It needs immedite attention and the correct action. Though, I admit, I am not really sure what the correct action is, but smarter people than I don;t seem to be too sure either.
On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 11:31 PM, Judah McAuley <ju...@wiredotter.com> wrote: > > "A failure to act and act now will turn crisis into a catastrophe" > -- Robert Munn on this fucking list just a couple months ago. > > Hope over fear? That's a partisan hack job of the lowest denominator. > You sounded the alarm and you were right. You got me to agree with you > even. It is a crisis, it is a catastrophe, it requires immediate and > total attention and action. I was dubious at first but you were right. > Don't fuck it up by being a douche about it now that the other side is > saying it. > > Judah > > On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 5:42 PM, Robert Munn <cfmuns...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > * > > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/05/AR2009020502766_pf.html > > * > > > > > > *"A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe.*" > > > > *-- President Obama, Feb. 4*. > > > > Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural > > address two weeks earlier declared "we have chosen hope over fear." > Until, > > that is, you need fear to pass a bill. > > > > And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence > > peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning > lobbyists > > was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or > > former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who > > allegedly couldn't understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040. > > Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the > new > > Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent. > > > > The Daschle affair was more serious because his offense involved more > than > > taxes. As Michael Kinsley once observed, in Washington the real scandal > > isn't what's illegal, but what's legal. Not paying taxes is one thing. > But > > what made this case intolerable was the perfectly legal dealings that > > amassed Daschle $5.2 million in just two years. > > > > He'd been getting $1 million per year from a law firm. But he's not a > > lawyer, nor a registered lobbyist. You don't get paid this kind of money > to > > instruct partners on the Senate markup process. You get it for picking up > > the phone and peddling influence. > > > > At least Tim Geithner, the tax-challenged Treasury secretary, had been > > working for years as a humble international civil servant earning > > non-stratospheric wages. Daschle, who had made another cool million a > year > > (plus chauffeur and Caddy) for unspecified services to a pal's private > > equity firm, represented everything Obama said he'd come to Washington to > > upend. > > > > And yet more damaging to Obama's image than all the hypocrisies in the > > appointment process is his signature bill: the stimulus package. He > > inexplicably delegated the writing to Nancy Pelosi and the barons of the > > House. The product, which inevitably carries Obama's name, was not just > bad, > > not just flawed, but a legislative abomination. > > > > It's not just pages and pages of special-interest tax breaks, giveaways > and > > protections, one of which would set off a ruinous Smoot-Hawley trade war. > > It's not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction > for > > Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, > > have shrinking enrollment, 15 vacant schools and, quite logically, no > plans > > for new construction. > > > > It's the essential fraud of rushing through a bill in which the normal > rules > > (committee hearings, finding revenue to pay for the programs) are > suspended > > on the grounds that a national emergency requires an immediate > job-creating > > stimulus -- and then throwing into it hundreds of billions that have > nothing > > to do with stimulus, that Congress's own budget office says won't be > spent > > until 2011 and beyond, and that are little more than the back-scratching, > > special-interest, lobby-driven parochialism that Obama came to Washington > to > > abolish. He said. > > > > Not just to abolish but to create something new -- a new politics where > the > > moneyed pork-barreling and corrupt logrolling of the past would give way > to > > a bottom-up, grass-roots participatory democracy. That is what made Obama > so > > dazzling and new. Turns out the "fierce urgency of now" includes $150 > > million for livestock (and honeybee and farm-raised fish) insurance. > > > > The Age of Obama begins with perhaps the greatest frenzy of old-politics > > influence peddling ever seen in Washington. By the time the stimulus bill > > reached the Senate, reports the Wall Street Journal, pharmaceutical and > > high-tech companies were lobbying furiously for a new plan to repatriate > > overseas profits that would yield major tax savings. California wine > growers > > and Florida citrus producers were fighting to change a single phrase in > one > > provision. Substituting "planted" for "ready to market" would mean a > > windfall garnered from a new "bonus depreciation" incentive. > > > > After Obama's miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at > > some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would > rub > > its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama > would > > give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised > > would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell -- and that this > > president told better than anyone. > > > > I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half > weeks. > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:287653 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
