Should “Super Congress” be sequestered?

There is much concern regarding the conduct of twelve members of Congress who will be selected to determine the destiny of America for years to come.

Watchdogs Want Bright Light On 'Super Committee's' Activities
By Susan Crabtree
Excerpt:
Two dozen public interest, consumer, and government watchdog organizations want to shine a bright light on the activities of the newly established super committee tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction this fall.

And
Specifically, the groups want members of the joint Congressional committee to put a halt to all political fundraising while they conduct their work and provide details of any and all meetings and contacts with with lobbyists and outside parties.

And
"These 12 members will come under intense pressure by wealthy corporate interests and their lobbyists to leave their special tax loopholes, unwarranted subsidies, and wasteful programs untouched," the groups said in their open letter.
Read more at:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/watchdogs_demand_transparency_for_super_committee.php?ref=fpb

As always,
BB

Downgraded: Will America get the BIG hint?

Last evening, the credit score of America was downgraded from AAA to AA+. The first time in our history.

“Aw, it’s not that bad” and “We still have the safest investments in the world” and “No big deal. Other countries have functioned with lower scores” and yet to come, “They hate us because we have a Black President”.

In my opinion, Standard and Poor's (S&P) is telling us to get our house in order. It is telling us to grow up with no more half-stepping. It is trying to gently nudge us into facing the realities of dealing with the world of today, the one without smoke and mirrors, the un-manipulated one. The one intolerant of American BS.

Standard and Poor's is telling us the “act” we are presenting on the world stage is no longer acceptable:

S&P said in its report issued late on Friday: "The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilise the government's medium-term debt dynamics.
"More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges."
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14428930

When many of us find ourselves in evaluating situations, we realize there are private thoughts and there are thoughts we are willing to make public via a written statement. The one written by Standard and Poor's is, in my opinion, exemplary.

Are we back to “Cut, Cap and Balance?” There is an old saying, “A hint to the wise is sufficient”. And another, “The fool and his money are soon parted”.

Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-SPAN and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB

Investors putting money in their Mason jars?

I am mindful of olden methods of protecting your money:

- Hiding it in a tin can buried in your back yard

- Hiding it under your mattress

- Hiding it in your freezer

- In a shoe box tucked away in your closet

- Under a floorboard

In my opinion, *Mr. Goodman has a good metaphor. In this world of global economy, there has to be the equivalence of stashing your money somewhere for safekeeping.
As always,
BB

*Stock Market Plunge: Storm Cloud In The Shape Of Timothy Geithner
Peter S. Goodman
Excerpt:
Whatever the market had on its mind, it was not happy about it.

And
Or maybe it's much simpler than all that. Maybe investors woke up on Thursday, read in The New York Times report that Geithner is apparently staying and decided to put their cash in Mason jars.

And
Earlier in the week, as President Obama assented to slash government spending to trim the federal budget deficit, Treasury Secretary Geithner said this would restore "confidence" to the market, indulging a word with mystical powers among econ-geeks.

And
Geithner has carried the torch on deficit reduction, a strategy that has failed to restore confidence anywhere -- certainly not in the realm of household finances, and apparently not in high finance either.
Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-s-goodman/stock-market-plunge_b_918945.html

Geithner stays; stock markets fall

I find it curious after disturbing the world community and financial districts with un-punished U.S. bankers, and after the world community has witnessed the recent disastrous debt ceiling saga and after Tim Geithner announces his intentions to stay on in the Obama administration as Treasury Secretary, the Stock Markets are saying, “Oy! Enough already!”
As always,
BB

Economic Pessimism Sends Stock Markets Tumbling
by Eyder Peralta
Excerpt:
For the rest of the day, expect some wild swings. Dow Jones Newswires reports that the markets were "primed for another volatile session."

And
Update at 12:40 p.m. ET. The European Debt Crisis:
Another piece of news that's having a tough effect on the markets is that today European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso warned that the debt woes that have plagued Greece, Ireland and Portugal might be spreading to Italy and Spain.
Read more at:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/08/04/138986370/economic-pessimism-sends-stock-markets-tumbling

Picking your monster

In my opinion, in the past few years, media and media pundits have slowly encouraged us listeners to no longer dis-agree with a person due to their views but to now encounter and approach them as if they were monsters.

They are no longer people with whom we can simply dis-agree.

We are urged to de-value them as humans. We are encourage by any means necessary to give them a third eye located in the middle of their foreheads or having long, protruding shiny horns or as some giant amorphous figure dripping with green slime.

In other words, anyone we envision as being different than ourselves is therefore worthy of the most vile and contemptible treatment our imagination can conjure up. And if our vivid imaginations advance from verbal emasculation to the pronouncement of complete physical annihilation, so be it.

Throughout the most recent years, techniques for creating monsters have become a carefully crafted and nurtured art form. We can pick any person or group of people and apply the formula and have instant monsterhood. We can do it with Mormons, Muslins, homosexuals, Blacks, Republicans, Democrats and Civil Rights Workers. The list is endless.

