The Tribal Cross<img height=120 width=80 src="http://www.dropfiles.net/filez/1358/tribalcross.jpg">grin and bear it.

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Monday, November 24, 2008

Ron Paul inspirational video!
Current mood:

luminous
Category: News and Politics

What will you do without your freedom?

3:56 PM

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Friday, November 21, 2008

Texas grand jury indicts VP Cheney
Current mood:

jedi
Category: News and Politics

Also indicted are two state district judges, both immediately suspended from their proceedings--one midday while that case's deliberations were underway.

12:36 PM

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wob2RGMSjtk

Monday, November 10, 2008

Who is Rahm Emanuel?

6:50 AM

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Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Rahm, you’ve cheated on me for the last time.
Current mood:

chipper
Category: News and Politics

So there is A New Hope. Rebels on both sides of the aisle in the House stood up to the evil Death Star legislation threatening to wipe out liberty in America by floating a 700 BILLION dollar check to Wall Street. I got the news on my Blackberry and cackled like Howard Dean. I honestly didn't think the House would stand up for us. The aftermath, with the anticipated drop in stocks, left the losers in this deal looking at their shoelaces.

One picture that stands out, looking so much like a shot from a daytime soap opera, is Nancy Pelosi sobbing over the roll call with Rahm Emanuel.

Well today I got a letter from Rahm. He wants me to support a bailout AND give money to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Naturally, I unsubscribed.

Sorry, Rahm Emanuel, I am against the bailout. I am so offended that you'd argue for giving away $700 billion for Wall Street along with a request for campaign money that I am donating to another group. I'm sure that I'll find out from reliable sources when my party returns to its former values. Protect the taxpayers by restoring Social Security and the rest of the New Deal and then we'll talk. Until then, I consider you as complicit in a corporate welfare system that dooms the common man to servitude.

"...the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself. That, in its essence, is fascism—ownership of government by an individual, by a group or by any other controlling private power." --Franklin D. Roosevelt, Simple Truths, 1938

Sincerely,
Adam Hirschhorn

Remember my brothers and only friends, like Luke Skywalker, your hope in averting this giveaway lies in unlikely sources. Marilyn Musgrave stood up against the measure along with plenty of Democrats who weren't interested in this "investment" in the economy. So the majority is with the people, but the House leadership on both sides of the aisle is still with Wall Street.

The Senate is now putting together its own bailout--completely UNCONSTITUTIONAL because financial bills are supposed to originate with the House of Representatives (two year terms make them more accountable to We The People). The House leadership will not let this alone, either. Which means brave reps on both sides of the aisle will have to say no thousands of times to vulturous lobbyists and their own leadership between now and January. The Empire Strikes Back on Thursday with a new push in the House towards this hand-me-up. May the Force be with them.

9:17 AM

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Monday, September 29, 2008

Oh the horror!
Current mood:

pessimistic
Category: News and Politics

They are gonna do it! Word is that Congress has mustered the votes and is prepared to give away $700 BILLION dollars of our yet-to-be-hard-earned-dollars Monday. Tomorrow. Specifically, the Fed will print up $700 BILLION dollars and give it away to Wall Street firms who bet on "securities" based on the payoff rate of mortgages. TWO-THIRDS of California mortgages right now are in default status. These "securities" are basically worthless, but Congress promises: you'll make your money back.

When the extra $700 BILLION dollars is printed up, INSTANTLY, your money, in your pocket, in your bank account, that have been agreed upon for your wages, will be worth 10% less. This means we'll have to work 10% harder to pay this outrageous sum off. Thanks, Congress. Thanks, Wall Street.

So what does this have to do with Social Security, do you ask?

The threat, besides the shock tactic that Paulson gave (i.e.: "this'll cause a world wide depression if we don't fix it right now") was what he stated as subtext. Said Paulson, "The taxpayer is already on the hook." How so? Well the problems affect two things: money markets, tainted by the "toxic assets" and 401(k)'s. Money markets, by implication imply that your money is on the market, so risk is implied. Your 401(k) however, is supposed to be a sure thing. It's insured by your employer. But can we expect that your employer knew this was coming? No, the "wise" minds were banking on these "securities" until about a month ago. The REAL threat is not that the world economy will not survive. The threat that has Congress scrambling to do this before anyone can wrap their heads around this is that you will not be able to retire. It is all their fault.

