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WillyT
WillyT's Journal
WillyT's Journal
October 17, 2013
Used As A Very Possible... Scary... Possibility ???
Related DULink: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023812273
Don't wanna piss on anybodies cornflakes, but...
We continue to lurch further to the right.
And it will be interesting to see the numbers from this deal.
Yeah... We Won... Sort Of...
Remember When The "Ryan Budget" Was Used By Democrats To Win the 2012 Election ???Used As A Very Possible... Scary... Possibility ???
Related DULink: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023812273
Don't wanna piss on anybodies cornflakes, but...
We continue to lurch further to the right.
And it will be interesting to see the numbers from this deal.
October 16, 2013
Ted Cruz... ROFLMAO !!! - Ya Just Gotta Love The Synchronicity... Or Not... LOL !!!
October 15, 2013
I'm Not Hip To Much Of Current Social Media... But I Have Faith In The Future... "Learn Dammit !!!"
From the movie 'War Games'... On Learning...
October 12, 2013
A Friday Night Treat For You All... This Is Sublime... And Soothing...
And has volumes contained within...
Plus... I was buddies with the Conga player's son.
October 12, 2013
Chirlane McCray Plays Key Role in de Blasio Campaign
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
Published: October 1, 2013
Chirlane McCray on Sixth Avenue in Brooklyn, with her husband, Bill de Blasio, before casting her vote on Primary Day.
Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, as a teenager in 1971.
<snip>
She was the seventh-grader too frightened to stand in front of the room because her white classmates would mock her, contorting their mouths to make their lips look big. She was the smoldering teenager who took to writing poems every day to wrestle with her isolation and anger. She was the eldest daughter of one of the only black families in Longmeadow, Mass., who arrived home to see their new house scrawled with racist graffiti.
“I had never had a deep sense of belonging anywhere,” recalled Chirlane McCray, whose husband, Bill de Blasio, is now the front-runner to become the next mayor of New York. “I always felt I was an outsider.”
Now, this onetime student of powerlessness, a woman whose early identity was profoundly shaped by feelings of alienation — because of her race, her gender and her evolving sexuality — is emerging as the ultimate insider: a mastermind behind the biggest political upset of the year and a sought-after voice as the city re-evaluates what it most wants from its first family.
New York has begun to digest the jarring contrasts that Mr. de Blasio, an avowedly activist, tax-the-rich liberal, would provide should he capture City Hall after 12 years of rule by a data-driven billionaire.
Less understood is the role his wife, a 58-year-old poet, has played in molding his political vision and propelling his ascent toward the mayor’s office.
As much as anyone on his staff, Ms. McCray has built and guided her husband’s campaign, thoroughly erasing the line between spouse and strategist.
<snip>
Much More: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/nyregion/once-alienated-and-now-a-force-in-her-husbands-bid-for-mayor.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Once Alienated, and Now a Force in Her Husband’s Bid for Mayor - BYT
Once Alienated, and Now a Force in Her Husband’s Bid for MayorChirlane McCray Plays Key Role in de Blasio Campaign
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
Published: October 1, 2013
Chirlane McCray on Sixth Avenue in Brooklyn, with her husband, Bill de Blasio, before casting her vote on Primary Day.
Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, as a teenager in 1971.
<snip>
She was the seventh-grader too frightened to stand in front of the room because her white classmates would mock her, contorting their mouths to make their lips look big. She was the smoldering teenager who took to writing poems every day to wrestle with her isolation and anger. She was the eldest daughter of one of the only black families in Longmeadow, Mass., who arrived home to see their new house scrawled with racist graffiti.
“I had never had a deep sense of belonging anywhere,” recalled Chirlane McCray, whose husband, Bill de Blasio, is now the front-runner to become the next mayor of New York. “I always felt I was an outsider.”
Now, this onetime student of powerlessness, a woman whose early identity was profoundly shaped by feelings of alienation — because of her race, her gender and her evolving sexuality — is emerging as the ultimate insider: a mastermind behind the biggest political upset of the year and a sought-after voice as the city re-evaluates what it most wants from its first family.
New York has begun to digest the jarring contrasts that Mr. de Blasio, an avowedly activist, tax-the-rich liberal, would provide should he capture City Hall after 12 years of rule by a data-driven billionaire.
