Les Simpson admits that he is a lawless anarchist who flagrantly violates the rules

At least that's how we interpreted what he said.

He also confirms that he "make(s) up" his posts. Frankly, we always suspected as much. Why should his blog be any different than his paper?

spacedark

time to choose your hemlock, Dr. O'B.

Like the bar in New Orleans that shares his name, I have swung wildly back and forth in my assessment of Dr. Pat O'Brien, president of West Texas A&M. There have been times in my life that I believed that Pat O'Brien's in the French Quarter was the best place on Earth. There have been other times (usually the next morning) when I assessed the place rather differently, cursing the moment I ever entered those doors and ordered one of those infamous Hurricanes.

And sometimes, as when he served wine to the faculty and staff at a reception during office hours in the middle of Canyon, Texas, Dr. Pat O'Brien has been an intoxicating kick in the balls to West Texas mores. Occasionally, as when he signed the petition to lower the drinking age, he has shown a bold vision for logic and for fairness.

At other times, he has seemed as clueless as a sea lion flopping across our sunburnt steppe.

I give props to Dr. O'Brien for even talking to BuffaloRove. His accessibility is to be commended. But I also hear this:

Dr. O’Brien is fully aware of Karl’s sordid reputation. He welcomes the controversy. The WTAMU president is shrewd. His goal is to fashion our little state school into a high-profile learning institution.

And that makes me think of a comment made by blogarillo on our laughable blog, a comment that was probably unwelcome to both supporters and haters of Rove:

"Screw Rove and screw protesting him. The Powers-That-Be would like nothing more than to play the victim because a handful of people turned out to wave poster boards in the air. They want you to protest, so don't give them what they want. Let the aptly-named Turd Blossom blow in and out of Canyon like a cloud of Randall County cow farts."

The jury's out. O'Brien has demonstrated a desire to make WT into an Athens on the High Plains, where all issues are on the table to be discussed. He has also demonstrated an ability to disingenuously argue on behalf of the status quo.

So, which is it, Pat? You gonna be Ed Roach, or you gonna be Socrates?

Follow your heart: either way you get poisoned in the end.

Just let the rest of us know which it's gonna be.

spacedark

in which we discover that we've been getting all bent out of shape over something that actually shows that we're kind of winning

Yes, it's annoying, as someone who holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from WTAMU that Karl Rove will be speaking as part of the commencement festivities. Sure, it would have been nice if Dr. Pat "Mix Me Another Hurricane" O'Brien could have been less disingenuous when asked directly if Rove was the commencement speaker. But, check this out, from this week's New York magazine:


Consider: in order for Turdblossom to be the speaker at a school neither he nor the staff of New York magazine had probably ever heard of, the whole thing had to be sneaked past the faculty, staff and student body in the dead of night. Dr. Pat "718 St. Peter, a block off Bourbon Street" O'Brien acknowledged that Rove was a "controversial" choice-- even in Canyon, Texas, the most conservative town in the most conservative region in the United States.

Meanwhile, Obama administration bigwigs Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Eric Holder are speaking at places like NYU, Barnard, Syracuse, and Columbia. Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy stalwarts Nancy Pelosi and Oprah Winfrey are speaking at Johns Hopkins and Duke. Even James Franco-- recently famous, might I remind you, for playing a drug dealer in Pineapple Express as well as Harvey Milk's lover-- is speaking at UCLA.

And Karl Rove? The best gig he could get was so far out in the middle of nowhere, he might as well be making a drunken speech in Mos Eisley Cantina, Tatooine.

And we don't even want him.

spacedark

Republicans to demostrate their lack of concern for anyone but themselves

Just like those patriots of old Republicans are going to join together for a national protest of Obama's administration ten weeks in. The party of No accountability spoke not a word when Reagan and both Bushes ran up debt like no one's business. Now with the economy in the tank and banks failing they can only think of themselves.

Face-to-Face

Shameless self promotion and promotion for the Indy.

Rove is wrong for WT, sets bad example

This is the column that will appear in The Amarillo Independent on the week of April 9:

There’s trouble a’brewin’ at West Texas A&M University’s commencement ceremonies.

The university has chosen Karl Rove, the former operative for George W. Bush’s political career, to speak May 8, the night before the university’s May 9 spring commencement exercises.

In touting the coup of having such a nationally prominent speaker in lil ole Canyon, the WT Web site quotes Dr. J. Patrick O’Brien.

“Karl Rove is a nationally prominent individual who for seven years served in an extremely important position in the Bush administration. He has been referred to as a ‘master political strategist,’ a ‘passionate advocate’ for his positions, and ‘The Architect’ of two successful presidential campaigns,” O’Brien said.

“Bringing Karl Rove to the WTAMU campus won’t be without controversy, but this is an individual with tremendous experience and insight in the workings of the executive branch of the U.S. Government. We are excited to have him speak on the WT campus.”

“Won’t be without controversy”?

You got that right, Dr. O’Brien.

But you got a lot wrong.

First, while Rove no doubt has inside knowledge of the workings of the Bush White House and former Vice President Dick Cheney’s massive role in shaping Bush’s policies, he isn’t going to give any insights to those coming May 8.

If he would, he would tell us what role he and Cheney played in outing Valerie Plame as a CIA agent.

If he had any insights, he would tell us what he did to undercut former Ambassador Joseph Wilson after an op-ed piece in the New York Times reported the administration’s lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

If Rove were to give us insights at the highest levels of government, we might find out how weak the moral fiber of the administration was.

Second, the judgment underlying this invitation is badly flawed — to be charitable about it.

Rove is not only a symbol of all that was wrong with the Bush administration and what it did to devastate our country, his role makes him the devastation personified.

Personally, I suspect that, if the truth were known, what Rove — and Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and other neoconservatives — did during their tenure was criminal. I mean that: illegal and perhaps treasonous.

So what message does this send to the university community and the students earning degrees who are to be honored that weekend?

It sends this message: We honor a college dropout who may have played a criminal role in a two-term administration. His speech is to inspire you to model his drive and ambition.

That said, now that he has been invited, I think pulling the offer would reflect worse on WT than issuing the invitation in the first place.

Further, for those planning to protest Rove’s presence, I implore you to keep it civil and quiet.

Please don’t try to shout him down. Please don’t disrupt the event. That will reflect more poorly on the progressive voices who object to Rove’s presence than on Rove’s appearance itself.

For anyone who wants to paint WT’s choices for convocation speakers as having a right-wing or conservative tilt, be careful.

I don’t think Ron Suskind, Cedric Jennings, Ben Stein, Elie Wiesel and Valentino Achak Deng, one of the Lost Boys of the Sudan, can be characterized that way.

And, keep in mind that one of the several bastions of truly free and controversial speech is the American university — where the most controversial of ideas could and should be spoken without retribution.

The recent case of Ward Churchill at the University of Colorado is a case in point.

Churchill stirred up a storm of controversy in 2005 when someone discovered that he had written an essay right after Sept. 11, 2001, comparing those toiling in the Twin Towers to Nazis.

Colorado’s governor, Bill Owens, called for Churchill’s head and, according to court testimony, pressured the president of the university to fire Churchill. University regents also went after Churchill and eventually he was fired for shoddy scholarship and plagiarism.

Churchill sued CU and a jury sided with him in saying the entire process was trumped up in retaliation for his admittedly despicable essay about 9-11.

