DeRosaWorld

Can Bush, Jr. Even Count To Ten Without Using His Fingers?

"U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is calling for extensive, wide-ranging reforms to the way the government regulates financial markets, including proposals to give the Federal Reserve more power and create new bodies to monitor mortgages and other transactions.

Paulson is slated to formally present the Treasury Department's new plan in a speech scheduled for Monday morning.

Among the many items in the plan is a proposal to make the Fed "responsible for overall issues of financial market stability," according to the executive summary."

God help us. What is wrong with this picture? Can't we hold our breath and wait until the election. This Administration reorganizing the financial markets?

Why do I have a feeling that the working American is going to get screwed right into the floor today?

Here is Paul Krugman's take on the Bush, Jr. Economic Show.

Sunday Morning Music

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings perform 100 Days, 100 Nights.

Barack Obama Wins Endorsement of Anti Abortion, Archie Bunker Senator from Pennsylvania

"Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey endorsed Democrat Barack Obama on Friday, a move that could help the presidential candidate make inroads with white working-class voters dubbed "Casey Democrats" in the Keystone State.

Appearing on stage beside the Illinois senator, Casey told a boisterous rally, "I believe in my heart that there is one person who's uniquely qualified to lead us in that new direction and that is Barack Obama."

Pennsylvania's April 22 primary will allocate 158 delegates, the biggest single prize left in the drawn-out nomination battle between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. Clinton is leading Obama in the state, by 12 points in one poll this month.

Casey is a first-term senator and the son of a popular former governor of the state. Casey is Catholic and, like his father, is known for his opposition to abortion and support of gun rights. His support could help Obama make inroads among Catholic voters, who have preferred Clinton to Obama in earlier primaries and strongly favor her in Pennsylvania polls."

What the fuck is a "Casey Democrat"? Last month they were "Archie Bunkers"...if they support Hillary they are racists. If they support Obama they are good, upstanding, white, Catholic, ANTI-ABORTION Democrats.

The Huffington Post and other desperate progressive blogs refer to Senator Casey as a major Senator...who ever heard of Senator Casey? The endorsement is odd and probably uncomfortable for the liberal progressive Senator Obama. How do you explain to all the woman in the Democratic Party that Senator Casey believes abortion is illegal and should be a criminal offense.

Maybe Geraldine Ferraro could help out here with the women...oh wait, you all flamed her for being a racist...never mind...you're screwed.

Saturday Musings

- Americans are fighting in Basra and we are not allowed to know the details. I’m afraid that magic number of 5,000 dead US soldiers is going to come sooner rather than later. Maybe even before Bush, Jr. leaves office.

- Some Democrats want Senator Clinton to drop out of the race before her three-state sweep coming up in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana. Why should she? Obama supporters made a mistake that probably can not be reversed, so I guess they want it certified. We all go down together?

Face it Obamamaniacs, you blew your opportunity to vote for the first woman running for President of a major party. Your liberal 'progressive' credentials are in tatters. You got confused and scared, your Primary came, you voted for Obama, now you regret it and there ain’t a damn thing you can do about your choice now. Except hope Clinton steals the nomination. It's a win-win situation for you. You can keep your progressive ID card, but not actually have to deal with an Obama Presidency.

- Senator Obama said something about the economy this week, too…hope, blah, blah, shared blame, blah, blah…he doesn’t know what he is talking about folks. Sorry. Ever see the movie The Candidate?

- The Federal Reserve in printing up another $100 Billion to prop up Banks. Should we be worried now? Can someone check on those New Deal-era Bank reforms that were supposed to protect us? Are there any left? Are we screwed?

- California State Regulators cut by more than half the number of emission-free vehicles that car manufacturers have to produce in the coming years – oh well, fuck the environment, the air and lower gas prices. Big Oil wins again.

- Maybe we should start thinking about boycotting those Olympics in Beijing. What do you think? There doesn’t seem to be any penalty any country or the United Nations is willing or able to place on China. They really want to put on a great show for the world. Let’s not show up.

- President Bush, Jr. and President Vice Dickhead Cheney really love their Iraq war. If it’s good for Haliburton, It’s good for America...and we're winning.

- Another Iraq-themed movie tanked at the box office this weekend. Stop-Loss was ignored by the American people, especially young men. Hollywood can’t put its head around this war and Americans don’t seem to want to deal with it much either.

- A friend of mine turned me on to Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. This former Riker’s Island prison guard is the real next American Idol. Soul singing with a punch in the gut. 100 Days, 100 Nights is the latest.

- Heading south of the border with my reading list. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano has reached the top of the stack. Just started it and it is blowing the cobwebs off a lot of what I've been reading lately.

Did Anyone Tell 'The Progressives' Barack Obama Doesn't Want To Be Called A Liberal Either?

"I'm going to be sworn in in January, we don't know what the economy's going to look like at that point. And, you know, the thing you can--you can be assured of is that I'm not going to making these decisions based on ideology. I'm not a dogmatist. I know that some, you know, my opponents to the right would like to paint me as this wooly-eyed, you know, liberal or wild-eyed...my attitude is that I believe in the market, I believe in entrepreneurship, I believe in opportunity, I believe in capitalism and I want to do what works. But what I want to make sure of is it works for all America and not just a small sliver of America. And if it turns out--if somebody can make a persuasive argument to me that, you know what, what we need at this juncture, at this particular point in time is a different set of policies than some of the ones that I've proposed, I'm always going to listen to people. Because I think one of the problems, in fact, with the Bush administration has been its rigidness when it comes to economic policy. I mean, you ask them any question, they'll say tax cuts. It doesn't matter what the problem is, if it's, you know, our trade deficit: tax cuts. If it's, you know, slowdown in manufacturing: tax cuts. You know, at a certain point, you know, if you've only got one arrow in the quiver, then you're going to have problems." -Senator Barack Obama (D-IL)

Oh, boy, some Liberals are afraid to call themselves liberal, so they invented Progressive for this election year.

