Saturday Shuffle

Rolling Thunder - Ride
Walk the Dogs - Royal Fam
Something - The Beatles
I Alone (live) - Live
Napoleon (live) - Ani DiFranco
Never Believe - Ministry
Lovelife - Lush
School - Nirvana
Coin-Operated Boy - The Dresden Dolls
Doctor Rock - Ween

Saturday Shuffle

Get Low - Lil' Jon and the Eastside Boyz
Message in a Bottle (live) - The Police
No. 13 Baby - The Pixies
And The Dance Goes On - The Mission UK
Venus in Furs - The Velvet Underground
Cowboy - Kid Rock
Into Dust - Mazzy Star
Little Man, What Now? - Morrissey
I Burn For You - The Police
Don't Give Up - Peter Gabriel

Do the right thing

Well, George, here's your chance.

 

While it will not--by the longest of long shots--atone for what your policies have wrought over the last eight years, you now have the opportunity to do whats right for the country and working Americans.  Word is, you and Paulson are thinking about using part of the $700B TARP funds to supply the rescue loan for the Detroit Three.

 

It's time to stop thinking and start doing.

 

After years of trying to convince us that things like pre-emptive war, torture, unlawful surveillance, and indefinite detention without trial are in our best interests, here is a no-brainer.  Jobs and American industry?  No convincing necessary.

 

By way of contrast, your brethren in the Seante have decided that crucifying the UAW is what's in America's best interests.  Now, maybe they were figuring you'll step in and leave them blameless for whatever happens: spending the money or the industry collapsing through their inaction.  Maybe it's a calculated move to give you one, last "white horse" moment with which to shore up your legacy and go out on a high note.

 

I don't care why they did it and frankly, doubt that either was the case.  Breaking the union was the purpose, here, no matter the cost.  The election is over and with it the pandering to blue collar interests.  In their minds, that union membership card trumps the bluest of collars, and puts the worker squarely in the enemy camp.

 

Legacy time, Mr. President. 

 

Years ago, you famously talked about the choice to stand with us or stand against us.

 

What's it going to be?

Russian Roulette usually endangers only one

Leave it to the GOP to manage to draw a bead on everyone else, too:

Cheney: It's 'Herbert Hoover' time

Senate Republicans' dramatic revolt against a White House-backed auto industry rescue plan is fraught with political risk.

While the high-stakes gambit places them squarely within the mainstream of anti-bailout public sentiment, at the same time it exposes the party to potentially devastating criticism that its failure to compromise doomed the Big Three automakers and deepened the economic recession.

...By opposing the automaker bailout, Republicans now find themselves vulnerable to charges that they are insensitive to ailing American auto companies and the millions of workers reliant on the domestic auto industry, a problem compounded by their inability to rally around a clear alternative to the $14 billion package of loans that had been backed by Democrats and the White House.

Administration officials have been warning for weeks that failure to pass the bill could lead to an even deeper recession.

That was the message Vice President Dick Cheney brought to a closed-door Senate GOP lunch Wednesday, reportedly warning that it'll be "Herbert Hoover" time if aid to the industry was rejected, according to a senator familiar with the remarks.

Dick Cheney thinks this stand is out of line.

Think about that.

Dick.

Cheney.

When *that* raging liberal can hear the train coming, you just might want to get off the track.

Detroit Three rescue plan collapses

This is all manner of not good:

A $14 billion emergency bailout for U.S. automakers collapsed in the Senate Thursday night after the United Auto Workers refused to accede to Republican demands for swift wage cuts.

...The implosion followed an unprecedented marathon set of talks at the Capitol among labor, the auto industry and lawmakers who bargained into the night in efforts to salvage the auto bailout at a time of soaring job losses and widespread economic turmoil.

"In the midst of already deep and troubling economic times, we are about to add to that by walking away," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the Banking Committee chairman who led negotiations on the package.

