And who cares about this very corrupt politician/carpetbagger, whose only claim at purity was a very racist ad run against him by the Know Nothing Party in Tennessee?
Gorilla says: “A clown isn’t any more worthy of a vote than a racist!”
Archive for March 1st, 2010
Don’t Call Me Harold, We’ll Call You
Monday, March 1st, 2010Reshaping? Don’t Make Me Laugh!
Monday, March 1st, 2010The Fed’s Vice Chair retires, and the Washington Post is on the case: “creating a key vacancy and setting the stage for President Obama to reshape the leadership at the Fed”.
This begs the obvious question: Why?
There are currently 2 vacancies on the Fed Board, so now there are 3.
If Obama wanted to reshape the Fed’s leadership, wouldn’t it be a good idea to fill a few vacancies?
And since when is the Vice Chair of the Fed a key position?
Can anyone, including the Post’s editorial board, name one Fed Vice Chairman in the history of the institution?
If someone can, that would be one more Vice Chairman than has ever mattered in the history of the institution.
The chance to reshape the leadership came with Obama’s decision to reappoint Ben Bernanke as Fed Chairman: Obama chose the status quo, so there will be nothing new coming from the Fed.
The Fed’s more or less missed the boat on bubble watching and unemployment since Paul Volcker departed, so what exactly is the change the Post (and the Times, who also think this is a reshaping opportunity) has in mind?
Better regulation? Not when trillions of easy money are still being given to the banks to keep their bubbles afloat.
Better inflation control? The Fed’s been fighting non-existent inflation since Obama came into office. There’s no more committed inflation hawk/peacock than Helicopter Ben.
Better attention to unemployment? Both before and after his reappointment, Chopper Pilot Ben essentially said: “Thanks, but no thanks, you jobless workers are on your own. It’s supposed to be in my remit, but sorry, it’s not my job!”
Gorilla says: “You can beat your head against the wall, our mainstream media remains out of shape!”
A Freedom We’re Not Fighting For
Monday, March 1st, 2010Freedom of the press in Afghanistan, apparently, as the Afghan government has decided to ban live coverage of Taliban attacks.
Other than to demonstrate just how bogged down we are in Afghanistan, it’s difficult to understand how we can continue supporting a government that is doing more to stifle the press than it is to develop the country.
But of course, that’s not consistent with surging, where our general, surrounded by journalists, says about Afghans: “in the near term, they have to feel represented, they have to feel it’s fair”.
Gorilla says: “When your house is blown up, you may not think it’s fair. When you’re covering a house being blown up, you may not think it’s fair. When a corrupt government steals the election, you may not think it’s fair.”
Quote Of The Day
Monday, March 1st, 2010As Euroland continues to grapple with Greece, a successor has already been found to the Greek Deputy Prime Minister in the category “What Not To Say, Whether Bailing Or Bailing Out”:
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker would not say exactly how the EU might combat speculators but told the German business daily Handelsblatt: “We have the torture equipment in the cellar, and we will show them if needed.”
Gorilla thinks: “Time to speculate on who’s off the rack next!”
Another Idiotic Rethink
Monday, March 1st, 2010President Obama’s working on a new nuclear policy: one that eliminates thousands of nuclear weapons without declaring that the US would not be the first to use nuclear weapons in a potential conflict.
In itself, getting rid of these useless weapons is a positive step, as is curtailing investments in more nukes. These are a direct reversal from the Bush Administration’s policy and make efforts at nuclear non-proliferation slightly more credible.
It’s difficult to understand what threats the US currently faces that would require the use of nuclear weapons: terrorists are at best a fifth-rate conventional threat, while countries like Iran and North Korea have not yet demonstrated that they have either the capability to do much damage or wish to engage in national suicide to fulfill their need for recognition.
But it’s also difficult to understand why we continue the proliferation of conventional weapons to fight non-existent wars, nor make much effort to convince Israel, India, Pakistan and other nuclear nations to get serious about joining us one day in a non-nuclear world.
There’s too much atmospherics and too little substance in nuclear policy, so rethinking that doesn’t substantively change the approach to proliferation is a waste of time.
Gorilla says: “We don’t want to look soft, but we do want to look the other way!”
Holy Genocide, Radovan!
Monday, March 1st, 2010Bosnian Serb war criminal Radovan Karadzic began his defense against genocide charges in the Hague by claiming his actions were part of a “holy” war to defend Bosnia-Hercegovina from Muslim takeover.
The massacre at Srbrenica and other attempts at ethnic cleansing of both Muslims and Croats were, in Karadzic’s view, nothing more than self-defense.
Gorilla says: “This amoral, evil dickhead sounds just like our amoral, evil dickhead Cheney!”
