today's e-mail

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

DEAR AMERICAN:

I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.

I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY
HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF
800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT
WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

I AM WORKING WITH MR. PHIL GRAM, LOBBYIST FOR UBS, WHO WILL BE MY
REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY. AS A SENATOR, YOU
MAY KNOW HIM AS THE LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION
MOVEMENT IN THE 1990S. THIS TRANSACTIN IS 100% SAFE.

THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED A BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE
FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS
IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER
SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A
RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE
FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED.

PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND
ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO
WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION
FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND
WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO
PROTECT THE FUNDS.

YOURS FAITHFULLY MINISTER OF TREASURY PAULSON

counting heads

i love cnn.com's little polls----today over 280,000 people have already responded to the question de jure, "which party is more to blame for the u.s. financial crisis"?----at last count, 72% thought the answer is the republicans----at least people that read cnn.com have good sense---has the whole greed-is-good philosophy that has been pushed by the republicans for the last thirty years finally reached its waterloo?

high finance

With our economy in crisis, the US Government is scrambling to rescue our banks by purchasing their "distressed assets", i.e., assets that no one else wants to buy from them. We figured that instead of protesting this plan, we'd give regular Americans the same opportunity to sell their bad assets to the government. We need your help and you need the Government's help!

Use the form below to submit bad assets you'd like the government to take off your hands. And remember, when estimating the value of your 1997 limited edition Hanson single CD "MMMbop", it's not what you can sell these items for that matters, it's what you think they are worth. The fact that you think they are worth more than anyone will buy them for is what makes them bad assets.

last day of summer

the clinton nature preserve, which is in way western douglas county, was nice today---dog enjoyed immensely sniffing at 15 different kinds of animal dung or whatever---

the best thing about the place is this c. 1830 log house stuck way off down in the woods----it hasn't been occupied since the 1950s, but miraculously has survived in great shape---it's on the national register of historic places and one of the best-preserved log houses that i've ever seen---the larger pen was built first and a short time later the smaller pen, which was the kitchen, and the connecting dog-trot were built---it has a very rare purlin roof that extends several feet beyond the ends in order to protect what were probably original mud-mortared chimneys---the only sawn lumber was for the flooring---in the late 1890s or early 1900s, the walls, floor, and ceiling in the large pen were covered with tongue-and-groove boards, and a nice stone chimney replaced the original mud chimney at the north end of the main pen---in the 20th century, a small wood-framed room with no interior finishes was built at the rear of the kitchen and the wood-shingled roofing was replaced with corrugated metal---except for a plain porcelain light sockets in both pens after world war ii, there were no other improvements---the kitchen never had a ceiling or even chinking between the logs----

socialism for the rich

Here is the current draft for the latest plan. It's elegantly simple. The three key provisions: (1) The Treasury Secretary is authorized to buy up to $700 billion of any mortgage-related assets (so he can just transfer that amount to any corporations in exchange for their worthless or severely crippled "assets") [Sec. 6]; (2) The ceiling on the national debt is raised to $11.3 trillion to accommodate this scheme [Sec. 10]; and (3) best of all: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency" [Sec. 8].

Put another way, this authorizes Hank Paulson to transfer $700 billion of taxpayer money to private industry in his sole discretion, and nobody has the right or ability to review or challenge any decision he makes.

trend lines

been looking better the last week or so

conservatives

It is one of the great curiosities of conservatism that its adherents enthusiastically destroy regulations which — besides a conscience — act as a bulwark against greed and corruption, thereby making greed and corruption inevitable. Because when (a) there's no wrong way to make a buck, and (b) no accountability or consequences for malfeasance, there's no disincentive either. (Other than being able to sleep at night, which isn't a problem if you don't have a conscience in the first place.) And when the inevitable happens, the resulting disaster spreads (because it is never really contained), they bemoan the very same rampant greed and corruption their deregulation made inevitable.

health care and banking

mccain thinks we've already got a model for dealing with health insurance:

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

wow

the party that wrecked america

this is kunstler from the first of the week----i can't wait to read what he's thinking now

That [financial] "industry" turned out to be most earnestly devoted to the production of complex swindles. They were so finely engineered that it took twenty years for the swindles to stand revealed, and they were cleverly hitched to the primary thing that the American public vested its identity in: house-and-home. Thus, much of the public finds itself in very real danger of becoming homeless and broke.

peachtree street

1010 is being occupied

palinoia

"Todd Palin Interview Sharply Lowers World’s Collective IQ"

obamarama

down here we call 'em good ol' boys

bush market

today the stock market dropped below what it was when bush took office in january 2001---10788 then, 10610 today

unemployment was 4.25% then, and is now over 6% and going up even before all the tens of thousands of financial-genius assholes were thrown out of work by the latest financial debacles (or is it debacli?)---

thanks, george

conservatives for obama

a former editor of the national review (which describes itself as "america's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for republican/conservative news, commentary, and opinion.") endorses . . . . Obama---read it all

“Every great cause,” Eric Hoffer wrote, “begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” As a cause, conservatism may be dead. But as a stance, as a way of making judgments in a complex and difficult world, I believe it is very much alive in the instincts and predispositions of a liberal named Barack Obama.

only racists and the truly retarded among us can support the republican party as it is today

yikes!

latter days

if you don't know, the woman being interviewed is carly fiorina, former head of hewlett-packard and now mccan't's "top economic advisor"----her response, in a nutshell, explains the republican philosophy of governance, which is what has brought us to the brink of ruin----

but at least they've kept the queers from marrying each other

midtown

piedmont arts festival

it's nice to have it back----wasn't overly crowded either----

god-fearing people

this is part of the reason that some people call them christianists, not christians:

A new poll released Thursday (Sept. 11) finds that nearly six in 10 white Southern evangelicals believe torture is justified, but their views can shift when they consider the Christian principle of the golden rule.

The poll, commissioned by Faith in Public Life and Mercer University, found that 57 percent of respondents said torture can be often or sometimes justified to gain important information from suspected terrorists. Thirty-eight percent said it was never or rarely justified.

yesterday evening