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John McCain, Sex, Drugs and Insurance

From The New York Times …

The normally voluble Senator John McCain found himself at a loss for words Wednesday when he was asked aboard his campaign bus on its way to Portsmouth, Ohio, whether he thought it was fair that some health insurance companies covered Viagra but not birth control.

“I don’t usually duck an issue,” he said, “but I’ll try to get back to you.”

Link (subscription required).

265 replies on “John McCain, Sex, Drugs and Insurance”

That’s a gotcha question. But if I was a women I would be extremely upset about the discrimination. I wonder if religion played a part in his decision?

Chris at 2

I’m guessing it’s more to do with classifications of illness – e.g. Viagra as a treatment for sexual dysfunction whereas birth-control is inhibiting a perfectly normal body. But Diogenes will probably have the answer.

John McCain’s fantastical pledge on Monday to balance the budget by 2013 through massive tax cuts and unidentified budget reductions deserved the bad reviews it received. But the most unfortunate element of his incoherent promise is that it’s representative of his policy agenda these days. While the McCain campaign is trying to paint Barack Obama as a flip-flopper, the Arizona Republican is making diametrically opposed policy promises to different audiences at the same time. The contradictions are often in the details, but their obscurity is evidence of the campaign’s cynicism.

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=f32048af-6a69-4594-8a9f-e99d213578c1

3 Catrina There was a huge uproar in Japan when they immediately OK’d Viagra after 40 years of not OKing any birthcontrol.

Where’s everybody gone?

Maybe, if the women get pregnant that gets the hopitals more business. Actually, the Bush adminstration would be dead against any funding of birth control. In Australia hospitals missed US funding because they performed abortions and or did stem cell research.

It would be interesting to know just how much GWB religious viewpoint plays into this policy as opposed to (a) just plain old simple medical bureaucracy and/or (b) the women at home barefoot and pregnant anti-birth-control dorks.

Cat 3

Erectile dysfunction is defined as a disease, as it is an abnormality of normal bodily functioning. Termination can count as a disease due to the potential for psychological and physical harm to the mother, although it is a normal process.

Birth control is not definable as a disease, as it offers no survival benefit and doesn’t involve a derangement of normal processes. But of course if you get pregnant due to lack of birth control it can then become an illness and end in a termination, which the fund would have to pay for.

If Hillary wants The Kid to help out with her campaign debt, she should spontaneously stomp all over Johnny Bomb-Bomb on this issue wearing hob-nail boots. Unless of course she’s comfortable with the idea of subjugated American Women.
Time to put on your dancing shoes Brutusina!! There are far too many Handmaid’s Tales of woe emanating from compulsory Seppo Horizontal Discos already, Senator.
———————–
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/56027

“We are living in a world in which nobody is free, in which hardly anybody is secure, in which it is almost impossible to be honest and to remain free. (George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier, 1937) “

“It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself—anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face… was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime…” ( Book 1 Chapter 5, 1984.)

Not that any of that sort of thing could happen in The Land that FISA set Free.
——————-
Didn’t Rob Sitch give great Hollow Menschkeit last night on Auntie. It’s iPodable for people like us. Shades of an antipodean “Yes Minister” but nowhere near as classy.

The ‘land that FISA set free’ now there’s a label to conjure with.

I’m just a tad shocked at how cynically Obama has dodged this one: either take on George now, coz he’d veto anything which looked remotely like biting his bum, or pass.

He passed, and didn’t waste anytime waving off the little constitutional abortion they performed in the process.

Shows he ain’t a pussy, I guess, but it’s a stark reminder of just where the rubber hits the road, and make sure you ain’t standing there with your starry-eyed reverence for principled niceties.

This is politics.

Cat – check your moderation bin!

Oh the joys of running a commentry site :mrgreen:

Greenwald is hammering this in Salon:

Recall that James Comey testified last year that what he and other DOJ officials learned in 2004 about Bush’s spying activities for the several years prior was so extreme, so unconscionable, so patently illegal that they all — including even John Ashcroft — threatened to resign en masse unless it stopped immediately. We still have no idea what those spying activities were. We know, though, that even the right-wing DOJ ideologues who approved of the illegal “Terrorist Surveillance Programs” that we know about found those activities indisputably illegal and wrong. But Barack Obama and the Democratic-led Congress will today enact a bill to immunize all of that, to protect the lawbreakers who were responsible.

