Last Call

One of the major problems with derangements caused by our "Muslim President" President Obama is that Christianity has been totally repressed, even in our military.

Dozens of soldiers who refused to attend a Christian band’s concert at Fort Eustis said they were banished to their barracks and told to clean them up, and the Pentagon said Friday that it was investigating the accusation. Pvt. Anthony Smith said he and other soldiers felt pressured to attend the May concert by the Christian rock group BarlowGirl as part of the “Commanding General’s Spiritual Fitness Concerts.” Private Smith said 80 men decided not to attend. “Instead of being released to our personal time,” he said, “we were locked down. It seemed very much like a punishment.” The Military Religious Freedom Foundation said it had been approached by soldiers who said they were punished for not attending the event.

I mean if you can't punish soliders for not being Christian enough when we're at war with Islam umm anyone Muslim including that Obama bastard no those raghead sunzabitches erm Afghanistan umm Iraq maybe well everybody terrorists yeah that's it then when can you punish them?

I mean come on, look what we're fighting for!



I mean we have the right to hate other religions dammit and we always will!

The Long Road Of Repression

...for Republicans here in Kentucky.  Laugh if you want to.  I'm not.  These jokers are deadly serious:  an African-American Democrat in the White House is disenfranchising the white Midwestern Republican, and after a whole 19 months of this by God they will not take this anymore.

Approximately 65 supporters of Republican nominee Todd Lally’s bid the 3rd District seat in Congress protested outside The Courier-Journal building for an hour Saturday morning, saying the newspaper is not being fair to the candidate.

“We want to protest the non-coverage of the 3rd District race,” said Kevin Dicken, 50, of Fern Creek, a volunteer with the Lally campaign. Lally “represents what I think this country needs” on issues such as health care, the economy and abortion.

The protesters contended the newspaper’s coverage is biased toward Democrats, and, in 3rd District race in particular, has written eight stories about the Democratic incumbent, John Yarmuth, for every story it has written about Lally.

“They do not cover all candidates fairly,” said Sue Weese, 65, of Louisville, another campaign volunteer.

A protestor standing nearby held a sign that read: CJ: Cover all ideas on all political issues.

An e-mail forwarded to the newspaper about the rally at 9 a.m. Saturday said the event was not sponsored by Lally for Congress. Some of those gathered Saturday said the protest was organized by campaign volunteers.

The LCJ of course now has no choice but to endorse Rob Lally and every other Republican on the ballot from now until the end of time,or it's liberal bias and we'll shut you down!  Don't you know how long Republicans in Kentucky -- especially white ones -- have been repressed by liberally biased newspaper coverage in the state?  I mean yeah, sure, Obama lost by 20 points here but that's not the point, that just means you liberals are out of touch with the will of the people in Kentucky!

So yes, you'll see a lot more of this silly season victimization card playing over the next few months and years.  And yes, it has a lot to do with the economy in Kentucky.  But not all of it is based on jobs here.

For weeks and weeks now we've made folks here in the Bluegrass State live under a President they didn't vote for, and they now don't have any choice but to take to the streets.

Holiday Road

Not content with the level of Obama Derangement Syndrome out there this month, the Republicans are now saying that Obama "doesn't deserve" a vacation because "he hasn't fixed America's problems" yet.

For the second straight year, the first family has landed on this island of quaint seaside towns, second homes and working farms for a late-summer getaway.

But this year, more so than last, political opponents are trying to hang a question over the visit: Does President Obama deserve a vacation?

The Republican National Committee has taken to calling Obama "the Clark Griswold president," a mocking reference to the Chevy Chase character in National Lampoon's "Vacation" movies. With unemployment claims climbing again, the GOP was hoping its criticism would have a certain national resonance. And maybe it will. 

Maybe it will, especially if the Village keeps writing stories and giving legitimacy to the idiotic complaints.  At least the WaPo article does mention why the Republicans look completely foolish here:

One potential complication: Obama has spent far less time on vacation than his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, had at this point in his presidency. 

Oh yeah, there is that...

Hey folks, it's not like the GOP has any real solutions to our problems here either.  But that's why it's Obama Derangement Syndrome:  Republicans attack Obama -- and now his family -- brutally for doing what they had no complaints about Bush doing a lot worse earlier.

