Open Thread
By Nicole Belle Thursday Oct 09, 2008 7:30pmA Dramatic Reading Of Wasilla City Council Minutes (h/t EB)
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A Dramatic Reading Of Wasilla City Council Minutes (h/t EB)
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Honest McCain Campaign Poster:
http://gopnot4me.blogspot.com/2008/10/honest-...
Just hand over the codes and cancel the election!
Here's a great story about one of the good guys, a good cop no less. Thank you Sheriff Dart for your decency and compassion.
And shame on The Illinois Bankers Assn. for opposing this gesture of humanity.
Oct 8, 2008 6:11 pm US/Central
Cook County Suspends Evictions To Protect Renters
Reporting
Jim Williams CHICAGO (CBS) ― In these tough times, foreclosures are not only hurting homeowners. Renters are at risk too when their landlords default on mortgage payments. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced Wednesday morning that he plans to suspend mortgage foreclosure evictions conducted by his officers, so that renters living in foreclosed buildings are protected.
Foreclosures have been on the rise. In 1999, there were almost 13,000 foreclosure cases filed in the county. This year, the number is expected to be more than 43,000. As CBS 2's Jim Williams reports renters have been caught in the squeeze.
Maria Cruz, her husband, and their four children were stunned when sheriff's deputies showed up at their apartment in the Albany Park neighborhood.
"We were completely surprised," Maria said. "We've always been on time. We paid our rent."
Never missed a rent payment, they said, but they and others in the building were going to be evicted because the building's owner had stopped paying the mortgage - then fled the country.
That case and others like it prompted Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart to protect renters who have done nothing wrong.
"They're playing by the rules, then they show up and their stuff is out on the street, and that's just wrong," Dart said.
Dart is suspending all foreclosure evictions until the banks take two basic steps in court.
So here's how it works: Let's say you own a building and rent someone an apartment. They've paid the rent faithfully but you don't pay the mortgage and face foreclosure. The bank has to indicate they live there and give them sufficient time to look for another place to live.
Dart says an ideal time is four months.
"These mortgage companies only see pieces of paper, not people, and don't care who's in the building," Dart said in a news release. "They simply want their money and don't care who gets hurt along the way. On top of it, they want taxpayers to fund their investigative work for them. We're not going to do their jobs for them anymore. We're just not going to let them evict innocent tenants. It stops today."
For now Maria Cruz and the others here can still call this home.
"We're happy we'll stay, and we've learned there are a lot of people around the city who are in the same situation," Maria said.
Her case will be settled in court.
People who don't pay their rent can still be evicted, so can homeowners who don't pay their mortgage. The sheriff is trying to help innocent renters. But the Illinois Bankers Association is angry. The group accuses him of ignoring the law and carrying out vigilantism.
Dart said the sheriff's office is on pace to conduct 4,500 mortgage foreclosure evictions this year, compared with only 1,771 in 2006.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
im confused
wouldnt the bank want to keep the renters in for as long as possible, as they are still generating income?
and doesnt this point out the fallacy of the big lie in regards to the credit and mortgage crisis being caused by the poor, acorn and dems?
poor people cant buy apt buildings or flee the country
rich crooks can and do
Yes, i read that today and was very happy to see it. :)
Thank you for posting it.
in the 1950s and 1960s, I listened to my parents talk of the Great Depression. And of Roosevelt.
Both were burned deeply into their minds.
Never even imagined I'd ever see a Depression. The economy was, or at least seemed, so good then.
The '70s sucked economically, but a lot of people made a lot of money.
The '80s and the '90s, well, we know the history.
But nothing compares to today, 10/9/08. The abyss is right there. In front of us.
well the new depresion wont be as exciteing as the one in the thirtys, thier wont be any more hobos, no frieght trains to hop on , no great hobo jungles to sleep in and make a grate pee pee in, gone are the great mulligan stew eating bums , no more rail road dicks bashing your skull in for hitching a ride on the long and nasty, ahh you missed the best one !
Worse, I'm afraid. There is so much farther to fall.
The stock market crashing, in my mind only signifies CEO pay disappearing, all the non-working system riders are gonna have to get jobs like the rest of us?
Now wait, if I lived in my Van for 3 years, it wouldn't be so bad.
