Come on teaple now, pile on your brother..

Remember when the US Gov. basically allowed JP Morgan/Chase to buy Bear Stearns for $2.00/share (it ended up being higher, but still..), which was decided in a corporate suite somewhere in N.Y., and we were told that if it didn't happen, the entire world economy would collapse? I do. We're in the exact same spot, but instead of Bear Stearns, et al, it's now the U.S. Federal Government.

It's interesting, exactly WHY the world economy would have collapsed. It wasn't that Bear Stearns was too big to fail, necessarily, it's that the failure of that (among other high-seas pirate investment firms) would have completely decimated the remaining threads of faith investors had in ... investment. "Too big to fail" was illusory -- an analogy to simplify the explanation of what would happen, but that's really besides the point.

My point is: It's not that a U.S. Government default would be necessarily devastating in itself, it's that, should such a thing happen, everyone will panic (I obviously only can assume...). Whether this herd-thinking is rational or not is irrelevant. Failure to raise the debt ceiling "proves" to investors in both private and public debt, that our system of government (namely, representative democracy) is incapable of self-correcting action when it reaches a[n] [arbitrary] certain point.

If the worst should happen, we should expect some pretty fucking dire consequences. There will be a domino effect, I would assume, of loss of faith in a wide gamut of institutions from government, to blue-chip, to ma/pa shops. I would assume there will be runs on banks (sooner or later people will realize that the FDIC is basically the federal government. Bond interest payments are paid before bank members), which will choke off the money supply (which apparently has a statutory limit), etc, etc... I can't make it play out any other way.

The fact that a few key puppet masters can control and manipulate large blocs in the federal legislature undermines the point of a representative democracy. It appears that we now live under the tyranny of the tea party, Fox News, and Grover Norquist.

I think we are witnessing the upper bound of the ability of a democratic republic, and this is regardless of any debt ceiling fallout. This is quite unfortunate, since there really is no viable alternative.

Hopefully I'm wrong.


~Nic

Mr. West, here's a hint: it's not because your black

From TPM:

"The thing that really most aggravates me is that there is this double standard, in that the people on the hard left can continue to attack conservatives and especially minority conservatives, and female conservatives," said West. "But yet when all of a sudden you stand up and you say that you will not tolerate this anymore, then they claim to be a victim -- which I find just absolutely laughable."

This is pure propaganda. I dislike you just as much as Gingrich, who is "decidedly white". Matter of fact, when I first learned about your Wasserman-Schultz outburst, I had no idea who you were, not to mention your ethnicity. I thought it was just as fucking stupid and childish as I do now that I know your black. STFU.

~Nic

The people who will control our future

...lose again. In a game of brinkmanship, those who don't care about going over will always win. I'm disappointed in a way that Dayton gave in.. pulling more money out of the education hat to solve problems, but in all reality, what the fuck else could he have done? Held out? Norquist is breathing down these assclown's necks. Just ask Coburn. The Rs are afraid for their jobs, and pushing "lower taxes" sounds good to anyone without the time, or willingness to think it all out.

I like Dayton. He's a good man. His move today, I think, wasn't a political move, or anything like that. It was disappointing, but revealing. Nice guys [lose].

~Nic

Some skin in the game

So there's a new meme that seems to be picking up steam (heh) with even the more liberal of people I pay attention to: `The poor need to have some skin in the game too`. I would like to request that if you are one of the people thinking/feeling this, that you take a fucking step back and think about it for a second. What is the purpose of taxing (raising taxes on) poor people (No numbers are mentioned, I will assume below the poverty line of about $18k/year for a family of 4)? Is it symbolic? Do people who have shitty lives suddenly feel something like "Oh, well now that I've got skin in the game I don't want to be poor anymore"? Is that how this shit works? HUH? Is it to make an impact? Can you find me someone who thinks "Oh, well now that I pay [more] taxes, I suddenly..." I can't even finish that sentence. It makes no fucking sense to me at all. What is the point here? Enlighten me.

