Think Progress

ThinkFast: March 18, 2008

By Think Progress on Mar 18th, 2008 at 8:58 am

ThinkFast: March 18, 2008»


bushmc.jpg

My life has been flushed down the drain,” said one Bear Stearns employee.
Bear Stearns had always encouraged its 14,000 employees, “from secretaries to top executives, to be long-term holders in the company’s stock, and the employees own over 30 percent of the company.”

A New York Times editorial warns that “if the United States government doesn’t stabilize the markets, foreign governments increasingly will, in exchange for an ever larger stake in the American financial system.” The Fed’s unprecedented loans to banks “cannot save defaulting homeowners, transform bad mortgage loans into good ones, or do the same for hundreds of billions of dollars of securities tied to those loans.”

Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) “failed to disclose tens of thousands of dollars in profits he made on stock sales on his annual financial disclosure forms for the past several years.” Last Thursday, after inquiries by Roll Call, Dreier filed an amendment to “his 2004, 2005 and 2006 disclosure forms” listing previously undisclosed stock sales “totaling between $85,000 and $263,000 in income.”

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell recently delivered a speech that contained a story about an historical radio conversation at sea. “This is true. It’s an actual recording,” McConnell said. In fact, McConnell’s story was “untrue. False. Urban naval legend. Never happened.”

“A conference to reconcile Iraq’s warring political groups began to unravel even before it got under way on Tuesday, with the main Sunni Muslim Arab bloc pulling out and protesting it had not been properly invited.”

Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria writes that the U.S. is “stuck in the Iraq loop.” “We are told that the surge has worked brilliantly and violence is way down. And yet the plan to reduce troop levels — which was at the heart of the original surge strategy — must be postponed or all hell will once again break loose.”

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed that his government will “at some point” hold an inquiry into the lessons to be learned from the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath. But, he said that time is not is “not now.”

A U.N.-supported report released yesterday conducted by the World Glacier Monitoring Service at the University of Zurich has found that “most of the world’s mountain glaciers, many of which feed major rivers and water supplies, are shrinking at an accelerating pace as the climate warms.”

Mirroring the results of a new CNN poll, a recent USA Today/Gallup poll has found that 76 percent of Americans think the U.S. economy is in recession. “Not since September 1992, two months before President George H.W. Bush lost re-election, have so many said the economy was in such bad shape.”

And finally: Echoing his infamous declaration in 2005 that former FEMA chief Michael “Brownie” Brown was “doing a heckuva job” responding to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush thanked Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson yesterday “for working over the weekend” in response to the long-brewing economic crisis.

What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.




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247 Responses to “ThinkFast: March 18, 2008”

  1. 2MillionLightYearsToAndromeda Says:

    NEW REPORT: ABU GHRAIB PRISONERS PACKED IN ICE WATER-FILLED GARBAGE CANS AND SENT INTO SHOCK, MILITARY POLICE SAY

    Muslim prisoners held in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison were submerged in water-filled garbage cans with ice or put naked under cold showers in near-freezing rooms until they went into shock, Sgt. Javal Davis, who served with the 372nd Military Police Company there, has told a national magazine.

    …Another soldier that had been stationed at Abu Ghraib, M.P. Sabrina Harman—who gained dubious fame for making a thumbs-up sign posing over the body of a prisoner she believed tortured to death—said the U.S. had imprisoned “women and children” on Tier 1B, including one child was as young as ten.

    “Like a number of the other kids and of the women there, he was being held as a pawn in the military’s effort to capture or break his father,” write co-authors Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris in the March 24th issue of The New Yorker magazine, which describes Abu Ghraib in a 14-page article titled “Exposure.”

    http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/31874


  2. zuch Says:

    “My life has been flushed down the drain,” said one Bear Stearns employee.
    Bear Stearns had always encouraged its 14,000 employees, “from secretaries to top executives, to be long-term holders in the company’s stock, and the employees own over 30 percent of the company.”

    “Can you say ‘Enron’, kids? I know it’s a funny word, but try it: ‘Enn-ron’….”

    Cheers,


  3. 2MillionLightYearsToAndromeda Says:

    The B Word (Bailout)
    By Paul Krugman, The New York Times

    …Meanwhile, false beliefs in the political arena — the belief of Alan Greenspan and his friends in the Bush administration that the market is always right and regulation always a bad thing — led Washington to ignore the warning signs.

    By the way, Mr. Greenspan is still at it: accepting no blame, he continues to insist that “market flexibility and open competition” are the “most reliable safeguards against cumulative economic failure.”

    The result of all that bad lending was an unholy financial mess that will cause trillions of dollars in losses. A large chunk of these losses will fall on financial institutions: commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds and so on.

    http://www.nytimes.com/ 2008/ 03/ 17/ opinion/ 17krugman.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

    ** This is why extreme ideologists like Mr. Greenspan have no business holding positions, in the public sphere, that affect millions. In his mind he did nothing wrong. All the bankers will be bailed out with public funds. It’s only a matter of time before they do it all again.


  4. Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:

    The Fed’s unprecedented loans to banks “cannot save defaulting homeowners, transform bad mortgage loans into good ones, or do the same for hundreds of billions of dollars of securities tied to those loans.”

    The Feds (i.e. the Bush Administration) are not in the least interested in helping the homeowner. They only care about helping their rich donor friends.

    If the people who have gotten rich and are now losing their wealth because of the Republican financial shenanigans haven’t learned their lesson, then to hell with them. I find it amazing that they didn’t see the danger in bankrupting our country while they were getting rich.


  5. Zimzone Says:

    President Bush thanked Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson yesterday “for working over the weekend” in response to the long-brewing economic crisis.

    Wow! Henry we’re all overwhelmed at your work ethic & the fact you actually worked on a weekend. Awesome!

    Of course, the fact that you gave $30 Billion of our taxpayer’s money to subsidize a buyout by another corporate piranha makes us wish you’d stay home weekends.
    /snark


  6. Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:

    Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell recently delivered a speech that contained a story about an historical radio conversation at sea. “This is true. It’s an actual recording,” McConnell said. In fact, McConnell’s story was “untrue. False. Urban naval legend. Never happened.”

    Republicans wouldn’t know the truth if it hit them in the head with a two-by-four. We are a nation run by a bunch of pathological liars.


  7. Fritz Says:

    “My life has been flushed down the drain,” said one Bear Stearns employee.
    Bear Stearns had always encouraged its 14,000 employees, “from secretaries to top executives, to be long-term holders in the company’s stock, and the employees own over 30 percent of the company.”

    It’s Enron all over again, and Bush sits there like a jackass an laughs. Oh wait…he IS a jackass.


  8. Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:

    British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed that his government will “at some point” hold an inquiry into the lessons to be learned from the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath. But, he said that time is not is “not now.”

    So Mr. Brown, why is that time not now? What do you need to wait for?


