March 05, 2009
— Ace After you, Alphonse.
U.S. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said he wants to see people prosecuted for wrongdoing related to the financial crisis as lawmakers overhaul regulation of Wall Street.Frank will call on attorneys general, bank regulators and officials from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to outline plans for prosecuting and recovering funds from those responsible for the crisis, he said today at a news conference in Washington.
“What are your plans to prosecute those people whose irresponsible and, in some cases, criminal actions helped bring about this crisis?” said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat.
...
“We have got to empower some entities that don’t now have it to restrain risk-taking that is irresponsible,” Frank said, adding that the Federal Reserve is in the “best capacity” to serve this role.
Risk-taking? How awful.
Here's Barney Frank on risk-taking, from 2003, as the bomb was being built:
House Financial Services Committee hearing, Sept. 10, 2003:Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.): I worry, frankly, that there's a tension here. The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios....
House Financial Services Committee hearing, Sept. 25, 2003:
Rep. Frank: I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing. . . .
You dirty cocksucker.
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— Ace
You think that's bad? There's worse. But See Update.
Bair Says Insurance Fund Could Be Insolvent This Year(Update1)
By Alison Vekshin
March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said the fund it uses to protect customer deposits at U.S. banks could dry up amid a surge in bank failures, as she responded to an industry outcry against new fees approved by the agency.
“Without these assessments, the deposit insurance fund could become insolvent this year,” Bair wrote in a March 2 letter to the industry. U.S. community banks plan to flood the FDIC with about 5,000 letters in protest of the fees, according to a trade group.
For the first time in my adult life I am terrified to be an American.
I don't think I have to mention that sort of self-propagating misery machine we've got going here.
Hmmm... FDIC can't insure those deposits it's insuring?
Gee, I'll just take my money out of the bank and...
...crash the banks.
I don't know if the FDIC will really become insolvent or if this is just standard operating procedure for the Obamanauts, that is, to cry catastrophe whenever their taxes or expenditures are challenged. She slaps another tax (or "fee") on the already-strained banks, and when they protest, she drops the insolvency bomb on them.
Is she telling the truth? Or is she hoping to start a run on the banks just to shut up her critics?
Overstatement/Chicken Little Update: The insolvency of the fund will not mean that deposits are uninsured -- just that the corporation will have to go begging to the Treasury for more cash:
The deposit insurance fund won’t dry up because the government can get funds from the industry and congressional appropriations, and borrow from the Treasury, Chip MacDonald, a partner specializing in financial services at law firm Jones Day, said today in a telephone interview.“As a depositor, I am not worried in the least,” MacDonald said. “No one is going to let the FDIC go without any money.”
Fine. I suppose this letter was intended for bankers and so they would know this. Yet I still think it's dangerous for an Obama official to phrase things this way. And they seem to go to the Panic Button whenever they're challenged at all.
Further, with all that money being freely spent, they could't have dedicated some of it to shoring up the FDIC? Banks are, after all, at the heart of this problem; the crisis originates there. So while we're spending money to study the methane content of moose-farts we can't spend money on the actual heart of the crisis?
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11:29 AM
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— Slublog
Resting on top of a tall, narrow pole, they flank his podium during speeches in the White House’s stately parlors. They stood next to him on the floor of a manufacturing plant in Indiana as he pitched his economic stimulus plan. They traveled to the Department of Transportation this week and were in the Capitol Rotunda last month when he paid tribute to Abraham Lincoln in six-minute prepared remarks.Shouldn't a president who is supposedly famous for his oratory be better at speaking extemporaneously? As the story notes, his inability to make a speech without the technology means he's constantly looking to his sides, not directly at the camera, and by extension the American people. And again, the double-standard is jarring. Obama has made some pretty ridiculous statements when he's not on prompter. Yet we don't see Slate or other members of the media creating sites to track and mock "Obama-isms."Obama’s reliance on the teleprompter is unusual – not only because he is famous for his oratory, but because no other president has used one so consistently and at so many events large and small.
After the teleprompter malfunctioned a few times last summer and Obama delivered some less-than-soaring speeches, reports surfaced that he was training to wean himself off of the device while on vacation in Hawaii. But no luck.
On that note, it's really too bad the late-night comics or SNL can't find anything funny about Obama.
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11:22 AM
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— Ace The reason we're having problems is this: All of the mu.nu blogs, including this one and other heavy hitters like My Pet Jawa, Protein Wisdom, and Confederate Yankee, are usually hosted on three servers.
One of those servers is down. Which means that some of those blogs have been moved to working servers. And it's not enough server power, not during peak hours, which just happens to be, wonderfully enough, when the most people want to get on the site.
I am pleading with Pixy to fix this and have offered to buy a new server or pay for an expedited fix of the old one. I realize I can't attempt a professional blog if people can't reliably get to it during the fat part of the traffic day. I'm also looking at finally paying a hosting company, though with the end of PJM's payments and ad rates currently in the toilet, I don't know how viable that is.
