nancy pelosi took the time to bash george w. bush prior to the vote on the $700B wall street bailout plan that was before the u.s. house of representatives today. in the video linked to above, she rails against ‘no regulation, no supervision, no discipline,’ presumably of the u.s. banking system and not the iraq war.
but the reality is this, nancy pelosi voted to repeal the glass-steagall act in 1999, which regulated the u.s. banking system as a response to the financial fallout of the great depression. glass-steagall stood the country in good stead for over 70 years.
the move toward bank deregulation and less supervision in the 1990s is believed by many to be at the heart of this global financial crisis. pelosi’s beloved bill clinton, whom she praised in her ill-timed speech, signed the damn thing. click here to see how pelosi voted on the financial modernization act which is described in the summary of the bill as: ‘an act to enhance competition in the financial services industry by providing a prudential framework for the affiliation of banks, securities firms, and other financial service providers, and for other purposes.’ written by republican phil gramm, the bill got a lot of yeas. only a handful of democratic senators voted against it, including california’s barbara boxer and only one republican senator voted against it. while john mccain didn’t vote. joe biden voted yes. barack obama had the fortune of being in the illinois state senate at the time.
that is if you round 777.68 up. according to msnbc, it’s the largest fall ever. while the new york times argues it’s the largest drop in 2 decades. which news outlet is right?
after the collapse of the grand coalition, austria has called an early election. according to deutsche welle, early results show that the 2 far right parties the freedom party and the alliance for austria’s future have combined captured 29% and according to bbc the number is 30% of the vote. it’s not enough to form a majority on their own, but one of these two parties could conceivably enter the government if all other options don’t pan out for the social democratic party. the center left, social democratic party, has won with 29% and the center right party has garnered 25% of the vote.
josef fritzl, who allegedly kidnapped and allegedly did naughty things with his daughter elisabeth fritzl, gave the austrian police a tour of his dungeon.
according to the financial times, during the presidential primaries, barack obama clearly laid the blame on the financial crisis that was unfolding on banking deregulation in the 1990s.
the glass steagall act passed during the depression era, tightly regulated the u.s. banking system. it stood the country in good stead for about 70 years –until bill clinton signed the bill in 1999 which repealed the glass steagall act.
the 1999 financial services modernization act, written by phil gramm, who had been advising john mccain up until this past july, was passed by both houses of congress and signed by bill clinton in the same year, the new law effectively repealed glass steagall and the bank holding act of 1956 which prohibited financial companies from owning banks and insurance companies.
glass steagall prohibited the merging of banks, securities firms, and insurance companies, while the financial services modernization act allowed for huge financial conglomerates.
both nancy pelosi and joe biden voted yes on repealling glass stegall on november 4, 1999 and bill clinton signed the bill into law one week later. barack obama was in the state senate at the time, so his hands are clean. and john mccain abstained from voting.
the gramm-leach-bliley act, also known as the financial services modernization act of 199, passed the senate 90-8 and the house 362-57 on november 4, 1999.
i will continue to post variations of this post every few days or at least every few weeks. it is important for people to know where the blame lies. and it is squarely on the shoulders of congressional members from the 90s and especially bill clinton.
as david cameron gave the speech of his life during the tory party conference about this time last year to give the tory party a bump in the polls in the uk and indirectly insuring that boris johnson would become mayor of london, gordon brown (aka bashful smurf) gave the speech of his life tuesday during the labour party confference. somehow he achieved the unachieveable. he temporarily developed a personality. no dithering about. he was full of self-confidence and direction. although tony blair was the big personality during the the ‘cool brittania’ phase. hopefully the british remember that as chancellor of the exchequer, gordon brown steered the uk through a highly successful 10 year plus run of the economy. you can watch highlights on the bbc.
yesterday, john mccain announced that he was suspending his campaign and heading back to washington to help deal with the u.s. financial crisis. he neglected to add, ‘and to ensure that his multi-millionarie wife’s investments are secure.’ here is david letterman’s take on the whole thing.
rilfemind, written by aussie andrew upton (aka, cate blanchett’s husband) and directed by oscar award winning actor, philip seymour hoffman is probably one of the worst plays i’ve seen since i was conceived. john hannah (4 weddings and a funeral) and ruth gemmel (fever pitch) star in this play about a once successful band (somewhere between the rolling stones and the police) who are intent on touring again.
