Palau

Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, washed the t-shirt 23 times, threw the t-shirt in the ragbag, now I'm polishing furniture with it.

The Other Theft

'08/12 Election, Election Skullduggery, US politics, Wingnuts, Zionism
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While the public’s attention is on taxpayer billions being stolen with one Republican hand, the democratic process is being stolen with the other…

I found this description of dirty electioneering in the comments to another TPM post re the anti-Islam agitprop DVD that’s being inserted and distributed in newspapers in key voting districts by an unknown (possibly the JDL) lobby group. They’ll try anything to confuse and obsfuscate voters out of their ballots:

The mailing was addressed to me, but using a form of my name (an extra initial) I don’t use – and am not registered under. It was two forms for absentee ballots inside. But on the reverse of the address – photos of 4 “bad guys” (Chavez, Osama, Kim Jong Il, and the president of Iran… not gonna try to spell his name). When I went to City Hall I found out that many people had received a mailing telling them to send the request for absentee ballot to the WRONG city!! Our city clerk was annoyed because this costs the city postage, telling someone they sent the form to the wrong place. Or if I had applied under the name as they addressed it to me, I would not have shown up as registered! That was my concern, as I have a hispanic last name – and was concerned I’d been targeted for that reason.

This is just one person in one voting district – how many hundreds of thousands of others are being taken in by this Republican ratfuckery – and is it enough to swing the election?

Must I Draw A Dia-Gramm?

Economy, Life under Capitalism, US politics
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The perfect illustration of just how corrupt this bank bailout plan is comes from an NYT report [via Josh Marshall at TPM]that overseas banks have successfully lobbied to be included in the bailout :

….The Times further reports that two of the biggest foreign banks in need of such relief are Barclays and UBS. In fact, my understanding is that UBS is more on the line here than any other foreign bank.

Let’s add this up.

John McCain’s top economics advisor, who is widely believed to be his choice for Treasury Secretary, should he win in November, is former Sen. Phil Gramm. (Indeed, just last night his spokesman refused to say Gramm wouldn’t be McCain’s choice for Treasury Secretary.)

Gramm is both vice chairman of UBS’s US division and a lobbyist for UBS.

Good grief, how much more blatant can this be?

That Bank Bailout In Full

Blogs, Economy, Wingnuts
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What’s going to happen to the markets after the bailout?

Courtesy of wingnut punditerati crush object and ageing girl prodigy Megan McCardle over at The Atlantic comes the answer:

“Well, they will go up. Or they will go down. Though it’s possible they might stay the same.”

Such prescience in one so young.

The Transaxle Of McCain’s Credibility

'08/12 Election, Blogs, Funny, Wingnuts
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Some wingnuts are nuttier than others, and Roy Edroso profiles one of the wingnuttiest at Alicublog; meet Bill Whittle, the National Review Columnist, McCain spokesnutjob and futurologist. Edroso:

I frequently tell you folks that our opponents are totally insane, but rarely does one of them leave so egregious a pixel trail of his psychosis. That the National Review would avail such a crackpot for its purposes is of course no surprise at all.

Seriously, go read it. Whittle is, demonstrably, at the very least very eccentric indeed if his planned Randian utopia and verbose paranoid fantasies are any guide.

But doesn’t that make him the perfect McCain spokesperson?

Miaow, It’s Beezely Your Mailcat

Kittens!
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What is it with cats and mail delivery? Does the smell of stamps attract cats or something?

Here’s another cat with an odd relationship with a postman, from China Daily:

Postman Terry Grinter is joined by his feline side-kick at least twice a week, in a scene reminiscent of the classic children’s television show.

Postman Not Pat
Postman Terry Grinter and his companion Beezly, who prefers sunny weather on the mail run. [Agencies]

In each episode of the BBC animated series, which first aired in 1981, Postman Pat is seen with his black-and-white cat Jess, as he delivers the mail through the valley of Greendale.

Mr Grinter’s companion, named Beezely, loves to ride in the basket perched in front of the handlebars of his bicycle as he makes his deliveries around Lyme Regis, Dorset.

Beezley started hitching a lift with Mr Grinter after the cat-loving postman befriended him. Now he hops into the basket of his own accord when Mr Grinter calls at his owner’s house.

Mr Grinter said: “People have said, ‘Don’t tell me he’s called Jess,’ because of Postman Pat’s cat, and I have to explain that he’s not even mine.”

“He likes sunny days – he’s definitely not a wet-weather cat.

“But he likes company and he knows that he will be made a fuss of.”

Awww…. but cats on bikes are not quite such a novelty as that here in Holland.