  9. dim wit Says:

    Bear Stearns had always encouraged its 14,000 employees, “from secretaries to top executives, to be long-term holders in the company’s stock, and the employees own over 30 percent of the company.”

    I’m sorry did you miss the class on diversification while you were earning your MBA?


  10. Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:

    A U.N.-supported report released yesterday conducted by the World Glacier Monitoring Service at the University of Zurich has found that “most of the world’s mountain glaciers, many of which feed major rivers and water supplies, are shrinking at an accelerating pace as the climate warms.”

    New York City will be under 20 feet of water and the righties will still be denying that Global Warming is happening or that it is a problem. Unfortunately, by that time, it will be too late.


  11. Doc Rock Says:

    Greed and the failure of the administration to provide leadership to reign it in will cost us all billions and will push us further down into the crowd. Amazing how quickly they can move to bail out the big financials and how much they can drag their feet on helping the little guy, erstwhile home owner (trying for the “American dream”). Thank you Cheney-Bush and the Neo-con crony-capitalist crowd.


  12. Zimzone Says:

    One of the dangers of having a President who has watched every business venture in his life collapse is, well, unfolding before our very eyes…he’s destroying the business known as the USA.

    Meanwhile, back at the invasion, Dirty Dick is still connecting dots that don’t exist between Saddam & AQ.

    And while McWar basks in the comfort of his kevlar, he still doesn’t have a clue to what’s really happening economically.

    Bush recently claimed he got a ‘C’ in Econ 101. I’ll just bet if we look closer at his grade, he got a big, fat ‘F’…& McWar never even took the course.


  13. Briseadh na Faire Says:


    “My life has been flushed down the drain,” said one Bear Stearns employee.
    Bear Stearns had always encouraged its 14,000 employees, “from secretaries to top executives, to be long-term holders in the company’s stock, and the employees own over 30 percent of the company.”

    401-Ki$$ your a$$ets goodbye!


  14. tarazan Says:

    These failing companies have one thing in common,their CEOs and managment bosses always leave with nice sums of money right before these companies finally collapse,while employees,stockholders,bond holders,and creditors get the shaft at the end.


  15. Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:

    I’m sorry did you miss the class on diversification while you were earning your MBA?

    I’m fairly sure that the secretaries and other worker bees at this company did not have an MBA. On the other hand, the fact that they saw Enron go up in flames and the resultant damage done to employees, one would think that even the secretaries would have been a little more cautious.

    The problem here is that these companies encourage their employees to invest in their own companies by giving them matching stock buys, like you buy three shares and we’ll give you one. It’s an irresistible lure for many people.


  16. Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:

    Amazing how quickly they can move to bail out the big financials and how much they can drag their feet on helping the little guy, erstwhile home owner (trying for the “American dream”). Thank you Cheney-Bush and the Neo-con crony-capitalist crowd.

    Any voter out there who isn’t uber rich who votes for a Republican deserves what will happen to them. I am hoping that this financial mess will be enough to wake up the conservative voters in the heartland so that they won’t, once again, vote against their own best interests by voting Republican.


  17. Zimzone Says:

    ‘Everybody’s Working for the Weekend’…Loverboy


  18. And the beat goes on Says:

    What is happening with the economy?

    “Madness is rare in individuals - but in groups, political parties, nations, and eras it’s the rule.” (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche)

    No madness is worst than greed. Every so often people assume that somehow they can make money out of the thin air. The most famous one was the Tulip mania of 1636-1637 in Netherland and the most recent one was the “dotcom” bubble of 1995-2001 (on March 10th, 2000 the NASDAQ peaked at 5132.52). Today we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the real estate bubble.

    When President Bush entered office he gave one trillion dollars (tax cut) to the wealthy. In effect he increased the tolerance for financial risk of the wealthy individuals and companies even further. Later, he started the Iraq war, pouring billions of dollars into the economy. One should not forget that when the US government spends about $2 billion a week in Iraq, most of that money finds its way back into the US economy (salaries, armament, etc). But all these monies were borrowed money (deficit spending), and all the growth and feeling of well being was illusory.

    http://www.opednews.com/ articles/ genera_dr__abba_080316_what_is_happening_wi.htm

    There are so many things coming to fruition for the neos and their minions. Don’t ever believe any of this happened by accident.

    H/T Cali


  19. RUCerious Says:

    …the plan to reduce troop levels — which was at the heart of the original surge strategy — must be postponed or all hell will once again break loose.”

    Perhaps they should have branded it, “The Plug”.


  20. Briseadh na Faire Says:

    Has anyone, besides myself, seen “Rollover?”

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083006/

    “Jane Fonda might have unwittingly been on to something in 1981, when she released a movie called “Rollover”, which (mercifully) remains the only movie involving foreign investment into the U.S., Fed policy, a clumsy murder and equally clumsy love scenes between Fonda and Kris Kristofferson.”


  21. GSD Says:

    For a man with a collapsing economy and two ongoing wars and occupations, Boy George sure laughs and chuckles alot.

    -GSD


  22. RUCerious Says:

    “A conference to reconcile Iraq’s warring political groups began to unravel even before it got under way on Tuesday, with the main Sunni Muslim Arab bloc pulling out and protesting it had not been properly invited.”

    Yeah, these guys just need another half a Friedman to get it together. C’mon, people now Smile on your Sunni brother Everybody get together Try to love one another right now.

    Another BushitCo fairy tale.


  23. dim wit Says:

    tarazan Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 9:21 am

    this might make you feel better (it does for me):

    “Cayne still owns a 5 percent stake in the company. Before last week he was estimated to be worth about $1 billion. Cayne, 74, stepped down as CEO in January after 15 years and much of the blame for the collapse has been placed on him. He owns 5.6 million shares, which last month were valued at $80 a piece or $449 million. The JPMorgan Chase sale values those shares at just $11.2 million.”


  24. Little Freep Goofballs Says:

    G’morning all.

    It’s twenty minutes to ten A.M. Eastern time - trolls with talking points at the top of the hour


  25. Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:

    Does anyone here know what is going to happen to the homeowners who lose their homes to foreclosure? One would think that would be the end of it. But, it’s not. Let’s say you owed $200,000 on your mortgage when they foreclosed. Then the lender sells your house for $150,000 (probably to a real-estate speculator). What is going to happen is that the IRS is going to send that family that lost their home a tax bill for $50,000. You see, the lender will declare that $50,000 as a loss and the IRS has to offset the loss. So, the homeowner will have to pay taxes on the $50,000 like it was income. I know this is how it works because it happened to a friend of mine.

    If the Bush Crime Family does nothing else to help out the homeowners who are losing their homes, they can do away with the travesty of taxing the homeowner for the loss.


  26. Zimzone Says:

    If Lehman Brothers fails today, will we see the ‘domino effect’?

    This financial ‘house of cards’ could fall quicker than Tom DeLay’s reputation. Will the Bush cabal inject more taxpayer money into failing financial brokers? JP Morgan just got 20% of the entire economic stimulus package in one, brief weekend afternoon.

