Personally, I think that Dodd, Geithner & Obama deserve every bit of egg they get on their [...]]]> If you enjoy the gallows humor, then the last few days since it was revealed that AIG is paying big bonuses to the managers that ran their business into the ground have probably been a real laugh riot for you.

Personally, I think that Dodd, Geithner & Obama deserve every bit of egg they get on their face over this.

So. So far, we have everybody screaming an’ hollering about AIG paying bonuses for bad behavior out of their bailout funds.

Democratic politicos jump on the bandwagon and start showing how in tune they are with everybody by clamoring to get the money back.

Then Talk Radio decides to buck the trend and try to make hay on the other side – pay the bonuses! Getting it back is wealth envy! This will be a good test to see if they can swing popular opinion among elements of their listenership that are already committed to the other side. This also creates humorous situations with Republican politicos trying to figure out whether to scramble to the 76% side who want to claw that money back or whether to follow the lead of talk radio, all the while trying to distinguish themselves from the Democrats.

Now we learn that Obama’s treasury and Chris Dodd – the very clowns ready to pull the trigger on legislation to get the bonuses back – are the ones that made sure they could get paid to begin with.

All this noise. The bonuses are bad, and Obama+Treasury+Dodd should have let the stimulus stipulations nullify them. But it isn’t worth going back to get now. With the energy and noise being put into this, something useful could be accomplished.

The bottom line is this: the bonuses amount to less than .1% of the bailout money AIG got. In a perfect world, you’re going to lose more than .1% of any effort you make to friction. Write it off, get over the populist fever, get off your assorted high horses, and move on.

Update: xkcd knows the difference.

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Posted in: D's, Economics, Politics, R's
Post tags: AIG, Barack Obama, Stimulus 2009, Tim Geithner

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When GWB started his campaign of crap in 2002, I thought of it as just “to be expected” from our government – no more, [...]]]> Back in 2000, I remember going along (thoughtlessly) with the line that there wasn’t a hair’s breadth between the two American political parties, and that it didn’t matter much who you voted for.

When GWB started his campaign of crap in 2002, I thought of it as just “to be expected” from our government – no more, no less.

Then came Howard Dean, saying things that nobody in the pussy-footing left would dare say – that starting a war without any kind of coherent rationale was bad. And that as just for instance. Truth from a politician. From a politician who was gaining traction. There was hope!

Then John F’in Kerry mortgaged his wife’s houses and bought his way onto the ticket, and hope diminished. Then America decided it liked the program of national abasement begun by GWB and wanted him to continue it, and hope withered.

2006: Americans voted out a set of corrupt politicians despite threats that they would lift their benevolent protection against the terrorists if forced out of office. Americans showing courage?

Then came Barack Obama, sounding like the bastard offspring of Howard Dean and James Earl Jones. Was there hope?

Barack Obama secured the Democratic nomination. Dare I dream?

Barack Obama won the presidency! America was capable of righting itself?

And now, Barack Obama strives to prove that there isn’t a hair’s breadth of difference between the two American political parties.

Insert links to just about any news from the last two weeks (stem cell research aside). Spin the wheel… and … I … pick … this one.

Too bad the electoral system here is too tiny to accommodate a third party. Screw the Greens and the Libertarians – it’s time for a Reason and Law party.

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Posted in: Justice, Politics
Post tags: Barack Obama, Howard Dean, Reason and Law party, torture, two-party system

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We live in a nation where each year there are an average of about 500,000 children living in foster care, including 130,000 who are needing adoption.

Former foster children, by some accounts, make up 30 percent of the [...]]]> RNC Chair Michael Steele is far from alone in the Republican Party among those who believe in promoting embryonic adoption.

We live in a nation where each year there are an average of about 500,000 children living in foster care, including 130,000 who are needing adoption.

Former foster children, by some accounts, make up 30 percent of the homeless population and 25 percent of the prison population, with the criterion of “aging out” of the system being the number one indicator of such a grim future.

And people are talking about promoting the adoption of embryos from fertility clinics.

I find this beyond belief.

Anyway, Obama is lifting the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, saving thousands of embryos from the incinerator. For that, I salute him.

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Posted in: Justice, People, Politics, R's, Sci/Tech
Post tags: adoption, Barack Obama, embryonic stem cell research, foster care, Michael Steele

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If this is really the problem:

Right now, if a middle class family donates a dollar to their favorite charity, they get a 15-cent deduction, but Warren Buffet and Bill Gates make the same donation and [...]]]> I guess it’s reasons like this that budgets are hard to balance, but I think this is step in the wrong direction.

If this is really the problem:

Right now, if a middle class family donates a dollar to their favorite charity, they get a 15-cent deduction, but Warren Buffet and Bill Gates make the same donation and they get a deduction that is more than twice that.

… then there’s no reason not to up the deduction on middle class families… but of course that means even less tax revenue with which to balance the budget.

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Posted in: Budget, Charity, D's, Politics, Taxes
Post tags: Barack Obama, Charity, Taxes

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I didn’t watch. I followed NPR’s tweets for a while before I turned in. So not much else from me. I hear Bobby J. didn’t thrill [...]]]> Factcheck.org says he got some stuff wrong… but looking at it, it’s nothing terrible. Certainly doesn’t approach the sixteen word world record for wrongness in a SOTU.

I didn’t watch. I followed NPR’s tweets for a while before I turned in. So not much else from me. I hear Bobby J. didn’t thrill a lot of GOP thrill-seakers… but what did you expect? I’ve seen Daschle & Pelosi do this job before, and let me tell you, they set the bar pretty doggone low.

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Posted in: D's, Politics, R's
Post tags: Barack Obama, Bobby Jindal, NSOTU

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