It’s not described as a McCain rally.

Sorry, Palin rally on behalf of the McCain-Palin ticket.

Disgusting stuff.

And interesting that al Jazeera, in addition to fast becoming the only reliable source on Middle East events, is rapidly doing the same for U.S. politics.

levitt up for opening statement – (at senate banking hearing)

O.T.(via Digby @ Hullabaloo)

Whoa indeed!!:

Oh. My. God.

by tristero

We can’t be this lucky:
Joe the Plumber, the star of tonight’s debate, may have a very interesting connection to John McCain. In fact, Joe the Plumber (Joe Wurzelbacher) of Cincinnati, Ohio may be related to one Robert Wurzelbacher of Cincinnati, Ohio, who happens to be Charles Keating’s son-in-law.

Robert Wurzelbacher was implicated in the Keating 5 scandal, and sentenced to 40 months in prison in 1993.

Wurzelbacher is also a huge Republican donor.

So, let’s find out a bit about Joe Wurzelbacher.

Whoa.

Not Pravda?

levitt (paraphrasing) – we are here today because of two decades of a commitment to deregulation

It’s worth remembering that Al Jazeera was constructed from the bones of the BBC Middle East service. There’s a reason they’re not total freaking doofuses, and it has to do with the fact that they know the value of the reasonable culture of journalism they inherited, and unlike their counterparts in the United States, they haven’t tossed it aside at the urging of religious fundamentalists.

?

I like his talk about “signals.” I’ve done some work on the importance of sending them in macroeconomic behavior.

McCain toned down the terrorist comments on the trail and Palin is no longer saying that Obama pals around with terrorists on the trail Of course, in interviews and in ads they still continue with the same terrorists crap. John McCain is not a honorable man and the only reason he would tone down the rhetoric on the trail is if he were asked to. We can all speculate who approached him to tone it down. He’s covering his arse in case something happens on election day. Vote early!!

Levitt: Need regulatory agency independent of the WH.

LOL

the only reason he would tone down the rhetoric on the trail is if he were asked to.

Do you mean that the Secret Service asked him to?

levitt: we need a dramatic rethinking of our regulatory architecture – as big as since the new deal.

me: levitt is advocating the sec for this. personally i’d like to see a revitalized cftc too.

will have to ask you about that later. sounds interesting.

Ludwig has no understanding of WHY “consumerism” has been the focus of policy.

Per wiki, Levitt favored in the 1990s not counting stock options against profits which pumped up the accounting books of dot.coms.

And

In 1997, the SEC under Levitt’s leadership approved the exemption of some Enron partnerships from the tight accounting controls of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Without this exemption, critics maintain, the company would have been constrained by strict rules found in 1996 legislation that would have prohibited certain foreign investments and the shifting of debt to its foreign subsidiary shell companies.

Finally, he was connected to AIG.

Now he gets a chance to “redeem” his reputation by being holier-than-thou, and the Ds will let him get away with it.

The SEC has ALWAYS been captured by the industry. Doubt if you could find a single commish who did not cave into industry demands on the important matter of the day.

Yeah, sure they’ve “toned it down” now. The rhetoric did its job. The people who wanted to hear it heard it.

I have to say that Dodd’s complimenting many of the villains of the $700 billion bailout is telling. It goes to show how so many of the institutional and political players in fixing the current meltdown were instrumental in its creation.

not finally.

Wow. Simply wow.

Original post.

Don’t forget that Dodd’s state is where the investment bankers live. He’s in their pocket. Needs their votes, needs their money.

It’ll be interesting to see if Himes can unseat Shays in a district that includes Greenwich.

Could be. I hate to be vague but I certainly don’t have first hand knowledge. What I can say is that I have read that Homeland Security has been concerned even when Obama first announced.

Interesting observation, outside the large corporation and the military, there are few places where top level management can be found, possibly some large NGO’s. Another source of such management is needed to fill the needs of government. Otherwise, government will always be held hostage to either corporate or military agendas.

Southern Poverty law center does such an excellent job reporting hate groups and home grown terrorists.

I try to watch Mosaic on link tv. Al Jazeera is one of the broadcast cos they cover. With rare exception the MSM in this country is totally with out merit. Does anyone know what it would take to get the service providers to add Al Jazeera to their line up?

Don’t know what to do about top level management problems. It’s such a smarmy in-group. Not as bad as interlocking directorates in Gilded Age, but not good. Don’t know how you break it up and get responsible people in those slots.

Forget the providers. Just stream it online.
http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

Thanks for the post. It high lights the extremist among us.

Exactly. When Palin said Obama “pals around with terrorists,” they knew exactly what these yahoos would think that meant. John McCain is very proud of these people, for sure.

Guess he didn’t dare say anything else ’cause they are the only ones who are going to vote for him. A desperate man who has totally lost his way.

