (dwindling) superpower not to have national health care, or better schools, or proper scholarships, etc... well, remind them we just gave away $1 TRILLION bucks of our hard earned dollars to lazy, incompetent and greedy honchos that ran our financial system to the ground.

There is no money to rebuild NOLA after Katrina, or properly equip FEMA, or rebuilt the WTC site in New York, or provide proper shielding for our soldiers in Iraq, or assist 30 million uninsured Americans, etc. But there's always money to make sure Wall Street executives can keep paying their country club fees.
Remember that.

PS 2: Also, remember this mess the next time a Republican utters the word DEREGULATION.
This mess is a direct consequence of the deregulation efforts started during the Reagan years. Since then, Republicans have waved the flag of deregulation and tax-cutting, making it the center of their political philosophy. Apparently everyone thought it was a great idea to let entire industries "police themselves". Yeah right! Now we are seeing the consequences of boundless greed mixed with deregulation. That word should, from now on, become a slur.

This is not just the latest Bushism, but the most revealing of them all. I remember reading a study on Bush-speak written by Mark Crispin Miller a few years back that explained this phenomenon. Apparently, those verbal gaffes and misstatements that Bush makes on a daily basis are actually very revealing, telling you about his state of mind and what he really, really means.

Today, Bush said this on TV about the UAE port deal:


I'm sure he knew what he was trying to say. But the literal meaning of that sentence is: "If we really cared about the security for the United States of America, this deal wouldn't go forward."

His minders must be really, really proud of him.

PS: Video here

Yes. Every single one of them.
And they should do it repeatedly and profusely. To him and his family.

I still remember when Fahrenheit 9/11 came out, and they howled, screamed and cried "treason." They branded any efforts from Moore to unmask the Bush family as completely SOLD OUT to SAUDI PETRODOLLARS as an act of treason itself.

Oh, I remember it well: How could Michael Moore even "dare" to suggest that Poppy Bush and Junior Bush could be so tied to big middle-eastern oil money? How could he?

Well, never mind Michael Moore offered the same evidence that many other authors have used to scream out loud about this outrage. Evidence, I may add, that is out there in the open, for all to see.

Still, they called him a "traitor," a "communist," "in league with the terrorists," and much, much worst.

Now, it turns out, that when Bush has to choose between the interests of his wealthy Arab partners, and the security of the United States of America, country he actually is supposed to represent because the American people voted him to do so, Bush once again decides to protect the interest of his big-moneyed friends. In case you are not aware, here's the big news: BUSH SAYS HE WOULD VETO LEGISLATION TO STOP DUBAI PORT DEAL

Not only he will defend the giveaway to Dubai, he would do it FEROCIOUSLY, even using the right to VETO, which he has never used before for any other issue.

As Michael Moore said in Fahrenheit 9/11:


Indeed.

Michael Moore was right. He was prophetically right, and this means bad news for the nation as Bush sells away the keys of our ports to a company OWNED by the government of UAE. The UAE is a nation suspected of involvement in 9/11, supporter of the Taliban, a nation that still recognizes the Taliban as the "legitimate" government of Afghanistan... and a nation suspected of financing terrorism worldwide. Now the government of that nation will own the keys to 6 of our major ports, and Bush will fight tooth and nail to defend that deal.

We are waiting for your apologies, wingnuts and conservatarians of all shades and stripes, as you painfully awake to the same reality that we, on this side of the polical divide, have known for 6 years now. Michael Moore, an author and filmmaker, was just exposing what was out there, and anyone familiar with the Bush family knew already. He deserves more credit, especially after the horrible attacks and insults he received when he released his movie.

Nothing short of an apology will do.

We are waiting.

After the judge issued an arrest order for Delay, he turned himself in today.
Here's his mugshot, all laughing:



An old saying goes "He who laughs last..." Tom should think of that.

Yesterday Keith Olbermann took on the false terror alerts on his show "Countdown," on MSNBC. You can see the video of the broadcast at the Crooks & Liars website, and read the transcript at Keith Olbermann's blog.

While Keith Olbermann was great yesterday, I would like to point that Olbermann didn't exactly do all this research all by himself, and didn't credit his sources.

His article looks, almost verbatim, like a study we published in this very blog last year. TableTalker Biltud and I did this study of false terror alerts in the summer of 2004:

Timeline of Terror Alerts

Chart of terror alerts vs. Bush ratings

While I think it's great this story is finally getting some air time, and I certainly do enjoy and support his show, I think it's NOT FAIR that mainstream journalists take the work of bloggers without even a minimal credit or a miserable link to the source. It's becoming quite common for mainstream journalists to take the hard work of bloggers without crediting. After all, they have a name and a mainstream vehicle for their work; we bloggers have nothing but our dinky blogs. I think it's dishonest not to credit where you get a story, specially if said story is available for everyone with an Internet connection to see. If I did the opposite, it would be called plagiarism. It's been a non-written rule of blogging etiquette to at least mention the sources you use for a post or article. If only, for the huge amount of crap we endured for publishing that study.

