Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Dylan Ratigan: Four Simple Ways to Fix the Financial System


Via Tyler Durden, Dylan Ratigan offers four shockingly simple principles to repair the broken financial system.

This must have been one of those "so simple it would never occur to any politician" epiphanies. Four great points by Dylan Ratigan that should immediately be taken up by pro-reform politicians. If Barney Frank deems these are unenforceable or not worthy of his attention, replace Barney Frank immediately.

[His] proposals on how to fix the broken financial system:

• Inject transparency, primarily to bring almost $500 trillion in swaps to the forefront.
• Capital to back Wall Street's gambling. It is a guarantee that very few firms will have Goldman's trading pattern each and every quarter.
• Enact a tax-code to discourage short-term profits. "Fortunes should not be made in minutes but over years through the creation of value to society."
• Break up the Too Big To Fail banking institutions. Start with Goldman Sachs. Right Now. Christine Varney, we are still looking at you.

For those who still believe Goldman is operating entirely legitimately, its recent track record ought to disabuse you of that quaint notion: during the third quarter, the firm made money on 63 trading days and lost money on exactly one. Its trading record for the second quarter was just as good.

Smells like Bernie Madoff was here.


Iranian Protesters to Obama: "You're Either With Us or With Them"


Dan from New York describes a direct challenge to President Obama by Iranians seeking to overthrow the yoke of tyranny:

ABC reports: Iranian protesters took to the streets today as they do every Nov. 4 to mark the 30th anniversary of the U.S. embassy takeover. But this year, opponents of the Iranian regime used the government sanctioned day of street demonstrations to challenge the hard line administration. While supporters of the regime led chants of "death to America," crowds nearby shouted "death to the dictator," a veiled reference to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his political ally, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

And via this video report, CNN adds the protestors had a direct message for America's president too: "You're Either With Us or With Them"

Meanwhile, somewhere on another planet, a pointy-eared man with a peculiar name had this to say about the takeover by Iranian militants of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran: "This event helped set the United States and Iran on a path of sustained suspicion, mistrust and confrontation," he said in his statement. "I have made it clear that the United States of America wants to move beyond this past, and seeks a relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran based upon mutual interests and mutual respect."

Now the Iranian protesters know who the man is with.

Since we've never had a President who favored tyranny over liberty before, this appears to be uncharted territory for not only the protesters -- but the American citizenry as well.


Hot Flash! Hillary Forgets Hormone Meds in Hotel


Dan from New York and Amy both point us to this bizarre Hillary quote:

Clinton: U.S. Wants Israel to Halt Settlements 'Forever'


Secretary of state says Washington does not accept the legitimacy of Israeli settlements in the West Bank


Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton defended the U.S stance toward Israeli settlement building to worried Arab allies on Wednesday, saying Washington does not accept the legitimacy of the West Bank enclaves and wants to see their construction halted "forever."

Still, she said an Israeli offer to restrain -- but not halt -- construction represents "positive movement forward" toward resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

Clinton met for an hour with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a hastily arranged stopover in the Egyptian capital to soothe Arab concerns that Washington is backing off demands for an Israeli settlement halt. The fears were sparked on Saturday when Clinton, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at her side in Jerusalem, praised his government's offer as unprecedented.

She has since tried to clarify the remarks, saying that the Israeli offer does not got far enough. Still, she has indicated that the Palestinians should resume negotiations with Israel without a full settlement halt as they demand.

On Wednesday, Clinton insisted "our policy on settlement has not changed."

"We do not accept the legitimacy of settlement activity. Ending all settlement activity current and future would be preferable," she told reporters after talks with Mubarak.

These shifting positions are too complex for mere mortals to comprehend. That's why it's called Smart Power™!

When Nazis Marched Through London


Esther at IIE points us to a fascinating story in the London Times.

This newly-released footage is really quite terrifying.

It was unearthed by a Discovery Channel programme to be aired next week called Wartime London, presented by London cabby Harry Harris.

It shows the funeral, in 1936, of the German Ambassador to Britain, Leopold von Hoesch in 1936.

After a fatal stroke a state funeral was held for him, a salute of nineteen guns was fired in Hyde Park, and Grenadier Guards marched down the Mall. Shoulder to shoulder with Nazi soldiers.

They carried a coffin draped in a swastika, while crowds lined the road and balconies, a terrifyingly large number of them giving the Nazi salute.

Who are these people? They can’t, as Harris points out, all be embassy staff. Whether they were Germans living in London or British Nazi sympathisers is unknown. Most probably a mix of both...



Can you hear us... now?


Jerry sent this illustration in:


It seems to fit this Michelle Malkin story perfectly.

This country is still center-right. And the enemies of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence must be defeated politically, first in 2010 and again in 2012, if the Republic is to survive.


Smart Power: Israeli Commandos Seize Iranian Weapons Ship Destined for Hezbollah


I guess the Iranians never got the Hope and Change memo.