401(k)'s are the trickle-down economics answer to Social Security. The reason Americans are "on the hook" for this is that no one. No One has fixed Social Security. The reason is that Social Security has always looked a little pink to Republicans. It's Socialist and inefficient. Capital would be saved for old people all through their lifetime, capital that could be used to stimulate the economy during the interim. We've avoided having Social Security set aside in a 3-lock-box because of this inefficiency. Remember: the point of Keynesian economics is to make sure that a maximum amount of capital is circulating throughout the macroeconomic picture.

So this little pink idea, Social Security, which I think is the best pink idea since before the Motorola RAZR, is as divisive among liberals and conservatives, and embarrassing to most libertarians. The government collects a tax from those currently working to pay for the entitlements of those now retired. The thing that makes this a bit of a Ponzi scheme is that 1) the baby boom make it so millions of people are retiring or have just retired and 2) the average lifespan of Americans keeps rising. So we pay out more than we take in. Fortunately, Americans are reproducing less and working longer. I'm not just in the tank for Social Security, I think it's the best thing FDR ever came up with. Does this make me a socialist.

I don't think so Bubba.

I think that giving $700 BILLION dollars for the American government to roll the dice in the markets is socialist. I think giving a tax rebate check is socialist. I think waiting in long lines for jacked-up prices on college textbooks is redder than Lenin's menses. Social Security is just a good idea: to reward citizens for a long life of participation in capitalism, especially because times like these seem to show that capitalism will bite us in the ass from time to time.

How did it come to be that 401(k)'s began to replace Social Security as the way to retire? Well 401(k)'s began as a little tax loophole for executives while Carter was a lame duck, just before the Gipper took the keys. So it stayed in anonymity for almost 20 years. So while Clinton was trying to make things right for the little man, he decides he's going to fix Social Security. Towards the end of his term, the republicans kept stonewalling the saving of such a pink institution. They had a different idea about making Social Security a little more capitalist. Rather than press the issue against his conservative congress, he was sitting at his desk one day, playing with a cigar and he said: "Hey Monica"

Monica said, "Mmmph?"

Bill said, "How'd you like your very own corporate loophole?"

So Bill talked his Republican Congress into freeing the masses to take part in the tax-free retirement scheme. Based on markets. Your employer makes a bad decision in investment, he pays the diff. But if the whole market busts, then Benny Bossman has to turn his pockets inside out and lay off his workforce.

Turns out, the sides turned on this issue, too. The republican Congress during this administration wanted to reform social security on their terms, privatizing it. Let's not give the average Democrat the benefit of the doubt, since only Ron Paul and Ralph Nader are telling us the barbarians are at the gates, and definitely let's not assume evil intent in the average Republican, since Ron Paul hardly gets love from FOX News. Just a difference of ideology. What I'm getting at... we had another chance to reform Social Security. It didn't happen.

So the reason Hank Paulson can hijack the economy for $700 BILLION dollars is that no one ever fixed Social Security. And guess what, my brothers and only friends? It will happen again. I guaran-effing-tee it. That's because of all the Christmas ornaments stacked on this "rescue" package, no one ever even TOUCHED the idea of saving social security. When housing prices finally stabilize, and we realize that Congress has bought snake oil, another "economic emergency" arises. They will want more money. They will again threaten our retirement, and we will once again be powerless to stop our "representatives" from blackmail.

Another implication from Vienna school economics: our economic choice both reflects and affects our morality. More about this next time on the Tribal Cross.

Currently reading:
The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents: The Definitive Edition (The Collected Works of F. a. Hayek)
By F.A. Hayek

9:06 AM

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Monday, September 29, 2008

Even a rant against the bailout from a socialist!