Our own study of false terror alerts has been posted online since the Summer of 2004 for everyone to see. How easy it is to just appropriate that study, ripe for the picking. Maybe one of Keith Olbermann's interns thought he found a goldmine that could grant him/her a promotion; I don't know. I only know that it would have taken him only one sentence to mention where these studies of terror alerts first appeared... particularly when some of his 13 false terror alerts are taken almost word for word from our study.

Maybe if you email Olbermann to thank him for taking on this story, you may want to remind him that crediting his sources is the honorable thing to do: KOlbermann@msnbc.com

PS: Nevertheless, we do enjoy "Countdown" and Keith Olbermann's reporting. His show is definitely a breath of fresh air in the current panorama of cable broadcast news.

Money laundering charges brought on against Delay.
Troubles keep piling up for the bugman:

DeLay indicted on two new charges

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas grand jury on Monday indicted U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on two new charges including money laundering, following a conspiracy indictment last week which forced him to step aside as the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The new indictment, for money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering, was issued shortly after DeLay's lawyers sought to dismiss the original charge on a legal technicality. (...)

The bugman gets his due:

DeLay indicted, steps down
He could get up to two years if convicted.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

A Travis County grand jury today indicted U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on one count of criminal conspiracy, prompting the Sugar Land Republican to give up his leadership post in Congress.

"I have notified (House Speaker Dennis Hastert) that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County District Attorney today," DeLay said in a statement.

The charge, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years incarceration, stems from his role with his political committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, a now-defunct organization that already had been indicted on charges of illegally using corporate money during the 2002 legislative elections. (...)

NOLA's Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, this morning in "Meet the Press."

I'm too angry and too tired to properly express my frustration at what's unfolding in NOLA, still six days after the hurricane hit. Words truly fail me.

For that reason, I'll let Steve Gilliard say it for me. Check out his priceless rant at his blog:

Steve Gilliard: We Told You So

Unreal. Simply unreal:

FEMA chief: Victims bear some responsibility

Brown pleased with effort: 'Things are going relatively well'

Must-see video posted at Crooks & Liars, here:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/09/01.html#a4734

In the meantime, you can donate here:

Katrina Red Cross Relief



And also here:

Liberal Blogs for Hurricane Relief

He had the gall to say that this morning on Good Morning America. Video available here:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA

You gotta be f*cking kidding me!



He is giving the same answer to his inept response to the Katrina disaster that Condi Rice gave to her inept response to 9/11:



Ari Fleishcher also echoed the same official line:



Bush himself said the same freaking thing on April 18, 2004:



Same tired old line. Apparently they know nothing, and they couldn't have foreseen anything at all. This line worked for them back then, and they are recycling it now that it's clear their mismanagement has made Katrina an even worse disaster.

Well, according to Atrios and Echidne blog, there have been countless predictions of the NOLA levee breaking and flooding the city, yet the Bush administration irresponsibly CUT THE BUDGET for the levee maintenance.

    http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/8/30/212451/290

    http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=10...

Bush even FIRED the guy who predicted this outcome:

    http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

And then Bush himself cut the funding for the levee maintenance:

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0508...

Even Popular Mechanics wrote about this possibility a few years back (note the ominous date the article was published):

    NEW ORLEANS IS SINKING

Salon.com also covered this massive failure of leadership in an excellent overview of the situation:

    Anatomy of an unnatural disaster

The amount of chutzpah used by these people is just too much. They lie with the upmost impunity in face of overwhelming evidence against their bullcrap. I hope the media, for once, hold their feet to the fire... but we shouldn't expect much, as usual.

As America is waking up to the truly apocalyptic devastation left by hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi, lots of people are starting to question if things could have been handled better. It's starting to look that way.

It's not often that we see a major American city being almost completely obliterated. Almost 80% of New Orleans is flooded. Biloxi has been devastated. Still, thousands of people were left behind, not enough preparations were made, and now we have evidence that budget cuts to FEMA and infrastructure maintenance may have precipitated the catastrophe in New Orleans' flooding.

I just saw images of New Orleans on TV, a high-school completely devastated, and dozens of school buses scattered, submerged in the water. Why couldn't FEMA use these buses as resources to fleet people out of the city? Instead they hoarded those who were left to fend by themselves in the Superdome stadium. In addition to saving people ,all those buses would be now save and functioning. In the meantime, these poor people were left there without food or water, on their own. The richest country of the world couldn't even mobilize its own public resources (school buses, city buses, trains) to get its own citizens out of harm way. It's very sad and embarrassing.