Israel's navy has intercepted a ship carrying hundreds of tonnes of Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Israeli military has said... The Antiguan-flagged vessel, Francop, was boarded 160km (100 miles) off the Israeli coast, the military said, and has been towed to the port of Ashdod.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the arms were intended to strike Israeli cities... In recent months Israel has stepped up efforts to combat the smuggling of arms to both Hezbollah and Hamas militants... Hezbollah has not yet commented on the latest incident.

Say, I wonder what's going to happen when Iran is able to build its own nuclear weapons?

The Obama administration's "Smart Power" diplomacy makes George W. Bush look like Steven Hawking.


Teachers' Union website offers guides to the violent overthrow of the U.S. government


Hard as it may be to believe, the recommending reading list of the NEA -- the powerful, Democrat-controlled teachers' union -- includes instruction manuals for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. Two books by radical Communist activist Saul Alinsky advocate violence ("Radicals [must break] the necks of Conservatives"), destruction and revolution.

Incredibly, the following quotes are not cherry-picked from the midst of Alinsky's texts: they are highlighted on the NEA's website.

An inspiration to anyone contemplating action in their community! And to every organizer!

"The Radical does not sit frozen by cold objectivity. He sees injustice and strikes at it with hot passion. He is a man of decision and action. There is a saying that the Liberal is one who walks out of the room when the argument turns into a fight.

"Society has good reason to fear the Radical. Every shaking advance of mankind toward equality and justice has come from the Radical. He hits, he hurts, he is dangerous. Conservative interests know that while Liberals are most adept at breaking their own necks with their tongues, Radicals are most adept at breaking the necks of Conservatives.

"Radicals precipitate the social crisis by action - by using power... The Radical recognizes that constant dissension and conflict is and has been the fire under the boiler of democracy. He firmly believes in that brave saying of a brave people, "Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!"

"The Radical may resort to the sword but when he does he is not filled with hatred against those individuals whom he attacks. He hates these individuals not as persons but as symbols representing ideas or interests which he believes to be inimical to the welfare of the people... That is the reason why Radicals, although frequently embarking upon revolutions, have rarely resorted to personal terrorism."

The words unconscionable and outrageous come to mind.

Rather than teach science, math, reading or writing, the NEA advocates the violent ascent of communism.

This organization has no business operating inside public schools.


Hat tip: Say Anything.

Larwyn's Linx: Blogospheric Election Night Round-Up

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Election 2009

Blogospheric Election Night Round-Up: Driscoll
Indies Fuel GOP Victories in VA, NJ: Times
Hoffman Comes Up Short in NY-23: BigGov

The GOP Elite's $1 Million Lesson: Malkin
The Strange Case of NY-23: PJM (Simon)
In NY-23, Conservatives Win: RedState

GOP: Clarity, Not Civil War: Riehl
Tweet of the Day: Tapper
1993 versus 2009: PoliPundit

NY-23: Boots on the Ground: RSM
Who Stole My Election?: WSJ
As Was Feared: Absentee Voter Fraud in NJ: Nice Deb

Nation

Likely Voters: NO to Dem Health Care Bill: BigGov
How a Small Health Care Bill Could Pay Big Dividends: PJM
Land of the Greed and Home of the Slave: FreeLight

High School Thought Police: AT
Harry Reid's Hide-and-Seek Health Care Bill: BigGov
White House uses taxpayer dollars to push partisan agenda: Examiner

Economy

Union-owned GM spent $6.5B on Delphi union pensions: BlogProf
Gold hits record high as investors lose faith in dollar: InstaPundit
Your Money at Work: Moonbattery

Media

Guess where the L.A. Times focused attention after elections?: NewsBusters
Arguing With A Man Who Buys Pixels By The Barrel: JOM
Blogging Rules for Radicals, Chapter One: PJM

The Democrat Party Died Last Night: Moonbattery
A Reporter's Journey: Cold Fury
Shill TV (CNBC): Google could buy NYT: NewsBusters

Climate & Energy

Palin versus Biden on Energy: Hot Air
U.S. Tops in Energy Resources: HumEve
A Dream Come True For Al Gore: Greenroom

World

“Half of US intelligence info came from detainees”: Russia Today
Which are the 'Miserable Nuns'?: Anchoress
Obama Pal Edward Said Another Fraud: AT

Sci-Tech

T-Mobile experiencing widespread outage: CNet

Cornucopia

Let the suicide bombing of Jellystone Park begin: Ace
Walken does Pokerface: Moonbattery

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Tonight's Hilarious Media Lie o' the Day


Spotted on Memeorandum:

Axelrod, Emanuel and Obama not watching election results?

Rimshot, please.


Update @ 6:03AM: Jake Tapper has the Tweet o' the Day.

Brave New World: Mad Men With Nukes


Dan from New York:

There is a yawning gap between Israeli and U.S. intelligence estimates of the Iranian nuclear threat. The former supports the growing need for a strike, the latter supports Obama’s need to dither instead. This makes for the most dramatic strategic cliffhanger since Munich - and for a very delicate dance. There is little chance BHO’s America will attack Iran on its own, or cooperate with Israeli plans. And what little chance there is depends on Israel’s determination to go it alone, and its ability to leave the Obama administration no doubt it is prepared to do exactly that. To put it another way, safeguarding the future is a job for the leader of the free world, but this one's not up to the task. That leaves only Israel and Netanyahu, and that's anyone's guess.