    Where does this end?

    Is their a floor in here?


  27. missmolly Says:

    “My life has been flushed down the drain,” said one Bear Stearns employee.
    Bear Stearns had always encouraged its 14,000 employees, “from secretaries to top executives, to be long-term holders in the company’s stock, and the employees own over 30 percent of the company.”

    ———————————–

    Cue the trolls blaming these victims in
    3…
    2…
    1…


  28. zuch Says:

    #6 Bilbo HUssein Baggins:

    Republicans wouldn’t know the truth if it hit them in the head with a two-by-four. We are a nation run by a bunch of pathological liars.

    Yes. There is that possibility. Admiral McConnell either hasn’t spent time in the foc’sle or he’s just telling another lie for the cause.

    Cheers,


  29. missmolly Says:

    Mirroring the results of a new CNN poll, a recent USA Today/Gallup poll has found that 76 percent of Americans think the U.S. economy is in recession. “Not since September 1992, two months before President George H.W. Bush lost re-election, have so many said the economy was in such bad shape.”

    ——————————-

    Naturally, there will be a lot of argument from the remaining 24% as to the definition of “recession” and what constitutes a “recession”. It seems to me that three quarters of the people in this country are feeling the pain while the bickering continues. When the problem is that profound, does it really matter what it’s called?


  30. Shayne Says:

    Who did this Bear Stearns employee vote for in 2000 and 2004. My bet it was Bush. And while working class Americans were losing their jobs that paid decent wages because corporations were shipping them overseas to make bigger profits these investors told us about how corporations needed to make bigger profits.
    All these middle class folks who voted against their own best interests want our sympathy now when they were the same folks blaming the victims who fell before them.


  31. katy Says:

    found some interesting ammunition for the climate change deniers who visit:

    Fashions do change. Global warming denial is out of vogue. Unfortunately, though, the climate change do-nothing set is sporting a new line: “Why should we bother fighting climate change when China’s emissions are increasing?”

    It’s true that China’s galloping economy means that the country’s total emissions are on the rise—they are now the world’s number-one emitter. But China has also unveiled aggressive emissions reduction policies. Indeed, it may be the United States that will need to play catch-up with China, not the other way around.

    read on - it’s short: http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=2275


  32. missmolly Says:

    President Bush thanked Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson yesterday “for working over the weekend” in response to the long-brewing economic crisis.

    —————————————

    The economy has now replaced the war in Iraq as the number one issue for voters. While I’m glad that Paulson cares enough about it to work over the weekend, I doubt that’s going to do much. We are going to need some real fixes for problems like the housing crash, unemployment, the sinking dollar, and skyrocketing debt. So far, Bush’s only solution is “make the tax cuts permanent.”


  33. missmolly Says:

    GSD Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 9:36 am
    For a man with a collapsing economy and two ongoing wars and occupations, Boy George sure laughs and chuckles alot.

    ———————–

    AND tap dances…


  34. katy Says:

    matter of fact, many should find the latest issue of YES to be very informative…

    Climate Solutions: the NEW issue of YES!
    http://yesmagazine.org/


  35. Bluestocking Says:

    Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell recently delivered a speech that contained a story about an historical radio conversation at sea. “This is true. It’s an actual recording,” McConnell said. In fact, McConnell’s story was “untrue. False. Urban naval legend. Never happened.”

    Please…considering some of the things which Bush administration officials have claimed to be true which weren’t/aren’t true, this one is positively tame by comparison. Nevertheless, it raises some distinctly uncomfortable questions. If McConnell wrote this speech himself, why did he reference this supposed recording which doesn’t actually exist — especially since the putative conversation doesn’t relate to intelligence gathering and was simply being used as an illustrative metaphor in the context of his speech (and that in the most tangential way)? Perhaps McConnell — for that matter, the whole administration — could use a little refresher on what happens to people who get in the habit of making claims which prove not to be true (like the Boy Who Cried Wolf, perhaps?) If McConnell didn’t write this speech himself, what does it say about the people on his staff? To say the very least, it’s not an encouraging sign when the Director of National Intelligence includes a factual inaccuracy in a speech, no matter how comparatively trivial it may be — if they’re claiming this as fact without having verified it as such, what other “false facts” might be slipping through?

    And finally: Echoing his infamous declaration in 2005 that former FEMA chief Michael “Brownie” Brown was “doing a heckuva job” responding to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush thanked Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson yesterday “for working over the weekend” in response to the long-brewing economic crisis.

    Bush might be surprised (although probably not interested) to know that for a good many rank-and-file working stiffs, working over the weekend in addition to a full five-day week isn’t just a response to a crisis situation — it’s what they have to do to simply get by, either in the form of a second job or as an implicit expectation of their primary job.


  36. And the beat goes on Says:

    Israel to hold its largest-ever war drill…
    In the face of a possible escalation with Syria and Iran’s efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon, parts of the country will shut down next month in what security officials say will be the largest emergency exercise in Israel’s history.
    The drill, which is being organized by the newly-established National Emergency Authority, will take place over five days starting on Sunday, April 6.

    But first, on Tuesday, a first-of-its-kind hospital emergency exercise will take place to see how Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center would cope with a Grad missile hitting a five-story hospitalization building and an outpatient clinic’s laboratory filled with toxic chemicals and a fire breaking out, requiring patients to be lowered from the roof. Around 100 firemen, 10 fire service vehicles and various other equipment, as well as doctors and nurses, will participate in the drill, to be held between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5909

    Just in case…while we are watching our economic meltdown, don’t forget to watch what else is going on. What do you think this might mean? This makes my blood run cold.


  37. dim wit Says:

    missmolly Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 9:42 am

    Call me a troll if you want because I will blame them. Do you understand they work for an investment firm? an investment firm! These people understand the market and investments and what do they do? They invest entirely in their own company without and regard for diversification. These people are frigin idiots.

    On top of their own stupidity in regards to their own finances, lets not forget, these people essentially bankrupted their own company by making incredibly BAD investment decisions with other people’s money.

    Who else am I suppossed to blame for this? You? Me? that guy waiting for the bus? How about a little accountability for the people actually making the stupid decisions?


  38. Zimzone Says:

    35, Bluestocking…nice post, thank you.


  39. katy Says:

    oh, and last night’s guest on the DAILY SHOW was great… Brian Fagan…
    another twist - DROUGHT…

    “we could go down, but i think more likely we’ll survive, because we’re very clever” - the best part of his lesson… oh, after many millions perish…

    http://www.thedailyshow.com/


  40. tarazan Says:

    Yesterday morning Lawrence Kudlow from CNBC was on MSNBC Morning Joe blaming homeowners. He said home owners created the housing problem because,as he put it, 75% have cheated on their applications.
    But Kudlow made no mention of Borkers,mortgage companies, banks ,real estate agents who worked on and closed the deal.
    He was quickly to blame the homeowners.
    I have no doubt few might have cheated..but 75% of all applicants,sounds way high …!!!.
    Kudlow also said government should not put regulations or interfer with our free markets…but Kudlow said nothing about the Fed pumping billions of dollars to save mismanaged corporations.
    Kudlow provided no support for his claims of applicants cheating,but as usual,he showed a tendency to support corporate greed.