If one looks deeper into the case, Churchill was as flawed an object of protection as could be found in a victory for academic freedom. But it made the victory all the more important.

Had WT invited Rove as part of a lecture series or some event that didn’t honor him or the university community, I’d have no objection.

But this invitation sets a bad example and displays bad judgment.

President Obama's Weekly Address - 4/4/09

Clusterf*&!@ to the Poorhouse

I love that cartoon. Tom Toles nails it . . .

Kudos to President Obama. The making home affordable act is really a great idea. A big idea. With every big implementation, there are always a few kinks. A few millions in this case.

No job yet (1 .5 months and counting), and by far my mortgage is the biggest monthly cost, so I set out to see what help I could get. The program really is designed for the folks that are about to be foreclosed on, or are 30% underwater. Neither of which applies to me at this point for full disclosure.

Bumps:
Your home loan must be owned by Fannie Mae. Go HERE to check.
You must have SOME income, even unemployment

Turns out, maybe a little help can be had though. Here is how it works:

1. Contact your mortgage servicer, mine is Chase, tell 'em you need help.
2. You fill out a 6 page form, but you actually fax it to FNMA.
3. Wait 2 months. Yep, TWO MONTHS. Millions need the help. Thanks Shrub.
4. Call your lazy, taxpayer funded check-casher (Otherwise known as your Republican congresscritter).
4. . . . dunno . . . waiting to hear.

Per FNMA's news release, "Participating in the program may reduce interest rates, lengthen the payment time frame or take other steps, such as principal forbearance, to bring the monthly payments down to as low as 31 percent of the borrower's gross (pre-tax) income."

So, you could get put in an low interest ARM, a 40 year fixed, etc. So it is help, but Caveat Emptor. Negotiate, negotiate.

This Gods-damn economy is brutal, but this program IS helping. And it is helping the little guy.

-Prodigal Son

Web 2.0 Fighting Keyboards

Anyone out there who can provide guidance on how to leverage the net to protest the Rovester? Facebook, etc?

panhandletruthsquad at yah

-Prodigal Son

The Revolution Was Not Televised

Universal health care. Energy security. Clean, green, renewable energy. Economic regulation. Reliance upon science and education. And yes, even world peace. These are the stuff of bumper stickers. But over the past 2-3 decades they have quietly become representative of the dominant philosphy of the majority. That's right, the majority. Want evidence? Try here, here, here, and here. Yes, you can quibble about the specific meaning of specific surveys, but the overall message was sent loud and clear last November 4. Obama won not because his election was an historic marker of improvement in race relations, but because he promised the change that people desired.

Many of us who have yearned and worked for this new era have been spending a lot of time just breathing the fresh air emanating from the Obama WH. But the truth is that while there remain battles ahead to be won, the odds are already heavily stacked in our favor, because the change we have been seeking has fundamentally already happened. It has happened in the hearts and minds of millions here and billions around the world. There are certainly land mines aplenty that could reroute or even derail the train, but there is no doubt that it has left the station. In many respects, the Obama administration is really not the driver of change, but just the cautious emissary of the change that has already occurred. For example, the president gave a speech in Prague, Czech Republic yesterday in which he pledged a new. long-term effort to improve peace and security (not to mention reduced military spending) through a new strategy that could permit systematic reduction in stockpiles of nuclear weapons and reduce the perceived need of new nations to join the nuclear club. A few years ago, such a proposal, coming from an American president, would have been thought ridiculous and politically suicidal. Today, although there will be objections from predictable quarters, there will be no great political price to pay for this announcement. It is expected. It is already built into the framework of the idea marketplace.

So, what about those who would have this president fail? The Karl Roves and the Rush Limbaughs are certainly still out there. They still have a significant following of those who are for various reasons convinced that the changes are designed to take something away from them, though that is not true. For that reason, it remains important to hold up to public ridicule the messengers who would provide trumped up reasons for believing such falsehoods. But the reason that they are so locked into the rear-guard action of trying to promote the failure of the president is that without that, they lack the power to significantly alter the course of events in the forseeable future, and power is what they are all about. Only if Obama fails will the public change its mind about the change they have requested.

That is also the reason that we who have been in the vanguard keep focused on the big picture. There are going to be compromises made by the WH as it seeks to implement the big agenda described above. Some of those compromises will be painful. As an educator, I am not especially confident that I will like all of the administration's proposals regarding merit incentives, for example. I might not approve of all of the energy proposals that might be agreed to. I don't promise to stay silent about these, but I do intend to make sure that my primary goal is the broad implementation of the policy agenda that Obama is pursuing, with the recognition that the only way it can be broadly defeated is if Obama is perceived to have failed. In an ideal world, it would not be necessary to have the agenda so closely tied to one person, but we need to live in the real world. The greater truth is that, in the future, if Obama succeeds, the agenda can become not merely majority sentiment, but a self-driving force that demands that all political actors adopt it. The revolution may not have been televised, but its consecration must be.

Liar Up-Front

UPDATE:

CANYON, Texas—Karl Rove, former deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to President George W. Bush, will speak at 7 p.m. Friday, May 8 at West Texas A&M University as part of the University’s spring commencement activities.

Rove will deliver a pre-commencement address at the First United Bank Center the night before WTAMU’s two commencement exercises on Saturday, May 9. His presentation is open to the University’s 2009 graduates, their friends and family as well as the Texas Panhandle community.

Rove’s appearance at the First United Bank Center is free and open to the public. For more information about WTAMU’s spring commencement activities, call 806-651-2044.

________________________

From the official announcement at WT's web page about Karl "LSOS" Rove.

“Karl Rove is a nationally prominent individual who for seven years served in an extremely important position in the Bush administration. He has been referred to as a ‘master political strategist,’ a ‘passionate advocate’ for his positions, and ‘The Architect’ of two successful presidential campaigns,” Dr. J. Patrick O’Brien, WTAMU president, said. “Bringing Karl Rove to the WTAMU campus won’t be without controversy, but this is an individual with tremendous experience and insight in the workings of the executive branch of the U.S. Government. We are excited to have him speak on the WT campus.”

How can we let Rove know he is unwelcome where people believe in our constitution, and democracy?

This POS should be rotting in jail, not on the speaking circuit. He lied to a grand jury about Valerie Plame, and Iraq, the US Attorney purges, etc.

The smug, "boys will be boys, we need diverse speakers" shit coming from the office of the Pres/CEO of WTAMU.

Why not have someone who believes the earth is flat? Or a Grand Dragon of the KKK. Jeff Dahmer is dead, but the unabomber could do a webinar!

Give me a damn break.

More to come on how we are helping to organize a financial and physical protest.

This blog has requested a full list of speakers for 2009. We will see how "diverse" the speakers will be.

-Prodigal Son

Republickians pledge to act in a Bipartisan way

"On Tuesday, a letter signed by all 41 Republican senators was distributed to Democratic Hill leaders urging them to forgo reconciliation to pass health care legislation, saying doing so "would make it difficult, if not impossible, to gain broad, bipartisan support" for the bill"

So what they're saying is they will work with us if we don't fast track new health care legislation? LOL these guys will suddenly negotiate in good faith and behave like something other than pompous jerks who vote against anything the Democrats suggest if only we won't fast track health care? Unbelievable. Go on an play your politics, do everything you can to keep lining the pockets of your friends in the insurance industry. Meanwhile we're gonna get some health insurance out there to take care of people.

