Midday Open Thread

WordPress has gone bonkers, let’s try a new thread What’s on your mind?

ZOMG! POTUS is a Racist!

From last night’s Sad State of the Union address: In other words, we have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election.  A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy [...]

Wednesday: What did I miss?

I confess:  I didn’t watch “PBO’s Greatest State of the Union Speech Ever (New and improved! Now with more optimism!)”  When the  former president who you detest has to tell you to “lighten up, you’re scaring folks”, well, how good could it get?  Let’s recap: The economic situation is grim, the Treasury Secretary you’ve hired [...]

Mysterious Economics

  Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman: I’m trying to be sympathetic to the various plans, or rumors of plans, for bank aid; but I keep not being able to understand either what the plans are, or why they’re supposed to work. And I don’t think it’s me. So the latest is that we’re going [...]

Portraits in Equality: Spain

As our country slouches backwards in terms of equality for women and gays, thanks in large part to our homophobic, misogynistic President, it is very easy to become discouraged.  Barack Obama not only used homophobia and sexism as tools to win his election, he turned around and told women and gays and lesbians to “get [...]

Teleprompter Jesus

I just read this while avoiding the Non-State of the Union-State of the Union Address From the 2004 Democratic convention speech that launched him onto the national stage to his acceptance of his party’s nomination four years later, Barack Obama’s public speaking skills have been considered one of his strongest assets. But while the president’s [...]

Sad State of the Union Liveblog

    From Politico: President Barack Obama won’t speak until prime-time, but his aides fanned out to the morning shows Tuesday morning to talk up his first speech before a joint session of Congress. And the word they used to preview it: “Reaganesque.” “The president believes very clearly that we have to be honest with [...]

What About the Renters?

Oh no they dit-nt. This morning FOX News reported that another bank took the TARP handout and partied on us. Did we have fun yet? Reportedly, the bank had the appreciation event planned long ago, so in other words, how could they call the wedding off, despite that the in-laws didn’t have the money? They’d [...]

His First Term?

Just Barely President, Baracus Hubris Maximus (hail Ceasar!) has been prattling on about “his first term” since he threw his size 10-gallon hat into the ring, like he knows something the rest of us don’t.  Like the rest of his West Wing “reality,” this is yet another transparent bit of scripted brainwashing propaganda in the [...]

Tuesday: Nuthin’ for Money

Guys, I have an early morning meeting that I have to try to be on time for so this will be short. I hope some of you have been following Planet Money.  For some bizarre reason, they don’t seem to indulge much in propaganda.  Maybe it’s because they view themselves as a podcast that seeks [...]