Riflemind With John Hannah Directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in London's West End
the middle-aged (and post-middle-aged) foggies talk about the most mundane trash imaginable. it’s a male fantasy play about nuddling and ‘talk’ surrounding men being wrapped around womens’ private parts. oh and i should mention, the lone female in the band is relegated to the sidelines, unless it’s got something to do with sex. and all the men are dressed like alter-egos of philip seymour hoffman. converse shoes (what self-respecting brit wears converse?), washed out t-shirts and blue jeans. yet another reason film stars should stick to what they know best. the financial times was gracious enough to give the play merely a bad review.
kenneth branagh, once known as the ken in ‘ken and emma’ while he was married to emma thompson oh so many years ago, has returned to the stage in anton chekov’s ‘ivanov.’ the reviews so far have been stellar. the london production of the tom stoppard adaptation has garnered 5 star reviews from both the guardian and the independent. the bits in the play about capital got much laughter from the crowd. i attended a performance today and wasn’t able to get much in the way of photographs. apparently branagh took off immediately after curtain call.
Kenneth Branagh Stars in Ivanov at the Donmar Theatre in London
at the moment loads of people are fingering alan greenspan. but a lot of the press has failed to point the finger at the 1999 repeal of the glass-steagal act. according to pbs “in 1933, senator carter glass (D-Va.) and congressman he enry steagall (D-Ala.) introduce the historic legislation that bears their name, seeking to limit the conflicts of interest created when commercial banks are permitted to underwrite stocks or bonds.” it stood in good stead (albeit with a bit of tinkering) for 75 years until congress and bill clinton repealed it in 1999 following hundreds of millions of dollars worth of lobbying efforts by banks. under the gise of making the u.s. banking industry more competitive, the financial services modernization act passed by an overwhelmingly majority in congress and was signed by bill clinton.
the three day festival of food event ends today (sunday). the celebration of good eating and responsible buying includes music, cooking demonstrations, a slow food bee day, and of course, lots of food. assorted treats which have been locally and ethically produced include wine, lamb, produce and sausages are featured in the slow food market. the slow food movement
numeorus u.s. presidents, such as woodrow wilson and abraham lincoln, held an elected office for a mere 2 years prior to becoming president. lincoln wasn’t even in office when he became president. which is why sarah palin is on the republican ticket and barack obama is on the demcratic ticket. truman didn’t even have a vice president for 4 years.
woodrow wilson was governor of new jersey for 2 years prior to becoming president. abraham lincoln served one term in the house of representative.
the company formerly known as lehmen brothers and shearson lehmen hutton is now bankrupt. who has sympathy for the investment bankers who got tossed out of their offices at lehman’s london office. all they got on their last day of work was a cardboard box. the best part of the article are the readers’ posts.
joe biden is not an unlikeable person. 95% of what he says is insightful. the problem is with the other 5%. which is why he’s known as joe biden gaffe machine:
this is what barack obama is asking as are democratic members of the house and senate. does the u.s. have obama fatigue? after both the DNC and RNC conventions, obama’s speech was roundly praised while mccain’s speech was roundly criticized by the media. but it seems that mccain has made a better connection. was it all sarah palin’s doing? if you compare the two speeches. you’ll notice obama speaks in abstracts. he talks about ‘the man in indiana’ and so on. you can view the whole speech here. while mccain speaks specifically about ‘jake in pennsylvania who works on a loading dock.’ you can view mccain’s speech here. don’t blame obama. blame his speech writer and campaign manager.
