If you invent money and introduce it into an economy, that doesn’t matter (WRT impact on human lives) as much as where you insert it in the food chain.
It seems criminal (AS HELL!!!1!LOL) to bail out one class of debtors while throwing another class of debtors to the wolves.
If you give the bank monies in an amount equaling the cost of the defaulted mortgages, effectively paying off loans designed to fail, why can you not give the same amount of money to families in financial crisis with the stipulation that they use it to pay off their sub-prime home loans?
The bank ends up with the same amount of money either way, but fewer lives get ruined in the process (poverty kills, mofo!).
If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but please, somebody splain this to me.
Oh right.
My bad.
A nation of happy, financially secure families creates conditions less conducive to the rise of fascism, and thus, is bad (for fascists).
After working a less than stellar show last night at the Caledonia I settled in to watch the 3am repeat of Hardball and was completely pumped to see Matthew’s off-leash and relentlessly attacking the McPalin distraction machine.
I have been out of town on tour with the Buddy System and haven’t been able to find time to blog but I just got an email about the arrests of journalists at the Republican Convention and I had to post it here:
“This is America. We don’t jail journalists here.
Jailing journalists is unacceptable in a democracy. But that’s exactly what is happening at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.
Award winning journalist and host of “Democracy Now” Amy Goodman was arrested by St. Paul police while covering a protest outside the Republican National Convention. Though clearly identified as press, Goodman was charged with “obstruction of a legal process and interference with a ‘peace officer.’” Two of her producers were arrested for “suspicion of felony riot.”
This video is upsetting, but you deserve to know what’s really going on.
Goodman and her producers were released last night. (An AP photographer was also arrested and released). But the charges are still pending.
This story has been virtually ignored by the mainstream press. The cable channels are providing extensive coverage of events related to the Republican National Convention, but there has been a virtual news blackout on the arrest of Amy Goodman and the Democracy Now team.
Americans deserve to know that journalists are being jailed for trying to do their jobs. E-mail CNN President Jonathan Klein and NBC News President Steve Capus today (NBC News controls MSNBC) to demand coverage of this brutally important story.”
So yeah, not that I’m surprised considering it was at a fascist convention but what the FUCK?!
Anyone who visited the site yesterday may have noticed that things were amiss. We were indeed hijacked by the old robot porn pirates but thanks to our crack web enforcer Bob at TehCompany.com things are back to normal now so feel free to wander around the site and if the urge strikes why not visit the SHOP and pick up new stuff from The Buddy System or a comic while you wait for the upcoming release of Ruby Isle’s full-length “Night Shot.”
Thanks to everyone who let us know about the problem, here’s to hoping we can dodge the roboporn uprising next time!
Our friends at Noise Pop have launched The No Free Lunch Campaign with Lewis Black to show support for service industry workers being screwed by buyout firms. They can describe it better than I can so here you go…
“Comedian Lewis Black filmed a “rant” against the greed of these “Buyout Barons.” Indie rock band Radio 4 contributed a great track for it too. Go to http://www.july17action.org to check it out, and find out how you can get involved by signing a petition or registering to attend an action on July 17, 2008 in your area.
Noise Pop became friends with SEIU, the largest Union in the country that represents hospital and healthcare workers, doormen and other service employees, last year in Austin when they partnered with us at our show and Zach Galifianakis brought some comic relief about the healthcare system in this country. It was a great way to engage our audience about an important issue. Now SEIU is taking on Private Equity and once again Noise Pop has teamed up with them to produce our first short film entitled “No Free Lunch”, written and directed by Antonino D’Ambrosio of La Lutta NMC and starring hilarious political comedian Lewis Black with original music by dance-punk band
Radio 4.
Check out the video here - http://www.july17action.org/ or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASCAama93R0
Below is an article in today’s NY Times about the campaign.
BUSINESS / WORLD BUSINESS | June 4, 2008
Union Takes Anti-Buyout Campaign Worldwide
By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED
The Service Employees International Union, one of the country’s biggest unions, will call upon people to attend protests against buyout firms in July in 100 cities in 25 countries.”
Earlier tonight, Hillary Clinton missed a chance to prove us all wrong. She could have defied expectations and proven herself to be a uniting force in our country. But she didn’t.
At the end of a gross display of ego and hubris, Clinton asked Americans to go to HillaryClinton.com and tell her what to do next. Well I did and so should you. Here is what I said:
Senator Clinton,
Tonight you had the opportunity to celebrate the fact that our country has just nominated the first black candidate from a major political party. Unfortunately you chose not to stand with the future president of the United States and engaged in a vain attempt to steal the spotlight on an historic day.
You owe Americans an apology for your ego driven display in New York this evening. For the good of the country, for the good of your political future and legacy, it is time for you to step aside and move on. We all have.
Tonight America moved forward towards the kind of bright future that we all deserve. Tonight I am proud to be an American after 8 years of heartbreak and an empty wallet. Tonight I pulled my cracked check card from that empty wallet and donated another $10 to the Obama campaign. Consider doing the same HERE.
Yeah, yeah, yeah… “Real American Hero” bladiddy, bladiddy, blah…
You probably know that John McCain got captured in Vietnam and was tortured for 5 1/2 years and now he is one pissed off old coot, but did you also know that he is crazy, panders to racists and is prone to freakishly aggro mood swings? No, well the folks at MoveOn.org have compiled a “Hit Parade” of Ol’ Crotchety’s darker points…
Please to enjoy: 10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don’t):
1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has “evolved,” yet he’s continued to oppose key civil rights laws.
2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain “will make Cheney look like Gandhi.”
3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.
4. McCain opposes a woman’s right to choose. He said, “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.”
5. The Children’s Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children’s health care bill last year, then defended Bush’s veto of the bill.
6. He’s one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a “second job” and skip their vacations.
7. Many of McCain’s fellow Republican senators say he’s too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He’s erratic. He’s hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.”
8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.
9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his “spiritual guide,” Rod Parsley, believes America’s founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a “false religion.” McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church “the Antichrist” and a “false cult.”
10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.
Also, I am not sure if you know this but John McCain is old. Like really fucking old. Crypt Keeper old. Just saying…
Ok “some people” are you sure we are talking about the same Fred Thompson? The one who is currently running for President correct? This Fred Thompson?!