Less understood is the role his wife, a 58-year-old poet, has played in molding his political vision and propelling his ascent toward the mayor’s office.
As much as anyone on his staff, Ms. McCray has built and guided her husband’s campaign, thoroughly erasing the line between spouse and strategist.
<snip>
Much More: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/nyregion/once-alienated-and-now-a-force-in-her-husbands-bid-for-mayor.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
October 11, 2013
By Travis Gettys - RawStory
Friday, October 11, 2013 14:32 EDT
<snip>
Some of President Barack Obama’s closest allies sent a nice fruit basket to one of the most prominent faces of the deeply unpopular congressional Republicans.
Americans United For Change announced it had sent the gift to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), whose insistence on tying funding for the Affordable Care Act to funding for the federal government helped lead to the current shutdown.
Recent polls have shown the GOP favorability ratings have plunged to all-time lows for any political party, while Obama’s popularity has risen slightly and support for his signature health care law has grown.
“Dear Ted,” said the card on the fruit and snack basket sent by the group’s president, Brad Woodhouse. “A Texas sized thank you!! Thanks to you, Obamacare is more popular and the GOP is less so. Keep up the Good Work!! Yours, Americans United for Change.”
<snip>
Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/11/democratic-group-sends-lovely-fruit-basket-to-ted-cruz-as-gop-popularity-plummets/
Democratic Group Sends Lovely Fruit Basket To Ted Cruz As GOP Popularity Plummets - RawStory
Democratic group sends lovely fruit basket to Ted Cruz as GOP popularity plummetsBy Travis Gettys - RawStory
Friday, October 11, 2013 14:32 EDT
<snip>
Some of President Barack Obama’s closest allies sent a nice fruit basket to one of the most prominent faces of the deeply unpopular congressional Republicans.
Americans United For Change announced it had sent the gift to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), whose insistence on tying funding for the Affordable Care Act to funding for the federal government helped lead to the current shutdown.
Recent polls have shown the GOP favorability ratings have plunged to all-time lows for any political party, while Obama’s popularity has risen slightly and support for his signature health care law has grown.
“Dear Ted,” said the card on the fruit and snack basket sent by the group’s president, Brad Woodhouse. “A Texas sized thank you!! Thanks to you, Obamacare is more popular and the GOP is less so. Keep up the Good Work!! Yours, Americans United for Change.”
<snip>
Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/11/democratic-group-sends-lovely-fruit-basket-to-ted-cruz-as-gop-popularity-plummets/
October 11, 2013
By Jake Bernstein, ProPublica/RawStory
Thursday, October 10, 2013 15:25 EDT
<snip>
In the spring of 2012, a senior examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York determined that Goldman Sachs had a problem.
Under a Fed mandate, the investment banking behemoth was expected to have a company-wide policy to address conflicts of interest in how its phalanxes of dealmakers handled clients. Although Goldman had a patchwork of policies, the examiner concluded that they fell short of the Fed’s requirements.
That finding by the examiner, Carmen Segarra, potentially had serious implications for Goldman, which was already under fire for advising clients on both sides of several multibillion-dollar deals and allegedly putting the bank’s own interests above those of its customers. It could have led to closer scrutiny of Goldman by regulators or changes to its business practices.
Before she could formalize her findings, Segarra said, the senior New York Fed official who oversees Goldman pressured her to change them. When she refused, Segarra said she was called to a meeting where her bosses told her they no longer trusted her judgment. Her phone was confiscated, and security officers marched her out of the Fed’s fortress-like building in lower Manhattan, just 7 months after being hired.
“They wanted me to falsify my findings,” Segarra said in a recent interview, “and when I wouldn’t, they fired me.”
Today, Segarra filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the New York Fed in federal court in Manhattan seeking reinstatement and damages. The case provides a detailed look at a key aspect of the post-2008 financial reforms: The work of Fed bank examiners sent to scrutinize the nation’s “Too Big to Fail” institutions.
In hours of interviews with ProPublica...
