The best part of Stewart’s merciless takedown of Jim Cramer was the old videotape where Cramer brags about manipulating the market. Just a few months ago people would have watched that tape and nodded in admiration. But now it exposes him as a fraud and possibly a criminal. Every time Cramer would try to weasel out, Stewart would call out a time “2:20″ and his flak would play another damning clip. Why is this guy Cramer not in jail?
It is not just fools who are taken in by market mania. Even Sir Isaac Newton lost twenty thousand pounds in the South Sea Bubble back in 1720. This time around, the victims of Bernie Madoff include a Nobel Laureate (Elie Wiesel), a newspaper tycoon (Mort Zuckermann) and several foundations. (more…)
The Democratic Leadership Council was formed by Al From in the wake of Reagan’s victories. Its aim was to move the Democratic Party to the center. It claimed that America was a center-right nation. Bill Clinton is its most prominent former head. Zel Miller and Joe Lieberman had a turn. Currently it is chaired by Harold Ford Jr.
Things are not going well for the DLC. America no longer looks so center-right. In fact, it looks kinda center-left these days. It is the Republicans who need to correct course towards the center,dragging the mighty whale Rush Limbaugh .
The Democratic Leadership Council — a group of centrists that dominated politics during the Clinton presidency but is laboring to remain relevant in the Obama era — is on the brink of a major shake-up.
At the same time, the Progressive Policy Institute, an influential think tank closely affiliated with the DLC, will soon part ways with the council. Will Marshall, who heads the think tank, said the recent Democratic electoral gains and a massive new agenda being pushed by the Obama administration “require us to think anew.”
Rush Limbaugh is Bobby Jindal’s main sponsor in the Republican Party. They need a couple of dark skinned guys and a gal or two to show that they are open-minded too. As long as the new faces obey the guys who run the Party they are allowed to stand in front of cameras. Bobby understands that. That sycophantic smile on his face is to reassure them that he knows he is pwned.
But Michael Steele does not. Just because they chose him to be head of the RNC, Steele thought that he was the head of the Republican Party. Not only that, he went on a TV show run by another uppity fellow and declared ” I am the head of the Republican Party”. And then called Limbaugh some ugly things.
Such as, he is ugly. Was calling Limbaugh `incendiary’ a reference to the low burning point of all that body fat?
That is why Steele was taken behind the woodshed, his trousers lowered and beaten but good. That was not just to teach him a lesson. A lesson for Bobby too. If ever Bobby thinks that just because he is a Governor he is his own boss, let this be a reminder to him. Sarah Palin is on a looser leash.
I had to write a report this week and was looking through my calendar from last year. Noticed a curious entry, a talk I missed because I was out with a cold. Who exactly is Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount of Brenchley, this denier of Global Warming? The magic of Google and Wikipedia allows us to find out easily. The drawback to such convenience is that such information is often superficial.
Publisher’s Note
The original author of this photo-cartoon remains anonymous. I took it from a post on Daily Kos and added the following speech explaining Andre’s fate. The photo has since appeared on many websites. The second speech below is a totally unfair parody of one by the CEO of Beth-Israel Medical Center. I blame our staff member Richard Saunders for the biting tone of that parody. Richard has been properly chastised. His only excuse is temporary loss of sanity from performing experiments on the nature of electricity.
Hello everyone. Thanks for taking the time to get together today at an actual work site. How is everyone feeling in those work overalls? Thought it would be a nice change from the eleventh floor.
I’m not going to waste your time or mince words. The reason for getting together is to bring you up to speed on the company’s status. Unfortunately, it’s not as good as we all would have anticipated even 6 short days ago.
I was humbled and honored to be chosen to give the Republican response to Pres. Obama’s address to the nation last Tuesday. The response to my response has been consistent. Democrats think it was awful. The Republicans are hanging their heads in shame. Only Rush Limbaugh stood up for me. God bless him. He might make me President yet.
I want to begin my response to my critics with another condescending remark about President Obama’s blackness. After all, that is the most important thing about him. It is not important that Obama inherited a country mired in two wars, one of them completely unnecessary. Or that his predecessor was spending twice as much money as he was collecting. I must always start by noting the remarkable personal story of Obama, the son of a Kenyan father and an American mother. I mean, it is just awesome how I noticed that about him. Without me pointing it out, some of you could have missed that. (more…)
A couple of years ago I stopped by Dubai on the way to India. Because many Malayalis work there, Kerala is better connected to the Middle East by air than to the rest of India. I wanted to avoid the maddening crowds at Mumbai airport and also look up my brother who worked in Dubai at that time.
It is the most bizarre place in the world I have ever been. (more…)
In President Barack Obama’s Cabinet, there is a Nobel Prize winner, a former mayor, and a veteran CIA agent. Surrounding him in the White House West Wing are a former four-star general, one of the nation’s most eminent economists, and a handful of this generation’s most talented political operatives.
There are no former CEOs in the Obama Cabinet. And among the people who make up his daily inner circle, there is only a dollop or two of top-level private sector experience.