Even the Village doesn't look terribly interested in following this one.

Way Under Down Under

Don't look now, but the trigger event that may cause the next downward leg in the markets may not have anything to do with Greece, the European Union, China, Russia or even the US.  It may be this weekend's hung parliament election in Australia that may be the catalyst for chaos.

Australia’s dollar may fall and equities investors may look to other markets after the nation’s federal election failed to deliver a majority government for the first time in 70 years, according to market analysts.

Australia’s dollar “will bear the brunt of the uncertainty,” said Su-Lin Ong, senior economist at RBC Capital Markets Ltd. in Sydney. “Political uncertainty, a more unstable government, an obstructionist Senate, and the risk of medium term fiscal slippage as the minor parties exert their influence in a new government are clearly negative for the markets.”

Neither Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard nor opposition leader Tony Abbott gained an outright majority in the Aug. 21 vote, meaning one side must win negotiations with independent lawmakers to form government. The talks, which may last for days as election officials count postal votes, stoke uncertainty about issues such a Labor’s proposed mining tax, infrastructure investment and carbon trading. 

So what the hell does all that mean for the global picture?  Investors have been increasingly avoiding the volatile US dollar, euro, and Japanese yen...and they've been investing heavily in Australia's dollar.  Now all of a sudden the Australian dollar looks unstable as hell thanks to nobody being in charge.  Everyone's looking for the exits, as Tyler Durden explains.

As has been long pointed out on Zero Hedge, the AUD carry pair (either with the JPY, USD or EUR) has been the primary driver of market funding over the past 3 months (we have also pointed out for about 15 weeks that fund outflows are the loud alarum bells for an upcoming stock crash, a topic finally picked up by the NYT). In which case, courtesy of the Australian hung parliament, the market may be in for some tumultuous moves when the forex market opens at 3 PM EST, and looks certain to cut the weekend of the Liberty 33 trading desk early as they plan preparations for what could be a broader based sell off driven by carry evaporation. Reuters explains why the AUD is expected to drop a cent or more when trading resumes: "Australia's two major parties wooed independent lawmakers on Sunday after an inconclusive election left the nation facing its first hung parliament since 1940 and set financial markets up for a sharp sell-off. The Australian dollar and shares are likely to slide when trading resumes on Monday, analysts said, with the vote count threatening to drag on for days and both the ruling Labour party and opposition seemingly unable to win a majority." In other words, with the market correlating nearly 100% with the AUD, all those who went long this market despite the second Hindenburg Omen confirmation in a week, may be in for a rude awakening. 

Odds are pretty good a lot of people are going to get hurt in the markets right now...those who are left, that is.  As goes Australia's dollar carry trade, so goes the global markets right now, and that just went belly up.

Could be a very interesting Sunday afternoon here.

The New Normal

Discussing Keynesian vs. Austrian economic theory with some friends yesterday, it boils down to the question of what to do to get us out of this ditch.  Cutting taxes aren't going to help because the problem isn't supply.  But more stimulus isn't the answer because now it's too late:  we're already stuck in the demand/unused capacity spiral and the stimulus we did have did a lousy job of getting to where we needed it.

We're in a place where neither straight Keynesian stimulus nor straight Austrian deregulation will fix the problem.  We need a third way out, because the problem is not business, but the American consumer.

Across the industrial parks and office towers of the Chicago region, in a more than a dozen interviews, senior executives said they see Americans for years ahead paying down debts incurred during the now-ended credit boom and adjusting spending to match their often-reduced incomes.

"It's a different era," said Daryl Dulaney, chief executive of Siemens Industry, which has 30,000 U.S. employees who make lighting systems for buildings and a wide range of other products. "Our hiring and investment decisions have to be prudent and reflect that."

Executives see little evidence that the economy is slipping back into recession. But they describe a business environment in which sales come in fits and starts and their customers can't predict what they will want to buy in the future.

"In the past, our customers had more long-term vision on what they're going to need," said Bill Larsen, president of Larsen Packaging Products in Glendale Heights, Ill. Now, he said, "they don't know what they're going to need and when they're going to need it."