…and has been for months, and will not let up. I can see it really outrages the left, and justifiably IMHO, but the issue is not the principle but the politics. There’s no way in hell they can get Bush to approve legislation which leaves him open to being impeached.

It’s a snookered position, and a massive problematic wedge if they took it on, and what is the gain now?

Principles are great, but the political contingencies are just aligned against any meaningful effort to take Bush on over this right now.

Tough, eh?

8 Diogenes Yes you are right. But I bet the vast majority of guys just use Viagra for pleasure, not that women don’t use the pill for the same thing.

Who Would Jesus Torture? The Religion of George W. Bush

I was looking up what Religion George Bush is in Google when I came across this article.

In the June 21st edition of Time Magazine, the cover story is entitled, “Faith, God and the Oval Office”, in which George W. Bush’s religious beliefs are contrasted with those of John Kerry. In the same edition, there is an article entitled, “Redefining Torture”, in which the origins of the use of torture by our government are traced to the highest levels of Bush’s administration. Who would Jesus torture? Apparently, Time Magazine has no sense of irony.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/04/07/17_wwjt.html

I did find out that he is United Methodist. whatever that is.

Remember the days when we used to swap sangers at play lunch?
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/56006

Then pop a Pez pellet for sweets:
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/56005

“PEZ is the brand name of an Austrian candy, the pocket mechanical dispensers for such candy, and an abbreviation of PEZ Candy Inc. The candy takes the shape of pressed, dry, straight-edged blocks (15mm (3/8 inch) long, 8mm wide and 5mm high), with PEZ dispensers holding 12 pieces of PEZ candy.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEZ

Perfect micro-consumers we wuz, regular little Georgy “what a good boy am I” Porgys. Our first steps towards autonomic capitalism had been taken so sweetly and innocently. A course of prescription pills from the friendly Family Chemist seemed so natural a progression.

I can’t see any sign of the Axis of Evil (Ron, GG, Finns) having made their way over here. I hope we are not an Obamaphiliacs only group.

If Ron saw this, he’d be here pretty quickly.
From the Rev Jessie Jackson, yet again showing that pastors are a freaking menace to society.

“Obama talks down to black people. I want to cut his nuts off.”

Jackson to Obama: sorry I went nuts
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23997471-2703,00.html

Ooh, shiny. New digs.

Who’s going to live blog the Jesse Ventura vs Al Franken debate?

Cat, you legend! You got the alternating shaded comments going.

HW

That one will be at about 3am so I’m guessing Cat will be doing it.

From Jesse Jackson’s comments, he’s concerned that Obama’s treading a little too much down the negative liberty path, and not emphasising the need for govt involvement in helping people move from poverty.

Politically, i think that this is a fantastic thing in Obama’s continued attempts to take the centre. I’ve never really gotten the impression that jackson is particularly ‘relevent’ anymore and by criticising Obama it just reinforces Obama’s ‘change’ message – he’s different to the ‘old’ guard on both sides on the divide.

PS love the new digs. Although i will have to get over the fact that i won’t be able to read the comments during the day. Our benevolent leaders in DIAC don’t allow the wordpress gear through the filters. Ah well, if you love something you have to make time for it.

Votemaster:
We have two presidential polls today. In New Jersey, Obama is slipping a bit, but will almost assuredly carry New Jersey in November. More important is Missouri, a key swing state. It is a must-win state for McCain and he is ahead here by 5 points.

There is some unconventional polls on the votemaster, nevertheless with some extremely interesting results. Tidalwave.

http://www.electoral-vote.com

Long way to go yet though. Interesting somepeople haven’t turned up here, I wonder why? Or will they just do a name change?

117 GhostWhoVotes

Fascinating! LOL

I take it all back….well…

It was clear Mr Bowe was having difficulties with it all, so here we are.

