Wonkette
- THESE GODDAMN PEOPLE: Chris Dodd admits to writing the bonus loophole that allowed AIG to give out all of these bonuses, but uhhh the Treasury made him do it, which he wouldn’t have done otherwise, but hey it still happened. OPEN THREAD. [Huffington Post]
Chris Dodd will be sorry Chris Dodd did this when Chris Dodd runs for reelection next year.
WTF, Chris Dodd. WTF.
Wow, what a dummy. Someone needs to get in touch with the Power of Now!
The Treasury made me do it? I think it’s fairly obvious at this point that the Treasury cannot make anyone do anything lately.
I can already hear the distant rumble of a rapidly approaching wingnut stampede/firestorm/teabagging…
Why the hell didn’t they say to AIG, “if you want this money, you have to renegotiate the compensation contracts”? Why? WHY????
Christ. As if I didn’t have to listen to the local wingnut go on and on in comments about the whole economic crisis is Dodd’s and Frank’s fault enough. Now he has ammo. Damn you Chris Dodd! How can we maintain an appearance of intellectual superiority over these morons if you keep behaving like a stupid Democrat!
Min: Well…
http://www.blueoregon.com/2009/03/wydensnowe-amendment-would-have-killed-aig-bonuses.html
CT is due for two new Senators, ASAP.
His argument is that if he didn’t write in the loophole for in-place contracts, a company like AIG could go to court and get the entire amendment invalidated, the result of which would be no limits at all on bonuses. Which seems like a pretty reasonable calculation, to be honest.
Way to create right wing fodder for 1/10th of 1% of the bill (which, believe it or not, Rush was correctly saying earlier this week we were making an outrage of.) Dodd might get away with telling the voters how insignificant this is without any White House backing, but it looks like the filibuster is going to be 1 seat easier for Republicans in 2010 (though they might lose Ohio Florida Kentucky and maybe even Missoura).
Treasury? This is all five-head’s fault.
ForTheTurnstiles: Crap. I was hoping there was an actual business reason. I guess this means the UAW members were a bunch of suckers.
Uh oh, Barney Frank wants Chris Dodd’s address
I’
m glad your brother gave you crabs, Dodd. Go fuck yourself.
NoWireHangers: He really deserves it though. I hope Dodd and Reid burn for this. Bastards.
Here snark! Heeeerreee Snark? Where’d you get off to now?
But you have to understand WHY Dodd was forced to write this.
There are no lawyers in Washington. It’s like trying to find brains on Wall Street.
Just can’t be done.
wait, is this the loophole that was written back in september, when bush & co. robbed us blind for the 1000th time? what the hell was chris dodd doing listening to that bald asshat paulsen?
i always knew he was the same establishment tool his pappy was. thx 4 vietnam/iraq/depression 2.0, Dodd-bastards.
While you northerners are filling your pockets with $$ we southern slackers are sucking up the sounds!
Live Tonight at SXSW
The Decemberists, The Avett Brothers and The Heartless Bastards live from the NPR Music showcase at Stubbs.
Listen Live Tonight At 11 p.m. ET
http://www.npr.org/music/sxsw/index.html
Gopherit: I don’t like this feeling…make it stop! Quick a joke. Something. I can’t deal with anymore RAGE™ today. It’s gonna be weeks until we get a good gaff/laugh in again…
QUICKLY PEOPLE! REMEMBER TEH GOODTIMES!!1!
http://wonkette.com/291389/hero-insect-scales-mount-dodd
MMMMM I wonder what Limbie’s scream/sweat fest will be about tomorrow?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy8rT8oHCbI
chascates: I hope to go to SXSW someday. That is, if we ever have money in this country again.
NoWireHangers:
Hope against all hope Joe Biden cracks us up tomorrow!
Who do I need to blow to get my congressman force my employer to give me secret, underserved bonuses for utter failure?
Chris Dodd, are you reading this? Get with the program. Stop screwing up.
NoWireHangers: Instead of a Bonus Army we need to make up an Outrage Army and March on DC to demand some justice!! Or food, liquor, and good music.
OPEN THREAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Time to POST LOTS OF BLOG ENTRIES:
Tragedy strikes Florida today as Lawmakers are considering voiding man of his inalienable right to fuck animals.