Louisiana authorities are talking about how the budget cuts in infrastructure (thanks to Bush) allowed the levees to breakdown, flooding the entire city. This lack of preparedness and resources is what's expected in a third-world country, but not here.

The former major of New Orleans was just on CNN, very angrily calling on Bush to dispatch the army into the city. He complained that Bush only sent 3000 national guard operatives to the city, while rescue operations require 10 times that amount, and the city is being looted. The former major of New Orleans placed the responsibility of this mess directly at the feet of George W. Bush.

Which remind us, what has Bush done so far in this massive disaster? Well, he did cut some brush in his ranch while the hurricane was leveling a major US city. Then he said he would cut his vacation short, and dispatched a minor national guard operation that's insufficient for the massive task at hand.

Then he had cake with John McCain. Cake tastes good!



Then he played guitar with some country music dude!



Then he said he would finally have a meeting to review the Katrina disaster, but it won't take place until later today, at 4pm, probably after his nap time. That is a whole three days after the disaster.



Let it be said: despite the devastation that nature has inflicted in the area, this disaster has revealed a MASSIVE FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP, an embarrassing level of unpreparedness and lack of resources that SHOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO HAPPEN. It's sad and depressing to think that in the richest country in the world there's not a very well coordinated effort to face a massive disaster... and leadership is yet to be seen.

Truly horrific pictures of the devastation of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

http://www.wwltv.com/sharedcontent/breakingnews/slideshow/083005_dmnkatrina/1.html

Deja vu from the Madrid bombings. Another horrible attack, this time in London.

From Reuters:

U.S. official 43 believed dead in London blasts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 40 people were believed to have been killed in the bomb blasts that rocked London, a U.S. official said on Thursday (...)

So it's the day of the so much talked about Live 8 concert. You are pumped up about the prospect of seeing all that rock royalty reunited for a unique occasion, and a good cause.

You've been hearing for weeks about this event, and MTV/ VH1, Viacom have spent lots of cash making sure you were aware of the concert and its significance, in case you were going to miss it.

So I tune in for some of the main acts, Sting, U2, Linkin Park, awesome live shows.

Then the very much expected reunion of Pink Floyd. I mean, this is huge (and I'm not a the greatest Pink Floyd fan, but I appreciate their music and their significance in rock history). So here they are... Roger Waters, and David Gilmour on the same stage! And they are not trying to kill each other! Wow!

They are starting to play what some consider one of the best rock songs in ever made.... "Comfortably Numb." At that point you get two idiotic MTV anchors on screen talking over the song (which should be considered a sin and a crime), telling us about the cool Pink Floyd T-shits they've seen people wearing around Hyde Park in London. Yak, yak, yak, yakkity yak! After I screamed at the TV screen and threw soft objects at it in the illusory attempt to make them shut the hell up, the producers of the MTV live broadcast of "Live 8" decided to take us back to the rendition of "Comfortably Numb."

Just a few extra notes... and they go to commercial... in the middle of the song!

Unforgivable. Simply unforgivable.

Sources say yes.

Apparently several witnesses (counting Chris Matthews) are claiming Karl Rove himself was behind the outing, after the release of the confidential information by Time journalist Cooper. Here are some articles on the case:





Karl Rove frog marched?

Pass the popcorn!

(On edit) PS: while this is all great and fun, the Rude Pundit reminds us to keep cool and not get all excited about the prospect, as this bunch has been masterful at covering their own asses and twisting the law to avoid that their pasty asses end up in jail.

So... not only did Rove not apologize, but every Republican that has spoken on this matter has basically endorsed the hateful comments by the Machiavellian dough-boy. See, that's how they play the game. It would be a great thing if Democrats (and anyone in the left of the political spectrum) learned that this is how these people play the game, and there's no reasoning valid. This is hateful rhetoric for the sake of it, thrown out there to hurt, to divide and, overall, to keep demonizing Democrats and Liberalism for every ill that plagues this society.

Given the climate of hate, scapegoating and viciousness that Republicans like Rove have created, maybe it is not surprising to see bumper stickers like this one:



Yes, that is a real bumper sticker, attached to someone's truck.

This photo comes from blogger Left in SF (via Orcinus), who saw it in cars over the weekend, taunting attendees of the SF Gay Pride parade.

It's Rove's America now, people. That bumper-sticker represents the words, stylings and rhetoric of fascism. Democrats need to learn to fight back the increasingly hateful talk of the right-wing... and follow the example of Dean, who knows how to play the game. And enough with the apologies! No Democrat should apologize ever again for anything! Not after this episode with Rove and the Republicans circling the wagons in his defense.