Minus Ronsperanto and Gruffy and the forever forgettable ESJ.

How will we cope? LOL

Update on the deathwatch:

The Bush administration has held talks about what to do if mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) fail, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Even though the discussions have been ongoing for months and are described as part of the Treasury Department’s normal contingency planning, the newspaper says talks have become more serious as the stocks of both companies continue to fall. On Wednesday, Freddie shares fell 24% and Fannie shares dropped 13%, after plummeting Monday as well. For both companies, Wednesday’s declines marked their lowest closing prices in more than 15 years, says the Journal. Fannie shares have lost 76% over their value over the past year, and Freddie shares have lost 83%.

Former St. Louis Federal Reserve president William Poole tells Bloomberg that the firms are already insolvent and may need a bailout. Freddie Mac owed $5.2 billion more than its assets were worth in the first quarter, making it insolvent under fair-value accounting rules, Poole said.

“Congress ought to recognize that these firms are insolvent, that it is allowing these firms to continue to exist as bastions of privilege, financed by the taxpayer,” Poole told Bloomberg.

….so here we have the two big holders (like $4 trillion worth) of US mortgages trading whilst insolvent and in dire need of capital.

Ouch! Bernanke is about to open the spigots no doubt and hand over massive amounts of public funds, because they sure as hell can’t go to the markets for the nearly 100 billion they’ve been cited as needed. Not now they can’t.

Ron is checking us out all right, he’s just building up a bit of blog back-pressure before giving us a spray. All this dwalfy double talk pocket pissing will be too much for him in the end. He won’t be able to ignore it forever. Yet to check in are codger Ferny, jv and Megan, but reckon they’ll chime in with their two bobs’ worth before the weekend’s done. Hope so, anyway.
——————-
M.E. Domino Theory:
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/56036

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/55993

Thurs July 10:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/tonyauth;_ylt=Aghw0ExrkFGk7hmiTI8RqtgV2r8F

Wed July 9:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/patoliphant;_ylt=AiFYTIyTqsXy3qMsJwLWlYTd.sgF

‘a loss for words’ the zimmer condomed…

…crashlands at Kamp Katmo, port wing in need of maintenance, feelers f*cked and butterfly net nazis @ 12 o’clock high…

Goody…

Catrina,
you can shoot me down – and feel free ‘cos I’m already missing the daily onslauaght from them, but can i suggest that a thread continues for long enough for the discussion to warm up- ie: somewhere between 24 hours and 3 weeks.
Just a suggestion – but if the train of discussion gets too interrupted then the luddites like me will just get left behind.

Glad to see Catrina and co have kept the dream alive!! Having decided to not post on regular pollbludger any more due to my perception of the moderation, I dont really know why this moved, but i hope the move is a success

and dont worry Finns et al if you surface here, I aint hanging around

Optimist@115
didn’t see it but I wonder who knew more – Christine or Andrew.
let me hazard a guess…

YHH @22
is that why you objected to WordPress 0n Bilbo’s site? (..can’t access it at work?)
If so, now I understand.
But be grateful.
Ms Catrina has saved us from oblivion .

Yeah, Back Door Benny’s gonna bail the bastards once again, no risk. The forthcoming “economic downturn” is gonna be one helluva fall. Lotta good folk are hurtin’ real bad at the moment and it ain’t over yet, KR.

M.E. Domino Theory:
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/56036

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/55993

Night, Bludgers (how bout that, we’re still Bludgers thanks to BillBo’s generousity of spirit) see yez tomorrow arvo.

Catrina, thank you for a mighty effort and a magnificent Day One!

Jen @29,
Christine by far…..of course.
One thing that really ticked me off and has for a while now – Milne discussed the current viability of solar thermal as a source of baseload power. Naturally, Bolt scoffed and tried to push nuclear and Helen Coonan turned her shiny, malformed nose up. Thing that really ticked me off was Craig Emerson brushing the idea off, suggesting that solar alone couldn’t solve problems – while i generally agree, no-one in the major parties wants to aknowledge that solar thermal CAN provide baseload power.
I remember seeing the late (and great) independent MP Peter Andren ask Howard about this in question time early in ’07 and Howard just dodged it by saying he hadn’t seen definitive research.
Makes me sick when there is a solid fact on the table and every major player in the debate looks the other way.