We know you don't care if poor people have insurance...why should you? You've got yours and it's all about the individual and not the whole right Republicans? Who cares if people die, starve, waste away as long as you can buy your new Lexus, camper, boat, SUV, this year. Good Christian men doing as Christ would do right?

Sickening!!

A Call To Arms

Still just a dream . . . (sigh)

On May 9th, my alma mater, is using my alumni dues, commuter students tuition, and general revenues to bring the above POS serial liar who is on the run from congress to give a speech, no doubt on how wonderful Shrub and he are, and BTW please send a check to the GWB library fund.

In a response to a letter from a PTS reader, written to him about Rove speaking at WTAMU, the President/CEO Pat O'Brien responded (reponse posted in full, BOLD Mine)
________________________

"Thank you for your comment. I really, seriously do appreciate people letting me know what they think.

I learned in my youth growing up in the deep South a principle that I cherish deeply today. In America, individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty. This principle is one of those foundational principles of a free society.

At WTAMU we strive to bring in speakers of all philosophies and political views. On April 8, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison will be on campus to speak; on April 25 Maya Angelou will speak; and on May 8 Karl Rove will speak. Senator Seliger was our commencement speaker in December.

We anticipate as varied a schedule of speakers next year. For instance, Mike Hucklebee is scheduled to speak on campus in March 2010.

I trust the education we have provided for our students will help them to discern for themselves whether Mr. Rove is to be respected or not. I want our students to know also that we value free speech at WT; that censorship is dangerous to a free society.

Pat"

__________________

Boy, ya gotta love that forked tongue darting in and out. They strive to bring in speakers of all philosophies and political views, just as long as they are mostly Republican.

1.We need to find out who/how many liberal speakers will be at WTAMU in 2009?
2. We need to let the campus know what we think about Rove . . . with letters and emails, and protests.
3. Suggestions for how to proceed for hitting WTAMU hard on this, comments or email us.
4. How about the WTAMU/Amarillo College student democrats?

Here are some email addys:

J. Patrick O'Brien Pres/CEO WTAMU: pobrien@mail.wtamu.edu

Amarillo Globe Republican: letters@amarillo.com or Letters Editor, P.O. Box 2091, Amarillo, TX 79166

Becky Stogner: Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Fund, bstogner@mail.wtamu.edu or WTAMU Alumni Association, WTAMU Box 60753, Canyon, TX 79016.

Canyon News: news@canyonnews.com

-Prodigal Son

blast from the past (some things never change)

oh, how I miss this wonderful man:

In other news, PTS will now be hosting "We Surround Them" parties. Stay tuned for further details.

spacedark

Appalled and Amazed

I don’t know whether to be appalled or amazed at what passes for news media leadership in this town.

One of the great ironies of the upheaval in journalism has to do with the legacy media’s view of blogs and bloggers. On one hand, they chastise bloggers for not adhering to the same standards of journalism as the mainstream news outlets. It’s a legitimate concern, but on the other hand, they have adopted blogging like it’s going to save them.

That stampede into cyberspace gives one blogger at the Amarillo Globe-News, and a top manager to boot, the chance to prove she doesn’t know what she is talking about.

In her blog posted March 27, Dawn Dressler, the executive editor who has led the newsroom to new lows, waxes about the role of newspapers in watchdog journalism. She implies that the Glob does that kind of journalism. Maybe she thinks keeping minutes of the various commission meetings is watchdog journalism. I think the closest the Globe-News comes to being a watchdog is running in AP copy from the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

I think it’s so totally laughable that Dressler would think she has any legitimate claim to even discuss watchdog journalism.

Nor is Dressler able to correctly tell students about what the United States Constitution really says about journalism. She wrote, “Our founding fathers knew the importance of keeping a watchdog in the house when they made journalism the only job protected by the Constitution -- something school students who frequently tour the Globe-News never know when asked.”

Jeez, Dawn, maybe they “never” know because they know better. The Constitution doesn’t protect any job class. Journalists have no special privileges. In fact, that’s why we’re fighting for shield laws. What the Constitution protects is free speech for everyone — even you.

Keep on blogging and I’ll keep being appalled at your lack of knowledge and amazed you’d post it without checking your facts.

President Obama's Weekly Address - 3/28/09

Earth Hour

This is just a last minute plea to participate. You've got a little over an hour to look at the web site and view the video. But your light switch is your vote. It's easy and it's an important message to send. Thanks.

Vote here.

Let me Remove The Scabs From Your Eyes, Jedi Padawn

I was gonna drop this in comments, but it got too long, LOL.

Paul Krugman got it right in his latest column:

"Underlying the glamorous new world of finance was the process of securitization. Loans no longer stayed with the lender. Instead, they were sold on to others, who sliced, diced and puréed individual debts to synthesize new assets. Subprime mortgages, credit card debts, car loans — all went into the financial system’s juicer. Out the other end, supposedly, came sweet-tasting AAA investments. And financial wizards were lavishly rewarded for overseeing the process.

But the wizards were frauds, whether they knew it or not, and their magic turned out to be no more than a collection of cheap stage tricks. Above all, the key promise of securitization — that it would make the financial system more robust by spreading risk more widely — turned out to be a lie. Banks used securitization to increase their risk, not reduce it, and in the process they made the economy more, not less, vulnerable to financial disruption. "
____________________

There are numerous examples of innovators in this country from Henry Ford to Michael Dell. They created something quantifiable in the real world that changed the way we lived. Vision, guts, some good breaks, and a few tough breaks. Many smart and great business people right in our backyard who take risks, and become successful.

This post is not about them . . .

Leaving out old schoolers like Buffett and Soros, it is luck and connections in high finance. I have worked with many, many, many, many, many, people in Boston and the eastern financial corridor.

I was just about the only kid who worked his way through college who was in an executive position, the vast majority went to finishing schools and ivy league. Never met another person from WTAMU, LOL. Just sayin'.

Parents had the connections passed on to them, now the kids, etc. Keep in mind that these financial institutions were a century or more old, many of the mutual fund co's at least half a century. Insurance 120 years.

With the rare exception, these freshly minted MBA's I worked with from Wharton, Harvard, et al had only one goal . . . coming up with a way to leave corporate world and open their own money management firm or hedge fund ASAP.

Not because they were super bright, or could create a smarter way to take volatility out of investing, but because they could make 50 calls and raise a couple of hundred million dollars from Dad's friends. Most importantly . . . they could make vast amounts of $$$ with the 2 and 20 rule. And they were taught in grad school that fiscal innovation (complicated shennanigans) was the way to a personal Xanadu. Not to help the average anyone invest through smart due diligence, but for the same blueblood crowd who were already loaded.

The 2 and 20 rule is simple . . . a hedge fund manager charges 2% of the assets and gets 20% of the profits. The best part? A giant hole in the tax code that allows them to treat a substantial chunk of their compensation as capital gains, taxed at 15% rather than the 35% rate that applies to ordinary mortals' income like us.

Know what else is cool? No regulation! No pesky government lowlings from a Texas Tech or a South Central Louisiana State, with no idea about how the invisible hand of the market works (eyeroll), trying to look over your shoulders. You could devise any bullshit numbers you want, sell phantom stock short without covering, or pull a Bernie Madoff. No one was gonna call you out.