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the GOP point man in the talks, said the two sides had been tantalizingly close to a deal, but the UAW's refusal to agree wage concessions by a specific date in 2009 kept them apart.

The autoworkers' contract doesn't expire until 2011.

"We were about three words away from a deal," said Corker. "We solved everything substantively and about three words keep us from reaching a conclusion."

In case you were wondering just how much the Republican party hates unions, I give you Exhibit A. We're going to have an absolute bloodbath on our hands when the markets open, tomorrow.

It's reprehensible that the Senate GOP is so hell-bent on bending the UAW over that they're willing to risk the collapse of the domestic auto industry. For months, all we heard was Joe Sixpack this and Joe Sixpack that. Guess if ol' Joe has a union card in his wallet, he doesn't matter quite so much.

A word on Rod Blagojevich

Jackass.

Removing the log from our own eye

Good.

Anh 'Joseph' Cao beats Rep. William Jefferson in 2nd Congressional District

Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson suffered what may be the final blow of his storied political career in the most improbable way Saturday, when an untested Republican opponent took advantage of Louisiana's new federal voting rules -- and an election delay caused by Hurricane Gustav -- to unseat the nine-term Democrat.

With the upset victory, Anh "Joseph" Cao, a eastern New Orleans attorney who fled war-ravaged Saigon as a child, becomes the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. He will represent a district that was specifically drawn to give African-Americans an electoral advantage and one in which two of every three voters are registered Democrats.

...Cao said he began eyeing a run for the 2nd District seat shortly after a Virginia grand jury indicted Jefferson last year on charges of bribery and public corruption following revelations in 2005 that FBI agents found $90,000 in marked bills in his freezer and linked him and several relatives to a wide-ranging bribery scheme.

I guess the feds finding $90K stuck between your Klondike Bars and Tater Tots does present an opponent with a rather ripe opportunity, eh?

Not shedding any tears for Rep. Frigidaire, that's for sure. Dems like that, we don't need. It would've been a thorough embarrassment to see Ted Stevens voted out and Jefferson remain. If ever there was a time to start with a clean slate--well, at least as clean as possible--this is it. Pretty hard to work on an agenda when our reps keep having to answer questions about being able to caucus with Mr. Freeze.

Saturday Shuffle

Surf Beat - Dick Dale & the Del-Tones
Asian Rut - Morrissey
Wild Thing (live) - Jimi Hendrix
Where Is My Mind? - The Pixies
We Can Work It Out (live) - Tesla
Surf Rider - The Lively Ones
Pride & Joy (live) Stevie Ray Vaughn
Wail - The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
I Woke Up In A Strange Place (live) - Jeff Buckley
Spacegrass (live) - Clutch

Kind of a "live" week, I guess...

This man wears a robe?

Via Politico:

SCOTUS to debate Obama citizenship?

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide Friday whether to take up a case over president-elect Barack Obama’s citizenship — one of a few around the country seeking to nullify his election, but this one has an interesting lineage. It was referred to the high court by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s only African-American justice.

Maybe Thomas is just returning the favor — putting through a case that questions whether Obama should be president, after Obama said he wouldn't have picked Thomas for the high court.

Awesome addition to this already pathetic "story."

If this explanation bears even a passing resemblance to how this actually materialized--and the fact that Justice Souter already told the plaintiff to hit the bricks adds to the suspicion--then Thomas sounds like he should be sporting a diaper, instead.

Not gone. Not over.

Not cured.




http://www.aids.org/

http://www.amfar.org/

http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/

http://www.until.org/

Saturday Shuffle

Deity (live) - Ministry
Rock You Like a Hurricane - The Scorpions
Gimme Shelter - Sisters of Mercy
Ring of Fire (live) - Social Distortion
Explosivo - Tenacious D
Supersonic - Bad Religion
Invasion of the Octopus People - Invisibl Skratch Piklz
Hypnotize - Audioslave
Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
Elephant's Graveyard - Strike Under

Death by Commerce

Seriously, WTF?