According to an article in The Miami Herald a bill was just passed through committee that would make it illegal to bang the hell out of your farm animals. This, is, of course, insane. The example cited displays it:
“Florida is one of only 16 states that still permit bestiality — a fact that animal-rights activist and Sen. Nan Rich learned to her horror three years ago when a Panhandle man was suspected of accidentally asphyxiating a family goat that he held by the collar during a sex act.”
That’s right, somebody raped and killed a GOAT of all things. SEND OUT AN AMBER ALERT!11!
“But the Mossy Head man suspected of assaulting Meg the goat was never charged, because law enforcement officials could not link him to the scene. The suspect was arrested months later in a separate goat abduction, said Walton County Assistant State Attorney Walter Parker.”
This is what happens in Florida, all the time.
_____________________________________________________
Twitter is an exciting new “social mechanism” that everyone who said they were never, ever going to use it are, now, using it. Even ShortsandPants has entered the realm of “tweets,” but not before John “Walnuts” McCain managed to do right after the inauguration of our first Communist Muslim President. And now? He “tweets” LIKE A FIEND. HE IS EVERYWHERE. He is even coming up with new ways to conduct interviews in 140 characters or less, which is surely the beginning of the end for journalism. HOORAY! FINALLY!
McCain, whose messages on Twitter are followed by nearly 225,000 people at @senjohnmccain, replied to around 10 questions from @gstephanopoulos sent in the 140-character-or-less Twitter format.
It isn’t like Walnuts is twittering for himself— of course not, but you’d think he was! This particular question and answer didn’t make any sense AND sortove sounded like a 90 year old man was responding:
“He was also asked about a spat between Meghan McCain and a radio talk show host who drew the ire of the Arizona senator’s daughter by calling her “plus-sized.”
“I’m proud of my daughter and she has a right to her opinions,” McCain wrote. “Like any family we agree on some things and disagree on others.””
Wait, what? Huh?
_____________________________________________________________
THERE ARE LIKE 1,000 OTHERS BRB LOL KTHXBIE
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac are going to be giving ‘retention bonuses’ to their corrupt and incompetent employees, but a mere $400,000-$600,000 each. Much more reasonable.
Nerdalicious: I was hoping for this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwYzyRfNFn0
I’m kind of on the dump Tim Geithner bandwagon. He doesn’t seem terribly … SMART or efficient about anything. Scapegoat him & move on, Barry!
What the fuck is an OPEN THREAD?? Um…. BOOBS.
“Open thread”? Fuck. I was hoping you misspelled “open thighs”. *sigh*
Surely a company like AIG would have had conditions built into the contracts, e.g. “subject to the ability of the company to pay” or “presuming AIG does not go belly-up and needs $$$$$$$$$$ in bail-out money.”
My basic paycheck is subject to the whim of my employer, who may lower it at any time in the interest of the company.
Who represents them? I want their trade union to negotiate my contract in future - not even the President of the USA could overrule it.
At least Dodd’s too boring to pick on for too long.
Dinosaurs (Greek δεινόσαυρος, deinosauros) were the dominant vertebrate animals of terrestrial ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period (about 230 million years ago) until the end of the Cretaceous period (65 million years ago), when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event. The 10,000 living species of birds have been classified as dinosaurs.
The term “dinosaur” was coined in 1842 by Sir Richard Owen and derives from Greek δεινός (deinos) “terrible, powerful, wondrous” + σαῦρος (sauros) “lizard”. It is sometimes used informally to describe other prehistoric reptiles, such as the pelycosaur Dimetrodon, the winged pterosaurs, and the aquatic ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs, although none of these animals were dinosaurs. Through the first half of the 20th century, most of the scientific community believed dinosaurs to have been slow, unintelligent cold-blooded animals. Most research conducted since the 1970s, however, has supported the view that dinosaurs were active animals with elevated metabolisms and numerous adaptations for social interaction. The resulting transformation in the scientific understanding of dinosaurs has gradually filtered into popular consciousness.
The 1861 discovery of the primitive bird Archaeopteryx first suggested a close relationship between dinosaurs and birds. Aside from the presence of fossilized feather impressions, Archaeopteryx was very similar to the contemporary small predatory dinosaur Compsognathus. Research has since identified theropod dinosaurs as the most likely direct ancestors of birds; most paleontologists today regard birds as the only surviving dinosaurs, and some suggest that dinosaurs and birds should be grouped into one biological class.[1] Aside from birds, crocodilians are the only other close relatives of dinosaurs to have survived until the present day. Like dinosaurs and birds, crocodilians are members of Archosauria, a group of reptiles that first appeared in the very late Permian and came to predominate in the mid-Triassic.