<snip>
More: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/10/new-york-fed-fired-examiner-for-refusing-to-go-soft-on-goldman-sachs-report/
New York Fed Fired Examiner Who Refused To Go Soft On Goldman Sachs: Report - ProPublica/RawStory
New York Fed fired examiner who refused to go soft on Goldman Sachs: reportBy Jake Bernstein, ProPublica/RawStory
Thursday, October 10, 2013 15:25 EDT
<snip>
In the spring of 2012, a senior examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York determined that Goldman Sachs had a problem.
Under a Fed mandate, the investment banking behemoth was expected to have a company-wide policy to address conflicts of interest in how its phalanxes of dealmakers handled clients. Although Goldman had a patchwork of policies, the examiner concluded that they fell short of the Fed’s requirements.
That finding by the examiner, Carmen Segarra, potentially had serious implications for Goldman, which was already under fire for advising clients on both sides of several multibillion-dollar deals and allegedly putting the bank’s own interests above those of its customers. It could have led to closer scrutiny of Goldman by regulators or changes to its business practices.
Before she could formalize her findings, Segarra said, the senior New York Fed official who oversees Goldman pressured her to change them. When she refused, Segarra said she was called to a meeting where her bosses told her they no longer trusted her judgment. Her phone was confiscated, and security officers marched her out of the Fed’s fortress-like building in lower Manhattan, just 7 months after being hired.
“They wanted me to falsify my findings,” Segarra said in a recent interview, “and when I wouldn’t, they fired me.”
Today, Segarra filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the New York Fed in federal court in Manhattan seeking reinstatement and damages. The case provides a detailed look at a key aspect of the post-2008 financial reforms: The work of Fed bank examiners sent to scrutinize the nation’s “Too Big to Fail” institutions.
In hours of interviews with ProPublica...
<snip>
More: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/10/new-york-fed-fired-examiner-for-refusing-to-go-soft-on-goldman-sachs-report/
October 11, 2013
It was a historic Thursday: The GOP finally and fully succumbed to its cultural rage. Michael Tomasky on a tumultuous day in Washington’s shutdown drama.
by Michael Tomasky
Oct 11, 2013 5:45 AM EDT
<snip>
It was a head-spinning day in Washington, yesterday was, as the story seemed to change from hour to hour in terms of who was proposing or accepting or refusing what and who seemed up and who seemed down. But through it all, one constant did not change and doesn’t seem likely to change: The Republicans are wrecking themselves.
Indeed, historically so. This is one of those turning points in American political history, the kind you’ll tell your grandkids you were around to see: a once-respectable party that finally was eaten alive by the cultural rage it had so long used to its advantage but held in check in order to win elections. It was a long time coming and it’s a grand thing to watch, provided they don’t wreck the country along with themselves.
First, a quick recap...
...
...
...
And so, through a combination of a critical mass of anti-thought people in their caucus who won’t govern at all if it means seeing Obama come out OK, and a “leader” who can now plainly be called the weakest speaker since America became a country of consequence, the Republican Party has finally and fully succumbed to its cultural rage. It has used that rage mostly effectively for nigh on 50 years now, since Barry Goldwater. That rage has served it well on balance. It helped elect Nixon. It certainly helped elect Reagan, and even though it could be argued that once in office Reagan didn’t do that much to stoke it, he understood that he needed it to win, which is why he opened his 1980 campaign down in Mississippi, to say to his America that it was all right to resent black people, he understood you.
The rage kept the base galvanized. It kept the enemy, or enemies—liberal and the media, often one and the same—in the gun sights. But it could also be controlled, the way Reagan controlled it. And even Dubya controlled it. The rich didn’t really share the rage, or most of them. Even the Koch Brothers probably don’t, what with all the froufrou artsy-fartsy outfits up in New York they help sustain.
But all of them have used it. And they have tolerated it, the casual racism, the hatred of gay people, and the rest. They tolerated it because the booboisie voted the right way, and because they, the elites, remained in charge. Well, they’re not in charge now. The snarling dog they kept in a pen for decades has just escaped and bitten their hand off.
The Republicans still might pull it back together. They were also at a historic low after Nixon resigned. They won three of the next four elections. But that was just one man’s megalomania. This is the psychosis of one-quarter of the nation. That quarter is now leading the elites around by the nose. And the Red Sea just might swallow them all. It’s certainly what they deserve.
<snip>
Link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/11/the-day-the-mad-dogs-took-over-the-republican-party.html
Man... I Thought People Here Would Enjoy The GOP Getting Their Asses Kicked ???