  41. And the beat goes on Says:

    Important Bacteria Cultures Destroyed
    Scientists wonder why the VA killed the collection of Legionnaire’s disease samples.
    Let’s say your 48-year-old husband has just been diagnosed with Legionnaire’s disease in a hospital intensive care unit. You learn that the bacteria causing this disease spread in water supplies, and you have a hot tub at home where your teen-age kids are currently splashing about. How do you find out whether the hot tub was the source of your husband’s infection?

    Until recently, you sent water samples to the Special Pathogens Lab at the Veterans Administration hospital outside Pittsburgh. That’s what Lynn Winn, of Orange, Calif., did in July 2006. But she never got the results, because the VA closed down the lab without processing her samples.

    Six months later, in what infectious disease specialists around the world are calling a tragic, inexplicable act of vandalism, the VA incinerated the lab’s library of 4,000 microbe cultures, including the world’s most important collection of legionella bacteria, collected over a period of nearly 30 years.

    No one seems to understand the point of this deliberate destruction. “My theory is that this was essentially a vindictive act,” sayd Dr. Victor L. Yu, who headed the lab. The VA has said the samples weren’t properly labeled. But Yu and his colleagues flatly deny that, and it seems hard to believe. VA spokesmen in Washington and Pittsburgh did not return several phone calls and emails seeking explanations.

    http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/important-bacteria

    What in the world were they thinking? Why would this have been done?


  42. missmolly Says:

    Shayne Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 9:54 am
    All these middle class folks who voted against their own best interests want our sympathy now when they were the same folks blaming the victims who fell before them.

    —————————-

    You have an excellent point. I have listened to conservatives constantly blame the victim — retirees whose employer has gambled away their pension (it’s their fault for placing their trust in their employer), homeowners who’ve been scammed with bad mortgages (it’s their fault for not reading the fine print), people who have been wiped out by the costs of a catastrophic illness (it’s their fault for not buying better health insurance instead of food) — the list goes on and on.

    Every time I read the smug, pompous ravings of these “personal responsibility” talkers, I think “why are you so certain this could never happen to you?” I’m ashamed admit I’ve even WISHED some could meet with similar disasters, hoping that some empathy might set in.

    I’m certain that some of the burned Bear Stearns employees are these same pompous “personal responsibility” preachers who voted for Bush. And I suppose I should gloat. But I still just feel sad — even though it was the greedhead mindset that caused this.


  43. Wayne Says:

    good_golly Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 10:08 am
    Major League Baseball has forced the closure of an online business run by a Barack Obama supporter

    Ahh, guilt by association?

    Give me a break.


  44. 5th Estate Says:

    “A billionaire just over a year ago when Bear’s stock soared past $160, his [James Cayne, Chairman] 5.8 million shares are now worth about $28 million” ( from the NYT)

    5.8 million x $2 = $11.6 million, NOT $28 million

    From #23 ( dimwit/tarazan, do you have a link for this? )

    ” Cayne, 74, stepped down as CEO in January after 15 years […] He owns 5.6 million shares, which last month were valued at $80 a piece or $449 million. The JPMorgan Chase sale values those shares at just $11.2 million.”

    So where does that 28 million figure come from? Bad math or was Cayne actually able to cash-out at $4 per share?
    As Cayne “stepped down” in January, are we supposed to believe he didn’t cash-in at least some of his stock then? As it went from $160 to $80 over one year he surely would have cashed-in some of it! Assuming $80 and 20% of his total shares he’d still realize $92.8 million.

    I highly doubt Cayne “owns” 5.6 or 5.8 million shares—surely he USED TO OWN that many shares.

    Poor bastard! From Billionaire to mere Centillionaire in one fell swoops! How ever will he put food on his children” now?
    Oh the humanity!


  45. Zimzone Says:

    41, GiGi,
    Is that all you got?

    Really?

    A frigg’n t-shirt vendor violating copyright laws, when the Bush cabal pours $30 Billion into a private financial entity?

    Bring it on, baby! If that’s all you got, you should be worried.

    Very worried.


  46. YouCantHandleDaTruth Says:

    Wait!!! These people didn’t learn from Enron not to do this?!?!?!


  47. jpoke42 Says:

    The last couple of days have really made me stop and ask myself: is there anything good going on with America? Is there anyone out there that can turn this country around? Can America ever make a positive impact on the world as a whole anymore? Does anybody with any ability to change the direction even care anymore? Do the American people even know what is going on?

    Although not an initial Obama supporter, I did see a slight glimmer of hope with him. That is all gone thanks to Hillary, she has already killed any hope and Obama can’t figure out how to deal with her. If Obama can’t deal with her, then does he really have what it takes to deal with the Repubs? Why does it take a Repubican until they are out of power to admit the truth (as they ALL do). Why are the Dems always rolling over for a 24% president.

    I’ll stop my lamentations - its just really starting to get to me and I can’t imagine what kind of world I am leaving for my newly minted triplets.


  48. katy Says:

    oh, and check out last night’s MOMENT OF ZEN

    duby is cross-eyed loopy…


  49. Wayne Says:

    Golly goofy is really grasping at straws.
    Pathetic.


  50. PatrioticLiberalChristian Says:

    I wonder if good_golly knows whether or not McCain paid for the right to parody the Beach Boys (”bomb bomb Iran”).


  51. missmolly Says:

    A New York Times editorial warns that “if the United States government doesn’t stabilize the markets, foreign governments increasingly will, in exchange for an ever larger stake in the American financial system.”

    ———————————————-

    Our leaders are currently viewing foreign loans and investments as a bottomless well. I guess they figure that by the time China owns the whole country, somebody else will be in power and it won’t be their problem.

    Whatever happened to running the country with a view to the future?


  52. backup Says:

    Gov. Patterson shouldn’t really have to talk about problems with his marriage. His situation is obviously very different from Spitzer’s.

    From the little I have seen of Patterson, he seems like a great guy. Refreshing openness from a politician.

    Maybe the Spitzer scandal was a blessing for New York.


  53. Zooey Says:

    My life has been flushed down the drain,” said one Bear Stearns employee. Bear Stearns had always encouraged its 14,000 employees, “from secretaries to top executives, to be long-term holders in the company’s stock, and the employees own over 30 percent of the company.

    I would have thought financial-type people would be smarter than this. Suckers.


  54. Zooey Says:

    And finally: Echoing his infamous declaration in 2005 that former FEMA chief Michael “Brownie” Brown was “doing a heckuva job” responding to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush thanked Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson yesterday “for working over the weekend” in response to the long-brewing economic crisis.

