A Poor, Sad Excuse for a Smartarse Comment

I woke up this morning. Looks like Harold Camping was wrong again.

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Ghosts, Ghouls and the GOP

Halloween is my favorite holiday, so when I found these political cartoons featured by Mario Piperni, I couldn’t resist posting them here at noodleepoodlee. If you haven’t checked out Piperni’s blog, you should.

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The Constitutional Argument for #OWS

Jack Balkin says that “Occupy Wall Street is pretty easily characterized as a constitutional movement, seeking to take back the Constitution from ‘the malefactors of great wealth …” and shows how “the Guarantee Clause of Article IV” providing that “the United States shall guarantee to the states a republican form of government” is available to the growing Occupation in his essay Occupy the Constitution at Balkinization.

Definitely worth a read.

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The Favorite, Crazy Uncle

After reviewing the analysis of last night’s Republican debate, I’ve got to give Ron Paul points for challenging the GOP’s TORTURED HISTORY of hostage negotiations. Especially since he had to tarnish Ronald Reagan’s reputation to do so. Paul reminds me of the unfortunate family’s favorite, crazy uncle: they don’t want him in charge of the family finances (or much else for that matter), but if someone wants the unvarnished truth about the relatives, Uncle Ron is the “go to guy.” No wonder he has a significant following among younger folks: he may be eccentric but, when it comes to the skeletons in the closet, he’s not a liar.

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The Fun’s in the Fight

My support for #OWS is currently limited by family obligations to donations and cheering folks on, so here’s the parting words of the late, great Molly Ivins’ essay The Fun’s in the Fight for Mother Jones (May/June 1993):

So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.

Molly Ivins, patron saint of #OWS.

Matt Taibbi’s article at Rolling Stone, My Advice to the Occupy Wall Street Protesters has some good suggestions. What are your ideas?

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Start Making Sense

If anyone tells you they don’t understand the anger at Wall Street, point them in the direction of Josh Brown at  The Reformed Broker. Here’s a taste of Josh Brown’s thinking, excerpted from an interview with American Public Media:

In 2008, the American people were told that if they didn’t bail out the banks, their way of life would never be the same. In no uncertain terms, our leaders told us anything short of saving these insolvent banks would result in a depression to the American public. We had to do it!

At our darkest hour we gave these banks every single thing they asked for. We allowed investment banks to borrow money at zero percent interest rate, directly from the Fed. We gave them taxpayer cash right onto their balance sheets. We allowed them to suspend account rules and pretend that the toxic sludge they were carrying was worth 100 cents on the dollar. Anything to stave off insolvency. We left thousands of executives in place at these firms. Nobody went to jail, not a single perp walk. I can’t even think of a single example of someone being fired. People resigned with full benefits and pensions, as though it were a job well done.

The American taxpayer kicked in over a trillion dollars to help make all of this happen. But the banks didn’t hold up their end of the bargain. The banks didn’t seize this opportunity, this second chance to re-enter society as a constructive agent of commerce. Instead, they went back to business as usual. With $20 billion in bonuses paid during 2009. Another $20 billion in bonuses paid in 2010. And they did this with the profits they earned from zero percent interest rates that actually acted as a tax on the rest of the economy.

Instead of coming back and working with this economy to get back on its feet, they hired lobbyists by the dozen to fight tooth and nail against any efforts whatsoever to bring common sense regulation to the financial industry. Instead of coming back and working with the people, they hired an army of robosigners to process millions of foreclosures. In many cases, without even having the proper paperwork to evict the homeowners. Instead, the banks announced layoffs in the tens of thousands, so that executives at the top of the pile could maintain their outrageous levels of compensation.

We bailed out Wall Street to avoid Depression, but three years later, millions of Americans are in a living hell. This is why they’re enraged, this why they’re assembling, this is why they hate you. Why for the first time in 50 years, the people are coming out in the streets and they’re saying, “Enough.”