Coming to a venue near you – McShame/Palin hate filled, lying, Sleazefest.

As long as the Civil Service can be kept relatively uncontaminated by economic/political ideologies, filling from the ranks is about the only other source of large scale management personnel. This then opens up to the same problems that led to the creation of the Civil Service and its removal from political interests.

Rokakis is great – naming names and giving us data to back up his statement. i hope his written statement includes good references we can look up.

French, German, and British markets down 5-6%. Dow currently at 8,445 down 132 points.

Not near me. Prez campaign is totally absent in NYS.

If those people got the power, they’d be just as corrupt as the current crew, on the theory that power corrupts.

it’s all freddie and fanny’s fault!

The British Civil Service might be a preferential model to work from. “Yes, Minister” was hilarious as well.

No, no, no. It’s all the fault of irresponsible poor people of color who are so powerful that they were able to crash the entire global financial system. /s

BADA BING

Obama’s Iraq plans vindicated as US agrees to pull out by 2011

By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad
Thursday, 16 October 2008

Related Articles
Iraq and the United States have finally agreed on a security pact which would mean that US forces would withdraw from Iraq by 2011, American and Iraqi officials said yesterday.

The accord became a major test of strength between the Iraqi government and Washington since negotiations began in March with the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, pictured below, demanding US concessions on the date of the troop withdrawal and immunity for US troops. The pact replaces the UN Security Council resolution enacted after the American invasion of 2003.

The agreement still needs to be approved by the council of Iraqi leaders, the cabinet and the Iraqi parliament. Mr Maliki saw the highly influential Shia religious leader, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, last week and was assured that he would not stand in the way of the pact if approved by parliament.

The accord has been on the verge of being signed several times in the past only for fresh objections to be made by the Iraqi government, which has become increasingly confident of its own strength. A compromise has been reached on whether or not US troops can be tried by an Iraqi court if they commit crimes while not engaged in operations. US troops are to withdraw from Iraqi towns and villages by the middle of next year and from Iraq entirely by the middle of 2011 said the government’s spokesman, Ali Dabbagh.

He said: “The withdrawal is to be achieved in three years. In 2011, the government at that time will determine whether it needs a new pact or not, and what type of pact will depend on the challenges it faces.”

Little wonder that Bush wants to bomb Al Jazeera headquarters…they aren’t subject to his propaganda.

Seems fair and balanced: both “sides” got air, issue examined by hearing from Mr. and Mrs. “Joe Plumber.” Right in the dark heart of Amerika!

I am in a CO swing county. They have been here and will be back.

HAhahahahahahahaha
and all those pastie whities in their HERMES ties ,stloe 300,000 real dollars from me…no bailout,NO RECOURSE never again,never again

one of the reasons it’s so good to have Morial testify today.

When this is all over, presidential historians will have a field day tyin to figure out the McBush campaign…everyone knows that once a candidate gets the nomination, they move to the CENTER- not further into right field- but McBush kept spending his money and energy on the whacko right fringe throughout the campaign- including offering up the most unqualified candidate for Veep in US history…

Are the goopers throwing the fight? What gives?

I am ashamed for my adopted state of Ohio. These people have been lied to and stoked into a fury that is truly ugly.

No matter who the rally was for, I hold John McCain and Sarah Palin responsible. They both should be hauled up on charges of inciting violence.

Does McCain not realize that the K#K used to be probably IS still active in our state?

Ignorance is no excuse. Nor is carelessness in vetting Palin.

Palin should return to Alaska in disgrace.

McCain should resign and retire to sit on one of his 13 porches, and stay the heck out of the way while the rest of us try to restore our country.

Spencer this is an important clip. Can you put me in contact with the person who put this together? I can lead them into some uglier territory where there is even more serious and dangerous bigotry in southern Ohio. This clip is the tip of the iceberg revealing some of the racism that is still alive in these parts? I have heard people repeatedly use the N word when we call and knock on doors in southern Ohio, not even afraid or embarrassed by their own bigotry.

Great interviewing

BTW the NYMEX near crude future is trading at $70.61. Dated Brent at $65.43. Recently the Brent has been steering the market. There should be a differential between the two of about $1.50-$2.00. So there appears to be continuing downward pressure on price in the system.

I got news for you, Bush has totally corrupted the Civil Service by driving out the law-abiding and putting in loyalists at the mid-management level. What is left are the quiet, meek, or cautious that don’t dare question the BushCo loyalists while they dismantle government.

I know, I am GS-12, driven out because I insisted on lawful conduct of gov’t business.

These people will be hard to ferret out, but ferret we must.

Doesn’t that Al Jazeera clip just make you so proud to be an American human bean (for brain)?

thank you for fighting back. you are one of the unsung heros of these times.