Larsen's company sells boxes and other packaging materials to all types of companies, so its sales closely reflect overall economic activity. Those sales have been swinging widely from month to month.

When companies decide whether to hire workers or invest, say, in a new factory, this kind of volatility and uncertainty about future conditions makes for a strong disincentive. 

We're deep in the self-sustaining part of the downward spiral now.   Global competition means hiring new workers and creating more capacity is difficult, but even more difficult because our consumer-driven economy is now rapidly running out of consumers still able to consume.

And without that investment in workers and wages, there's no additional money to spur consumption and increase demand.

Congress is paralyzed and will continue to be well into 2012.  The Fed can't do much of anything right now short of massive quantitative easing, but even then that will just get parked on.

We had our chance and we blew it.  Now it's too late to do much of anything.  No wonder the government's shifted to concentrating the coming suffering among those who are least likely to be able to do anything to stop it.

No Difference, They're All Corrupt

People tell me Obama's just like Bush, Alan Grayson is just like Michele Bachmann, Harry Reid is just like John McCain, Nancy Pelosi is just like John Boehner.  There's no difference between Republicans and Democrats, so why vote and why bother caring?  Parties are for dupes and suckers.

But hey, these new Tea Party guys, I'm told, aren't career politicians.  They're different.  We should give them a try.

Guys like GOP candidate for Governor Carl Paladino.  I mean he has to be better than Eliot Spitzer or David Paterson, right?

Republican candidate for governor Carl Paladino said he would transform some New York prisons into dormitories for welfare recipients, where they could work in state-sponsored jobs, get employment training and take lessons in "personal hygiene."

Paladino, a wealthy Buffalo real estate developer popular with many tea party activists, isn't saying the state should jail poor people: The program would be voluntary.

But the suggestion that poor families would be better off in remote institutions, rather than among friends and family in their own neighborhoods, struck some anti-poverty activists as insulting.

Paladino is competing for the Republican nomination with former U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio. The primary is Sept. 14.

Paladino first described the idea in June at a meeting of The Journal News of White Plains and spoke about it again this week with The Associated Press.

Throughout his campaign, Paladino has criticized New York's rich menu of social service benefits, which he says encourages illegal immigrants and needy people to live in the state. He has promised a 20 percent reduction in the state budget and a 10 percent income tax cut if elected.

Here you go, smelly poor people.  Let's round you up and put you in "voluntary" work camps.  I'm sure they'll have a lot of options making Palladino's plan "voluntary" with a 20% budget cut across the board, too.  If it only were that easy...

What Palladino isn't telling New Yorkers is that a 20% budget cut in a state like New York means getting rid of everything short of police, fire, and schools...and making massive cuts in all those as well.  Everything.  What welfare program?  Exactly what does a semi-permanent underclass housed in old prisons far from the rest of New Yorkers accomplish?

Other than being a difference from the old politicians?

[UPDATE] Karoli at Crooks & Liars notes the far more obvious "round them up and put them into camps" mentality that Palladino displays here, as does Digby.

Last Call

If I didn't know better, I'd say Manu Raju of Politico was openly rooting for Harry Reid to lose.

As Republicans tie him to the state’s economic tailspin and highlight his penchant for politically damaging gaffes, Harry Reid seems to have conceded he’s going to remain the same unpopular figure here between now and Election Day.

None of it matters, though, as long as he finds a way to finish first on Election Day.

“The only approval rating that counts is the one on Nov. 2, OK?” Reid told POLITICO outside a local community center when asked why he has not been able to turn around his low approval ratings.

It’s called winning ugly, and it’s an approach Reid is at peace with as he seeks a fifth term under the worst imaginable political conditions.

Reid is trying to make the case that the state can’t afford to lose him, citing his power as Senate majority leader and the projects he has delivered throughout the state. Yet, his campaign largely has been focused on the foibles of his GOP opponent — Sharron Angle — and the theme that the tea party favorite holds “dangerous” policy positions.

Angle has been deeply damaged by the relentless attacks but if she can steady her campaign and undermine the notion that she is an extremist candidate, there’s much material for her to work with. At the top of this is the state’s frightening 14.3 percent unemployment rate.