I share your frustration and I am doing what I can. If I have to pay $1500 or whatever for a server, I will.
On the upside, I am told the server is being fixed and/or will be fixed... I just haven't been told when.
Maybe the bigger blogs on our server have to suggest rationing to people during the danger hours of 12-3 Eastern, and ask people to just click once an hour or something. I don't know; I'm awaiting word from Pixy.
Who, to make this even worse, is on Australian time, so he's asleep during these outages and never can actually witness where the system is hanging up.
One Thing That Would Help: If you, like me, begin attempting to reload the site when you get a broken-link message, wondering if it's just you -- it's not just you. Please don't attempt reloading for a while, and if it still doesn't work in ten minutes, come back in ten minutes more.
When you're getting a broken link message, no one is getting to the site, including me, so you're not missing any posts or comments.
I think it's possible that when it goes down the situation is being worsened by people checking "is it just me?" and reloading a few times, which strains the server further and lengthens the downtime.
So, as a first fix -- avoid that.
Personally, I'm going to still do it. But I have to.
Update from Pixy: Ace has it correct - because of the dead server, we're overloaded elsewhere, and hitting reload doesn't help. 
I should have the failed server back in action today, and that will solve the problem.
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10:51 AM
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— Ace Payback for the Kenyan (Mau-Mau) Uprising that the Brits put down?
This is The One's idea of diplomacy?
Oh God. This may be worse than we thought. John Kerry, at least, wanted to cozy up to France. Obama may have it in his head that now is the time to repudiate the old colonial powers and cozy up to... I have no idea.
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10:45 AM
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— Ace As a preamble, I noticed yesterday (off the site) that the Obama Administration is candid with the press while being deceptive to the public. For example, they were practically bragging that they were engineering a silly distraction in their campaign against the real cause of the financial meltdown-- Rush Limbaugh.
Would Republicans be so candid to the press admitting this cynical strategy? No, and it's not because we're more secretive or dishonest; it's because we know the press would never stop tearing our asses about it. But the Obama Administration knows the press will handle its cynical campaigning with the proper "context" and "nuance," and not make a very big deal about it.
So, Obama is manufacturing a false war with a talk-show host as the US and the world teeters on the edge of insolvency. Ah, well. That's just good politics, innit it?
Well, check out this stunning admission by a member of Obama's inner circle. Buried -- buried -- at the very end of a Politico piece.
In the end, Obama believes, forward motion on his agenda matters more than any details.“Even if we’re busting the budget, we’ve got to solve some of these problems,” said a member of his inner circle. “I’d rather live with a debt than have people go without health care.”
Well! That's a pretty major confession -- that despite his protestations, fixing the economy is not Obama's top priority. Advancing his ideological agenda is. And if that conflicts with the need to avert an economic catastrophe -- oh well, can't make an omelet, etc.
This isn't the first such admission the press has yawned at. Rahm Emmanuel announced his desire to use a legitimate crisis as pretext to advance an ideological agenda when he remarked one must " never let a crisis go to waste."
But the press yawns.
The Obamanauts have no care or concern about making these breath-halting admissions because they know the press is of a like mind and therefore sees no fault in them.
Now, to get off the press-bashing angle and get to actual policy:
Obama's man just admitted he doesn't care if he bankrupts the country as long as he gets health care.
That seems a rather important fact, doesn't it? It's useful context for evaluating Obama's various claims about what is necessary to supposedly save the economy, isn't it?
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09:20 AM
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— Ace Okay. And the markets declined for a month before that and they're declining again today.
Is that due to the cramdown? Or is only positive market news attributable to The One's plans?
I think we know the answer.
The MSM is flailing desperately to prop up the product they bamboozled us into buying. But spin only carries so far.
Thanks to CJ.
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08:58 AM
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— Ace Huh. He's too left-wing even for the Congressional Democrats.
You can hardly blame David Brooks and Chris Buckley for not realizing this. After all, there was noting at all in his record to suggest such a thing.
President Barack Obama is meeting strong Democratic Party resistance to his proposal to reduce tax deductions enjoyed by upper-income Americans and could be forced to drop or modify the idea.Mr. Obama in his budget blueprint last week proposed a cap on itemized deductions for mortgage interest and charitable donations to help pay for his health-care overhaul. The plan would cost wealthier taxpayers about $318 billion in new taxes over 10 years, according to government estimates.
But after objections from Democratic lawmakers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appeared to suggest at one point Wednesday that the administration was willing to consider dropping or modifying the proposal.
The resistance from Mr. Obama's own party -- focusing on a single element of the president's tax plans -- could foreshadow broader troubles for the rest of his proposed tax increases.
...