KR,
re the disappearing dog voting thing – just plain weird. I’m thinking old willy was getting a bit tin hitlerish.

yeah Optimist- apparently the technology and knowhow is there, but the financial gain isn’t .
Simple as that really.
For now.

Kirri-
must admit I read the whole dog-voting/fluff thing and thought little of it- nothing compared to some of the the stuff that we had all posted.
So I am surprised that it becme an issue
. But then in all realtionship breakdowns it’s like that – Suddenly how he/she squeezes the toothpaste is unbearable and *kapow*- it’s all over.

KR,
HAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha…………..hahahahahahahah……ahhhhhh……hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh!!!!!!!
Another kind of love?
Are they freaking serious?
As Blackadder said…”I’m glad I wore my corset for I fear my sides have split.”

Fannie Mae is having the sh!t kicked out her: down another 16% on open.

Ouch! The punters are in full panic. But I’d expect it to turn in half an hour or so when the massive sell orders get traded out.

But it ain’t looking healthy for the nations mortgage industry.

37 Optimist

It’s right up there with Monty Python for surreal, ain’t it?

Here’s the guts:

Analysts told the paper that in the event Fannie and Freddie fail, options include the Federal Reserve extending a credit line and the government either buying equity or guaranteeing the mortgage companies’ $1.5 trillion of debt.

…the taxpayer gets to cough up….again.

jen at 27

can i suggest that a thread continues for long enough for the discussion to warm up- ie: somewhere between 24 hours and 3 weeks.

We have a technical obstacle here – due to some limitations of the hosting environment we don’t have access to the technology that would allow a single thread to go on for several hundred comments. The problem is that all of the comments will appear on one single page and eventually the page becomes really slow to load. The solution to this (a.k.a. workaround) is to come up with new posts around the 100 or 200 comment mark. I’ll leave this one run a bit longer and see how it feels with a couple of hundred comments – in the meantime there is some thinking going on about how we could resolve these issues.

Catrina-
far be it for me to be critical – still can’t master a keyboard let alone what you are doing.
I vaguely undertstand what you are saying, and
I guess with familiarity even useless computer users like me will adjust.
And thanks again for this.

KR,
I wonder if there’s a broader theme being developed by the “different kind of love” message. Perhaps the next ad could feature a clearer vision of Republican love…..y’know, like Sen. Larry Craig’s “airport toilet love” or maybe Rep. Mark Foley’s “I.M love”…maybe even former Clinton advisor turned Fox News toady, Dick Morris’ “fetish hooker toe love.”

Of course, the obvious “different kind of love” would be …..
http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/R/e/1/mccain_bush_hug.jpg

Oh boy, this is sooo easy!

ha, it’s definitely got potential!

What about some Jack Abramoff lobbyist lovin’?

Or some Haliburton no-bid contract lovin’?

With voice-overs by Larry Craig perhaps?

I’m sure that Larry Craig could provide a “toe-tappin” soundtrack at the very least.

That’s wide stance toe tappin’ to you buster! LOL

Ah, what a circus it all is.

Night from this little brown duck.

It is pretty obvious the Repugs are going to run a pretty silly campaign.
Their Party stinks to high heaven but they have got the mythical maverick hero John McCain ready to enthrall the public up to Nov.
In their Ads and propaganda they are going to try to burn into the mugs minds that McCain is a Superhero and is the warrior the country must vote for.
They will be ably assisted in this endeavour by what one senior reporter called “McCains Base”….his media posse.

But eventually the mugs are going to see and hear the warrior in all his glory in debates and major speeches and see that now he is not the McCain of 1968, not the McCain of 1973,not the McCain of 2000.

He is a fairly frail 72yo Bush lacky who leaves a terrible impression of a President for 2009-13. He is no Reagan and this is not post-Carter.

I think the headline polls will stay fairly close until the mugs start tuning in.

Then we will see a landslide.

Trying to put more spin on it than Shane Warne.