Another cool thing was the proliferation of offshore stock exchanges, a secondary market if you will, where you could pull any crazy stunt you wanted. Don't worry, the market is self-correcting. LOL.

AIG had such an entity called the AIGFP. Bear Sterns, Lehman, Merrill . . .

Our taxes are bailing out these shits. There are thousands of hedge funds, and thousands of third party money managers.

They talk up performance, but how the hell would you know? They have no transparency, so can you sort through complex derivatives, naked options, covered call option chains, convertible bond options yourself?

We need to get back to several things:

1. Trustbust and break up investment firms, banks, and insurance companies into separate entities. Now. Great Rachel Maddow video on this HERE

2. Banking should get back to being boring.

3. Hedges have to show serious transparency, or they get seized and liquidated. Money managers go directly to jail.

Just a few thoughts on a Saturday morning.

-Prodigal Son

Matt Taibbi's article

Here is the article alluded to in the material from the previous post. I didn't see a link to it on blogarillo's post. It's probably there. This is very good reading and captures the spirit of what's really been happening on Wall Street.

I noticed that some of the AIG execs are returning their bonuses. What! humanity from pigs? Could it be these men are gaining some shreds of humanity.

Suggested reading from Barry Rithotlz

Investigating AIG

President Obama's Weekly Address - 3/21/09

American Renaissance Act of 2009

Hoo-boy. Everyone is rightfully pissed about those bullshit bonuses being handed out like they came out of thin air or something. LOL

It's normal to let righteous indignation spill out, but when a tearful CEO says he ONLY got paid $1mm (The horror!), and bank records show that it was really more like $11 million, then the public outrage really turns to actual tar and feather talk.

Another unemployed buddy of mine in Boston joked that he was considering saving money on his heating bill by burning a banker, LOL. Jus' keeeeding folks, but he has been looking for a gig for six months now, and the frustration in his voice was palpable. His wife works, but beantown is a two-income kinda place, ya know?

These guys at the top of the banks getting bailout money are really driving us unemployed peeps up a gods-damn wall. They keep using the same out of the box thinking and fiscal shennanigans that brought our nation to it's knees, only for their compensation.

Cutsie names like pension restoration plans, and supplemental executive retirement plans, are used to drop big coin into the pockets of these bastards. And it comes from us over 40 little guys, who are top performers, but can be dumped because of "right to work" bullshit and highly taxed dinky severance.

There was a great financial times article this weekend talking about, "over-correcting." Firing too many competent employees to save money, and then finding out too late that no one is around with the expertise to solve the issues.

I call it the "Circuit City" business model. I get that a business can replace guys like me with someone else that can be had for 60 cents on the dollar, but good luck getting the quantitative results. Circuit City has gone POOF! So maybe it was smart to keep the crooks around to unwind the CDS'. But personally, it should have been done as part of a plea deal, not bonuses.
__________________

OK, we know the problems, here is my humble economic plan. It's reaaaalllly big picture, but I have had the time to think about it a lot at 2 am, LOL

ECONOMY IMMEDIATE:
1. Trust busting: Beef up and expand the FDIC to include oversight, auditing, and seats on the boards. Work with DOJ on enforcement and make nailing top mgmnt illegalities a priority, and fold the SEC and FDIC together. The IRS' should be required to nail offshore tax havens participants. Make the offshore tax haven industry a federal crime.

MARKETS and CREDIT:

• Private equity firms are ready to buy the best pieces of AIG-type firms. The US Gov't should bust them up, require ALL SVP and above to be terminated and put an independent accounting firm in the role of outsourced CFO in charge with quarterly PUBLISHED audits. Issue securities in all of these companies to American citizens, and LEGAL aliens in the form of 5 year vested ARA 2009 (blog post title) bonds with a coupon of X%.
  

• No more revolving door from FINRA to securities companies. Pay compliance folks well at FINRA and then it's a 5 year waiting period to go to work at a brokerage firm.

• Usury laws enacted and enforced on credit card companies. Top rate is 10 points above prime. Enact enforceable guidlines for credit terms. (FDIC oversight)
  

ECONOMY LONG TERM:

• A nation rail plan like the interstate highways. City centers, to airports and commerce centers, and to next major metropolis city center. Make it all electric, no diesel.

• Rebuild entire national electrical grid.

• Get wind, tide, and geothermal tied in to the new grid, and the US Gov't owns it for 200 years. No more Montana Power Co repeats either.

• Establish a bond rating division of the FDIC. Bye to S&P, and Moody's conflict of interest.

• 50% of all commercial trucks must get an average MPG of 35 by 2013. Hey, we won WW2 in four years, why not this? Outright help AMERICAN truck manufacturers pay for the retooling of factories for this. Furthermore . . .

• 50% of light trucks and SUV's must get an average MPG of 35 by 2013. Outright help AMERICAN truck manufacturers pay for the retooling of factories.

• 50% of passenger cars and SUV's must get an average MPG of 40 by 2013, 50% must be all electric by 2014, and 100% must be all-electric by 2020.

• A manhattan project-style recyclable and long-charge holding battery program led by NASA started NOW.

• All "right to work" laws eliminated. Two weeks notice both ways. Employee fails to notify or show up? No last check. Employer fails to notify? Gotta pay double. Will bring some stability to labor.

• EFCA enacted. 'Nuff said
  

I have left out defense dept reforms on purpose. Still thinking about those . . .

MEDIA REFORM:
No more performance pay to non-performing execs? Idiots in Gov't getting a free pass (hello Thornberry?) Can't legislate this one. We need media to expose these POS at the top, so . . .

• Cable regulation. Why am I paying for FOX noise? Cafeteria plan for cable subscribers, pick the channels you want. $ per channel. Europeans paying $35 for full cable, WTF?
  

• Fairness Doctrine update. 1 to 1 on all media. Talk, news, TV, when it comes to political talk, ya gotta present both sides every time.
  

• Subsidize a national wifi net. Not as fast as paid-for internet, but the poor and schoolkids have access to something.

• One media outlet per company per town, period. Own radio? No TV. Own newspaper? No radio OR TV.

BIG ISSUE: What about accuracy in reporting, how to embarrass the Howard Kurtz', George Wills', and entrenched blatherers to be accurate?


HEALTHCARE REFORM:
The US taxpayer will buy out all Health Care companies, Their market cap is waaaayyy down, could not be a better time. Sure, POS like Bill Frist will make $, but charge a capital gains tax of 75% on it. Hey, they got rich off sick people and ripping off the taxpayer . Cost of around $70 billion

• Everyone on medicare, establish a simple billing method for docs, and strict automated auditing for fraud. Rollout it out in stages, starting with low population centers like the Panhandle to work out the kinks.
  

• Keep your doc, keep your dentist, keep your opthamalogist. No waiting for immediate needs, gotta wait for other stuff.
  

• Charge $30 per person, per month, in every family. Wanna have 20 kids? Gotta pay for 20 kids. Take it out of each check like FICA.

• No more pharmaceutical advertisements, they spent more on these boolshit ads than research. Let it all be spent on research.

• Medicare will now aggressively negotiate drug prices. Drug companies gotta make money, but the free ride where the American citizenends.