Since the first dinosaur fossils were recognized in the early nineteenth century, mounted dinosaur skeletons have become major attractions at museums around the world. Dinosaurs have become a part of world culture and remain consistently popular. They have been featured in best-selling books and films (notably Jurassic Park), and new discoveries are regularly covered by the media.
YOU’RE WELCOME, JERKS.
Texan Bulldoggette: Agreed! It’s all Fivehead’s fault. Off with his fivehead!
NoWireHangers: As long as we have Biden, there’s always hope:
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=3hZtW_q_6Ug&feature=PlayList&p=37EED2874F5D85C6&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2
NoWireHangers: “This is all five-head’s fault.” I don’t know, I just heard Hopey use the phrase, “excess greed”, apropos AIG. Is there any other kind? But I’m with you on Geithner. If you throw the left shoe, I’ll throw the right.
shortsshortsshorts: ‘Got your goat’ takes on a whole new meaning. In Texas you wear tall rubber boots on your feet in which to insert the back legs of your animal amour.
It’s all Fivehead’s fault.
Fievel, nooo!
Texan Bulldoggette: Considering everyone’s reporting that Geithner knew about it for awhile and did nothing about it, I think the Dump Geithner bandwagon is going to get awfully big pretty soon. Considering how much trouble they’ve had filling treasury department positions, some filing clerk making $15 an hour will probably be your new Treasury Secretary.
Texan Bulldoggette: Shove over; make room for ‘camaro.
Hooray For Anything: Then I’ll take that $15/hr file clerk job!
I feel so stupid for going on record as thinking Tim Geithner is awesome, now that he ruined America.
Hooray For Anything: Uh, I think it’s down to $ 1 per hour about now.
chascates: And I’ll take your cat-avatar job.
Hooray For Anything: True. And it’s really coming down to the Sophie’s Choice of who to believe, Dodd or Geithner? And unlike most everyone else on this thread, I believe Dodd. Crazy, I know.
chascates: I think I found the job description in Craigslist:
Duties Include, but are not limited to:
• Filing.
• General office assistance and other administrative tasks
• Solving international financial crisis
Required Skills/Experience:
• Must have experience in derivatives, the stock market, banking, the housing industry, mortgages, and insurance
• Must be detail oriented
• Good organizational and planning skills with the ability to communicate and work well with others
• Professional, dependable, and punctual
Texan Bulldoggette: Geithner is is a stupid bastard. He just doesn’t get it. http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/18/aig.bonuses/index.html
Dodd is a fucking crook, he took AIG’s money and returned the favor.
It took me awhile, but I am now officially pissed about this whole AIG bonus thing. “Oh, they all have contracts. Well, folks, nothing we can do there, sorry…” Wha? Geithner has the entire federal lawyer/bureaucracy at his fingertips. Go after them and make them prove you wrong. If you lose, that’s OK, but at least you tried to do something, rather than sitting around. Now Dodd tells us he did this because he was afraid the amendment would get killed? Well, OK, maybe. But make Richard Shelby put the damn thing in for Hank Paulson, not you, you idiot.
Now we learn the Obama Administration knew about this late last week and sat around until they were all direct deposited with Friday’s paychecks and said something on the Sunday news shows. Incredible. How did things get this bad with the Obama team this quickly? Sitting around from November to January saying “one President at a time” is fine, as long as you are ready when you become President. All of this is a surprise? Highly unlikely. I think the “pragmatists” in this administration like Axlerod and Obama himself have reigned in Rahm and the rest who want to go for the jugular. Obama should have drawn down Geithner’s name when it came out that the “genius” didn’t pay taxes. He should have then appointed Mel from Scranton or someone who’s out in the world to Treasury and also left L. Summers at home. He’s worthless.
I’m still happy I voted for this guy, and I’m not even speaking as a Lefty, but his first two months handling this particular (and important) issue have left me wanting. Find some pros and get a handle on all of the financial crisis by summer or there’s going to be REAL trouble with the rest of your first (and I can assume) only term.
Hooray For Anything: Hey, that filing clerk has probably paid all his taxes, primarily because he was too poor to hire Columbian nannies in the first place.