The Day the Mad Dogs Took Over the Republican PartyIt was a historic Thursday: The GOP finally and fully succumbed to its cultural rage. Michael Tomasky on a tumultuous day in Washington’s shutdown drama.
by Michael Tomasky
Oct 11, 2013 5:45 AM EDT
<snip>
It was a head-spinning day in Washington, yesterday was, as the story seemed to change from hour to hour in terms of who was proposing or accepting or refusing what and who seemed up and who seemed down. But through it all, one constant did not change and doesn’t seem likely to change: The Republicans are wrecking themselves.
Indeed, historically so. This is one of those turning points in American political history, the kind you’ll tell your grandkids you were around to see: a once-respectable party that finally was eaten alive by the cultural rage it had so long used to its advantage but held in check in order to win elections. It was a long time coming and it’s a grand thing to watch, provided they don’t wreck the country along with themselves.
First, a quick recap...
...
...
...
And so, through a combination of a critical mass of anti-thought people in their caucus who won’t govern at all if it means seeing Obama come out OK, and a “leader” who can now plainly be called the weakest speaker since America became a country of consequence, the Republican Party has finally and fully succumbed to its cultural rage. It has used that rage mostly effectively for nigh on 50 years now, since Barry Goldwater. That rage has served it well on balance. It helped elect Nixon. It certainly helped elect Reagan, and even though it could be argued that once in office Reagan didn’t do that much to stoke it, he understood that he needed it to win, which is why he opened his 1980 campaign down in Mississippi, to say to his America that it was all right to resent black people, he understood you.
The rage kept the base galvanized. It kept the enemy, or enemies—liberal and the media, often one and the same—in the gun sights. But it could also be controlled, the way Reagan controlled it. And even Dubya controlled it. The rich didn’t really share the rage, or most of them. Even the Koch Brothers probably don’t, what with all the froufrou artsy-fartsy outfits up in New York they help sustain.
But all of them have used it. And they have tolerated it, the casual racism, the hatred of gay people, and the rest. They tolerated it because the booboisie voted the right way, and because they, the elites, remained in charge. Well, they’re not in charge now. The snarling dog they kept in a pen for decades has just escaped and bitten their hand off.
The Republicans still might pull it back together. They were also at a historic low after Nixon resigned. They won three of the next four elections. But that was just one man’s megalomania. This is the psychosis of one-quarter of the nation. That quarter is now leading the elites around by the nose. And the Red Sea just might swallow them all. It’s certainly what they deserve.
<snip>
Link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/11/the-day-the-mad-dogs-took-over-the-republican-party.html
October 10, 2013
Eric Lipton, Nicholas Confessore and Nelson D. Schwartz =- NYT/MSNBC
10/10/13
<snip>
As the government shutdown grinds toward a potential debt default, some of the country’s most influential business executives have come to a conclusion all but unthinkable a few years ago: Their voices are carrying little weight with the House majority that their millions of dollars in campaign contributions helped build and sustain.
Their frustration has grown so intense in recent days that several trade association officials warned in interviews on Wednesday that they were considering helping wage primary campaigns against Republican lawmakers who had worked to engineer the political standoff in Washington.
Such an effort would thrust Washington’s traditionally cautious and pragmatic business lobby into open warfare with the Tea Party faction, which has grown in influence since the 2010 election and won a series of skirmishes with the Republican establishment in the last two years.
“We are looking at ways to counter the rise of an ideological brand of conservatism that, for lack of a better word, is more anti-establishment than it has been in the past,” said David French, the top lobbyist at the National Retail Federation. “We have come to the conclusion that sitting on the sidelines is not good enough.”
Some warned that a default could spur a shift in the relationship between the corporate world and the Republican Party. Long intertwined by mutual self-interest on deregulation and lower taxes, the business lobby and Republicans are diverging not only over the fiscal crisis, but on other major issues like immigration reform...
<snip>
More: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/big-business-sees-loss-influence-over-house-gop-8C11367077
Big Business Sees Loss Of Influence Over House GOP - NYT/MSNBC
Big Business sees loss of influence over House GOPEric Lipton, Nicholas Confessore and Nelson D. Schwartz =- NYT/MSNBC
10/10/13
<snip>
As the government shutdown grinds toward a potential debt default, some of the country’s most influential business executives have come to a conclusion all but unthinkable a few years ago: Their voices are carrying little weight with the House majority that their millions of dollars in campaign contributions helped build and sustain.