Just some thoughts while staying up late at night worrying about my job situation.

Now, it's YOUR turn for feedback.

-Prodigal Son

Three Right Wing Overlords ride to the defense of AIG bonuses

I imagine some of you noticed the three columns in todays AGN regarding the AIG bailout.


The anonymous Globe News column [states...

"U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon - along with Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Lubbock - blamed the Democratic House leadership for ramming a huge spending bill through Congress that no one read, but which contained loopholes that enabled AIG to provide $165 million in bonuses to top executives. "

I'm not sure which bill Thornberry is referring too. He voted for TARP 1, but I suppose didn't have time to read it.

In truth the AIG bonus contracts were signed before either of the huge bailout bills, so I'm not sure which loopholes he's referring to. Maybe he's saying there should have been provisions in the bailouts to prevent bonuses. It is unclear from the statement in the Globe News column.

The second column by Washington Post Nazi Charles Krauthammer states...

"That's $165 million in bonus money handed out to AIG debt manipulators who may be the only ones who know how to defuse the bomb they themselves built. "

I think it's interesting that Krauthammer defends the AIG bonuses from three standpoints. First, he says the bonuses are owed contractually. Second that these very same men are the only ones capable of understanding the labyrinthine investment properties they created, so their presence is essential for the repair of said investments. Thirdly he says the bonuses are but a drop in the bucket when compared to the stupendous amounts of cash associated with the bailout and AIG.

While I don't disagree with him I can't help but feel the executives at AIG are getting off with a purely criminal act. Yes their bonuses are owed by contract, but those contracts almost seem like the premeditated planning a thief makes before he breaks into a home. Don't forget that the AIG executives work with one another, they are associates, and in this case, thick as thieves. The complex planning of the investment properties as an excuse for a bonus seems a bit like paying the thief to tell you how he managed to pull of a great heist or perhaps like giving a criminal a great book deal to tell how he did it. As for Krauthammer's third arguement. Well maybe 165 million isn't a great deal when you're dealing with trillions of dollars. But which of us writing here really feels that such lofty bonuses are truly justified. What man, imperfect as we all are, is really due such largesse. Is it fair to ask the rank and file employees to take a pay cut while these sorts of bonus figures float around for an elite few. Krauthammer chooses to stand up for the bonuses but he is wrong to do so. Since I own part of AIG now I say let's teach these guys a lesson.

The last column, written by Michelle Malkin, can only be described as idiotic. Firstly her column has nothing to do with the AIG bonus mess. Instead Malkin, the dark haired equivalent of Ann Coulter, uses the AIG bonus scandal as an excuse to rant, in vague terms, about Democratic spending. Her column, as always, skirts around real issues and cherry picks facts not to help clarify the situation as a responsible columnist does, but rather in an irresponsible manner, offering purely ad hominem arguements designed to inflame the sensibilities of the already enraged and thoroughly buffaloed Republican base.

Thanks Michelle you've served up another lightweight piece that is meant not to inform or educate but rather to get people pissed off. Why don't you try getting pissed off at the people who really did something wrong -- the assholes at AIG -- who drove the company into the ground and are now getting paid because no one but them can understand the mess they made.

So in the end, after reading the editorial section of AGN, I'm certain that many Amarillo locals are convinced that the AIG mess should be allowed to lapse quietly away, bonuses paid, taxpayer money gone. Good job Les, Charles, and Michelle, you've boned your team in the bum again and made them love it.

And more hm

I hardly know where to start with this, either.

One place would be to take note of a story on newschannel10's Web site (http://www.newschannel10.com/global/story.asp?s=10045430) that starts, "From the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer shutting down, to these most recent cuts at the Amarillo Globe-News, many people are saying the newspaper industry is in trouble.... Just nobody within the industry is saying that."

Where in the world do these people get this idea that nobody within the newspaper industry is talking about the death of the Rocky, the Seattle P-I’s total migration to the Internet and the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of several other newspapers? It is just mind-boggling to me that anybody in the news media would open a news story about problems in the industry with a line that says nobody is talking about it.

Then, newschannel10 goes on to quote Les Simpson, "The Amarillo-Globe-News has been in business for nearly 100 years and we will be here for many years to come. We are not going out of business. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are a strong business and will survive the current recession."

I guess all the talk in the industry, from Les' point of view, is laughable.

But seriously folks, Morris Communications is in deep trouble. The firm has gotten another extension for a $9.7 million interest payment. The extension really doesn't do much for Morris. Moody's Investors Services has introduced a new feature, "The Bottom Rung,” according to "Media Daily News" and its Web site. And on the bottom rung are companies with a credit rating of B3 or lower, which it considers most likely to default on their debt in the next year.

“In the collapsing world of newspapers, Moody's identified MediaNews Group as a high-risk candidate for default, along with three smaller newspaper publishers: Freedom Communications, GateHouse Media, and Morris Publishing. Again, these potential deadbeats are in good company … ,” media daily news states, adding that the company includes Tribune and other well-known companies. (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=102003)

And I read somewhere on the Web today that hits on newspaper Web sites have flattened during February and only a few of the larger newspaper Web sites had seen upticks in hits. It specifically cited the Boston Globe's Web site Boston.com as one example.

Which leads to the transition to the Web.

First, please take note of Mr. Simpson's blog entry of March 10. What he is really doing is feeling around about an electronic delivery system that goes beyond the Web. There are options being marketed in which Kindle and Kindle-type devices can actually be sold for a very low price as part of a package. Imagine, if you will, how much less expensive it would be to give subscribers a Kindle and then feed the newspaper that way. It would be a drop in the bucket compared to the costs of maintaining a pressroom and circulation department.

Of course, this kind of speculation is laughable.

I also wonder about the data I mentioned about Web site hits. I regret I can't dredge up the citation at this point, but I am wondering if there is some blog and Internet fatigue building. Hardly anyone responds to Mr. Simpson's blog posts, although I can't rule out nobody gives a damn about what he says.

Spacedark addresses the quality of the content in reference to the Globe-News' Pulitzer. I seem to recall Executive Editor Dawn Dressler talking touchingly about how she is reminded of the newspaper's great history every time she comes up the elevator that leads to the hallway near the newsroom. And, how she would like to lead the newspaper to another Pulitzer.

Yeah, right. I have no idea what she must be smoking, drinking or chewing to think the Globe-News is as capable of a Pulitzer now.

Of course, concentrating on content and devoting resources to real news is laughable.

It's also laughable to think that Ms. Dressler can lead to newsroom to a Pulitzer under any circumstances. Her recent blog about Amtrak could have been much less embarrassing had she read the Indy's Attitude (http://www.amarilloindy.com/2009/031209/IndependentAttitude0312.html) on March 12. A few phone calls, and she would have learned that the infrastructure makes a straight Oklahoma City-Amarillo-Albuquerque shot impossible. Part of the rail route that would have made it possible is now a wonderful bike path.

I repeat what I have said many times since leaving the Globe-News: There are many good people in the trenches who are being asked to do too much work into little time. It's easy to make mistakes under those circumstances. Which, lets me cut them a little bit of slack on the error at the bottom of their story. After all, I did the same thing on my comment about dumping newspapers on Mr. Simpson's lawn. And, given the lateness of the hour and the length of my day, I would plead a request for tolerance on typos in this posting.