Good job on the "crackhead" financial mentality.
Hey maybe the pentagon will give us some of the money back?--Nah they already built houses and townhouses to keep their people safe. I think the government is gonna freeze real soon, no money to pay. YAY.
The new great Hobo jungles is right under our eyes, the million dollar houses all around dc extending 500 miles out are the new homes for us!!!! All the super rich Churches that sucked up all the federal money, new homes. The church towns, you know where they are, our new homes, go there people. Lets get them in on the poverty party too.
i listened to my parents for years....save, save, save...and dont get into a credit crunch
always kept my money in cd's....which were low interest bearing....but alledgedly safe
however, looking at the future, and realizing that social security was never gonna be enough for me to live on, i moved my money into a higher yielding fund
of course....half of it is gone now....and i wont ever be able to retire
so you should see me as a greeter in wallmart when im 85
as for never seeing a depression again...ya, thats what i thought too...cuz we were taught that changes had been made to protect us
but then came reagan and voodoo economics...and the final chapter was written
for at least a year, i knew this was coming...i just didnt think that it would hit so fast and hard
and here is something that should really scare you...unlike under roosevelt, where job programs could be created, which allowed skills to be used that created new buisinesses and industries...we have outsourced all our manufacturing base
we are pretty much fucked...and this depression will most likely make the 30s look like a picnic
there won't be as much of a demand for the products that are outsourced if no one has the money to buy those products.
a shake up like this may be just what America needs to bring us back to a more modest way of living.
how much are we spending in iraq every month?
Unfortunatly the Republicans were only too happy to dismantle those changes that protected us so that their greed could grow beyond everyone's wildest dreams.
Now that everything the Repug's have done has come to roost they want to say "Now's not the time for finger pointing" - the Republicans are like a guy who takes great pride raping and stabbing America and then hangs around until the paramedics show up and when they can't get a pulse the Republicans points at the medic and say "You killed it"
Where is eveyone?
Palin pre-empts state report, clears self in probe
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report Thursday that clears her of any wrongdoing.
Sen. John McCain's running mate is the subject of a legislative investigation into whether she abused her power as governor by firing her public safety commissioner. The commissioner, Walter Monegan, says he was dismissed in July for resisting pressure from Palin's husband, Todd Palin, and numerous top aides to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law.
Lawmakers are expected to release their own findings Friday. Campaign officials have yet to see that report — the result of an investigation that began before she was tapped as McCain's running mate — but said the investigation has falsely portrayed a legitimate policy dispute between a governor and her commissioner as something inappropriate.
"The following document will prove Walt Monegan's dismissal was a result of his insubordination and budgetary clashes with Governor Palin and her administration," campaign officials wrote. "Trooper Wooten is a separate issue."
Monegan said Thursday that he doesn't know what to expect from the legislative panel's own report.
Just read this on the CBS-News web site (their headline claims she's been cleared--didn't link to it because there's no point).
WTF? How frickin' transparent a lie can you create? And yet, somebody at a McCain/Palin rally somewhere will eat it up.
You can't write this stuff any better!
But today he started slinging them again.
McCain assaults Obama on ties to former radical
What Courage!
(What courage?)
just fucking brilliant.
I'm curious: why is there an NRA ad attacking Obama on this website? I found it a bit jolting (to say the least). Kinda weird.
We have little control over them other than taking down the entire ad box.
Frankly, a site like this costs a lot of money to run and we need the ads.
If the NRA wants to waste their money advertising on this site, that's on them.
they not convincing anyone here.
I'm thinking Paulson and Bernanke are telling him to STFU. Opening his mouth seems to make things worse.
Nice Legacy.
I have a feeling it is an ad service that C&L has little control over.
Wonder what tidbit they've manage to twist into "truth?" I've never heard about O addressing gun control stuff. Any info anybody?
this is the funniest thing I've heard in weeks. I'm dying. Thank you! Talk about executive experience!
If she gets elected you will be.
The bleeding continues, Asian markets are in freefall as I type this.
Not only is the Nikkei down by over 10%, the second time this week it's hit these levels, but for the very first time in my memory it's actually lower in terms of points than the Dow Jones. For as long as I can remember it's always been higher, point-wise than the Dow.