Charitable organizations are also worried. Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy said Wednesday that Mr. Obama's proposals to limit deductions and raise rates, if applied in 2006, would have reduced giving by nearly $4 billion, or 2.1%.
The charitable-deduction cap is truly strange -- it's almost as if Obama wants to reduce private giving so that the state will be the sole font of munificence.
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08:45 AM
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— Jack M. I fear this may become a continuing series. Which would suck, because I really don't like thinking about the Obamas.
However, the President has now given British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a gift to commemorate his visit to America. You will recall that lat night I wrote about the craptacular response of Michelle "The Klingon with Klass" Obama to the gifts her children received from the Browns.
But before I reveal the President's gift, let's review what he received from PM Brown so that a little perspective can be had:
Mr Brown's gifts included an ornamental desk pen holder made from the oak timbers of Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet, once named HMS President.Mr Obama was so delighted he has already put it in pride of place in the Oval Office on the Resolute desk which was carved from timbers of Gannet's sister ship, HMS Resolute.
Another treasure given to the U.S. President was the framed commission for HMS Resolute, a vessel that came to symbolise Anglo-US peace when it was saved from ice packs by Americans and given to Queen Victoria.
Finally, Mr Brown gave a first edition set of the seven-volume classic biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.
Those are classy gifts, and fully uphold the spirit of the US/UK special relationship. They are tasteful and, in the particular case of the pen made from the anti-slaver ship HMS Gannet, imbued with additional symbolic meaning that elevates them to a status in which one would not be surprised to find it on prominent display in the National Archives or in the Obama Presidential Library (opening, January 2013 with any luck).
So how did "Smart Diplomat in Chief" reciprocate? Did he, perhaps, have a pen forged out of the remnants of a M4-Sherman to commemorate the Patton-Montgomery deliverance of North Africa from Nazi control?
No, no, no. You see, that would take thought, and it isn't something you can just pick up on the spur of the moment at the White House Gift Shop. So what did our Boy President Barry give the Brits? What vestige of Americana will Gordon Brown receive on behalf of the British people to commemorate Brown's historic meeting with the American President?
Gordon Brown has been given a collection of 25 classic American films on DVD as his official gift from Barack Obama.
I think I'd ask for the pen back. But that's just me. The Brits, stiff upper lip and all, are much more guarded in their response.
No 10 had tried to keep the present a secret, refusing to answer reporters who asked what President Obama had given to mark the reaffirmation of the special relationship.However, the Evening Standard discovered the truth through White House insiders.
One reason for the secrecy might be that the gift seems markedly less generous and thoughtful than the presents taken to Washington by the Prime Minister.
You don't say.
Just out of curiosity, I decided to take a guess at some of the movies that might be included in the DVD set, so I could figure out just how benevolent the Obama's were.
Let's see. How about the Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind and Casablanca?
You can buy a Wizard of Oz DVD for $2-$8 dollars online.
You can snag a copy of Gone With the Wind for $3.99 online.
On the other hand, maybe it's just 25 Blaxpoitation films starring Jim Brown and Pam Grier. Who the hell knows?
(1974's "Foxy Brown" sells for $10.98 by the way. It might actually be less embarrassing if the Obamas did give the British PM 25 Blaxploitation films!)
In any event, I suppose that, as opposed to some lousy pen carved from the timbers of an anti-slaver ship, DVD's are fun for the whole family! Brown could always give them to the BBC to supplement their late night lineup perhaps. Think outside the box, people!
I'm gonna miss England when the Muslims take it over. My only solace is that I bet the British are saying the same thing about the United States.
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08:14 AM
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— Ace Is this real? Before debating that let's look at the products.
"Tiberius Cologne for men is difficult to define and impossible to refuse," they promise.
The other two fragrances are, um, "Red Shirt" for men, "because tomorrow may never come," and, for the ladies, "Pon Farr," which will "drive him wild."
Funny? Sure.
Now, is any of this real? Another reference mentions the colognes, and even gives a bit of backing detail to suggest it's plausible -- a perfume tied to the movie Twilight apparently sold well. The company supposedly licensed to make the products, Genki Wear, has a plausible background -- producing replica jewelry licensed from sci-fi themed shows, like Buffy and Angel -- but their website is so painfully basic it raises questions about whether it was just mocked up for purposes of a prank.
Their website also fails to note their hot new products, except for a teaser line about a new license and new product line coming soon.
Real or not, it's awesome, and should be real.
Thanks to krakatoa.
Sex Panther by Odeon: Officially licensed, it seems, from the movie Anchorman.
Carries the great slogan "60% of the time, it works every time." (That makes no sense.)
And this one seems pretty real. The site is pro-looking, and contains amusing copy (see About, especially "How It Works"). They have the proper trademark notices, etc.
Thanks to Tim.
Everyone's a Critic: Bill D. Cat writes:
If you're stupid enough to wear Redshirt , tomorrow isn't the only thing that's not coming .
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