That was a masterful performance. It has been eight years since we had a President who could utter a coherent sentence. Too long. When is the last time we had a President who could go from describing the desperate situation of the economy, comparing it to Japan’s crisis of the last decade, and then without losing a beat, comment on nuclear weapons in the Middle East and switch to Alex Rodriguez? Eight years.
He even called on that guy Major Garrulous from FOX. Of course Major G. tried to make a big thing of some dumb remark of VP Biden and Obama had to laugh it off. The President did not fall into the trap set by Helen Thomas when asked if he knew of any country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons. He smoothly said that he is trying to enter into a nuclear weapons reductions agreement with Russia so we will have the standing to tell other countries not to pursue them. When is the last time we had a President who gave a shit about our standing in the world? Eight years.
As soon as I saw a picture of Rod Blagojevitch (back during the Dem Primaries) I knew he was up to no good. This judgement, now vindicated, did not come from deep knowledge of IL state politics. I just knew that someone with such a lush growth of hair on his head had to be a bounder. This would be true even if the hair were fake. Donald Trump. Gary Hart (in the eighties, not now). Bill Clinton. Elvis. All talented people, all got in trouble. What do they have in common? Hair where it is supposed to grow, not on their ear or back.
IL has a second chance now with Patrick Quinn. He is different from Blagojevitch in every possible way.
“He’s the anti-Blagojevich, for sure,” said State Representative Jack D. Franks
Mr. Quinn, 60, can be so unassuming that he watched the inauguration of President Obama in Washington crunched down on his knees so that people behind him could get a better view. When prone to boasting, which is not very often, it can be about miserly stuff, like staying in budget hotels and eating discount meals.
More to the point I am making,
And with a hairline more John Lithgow than Elvis, he does not even look the Blagojevich part.
Engineering is the most sought after career among the Indian middle class, replacing Civil Service in the British days. In addition to several elite schools like the IITs, India has several hundred Engineering colleges that churn out techies by the thousands. There is no shortage of talented and well-prepared students for these professional schools, despite the poor conditions in most of India’s high schools. The secret is that students, and parents, spend a fortune on private tuition. There is a whole cottage industry preparing students for the entrance exams.
There is a negative side to this. Sciences and humanities suffer as talent is sucked away into the professions. Still, overall, the system has benefitted society: the Indian economic boom is powered by the graduates of these many regional engineering colleges and to a lesser extent, the IITs.
Pakistan on the other hand has failed in its many attempts to revive its educational system. Not having outlets for their energies, young men-and some women- turn to militant religious organizations for inspiration and guidance. The havoc they cause is a problem for India and the rest of the world, but it is threatening the very existence of Pakistan. (more…)
For someone living within American culture, India’s response to the Mumbai attacks looks either suicidally passive or diabolically clever. Despite daily statements that make vague threats (”all options are still open”) the most direct action India has taken so far is to cancel a cricket match with Pakistan. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister even sent the President of Pakistan a New Year’s greeting card.
The card carries the picture of a white dove with flowers in its beak
Zardari must have said ” Dammit! Why didn’t I think of that card thing?”.
What is going on here? Why coddle people who are still denying that one of the most vicious attacks on innocent civilians was launched from Pakistan? (more…)
I come home from a business trip to see a large envelope from the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Inside is a handsome card embossed with a Golden Seal.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee requests the honor of your presence to attend and participate in the Inauguration of
My heart beats faster. Finally, all those blogs I wrote on Daily Kos are paying off. Impassioned arguments with Hillary Clinton supporters back in the Spring of 2008. Alegre, eat your heart out in your little corner. We are the ones going to the Inauguration.
Barack H. Obama as President of the United States of America
India and Israel have both been victims of terrorist attacks in recent months. Their response could not be more different. Israel has opted for direct action, in a bold and widely condemned attack on Gaza, from where Hamas launched rockets to attack Israeli civilians. India has taken a judicial approach, collecting evidence against the Mumbai attackers and pressing Pakistan to extradite the terrorist commanders who directed the operation from within its territory. Which strategy will work in the long term?
I will not go into the root causes of either conflict. Instead, I will try to explain why each Nation is acting the way it is, and examine whether it is rational for them to act as they do. (more…)
Ever since the Salman Rushdie incident, the word Fatwa has had a negative connotation. Perhaps no word has been as misunderstood, with the exceptions of jihad and madrassa.
It turns out that a fatwa is a kind of judicial opinion from an islamic religious authority. In nations that have adopted the Shariah as part of the legal system, a fatwa could have the force of law. But mostly, it is guidance for the faithful. Because Islam does not have a hierarchy like the Catholic Church, each religious authority has to rely on its own reputation as the force behind its fatewa.
