Discouraged

I want to return to the blissful ignorance I enjoyed while I was frolicking in Europe earlier this month -- on my feet and on the go all day long, enjoying great art, breathtaking landscapes and inspired architecture. And in the evening, kicking back with some refreshing local beers, and some lovely food and wine. No newspapers, no TV, no internet. Forgetting for a while that this world is run by greedy, idiotic bastards who are dragging all of us down with them into their pitiful, toxic stew of incompetence.

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I'm starting to think the only way to fight back is to opt out. How can I sit here and insist that there should be no more drilling when I just filled my car up with gas a few days ago? How can I bitch and moan about the toxic sludge spilled at Harriman, TN -- or the coal mined by blasting off the tops of mountains -- when I suck power off of TVA's grid? If I don't stop giving them my money, what incentive do they have to change? Clearly, they need more motivation than they've gotten over the past thirty years.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I wish I knew how to stop it.

More/Moore on Newspapers

It's hard to argue with the point Moore is making here. This is especially true if you are familiar with Chattanooga's newpaper, which has run two editorial pages since The Chattanooga Times (formerly our morning paper) and The Chattanooga Free Press (formerly our afternoon paper) joined forces to become The Chattanooga Times Free Press -- while keeping the two papers' contrasting editorial styles in place. The difference in reading levels between the conservative/right (Free Press) and liberal/left (Times) sides of the editorial page is breathtaking in its breadth.

Looking for a credit card company

I know this is like looking for a unicorn, but can someone out there recommend a credit card company that -- well, if it's not good, at least it isn't as evil as the usual suspects? I need two accounts: a backup credit card for me** and I just discovered yesterday that Emmie's credit card company is charging usury rates for certain transactions, so I'd like to find her someone better.

Before anyone suggests it, I won't get a Working Assets card because it's issued and administered through FIA Card Services, which is the company that's been ripping Emmie off, and, as I recently discovered, is also now a Bank of America company and was formerly the incredibly evil MBNA -- it's getting near impossible to stay away from the BOA business monolith these days (we barely dodged that bullet when we pulled out of Merrill Lynch late last year)!

So, non-FIA, non-BOA, non-MBNA credit card? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
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**This is why you need a backup credit card: on the 4th of July, some nefarious evil-doer started charging thousands of dollars worth of stuff to our credit card from an IP address that's supposedly somewhere in Africa. I don't know how our info got out (we only deal with well-established online merchants and reputable local businesses), but fortunately, the bank (Mass Mutual, who have been impressive in the time since we hooked up with them post-Merrill) flagged the activity as suspicious, shut down the account and we won't be out any money. On the downside, though, our credit/debit card is offline until they set up a new account and mail us new cards -- which will be some time next week, after we've left for our upcoming vacation...

Centralia

I like to check in with Google Sightseeing once in a while and when I stopped by the other day, I found a feature on Love Canal, a neighborhood in western New York. In 1978, the residents there discovered the reason for the 56% birth defects rate in their families: their neighborhood, their parks, their children's school were all built on top of 21,000 tons of buried chemical waste. The local school board had approved the purchase of the land for the school knowing its history (and even leaned on the Hooker Chemical Company -- now part of Occidental Petroleum -- to get them to sell the site).

By 1980, the federal government stepped in and the neighborhood was abandoned. Eight hundred families were relocated, the school was demolished and the EPA began an attempt at cleanup. Most of the homes have since been demolished -- you can see the vacant lots in the photos at the Google Sightseeing link.

This all got me to thinking about another community that was destroyed by a combination of the carelessness of politicians and the hazards abandoned by corporate fat cats. In this case, the town sat above an abandoned coal mine, which caught fire in 1961 and has been burning ever since. It is estimated that there is enough coal in the seam to keep the fire burning for another couple of hundred years. Gases vent up into town through the basements of homes and businesses, poisoning and heating the air and buildings.

I visited Centralia, PA around 1983, on a lab field trip for an Environmental Science class I was taking in college. We drove up from Carlisle for the afternoon. I remember putting my hand on the side of building and feeling the heat, hearing stories from residents about back yard swimming pools being too hot to swim in or the toxic air in their basements, and walking through a field where flat rocks could have been used for frying eggs.

At the time of my visit, most of the people and all of the homes were still there. It wasn't until 1979 that the residents became aware of how much of a problem the mine fire was going to be, and then no one really paid attention to Centralia's cries for help until a 12-year-old boy was sucked into a hole that suddenly appeared when part of his back yard caved in two years later. Congress finally got involved in 1984, financing a relocation program, and most of the residents left shortly thereafter.

I found Centralia on Google Maps this morning and it looks much like Love Canal. Most of the homes are gone now, but streets serve to remind us of what used to be there.

(click to see more)

CNBC deserved this

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Dear US Captains of Industry,

All of you -- not just the bozos who are running Detroit into the ground -- need to watch this and think about it. Just maybe, the time has come for you to choose between your immense greed and your desire to run a healthy business.

Quote of the Week

"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses. It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious." He added, "couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it."

--Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-New York), to the heads of Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, in a House Financial Services Committee meeting on Wednesday

UPDATE: more here.

Returning...

Gah.

I went offline at lunchtime today, thinking that the project I was undertaking would take a few hours. Ten hours later (isn't that always the case?), I was back. So, I missed the global sell off and the launch of the Obama campaign's response to the McCain's campaign's whining about stuff a guy did when Obama was a kid in Hawaii.

I'll try to compensate for today's lack of attention tomorrow...

Breaking: Bill Passes House

The Bailout oops! Rescue Bill just passed the House, 263 to 171. No word yet on whether they passed it with all that bloated pork the Senate threw into the bill...

Senate Bailout Package

The Senate just lost me.