Wow.
This morning before the open I found myself across the street from MTV's TRL studios in NY's Times Square, which is where the Nasdaq also has a plate glass street level TV studio as well, and as I was walking by, I knocked on the window, got the crowd's attention inside and then proceeded to flip the lot of them of.
Felt good, and I got to hope that these fucks remembered my face at the close today.
I'll remember theirs because I took pics and video of their fat overstuffed pig faces.
Can't wait until the lot of them is hauled into a court of law and served justice.
~Nyc
but it's an aerodynamic freefall...a perfect dive...like a DC-9 that has lost both engines.
George Will’s Charge of ‘Operatic’ Challenged by McCain
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=3875
Great Nic! :)
Black Like Me
I'm first gen American, born to gifted parents, on an island, (Obama Hawaii, me Manhatan Isle), we have unusual names, and there are a few other minor similarities that would take too long to list here, see the blog itself for more details.
Thanks!
~Nyc
Richard Fuld punched in face in Lehman Brothers gym.
Richard Fuld, the disgraced head of Lehman Brothers, was punched in the face in the office gym amid the bank's collapse.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetop...
Who knew the barricades are located in Lehman's gym?
heheheh, give that man a Nobel Prize in economics.
~Nyc
Has anybody seen the SNL Special? If so was it any good?
It starts here in half an hour.
it's not bad. has some funny moments, certainly worth watching.
Thank you, i will be watching. :)
Just blogged it, and have died laughing.
using Associated Press article just released.
Here's the first sentence of said AP article:
"ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report Thursday that clears her of any wrongdoing."
Hahahahahahahahahaa
Palin is trying to channel Tom Dewey in 1948. She figured if it was in print it must be true. We know how well prematurely declaring victory worked for him.
americangoy @ 20:55,
That's hysterical!
Did anyone catch the ad they ran with a quote to the effect that Palin was fantastic at the debates? The quote was attributed to "Famous Person!" {Scroll down. It's at #3}
That was great! A dramatic reading of the Wasilla Council meeting! Great idea and well done to the actor, director, producer, Chris Schneider...
And it doesn't give a person like Palin a lot of experience dealing with complex problems, just a lot of talk about crumb cake, cookies and whether the town can afford a new police car. As for her Alaska governor experience, let us not forget Alaska is the 47th most populous state, with less than 700,000 people. Remember Karl Rove complaining about Va. Gov. Tim Kaine's experience as mayor of Richmond, Va., demeaning Richmond as really small? Richmond the city has nearly 2 million people, making it between 20 and 25 percent as large as Palin's entire STATE. Haven't heard much from ol' Karl lately.
I am about to head an investigation into whether or not i just ate the last cookie. I have a very good feeling about the outcome. Now i wonder if we have any milk?
Time for South Park and a martini.
Then SNL at 9:30
Palin pre-empts state report, clears self in probe
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=2008-...
Should be on Broadway by spring.
remember this gem. russert catching mccain in a lie about his knowledge about economics. short 40 sec.
video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OunCv-7qvA
properly
"Madam President, the nuclear device detonated at 10 AM Eastern time, but we do not yet know the full extent of the damage..."
"Have you signed the sheet?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Where are the refreshments? Don't we usually have refreshments?"
"We can send for them..."
"Who is in charge of the Yuban can?"
"Madam President we need to know what you want to do..."
"Old business first, Danny."
"Dana, ma'am."
"You look like a Danny, Dana is too French."
"Yes, ma'am, we have unconfirmed reports of a second explosion..."
"Can we have crumb cake? It's still morning, isn't it?"
...as Bush quietly contemplates "My Pet Goat" somewhere in Uruguay, and Cheney has a cocktail party with Satan at his Dubai estate.
For anyone keeping score at home:
Jeff Merkley and Gordon Smith debated (round 1 of 2) in Portland tonight. No knockouts, but I have to say that Merkley had Smith on the defensive. Merkley was not a good debater during the primaries. Tonight, he was on-point and was ready for the questions--Smith brought a *ton* of notes and often had to read as he spoke.
Smith's a smooth operator--and he has the support of the rural parts of the state. That said, he wasn't as convincing as he's been in the past. There were several occasions when he simply missed the point of a question, but Merkley then nailed it.