But, the management needs to be held responsible for the direction it has taken the paper in the last five or six years, at least from a journalistic point of view. And I have made no secret of my disdain in that regard. Mr. Simpson, in one of his blogs, refers to the superintendent of schools as "his friend" and has borrowed a Kindle from the head of Toot-N-Totum. And, I have voiced my strong objection to his participation in some of the downtown development activities.

Maybe it's just me, but I think newspapers and newspaper publishers should be a little bit more distant if they are going to be ethical journalists and provide the community with good journalism.

But, of course, that's probably a view that's laughable.

hm

I hardly know where to start with this article, but how about with this interesting line: "Also, to embrace the transition from print to online, there will be a computer displaying the Globe-News Web site, amarillo.com, so visitors can read the paper when they visit." Did the reporter inadvertently let the cat out of the bag, or is it just more unclear writing? The latter is always possible with the Globe-News, and it certainly must be considered in this article; the online version ends with a paragraph consisting only of the words "Take the AGN" and no terminal punctuation. What the heck does that mean? Was there supposed to be a Henny Youngmanesque "--please!" after those words, or is the Globe-News reduced to begging for subscribers in news stories?

I don't know why they're having such a difficult time. After all, as Les Simpson reminds us in the article-- yet again-- the Globe-News once won a Pulitzer Prize! Of course, it was 1961 and neither Simpson nor Morris Communications were anywhere in sight. Amarillo had an Air Force base and the best-lighted main street in America. The paper that won the Pulitzer had two editions-- the morning Daily News and the afternoon Globe-Times, so I'm having a little trouble making the connection with the meager stack of newsprint that wastes two minutes of my time each day.

If a fifty-year-old Pulitzer is all that stands between the Globe-News and the final whimper (they certainly won't go out with a bang), I think Les Simpson should stop laughing and start packing.

spacedark

Former Vice President Dick Cheney warns of "terrorists with exploding lemons"

Panhandle Truth Squad would like to welcome a Very Special Guest Poster, former Vice President Dick Cheney.


The dismantling of Constitutional protections and the abandonment of the Geneva Conventions were absolutely essential to the success we enjoyed of being able to get lucky and not have any further attacks against the United States since 9/11. I think that's a great success story.

President Obama campaigned in favor of the U.S. Constitution all across the country, and now he's making some choices that, in my mind, will in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack.

What has he done to protect us against terrorists with exploding lemons? We know that terrorists have these lemons east, north, south, and west somewhat. I hope one explodes in San Francisco, hopefully in the Castro! That would certainly show Obama!

DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Eliot Spitzer Nails It*

The Real AIG Scandal
It's not the bonuses. It's that AIG's counterparties are getting paid back in full.

^* Insert the "whore" joke of your choice.

Wage Cuts at AGN?

I have it through a reliable source that, at an all-hands on deck meeting around 5 p.m. today, Les Simpson announced across-the-board wage cuts.

As I understand it, Simpson said that employees who make less than $25,000 per year take a 5 percent cut; from $25,000 - $50,000 the cut is 7.5 percent and for those making more than $50,000 a year, the hit is 10 percent.


Of course, this is rumor.

March 19 - or not rumor:
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/031909/bus_biz5.shtml

open question

I've been trying to edit and expand our satirical "RecantAmarillo Map o' Sins" for several weeks now. It has been gradually disappearing from The Google and now all elements are completely gone. No one can seem to figure out why.

Any ideas out there what may have happened? I don't want to get completely paranoid and start believing that Repent Amarillo complained to someone and it was removed without notifying us, but as a Gmail user for the past several years, I also don't want to believe that The Google just loses stuff.

Suggestions or ideas?

spacedark

A Humble Proposal

In honor of "Change" and the shit-for-brains who are getting bonus' at AIG for being sneaky, thieving, lying dirtbags who have crashed our economy, a humble proposal . . .

You can imagine the immense problems of actually mailing, shipping, and transferring giant reams of paper (stocks certificate) back and forth when the NYSE (for example) trades a billion shares a day.

So, most trades are electronic, and the physical shares are held at DTC, or the depository trust corp, and whenever a share is traded, it is done electronically with a "book entry" through your brokerage firm.

AIG has 2.69 billion shares outstanding, 10% is held by insiders, and 48% is held by institutions (mutual funds, endowments, etc) leaving 42% floating around or 1,129,800,000 shares.

As far as I can discover, we as taxpayers own 80% of this 1,129,800,000 or 903,840,000 shares.

903,840,000 shares divided by 300 MM people is about 3 shares per man/woman/child in the U.S. That is just AIG, what about CITI? Goldman Sachs? Wells Fargo? The others getting bailout $$?

If I bought a Treasury bond, I would be shipped the bond cert, unless I instructed otherwise. Why not these firms we are bailing out?

So here is my proposal: Put all of the shares we own in all of the companies we have bailed out together. When you put a portfolio of equities together, it is a mutual fund.

Call it the "2009 American Bailout Mutual Fund" or whatever.

FORCE EVERY EXECUTIVE AT THE VP LEVEL AND ABOVE AT THESE COMPANIES TO OWN ONLY THE SAME MUTUAL SHARES AS US.

We can all then politely ask the Treasury to MAIL US OUR CERTS IN THIS NEW Mutual Fund.

We can put them in the safe, or send them to our broker, but more important . . .

WE THE PEOPLE WILL THEN HAVE A SAY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THESE FIRMS AS SHAREHOLDERS, AND WHEN WE DO NOT LIKE THE SHENANIGANS/GOINGS ON/ WE CAN DUMP OUR SHARES.

So whadda ya say? Capitalism with a democratic flair? Color the new certs green in honor of St Pats!

-Prodigal Son

every day is St. Patrick's Day

Fields of Athenry (written by Pete St. John; version by Dropkick Murphys)



"By a lonely prison wall,
I heard a young man calling
Nothing matters, Mary, when you're free
Against the famine and the Crown,
I rebelled, they cut me down.
Now you must raise our child with dignity."

another one bites the dust

Seattle Post-Intelligencer to publish last edition Tuesday.

No word on whether Les Simpson is still laughing at us for worrying that we will lose our favorite whipping boy local paper.

spacedark

blinded with science

Debate on the Internet has certainly contributed to many people's awareness of the existence of rhetoric and logical fallacies. It has certainly not, however, universally contributed to understanding.

In fact, much like Godwin's Law, there now seems to be a mechanism at work that causes all arguments to devolve into an accusation of a logical fallacy¹. Witness.

See, logical fallacies are a useful device for highlighting a poorly constructed argument. They are not rubber stamps that prove the opposition wrong.

Mr. Gunter calls the idea that Bush's tax cuts failed a "Post Hoc Fallacy." He is referring to the Latin phrase post hoc ergo propter hoc (after this, therefore because of this), which refers to the erroneous notion that all things that happened before something else surely influenced it. All second somethings are caused by all first somethings. Obviously, this is absurb.

But, Mr. Gunter, like many who rubber-stamp arguments as fallacies misses the nuances. I shouldn't have to point this out, but sometimes past events actually do effect the present and future.

E.g., Friday night I drank half a bottle of wine, a couple of beers, and a couple of rum and cokes at Saffron Mediterraean Restaurant and then at Le Chateau downtown as I danced to music from the 1980s. The next morning, the sun rose. The rising of the sun was not caused by my over-imbibing nor by my dancing. But my pain-filled reaction to the sun surely was.