hen I worked for then-Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in the late 1990s, Washington was in the panting throes of a deregulatory orgy. Many lampooned my boss's opposition to the grotesquerie, and his notoriety as the only self-described socialist in Congress. Nobody guessed that a few years later, our country would become the globe's newest U.S.S.R.: The United States' Socialist Republic.Yes, a red flag is rising over the Capitol, only the laborer's hammer and sickle has been replaced by a baron's top hat and monocle. America is Amerika, and throughout Washington a socialist rallying cry echoes: Politicians and lobbyists of the world unite! -- unite to rescue Wall Street capitalists with a $700 billion taxpayer bailout.Though socialism seems new in the U.S., it isn't. Using public resources and government power to control the economy is as Amerikan as the Pentagon and the Patent Office. And the problem is not socialism itself, but our uniquely destructive version of it. Amerika's is not the democratic socialism of many countries. Ours is kleptocratic socialism -- the objective is theft.Unlike European comrades, our socialists rarely mandate returns on taxpayer investments. The same 19th century socialism that gave the Mountain West to railroad companies became a 20th century socialism subsidizing oil and drug industry profits. Now, our 21st century socialists propose giving financial industry con men the national credit card, confirming Marx's theory that history repeats itself first as tragedy, then as farce.Bolivian socialists nationalize to combat wealth stratification, remove greed from human necessities like energy, and allow the public to own the means of producing valuable commodities. Amerika's socialists nationalize to preserve inequality and force the public to own the means of worthless production. Most recently, taxpayers' $85 billion will purchase bankrupt AIG and its means of producing paper, all to let speculators continue profiteering off the human need for housing.Close a factory in socialist Denmark, and workers get immediate government help, along with their free health care. Shutter one in Ohio, and workers get nothing, except politicians saying their jobs are never returning and national health care is "unaffordable." But if investment banks teeter, those same politicians quickly find billions for bailouts.Of course, socialist revolutions can share key traits.Many feature aspiring dictators like Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a former Goldman Sachs banker. He is pushing þHugo Chavez-style legislation demanding totalitarian authority to spend the $700 billion "without limitation" or "review by any court of law or any administrative agency." And surprise -- Paulson's scheme would enrich his Goldman Sachs pals.Amerika, like other socialist nations, also has its share of faux converts and unconvincing agitprop.John "I am fundamentally a deregulator" McCain has suddenly gone French, embracing regulation with the zeal of a beret-wearing Parisian reciting "Das Kapital" in a left bank coffeehouse (call him Monsieur Jean McCain, s'il vous plait). CNBC's Larry Kudlow justifies kleptocratic socialism by absolving the financial elite and blaming the meltdown on that all-powerful Poor People Lobby, which he claims is "forcing banks to make low-income loans." And New York Times' columnist David Brooks, long the ruling class's Minister of Propaganda, applauds the "public spiritedness" of Paulson's "Progressive Corporatism."As this socialist uprising intensifies, the most prominent counterrevolutionary is none other than Sanders. Now a senator, he is calling for both re-regulation and a millionaire surtax to pay for the bailout and avoid adding its full cost to the national debt."The people who can best afford to pay and the people who have benefited most from Bush's economic policies are the people who should provide the funds for the bailout," he said.Once the federal government's only (admitted) socialist, Sanders is evidently its only fiscal conservative, too. It's time Amerika listened to this original visionary

4:47 AM

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Monday, September 29, 2008

Rant from the libertarian right!
Category: News and Politics

Whenever a Great Bipartisan Consensus is announced, and a compliant media assures everyone that the wondrous actions of our wise leaders are being taken for our own good, you can know with absolute certainty that disaster is about to strike.The events of the past week are no exception.The bailout package that is about to be rammed down Congress' throat is not just economically foolish. It is downright sinister. It makes a mockery of our Constitution, which our leaders should never again bother pretending is still in effect. It promises the American people a never-ending nightmare of ever-greater debt liabilities they will have to shoulder. Two weeks ago, financial analyst Jim Rogers said the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made America more communist than China! "This is welfare for the rich," he said. "This is socialism for the rich. It's bailing out the financiers, the banks, the Wall Streeters."That describes the current bailout package to a T. And we're being told it's unavoidable.The claim that the market caused all this is so staggeringly foolish that only politicians and the media could pretend to believe it. But that has become the conventional wisdom, with the desired result that those responsible for the credit bubble and its predictable consequences - predictable, that is, to those who understand sound, Austrian economics - are being let off the hook. The Federal Reserve System is actually positioning itself as the savior, rather than the culprit, in this mess!• The Treasury Secretary is authorized to purchase up to $700 billion in mortgage-related assets at any one time. That means $700 billion is only the very beginning of what will hit us.• Financial institutions are "designated as financial agents of the Government." This is the New Deal to end all New Deals.• Then there's this: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." Translation: the Secretary can buy up whatever junk debt he wants to, burden the American people with it, and be subject to no one in the process.There goes your country.Even some so-called free-market economists are calling all this "sadly necessary." Sad, yes. Necessary? Don't make me laugh.Our one-party system is complicit in yet another crime against the American people. The two major party candidates for president themselves initially indicated their strong support for bailouts of this kind - another example of the big choice we're supposedly presented with this November: yes or yes. Now, with a backlash brewing, they're not quite sure what their views are. A sad display, really.Although the present bailout package is almost certainly not the end of the political atrocities we'll witness in connection with the crisis, time is short. Congress may vote as soon as tomorrow. With a Rasmussen poll finding support for the bailout at an anemic seven percent, some members of Congress are afraid to vote for it. Call them! Let them hear from you! Tell them you will never vote for anyone who supports this atrocity.The issue boils down to this: do we care about freedom? Do we care about responsibility and accountability? Do we care that our government and media have been bought and paid for? Do we care that average Americans are about to be looted in order to subsidize the fattest of cats on Wall Street and in government? Do we care?When the chips are down, will we stand up and fight, even if it means standing up against every stripe of fashionable opinion in politics and the media?Times like these have a way of telling us what kind of a people we are, and what kind of country we shall be.