Round 1: Merkley.
WASH TIMES Friday: Obama secretly tried to sway Iraqi government to ignore Bush deal on keeping troops in Iraq
Yeah, heard this. I don't believe anything printed in that paper--especially since a lot of it gets passed back and forth through Drudge's approval machine before it gets printed.
Then it goes in my birdcage, where it fulfills its greatest purpose in this world.
Haha!
I wish it were Drudge at the bottom of my bird's cage. Why Chris Cilliza at WaPo--and so many others--pay him a damn bit of mind I'll never get. Cilliza is especially bad about repeating Drudge's crap. Says a lot about his credentials.
About 10 years or so ago, I was doing research for a political organization, and unfortunately had to go through that rag looking for an article.
I swear, I came across an article that went something like this:
I swear, they printed that.
Is owned by a man who wants to rule the world.
LOL I suggest he keep a jar of dirt on his desk to remind him of where were all going.
Just a few years back Washington Times owner Reverend Moon had himself crowned as The Messiah by our Congresscritters and United States Senators in a ceremony held in The United State's Senate's Dirksen Office Building on Capitol Hill:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles...
Don't look now, but the crazies really are running the asylum.
~Nyc
You know, Moammar Gaddafi. If the GOP wants to play the guilt by association game , then this is a good one. Or does Bush and the current State Dept. have a statute of limitations on terrorism? Just want to know...
They should start with no child left behind.
Enjoy:
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jht...
OMG!!!
doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Basically, at this point, I think the McCain strategy is to start a whisper campaign. They didn't get positive results from being too overt with the "Obama's a terrorist" thing, so they're throwing every clod of dirt they can find at him--by whispering it to the media, that dutifully reprints it all on page one--with a little note at the end that this is old news and nothing's ever been found to corroborate what's being said.
The media gets their juicy headline, McCain draws blood over and over, and Obama has to either defend himself or try to stay above it.
I swear to Christ, if the media throws this election through its irresponsible reporting...well, nothing. There's not a damn way to end that sentence.
The McCain/Rove ticket has already fixed the election through voter caging lists. They have to make it look like a close race or else nobody will accept the results of the rigged election.
The media will pretend that this rediculous Ayers thing is the reason McCain is doing better.
Tomorrow = bad day in market. Nobody is going to want to hold over the weekend.
I think it's a great time to buy stocks. Especially financials. Risky risky risky, but that's when the real money is made.
You are better off burying your money in the backyard in a mayonaise jar.
In US Currency? Are you kidding?
You mean by buying short?
Good luck with that.
Stick a fork in GM. Here's a first. A politician lies before the corruption investigation is concluded.
Asian markets are still being hammered.
Global warming threatens tropic species.
“Did everyone get the pamphlets about the dog decorations?”
My God this was FUNNY!
“Awsome.”
Yup, you betcha! More executive experience than any candidate, fer shore!
Here's a funny one but you have to see the pic to understand the context, but it's a pretty cool metaphor:
http://pixels2picture.typepad.com/pixels2pict...
G'Day you commie punks! Here's a little serve from the land of OZ.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=5HvxtJmtr80
Well made! LOL :)
I keep wondering if McCain and Palin are stoking the fires of hatred in hopes that some crazy right-wing fuck tard will lose it and try to do something to Obama. This is some very sick and twisted shit that they are shoveling. The thing is that of all of the accomplishments that he's always bringing up, this is what he will be remembered for. Nothing else in his life is going to mean jack. What a way go out, as a slimy piece of shit with no character.
Really? You actually spend time wondering about that?
... that the NRA comes out and endorses McCain the same week that McPalin are riling up the base of crazies that are shouting "kill him" and "off with his head?"
Is the timing intentional or what?
Seems obvious to me.
These people are not the moral upstanding citizens their press people would have us believe.
Surprise!
http://www.cityofwasilla.com/index.aspx?recor...
Vote early if you can IN Person -- NOT by mail!!! And NEVER vote a provisional ballot.