The wingnuts have proven themselves completely incompetent at whatever they try to do, and completely unaware of it. Up until Mc, the one exception was getting themselves elected. I look at Mc’s campaign as water drawn from the same well as everything else they do.

Yep.

Do you really think they are unaware? I get the feeling they’re hooligans who simply don’t care.

What was it Palin said recently? Something like, “it can’t hurt.”

Lord of the Flies time, folks.

thanks, but whistleblowers get hurt bad. Out of job in April…times look tough.

The ones who illegally “fired” me are now the Agency Commissioner and Regional Office Executives (promoted).

yup,ya know what these fuks do for fun around hear…shoot livestock with bow and arrow……………sick mothers all

That is what I feared had happened to the GS under the last number of administrations, the most recent the most egregious. So the Civil Service is not going to be a source of uncontaminated by agenda top level management skills. That may be the last reservoir for such experienced and skilled people to cary out government function.

Sad to hear of your personal tribulations, GS-12s are the backbone of governmental function, IIRC.

fight fight fight,the Obama administration,might be very interested in your story…best of luck…and hang in there!

re dodd talking about he and schumer fighting to save the cra – they did, but in watered down form and in a bill (gramm-leach-bliley) that repealed the last of the glass-steagall and that gramm was blocking in an effort use to get rid of the cra

it all just makes my head spin.

somebody this am,was bandying about 30 bux a barrel,i shit you not

what is the cra? im ignorant of this term

I think they’re unaware in the sense that they are ideologues, and thus they think that it hasn’t worked because they haven’t tried it hard enough. I expect any day now to hear one of the nuttiest (Norquist? Gingrich?) say, for example, that the financial market problem was not deregulation, but that they weren’t deregulated enough. Mc can’t say that because he’s too much in the public eye, but someone else may. It’s what they “believe.”

Where is karma when you need it?

pajarito, it doesn’t take a hero to do the right thing when one will be rewarded for it. i’m so sorry that you have suffered for what you did, and my admiration is nothing in comparison. but know that you have it.

Community Reinvestment Act.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C…..stment_Act

The U.S. civil service was fine until the Bush Administration started contracting out civil service positions and functions. Now, many agencies are staffed, to a large extent, by employees of contrators. This is aside from the problems of selecting civil service employees based upon their political agenda, as revealed in the fired-USA situation, the extent of which in other agencies is difficult to know.

thank you for asking. so sorry to be a lazy typist. CRA = Community Reinvestment Act:

In 1999 the Congress enacted and President Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the “Financial Services Modernization Act,” which repealed the part of the Glass-Steagall Act prohibiting a bank from offering a full range of investment, commercial banking, and insurance services. The bill was killed in 1998 because Senator Phil Gramm wanted the bill to expand the number of banks which no longer would be covered by the CRA. He also demanded full disclosure of any financial deals which community groups had with banks, accusing such groups of “extortion.” In 1999 Senators Christopher Dodd and Charles E. Schumer broke another deadlock by forcing a compromise between Gramm and the Clinton administration which wanted to prevent banks from expanding into insurance or securities unless they were compliant with the CRA. In the final compromise, the CRA would cover bank expansions into new lines of business, community groups would have to disclose certain kinds of financial deals with banks, and smaller banks would be reviewed less frequently for CRA compliance.[29][30][31] On signing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, President Clinton said that it, “establishes the principles that, as we expand the powers of banks, we will expand the reach of the [Community Reinvestment] Act”.[32]

You’re probably right. But McCain and Palin can’t claim ignorance of what they’ve done. I wouldn’t buy it for a second. They’re using fear and hate as fodder for their own personal advancement. If that’s not criminal, it sure ain’t the most ethical thing I’ve seen in my life.

McC seems to think he deserves everything he wants, because he suffered as a POW.

Pale is a parasite.

They will destroy what’s left of this country if they get into power.

OT C-Span is indicating that there will be an Al Smith dinner tonight featuring Obama and McShame. 9 ET

levitt is now talking about what i think was the key regulatory moment – the conflict between born and greenberger at the cftc vs everyone else. levitt now recants.

of course levitt wants the failed sec to be in on it. he’s not there anymore and he’s still playing empire building games.

Is LaRouche running again this year?

Is it too late to file to run? I keep having nightmares about Gingrich dashing forward to grab the banner outta mclame’s cold sweaty hand at the last minute.

oops. i’m several threads behind. moving up to current one.

You are more knowledgeable in that than I. I just seem to recall the Nixon/Ford, Reagan/Bush41 putting up ideological barriers for filling CS jobs, DFH need not apply. The Carter and Clinton interregnums, not so much as it was not a stated political policy to do so.

This is what America sounds like.

Spencer/All I know 0 about the internet linking etc. But I can not get the video to work above and I am unable to watch this on you tube or other sites. Is there a problem. Attacks? folks messing with access?