    Oh wow, he worked over a weekend!? Give the man a medal…


  55. Bobwurst Says:

    A U.N.-supported report released yesterday conducted by the World Glacier Monitoring Service at the University of Zurich has found that “most of the world’s mountain glaciers, many of which feed major rivers and water supplies, are shrinking at an accelerating pace as the climate warms

    The cons and trolls know that most of the blue states are on the borders so they’ll gladly sacriifice NY, Ma, Ca, org etc. They’re willing to let fla go, collateral damage, but what they don’t realize is that the gays will just move inland and destroy the sanctity of marriage in ok an ohio.


  56. PatrioticLiberalChristian Says:

    Obama is scheduled to give a speach to attempt to distance himself from Rev. “It’s all Whitey’s fault” Wright who had been Obama’s close spiritual advisor for 20 years, officiated at Obama’s wedding and baptized his two daughters

    I have never agreed with any of my ministers 100%, even the two who married my wife and I, baptized my daughter, or baptized my grandchildren. I don’t even agree with my wife 100%. This is a phony issue meant to derail Obama’s campaign. But, I predict that he will come out of it OK and this will just reinforce the fact that Obama actually attends (physically and mentally) church.


  57. VerbalKint Says:

    “So where does that 28 million figure come from?”

    I read an article which used a figure of $4.75 a share. Where this figure came from I don’t know.


  58. katy Says:

    An aide to Obama, whose speech will be delivered at a historic building across from Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell at 10:15 a.m. EDT (1415 GMT), said the speech will have a strong personal element. Obama worked late into the night on Sunday drafting it.

    hope it’s broadcast later…


  59. Zooey Says:

    Bobwurst Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 10:26 am
    The cons and trolls know that most of the blue states are on the borders so they’ll gladly sacriifice NY, Ma, Ca, org etc. They’re willing to let fla go, collateral damage, but what they don’t realize is that the gays will just move inland and destroy the sanctity of marriage in ok an ohio.

    Works for me. ;)


  60. VerbalKint Says:

    The troll sure is shooting blanks this morning.

    Put down the pop gun, fool. You are looking more pathetic with each post.


  61. backup Says:

    It’s a very tough situation for the Bear Sterns employees, but especially after Enron, you can’t pass the responsibility for overexposure to the companies stock to anyone other than the employees that failed to diversify.

    Having more than 5% of you’re nestegg invested in the company that you work at, is probably too much.


  62. Little Freep Goofballs Says:

    good_golly Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 10:21 am

    Excellent point, GG!

    In that same vein, in order for us judge the credibility of any statements you post here, you should state who your spiritual leader is, and who performed the marriage ceremony for you and Mr. Golly, and who baptized your offspring.

    Fair enough?


  63. DieNowForPeace Says:

    Please, get your own blog, stupid fat Floridian.


  64. Zooey Says:

    katy Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 10:30 am

    An aide to Obama, whose speech will be delivered at a historic building across from Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell at 10:15 a.m. EDT (1415 GMT), said the speech will have a strong personal element. Obama worked late into the night on Sunday drafting it.

    hope it’s broadcast later…

    katy, if you find a link or the text of the speech, can you drop it by the Zoo? I’m going to be gone all day. :(


  65. barfly Says:

    the gays will just move inland and destroy the sanctity of marriage in ok an ohio.

    I think that’s already been accomplished in OK. I know a “family” in Ok of six brothers and two sisters, and every one of them have been divorced (including mom and dad) for cheating on their spouses.


  66. missmolly Says:

    PatrioticLiberalChristian Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 10:30 am
    This is a phony issue meant to derail Obama’s campaign.

    ——————————————

    Amen. I can’t remember any other time when the views of a candidate’s clergyman was made such an issue, although the 1960 accusations that electing Kennedy “would put the Pope in the White House” came closest.

    I have no idea who would actually believe the cherry-picked comments of Jeremiah Wright “prove” that Obama hates white people — except bigots who won’t be voting for Obama anyway.


  67. 5th Estate Says:

    60- VerbalKint

    “So where does that 28 million figure come from?”

    I read an article which used a figure of $4.75 a share. Where this figure came from I don’t know.

    —————-

    So I guess the NYT reporter not only can’t do simple math, the reporter also has no sense of time and tense. It would appear that the NYT reporter is an idiot.


  68. DieNowForPeace Says:

    What did we miss?

    Stupid fat Floridians should know why the primary votes won’t count there, but they’re TOO FAT AND STUPID to remember that when Florida (stupid people) moved their primary, they were WARNED it wouldn’t count.

    FCUKING STUPID A$$ FLORIDIANS.


  69. katy Says:

    Dalai Lama Says He’ll Resign if Violence Escalates
    New York Times - 48 minutes ago
    Gurinder Osan/AP By SOMINI SENGUPTA DHARAMSALA, India - The Dalai Lama on Tuesday invited international observers, including Chinese officials, to scour his offices here and investigate whether he had any role in inciting the latest anti-Chinese …


  70. barfly Says:

    _________________
    Florida voters remain disenfranchised by DNC. Thank you Mr. Dean.

    Didn’t you mean “Florida voters remain disenfranchised, but now it’s by the DNC?”


  71. Cal Malenky Says:

    GOP Golly:
    Our one-woman “truth” squad


  72. stewarjt Says:

    Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria Yes. I just checked. In January this asslicker said the Iraq “war was over.” And I remember before that how he was going around saying it was a big mistake. Now we’re “stuck in the Iraq loop.” This should go to show that this asslicker should never have any credibility even when he agrees with progressives. The same goes for the likes of Wolf, Scar, Howard, Dana and so on and so on.


  73. VerbalKint Says:

    Obviously GG is winging it this morning until the RNC talking points are ready for him.


  74. DieNowForPeace Says:

    The crash in Republican economics

    Not even George W. Bush or Alan Greenspan can sugarcoat America’s financial meltdown. Will the next president seize the chance to rethink how we run our economy?

    New York Times Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman has been telling us for years that the policy pendulum is finally swinging in the other direction. Liberalism is no longer a dirty word, he thunders; it’s high time for government to get back in the business of governing.

    YA THINK?????

    LINK


  75. VerbalKint Says:

    GG will be out of a job come November. The days of 10 cents a post will be over for this idiot.


  76. DieNowForPeace Says:

    Good godly, you’re an complete retarded fcuking fat-body.


  77. backup Says:

    Obama’s relationship to Wright is important for this reason:

    He was in the church for 20 years, Wright married him and Michelle and later baptized Obama’s children.

    I think Obama is responding appropriately; repudiating Wright’s racist and anti-American comments.

    We still have racial problems in the U.S., but after you watch Wright’s comments, and the support he gets from what looks like mainstream blacks of the congregation, I believe that while whites have arguably made some gains when it comes to race, it is possible that racsism in the black community may have been ignored, until now. I am hopeful that Obama can provide leadership on the issue. In his position, he is our best hope to address a situation that has too long been ignored. I’m hopefully anticipating Obama’s comments.