This short explanation is so full of common sense that I can’t understand why “common sense conservatives” aren’t jumping on the #OWS bandwagon (snark); although Eric Cantor has started to change his tune just a wee bit. Do these folks really posses absolutely no emotional intelligence whatsoever? No wonder the titans of business and industry keep replacing human workers with computers, machines and robots; that, and there’s no pesky healthcare plan to drain profits. Though, sadly for them, even machinery requires upgrades, maintenance and repair.

Winning Progressive suggests that we Occupy Wall Street, and the Voting Booth. Here’s my two cents: In addition to the financial reforms that are sorely needed, I’d like to see the Occupy Movement supporting a nationwide, paper-trailed voting system. Thanks to the Help America Vote Act, our democracy is hackable. Anyone else think that the owners of the companies that manufacture our voting machines might have an agenda?

(Hat tip to Dependable Renegade)

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Why #OWS: Four Reasons from DC Douglas

Anything that features Elizabeth Warren talking good sense to the American people gets space at noodleepoodlee. Here’s Why #OccupyWallStreet: Four Reasons from DC Douglas. In addition to Elizabeth Warren, there’s great drumming and a bit of prophecy from Senator Byron Dorgan. Here’s an essay Douglas wrote about his evolving response to #OWS. Take a look and pass along, Douglas encourages folks to share his work.

I can get behind those four proposals. How about you? It’s a start.

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One Smartarse Comment I Found on the Internet

Photo: AP/Josh Reynolds, via Dependable Renegade.

Amen, brother. Amen.

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The Autumn of Our Discontent?

I wrote and posted Don’t Piss on My Head and Tell Me that It’s Raining – An Anti-Ode to Trickle Down Economics in May, but I’m reposting it in solidarity with the folks waking up to Occupy America.
Here are some links to the Occupation:  Occupy Together, Occupy Wall Street, Facebook’s Occupy Together, and Facebooks’s Occupy Wall Street. Perhaps this is the autumn of our discontent. Crooks and Liars is raising funds to help feed those with boots on the ground so, if you can’t represent in person, send some love to the folks on the front lines for our future.

Don’t Piss on My Head and Tell Me that It’s Raining – An Anti-Ode to Trickle Down Economics

Been 30 years since Reagan said
That trickling down was the way to head
This nation, shining city on a hill
And still we’re paying that fat bill

Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
That voodoo math got zombies parading
Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
That rich man’s jive it oughta’ be caving

The Barons laugh up on old Wall Street
They screwed the pooch but made out sweet
Upped their pay while our futures got sold
They lounge in saunas while our kids are cold

Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
Folks, it’s way past time for explaining
Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
That rich man’s jive it oughta’ be caving

More and more they conglomerate
It’s the working ones they love to hate
Steal our rivers and our trees and our little strips of land
Bundled up in the fists of their greedy hands

Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
Our jobs and lives they keep on maiming
Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
That rich man’s jive it oughta’ be caving

For years these “pols” they just kept saying
Deficits’ no cause for worry or praying
But once they had their go at vice
They got some religion and we’re paying the price

Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
Our patience they just keep on straining
Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
That rich man’s jive it oughta’ be caving

Now they’re coming back for our old age funds
My God these ‘garchs are worse than Huns
They want us poor and huddled ‘round a stove
We should have snipped that weasel Rove

Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
Our retirement funds they keep on draining
Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
That rich man’s jive it oughta’ be caving

Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
Don’t piss on my head and tell me that it’s raining
That rich man’s jive it oughta’ be caving

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Riding The Tide

Took a little field trip for my birthday last month and rode The Tide, our new light rail transit, into downtown Norfolk. The local rag reports that use to date is higher than expected!

Overall, the rail journey was quite pleasant. The only squeaker was some rubbery squeaking as we rode backwards along several curvy flyovers. Fleeting visions of rollercoasters I have known and loathed were induced. Here’s a few photos from the trip:

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Apologies for the spotty posting of late, family matters have been front and center and will remain that way for some time. Sending good wishes to the Occupy Together folks and hoping Congress will pass the President’s Jobs Plan.

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