Bush's tax cuts were advertised as a panacea that would help all sectors of the economy. The fact that they didn't, well, surely that is relevant.

Surely someone can put it into better Latin, but perhaps we can call this bizarro-world notion that simply calling discussion of the ramifications of a past event a Post Hoc fallacy means that said event had no effect (or an indeterminable effect) on the future a Post Hoc Nil Propter Hoc fallacy.

spacedark

¹ I am not immune to this mechanism. So you can comb our archives if you want, Curious Texan; you will only prove my point.

President Obama's Weekly Address - 3/14/09

Fox News Triumvir Glenn Beck seeks to cash in with 9-12 project

Piecing together the heirarchy of Republican leadership isn't difficult. At the top sits the granddaddy of them all, Rush LImbaugh. Below him entroned upon their Foxnews comfy chairs sit a triumvirate of leaders, one third of which is Glenn Beck (can you guess the other two?). Beck recently revealed his new website the 9-12 project. This cliche ridden document reads like some sort of misguided mishmash of religion and rudimentary Nationalism.
Here is the list
1. America is Good -- Okay Glenn I think most folks in the country are good and mean well. This is just Beck appealing to the uber patriot right wing mentality. Later on he says it's okay to criticize America.

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my life. Yes but should we be mixing our politics with our religion Glenn?

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday. Okay why don't you start with a little honesty regarding the war on terror and the war in Iraq. We attacked a country and killed thousands and rendered millions homeless and you guys still chant about how that war was effective. By destroying Iraq, torturing it's citizens, and plundering it's resources we've increased the terrorism problem exponentially. Get real...be honest.

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority not the government. Yes Glenn you are the ultimate authority in your own home in matters of family. Beyond that? Well you are one of the triumvirate of Republicans leaders below Rush Limbaugh, so that is a position of some authority I would say. Too bad you use that authority to spout vague and inflammatory bullshit like the 9-12 project.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it. Unless you're Karl Rove, or any of the individuals, including George W. Bush who illegaly tortured prisoners. If our ex president were a leader of some Banana Republic in Africa he would almost certainly be on the Hague's list of men to be prosecuted for political crimes.

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal rights. Yes and working class people have the right to pursue happiness just like rich guys do. That's why I love Obama's decision to return the option of card signing to form unions. Maybe working guys will get to pursue their happiness again instead of seeing their wages stagnate while a small percentage of wealthy grow fatter and fatter

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable. Yes but the government can force you to pay taxes. We need to fix health care and if the banks fail we could find ourselves very dire circumstances. The party is over pal. Time to pull the teat out of your mouth and recognize that by working together we can make things better for everyone, not just you.

8. It is not Un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion. Glenn I will give you credit. You did stand up for Democrat's right to criticize Bush and I'll allow you to do the same if Obama really does mess up. However isn't it a little early to be declaring every decision Obama makes a huge error. After all the man has been in office all of seven weeks.

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me. Actually this should be true but we have so many people buffaloed by media nuts that confuse them into voting against their own interests this statement is rather ridiculous.

Bravo Glenn...did you jot this list down during a good long sit on the crapper?

Medium Rare

Those who have been reading this space for several years know my opinion of Howard Fineman. He is one of the most reliable voices of the media echo chamber, that vast (in their own minds) space where "serious journalists" talk, but only to each other. This Newsweek column is the quintessential echo chamber piece, questioning whether Obama's honeymoon is over. Note, to begin with, that Fineman doesn't quote or even name a single source, unless you count Saturday Night Live. Not only does he get to protect his sources from potential embarassment, but he also gets to present half-baked, but titillating ideas as belonging to "important people", and therefore worthy of his by-line. The reality, of course, is that some people do hold the opinions Fineman reports. But if they truly have merit, they need to be spoken by those with actual expertise, not slipped in a brown paper package to an all-too-willing journalist accomplice. More likely, these are just the whispers of echo-chamber journalists with too much time on their hands who yearn for a real fight, not more whooping up on the suddenly moribund Republicans. They are probably hoping that the WH will rise to the bait and fill a few more otherwise drab news cycles.

Fortunately for us, few people (other than other reporters) actually pay much attention to this drivel. Fineman correctly, if imperiously, notes that the public still likes and trusts the president. And it is true that the only score that matters is what the economy does over the next 2 years (roughly). It is worth remembering that the press made a great deal more fun than this at the expense of newly-elected George W. Bush, but then ignored all their own opinions and rushed to put him on Mt. Rushmore when 9/11 occurred. The present crisis is also not in the media's control. If the public at-large decides that the economy is recovering and keeps spending and investing, then the economy, which is 2/3 dependent upon consumption, will indeed recover, and the press will write that they knew it would happen all along. After all, they will tell us, who else could have known?

Ya know, I certainly share Spacedark's concern over the fate of the printed newspaper, but I also recognize that the best use of most newsprint is as fish-wrapper.

A Damn Good Rant

America's Lost Decade

President Obama's Weekly Address - 3/6/09

A Tale of Two Strident A-Holes

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, etc... In that time there were two men, and two political parties. On the one side stood a Reverend, a man who's comments were so strident and downright ugly that those in the other party strongly disliked the Reverend. Hearing this strong dislike, the members of the Reverend's party listened to the Reverend's words and said to themselves; "You know I can see how some folks on the other side might think this guy was a strident a-hole. We're gonna minimize his influence in every way we can."

Now the other party had a similar man. A man that spoke ugly half-lies about the opposing party. A man the opposing party felt was a strident a-hole. This man had drug problems and preached against drug users, this man went with whores and had been divorced three times, but preached against other's marital indiscretions. Indeed this man seemed thoroughly corrupt to the opposing party. But did the strident a-hole's party say to themselves "You know I can see how some folks on the other side might think this guy was a strident a-hole. We're gonna minimize his influence in every way we can." No they did not. In fact they made this man king of their political party.

It was the brightest of times, it was the dimmest of times, yada yada yada

Gas, Liquor, and Ammo

My investment choices for the next 2 years listed in the headline, LOL.



I love this chart, it shows how GDP grew, and yet wages kept plodding along or falling. That national GDP expansion is gone. As in Trillion$ gone. Pensions, 401k, endowments, public employees retirement, POOF!

Ya know, this pinkslipped thing during the "Great Recession" is tough, good, and weird. I am learning a lot, and spending great time with my two unbelievably smart, joyful, explorers of life. My wife and I actually laugh more if you can imagine that, especially at that idiot on "the bachelor" and his "dates" who think that the dude is actually planning, and taking them on champagne and caviar jaunts . . .

Some of the tough parts are the decisions you have to make, health care, budgeting, hoping . . .

TURN OFF THE EVENING NEWS, THEY GIVE NO USEFUL INFO, AND DEPRESS THE SHIT OUT OF YOU!!!!!

Here are a few "Whodathunkit"s and survival TIPS;

1. Severance pay is heavily taxed, 25%+ right when you need the cash most. These taxes will go to pay for cleaning up after and bonusing out the bastards who caused the economic meltdown and your job to go away.

2. COBRA health insurance is a rip-off. A family of four costs $1600/month minimum. The stimulus plan calls for paying 65% of COBRA, but it will not kick in for two months, and is not retroactive. Congress, you get at least a d+ for trying, and it might help going forward. . .