a swedish television station uncovered footage of john sidney mccain being released from a vietnam prison in 1978. you can find it here.isn’t it curious how sweden, branded as the nation of peace is one of the leading suppliers of nuclear power to europe? and that swedish companies like saab not only make cars but also military equipment. i guess now that europeans are coming to grips with the possibility that mccain just might squeak through, they’re trying to provide some backgrounders on the man for their viewers.
is it any wonder that barack obama is struggling? the democratic party, on the national level has only crossed the 50% threshold 2 times since 1944. in 1992, bill clinton only got 43% of the vote. and in 1996, he took home but 49%.
these county by county maps of 1992 and 1996 show the voting patterns of the u.s., county by county, favors the republicans. the democrats dominate the cities while the republican party dominates the rural areas. unfortunately for the democrats, far more americans live in the burbs and countryside than live in the cities these days. the the bar graphs for 1996 show that the margin of difference between bob dole and clinton was ross perot, the third party candidate who peeled votes away from the republican party in 1992 as well.
the jason bourne movies are fabulous. especially the first and third films in the trilogy. and everyone’s hoping there will be a fourth. but although people like some of damon’s movies, that doesn’t mean they care about his political opinions. in this video damon talks about disney movies and hockey moms and creationism. yes matt, we know you went to harvard. but you didn’t graduate. did you flunk out? or did you leave voluntarily?
obama has about 3 days (if not 2) to reverse his slide. he’s 5 points down according to gallup, which means mccain got a 13 – 15 point bounce out of the republican national convention. while obama got an 8 point bounce.
maybe obama’s appearance on david letterman helped with the pig with lipstick gaffe. but he had better walk walk on pins in needles the way he did with hillary clinton during the primaries(who democratic women adore). because unlike clinton, who men across all parties view negatively and who republican women can’t stand with a capitol ‘can’t stand,’ men think palin is a guy’s girl and women across the board (54%) have a positive view of her.
but if obama is running for president. why is he spending so much time talking about john mccain’s VP? sounds like a political mistake.
uk prime minister gordon brown’s 2 year old child has cystic fibrosis. no one ever suggested that he should not have accepted the prime minister position and stayed home for the sake of his child. as was suggested of sarah palin last week by surprisingly loads of women, including ‘the view’ producer barbara walters. dave cameron, leader of the tory party in the uk and quite possible the next prime minister of the country, has a young son who is severely disabled. he once commented that his experience with his son has given him great insight into the his country’s healthcare system.
that is, after getting it wrong about john mccain’s acceptance speech. but at least clive crook acknowledges that the knee jerk reaction of the overwhelming liberal u.s. media was off the mark last week regarding john mccain’s vice presidential pick. unlike in the uk, where the appeal of a publication like the independent or the guardian, is that they are firmly on the left or the left of center. while a publication like the daily telegraph makes no bones about the fact that the majority of its readers are conservative types.
collectively it seems the majority of companies that run newspapers and tv news progarms somehow feels that it’s more in their interest to feign neutrality. but that didn’t work so well over the last couple of weeks for msnbc with chris matthews or keith olbermann.
that doesn’t mean that mccain made the right choice. that remains to be seen. it’s too early to tell. but the numbers are good. mccain got a 15 point bounce from the convention and now leads barack obama by 10 points according to usa today/a>.
been working out this concept–this theme, called accelerated media. it used to be, at least in the case of politics, when one trailblazer went down, those standing in the rafters had about 2 – 4 years to take the experiences of the pioneer (both bad and good) and turn it to their own advantage.
now that sarah palin has been picked by john mccain to be the first female on a republican ticket, and quite possibly the first woman vice president of the united states, we see that the republican ticket and palin herself have the luxury of rolling through an endless sea of information on how a woman can or cannot win a national campaign because hillary has already conducted their market research. now they know, frumpy and scary does not work. but kazuo kawasaki designer glasses do. although frumpy does seem to work for angela merkel in germany. but what does this tell us about deutschland?