The fact that he can’t hire any undersecretaries is a little alarming. I love Barry, but Timmy isn’t inspiring a lick of confidence. Get the goddamn job done or get the hell out.
All this is further reason that Joe the Plumber should have written the terms of the bailout.
Hooray For Anything: Filing and general office work is no problem. Can’t do any of the other requirements. Maybe I can run for the House. I’m great at free food and booze. I would probably have an uncontrollable urge to hit John Boehner tho.
NoWireHangers:
With my calculations it would take 3,000 yrs for Limbies face to melt
Hooray For Anything:
per hour/ per yearchascates: 3 of my faves. Thx4tht.
chascates: and bitch slap Michelle Bachmann!
N8Ma: Yup!
OReillysVibrator: Not to mention Pennsylvania, esp. if Specter changes parties. But what makes you think that CT is going to elect a GOP Senator? It’s one of the bluest states in the US and A.
chascates: You Texans always had the most class. Floridians don’t even where a rubber.
chascates: I don’t think that’ll be a problem as it appears that the only thing Treasury Secretaries do is whatever Goldman Sachs & AIG tell them to do.
Isn’t Rahm supposed to be kicking the snot out of a few people right about now?
All God’s children love an OPEN THREAD.
Did you know that you can sing most of the poems of Emily Dickinson to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas”?
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me.
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
Thank you, thank you. I’m here all week.
President Beeblebrox: They had a chance to oust Vinegar Joe and chose not to. Speaking of that, it there anyway Ned Lamont is up for defeating another Democratic asshat in the primaries (only this time not losing the GE)?
Prez is out in Cali talkin’ like he’s campaigning again. He looks much more relaxed. Bless his heart he’s really working his behind off. You wear it well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t3yjTTJFNI
Well that was a short honeymoon. It’s like; give the crazy religious guy down the street a loaded gun, call him a fag tell him your wife and kids are at home watching TV, they think he’s a fag also. Tell him how you know he watches gay porno all the time while jerking off, and show him the pictures. Turn around and walk slowly back to your house yelling homo repeatedly, leave the door unlocked, take a nap. Why do Dems like to get punked so much?
“Dodd: I Added Stimulus Bonus”
What Dodd said to his wife last night
smellyal8r: Totes with you on all points, including the enthusiastic November emo moments. BTW, has anyone heard from Paul Volcker lately?
otisfatboy: I think this sort of describes the final scene in “American Beauty”
otisfatboy: Deep down I still believe that Barry can lay hands on America and release the demons. Dodd may be fucked though.
otisfatboy: That’s called “Doin’ a Cheney” I believe.
Nerdalicious: That’s what she said
Just heard that Natasha Richardson has passed away.
NoWireHangers: Just saw Barry’s town hall. Someone forgot to tell those people in Costa Mesa that Barry sux & his presidency is already a ruinous failure.
smellyal8r: The administration must honor the sacred AIG contracts, which were written in blood with the Gods. You must not anger Them.
chascates: Such a wierd story. Bunny slope fatality? WTF? Saw her a few years ago here on B’way, playing Blanche in Streetcar; the show sucked, but she was great. R.I.P., if true.
chascates: That’s too bad. Somewhere her & Sonny Bono & Bobby Kennedy Jr. (is that the right guy) are wishing they’d gone to the beach instead.
chascates: True. BBC has it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7949195.stm
And Cheny, Bush, and Rumsfield will live to be 100. Cocksuckers.
chascates: Sad. I know her husband’s work better than hers. Still weird and sad.
JeffGoldblum: Wow. Longest, most irrelevent, open-thread boobs, I’ve ever seen here.
Texan Bulldoggette: Doh…should have done teh Google before posting. Wrong Kennedy (after awhile they all blend together.) It was Michael Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy Jr.’s brother.
My toilet is all clogged up with, I think, bile. Does anyone have Joe the Plumber’s number? Emergency!
bitchincamaro: JeffGoldblum: Personally I feel better informed.
comradepaulson: Check out her performance in Atwood’s, “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Perfect.