As to issues of politics, television is the prime creator of Republican monsters wherein AM Radio limits itself to creating Democratic monsters.

Since AM Radio is lacking the important component of the visual, it picks pundits gifted with abilities to create theaters in the mind. They hire pundits who can stage issues as vivid and emotionally charged as if we were sitting in the front row of a theater on Broadway.

And finally, I am mindful how in the late 1970s FBI director Herbert Hoover told the media to never publish anything positive regarding the Black Panthers. He told them to always publish activities of the Black Panthers in a negative light. The media did dutifully comply and the results were diabolical.

And now today, on the contemporary scene and so many years later, the media has thrown into the formula outright lies and highly imaginative distortions. Media feels all is fair game in creating a monster. Civility be damned; it’s so yesterday!

As always,
BB

U.S. Congress shrinks to Super Congress

or How to control the masses with smoke screens and mirrors.

Sen. Harry Reid said it was his idea to pass the buck of cutting the deficit onto a committee of six people. He would argue this was a good compromise.

There is a total of 535 Congressmen: 100 Senators and 435 House members and none of them, according to Mr. Reid, can do what they were elected to do i.e., make laws. No-sirree-Bob, this would take a special group of six people, three of whom he would personally select.

Aside of the insults, and perhaps relief of other like-minded members of Congress, and aside of the will of voters, Mr. Reid feels this is the best solution he could come up with for those of us “…living in the greatest country in the world”.

Mr. Reid himself would not be so bothered writing individual bills to present to Congress.

“Who, me? Sitting around writing bills? You gots’ta be out of your cotton pickin’ mind!”

To be sure, Mr. Reid would assert his idea as being Democracy at work. “Democracy at its best,” he would murmur, waving his little American flag, “We should all be proud living in a country wherein such a solution can be implemented”, he concludes.

Let’s see now, we vote in a Congress and Mr. Reid feels only six members are relevant, three of whom he would pick to write special and important laws. Whoopi, oh how lucky we are! Gosh!

Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-SPAN and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
P.S. It was originally six people on the committee. I am now hearing on the Ed Schultz Show there will be 12 committee members.

“I know, let’s have a Super Congress!”

(Super Congress aka panel) ….and everyone lived happily ever after. The end.

Morning Examiner: Debt deal sets table for 2012
By: Conn Carroll
Excerpt:
The plan calls for $900 billion in spending cuts from statutory caps on discretionary spending over ten years, but only $10 billion of those cuts are scheduled to occur over the next two years. The remaining $1.5 trillion in cuts is supposed to come from a “Super Congress” made up of House and Senate members pulled equally from each party.
Read more at:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/08/morning-examiner-debt-deal-sets-table-2012

As always,
BB

David Plouffe can not dance the Washington Pretzel

David was on Meet the Press this morning and miserably failed his dance routine regarding raising the debt ceiling.

Mr. Plouffe is Chief Political Advisor to the President.

I’m seeing lots of dances today from politicians and pundits. They are all doing their dances. I’m seeing the “Dance of the Bagel”, the “Hoe Down” and a lot of other creative shit I don’t know what it is. Basically, they are just fanning the air by whatever means necessary. Lots of dust flying.

So far today, the most impressive dance I have seen was performed by Amy Kreger on C-Span. Amy is a representative of the Tea Party Express and in my opinion, gave an elegant rendition of a dance called, “Apple Pie”. That dance bares watching and it appears not too difficult to learn.

At this time and in my opinion, if you plan to stay in Washington, D.C., and if you do not learn “The Washington Pretzel”, don’t unpack your bags! And if you are really serious about staying here, look up the preeminent political dance master, Madeline Albright. Can’t hurt.

As always,
BB
P.S. Re: The Washington Pretzel. Like the man said about pornography, "I don't know how to describe it but I know it when I see it". (Smile)

“Step into my parlor….

said the spider to the fly.”

- Hi, Michelle.

-Hi, Barack. How are you?

- Speak a little louder, honey, I can’t hear you. Speak directly into the phone. This plate glass is pretty thick, you know.

- Is this better?

- Yes. What’s up?

- I can’t believe they threw you in prison for signing your name to invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling. I just can’t believe it, Barack, I just can’t believe it. Why did you listen to them? Did you talk to Colin?

- Clyburn, Reid, Clinton, all of them told me it would be alright.

- Yes they did and before the ink was dry, McConnell and King started impeachment proceedings. They had you arrested, carried out of the Oval Office in handcuffs!

-Well, there is always the Supreme Court with Roberts and Thomas. I’m waiting to hear what they have to say. Have you heard anything yet? Michelle? Michelle??

- (This man is impossible!)

As always,
BB

The Boston Globe
Law is murky on whether Obama can act on his own
By Michael Levenson
Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2011/07/31/possible_legal_loophole_would_be_risky_for_obama/