Despite the widely accepted perception that Obama will raise significantly more than McCain, the McCain campaign sought to dispel that as a “myth” Thursday.

In a memo that accompanied Davis’s conference call with reporters, Davis wrote that “the McCain campaign currently has more resources than the Obama campaign for the battle ahead.”

http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/mccain-camp-obama-needs-200-million-to-keep-pace-2008-07-10.html

New York Times, registering is necessary. It has the best political coverage.

It was not quite a screwball comedy at the New York Hilton and Towers Thursday morning, but Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama put on a bit of a show before hundreds of donors at a political breakfast.

In their continuing effort to put the rivalry and bad blood of the primaries behind them, the two Democrats appeared together at a Women for Obama fund-raising event. It came the morning after they appealed to donors at different gatherings on Wednesday night in an effort to help Senator Clinton pay off part of the $23 million in debt she ran up trying to beat him in the primary campaign.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/us/politics/11obamacnd.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

McCain surrogate: US a ‘nation of whiners’.

Just when Barack Obama and Jesse Jackson needed a distraction from the latest flare-up in their sometimes-rocky relationship, along comes Phil Gramm — former senator, presidential contender, and leading John McCain supporter — with a gift.

In an interview with The Washington Times, Gramm veered dangerously off-message by downplaying the economic anxieties being felt by millions of American families.

“You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession,” Gramm was quoted as saying.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/07/mccain_surrogat.html

New Poll……

The presidential race remains volatile and unpredictable, largely because of a huge bloc of undecided swing voters.

”The middle of the electorate is reasserting itself in this election,” according to a Pew Research Center survey released Thursday.

Among all voters, Democrat Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain by 48 to 40 percent. Pew polled 2,004 people by land line and cell phone from June 18 to 29. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

http://www.miamiherald.com/political-currents/story/600709.html

And an email from Hillary…who is now hawking $50 T-shirts!

Get your t-shirt today!

Dear xxxxx,

I have so many wonderful memories from the millions of people I met on the campaign trail. Over the past year and a half, I have also collected a few cherished mementos. They are a reflection of the many ups and downs that we went through together and represent our many accomplishments.

In May, Chelsea announced our “Project T-Shirt” contest, and I never imagined we would have such an outpouring of support and great designs. We received almost five thousand amazing entries, and more than 125,000 of you voted for your favorite design.

While the primary race may be over, I think the winning t-shirt — and it won by a landslide — still makes a wonderful statement about everything you and I accomplished in this historic race and our determination to keep fighting for what we believe in.

If you contribute $50 today you’ll get a t-shirt with the winning design and continue to help me pay down our campaign debt.

…nothing like having some dignity, is there?

In North Carolina

Since January, 130,000 Democrats have registered to vote – that is a landslide compared to the 13,000 Republicans who have registered in the same period.

Mr Obama is already running ads in this state – and has signed up 15,000 volunteers to man phone banks and rally supporters.

In a Republican stronghold, this is an impressive display of financial muscle and political confidence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7488544.stm

Another stack of polls just out:

North Dakota: McCain +1
Illinois: Obama +11
Maine: Obama +11
National (Gallup): Obama +3
National (Rasmussen): Obama +3
National (Pew): Obama +8

The Illinois lead for Obama is a little lower than expected, but the North Dakota result is good for him…

Morning Bludgers-
those voter registration figures in North Carolina are impressive indeed. That’s why the guy is amazing – he is actually inp[spiring people to participate in democracy. I don’t care if they are driven by a culture of celebrity or jumping on the winning bandwagon or a higher motivation. The end result will be the death of neo-conservatism, and frankly that is all I care about during this particular election process.

Latest research shows.

Obama dominates the two most energized groups of voters, 44% of the electorate combined, who are focused on a range of issues and say they won’t change their choice of candidate between now and November. McCain’s strongholds are two groups of voters at the other end of the spectrum, 28% of the electorate in all, who are skeptical that the election results will make any difference in their lives and are less enthusiastic about voting than usual.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-07-09-voter-analysis_N.htm

Hello all!
Thanks for the new board!
I guess William was getting tired of all the crazy stuff taking over Poll Bludger LOL
Chris: you’re a goldmine of information, keep it up, I can’t get enough of those polls.
Cheers,
EVAN(sometimes known as Progressive or Landslide, depending on which board you visit).