Now keep in mind this is a news story on the Reid-Angle race, you'd be remiss if you thought this was the op-ed section.

Poor, poor Sharron Angle.  She's the victim here against mean ol' Harry Reid.  You're supposed to feel sorry for Angle for picking on her...shade of 2008 and a certain Alaskan Governor.

Pretty neutral, eh?  Gotta love the Village.

This Just In...

Republicans are partisan hacks trying to score cheap political points.  Shocking, I know.  Steve Benen:

It's pretty obvious that the U.S. market has been in a crisis situation for far too long. By any reasonable measure, 2010 is vastly better than 2009, but with the unemployment rate pushing 10%, and initial claims for unemployment insurance climbing to 500,000 last week, the scope of the problem is enormou

But that's no excuse for partisan nonsense. House Ways and Means ranking member Dave Camp (R-Mich.) issued a "report" yesterday, showing that -- get this -- the nation has lost jobs over the last year and a half. "While Democrats promised their 2009 stimulus would create 3.7 million jobs, the reality is far different," stated a release from Camp's office. "To date, 2.6 million jobs, including 2.5 million private sector jobs, have been lost."

This is lazy, intellectually dishonest drivel. That it's coming from someone who may be the next chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee is more than a little distressing.

Even a House Republican should be able to understand the reality here. When the Recovery Act passed, the economy was in freefall. When President Obama was sworn into office, the economy was losing nearly 800,000 jobs a month. By Camp's absurd reasoning, a recovery effort that didn't magically transform the entire economy, and instantly stop the job losses, necessarily constitutes failure. It's the kind of ridiculous argument one might hear from a partisan hack, desperate to score a cheap, baseless point, but leading members of Congress should know better.

They should, but they don't give a damn.  Obama's a socialist Kenyan Muslim who pals around with terrorists and who is going to destroy America.  And this is also coming from members of Congress who should know better.

They don't care.  Never will.  It's all about getting back into power.  Nothing else, including the American people, matters.

A Notable Failed Bank In This Week's Busted Banks

We're up to 114 in 2010 now.  Eight banks went down this week, in Florida, California and Virginia, as the total keeps rising.  But it's the eighth failed bank this week, number 114 this year, that's a bit different.

ShoreBank, a privately owned bank known for its philanthropic activities, had received multi-million dollar investment commitments in recent months from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Bank of America, as well as from General Electric.

But the bank, which was put on the ropes when the recession hit its lower-income borrowers especially hard, was unable to secure the funds it was seeking from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, it needed to match private-sector pledges.

ShoreBank's deposits will be taken over by a newly chartered institution called Urban Partnership Bank (UPB). Its 15 branches also will shift to the new bank.

In other words, ShoreBank was trying to invest in lower-income residents of Chicago when no one else would.  The money finally ran out...you see, Wall Street nor the government would help them out.

Attempts to rescue ShoreBank have played out in the media for months, with lawmakers and watchdogs questioning whether special treatment was being given to the bank.

ShoreBank is located on Chicago's South Side near the home base of President Barack Obama and some of his top aides, and the bank has promoted on its website connections to Obama.
ShoreBank has received national recognition over the years for its efforts to extend loans to low-income communities and environmental cause.

It has some prominent supporters with strong ties to Washington, including Ellen Seidman, former director of the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision, and Eugene Ludwig, former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency.

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who represents Chicago's North Side, lobbied Wall Street banks this year to save the 37-year-old bank. She has blamed Wall Street's "recklessness" for the foreclosure crisis that precipitated ShoreBank's losses.

But bank activity with a philanthropic bent has not been profitable lately. For the quarter ending March 31, ShoreBank reported a $17.1 million operating loss, compared with an operating profit of $384,000 in the year-earlier period.

And now we see why.  It became politically unprofitable to help lower-income residents in Chicago with Obama as President.  No doubt the bank had to go.  Too vulnerable to the President coming under attack, and not worth trying to defend it.  Wall Street banks on the other hand, too big to fail.

That's the America we live in, where helping lower-income people secure a loan is in an of itself a potential crime.  Then again, so is being Muslim, Latino, gay, black, or liberal...
And poor.

That's About The Right Of It

The Rumpies explain the 2010 GOP platform:




It's truly sad that this is more correct than not.