Fuck that.

I'm a liberal. I'm so left that I bend around right again.

Why Are We Being Lied To About The Fighting In Iraq?

"U.S. forces in armored vehicles battled Mahdi Army fighters Thursday in the vast Shiite stronghold of Sadr City and military officials said Friday that U.S. aircraft bombed militant positions in the southern city of Basra, as the American role in a campaign against party-backed militias appeared to expand. Iraqi army and police units appeared to be largely holding to the outskirts of the Sadr City fighting, as American troops took the lead."

All we heard for the past few days is that the Iraqi army is handling things in Basra. Why are we being lied to?

Enough lies. Either our Press is a bunch of fools or they are participating in the lies.

After 5 years and over 4,000 dead soldiers, the American people deserve the truth. The troops deserve the truth be told about them.

Obama at Cooper Union

"Senator Barack Obama called Thursday for tighter regulation of mortgage lenders, banks and financial houses, even as he spoke of pumping $30 billion into the economy to shield homeowners and local governments from the worst effects of the collapse of the housing bubble.

Mr. Obama laid much of the blame for the crisis on lobbyists and politicians who dismantled the regulatory framework governing the energy, telecommunications and financial services sectors.

Speaking at Cooper Union in Manhattan, Mr. Obama blamed Democrats no less than Republicans for the crisis that now casts a shadow of foreclosure and insolvency over millions of Americans. He did not mention former President Bill Clinton by name, but the target of his criticism seemed clear.

“Under Republican and Democratic administrations, we failed to guard against practices that all too often rewarded financial manipulation instead of productivity and sound business practices,” Mr. Obama said. “The result has been a distorted market that creates bubbles instead of steady sustainable growth, a market that favors Wall Street over Main Street but ends up hurting both.”

Well, considering that Bill Clinton is the only Democratic President in a generation, yeah...both Partys would imply President Clinton.

Sorry, I like to hear him talk about hope and change, but when he gets to specifics he sounds unsure of himself and the lilting tones ring hollow for me.

For someone who is going to bring us all together and erase the line that divides the two aisles in Congress, he sure ain't making no friends. I wonder where the coalition is going to come from.

Basra Surging

"One of southern Iraq's two main oil export pipelines has been severely damaged in a bomb attack, officials said today.

The bombing of the pipeline, seven miles south of Basra, came as clashes between Iraqi security forces and Shia fighters in the port city entered a third day.

"This morning, saboteurs blew up the pipeline transporting crude from [the] Zubair 1 [oil plant] by placing bombs beneath it," an oil company official said.

"Crude exports will be greatly affected because this is one of two main pipelines transporting crude to the southern terminals. We will lose about a third of crude exported through Basra."

With Operation Cavalry Assault, the Iraqi government is trying a little surge of their own as they move in on militias that are roughing up the locals. I don't think Senator McCain is going back to stroll the markets anytime soon.

The price of crude oil has surged this morning, too.

Arianna Huffington May Not Need Hillary Clinton, But America Does

"Even though her proposals would involve tens of billions in government spending, Clinton moved to head off anticipated charges that such measures would constitute a bailout. “To those who object to our government helping middle-class and low-income families devastated by the housing crisis, I say this: We’ve given Bear Stearns a $30 billion lifeline, we’ve given their creditors, their lenders, their customers, and those associated with them the same lifeline,” she said. “How can you tell a family about to lose their home that there’s nothing we can do to help them?”

Some progressive blogs have made their choice clear. They want Senator Barack Obama to be the Democratic nominee for President. Talking Points Memo, The Huff Post have become Drudge-like daily embarrassments of uninformed partisan blogging. Their anti-Hillary obsessions align them with the wingnuts and stop them from being the daily, reliable news sources they so want to be.

Senator Clinton leads in Pennsylvania, West Virgina and Indiana so of course those States don't count. But Obama leads in North Carolina, so that is the next State we must pay attention to and if Obama wins Hillary should drop out of the race. I disagree. There are reasonable and mighty strong scenarios that have her still winning the Democratic Party nomination. I'm enjoying the debate. The longer the Democrats fight, the less appealing Obama becomes...because he isn't saying anything. And people are finally hearing that big, loud nothing.

I want solutions. I want a big, fat Federal government to create social programs and fund the shit out of them. I want FDR/New Deal-like solutions to America's problems.

America has poured its treasure into the military industrial complex for 60 years. The biggest socialized bureaucracy in world history. I want that to end. The American people want that to end. It will take a revolution. That revolution is the white middle class turning out to vote for a woman. Ronald Reagan took those voters from the Democratic Party in 1980. Hillary Clinton is taking them back. There's your once in a generation election.

Richard Widmark Has Died

Richard Widmark has died. One hell of an actor. One great tough-guy. A very decent man.

He was 93. He was not pushed down the steps.

“The businessmen who run Hollywood today have no self-respect. What interests them is not movies but the bottom line. Look at ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ which turns idiocy into something positive, or ‘Forrest Gump,’ a hymn to stupidity. ‘Intellectual’ has become a dirty word.”