That way if there is a problem, you can scream and shout and insist on a real ballot.
http://www.stealbackyourvote.com/
One comment about that, since Oregon has a strictly "vote-by-mail" system (which works well, by the way, but that's because this is Oregon): if you can, take your vote-by-mail ballot to an official drop site, like one of the libraries, schools or even the county elections office. It won't be "lost" that way.
RE: Billing of sexual assault victims for forensic exams
The Finance Department searched all financial records on our system for fiscal year 2000, 2001 and 2002. There are no records of billings to or collections from rape victims or their insurance companies in our system. The financial computer system goes back to the beginning of fiscal year 2000, and accounts receivable backup documentation goes back six (6) years per our records retention schedule.
A review of files and case reports within the Wasilla Police Department has found no record of sexual assault victims billed for forensic exams. State law AS 18.68.040, which was effective 8/14/2000, would have prohibited any such billings after that date.
Statistics for sexual assaults reported can be found in the police section of the City of Wasilla website at http://www.cityofwasilla.com/index.aspx?page=103.
Thank you,
Mayor Dianne M. Keller
Mayor Keller:
Thank you for your note. I found your clarification most enlightening.
I request that you support your claim that this article is a "Whitewash."
-Is it your contention that the city council meeting depicted never took place?
-Is it your contention that the transcript of the city council meeting depicted has been altered or exaggerated somehow?
-Is it your contention that the city council meeting depicted reached a different determination then herein reported?
I believe in freedom of the press. If any of the points raised above
are in fact true, I await your rebuttal, and of course, the documentation that proves your side of the story.
Roci
Sends you to a map of the library.
One of the country's foremost energy experts.
http://tinyurl.com/4tanv4
When are you going to learn to copy and paste so we don't have to scroll all the way up to your reply?
Just read New
Thu, 10/09/2008 - 22:24 — RobertD
Just read this on the CBS-News web site (their headline claims she's been cleared--didn't link to it because there's no point).
WTF? How frickin' transparent a lie can you create? And yet, somebody at a McCain/Palin rally somewhere will eat it up.
===================================================
Copy and paste New
Thu, 10/09/2008 - 22:29 — ron
When are you going to learn to copy and paste so we don't have to scroll all the way up to your reply?
Better yet, choose flat over threaded and we can all get back to the way it was originally.
I don't know what you mean. Teach me something new.
Where it says "Post New Comment, to the right there is a little box. Click on it. :)
So, what will it do for us.
Can you withstand?
Even with the dramatic reading, I got about halfway thru the reading of the transcript and had to stop it.
Where do I begin?
-Double and triple negatives
-Sentence structure unheard by the ears of humanity since the second grade
-City government brought to a halt because someone lost a pen
-a pitch political battle over chocolate chip cookies and coffee money
I wonder if this small town in Alaska applied to McSame for federal aid to rescue the City of Wasilla from their own elected officials?
The idea of government is that the citizens send forth the best and brightest to represent them. I cry for Wasilla. If these people were (are?) the best they have for government, no wonder there's a bunch of wingnuts up there who want to try for their own state. It's obvious to the point of pain that what they got, they do not deserve.-Roci
You have to go through the whole thing and hear what they decided! LOL :)
All you will see is the messages being displayed as they always have been: one after the other.
If they don't copy and paste, will we know what they are talking about?
Unbelievable:
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2008/10/confed...
Just how much time did the writers of "The Gilmore Girls" actually spend in Wasilla? I didn't know that the show's town meetings were re-enactments of actual events in Alaska transcribed!!!
You can always switch back to nested to see it outlined in red.
I like the nested better, especially with the bright red "New". I didn't realize the flat didn't have a reference when you reply.
Taarak @ 22:58
I like the nesting better. What's missing is the "quote this comment" button. But hey, we can always just copy and paste.
I don't know if I'm the odd Karen out here, but I like the commenting section a little better than the old, but miss the look of the old site.
I just answered my own question.
i just watched the K.O. show it featured a speech candy mccain gave regarding the obama vote to stop war funding and how it sent a 'cold chill down her spine'. candy mccain is phoney as hell.
Oh yeah, Johnny voted against a different bill a couple months before.
Hi, folks --
I watched Rachel...still speechless about the latest on Palin. Not surprised, just pissed.
Palin Pre-empts Ethics Probe, Clears Self
Where's the credit?!
GNA!