Zandar's Thought Of The Day

It is difficult to reconcile these ideas, but I will attempt to anyway.

1) Any accusation of rape must be taken with absolute seriousness and must be fully investigated.  No exceptions.  None.

2) There are those who have openly said that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange must be destroyed and Wikileaks stopped by whatever means necessary.

3) Julian Assange has been accused of rape in Sweden.

A spokeswoman for the Swedish prosecutors office says WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is wanted on suspicion of rape and he should contact police for questioning.

Spokeswoman Karin Rosander tells The Associated Press that a prosecutor in Stockholm issued an arrest warrant for Assange late Friday and that authorities have not yet heard from him.

Rosander says Assange is suspected of molestation and rape in two separate cases and "should contact police so that he can be confronted with the suspicions."

Assange denied the charges Saturday on WikiLeaks' Twitter page, saying they "are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing."

Needless to say, Assange doesn't have a choice other than to turn himself in and face this investigation.

[UPDATE] Except now I'm hearing news that Swedish authorities have withdrawn the warrant citing the allegations are unfounded?!?

Now this is getting crazy.

On Moving Park 51

Former Dubya-era State Department official Karen Hughes argues that the best solution to the Cordoba House/Park51 project is for supporters to turn the other cheek, accept the country's judgment, and to agree to move it to another location.

Unfortunately, the conversation has become overheated, politicized and counterproductive. I believe that most Americans who oppose locating a mosque near Ground Zero are neither anti-freedom nor anti-Muslim; they just don't believe it's respectful, given what happened there. I say that as someone who strongly believes that the Sept. 11 attackers and other members of al-Qaeda do not represent any faith, but instead taint all faith with their acts of murder. I met many Muslims around the world who feel that, along with airplanes, the terrorists hijacked their religion.

When my fellow Americans ask why more Muslims don't speak out against such violence, I respond that they do -- and I met many who were vocal in their condemnation of al-Qaeda and its acts of terror. Osama bin Laden wants to portray our efforts against terrorism as the West vs. Islam; we must work hard to portray them as civilized people of many faiths vs. a death cult.

That's why I believe it is so important that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his congregation make what I fully understand would be a very difficult choice: to locate their mosque elsewhere. Putting the mosque at a different site would demonstrate the uncommon courtesy sometimes required for us to get along in our free and diverse society.

I recognize that I am asking the imam and his congregation to show a respect that has not always been accorded to them. But what a powerful example that decision would be. Many people worry that this debate threatens to deepen resentments and divisions in America; by choosing a different course, Rauf could provide a path toward the peaceful relationships that he and his fellow Muslims strive to achieve. And this gesture of goodwill could lead us to a more thoughtful conversation to address some of the ugliness this controversy has engendered. 

Sometimes, the right answer is to do the wrong thing for the right reasons, and the reasons Hughes gives are compelling.  It is far easier for Imam Rauf to move his proposed community center and place of worship then it is to battle millions of Americans who do not find his actions respectful.  It is an opportunity to try to end the controversy through being an adult rather than digging in and being stubborn and child-like.  Life is about compromise in any national society.  It is a move designed to show respect towards and shame those who choose not to respect you.  Sometimes indeed the right answer is to surrender for the greater good.

Not everyone who is against the Park51 project is an anti-Islamic bigot.  Let's get this out of the way right the hell now.  As I have said, the reasons behind Hughes's argument are a sincere concern for fostering the greater good and to avoid conflict.  I believe after reading this article that she is genuinely concerned that if the Park51 project is built, there will be nothing but strife, anger, and violence from those who wish the project serious harm.

Sometimes the answer is to surrender now and to fight the good fight later.  And with all due respect to Karen Hughes and her diplomatic credentials and the idea of using diplomacy to further relationships between American Muslims and Americans in general...

This is not one of those times.

I have only to drive a mile or so from my home to the proposed site of a mosque being protested by anonymous fliers that threaten "the takeover of this country" if the mosque is built here, some 700 miles from Ground Zero.  My current home is too close to Lower Manhattan to allow a mosque to be built.  As Adam Serwer reminds us:




Plenty of Americans say Muslims do not have the right to build mosques in the United States. 48% of us, as a matter of fact, wish to deny Muslims their rights under the Constitution, including 14 percent of Americans who say no mosques should be built anywhere in the US.