Obviously someone else has the same worries I do.

No missing parts or tampering found on Obama plane.

An initial examination of the plane that had maintenance problems while carrying Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama found no evidence of missing parts or tampering, federal investigators said today.

The Midwest Airlines MD-81 made a precautionary landing in St. Louis on Monday after leaving Chicago for Charlotte, N.C.

The National Transportation Safety Board today released some preliminary findings from the on-scene investigation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-obamaplane11-2008jul11,0,2894063.story

66 It’s so much nicer not having serial abusers and quite frankly disturbed screeds of unintelligible rant all through the boards. I for one will not miss the likes of those, not one tiny bit.

I did find it hysterically ironic that the same night as Eddy made yet another gratuitously insulting comment to Catrina, we hived off with Mistress Catrina at the helm!

Talk about classic timing! LOL

For the last and final time: why in god’s name Eddy was allowed to be such a chronic creep on that board was utterly beyond me. Why he bothered is obviously psychological, a classic passive aggressive, but why he was tolerated is also beyond me.

But, that was yesterday, and this is today…and don’t the air smell fresh without them?

New Pew poll finds Democrats more tuned in to the ’08 campaign.

A couple of weeks back, we spotlighted what we termed the “passion gap” in the presidential race — the dramatic difference in the enthusiasm levels among Barack Obama supporters and John McCain backers, as delineated in a L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll.

Now comes a new survey, conducted by the estimable Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, that focuses on much the same — what it terms “a substantial engagement advantage” that Democrats currently enjoy over Republicans.

And that, the poll says, “may significantly alter the composition of the November electorate.”

http://pollbludger.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/sex-drugs-and-insurance/#comment-206

68 Kirribilli Removals Unfortunately a lot of conservatives work that way. I have found it a lot in life. Initially, I handled it the same way as most, ignored it Then I discovered they love that, and ride roughshod over people. Standing up to them is the only way.

Hey Cat, good job.

Where is the axis of eggheads? They’ll like this:

On Fox, former Clinton chief strategist Howard Wolfson indicated that Hillary Clinton is not being formally considered as Obama’s running mate, in that she has not been asked to undergo the formal vetting process.

“Not as far as I know,” said Wolfson, who remains close to Clinton, in response to a question from Sean Hannity.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0708/Wolfson_Clinton_not_being_vetted.html

71 Pancho

She’s fading from view a bit, isn’t she? Mired in debt and hawking T-shirts to the devotees! LOL

We should buy one for Herr Doktor! LOL

(..and sign it: “Love from the ‘ignorant loathing lefties’ of Pollbludger!)

70 Chris B

Yeah, an unpleasant mixture of intellectual snobbery (ain’t we seen some of that!) and a very nasty urge to belittle people to get attention. I swear I could literally smell that man a mile off…and it was singularly unpleasant.

Like I said, doesn’t it smell fresh in here?

KR @ 68,
I have a theory on that. Outfits like Fox News refuse to admit that they are shameless shills for the Republicans and accuse everyone else in the media of having a left bias. Similarly, conservative pamphlets like “The Australian” run about shouting that everyone else in the political discussion in Australia is “Labor friendly” – I think that in many cases, these accusations have the effect of making the subjects of the accusations more inclined to want to insulate themselves from further attacks. Without really realising it, they become (bit by bit) more critical of the left and go a little easier on the right so as to avoid accusations of bias – perhaps this dynamic was at play with William after being labelled “Labor friendly” by the Oz.
It’s the only way I could explain William’s willingness to let some shocking attacks by certain bludgers against others go through to the keeper while getting stroppy quick smart with others – goodness knows there didn’t seem to be a great deal of consistency there.
Just a thought.

74 Optimist

You might have something there Oppy, but it was unfathomable to me, and like you said, so inconsistent as to NOT be funny.