Wal-Mart worker dies after shoppers knock him down

By COLLEEN LONG, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK – A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday when "out-of-control" shoppers desperate for bargains broke down the doors at a 5 a.m. sale. Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers shouted angrily and kept shopping when store officials said they were closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.

..."This crowd was out of control," said Nassau police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming. He described the scene as "utter chaos."

...Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said shoppers were acting like "savages."

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling 'I've been on line since yesterday morning,'" she said.
"They kept shopping."

"Savages" doesn't begin to describe this bunch of rabid animals.

While out-of-control crowds have claimed lives the world over, there's just something so quintessentially "us" about this particular horror. If you want a picture of Americans at their stereotypical worst, you simply cannot do any better than hordes of holiday shoppers enraged that a little thing like a person's death is thwarting them in their quest for a bargain big-screen TV.

But that's afterward.

Wal-Mart set this whole situation in motion.*** You lower prices in order to attract people and couple that with quantities that will, in no way, meet demand, prompting everyone to try and be first to get one of the fifteen or twenty items you have in stock. You further stir the pot by opening up at dawn or earlier so people are waiting through the wee hours in cars or the cold to get their crack at the merchandise. Mix in a couple THOUSAND people (as was the case, here) and you have the nerve to say this?

"The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top
priority," said Dan Fogleman, a company spokesman.

I defy anyone to point out where "safety and security" entered the equasion.

To be sure, accidents happen. Certain jobs have certain risks. Flying planes, fighting fires, law enforcement, etc., all have inherent dangers you must accept to do the work. Retail, however, is NOWHERE on that list.

Large crowds were not a side-effect in this situation; they were the expressly intended goal and any legitimate prioritization of "safety and security" demands exterior crowd management, not just having enough cashiers on hand to take the money.

Whatever the case, Mr. Damour is still dead. And for what? A $300 laptop? An $800 HDTV? Matching a quarterly profit forecast?

Merry Christmas, indeed.

***As did every other retailer who follows a similar "Black Friday" strategy. They ALL roll the same dice; Wal-Mart--and it's employee--were just the ones to lose, this time around.

Saturday Shuffle

Lorca Not Orca - Coil
Into the Sky (live) - Switchblade Symphony
Welcome 2 The Party - Kid Rock
I Keep Coming Back - The Afghan Whigs
Melon Yellow - Slowdive
Talking Loud and Saying Nothing - James Brown
Coming Down (Butchered Mix) - The Cult
Bombers - David Bowie
Misdirected Hostility - 311
Down Under - Pennywise

How not to plead poverty

Not a good sign:

(CNN) -- Some lawmakers lashed out at the CEOs of the Big Three auto companies Wednesday for flying private jets to Washington to request taxpayer bailout money.

"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

"It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious."

He added, "couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it."

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, asked the three CEOs to "raise their hand if they flew here commercial. Let the record show, no hands went up. Second, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand if you are planning to sell your jet in place now and fly back commercial. Let the record show, no hands went up."

Talk about twisting the knife.

Everyone knows corporate jets are a drop in the bucket compared to the dollar figures being thrown around for this rescue loan; at this point, these reps are clearly going out of their way to embarrass the Detroit Three CEOs. This sort of turn shows there's some serious pent-up anger that we're seeing. Maybe it's a grudge over the autos' obstinancy over fuel standards after the Summer of $4=/gallon. Maybe they finally have a target they feel they can afford to kick hard enough to appease constituencies still smarting over the AIGs and the like.

Either way, things are NOT looking good for Detroit and Michigan's one-state recession.

UAW Prez needs a wheelbarrow

...just to move around with balls this big:

Auto Workers Union Rules Out Concessions To Help Detroit Bailout

Ron Gettelfinger, the union president, said at the weekend that "the focus has to be on the economy as a whole as opposed to a UAW contract"...

