Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Fellow Webloggin contributor Joshuapundit is skeptical about what & when the Obama administration did & didn’t know things vis a vis the AIG bonus flap:
The tag line for this nonsense is around $400 million in bonuses contracted by AIG to be paid to executives in their financial products division.
And Congress and the White House are outraged, outraged!
Never mind that it’s a bunch of horse manure.
The White House has known all along that those bonuses are contractual obligations and was absolutely fine with it, until White House press Secretary Robert Gibbs got slapped around over the matter by a couple of reporters like the punk he is.Only when it came to public attention did it become showtime for the Dems in Congress, the president and all his lackeys.
My take on it is slightly different: The public is being given instructions about where to direct its genuine outrage, which is genuine indeed, and because it is so genuine the public cannot perceive these as instructions about where to direct it. It’s an ingenious gambit the Obama administration is trying here: The bailout is good, the bonuses are bad, you doltish voters think they both are bad, so if we can offer you a two-minute hate against the bonuses you’ll spend all your anger on that, and we can still bailout-bailout-bailout to our heart’s content and you’ll kiss our asses and think it tastes like marshmallow unicorns.
Either way, I notice Obama looks worst if you take what he says at face value — that He just found out about these bonuses and wasn’t aware of them when He was cheerleading these bailouts.
It’s the same situation we had last year with that bigoted pastor of His.
He’s a dimwit who doesn’t know what’s going on, or a sociopath who doesn’t give a damn about it…or an active participant in what he so publicly abhores. Once again — it has got to be one of those three. It absolutely has to be. At least one.
I continue to prowl through all the bits of information that come my way on this. What am I trying to find? Some litmus test that separates me from an AIG executive. After all, I go to a job, for money. I’ve received bonuses. Some of those were retention bonuses. And brother, believe me when I tell you, if you sign on the dotted line promising to pay me a retention bonus after some term of time, and I live up to my end of it, you’d better goddamn well deliver me my dough. I don’t care who that angers and I sure as hell don’t care how angry they get. You’d better get me my check. I don’t want to hear one word about how much money I’m getting or where it came from or how much money I already have. Just skip all of it. A hearty feck-yoo to the folks getting all grumpy and grousy about my payout, and then, the actual payout. If you don’t mind.
President Obama: It isn’t the lack of responsibility involved in the bonus payments that has people all ready to tar-and-feather something, it’s the lack of responsibility involved in the bailout itself. The bonus payments represent the honoring of a contract, therefore, you’re put in the absurd position of arguing that “responsibility” has something to do with spreadin-the-wealth-around, but nothing whatsoever to do with honoring in deed what you had pledged to do in writing. This is the paradox with which you & yours must wrestle: Re-defining a well-established word that is supposed to be the cornerstone of what you’re all about.
That is your challenge. But you knew that already.
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You touched on the REAL outrage, albeit tangentially. The fact that some dolts in the congress are proposing a 100% confiscatory tax on these bonuses is what makes me wanna grab a torch and a pitchfork and drive straight to DeeSee. It’s the principle of the thing… if they feel they can do it to AIG, what’s to stop them from being equally “outraged” over something or someone else? Slippery slopes, and all that.
I’m thinking the revolution ain’t all THAT far away.
- bpenni | 03/18/2009 @ 19:24[…] House of Eratosthenes makes some apt comparisons to the Reverend Wright silliness: Either way, I notice Obama looks worst if you take what he says at face value — that He just found out about these bonuses and wasn’t aware of them when He was cheerleading these bailouts. It’s the same situation we had last year with that bigoted pastor of His. […]
- On the Economy « I Think ^(Link) Therefore I Err | 03/19/2009 @ 10:12I think all of us need to loudly and often ask when this 90 percent tax will be applied to the bonuses of Franklin Raines (90 Mil) and the execrable Jamie Gorelick (25 Mil), which they were awarded for destroying Fannie Mae from within (and thereby directly causing the current financial imbroglio.)
Of course it would be only fair; more important is that EVERYBODY GETS REMINDED ABOUT THIS AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY. No need to shout, really, just use your God-given (non-office) voice and forget about being socially acceptable.
- rob | 03/19/2009 @ 20:35