September 30th is International Blasphemy Day, a day for acknowledging that free speech is the foundation of liberty. No idea is too sacred to be questioned, critically examined, satirized, or otherwise disrespected. Ideas don’t need rights; people do.
So, in response to Barney Frank asking a seriously deluded woman what planet she spends most of her time on, the seriously deluded Rush Limbaugh not only supports crazy (naturally), but also had this to say:
“But the killer for me was, here’s Barney Frank saying, ‘What planet do you live on?’ to this woman. Isn’t it an established fact that Barney Frank himself spends of his time living around Uranus?”
Uranus! That’s a hilarious and mature thing to say about openly homosexual congressman Frank. Stay classy, Rush.
For weeks now, the debate over health care reform has been hijacked by right-wingers, who are absolutely furious for some reason that probably involves their previous running the country into the ground and following utter repudiation vis-a’-vis the November elections. In their overeagerness to brand Obama as some sort of Nazi socialist, they’ve basically completely divorced themselves from reality and rational debate, and resorted to a lot of yelling about “death panels” and other things that don’t exist or they don’t understand.
Hero congressman from Massachusetts, Barney Frank, has had enough of such nonsense.
Back in November, the people of Minnesota voted for US Senator. Four months later, after much weeping and gnashing of teeth, Al Franken was certified as beating incumbant Norm Coleman by 312 votes. In order to delay the seating of a filibuster-busting 60th Democratic senator, Coleman appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court. That bought him until yesterday, when the court ruled unanimously that Franken is indeed the new junior senator from Minnesota.
Will Obama finally instate socialism and Sharia law now that the Republican senators can be hushed like so many wailing infants?
Will he pass a tissue to Newt Gingrich and ask him if he wants to cry about it?
Only time will tell.
As I loquaciously pointed out here, Bernie Madoff’s crimes are such that federal guidelines recommend his sentence be 150 years. That’s exactly what he got yesterday. These are not the times to be Madoff’s kind of criminal.
Protests in Iran in response to widespread allegations of election fraud
Riots in LA in response to the Lakers winning a basketball game
So it’s been about three days since the beginning of the Obama Administration. Just what has our new commander in chief been up to? Oh not much, just:
Wow, that’s not bad! All these steps in the right direction, not the kind of thing I’m accustomed to. It’s not even the weekend yet.
John A. Thain, former Merrill Lynch CEO, resigned last week from his Bank of America post after continued losses related to the bank’s acquisition of Merrill. This comes amid revelations that Thain had orchestrated a quick and surreptitious payout of large bonuses to employees just before the buyout deal closed. I am almost sympathetic to this last point; Thain made a last ditch effort to protect his employees in an uncertain time (albeit using government money). I am less sympathetic to his recent $1.2 million office remodeling; I’m pretty sure I could find some classy and sophisticated office decor for no more than five, maybe six, hundred thousand dollars. But where he really comes off as a mismanaging, opportunistic prick:
But after Merrill appeared to be safely in Bank of America’s arms, Merrill’s traders began buying risky mortgage assets, thinking that the market had bottomed out, according to two people familiar with the firm’s trading. Merrill also began to run up losses on equity derivatives and other instruments, they said.
So after virtually going bankrupt from bad mortgage investments, Merrill went and lost another five billion dollars doing the exact same thing, leaving Bank of America in even deeper shit than the considerably deep pile of shit it was already in. Kind of a dick move, John.
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And now for something that doesn’t at all matter in the grand scheme of things, or even in the lesser scheme of things, but is nonetheless fun to talk (and argue) about. The nominees for the 81st Academy Awards were released today. The list looks mostly uncontroversial, except that somehow Gran Torino was completely shunned, seemingly in favor of The Strange Case of Benjamin Button. Seems inappropriate to me, as I thought Eastwood put together a great film and delivered a fantastic performance, but I have not seen the latest Brad Pitt effort. |
Some predictions (stuff I think should be a given):
I also like, but am less sure about:
I’ve only seen Frost/Nixon of the five movies nominated for Best Picture! I’d like to at least see Milk and Slumdog Millionaire before the awards. Benjamin Button keeps popping up in these everywhere despite warm but not glowing reviews. Now I’ll have to see if just to see if it justifies the fanfare.