~Nic

Overtime

Bwhahahahahaha

My favorite part?
"Ethan Nadelmann, Ann Cooter" @7:05

~Nic

The Tea Party Drama Series: Courage, NH

It's cute, I suppose.

What I really wanted to comment on was this:

...secular humanism rules the airwaves...

YGTBFKM. In this fantasy land, where everyone-but-me is the perfect enemy, what is the color of the sky? Do these people actually believe shit like that (and various other bumbling) or do they know it's bullshit, and it's purely dogwhistle? I can't fucking pick it apart to figure it out, they've got me stumped. I know there's clearly some that go one way and others that go the other, but is there some kind of magical way to detect "grifter"? My grifterdar is unconfigured, and needs calibration.

~Nic

Oh and, Fox:

You ARE the mainstream media. And you should be fucking ashamed of yourself, Mr. Murdoch.

~Nic

Proof of god

Here's your proof.

No one saw lightning strike the pine tree on Suburban Drive in Orange County, Florida, where teddy bears and flowers mark the spot where 2-year-old Caylee's remains were found on December 2, 2008.

But long, diagonal strips of exposed wood scarred the tall pine tree, WESH reported, and bits of bark lay scattered across the road.

"It could be a sign from the angels that they aren't happy with what's happened," a visitor to the site told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. "The rain, the lightning, the storm – it's the heavens indicating they aren't happy."

Oh how trite you are. Lightning? Why not a goddamn earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, tornado, and to top it off, flaming space debris.

We need better math education, specifically, statistics. This reminds me of a book I read recently. To paraphrase and mold to this story: How many people die terrible deaths, with unjust outcomes and there's NO lightning strike at the 'memorial'?

fucksakes.

~Nic

Dayton VS the Rable Day 5

It would appear as though Dayton is starting to puss out:

Budget negotiations appeared to break down at the Capitol Wednesday afternoon after Gov. Mark Dayton offered Republicans two new offers -- both including tax increases.

One raised the tax on cigarettes by $1 a pack. The other included a temporary 2% income tax surcharge on millionaires. Both proposals also featured expanded school shifts and health care surcharges.

“A tax increase in general is a non-starter with our caucus," said House Speaker Kurt Zellers. He added: "Things went backwards today."

First: A cigerette tax increase is not a progressive tax. Second, School shifts are a republican budget "gimmick", stop using that shit. Dayton: Don't fucking puss out. Zellers: I thought taxes on cigarettes were "fees" not actually taxes. If they're taxes, T-paw raised taxes as governor. (Duh).

~Nic

'Are You Proud of America This July 4?'

Fox news question: "Are You Proud of America This July 4?" Well, first of all it's July 5th (July 5th, 2:41AM to be exact), so you're fucking stupid, and second: what the fuck does that have to do with the price of beans? Maybe my answer should be "'Merica, we signed the dereliction (sp) of independents (Liberman, woot!) and freed the slaves! Now we just have to figure out a way to deal with these blacks". Sorry, sorry.. I spent the weekend and the holiday with a few 'teabillies' up nort'. JFC. When do we get a leader on our side with some goddamn balls? Where's our Grover Norquist? Don't fucking tell me it's Jon Stewart.. we're fucked.

Happy 'independents' day.

~Nic

Let the oil flow.. into Yellowstone

Again? Really? What is it going to fucking take?

~Nic

Dayton: Finally.

I'm glad he wasn't bluffing. Finally we get someone in a goddamn executive branch who will hold (at least half) their ground. Offering even to raise taxes only on people with incomes > $1m.. far far less than 1% of the MN population. That's a compromise t-paw would have never given (Mr. my way or the fucking (collapsed) highway). Dayton is clearly not worried about re-election (All the dems I know of would have folded long ago out of `sheer terror`). He's serious, and unless you're part of the 2% of the population making a fuckload and a half of money, he's on your side (even then, he's on your side. Despite rampant fuckwadism, we're all in this together). Whether you like it or not.

Hyperbolic poop-touchery, deriding "tax-and-spend liberalism" is not in line with the way of life that should be expected, if not demanded, in the richest country the world has ever known.

From an undisclosed location?

~Nic