u.s. weekly is known for it’s mean spirited stories. the endless articles on everyone from brangelina to bennifer are infamous. but apparently, it’s only okay for them to skewer celebrities. according to the new york post, their sarah palin cover story with her holding her special needs child alongside a headline that would make pro-family value types cringe, has cost editor-in-chief, janice min, and publisher, jann wenner (aka, obama supporter), anywhere between 1,000 and 10,000 subscribers. is this miscalculation at it’s finest?
fox news’s megyn kelly weighed in on the cover last week:
in this brief video interview with us weekly, oprah says “we have to do whatever it takes to get him in office.” that’s what she thought after attending the obama roman columns speech. does that include not letting sarah palin on her show (which the drudge report reported today). a woman who naturally fits her low rent sort of demographic? will this help or hurt oprah’s ratings?
what a difference 4 years make. according to usa today, in 2004, rosario dawson was arrested 1 block from the site of the republican national convention during an anti-republican protest. according to a post on ew.com from 2004, rosario dawson wasn’t a protestor, but just kinda got in the way of the action. fast forward 4 years to a few days back and you see she was on the floor miling around during the republican national convention.
should this be a headline? according to the drudgereport, oprah winfrey, queen of feel-good, trash tv apparently is balking at putting sarah palin on her show. did she let hillary clinton on her show during the primaries. can’t remember. but initially hill didn’t really do a whole lot of press. well maybe sarah will have to hit up jerry springer. but the best strategy might be an instant E! True Political story, if they every decide to go down that alley.
joe pantoliano, best known for his star turns in both the matrix (first and only film that mattered in the trilogy), sopranos, and christopher nolan’s genius of a film, memento, turned up at the republican national convention. as did rosario dawson. isn’t pantoliano the same guy who 4 years ago went door-to-door for john kerry in ohio? or was he actually knocking on doors for george w. bush? jon voight, who used to be known for ‘midnight cowboy’ but is now recognized for being the father of angelina jolie, could be seen in the crowd tuesday night during fred thompson’s speech.
wall street journal columnist peggy noonan got caught out yesterday going off on sarah palin, john mccain’s VP pick, as did republican pundit michael murphy. in her new column, she explains her faux pas. before you speak, make sure the mics are off.
sarah palin’s daughter bristol isn’t the first teen to get knocked up. the new york times has a funny video on it’s homepage today. one of their reporters went to anchorage alaska to ask about sarah palin and bristol. she stopped a couple of twenty-somethings to ask them what they thought of sarah’s 17 year old daughter being pregnant. the guy grimaced and shrugged his shoulders. the girl said ‘i had my baby at 16.’ and that was sort of the end of the conversation.
u.s. weekly was savvy enough to post a special photo section on knocked up celebrity teens including the star of the much beloved film ‘whale rider,’ who gave birth at 16.
is it true that inBev, the belgian-brazilian company that just forced anheuser busch into submission, might be considering someone to head their north american division who according to an unconfirmed rumour may not even have a passport. or is everyone doing a song and dance with the media considering, according to the wall street journal, that inBev-anheuser busch (or is that anheuser busch – inBev) will be axing about 1,000 employees before the merger officially goes through. usa today estimates that anheuser busch spends $378M on advertising. maybe they should consider trimming that figure a bit.
should a woman in a 1 rupe outfit be allowed to be photographed with a child wearing a $1,000 hermes bib? as one irate person in the article in the new york timespoints out, “there’s nothing ‘fun or funny’ about putting a poor person in a mud hut in clothing designed by Alexander McQueen.”
last year, craig fergusen had governor sarah palin, vice presidential candidate, on his show during which he referred to her as the naughty alaskan librarian.
this blog is about a bit of this and a bit of that. a sort of ‘for the moment’ blog. and at the moment, it’s more about politics and less about other stuff. my byline has appeared in wired, l.a. weekly, s.f. bay guardian and i blogged about the film ... Continue reading »
