The Greatest trick!

The greatest trick was getting you to believe that headlines like this one matter to you personally: "Stocks drop on recession, profit worries."

Maybe this whole linking of stocks and retirement funds wasn't too smart, esp. if you are going to trash regulation of that market. Do you likewise take your monthly mortgage payment or rent to Vegas and just roll the dice with it? That would be stupid, right?

What we are seeing is the complete meltdown of nearly every GOP talking point. There is no free market, if there were they wouldn't need a bailout. The bailout itself is proof of both market protections and socialism at the top of the class structure.

Oh sure, they are going to back-peddle so fast it will look like a blur. But this is the right-wing that used disaster, scorched-earth capitalism against us all to attain their goals. Now to retain power they want to act as if it was all the result of a few bad eggs who are "Republicans in name only" (RINO).

Man, I hate the GOP. So much.

No, really - a lot.

Hunters become the hunted: State investigators hit AIG with fraud probe over fat cat expenditures

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2008/10/15/2008-10-15_hunters_become_the_hunted_state_investig.html

State investigators launched a fraud probe into AIG on Wednesday following revelations that top execs spent $86,000 on a partridge hunt after the feds gave the company billions to stay afloat.

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Comment:

Yes, we were all played. Inexpertly even. It made no difference. You are still on the hook for your $5K so that execs at investment firms can keep living in the exact same foolish manner that they always have.

Smell the theft. That stink is going to linger.

I am still entirely unsatisfied that bailing out investment firms was either necessary or any kind of emergency. But that's me, I actually give a damn what happens to ordinary people but not so much about what happens to assholes on Wall Street.

The Corrupt Nexus Between Church, State and Forced Labor

Capitol Crimes
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08012008/watch.html

Really, you just have to go see or read it for yourself. All I can do is recapitulate it here in a savagely abbreviated form.

This is how and why the GOP and the Christian right do not deserve one moment of your time or money.

In the course of my entire life I have yet to discover one reason to support the GOP or its candidates for office. I simply cannot be meaningfully represented by those kinds of thugs and morally superior assholes.

Best Political Videos on the Internet!

What Barry Says / Knife Party:
http://www.knife-party.net/
Direct link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1669325314815164245
...or for a much higher definition mp4 version:
http://nofatclips.com/02005/10/07/says/What%20Barry%20Says.mp4

"The Power of Nightmares"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Nightmares
http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmaresDVD

"The Shock Doctrine"
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/12290-the-shock-doctrine-by-alfonso-cuar-n-and-naomi-klein
(with links to media)

How it happened:

"The Century of the Self"
http://www.archive.org/details/AdaCurtisCenturyoftheSelf_0
Part 2: http://www.archive.org/details/AdamCurtisCenturyoftheSelfPart2of4
Part 3: http://www.archive.org/details/AdamCurtisCenturyoftheSelfPart3of4
Part 4: http://www.archive.org/details/AdamCurtisCenturyoftheSelfPart4of4_0

I do my best to keep these links in circulation. If you find dead links, search google video or youtube for the names of the shows.

These videos go a long way in explaining the political agendas of the western nations for the last several decades. More video links to come - esp. on banking.

If you can't do anything more because of time constraints or attention span issues, at least see the Knife Party video "What Barry Says" which is extremely appealing visually and also quite short. Do yourself the favor.

Reverse Robin Hood

"Tomgram: Nick Turse, The Pentagon's Stealth Corporations"
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174948/nick_turse_the_pentagon_s_stealth_corporations

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I know, I should be doing Friday cat blogging or some other shit that passes for proper blog material. Instead, I just sit here and read the bad news.

I knew you were wondering why they mug you every 15th of April, or at the pump, or at the grocery store, or via a million different excise taxes passed on to you as a consumer. Well, wonder no more.

It's "Reverse Robin Hood" - they steal from the poor and middle classes only to give it all to the top wealthiest 1%.

Happy fucking Friday!

Energy Crisis: Same As It Ever Was

"Our Fake Energy Crisis: What Really Happened in California"
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/dereg/FakeEnergyCrisis.html


"Bush/McCain's Gas Price Scam is an Enron Re-Run"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harvey-wasserman/bushmccains-gas-price-sca_b_108576.html

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I mean, you knew it was all bullshit, right? The world doesn't have to be this way. The reason it is this way is because of greed and power.

In all reality, if we were serious about national security we wouldn't let things like energy fall into the hands of capitalist speculators. We don't want energy prices that are volatile, we want energy prices that are as stable as a rock - a rock that God himself could not raise.

As it is, there will be blood...