For what it’s worth, Rush & Hannity are both saying it’s unfair to go after the bonuses and calling attempts to find out who got bonuses to “McCarthyism.” This means, of course, that the Republicans in congress will fall in and Michael Steele will chime in with something stupid but as he’ll say “baby” at the end of it, it’ll be all hip-hop, like.
otisfatboy: You are right. This is what popped up after two glasses of wine. After re-read, it is still true. Why do we get punked like this? I spend many minutes of my day, arguing the virtues of our new Prez, to construction workers. I kind of lose moral authority when shit like this goes on. I work construction, and drink wine with the guys after work. Do you know who you are dealing with here?
smellyal8r: ‘zing! exactly.
Steigiitz & Roubini.
I really don’t like cheese or any dairy products. The taste/concept makes me want to vom. I can’t even eat lasagne - I just stopped after two bites. The worst is blue cheese. I think I might go straight up vegan because eggs gross me out as well.
Min: James Thurber noted that, many years ago. Great minds think alike, also.
Judd Gregg (R-Hysteria), on using the reconciliation process to avoid a filibuster. “You’re talking about the exact opposite of bipartisan,” he said. “You’re talking about running over the minority, putting them in cement and throwing them in the Chicago River.”
This sounds incredibly appealing to me, as long as we could also stock the Chicago River with live piranha.
I think Geithner and Summers are OUT in less than six months. Bet?
Uh, seeing how this is open thread time and all…
Don’t look now, Wonkette, but TMZ is invading your turf. And according to the WaPo, they’re TAKING WASHINGTON BY STORM!!1! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/18/AR2009031803001.html?hpid=topnews
windupbird: Eggs smell like farts. They are, in fact, gross.
Tra: Judd Gregg is proving to be quite a Dick since removing himself from consideration for Barry’s hip hop party cabinet position. He sounds bitter or just like a typical, nasty Repub. What was Barry thinking?
bitchincamaro: I think Geithner is out way before that — I’m thinking the end of March depending on how long the AIG crap dominates the news. Larry has a little cover as long as he doesn’t say something else sexist like ‘women can’t figure out fractions’.
otisfatboy: I know construction workers; they don’t drink wine, unless it’s BEER!
Totally off topic, but I think Obama just flew by my Century City office in his magical helicopter. I’m pretty sure there were rainbows trailing it. On the down side, I think I’m stuck here for the night, since the streets are all closed due to his motorcade.
Texan Bulldoggette: *ssshhh…I hope you’re right, but don’t want to jinx it.*
Ron Paul for Treasury Secretary. Seriously. He’s probably the only pol in DC who hasn’t been paid off by AIG, Citi, Goldman Sachs, or the Illuminati. Blimps Not Bonuses.
Natasha will always be Patty Hearst to me.
bitchincamaro: I won’t take that bet. Like the good Texan Bulldoggette said, though, Geithner has less cover than Summers. Summers has clout, which is like The Clap, in that you get it from other people and it is hard to get rid of without using drugs.
bitchincamaro: My husband is in home construction (he’s the white guy in charge), but there ain’t no construction dudes (90% Hispanic) drinking wine. The only empty cans rolling around in the backs of these trucks are Budweiser (or whatever’s on sale at 7-11).
Biscuit: OK. Open thread and y’all asked for it. This is the next Ron Paul Re-love-ution:
http://conversation.wamu.org/forum/topics/integral-politics-and-ken
It’s a sure way to get the resentful fringe element on board, precisely the demographic that Michael Steele is failing to reach. Or reach-around. Or whatever.
CNN:
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson signed a bill repealing the death penalty in his state, his office confirms.
The Economist:
CONNIE MACK IV, a semi-obscure Republican congressman from Florida (and son of Connie Mack III, the former senator), made a stab for glory today by calling for Tim Geithner to resign as treasury secretary. “President Obama should nominate a new treasury secretary with the experience and leadership skills America deserves,” Mr Mack said.
That’s all the Capitol Hill press needed. Hours later, John Boehner said that Mr Geithner was “on thin ice”. Shortly thereafter, Darrell Issa of California let it be known that he wanted Mr Geithner out.
This is going to be very helpful. Next will be asking Bernanke to resign. And then to claim the Democrats have a terrible fiscal policy. Which is probably true but still.
i’m not sure i can accept an open thread without a picture of sexy sexy rahm emmanuel. although i would accept a picture of sexy sexy john stewart. or a picture of sexy sexy rahm emmanuel and sexy sexy john stewart with a space in between where one could imagine oneself partaking in a sandwich…
amazon: Was John McCain running after the helicopter and yelling about how much money they cost?
Min: out of season but you can also sing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” to the tune of the theme from Gilligan’s Island.