..."We're here not because of what the auto industry has done", Mr Gettelfinger said during a rare press conference. "We're here because of what has happened to the economy." The union represents blue-collar workers at assembly plants, as well as several parts suppliers.

I tried crafting a thoughtful response for quite some time, but the most effective counterpoint I came up with was:

Are you shitting me?

Ronnie, WE'RE here because of what has happened to the economy.

YOU'RE here because of what the auto industry--management and union--has done, and you should be ashamed of yourself for suggesting otherwise.

With years of fat contracts and SUV-centric business plans, management and labor both fiddled while Detroit burned. I still have a ring-side seat and even I'm torn on a Detroit Three bailout. I'm no economist, but I can easily see the economic devastation that could result as a major automaker collapse cascades to workers, suppliers, vendors, etc.

But that doesn't mean I should be on the front lines, alone.

It comes down to fiscal solvency and, contrary to Mr. Gettelfinger's whiny finger-pointing, union contracts are an inextricable part of that.

Suck it up, Mr. G.

If my tax dollars are going to go towards saving your ass, you damn well better be prepared to get your pocketbook pinched, first.

Best. "Humor story." Evar.

From out of the mouths of the Onion-ers. Read ALL of it:

God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule

NEW YORK — Responding to recent events on Earth, God, the omniscient creator-deity worshipped by billions of followers of various faiths for more than 6,000 years, angrily clarified His longtime stance against humans killing each other Monday.

"I don't care how holy somebody claims to be," God said. "If a person tells you it's My will that they kill someone, they're wrong. Got it? I don't care what religion you are, or who you think your enemy is, here it is one more time: No killing, in My name or anyone else's, ever again."

The press conference came as a surprise to humankind, as God rarely intervenes in earthly affairs.

..."I tried to put it in the simplest possible terms for you people, so you'd get it straight, because I thought it was pretty important," said God, called Yahweh and Allah respectively in the Judaic and Muslim traditions. "I guess I figured I'd left no real room for confusion after putting it in a four-word sentence with one-syllable words, on the tablets I gave to Moses. How much more clear can I get?"

"But somehow, it all gets twisted around and, next thing you know, somebody's spouting off some nonsense about, 'God says I have to kill this guy, God wants me to kill that guy, it's God's will,'" God continued. "It's not God's will, all right? News flash: 'God's will' equals 'Don't murder people.'"

Bedlam is dreaming of rain...

As is Santa Barbara, and Sylmar, and the rest of Orange County...

Saturday Shuffle

Before I Sleep - Mazzy Star
Mardy Bum - Arctic Monkeys
Starfuckers, Inc. - Nine Inch Nails
I Am Legend - White Zombie
Mama Kin (live) - Guns 'N Roses
Voodoo Lady (live) - Ween
Black Moon Creeping - The Black Crowes
A Little Bitter (live) - Alice In Chains
Transmission - Joy Division
Love's Secret Domain - Coil

And she kept a straight face...

How she didn't simply burst into flames at the podium trying to float a whopper like this, I don't know. From those fine folks at CNN:

At a press conference earlier Thursday, Palin said that she and her fellow Republican governors were ready to put aside "extreme partisanship" and act if Washington fails to provide the leadership America needs.

She told them not to "let obsessive, extreme partisanship ... get in the way of doing what's right."

What happened to her opponent "palling around with terrorists" and "not seeing America the way you or I do?"

The gun-totin', nonsense blithering poster girl for hyper-partisan mendacity is now calling for the powers-that-be to leave such hackery by the wayside. Amazing what difference a week--and a sound, electoral drubbing--can make, isn't it?

Feel free to offer the patron saint of Joe Sixpack some free advice.

Word of the Day

Financiapocalypse

Kind of sums everything up, doesn't it?

Don't know if they invented it (sounds like a Colbert or Daily Show-ism) but I'm appropriating this from those magnificent SOB's at Jalopnik.

Some things are just too good not to steal for tags.