Sheesh, when will this end? Cramer resumes hostilities with Jon Stewart.
“CNBC in particular has been out in front on this”Post + Comments (24)
by DougJ| 24 Comments
This post is in: Media
Sheesh, when will this end? Cramer resumes hostilities with Jon Stewart.
“CNBC in particular has been out in front on this”Post + Comments (24)
This post is in: Politics
Some good news from New Mexico:
Gov. Bill Richardson, who has supported capital punishment, signed legislation to repeal New Mexico’s death penalty, calling it the “most difficult decision in my political life.”
The new law replaces lethal injection with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The repeal takes effect on July 1, and applies only to crimes committed after that date.
“Regardless of my personal opinion about the death penalty, I do not have confidence in the criminal justice system as it currently operates to be the final arbiter when it comes to who lives and who dies for their crime,” Richardson said.
Europe’s human rights watchdog on Thursday hailed the decision as “a victory for civilization.” The American Civil Liberties Union called it “a historic step and a clear sign that the United States continues to make significant progress toward eradicating capital punishment once and for all.”
But the New Mexico Sheriffs’ and Police Association opposed repeal, saying capital punishment deters violence against police officers, jailers and prison guards. District attorneys also opposed the legislation, arguing that the death penalty was a useful prosecutorial tool.
One of the things I have never understood is the seeming breakdown on opposition to and support for the death penalty. I have never figured out why conservatives, the people who flip out about zoning boards and if their taxes are raised 3% and who shout limited government until they are blue in the face have absolutely zero problem with the government taking that which is most precious- someone’s life. All this posturing about the “ability to tax is the ability to destroy” just seems silly when you turn a blind eye to the government executing people.
And I’m not saying that I don’t have strong opinions about what should be done to certain people. There was a picture of Charles Manson released the other day, and it makes me sick that that murderous cretin has spent the last four decades living relatively comfortably (although I still think existence in modern prisons is hell). I understand the desire for a death penalty, but I just can’t support it when we know that there are prosecutors who act in bad faith, we know there are police who perjure themselves, we know there are witnesses who make mistakes, we know that confessions are coerced, we know that there are two systems of justice in place for the rich and the poor, and we know that dozens of people on death row have been released after it has been determined they were innocent. With all that information, I simply don’t understand how anyone could support the death penalty.
by John Cole| 19 Comments
This post is in: Excellent Links, Politics, Mainstream Media's McCain Mancrush
This insider description of life inside the Madoff operation is a fascinating read, but this stuck out:
Did he think something was fishy? “It never dawned on me that Bernie was running a criminal operation down on the 17th floor. I thought he was just a quirky guy. Now, in hindsight there are a lot of things that point to illegal activities. The emails, for instance, were clearly handled that way so that nobody could access them. They didn’t want any record if someone got suspicious and wrote so to a colleague, for instance, or you pressed the search bar and the word Ponzi came up.”
The salaries, said the employee, also in hindsight, were so large because Madoff wanted to keep people happy; he wanted allies in case they found out what was really happening. “Nobody left because they could never get another job that paid as well as this one. Some people, after his arrest, speculated that it was kind of like hush money; nobody asked any questions because the Madoffs were nice, protective, generous.
“The Madoffs had all of us out to Montauk for yearly weekends. We didn’t go to their houses but they put us up in hotels. They had a barbecue lunch on the sand and a formal dinner under a tent at the yacht club. On Sunday they took a small subset of employees on a fishing trip.
I can’t be the only one who immediately thought of this.
by DougJ| 79 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics, Media
Matt Yglesias flags this from Bloomberg columnist Carol Baum:
The government needs Liddy and Citigroup’s Vikram Pandit and Bank of America’s Ken Lewis to continue working to restore their firms to prosperity in the same way the looters in Rand’s novel need Hank Reardon and Francisco d’Anconia and Dagny Taggart, respectively, to run their steel mills, copper mines and railroad.
I sincerely believe that the key to understanding how our society works is realizing that our elites in media, government, and business (and probably other areas I’m forgetting about) are fully invested in the idea that their status is justified. As that idea becomes increasingly hard to defend, they fall back on increasingly ridiculous arguments. It’s just too painful to accept the fact that large portions of our system are, at worst, scams, and, at best, inefficient, unmeritocratic old-boy-networks.