I’m a little freaked that two days ago Natasha Richardson had what appeared a fall-down-go-boom moment and died two days later. I will now pause to wrap my kids in bubble wrap so they will grow up normally.
I always knew Chris Dodd was a turd.
Biscuit: Ron Paul for Treasury Secretary = Putting out a fire with a stick of dynamite. It might be fun in theory, but I don’t think President Obama would find it to be the responsible thing to do. Now if McCain had announced Ron Paul for Treasury in early October, he mighta won it. Just the thought…
Nader was right!
From Think Progress:
Colin Powell’s former chief of staff: Cheney is ‘evil,’ his fearmongering is ‘assisting’ al Qaeda.
Weeks after President Obama was inaugurated, Dick Cheney gave an interview to Politico slamming Obama’s detainee policies and warning that he was making America less safe (charges he repeated again last Sunday). Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin olin Powell’s former chief of staff who left the Bush administration in protest, wrote an essay on the Washington Note last evening slamming Cheney’s fearmongering. Wilkerson calls Cheney “evil” and says his detainee policies were only “assisting” terrorists:
Cheney went on to say in his McLean interview that “Protecting the country’s security is a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business. These are evil people and we are not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.” I have to agree but the other way around. Cheney and his like are the evil people and we certainly are not going to prevail in the struggle with radical religion if we listen to people as he. […]
But al-Qa’ida will be back. Iraq, GITMO, Abu Ghraib, heavily-biased U.S. support for Israel, and a host of other strategic errors have insured al-Qa’ida’s resilience, staying power and motivation. How we deal with the future attacks of this organization and its cohorts could well seal our fate, for good or bad. Osama bin Laden and his brain trust, Aman al-Zawahiri, are counting on us to produce the bad. With people such as Cheney assisting them, they are far more likely to succeed.
bitchincamaro: One should not have preconceptions of Wonkette aficionados. Sunday’s burn and lynch of “doc the molester” educated me , I was proud to be American again. Construction workers in our area are overeducated, and looking for work.
bitchincamaro: of the closet?
ShaqsDong: chascates: Geithner sux, but the Republican pile-on party is sort of funny. I can’t take anyone with Roman numerals above II in their name very seriously in any event.
tl;dr
President Beeblebrox: If each generation is more worthless Connie Mack VI should be shot right after birth.
I thought all the threads were open.
Wait a minute….the government does whatever it wants, and it’s worried about being sued by a bunch of Wall Street guys who probably are hiding in their basements at this very moment in fear of torch-bearing villagers? Hell, the government steals property and kills people all the time, then invents euphemisms and uses specious reasoning to justify its actions. Why is it worried about a few lawsuits from people the entire country wants to burn at the stake?
The AIG bailout comes out to about $500 each. I’d like mine now.
AutomaticPilot: FINALLY, some refreshing buttseks
RANDOM ASS FUCKING.
Ron Paultard is mighty pissed! He voted against the Federal budget because it contained tons of wasteful spending, of course, but he still managed to secure more money for his constituents than any other member of the House. His reasoning?
HE HATES TAXES! He hates them so much that he’s going to get as much money as he possibly can back to the WEALTHY PEOPLE OF GALVESTON TEXAS, who of course have been flipping the bill for all those other people in places like San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles (we can just stop there).
While “Paultards” have been wielding their plastic axes in between long hours of World of Warcraft, screaming about spending or something of the like, at least they can sit back and know that their faithful leader is driving up as much spending as he possibly can for a reason that makes no sense, at all.
To be fair to the man, he does claim, in an insane way, that the ENTIRE BUDGET IS JUST A COMMIE EARMARK. Amazing.
RON PAUL/SARAH PALIN 2012!!!!1
Oh Well, seemed like a good idea at the time.
It turns out it’s not Dodd’s fault. This is a planted story. They just needed a scapegoat. My pretend boyfriend Greenwald writes about it:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/09/halperin/index.html
Oh how I miss the days I used to dream of vacations and being rich. Now all my fantasies revolve around Wall Street managers, tar and feathers.
I knew Dodd was behind it yesterday when someone reported that a few of the executives receiving huge bonuses also donated large amounts to Chris Dodd. Deepthroat was right — just follow the money and you’ll have your crook.
EVERYONE: A/S/L???