--Ron Effing Paul!

4:31 AM

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Monday, September 29, 2008

Rant from the populist left!

The $700 billion bailout for Wall Street, is driven by fear not fact. This is too much money in too a short a time going to too few people while too many questions remain unanswered. Why aren't we having hearings on the plan we have just received? Why aren't we questioning the underlying premise of the need for a bailout with taxpayers' money? Why have we not considered any alternatives other than to give $700 billion to Wall Street? Why aren't we asking Wall Street to clean up its own mess? Why aren't we passing new laws to stop the speculation, which triggered this? Why aren't we putting up new regulatory structures to protect investors? How do we even value the $700 billion in toxic assets? Why aren't we helping homeowners directly with their debt burden? Why aren't we helping American families faced with bankruptcy. Why aren't we reducing debt for Main Street instead of Wall Street? Isn't it time for fundamental change in our debt based monetary system, so we can free ourselves from the manipulation of the Federal Reserve and the banks? Is this the United States Congress or the board of directors of Goldman Sachs? Wall Street is a place of bears and bulls. It is not smart to force taxpayers to dance with bears or to follow closely behind the bulls. --Dennis Effing Kucinich!

4:17 AM

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Saturday, September 27, 2008

700 BILLION DOLLARS?!?

What, did Bush appoint Carl Sagan as Secretary of Treasury? Hank Paulson, formerly of Goldman Sachs, has asked Congress for Billions and Billions of dollars! To bail out Wall Streets stupid subprime mortgage securities scam. 700 billion, in fact, without oversight, no less. Let me tell you how much this is, so you can wrap your head around it. Let's say I hire Jeeves, a crook, to steal every last piece of paper money, dollar coin, old half dollar coin, quarter, dime, nickel, and penny in the good ol' USA. Jeeves steals it, happily, then I tip him 10%. That's Seven Hundred Billion Dollars. And congress is eagerly working on a deal to give it to 'em! Before I go into detail, let me just say I DID look into the how's and why's of this before I formed an opinion. 700 hundred billion dollars, when you're going to get something good for it, is muy bueno. This, not so much. So naturally, I'm against it so I thought I'd give that Marilyn Musgrave a piece of my mind. Turns out she's against it, too. Turns out a LOT of people are against it. 60 percent of Republicans, 70 percent of Democrats, and 90 percent of Independents think this is ridiculous. Well, never thought I'd say it but THANK YOU MARILYN MUSGRAVE. But we're still all probably screwed. Here's why: Right at the start of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to get us back on our feet with a New Deal for the American people. It was popular--everyone said "Deal me in!"...but it was not without critics. Three main features I'd like you to take away: Social Security (criticized as socialist), a strong central bank called the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC, the institution that insures deposits so if everyone scrambles for their cash, it's all covered. By the way, I'm totally in the tank for FDR. There was a bank run when my Grandpa was a kid and his dad gave the kids the bank books to play with because they were Suddenly. Worth. Nothing. True story. So the FDIC...great idea. Social Security, kind of a pyramid scheme ruined by all the baby boomers, but a solid idea with a good intent. The Federal Reserve? Maybe not so much. Fast forward. After the baby boom, during the Cold War, and during Nam, Richard Nixon was POTUS (President. Of. The. United. States.) And there was recession. That's when money gets a little tight and people have a hard time affording Wii. Or Disco Balls in this case. Nixon was averse to the idea of freezing prices, but the idea of freezing prices was wildly popular, so Nixon froze them. By the way, I'm still not in the tank for Nixon. Anyway Nixon did a price freeze. It didn't work. That's because people AGREE on prices. Government can't really regulate this kind