I’d be happy to scroll through and skim twenty of Chris B’s posts every day to get a quick feel of things, and they were not in any way a hindrance to the flow of the board, nor offensive in any way. But I guess WB just wanted to vent it somehow.

Anyway, he’s shot of us, and I for one did not want to cause him any more aggravation than he already had.

It’s a good outcome for everyone.

cheers

Deathwatch update:

Alarmed by the growing financial stress at the nation’s two largest mortgage finance companies, senior Bush administration officials are considering a plan to have the government take over one or both of the companies and place them in a conservatorship if their problems worsen, people briefed about the plan said on Thursday.

NYTImes

…there goes the shareholder’s equity up in a puff of smoke, and a drag on the USD and a hike in bond rates.

This is a colossal drag (when, rather than ‘if’ it happens, note) on an already staggering economy. And once again is the fruit of government regulatory debauchery, Wall Street greed, and Greenspan sticking his fingers in his ears whenever he was told how dire it was.

In other words, the perfect storm.

Sub-prime was the beginning, but the collapse and public takeover of these two behemoths is the endgame, and it will be a long slow lingering death of the mortgage markets and some VERY ugly blowback.

The ‘smartest guys in the room’ have buggered the nation, right royal.

KR,

I think it’s a bit unfair to compare the heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the Andy Fastows and Jeff Skillings of the world.

Matty Drudge continues to warn against any military intervention in Iran by headlining this article. He really hates McCain, which is a big problem for teh Repugs.

The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries warned Thursday that oil prices would see an “unlimited” increase in the case of a military conflict involving Iran, because the group’s members would be unable to make up the lost production.

OPEC warns against military conflict with Iran
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/10/business/opec.php

Hi Catrina, excellent job on the new site. Now back to the fun bit, witnesing the downfall of the neo-cons. 🙂

77 Al

It’s not too far fetched in one important sense Al, and that is that the entire structure of bundling mortgages and ‘securitising’ them (what a term! LOL) has been predicated on the Harvard mathematician’s modelling fantasy scenarios based on the perfect assumption that even the poorest people could take out massive loans at ballbreaking rates and still, somehow, manage to repay them.

Come on, blind freddy could see what was happening, but this industry just ground on regardless while the train kept relentlessly coming down the track.

It was mass stupidity and culpability on a very grand scale.

Hi Catrina,

I do like the new blog. Comfy furnishings, very good library, many fine views to admire, congenial and learned bludgers within earshot….just great!

78 dogb

nah, it goes on the mountain(s) of debt that Bush has racked up over two terms, for the next few generations to pay off.

It’s another collective failure of massive proportions and one more bleeding wound into the dying Imperial beast.

KR, have you seen the latest reports on Fannie and Freddie – sounds like a Govt-appointed administrator is in the wings. This could make the disclocations of 2007 seem like a storm in teacup…..you can see the private credit markets going into deep freeze, soaring cash rates, violent dislocations in the currency and oil markets, very probably the closure of a good many banks, including some well-known names…very scary stuff!

Pelosi Slips Impeachment Onto the Table.

As Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich moved a “privileged resolution” to force House to consider the question of whether President Bush should be impeached for lying to Congress and the American people about the reasons for invading and occupying Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi surprised almost everyone by suggesting that the Judiciary Committee might indeed take up the issue.

Pelosi, who famously declared impeachment to be “off the table” before the 2006 election, now suggests that hearings on the president’s high crimes and misdemeanors are a distinct possibility.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/336149

87 blindoptimist

yeah, I’ve been posting on it for a few days, and it is, as you say, monstrous in its implications.

Both companies have been up for very dodgey accounting practices over the past few years (not inspiring confidence and very ENRON in nature too), but the bottom line is that they are bleeding cash with the subprime meltdown and are the meat in the sandwich of their own making.

The implications for financial markets, globally as well, are huge, if, as it looks likely, they need to be rescued.

The market has already decided they’re going to get screwed as shareholders and are jumping ship in colossal numbers, but whether it’s this month or next or whenever, you can bet they’ll need the US Treasury to rescue them.

But the implications will be huge: it’s like they’re just being handed another bill for yet another Iraq war (as one analyst put it!).