  78. PatrioticLiberalChristian Says:

    gg and JMH should get together and share all their “useful” tips for Democrats — with each other only.

    Obviously GG is winging it this morning until the RNC talking points are ready for him. Then s/he will be “right winging” it.


  79. gitrdone Says:

    I have no idea who would actually believe the cherry-picked comments of Jeremiah Wright “prove” that Obama hates white people — except bigots who won’t be voting for Obama anyway.

    Well…heh, when your 20 years in the church with this bigot, you get your children baptized by this bigot and so on and so on…and you act like you didn’t know he was a bigot…makes you kinda look like a bigot, no??

    But I forgot…only white people can be bigots…whoops, my bad.


  80. Zooey Says:

    good_golly Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 10:37 am

    67. You’re late again Zooey. Drudge already has the full text posted.

    Again? Better schedule that abortion.


  81. Zimzone Says:

    I’d rather have Wright decrying racism in America than some

    Catholic Priest molesting my young boys.

    GiGi? gitrdone?


  82. barfly Says:

    You realize that the Democrats are highly unlikely to win POTUS ‘08 unless they win Florida? So far, it looks like Dean has doomed your chances in that regard.

    And so far, the economy still sucks, the war has no end in sight, our borders are unsecure, as is our food, and toys for our kids, republicans still are incompetents who let a city be flooded, and the electoral map is completely different than in ‘00 - but hold tight to your Florida fantasy, ’cause it’s about all you’ve got.


  83. DieNowForPeace Says:

    Jeremiah Wright speaks for the majority of blacks. His views are shared by the majority of minorities.

    Not surprising is that the truth is hard for racist white idiots to comprehend.


  84. Xisithrus Says:

    A New York Times editorial warns that “if the United States government doesn’t stabilize the markets, foreign governments increasingly will,

    Inflation isnt a way to stabilise it. Neither is bailing them out. Make a law making it illegal for foreign investors to bail them out. We are better off without these money vultures.


  85. DieNowForPeace Says:

    Audit reveals problems with U.S. terror watch list

    Inaccuracies may let terrorists go unnoticed, audit reveals

    WASHINGTON – The government’s terrorism watch list includes inaccurate and outdated information, increasing the risk that innocent people will be misidentified as terrorists while actual terrorists are overlooked, a government audit reported Monday.

    The report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine helps explain why innocent travelers continue to be misidentified as terrorism suspects despite efforts by the federal government to improve its databases of more than 900,000 watch list names.

    LINK


  86. backup Says:

    If David Duke spoke for the majority of whites, would that make it the truth? Should we all just accept the views, because they are shared by the majority?

    Better think through that position again.


  87. RUCerious Says:

    The report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine helps explain why innocent travelers continue to be misidentified as terrorism suspects despite efforts by the federal government to improve its databases of more than 900,000 watch list names.

    This is all Daryll’s fault. If he were doing his job as a low level black box tester for the DOD (Dept of Dufi), these types of glitches would have been caught and corrected.
    Why does Daryll pretend to love jeebus while hating America?


  88. DieNowForPeace Says:

    Please, inbred racist tools,

    Explain how Reverend Wright’s comments are wrong?

    Just because your thin white skin doesn’t like hearing the truth, doesn’t mean you’re right either.

    And since the only one’s decrying his statements are white, I’ll take that as proof that you’re stance is a purely racist one.


  89. RUCerious Says:

    Obama repudiated Wright’s expression on KO the other night, I don’t see McCreamed repudiating Rev Hagee’s hate speech, nor Rod Parsley’s extremist XianFascist views.


  90. backup Says:

    And since the only one’s decrying his statements are white, I’ll take that as proof that you’re stance is a purely racist one.

    Think about this:

    If the only people decrying slavery before the Civil War were black, you would consider their views racist?

    I’m afraid you’re living in a fog, where you believe that the only people who can be racist have white skin.


  91. Xisithrus Says:

    you were a white candidate for President and attended David Duke’s meetings for 20 years, called him your spiritual advisor and had him preside over your marriage etc…, do you think that would be an issue?

    Wright is no different than Hagee.


  92. hussein toasterhead Says:

    backup Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 10:49 am

    I believe that while whites have arguably made some gains when it comes to race, it is possible that racsism in the black community may have been ignored, until now.

    HUH?

    Whites have made some gains when it comes to race? What is that supposed to mean?

    Does this mean whites can finally play in the Negro Leagues or use the Colored water fountains? Or does this mean that whites are finally letting a few token black people into the country club?

    When I look at ongoing issues like voter caging in minority areas or prison sentencing disparities or predatory lending or the ethnic cleansing of New Orleans, I find it hard to see where any “gains” have been made in the area of racism. It’s become more subtle - it’s not lunch counters and dogs and water cannons anymore. But it’s still there, and people like Pastor Wright have PLENTY of reason to harbor some bitterness against the entrenched racism that still exists quite strongly in this country. There’s nothing racist or anti-American about expressing that bitterness.


  93. backup Says:

    If you were in a white congregation and a white preacher spoke about the problem with America were due to black people, you would be expected to dissent, leave the church and repudiate the comments. It would not be acceptable to enable the preacher for 20 years and stand and appauld when he made the comments.

    Wright’s comments are not acceptable. They’re racist. Promoting the double standard, sets the progressive movement back.



  94. Xisithrus Says:

    Hagee promotes killing people so Jesus will come back to earth.

    Thats wholly messed up. Hagee not only wants Semites to persih he wants our troops to perish and about half of America, black and white and brown to perish in some kind oe Lahaye left behind scenario so he can float off [but he wont] to heaven.


  95. hussein toasterhead Says:

    good_golly Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 11:06 am

    94. If you were a white candidate for President and attended David Duke’s meetings for 20 years, called him your spiritual advisor and had him preside over your marriage etc…, do you think that would be an issue?

    Yes. And it’s completely irrelevant.


  96. Xisithrus Says:

    BTW Im not promoting Wrights comments, I am repudiating Wright and Hagee who basically think, pigmentally, the same.


  97. hussein toasterhead Says:

    backup Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 11:13 am

    If you were in a white congregation and a white preacher spoke about the problem with America were due to black people, you would be expected to dissent, leave the church and repudiate the comments. It would not be acceptable to enable the preacher for 20 years and stand and appauld when he made the comments.

    Wright’s comments are not acceptable. They’re racist. Promoting the double standard, sets the progressive movement back.

    It is a double standard. Get the hell over it.

    You seem to be misunderstanding the definition of racism. Racism is an systematic and sustained discrimination against a minority race by a powerful majority. By definition, minorities can’t be racist. They don’t have the power to be racist. They may be predjudiced, sure. They may have a racial bias, fine. But they cannot be racist.


  98. Xisithrus Says:

    On the other hand, John McCain has only just met John Hagee.
    You just cannot equate the two. good_golly

    Dont try and tell me what I can and cannot equate, the fact is both Hagee and Wright have done the same thing for twenty years. McCain knew that full well and your irrational logic and projecting doesnt change the fact.