Texan Bulldoggette: We got Two Buck Chuck, within 40 miles, thank god. Many of us white folk do the construction thing. Used to. See Digby for more info.
BabySealClubber: Oh eat me. Slowly. You pretentious PUMA.
BabySealClubber: shortsshortsshorts: I don’t know what A/S/L means. Though judging by that exchange I’m guessing Aryan as a Second Language.
SayItWithWookies: It’s hard to be a Nazi in this economy.
BabySealClubber: shortsshortsshorts: SayItWithWookies: Oh, BabySealClubber, it’s American Sign Language. And I’m afraid the middle finger is pointing at you…
Isn’t the real story that Dodd lied through his fucking teeth to CNN before he finally admitted he changed the language?
Roger the Shrubber: Isn’t lying to CNN a crime, somehow? Or is it a solemn civic duty? Or is that just when Anderson Cooper’s asking the questions?
This fucking mess isn’t that difficult to figure out once you go back and look at the top contributors to Hopey’s campaign.
While I (want to) believe President Obama would like to be as independent of big money contributors as possible, it seems that he decided to pay back the finance industry by giving them the Treasury Department. Probably before he realized that our economic miracle was caused not by a bunch of bad mortgages, per se (which could be dealt with w/o a witch hunt,) but by CDSs based on those mortgages (which pretty much calls for a witch hunt.)
It remains to be seen how much actual change we can expect when he gets around to health care, seeing how that industry doesn’t appear in his top 20. Regardless, single-payer doesn’t seem to be his favored option, so the change will probably be just in the amount of people covered, not in the way the whole fucked up, destroyed-by-greed and destroying-our-economy health care industry works.
TELEPROMPTERZ…or ACORN!!1!!
University of California $1,385,675
Goldman Sachs $980,945
Microsoft Corp $806,299
Harvard University $793,460
Google Inc $790,564
Citigroup Inc $657,268
JPMorgan Chase & Co $650,758
Stanford University $580,904
Sidley Austin LLP $574,938
Time Warner $547,951
National Amusements Inc $541,251
WilmerHale $524,292
UBS AG $522,019
IBM Corp $518,557
Skadden, Arps et al $510,274
Columbia University $503,566
Morgan Stanley $490,873
US Government $479,956
General Electric $479,454
Latham & Watkins $467,311
V572625694: Pardon my preposition. He lied to all of us to cover his ass. Although to be fair he did a masterful job of suppressing his body language while he was doing it.
Links: Links is right if you believe Greenwald. And you should. Seems just like the thing Goldman Sachs’ butt boys Geithner & Summers would do. First protect the people who destroyed the economy, then blame someone else (Dodd) for it. I thought it was obvious (me being a fucking genius) that Geithner & Summers were trouble, especially since Geithner did fuck all to help last fall with the NY Fed, and Summers was totally gay for unrestrained free trade up to at least January 19th of this year. Why Obama thought they were a good idea…oh yeah, see my post just above.
Goldman Sachs contributed the 2nd most munnies to Hopey’s campaign. They have him by the balls. And they are nasty, nasty creatures.
President Beeblebrox: Connecticut already HAS a Republican Senator. His name’s Lieberman. That state’s not totally blue as long as he and his wife, Mrs. LieberMacbeth, live and breathe and collect kickbacks from BigPharma.
PsycGirl: If you put styrofoam peanuts in between the layers of bubble wrap, it is MUCH more effective.
Barry can fire Geithner. He can’t fire Dodd.
A few firings might be a good thing, just on general principal. Keep the rest of them motherfuckers on their toes.
N8Ma: Yeah fuck CT. Let’s give it to the Taliban. Lieberman can just suck it and move to Israel, the actual state he’s the senator for. Yeah, suck my dangling participle.
I love a good “caper.”
Bonus Assignment for the Retention of Failures?
Open thread, eh? Time to discuss the Wrestlemania 25 card!