This post is in: Politics, Democratic Stupidity
Sure seems like Chris Dodd took a bullet for the Obama team, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why he is the fall guy in all of this. He, after all, was the one who wanted the toughest rules in place, and then was negotiated downward by the folks at Treasury. Here is his latest statement:
“I’m the one who has led the fight against excessive executive compensation, often over the objections of many. I did not want to make any changes to my original Senate-passed amendment but I did so at the request of Administration officials, who gave us no indication that this was in any way related to AIG. Let me be clear – I was completely unaware of these AIG bonuses until I learned of them last week.
“Reports that I changed my position on this issue are simply untrue. I answered a question by CNN last night regarding whether or not a specific date was aimed at protecting AIG. When I saw that my comments had been misconstrued, I felt it was important to set the record straight – that this had nothing to do with AIG.”
That makes sense, is consistent, and the only thing missing is who it is at Treasury that set him up for the fall. And why. When all hell broke loose with the AIG stuff this week, the folks over there sure knew where to stick the long knives and quick, and Dodd looked to have no idea what hit him.
*** Update ***
Al Giordano says nonsense, and I am being played the fool. Which should not be surprising to anyone at all.
by John Cole| 90 Comments
This post is in: Republican Stupidity
Another target rich environment:
Gov. Sarah Palin just told reporters that she’s accepting only 55 percent of the federal economic stimulus money being offered to Alaska. The governor said that she will accept only about $514 million of the $930 million headed to the state.
***The biggest single chunk of stimulus money that Palin is turning down is $160 million for education.
Of course, the good governor says she will work with the legislature if they say they want the whole amount. Wink, wink, YOU BETCHA!
I seriously don’t understand how I was ever stupid enough to fall for the Republican BS.
by John Cole| 61 Comments
This post is in: Politics, Republican Stupidity
Someone get Judd Gregg the smelling salts, because he has come down with a case of the vapors:
“That would be the Chicago approach to governing: Strong-arm it through. You’re talking about the exact opposite of bipartisan. You’re talking about running over the minority, putting them in cement and throwing them in the Chicago River.”
I think he meant cement shoes, but I’m not going to nitpick- that idea has a great deal of appeal to me right about now. At any rate, this is a Republican we are talking about, so you know where this is going. Judd Gregg was for reconciliation before he was against it.
Meanwhile, no discussion of the process by which Republicans governed when they were in charge would be complete without this trip down memory lane:
When bills do make it to the floor for a vote, the debate generally resembles what one House aide calls “preordained Kabuki.” Republican leaders in the Bush era have mastered a new congressional innovation: the one-vote victory. Rather than seeking broad consensus, the leadership cooks up some hideously expensive, favor-laden boondoggle and then scales it back bit by bit. Once they’re in striking range, they send the fucker to the floor and beat in the brains of the fence-sitters with threats and favors until enough members cave in and pass the damn thing. It is, in essence, a legislative microcosm of the electoral strategy that Karl Rove has employed to such devastating effect.
A classic example was the vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement, the union-smashing, free-trade monstrosity passed in 2005. As has often been the case in the past six years, the vote was held late at night, away from the prying eyes of the public, who might be horrified by what they see. Thanks to such tactics, the 109th is known as the “Dracula” Congress: Twenty bills have been brought to a vote between midnight and 7 a.m.
CAFTA actually went to vote early — at 11:02 p.m. When the usual fifteen-minute voting period expired, the nays were up, 180 to 175. Republicans then held the vote open for another forty-seven minutes while GOP leaders cruised the aisles like the family elders from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, frantically chopping at the legs and arms of Republicans who opposed the measure. They even roused the president out of bed to help kick ass for the vote, passing a cell phone with Bush on the line around the House cloakroom like a bong. Rep. Robin Hayes of North Carolina was approached by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who told him, “Negotiations are open. Put on the table the things that your district and people need and we’ll get them.” After receiving assurances that the administration would help textile manufacturers in his home state by restricting the flow of cheap Chinese imports, Hayes switched his vote to yea. CAFTA ultimately passed by two votes at 12:03 a.m.
I think the nation will be fine with legislation passed with only a majority vote, and Judd Gregg can go pound salt.