During a recent conference in Manhattan, Karl Rove spouted the following:



Really?

Well, just in case Karl Rove wasn't aware, many Democrats were killed on 9/11. Many of those who lost relatives on 9/11 are Democrats. His remarks are hurtful, insensitive and divisive. He basically insinuated that HALF this nation are traitors and appeasers of terrorists. It takes a certain level of scumbaggery to come to Manhattan, site of the 9/11 attacks, to spout these hateful comments.

KARL ROVE SHOULD APOLOGIZE FOR HIS OFFENSIVE REMARKS.

DEMOCRATS SHOULD DEMAND THIS ASAP!!!

PS: I would also like to see Lieberman, Obama and Biden asking for Rove's apology, just like they asked for Dean and Durbin to apologize for their less offensive remarks. Of course, I'm sure they are too busy trashing his fellow Democrats to find time to do this.

PS2: I am sure this may be a desperate attempt from Rove to divert attention from the highly incriminating Downing Street Memo.

No words necessary:

http://www.revistadiners.com.co/noticia.php3?nt=24663

http://www.spiegel.de/ fotostreck...9MQ_3_3,00.html



Colombian painter Fernando Botero gestures front of his new paintings depicting the horrors of U.S. guards' abuse of captives at Iraq's Abu Graib prison.

For anyone that had any doubt of the SERVILE and OBEDIENT attitude of the media (and particularly ABC/Disney) to the wishes of the GOP:



Brought to you from the same corporation that tried to block "Fahrenheit 9-11" from American distribution.

Today, Bush criticized the Iranian electoral system. In his release, Bush spouted the following, referring to the system in Iran:


Indeed, George. Indeed.

Only a few years back this would have been impossible in the American forum of public opinion. Today, it is the proposal of a religious leader:


Some fellows in Germany had he same idea in the 1930s. They came up with these pink triangles for gays. They had different symbols for different minorities to wear. And they sure made them wear these pink triangles:



But of course, I'm sure calling Bill Banuchi and his coalition a bunch of FREAKIN' NAZIS would be in poor taste. Right, you can't say that these days.

The fact that leaders of religious organizations feel empowered enough in this political climate to openly say those things to the media should tell you a lot about the times we are living. What's more, it feeds my pessimistic view that things are quickly spiraling downward, out of control.

I hope I'm wrong.

I wonder if it would dawn on Isikoff and the rest of the MSM tools that, while they hated Clinton to no end, they were FREE to publish whichever hate-filled rant they could come up with. They were so free they were able to get away with publishing any bullshit story as long as it damaged the Clintons, no matter how flimsy or silly the evidence (Whitewater, Monicagate, Vince Foster, etc)

Their disgusting behavior during the 2000 election brought us Bush and his cronies, which they seemed to revere and idolize. Since the early days, they gave Bush and his cronies more reverence and respect than they ever gave Clinton.... even though the WH used a strong policy of "carrot and stick" on them and fed them lies on a daily basis.

Well, guess who got punked? These tools at the MSM keep getting what they deserve. They are reaping what they sow. Their submissive attitude to power has brought them this far.

If this had taken place in the 1970s, Newsweek would have fought back and presented alternative evidence to support the story, as well as the alternative reports that told similar stories from Guantanamo. Furthermore, Newsweek's should have exposed their unreliable source (which after all, fed them incorrect info about the Pentagon), and point the finger back at their accusers.

Unfortunately they are a bunch of wimps cowering in fear at the though that Dear Leader may call them (gasp) "unpatriotic."

The real damage in this story is the way (and speed) in which Newsweek genuflected and apologized for a story that was, deep down, factually correct (and already reported by many other newspapers). And what's even worse than that is the way the rest of the MSM have ganged up on Newsweek, instead of supporting their colleagues. That alone is very revealing of the current state of affairs.

Well, well, well. What do you know! It seems like our study of terror alerts and chart were indeed on the money.

The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.
Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or "high" risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled. (...)

The level is raised if a majority on the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council favors it and President Bush concurs. Among those on the council with Ridge were Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI chief Robert Mueller, CIA director George Tenet, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell. (...)

USA TODAY

Great. Not only he is telling us the alerts were worthless and enforced at the whim of the WH. Ridge is also telling us his duties in the department of Homeland Security were one step above worthless.

I'm sure you'll be able to get a few bucks having a yard sale with all that duct tape and plastic sheeting they encouraged you to buy.

PS: Welcome, Atriots! Enjoy and come often!

Just taking a quick break after weeks of heavy work.
We'll be back at the end on the month.