  99. Xisithrus Says:

    stretch two three four good_golly.


  100. backup Says:

    For those here that want to support Wright’s comments, consider the words of someone who knows Wright well, Barrack Obama:

    Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it’s on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.

    Wright’s comments are not acceptable. You not would support someone that pointed to someone as a problem - just because of their race. If you are unable to see that, you’re ideological presuppositions are clouding your judgement.


  101. Xisithrus Says:

    McCain, on the other hand, only recently met Hagee and has already repudiated his comments.

    Seems to me Hagee hates catholic whiteys. BTW repudiation is repudiation and has no set time limits other than in your goofy argument.


  102. Zooey Says:

    Oh yeah, the trolls ignore anything that doesn’t fall in line with their world view.

    One of the founders of the religious right, Francis Schaeffer, said exactly the same things — and he was a HERO TO THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT.

    Hypocrites.


  103. L. Hussein Annie Says:

    A pal of mine found this, and I thought I’d post it just for goofy_golly - from those well-known anti-American preachers Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson:

    This is from a “transcript” of an interview between Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson on September 13, 2001 on the 700 Club.

    Jerry Falwell: “What we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact, God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.”

    Pat Robertson: “Well, Jerry, that’s my feeling. I think we’ve just seen the antechamber to terror, we haven’t begun to see what they can do to the major population.”

    Falwell: “The ACLU has got to take a lot of blame for this. And I know I’ll hear from them for this, but throwing God…successfully with the help of the federal court system…throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad…I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America…I point the thing in their face and say you helped this happen.”

    Robertson: “I totally concur, and the problem is we’ve adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government, and so we’re responsible as a free society for what the top people do, and the top people, of course, is the court system.”

    Ooooh! Those EVIL ANTI-AMERICAN NUTJOBS!!!!! They must be destroyed!!!


  104. Xisithrus Says:

    McCain knew full well what Hagee has said before kissing his behind for votes. Just meeting him is a moot point gg. Lets not forget what McCain said of Falwell. Agents of intolerance.

    And now he he sucks up to Hagee while repudiating him?

    Only a fool would believe McCains BS.


  105. L. Hussein Annie Says:

    If Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a WHITE MAN - NONE of this would be going on.

    He’s being pilloried BECAUSE HE’S BLACK by the disgusting racists of the lily-white reichwing.


  106. Xisithrus Says:

    Timely repudiation helps show that you really mean it. Long belated repudiation shows nothing more than political intent. good_golly

    No, it only shows that in your mind. Now stop projecting your opinion as some sort of fact, it isnt.


  107. backup Says:

    The progressives here that understand that Wright’s comments are racist and unacceptable need to speak out against it. If you let the comments of those here that defend Wright, it implies support.

    You enable an environment of racism (or reverse racism) here at TP that will eventually make the community less credible and less relevant.

    Evil happens when good people remain silent.


  108. Zooey Says:

    Exactly, L Hussein Annie. See my link at #111.


  109. Xisithrus Says:

    McCain kissing the arses of agents of intolerance [his words]

    Tall about political intent.



  110. Zooey Says:

    backup & goon-golly are racists — they hold a double standard for white and black preachers.


  111. joe cantwell Says:

    good_golly Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 11:26 am

    sorry gg, mcsame sought out hagee’s endorsement, stood with him on stage and embraced him. this will obviously cost mcsame the catholic vote and thus the election (with or without michele bachmann* on the ticket). equally obvious is your deliberate attempt to ignore mcsame’s bond with rod parsley.

    girl you really know how to dissemble don’t you?

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23448170/

    http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1393

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tViqufbk7I8

    *good_golly Says:
    March 17th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
    Soon you may be writing about Vice Presidential Candidate, Michele Bachman.


  112. zuch Says:

    #67 Zooey:

    katy, if you find a link or the text of the speech, can you drop it by the Zoo? I’m going to be gone all day.

    Here ya go.

    Cheers,


  113. backup Says:

    Zooey Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 11:36 am
    backup & goon-golly are racists — they hold a double standard for white and black preachers.

    I’m listening, please elaborate.


  114. PatrioticLiberalChristian Says:

    This Wright = Obama nonsense seems vaguely familiar. Where might I have heard something similar before? Oh, yeah, Saddam = Al Qaeda and “if you’re not with us you’re against us”, that’s where.

    UTTER NONSENSE


  115. MapleStreet Says:

    While the Bear /Stearns employees learn the lesson that its a bad idea to invest heavily in your own company (despite significant pressure from the company to do so).

    The “average joe” saving for retirement will also find that the lower interest rates will decrease their earnings towards retirement. And that is in the “best case” scenario where the fed bailout works.

    More likely is that the govt will be on the hook for various losses of B&S which will contribute to Georgie’s debt. As well as many, many more Enrons coming home to roost.


  116. joe cantwell Says:

    backup Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 11:33 am

    so why haven’t you spoken out against mccsame, hagee, parsley, et al.?

    have you failed to notice that the gop has been in the grip of a squadron of right wing racist ministers for over the last thirty years? why have you remained silent about that? why the double standard? why are you calling yourself “backup” instead of “throwup”?

    the progressive movement needs truth and honesty, if you refused to bring these qualities to the table then get out now. go join gg. he’s alone and he could use a friend.


  117. zuch Says:

    #97 Good_Golly:

    If you were a white candidate for President and attended David Duke’s meetings for 20 years, called him your spiritual advisor and had him preside over your marriage etc…, do you think that would be an issue?

    Let me phrase it somewhat different: “If the Republican Party nominated David Duke for governor of a state, would you think the Republican Party is chock-full of racists azos?”

    Now git.

    Cheers,


  118. Shayne Says:

    I know the hate Reverend Wright feels because that’s how people like Gigi make me feel. Gigi thinks he can dictate what Obama thinks and feels and what we should feel about Obama. The people who don’t haven’t experienced their own anger with what this country has become would never vote for Obama anyway. And I’ll be damned if I’ll let so called news pundits and trolls like Gigi tell me what I should feel about this or any other issue.


  119. hussein toasterhead Says:

    backup Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 11:33 am

    The progressives here that understand that Wright’s comments are racist and unacceptable need to speak out against it. If you let the comments of those here that defend Wright, it implies support.

    Well, I can’t let that implication stand. I’d like to state for the record that I agree with much of what Rev. Wright said and see nothing in any transcript I’ve read so far that needs to be “repudiated.” They are not racist - anything but. They’re not “unacceptable” - they’re the kind of criticism America doesn’t like to hear, but they’re far from “unacceptable.”


  120. backup Says:

    Racism:

    Prejudice or discrimination based on an individual’s race; can be expressed individually or through institutional policies or practices. …

    Wright intimates that black people are repressed by rich, white people. Not by rich people, but by rich, white people.