IDF Intelligence chief: Qom facility has no possible civilian use


Nov. 3, 2009

The recently-revealed Iranian nuclear facility in the Shi'a holy city of Qom has "no possible civilian use," Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin said Tuesday morning, directly contradicting statements made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September. Speaking during a briefing of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yadlin said that the Qom facility is designed for enrichment of uranium and at full capacity can hold 3,000 advanced centrifuges.

Yadlin said that the Israeli intelligence assessment was that Iran was interested in a horizontal expansion of its nuclear production capacity, so that when Teheran decides to advance to nuclear weapons capability, it will be able to do so in the shortest possible period of time. Yadlin emphasized that Iran is "competent in enrichment technology" and has not thus far been moved by the international response to its nuclear program.

Yadlin also said that one important goal for Israel was to prevent the entry of any of the 3,000 centrifuges from being installed at the Qom site.

The Arab countries, according to Yadlin, are afraid of Iran's nuclear development and in response are speeding up their own civilian nuclear developments.



The Pill


Papa B sent this one in.



Phone Charger Fail









How Beautiful We Were

American Digest:

A short list. In no particular order.

We had car shows, boat shows, beauty shows and dog shows.

We ran robots on the surface of Mars by remote control.

Our women came from all over the world in all shapes and sizes hues and scents.

We actually believed that all men are created equal and tried to make it come true.

Everybody liked our movies and loved our television shows.

We tried to educate everybody, whether they wanted it or not. Sometimes we succeeded.

We did Levis.

We held the torch high and hundreds of millions came. No matter what the cost.

We saved Europe twice and liberated it once.

We believed so deeply and so abidingly in free speech that we protected and even honored and in some cases even elected traitors.

We let you be as freaky as you wanted to be.

We paid you not to plant crops and not to work.

We died in the hundreds of thousands to end slavery here and around the world.

We invented Jazz.

We wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysberg address.

We went to the moon to see how far we could hit a golf ball...

Read the rest at American Digest.


Entry-level computing, circa 1972

 
Here's the brochure for the IBM 370-115 entry-level mainframe, introduced in 1972.








Note the Printed in Western Germany reference. And the fact that an oscilloscope came with each system.

Remember: you're not really debugging unless you use an oscilloscope, you young whippersnappers!


CNN: Angry Republicans hassling Democrats at polling stations

According to CNN, angry conservative members of the GOP are turning out in droves to kick Democrat politicians to the curb. CNN's random sampling of voters included these typical Republicans:










In the little land we like to call reality, however, things are actually quite different.

Quite different.


Larwyn's Linx: PelosiCare creates 111 new federal bureaucracies

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Nation

A Hateful Hate Crimes Law: Examiner
Health Care Reform In The (Security) Breach: AT
Was arrested man a Corzine staffer?: AmPower

Small Victories: Another Dem Deadline Come and Gone: Ace
Too Radical for Wisconsin, Perfect for Obama: Power Line
Planned Parenthood Leader Resigns After Watching Ultrasound: BlogProf

NY-23: ACORN expected to protest election results: BigGov
NEA "Recommended Reading: Saul Alinsky, American Organizer": IronSur
Obama’s Working Families (ACORN) Party Looks Set To Lose In NYC: BigGov

Be Paid for Votes in Ohio!: Red State
Deepak Chopra’s hate speech: Hewitt
Detroit Democrats: Quite a Collection of Crooks: BlogProf

Economy

White House 'Adjusts' Stimulus Job Numbers: Examiner
Detroit, R.I.P.: Barone
In Defense of Health Insurance Agents, and You: Kesler

Health care bill creates 111 new federal Obamacare bureaucracies: Red State
Genius: White House, Dems alarmed by budget deficit: Times

Media

New Anti-Limbaugh-Beck Group Tied To... Van Jones!: NewsBusters
The GOP ‘Stalinists’ and Dede Scozzafava: PJM (Hawkins)
The Vilification of Rush: AT

Strap-On names Morrissey 'Worst Person in the World': Hot Air
Dem Strategist Whines About Being Ganged-Up On: NewsBusters
Scarborough Does Olbermann Impression: Ace

Frank Rich: Success is Failure: Verum Serum

Climate & Energy

Al Gore, Climate Billionaire: Wizbang
Scientists' Open Letter to Senate: 'Claim of consensus is fake': Depot
Climate Change Bills Take Aim at ‘Red’ States: BMW

Weathering Congress -- and Global Warming: Examiner

World

Honor Killing Accomplished: Grand Rants
Exposing the Farce of Chavez — and His Western Admirers: PJM (Toto)
Allegations Flare That NYT Paid For Release of David Rohde, Times Now Exposing Hostages?: Bombs & Dollars

Hillary Clinton Announces that the Palestinians are the Obstacles to Peace: Rubin
Obama Stimulates China: Blatt

Sci-Tech

Aborted fetus cells used in beauty products: Times

Cornucopia

ObamaWeather: AmDig
Hey Comrades! Soviet Pedal Cars: Wizbang