Republicans had better kiss their asses goodbye, coz this is going to be laid at their feet for sure.

Obama Brings Economic Message to N.Va.

Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday at a town hall meeting in Fairfax County that if elected president, he would bolster the economy by helping working mothers. It was his second visit to the area since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee and occurred on a day when his likely Republican foe was also reaching out to Northern Virginia voters.

In the packed gymnasium at Robinson Secondary School, Obama told more than 2,000 supporters that as president he would work to expand paid family and medical leave, child-care services and preschool programs. These initiatives could be paid for in large part by ending the Iraq war, he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR2008071003016.html?hpid=topnews

The thing is, in the past, whenever there has been a financial panic, investors have been able to seek refuge in the US Treasury market. They could park their loot and wait for the storms to pass and then come out to play when the sunshine returned.

But Treasuries are no safe haven these days. The vulnerability of the US currency itself, the deplorable state of public as well as private finances, the contradictory shocks of economic contraction combined with commodity price inflation, the now-weakened state of the US Federal Reserve all mean the next crisis will be even more perilous than the last.

It is possible to foresee fear leading to a massive flight from risk – from equities, from high yield assets of all kinds, from everything but the most secure instruments. The turmoil that would result would be catastrophic.

Apologies if this was already discussed on the old PB site, but it turns out that all of the ‘why is Obama spending cash in South Carolina? Does he really think he can win it?’ questions were just hype.

His first TV ad is going into 18 markets, as follows:
Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia.
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/obama_airs_first_general_elect.php

Not a massively surprising list. North Dakota and Alaska are both relatively cheap, and tactically put the fear of god into the McC camp as they’re close enough in the polls now that (while he shouldn’t lose them if he’s competitive elsewhere) he can’t afford to ignore them. Georgia also indicates that Obama has a lot of cash and bullish opinions about his prospects in the southeast. As amazing as the idea seemed just a few months ago, Indiana really does look competitive.

At least statistically, the most notable omissions (states that are nearest to 50% in 538’s win %s) are: on the downside Texas (15% win chance), West Virginia (20%), South Dakota (24%), South Carolina (16%) and Arizona (16%); and on the upside tiny Delaware (87%), New Jersey (86%) and Oregon (87%).

There’s good reason to skip a number of these apart from the %ages. Texas is too large and expensive as well as being unlikely, and O would be the next President in a landslide before he had a shot at beating McCain in his home state. I expect the O campaign believes the above win %s for SD, SC and WV are on the optimistic side (and for at least WV, they’re right); and the win %s for each of Delaware, NJ and Oregon are on the pessimistic side (i.e. there’s very very little chance of losing them unless the election is already lost elsewhere).

So he has pretty much blanketed every important possibly wavering state.

re 91

IMO we’re already seeing it blindoptimist. The recent strength of gold and even the price of oil looks to me like investors looking for a nice warm place to hide.

Yes, the Republicans will – quite rightly – wear the odium of this for a long time. If the minimum task – most basic obligation – of a government is to keep custody of a country’s physical and economic security, then the Bush Adminsitration has been an utter failure. After eight years of Bush, the US has been diminished in just about every way you can think of – strategically, diplomatically, economically and morally. It is easy to think these things don’t really matter. But as it turns out, they do.

Afternoon Bludgers – despite the horrible economic forecasts (Kirri – you are a soothsayer) I feel gooood.
Not an ESJ to be seen and all my favourite bludgers nicely conversing way.
I would welcome any Obama -doubters, (Diogenes I reckon you are in the driving seat on that one), as long as the criticism makes sense. And yours does.

And while I am at it- Bilbo if you’re lurking out there somewhere- if I am worse than Hitler, then you are a hairy-toed little hobbit.
So go moderate that ,Sunshine.
And not to get too far off topic- where re we up to with the Election-Watch party?

dogb, yes…there is a lot of hot money washing round….I suppose it could all work out well in the end, but I have a real sense of dread about this situation…tell me I’m wrong, please!

BO-
Growler always maintained that things would not get as bad as Kirri was suggesting.
However, every linked forecast, article etc that I read is scary.

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