of thing. It's like Bush telling me I'm hot for blondes. We set our own agendas. Nixon resigns because of Watergate, and Carter inherits inflation. So Carter gets together with the head of the Fed (Federal Reserve) and says "How do we make it easy to get Disco Balls in people's hands?" The Fed man (Paul Volker) says, "Check this, Jimmy." Volker is a student of Keynesian economics and proposes that we ditch the Gold Standard. The Gold Standard is when you can go to any bank with cash and they'll give you solid bling. No quesions asked. Said Volker, if we make money just whatever money is, we can print more, loan more, more cash for the people. "They'll buy disco balls?" "Yes Jimmy, they'll borrow my new money and buy disco balls" So people got loans bought disco balls, and so much gasoline that we had to wait in line. People were pissed. There was more money but it was worth less and demand exceeded supply. Along comes Ronnie Reagan. Reagan asked if we were better off than we were four years ago and we said, "Eff That!" I have serious problems with some of Ronnie's game but he was good at it. Volker said, "I got the thing now...we build this thing from the top down, and it's Bright Lights Big City." Ronnie was down with the trickle down. But a little wary of the boom-bust cycle Volker was selling, so when Volker took Social Security, he appointed a new Chairman of the Fed, Allen Greenspan. Greenspan was a student of the Old School, the Vienna School of economics. They don't use graphs and charts like Keynesians. They just open their eyes and see which way the wind blows. The theory is that you can never tell if the next fad is gas or disco balls or Pac Man. But ever wary of the boom bust and strict to maintain, Greenspan played in the Zen Garden and regulated between haikus. Genius. Problem is that the rich like Keynesian economics because the fat cats can live large and party. Ronnie was down with it because you have to have funds to be succesful politically. Ronnie let Alan do his thing, mostly because he was senile. Alan kept the boat afloat. Then Bush the Elder took the helm and was an instant rollover for the players. "Georgie, give us a break on the taxes man." So Georgie promised. Not wanting to look like a wet blanket to Wall Street, and not wanting to look like a wimp to the voters, Bush said, "Read my lips, no new taxes" (This he really did say, all the while smearing Michael Dukakis.) Wall Street says, "All right! We have ourselves a tool!" Bush gets to practice Keynesian economics just by leaning on Congress to reduce taxes. This didn't last long. We the people were so staggered by spending without regard for budget ($10000 for a toilet seat in the military budget??) that we prayed to Jesus for a Rhodes Scholar from Hope, Arkansas named Bill Clinton. Now before you ask I am 100% in the tank for Bill. Bill was down to the ground and too smart. Too smart. When you're too smart you can take some risks, but always remember this...someone has to follow the act. Nonetheless Bill was down to the ground. It was Bill who said your cool gay uncle could Go Navy. It's a good thing too...all those Arabic translators we use now are queer as a three dollar bill. It was Bill who said you could smoke weed and go to college. Wait, he never said that, and he absolutely never inhaled. But it definitely was Bill and a democratic congress (I admit it) who chartered Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and eased up on banks with the FDIC. Good intentions, clever idea, and only runnable by a Benign Despot. Here's why it's dangerous and took us one step deeper into the stink we're in now. Bill's got an ambitious agenda...he's got plans to raise standards for the poor and minorities, balance the budget, keep defense strong, and give some marginal lip service to the people who fund him. He's got an enthusiastic House of Representatives--a little too enthusiastic. He's got enthusiastic capitalists who want a little cut. He's also got a little experience in Real Estate. (Wink, wink) It works out a little like this: "Alan, buddy" "Oh, Buddha, Bill, can't you see I'm meditating so the economy doesn't collapse?!?" "Sorry, Alan. Just one thing: you remember Keynesian economics? I've got an idea" So