* Money in the Bank Ladder Match: CM Punk vs Mark Henry vs Kane vs MVP vs Shelton Benjamin vs Kofi Kingston vs Christian vs Finlay
MitB is always a fun match, but this year’s may be a little worse than most. I have no idea why Mark Henry is in this match, other than to do a World’s Strongest Splash off a ladder (and it’ll probably just be off the second step at best). Downside is that it’s pretty predictable. I can’t see anyone winning besides Christian or MVP. There’s an outside chance Kane could win and then lose when he cashes in. My pick: MVP
* Unified Tag Team Championship Match: WWE Tag Team Champions Carlito & Primo Colon vs World Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison
The build for this match has been pretty decent, actually. We’ve seen a few matches between these guys and they’ve all been pretty good, and I’m sure they’ll crank it up for Wrestlemania. This match should also see the split of the Bella twins, with Nikki (I think she’s the one that leans towards Miz/Morrison) possibly causing the distraction that costs the Colons the match. My pick: Miz & Morrison
* Intercontinental Championship Match: Champion JBL vs Rey Mysterio
This match isn’t official yet, but it is pretty sure to happen. Not particularly excited about it though. Neither JBL nor Rey Mysterio has been particularly impressive in recent years. Though JBL did have a good US title match against Benoit at WM22, then again a mop could have had a good match with Benoit. JBL says he plans to retire with the IC championship but I don’t see that happening. They gave him the title to complete his Triple Crown & Grand Slam Championships, but the only way you leave is on your back. My pick: Rey Mysterio
* Chris Jericho vs “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat with Ric Flair and Mickey Rourke
What did Jericho do to deserve this match? What did WE do to deserve this match? The match hasn’t officially been added to the card yet, but unless Austin or Hogan come back which doesn’t seem likely at this point, it’s sure to happen and it’s sure to be awful. I can guarantee what’s gonna happen, too. Ref bump, Rourke hits the Ram Jam, Jericho cheats, ref is back, Jericho wins, Austin comes out, Stunner, beer bash. My pick: Chris Jericho
* 25 Diva Battle Royal for the title of “Miss Wrestlemania”
Yet another bathroom break match. Does anyone even care? The only reason we’re even having this match is because Michelle McCool is fucking the Undertaker, and he got her a match at Wrestlemania even though nobody wants to see her. Which means she’ll probably win, too. Unless Trish Stratus, who really deserves it, is participating. My pick: Michelle McCool
* Jeff Hardy vs Matt Hardy
This is a potential show-stealer, but the build for it has been a little lacking in recent weeks. Things finally seemed to erupt last week though, so there may be hope yet. This needs to be a no-disqualification match so we can get the crazy ladder spots. My pick: Jeff Hardy
* Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker
Should be the match of the night. Sure, we all know Shawn Michaels won’t be breaking the Undertaker’s undefeated Wrestlemania streak, but they’ll do a good job of making us think he just might. My pick: The Undertaker
* World Heavyweight Championship Match: Champion Edge vs John Cena vs The Big Show
Another match I’m not really looking forward to, even though I’m a big fan of Edge. We’ve seen Edge/Cena like a hundred zillion times already, it’s not going to be fresh just because you’ve got the Big Show lumbering around in there, and Vickie Guerrero yelling “Excuse me!”. And because of how the WWE Championship match will probably go, we’re nearly guaranteed to see the worst possible outcome. My pick: John Cena
* WWE Championship Match: Champion Triple H vs Randy Orton
Randy Orton NEEDS to win this match. And he really should win clean. Which means Triple H will probably take out him as well as Rhodes & DiBiase single-handed. Actually there’s a good possibility of this match having even more outside interference than the Jericho match, as it’s entirely likely that the McMahons will all get involved at some point. At the very least, I expect Stephanie to involve herself. It’s possible she’ll turn on Triple H, but that’s looking less and less likely. My pick: Randy Orton
It’s also possible we’ll get an ECW Championship match, if only because Jack Swagger is the only champion not involved in a match right now. The card is already pretty stacked at 9 matches, but they could probably keep this under 4 minutes and squeeze it in. They’ll probably do like last year and have a pre-Wrestlemania Battle Royal to determine the challenger. If it happens, my pick to be the challenger, and also win the title, is Evan Bourne.
shortsshortsshorts: You go, girl. Couldn’t stop laughing.
Links: hobospacejungle: Thank you both. I quietly defended Dodd earlier, but the lynch mob was too strong and I didn’t link or actually have much of a defense. Sorry, folks. Obama is kinda the bad dude in this scenario (although not as bad as the GOP, which didn’t want ANY limits and now are acting all shocked.)
hobospacejungle: comradepaulson: come on guys, everybody already figured out we’re Dodd’s staffers! I thank Jeebus for Greenwald, when I’m too lazy to figure out what’s going on and who’s lying, he’s always there to enlighten my lazy ass.