They're throwing all sorts of add-ons into the new bailout package -- tax breaks for businesses, adjustments in alternative minimum tax, and alternative energy incentives -- which may or may not be all fine and good, but have nothing to do with rescuing our economy from greedy and irresponsible Wall Street crooks.

I have no idea why the Senators are muddying the water with these irrelevant tag-ons to the bill, and I don't trust them. This Congress has a lower approval rating than the worst president ever, and they're playing games with the bill that is supposed to provide urgently needed action to help us avoid an economic upheaval.

Watch carefully, everyone, and see how your Senators behave today. A third of these guys are up for reelection next month. Don't give them your vote unless they earn it.

The dreaded speech

These are the remarks that made the Republicans fling the world's financial markets into chaos:

Socks and Barney

click to embiggen

by Steve Conley

Take a deep breath!

Apparently Bono spoke too soon...

"It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to saved 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases."

Here are a few links responding to the day's news:

House GOP Defeat of Bailout Over 'Partisan Remarks' Is Worst Fit of Pique Since Gingrich Shut Down Government Over Clinton 'Snub'

Shorter House GOP: We killed the bailout bill because Pelosi hurt our feelings

Who Are America’s Worst Politicians Today? All Of Them!

Krugman: OK, we are a banana republic

Barney Frank responds

CNN's Ed Henry: John McCain failed

McCain has another "McCain Moment"

That’s Rich

Which John McCain?

And here's a quick question from me: Whatever happened to "Country First?" The stock market has set new records in plummeting and the House members have pretty much all split town -- and they won't be back until Thursday?!?!? WTF? What the hell are we supposed to do in the meantime? What do they think the market is going to do for the next few days?!? Did they even bother looking at what this is doing to the world's markets before they hightailed it out of town?

Uh, would I be speaking for most of the country if I suggested that they just not bother coming back?* With wankers like these, who needs Herbert Hoover?

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Oh, and ps! Michael Bérubé is back, and he's ready to place the blame!

Also, have you checked out the Tennessee's Progressive Blog Roundup this week?

*If anyone sees Zach Wamp skulking or slithering about town this week, please smack him upside the head for the rest of us!

Breaking: bailout fails to pass in the house

It was a narrow defeat. The Dow is plummeting and world markets are getting hammered.

So much for McCain's ability to lead. John McCain was supposed to deliver 100 House Republican votes. He only delivered 65. Democrats were supposed to deliver 120 House Democratic votes, they delivered 140.

Chris Matthews on McCain's recent failed dramatics: "He called 'charge' and the Republicans retreated."

Good morning! There is an agreement!

More here.

After marathon talks into the wee hours of Sunday morning, congressional leaders from both parties emerged with an agreement that altered key parts of a Wall Street bailout program initially proposed by the Bush administration.

Now, someone needs to go after this guy. Seriously, he's a fraud. Here's what he looks like -- if you see him in the street, stay far away, as you don't want to be there when karma evens things out for him -- you might get hit by a lightning bolt, or a piano, or a giant loogie from the sky.

UPDATE: or this sleazoid.

WaMu bellyup

The biggest bank failure in history.

Worst. President. Ever.

The Latest...

Regarding Sarah Palin, the Young Earth Creationist herself... well, first check out comment #5 in this discussion. Arrrrgh! Don't you just hate it when people contaminate their minds with knowledge? Gah! Anyone who doesn't think the Palin/McCain administration would be a repeat of the Bush disaster need look no further than that for evidence to the contrary -- let me say this again, people: knowledge and intelligence are good things! You wouldn't hire a plumber who knows nothing about pipes, and you certainly want your surgeon to be well-educated in human anatomy -- why in the hell are you willing to accept willfully ignorant and blissfully oblivious people at the helm of our country? Please, if you follow no other links in this post, at least read this one.

So, anyway, back to Sarah (who had a really big idea this week!), poor Sarah... she can't decide if she's going to play the role of Dick Cheney or George Bush, but would be good at playing either one: she may very well have lied to a judge, and she keeps lying even after she's called on her BS.

And poor John McCain (check out his 83 lobbyists! -- who may be running Alaska right now!)... he is so confused and has no idea what to do about the economy. And doesn't know where Spain is. And he's confused by the branches of the military. And he's confused about presidential powers. And to make things worse, even his own staff is confused about who is at the top of the Republican ticket. And speaking of who is going to serve as president if this ticket wins, how is McCain's health, anyway (really -- this is a serious issue and it's gotten really, really scary)? He'll be preparing for the debate on Friday by taking a nap.

And then there's health care. John McCain's plan for America's health care is to do to the health care industry what he and his cronies have done for banking. (Oh, yeah -- and he wants to do it to Social Security as well!)

And speaking of banking, remember the Keating Five? It's ba-ack! Also, Conservatism is a failure and its former proponents making like rats off a sinking ship. Time for an October Surprise?

And let's not ignore the fact that this morning was given over to the hearings in Congress regarding the collapse of our economy (here's a guide to understanding how we got into this mess). There seem to be a couple of things everyone agrees on: the people who brought us to this moment in our history shouldn't be rewarded; and putting one guy with no oversight in charge of bailing out the people who created this crisis is a bit twisted. Main Street has been paying the price for Wall Street's excesses for a while now. It's time for Wall Street to chip in as well. And it would be nice if the people charged with getting us out of this mess weren't the same people who got us into it. The era of corporate welfare is over. Other people weigh in here.

(In related news, I've got a bunch of worthless old crap in my basement -- can I get the government to buy that, too?)

And finally, how's this for a nightmare scenario? Also, there's going to be a Grateful Dead/Allman Brothers/RatDog/Other Ones/Phil and Friends thing to raise money for the Obama campaign.