as only Bill could do it, he gets Greenspan to print up a little cash, reduces the amount banks have to pay into the FDIC (remember it?) And then he gets Congress to charter a mortgage investment enterprise where poor people and minorities especially could own a home! The best part, my friends, is that you can make a buck and help your fellow man! And everyone was like, POTUS! POTUS! But then the monster was made. Not everyone was able to handle the swell of cash and the risk of loans. Banks went under (see also John McCain, Savings and Loan scandals) and Bill's like, "Oops, can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs." Bill gets a Republican House wanting some regulation, and he's even down but the Democrats were like, "What? You wanna regulate Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae? You're kidding!" And it didn't wash. So now the monster is created and waiting for juice to come to life. Bill goes to Alan. "Alllllannnnn..." "Dammit, Bill" "You know we've got to keep this afloat." "Eff you Bill" The only way now is to keep growing the economy. Bill and Al Gore get together and throw cash at every future looking computer idea out there. Gore "invented" the internet, meaning he got a buck hungry Congress to democratize it. Internets for the people! So now they build on it by stimulating high tech industry. Makes us richer and keeps our heads out of real estate. For a while. It all would have worked except that firstly, the bubble burst, secondly, the high rollers weren't down with their cut, thirdly, Monica Lewinsky and finally and most importantly, Gore was too smart AND too proud. Now, now, I am also in the tank for Al Gore. I believe that Global Warming is happening perceptibly now and that we should have listened better to Al Gore. But Gore was embarrassed by Bill and Monica. Instead of letting Bill campaign and understand half of America is just as okay with Bill "not having sexual relations with that woman" as "never inhaling." Never underestimate the moral flexibility of your voters, Al. So Al plays hoops alone badly and campaigns in a "sure thing" against some retard from Texas who's run every business he's ever touched into the ground. The whole campaign came down to this: George the Younger:"I'm your Tool 2.0! God Bless America!" Al Gore:"God Bless America...(Yawn)" No wonder some people voted for Nader. So Bill hands over the keys to George. Now I'm not sure if there was a meeting where Bill told him about the cadaver in the closet, and George is like, "Hey Wall Street, guess what I got. You wanna plug it in?" Or whether George just opened the closet two weeks ago and pissed himself. Greenspan took his Social Security and some Keynesian got appointed. But it all comes down to this. We had one more shot at regulating Freddie Mac and the Bride of Frankenstein two years ago. By then, the Republican Congress was seeing dollar signs and saying, "Regulate Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae? Eff That!" Wall Street packaged a ticking time bomb into a "bond" and sold it far and wide. What was called a "bond" is now referred to as a "toxic asset" Boys and girls, this hasn't been unpredictable. Vienna School economics has been calling this macroeconomically for a long time. Ron Paul knew it was up, you could tell in the debates when he told off Mitt Romney. Ron Paul goes by the same school as Margaret Thatcher did when she slammed down a copy of Hayek in her first meeting and said, "This is what we believe." Same school as Alan Greenspan. Ralph Nader predicted this microeconomically over 10 years ago. So when Hank Paulson runs out on bended knee saying "The sky is falling! Give me $700 BILLION dollars or the whole economy collapses," don't you believe him. He's in the tank with Wall Street. When Marilyn Musgrave walks through Congress she has lobbyists clung to her like Drainbows looking for a handout. Fortunately, every time she picks up the phone she's got some wingnut like me telling her, "You go, girl! Don't let them hijack America." I am darn glad she's on our side. Fellow Democrats, the enemy of our enemy is our friend. You call and support her, too. Next time I'll talk more about the monster and what it has to do with Social Security.