Exactly how will moving the Park51 project solve this much larger issue? The simple truth is that it will not.  It will only throw the spotlight onto the next mosque project being protested.  That project too will be asked to shut down or move.  And the next.  And the next.  And the next.

Until the 14% have their way.  That is the only logical endpoint of such capitulation...unless a stand is taken.  If we as a country decide that the Constitution does not apply to Islam here, then it does not apply to Islam anywhere in the United States of America.  You cannot say that the people behind Park51 have the right to build a place of worship within the laws and then say they do not have the right to exercise it.

If you apply the "can they yes, should they no" argument, then there are those who will demand that Islam be removed from the United States of America, period.  Can they worship at existing mosques yes, but should they?  Can they practice Islam in the United States, yes...but should they?  Can we allow Muslims in the United States yes, but should we?

Capitulating on Park51 is the easy thing to do.  Nothing worthwhile in life is ever easy.  We are already seeing the results of what will happen no matter what Park51 does or where it is placed:  it will not stop those who are the bigots, those who want Islam and their adherents erased from the American landscape, those who see no difference between the people who attacked us on 9/11 and the people who are building Park51 or any mosque in America or any Muslim in America period.

Moving the Park51 project will not slake their anger.  Period.

Sometimes, the correct choice is the difficult one:  to stand for what is right and just and lawful especially when it is unpopular.  It is at this point when standing for the difficult but right position is the most necessary.

Build it.  Show those who say that America is full of hate that hate can be conquered through real freedom.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been charged with rape and molestation in Sweden.
• Mediator Ken Feinberg takes on the task of assigning a dollar value to the BP oil spill.
• Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr will begin taking on nuclear fuel under Russian guidance today.
• The IMF is lining up major financial aid to deal with Pakistan's unprecedented flooding disaster.
• Scientists say rising temperatures could interfere with the ability of trees to act as carbon sinks, contributing to even more heat.

Last Call

Your final lesson this evening:

Sun Tzu once said, "If you are bound by strict rules of engagement in battle...

There's a lot of startling news in these polls — from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and Time magazine. But one number that could catch significant attention is this: in the Time poll, 46 percent of Republicans said they believe Obama is a Muslim.

...and your opponent does not recognize these rules...

Time asked a question that gave more prominence to the possibility Obama is Muslim, but also may have drawn out more subjective feelings from respondents:

Do you personally believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim or a Christian?

...then you have already lost the battle."

Ahh, the August sounds of crazy winger dog whistles.  When you hear "Is Obama a Muslim" substitute a word for "Muslim" that begins with the next letter of the alphabet.

The letter N.

Here endeth the lesson.

Conflict Avoidance

This CNN article is a perfect example of why Republican obstruction is working.

Bringing up divisive issues that distract from fixing the country's economic woes will only create cracks in the bridge between the two major parties and independents, said Omar H. Ali, an independent voting analyst and professor at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

"Right now, there is a movement for nonpartisan reform in America and independents are leading that movement," Ali said. "In some ways, this issue with the mosque is the latest attempt of trying to gain partisan interest against the Democrats. ... But Democrats do the same thing to the Republicans [on other issues.]"

They do?  Right, because Democrats are trying to take away Constitutional rights from...whom, exactly?

Independents, he said, are the watchdogs and "conscience of America" when it comes to issues like the economy. The blame game over who caused the economic recession only highlights what is wrong in American politics today, Ali said.

"Americans generally are very concerned about the economic state of the nation with rising unemployment and joblessness," he said. "Independents feel that way but they're much more attuned to the fact that economic downturn is connected to a poor political process, which keeps power concentrated in the hands of deeply partisan interests -- namely the two major parties."

Yep.  Gotta love it.  Dems are just as bad as Republicans, and we're sick of both of them.  As long as idiocy like this reigns supreme as conventional widom, that both parties are equally guilty of failing America when the Democrats are trying to fix things and the Republicans are blocking any and all legislation from passing, then nothing will improve.

Our process is broken, alright.