Outside of the Middle East, the most respected school of Islamic studies is Darul Uloom, located at Deoband near Delhi in India. It was founded in 1866 after the defeat of Indian forces by the British. The school played an important role in the Freedom Struggle of India. It opposed the creation of Pakistan, and asks its followers to participate peacefully in Indian democracy. Its influence extends well outside of India. The mainstream of Islam in Pakistan is historically of the Deoband school. After Partition, certain logistical difficulties clearly exist and Saudi Arabia is playing an increasing role in providing support to the madrassas. (more…)
Hoax phone calls used to be funny. As a teenager, Steve Wozniak, the inventor of the Apple computer, figured out the Bell System technical protocols- he and Steve Jobs had found the manual at the SLAC Library. Woz used this knowledge to call the Pope, pretending to be Henry Kissinger. His fake German accent was good enough to get the Holy Father out of bed. But before he took the phone, an aide figured out that it was some California teenager pulling a prank. (more…)
The US National Intelligence Director has taken the unusual step of placing blame in public: AP
The same group that carried out last week’s attack is believed to be behind the 2006 Mumbai train bombings that killed more than 200, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell said Tuesday during a speech at Harvard University.
McConnell did not identify the group by name. However, the Indian government has attributed the 2006 attack to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani terrorist group based in Kashmir, and the Students Islamic Movement of India.
Hard to know how to evaluate this information. The Bush Administration just isn’t that credible after the epic failure of intelligence on WMD in Iraq. They could be right this time: the boy who cried wolf was right one time too. Whether or not the LeT are behind this particular attack, it has already been designated a terrorist organization based on its previous record.
At first one may think that the LeT is a secretive organization, operating out of some cave in the mountains. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Although it is banned, the LeT actually operates freely in Pakistan: it just changed its name. It runs schools, hospitals and provides social services. Its headquarters is in Muridke: a suburb of Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city.They even have a website in English. and in Urdu ( the national language of Pakistan.) (more…)
Anger in India is currently focused on its own Government. The mindless bloodbath that followed some previous attacks has not happened. What we see instead is a quieter rage, one that can be channeled to something constructive. For, rage has its uses too.
Every one, the US Sec State included, seems to be counseling the Indian Government against an overreaction. Certainly, no one wants a war between two Nuclear-Armed adversaries.
But what of the dangers of under-reaction? What will be the consequence to India and to the world if they are allowed to get away with it?
There seems to be consensus that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is behind this attack: (more…)
President-elect Barack Obama is about to announce his foreign policy team.No matter who is on it, Obama promises that the policy will be set by him. Nowhere is his intellect more needed than on policy towards Pakistan.
The first step must be getting off the wrong battlefield in Iraq, and taking the fight to the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He said he would make the hundreds of millions of dollars in US military aid to Pakistan conditional on the following actions by the Pakistani government:
substantial progress in closing down terrorist training camps
evict foreign fighters
prevent the Taleban from using Pakistan as staging area for attacks in Afghanistan
I have not heard a clearer analysis yet. There is more: (more…)
At this early stage, public information has to be gleaned from the Indian media: most sources here are quoting Indian reporters. Indian TV is aggressive in its reporting. But it can also be even more sensationalist and exploitive than the American media. Imagine CNN on acid and you get their partner IBN. The FOX sister channel in India is SKY-TV; the reporters are much like Geraldo Rivera only without the restraint and sophistication.
Until a couple of months ago, Iceland was considered the fourth most productive country in the world with a per capita GDP of $65K. After fishing declined, Iceland opted not to industrialize itself: too polluting. Instead, they went into biotechnology, software and the like. And most of all, banking.
Exhale Now. The US and the world came so close to a disaster and survived only because the right leader showed up. Just in time.
Think back to the dark days after 9/11 when we almost destroyed ourselves by lashing out in blind rage. Hitting at imaginary enemies, while the real ones were regrouping in the Hindukush mountains. Jonathan Alter was floating the idea that torture may not be so bad after all. Tom Friedman helped sell the Iraq invasion. Colin Powell showed up at the UN with fake evidence for WMD, with the CIA director sitting behind in silence to give credibility to the lies. Hillary Clinton gave a craven speech in the Senate, pretending that she was not voting for the Iraq war, but was merely authorizing it. (Ugh?) Joe Biden had a plan to divide Iraq into three parts. And these are just the Liberals and Moderates. Just the people who have came to their senses by now.
A minor American politician, a State Legislator from Illinois named Barack Obama, gave the best argument against the Iraq war: it was dumb. Only a few seconds of the film of that speech that survives. The words repeated by-some of his supporters- are powerful, even if, delivered without Obama’s special diction. Clear thinking matters most when even the smartest people are confused.
Listen to it: (more…)
The headlines today make us look back at a time when the country faced even greater economic peril. Now we stare into the abyss. Then we were at the bottom of that abyss. Yet we survived, and even thrived. In no small measure it is because the people had the wisdom to choose the right leader. In 1932 that leader was Franklin Delanor Roosevelt, Governor of New York. He might have got around on a wheelchair, but his voice projected the confidence of a vital and ambitious nation. (more…)
.
.