3. Short term high-deductible health insurance is more affordable at around $320/month. You have to pay full boat for a doctor's visit, full boat for prescriptions, 80/20 on some things, but you are covered with a $5k deductible up to $2 MM if catastrophe strikes.

4. Your doctor can give you some samples of your meds for a few months. This will save some $$.

5. Unemployment insurance takes about 3 weeks to roll in. Oh, and your employer will fight it, and it also is taxed to pay for AIG bonuses. EVERY little bit will help though, so go apply the day you are let go.

6. Call your mortgage loan holder, and ask them about helping. Many have programs to temporarily lower your house payment. HERE is info as well. You can use unemployment insurance income to show financial hardship through lower earnings.

Just some info you won't find from the millionaire idiots on teh TV. Me? Zero on the horizon for a job until the economy begins to turn.

-Prodigal Son

C'MON LES, MAN UP - Did you spin for us or the SEC?

Last week, you called some of the blogger information about the Amarillo Globe-News "laughable," but we promptly pointed out how you had dissembled in your lame attempt to discredit us. You also tried to spin the words in your post in an attempt to discredit us, this time to make it seem that we were claiming to "report" when we posted the information as a "rumor."

We posted information from the 10-Q, a quarterly report which Morris Communications submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. It was pretty clear how selective the information you posted was.

Instead of posting meaningless stuff, like how people in Georgia react to snow and whether LinkedIn is worthwhile, why don't you open a discussion about the real issues in this city.

Oh, wait. Never mind. I forgot. Amarillo has no issues.

GOP chairman bows to Elephantine leader

PRESIDENT RUSH LIMBAUGH










The power struggle within the GOP continues. Looks like the "incendiary and ugly" are winning.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

I was working on a post trashing the Globe-Republican's editorial board and their boyfriend, Mac Saint Thornberry, but those guys have about zero credibility on anything at this point so screw them.

Read this instead: Why Is Geithner Continuing Paulson's Policy of Violating the Law?

I can think of dozens of reasons to remain highly supportive of President Obama, but his handling of the credit/banking crisis has been disappointing to say the least.

Woo Hoo!!!

Here is the link to today's (2/28/09) presidential address. It is by far his best so far, and is the rallying cry we have been waiting for. This is no modest assessment. It is "damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead!" As of today, I have great confidence we will succeed.

Les Simpson calls blog "laughable;" Morris filing with feds explains more fully

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2008

or

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number: 333-112246

Morris Publishing Group, LLC

Morris Publishing Finance Co.*

(Exact name of Registrants as specified in their charters)

"We have purchased a software license agreement to replace the print edition newspaper in education (“NIE”) copies at all of our newspapers with electronic editions in order to reduce our net production costs. In addition, we anticipate marketing electronic edition only copies to new subscribers and providing print subscribers free access to these electronic editions during the first six months of 2009," p. 23.

Les Simpson corrects spelling on blog entry; Panhandle Truth Squad claims responsibility

Sunrise In America

Here are the top two headlines from today's Roanoke Times:

Obama sets firm date to end Iraq war he inherited

Blacksburg wins case against superstore

The times, they are a'changin'! It has been a long, dark night, and the morning is still cold, but sunrise is unmistakable. Not to stretch the metaphor beyond its limits, but we do know that there will be another night. We need to build our shelter while there is still daylight. If you have the sense that the last eight years dragged on interminably, and that the past month has just flown by, that is the result of having much to do in a limited time.

It is not enough just to change policy that can be changed back later. We need to be about the business of building both a legal and a political infrastructure that will make the next night less cold and dangerous. That means (a) writing as much of our agenda into law as possible, rather than relying upon executive order, and (b) making as clear as possible to as many as possible that the past eight years were not the result of one rogue administration, but of the consistent application by that administration of a set of philosophical principles that simply do not work. And, as I have written before, that work demands that, at least for a while longer, we put less emphasis on whatever disagreements we may have among ourselves, because we cannot afford to be distracted from the objectives I've laid out.

Meanwhile, this is a time to be proud of the United States. By tradition and by law, we have set the example of a nation that can dramatically revise its priorities and goals without resort to violence.

_

on second thought, we were pretty stupid to think Les would know news

I agree with Spacedark. I think a newspaper person should be held to a higher standard, but by the same token we are human and typing may not be our strongest suit. That isn’t as important as my real beef. (Oh, Les, do read this. ) He and Morris Communications are part of a corporate machine that has sold America's birthright down the drain in the service of corporate stupidity and greed.

I have it on good authority that when Les went into the departments to announce layoffs, there was no “Thank you for your 20, 25 or 30 or 35 years of service.” It was, “You are no longer employed at the Amarillo Globe-News.”

That reflects a corporate callousness that I find counter to his widely professed Christianity. Further, before Les closed his Facebook page to the public, around the time of the layoffs, he asked people to pray for him. I think if I were in that position, I might have also asked people to pray for the employees who were to be laid off.

Further, if you look at Les’ blog, there really are very few comments there. I don't think most people in the community really care what Les has to say or write. His credibility and the credibility of the Globe-News is pretty much in the toilet. Fact is, so many times Les has said one thing to his own employees and done something else that his own people don’t believe or trust him.

As for the rolls of newsprint, it’s possible that there were only three left right before a just-in-time delivery. After the new truck gets unloaded, he sends one of his crack “investigative” photographers to take nice pictures and -- bingo! -- he has a another way to spin his spin. There are other scenarios, too, but the point is, why should anyone believe him?

By the way, what’s an “investigative” photographer? This implied disdain for investigative reporting -- well, Les can’t escape from showing his disdain for real journalism. How is that statement backed up?

A few years ago, the AGN did a Franklin Covey program, one part of which was to come up with “Wow!” stories -- articles that people would talk about around the water cooler. He told the newsroom that there were no “sacred cows.” Most of the staff just rolled their eyes and knew that was total BS.

Want more? Let’s try this one: In the PTS blog Les cites, he labels it “reporting.” But the very blog post he linked to in order to criticize it slugged it as “rumor” and acknowledged, “I'm publishing this because we're a blog with no standards of verification. And we've heard it from multiple sources.” So why does Les call it “reporting” when it was clearly stated it wasn’t?

Maybe he’ll tell us in his next blog post. Or not.

The fact is that the big Billy and the little Willy have a callow kid running the Amarillo Globe-News. And the workers and the community pay the price.

on second thought, we were pretty stupid to think they could handle an online-only publication

Less-is-more Simpson has both given us backhanded compliments and accused us of not being "so good in [sic] giving you the truth" in his 13-day-old blog. So we weren't surprised to see our good friend Reyne Telles mentioned by Simpson in his post about Panhandle Days in Austin:

Also present were some former Amarilloans, including Emily Klein (formerly of Leadership Amarillo/Canyon) and Reyne Telles (former of Cal Farley's), who is now Media Relations Manger with the City of Austin.

Except that we weren't aware that Reyne was a "Manger." Born in one, maybe.

See, Les, when you blog, there are no flunkies out there in the ether beyond your office who will correct your grammar and spelling before you embarrass yourself.

But we will, after you embarrass yourself.

spacedark

The Language of Looting

The Language of Looting