9:54 AM

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

McCain was right about one thing
Current mood:

sassy

My man Barack Obama is a real bona fide celebrity. You don't believe me? I have the magazine. I've seen the music video. I'm looking forward to the action figure. Barack Obama has Oprah Winfrey on his side, and anyone who makes more than one appearance with Oprah is definitely a celebrity. Barack is definitely the real thing.

And why shouldn't people celebrate? African-Americans love that there's a presidential candidate that can represent. Democrats who were embarrassed by Al Gore's astonishing lack of passion feel like celebrating a real candidate who can actually shoot hoops. White people like me who are embarrassed by other white people who are insufferably bigoted can feel a great swell of pride in the progress of our nation. From Chicago? Celebrate it! Do you work hard at organizing your community? Here's one of your own. Do YOU have a funny name? Live it up! Now we get over.

Funny thing is Barack isn't in the mood for celebration. Having to shoulder the clean-up for the enormous financial mess the Republicans have created (again) can weigh heavy on a soul. Says People Magazine: "Obama revved up the crowd, but kept a serious, even somber, tone during his speech, which touched on the current economic crisis, recent hurricanes to hit the Gulf Coast, and a fatal train crash in Los Angeles."

AP quoted some of his speech from that night:

"I'm skinny but I'm tough," he said. "I'm from Chicago and we don't play. Just keep steady."

"If we can cut through the nonsense and the lipstick and the pigs and the silliness, then I'm absolutely convinced that we are going to win," Obama said, referring to some of the offbeat charges raised against him.

"The reason I'm calm ... is I've got confidence in the American people," he said. "I really think they want to see us do better." Standing in the courtyard of the palatial estate, he said his campaign was dedicated to people who need jobs and health care and worry about their pensions and sending children to college.

"It's about those who will never see the inside of a building like this," Obama said.

Now maybe somebody who's seen "Team America World Police" too many times may have the wrong idea about celebrities. Most of them have gotten where they are paying their dues at tremendous personal risk. Have you ever met a celebrity? I met Bill Murray on the set of Larger Than Life at Johnson's Corner... you know, the truck stop south of Loveland. He worked a very long day--with an elephant--and was visibly tired when he took time at the end of the night to talk to me.

Celebrities have feelings. Are you amazed? When John McCain ran that little ad to point out that Obama was a celebrity, he made certain to make the comparison to Brittany Spears. Evidently he missed the You Tube video of the gay kid crying to people to Stop Picking On Brittany Spears. She has feelings just like you or me. So at the recent Video Music Awards when the subject of politics came up, Brit was visibly quiet on the subject.

Oops, I think John just lost a vote. Like he would care about California anyway.

Just in case you think that Republicans have any real compunction against celebrities, two words: Ronald Effing Reagan.

Next time on Tribal Cross: I need you to float me a loan. How's about $700 billion dollars. Give it to me or I cancel Christmas...

11:37 AM

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Boastful deception
Current mood:

strong
Category: News and Politics

Now let's look at the lies the McCain campaign has told about themselves.

At the Republican convention, McCain said he'd increase use of wind tide and solar energy, though his energy plan contains no such funding.

McCain introduced Palin as someone who'd sold the state jet for a profit on eBay. Palin tried 4 times and failed, then let the Republican speaker of the Alaska house of representatives sell it at a loss in a brokered deal.

He said Palin opposed the Bridge to Nowhere. She actually supported it until it became another pork spending folly story. He said Palin opposed earmarks, when in fact she's asked for more pork per person than any other governor.

She didn't take on Ted Stevens, or cut taxes, or gain national security experience with the Alaska National Guard.

In fact she even lied about being in Iraq. She was at a border station in Kuwait and had no clearance to enter Iraq.

In fact, fact-checkers have put together a list of over 50 lies the McCain campaign has told and continues to tell.

In my opinion, there's only one true thing that the McCain campaign has said about Barack Obama in all of their evil speech. I'll share my opinion next time on the Tribal Cross.

11:43 AM

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http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/more_tax_deceptions.html

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Dirtiest. Campaign. Evar.
Current mood:

indignant

John McCain's campaign for presidency has foresworn honesty itself. Will the candidate who prevails be the one who wants it worst? What would it say about a public that would buy bullshit yet again? When I say the Dirtiest Campaign Ever, I put this beyond George W. Bush's swiftboat smears of John Kerry and even his smears again McCain himself with the whisper campaign in South Carolina that McCain had fathered an illegitimate black child. Consider the facts from statements from the McCain campaign itself:

The McCain campaign has been twisting the facts about Obama's tax plan since June

Source:

McCain put "lipstick on a pig" in reference to Hillary Clinton's health care proposals before Obama used the same phrase in reference to McCain and Bush's policies (not candidate Sarah Palin).

Sources:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26633775/
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/09/obama_did_not_call_sarah_palin.php

McCain accuses Obama of forcing small businesses to cut jobs, voting for corporate welfare for oil companies, and opposing free trade. Obama has actually planned special protections for small business, voted against the subsidies for oil companies, and outlined proposals for fairness reforms for free trade.

Source:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_mccain.html

McCain accuses Obama of trying to teach "comprehensive sex education" to kindergarteners. The program was actually to teach only "stranger danger" and appropriate touching.

Source:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/off_base_on_sex_ed.html

McCain-Palin has even distorted the findings of factcheck.org

Source:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/mccain-palin_distorts_our_finding.html

Now check it out: these are only the lies the Republican ticket is telling about their opponent. Next time, we'll go over the lies they tell about themselves.

8:32 AM

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