    There aren’t rich white people that support civil rights and equality? Wright seems to be painting with a pretty broad brush. Also, his comments seem strange in the context of his support of Obama who is a black man that has a majority of white support.

    I would not condon a white preacher preaching to me that problems we face can be blamed on a group of people, just because of their skin color. It’s a racist view.

    I also share Obama’s sentiments, that Wright’s comments are unacceptable.

    Join me and let’s keep the progress going.


  121. zuch Says:

    FWIW, Glenn Greenwald has a good post on the Wright/Hagee issue.

    Cheers,


  122. Ms_Joanne Says:

    Well, well, well, gg finally did something positive. I read Obama’s speech at (shudder) Drudge and it brought tears to my eyes.

    I do hope to see that speech coming from his lips in full on all the stations that have been railing this issue.

    As for ThinkFast…McConnell believes in an urban legend as truth. Swell. And what was his title again? Oh, right, Director of National Intelligence. If that doesn’t sum up in full how deeply in trouble our country is, nothing does. Heck of a job, there Director of National Intelligence McConnell, heck of a job.

    And I wonder what those foreign governments are planning on doing to fix our mess. Thoughts?


  123. backup Says:

    Ms Joanne.

    I haven’t read the text yet, but I’m curious to your take on his message.


  124. joe cantwell Says:

    backup Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 11:51 am

    uh huh… nothing about hagee, parsley, falwell, robertson, copeland, haggard…

    “Evil happens when good people remain silent.”

    you wrote that.


  125. hussein toasterhead Says:

    backup Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 11:51 am

    Wright intimates that black people are repressed by rich, white people. Not by rich people, but by rich, white people.

    They aren’t?


  126. tombaker Says:

    Righties are deeply closeted these days (in oh so many ways) but mostly about their racism. They’ve discovered lots of ways to camouflage it, but at the end of the day they know that “those people” are why “we have so many problems in our cities”.

    p.s. big thank you to Mr. Golly, for peppering the thread with precious and prescient parsimony. where would we be without that beacon of shortbus wit and wisdom?


  127. tombaker Says:

    John McCain’s radical religious supporters advocate the violent overthrow of our own government.

    John McCain’s radical religious supporters scare me way more than Obama’s Minister does.


  128. Tstatguy Says:

    Obviously gigi doesn’t know the struggle a person of color goes through on a daily basis in this country.


  129. Fred Says:

    backup Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 11:33 am The progressives here that understand that Wright’s comments are racist and unacceptable need to speak out against it. If you let the comments of those here that defend Wright, it implies support.

    I got to out you CaptanMantastic…..

    Your remarks are lost here. Most of us who you define as extremists to the left but who are actually just progressives basically agree with Wright. He makes valid points about real life for blacks in America. You don’t want to see that so you are doing what republicans always do……blame the victom.

    The fact that you try to play the racism card is really just sad. It may work on some who are basically racist white people anyway but it won’t play with intelligent people.


  130. backup Says:

    joe cantwell. I’ve got statements at TP against Haggard, Hagee, Robertson, and others who share similar sentiment. I’ll find them for you if you want, but I’ll expect concession if you want me to find them.

    Hate speech is hate speech.

    I oppose republican homophobic positions on gay marriage and I’m an agnostic that many times disagrees with Christian sentiments and bigotry.

    Want me to find the comments?


  131. Shayne Says:

    Ms_Joanne, backup is a concern troll that wants to be your friend. He’s just trying to protect progressives from themselves. Well, isn’t that special.


  132. Tstatguy Says:

    backup Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

    Yes, I’d like to see those posts with a link so we can all go and see what you have previously exposed and disagreed with.


  133. joe cantwell Says:

    backup Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

    are you captainmantastic?

    oh my that is sad…

    “Evil happens when good people remain silent.”

    and evil happens when bad people lie.


  134. joe cantwell Says:

    Tstatguy Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    backup Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

    does he have to concede too?


  135. Chocolate Jesus Says:

    >Wright’s comments are
    >not acceptable. They’re racist.

    Right.. saying the white man has a long history of
    screwing over darker colored people is obviously untrue and racist. The United States never funded central american death squads or other groups who engage in terrorist attacks against civilians. The united states is uniquely good and civilized in the world. Uh huh. Speaking as a totally caucasian person, I can say that Wrights statements, while politically unpopular, are more true than any screwball religous nut screaming about how we need to bomb countries purely for the purpose of kickstarting armageddon.


  136. sketchy41 Says:

    It seems that it’s ok for McCain to ask for and to receive the endorsement of the hate spewer Hagee, and of course, let us not forget all of those $$ that he, McCain and Hagee, will be the benefactors of. It also seems that if money is involved and it’s a republican, it’s always ok….the party of greed and power. If the buck$ are there, it matters not that they spew hate and ignorance……nothing to see here, move along now. The talking heads just keep bobbing along in agreement, offering their usual nothingness.


  137. backup Says:

    Only that I’m not hypocritical in my position against Wright as he suggests in his post.


  138. Shayne Says:

    don’t bother backup, nobody is conceding anything to you. One lesson we all should have learned from Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans is that the white evangelicals consider everybody who isn’t a white elitist disposable. After all Bushco let old white people die just as readily as poor blacks in Louisiana. And these evangelicals blamed everything from abortion to homosexuality to the victims who were too dumb to leave the area even though they had no money or way to leave.

    When I see how easy it is for people like you and Gigi to make me hateful I can understand why Reverend Wright, an EX MARINE, might at times get irritated enough to say things that Obama didn’t agree with and that he probably regretted saying himself later on.

    No I’d appreciate it if you’d take your concern and shove it.


  139. Tstatguy Says:

    I just want him to come through: put up or shut up.


  140. tombaker Says:

    McConnell - Intelligence Director - unaware of Snopes.com.

    only in America.


  141. backup Says:

    backup Says:
    March 12th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

    It says ‘all men’ not ‘all straight men’.

    Discrimination against gays and lesbians is as archaic as discrimination against blacks or women. Time to get past it.

    This was from the post where McCain was condoning Hagee.


  142. joe cantwell Says:

    backup Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 12:11 pm

    still searching?


  143. Chocolate Jesus Says:

    > Gov. Paterson (D) admits to
    > sex with other woman for years.

    A politician committing adultery? Gosh GoobGolly, whats next, a bulletin that bears sh1t in the woods? You truly think this is something unique to one party? its not, its human nature,and the only ones trying to claim they are above it is YOUR people….many of whom are in the closet and particpants in alot more deviant acts that simple adultery. I suppose if this were a republican sex scandal it would read ” Senator Joe Blow (R) denies being gay after being caught codfishing in the urinal at Sizzler Steakhouse”


  144. joe cantwell Says:

    backup Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 12:14 pm

    that’s it?

    how many posts have you had here today alone against rev. wright?

    i got tired counting.


  145. Tstatguy Says:

    Under what topic can we find this quote? It would help if you pointed to it for us and not spoon feed us.


  146. tombaker Says:

    “Not since September 1992, two months before President