Their frustration has grown so intense in recent days that several trade association officials warned in interviews on Wednesday that they were considering helping wage primary campaigns against Republican lawmakers who had worked to engineer the political standoff in Washington.
Such an effort would thrust Washington’s traditionally cautious and pragmatic business lobby into open warfare with the Tea Party faction, which has grown in influence since the 2010 election and won a series of skirmishes with the Republican establishment in the last two years.
“We are looking at ways to counter the rise of an ideological brand of conservatism that, for lack of a better word, is more anti-establishment than it has been in the past,” said David French, the top lobbyist at the National Retail Federation. “We have come to the conclusion that sitting on the sidelines is not good enough.”
Some warned that a default could spur a shift in the relationship between the corporate world and the Republican Party. Long intertwined by mutual self-interest on deregulation and lower taxes, the business lobby and Republicans are diverging not only over the fiscal crisis, but on other major issues like immigration reform...
<snip>
More: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/big-business-sees-loss-influence-over-house-gop-8C11367077
October 10, 2013
E.J. Dionne Jr. - WaPo
Published: October 9, 2013
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-obama-cant-cave-in-the-face-of-gop-extremism/2013/10/09/3760cd86-3103-11e3-9c68-1cf643210300_story.html
Obama Can’t Cave, Even A Little, In The Face Of GOP Extremism - E.J. Dionne Jr./WaPo
Obama can’t cave, even a little, in the face of GOP extremismE.J. Dionne Jr. - WaPo
Published: October 9, 2013
...
...
...
And what’s going on is heartbreaking because this contrived emergency is distracting us from the problems we do need to solve, including rising inequality, declining mobility, under-investment in our infrastructure, a broken immigration system and inadequate approaches to educating and training our people.
Obama has finally decided he’s had enough of a politics based on “extortion” and “threats.” He has signaled that he is happy to negotiate, just not under a gun held by the most irresponsible elements of the GOP. He is exhausted, and rightly so, by the fecklessness of Boehner, who told Democrats early on that he would not shut the government down and then crumpled before a revolt by a corporal’s guard of 40 to 80 members of a 435-member House.
Now it is said by people who see themselves as realists that, because he is dealing with irrational foes, Obama has to be the “adult in the room.” The definition of “adult” in this case is that he must cave a little because the other side is so bonkers that it just might upend the economy.
Giving in is exactly what Obama cannot do. The president offered Boehner a face-saving way out on Tuesday, suggesting that he’d be happy to engage in broad budget talks if the government reopened and there was at least a short-term increase in the debt limit. To go any further would be to prove to the far right that its extra-constitutional extremism will pay dividends every time.
What’s required from the outside forces who want this mess to go away is unrelenting pressure on Boehner and the supposedly more reasonable Republicans who say they want to open the government and pay our debts. Up to now these Republicans have been the enablers of the tea party faction. They’re the ones who must become the “adults in the room,” because they’re the ones who allowed all this to happen.
The tea party folks at least know what they believe in and fight for it. The rest of the Republican Party cowers before them, lacking both conviction and courage. This, too, would be heartbreaking: if a once-great political party brought the country down because its leaders were so afraid of confronting unreason in their ranks.
...
...
And what’s going on is heartbreaking because this contrived emergency is distracting us from the problems we do need to solve, including rising inequality, declining mobility, under-investment in our infrastructure, a broken immigration system and inadequate approaches to educating and training our people.
Obama has finally decided he’s had enough of a politics based on “extortion” and “threats.” He has signaled that he is happy to negotiate, just not under a gun held by the most irresponsible elements of the GOP. He is exhausted, and rightly so, by the fecklessness of Boehner, who told Democrats early on that he would not shut the government down and then crumpled before a revolt by a corporal’s guard of 40 to 80 members of a 435-member House.
Now it is said by people who see themselves as realists that, because he is dealing with irrational foes, Obama has to be the “adult in the room.” The definition of “adult” in this case is that he must cave a little because the other side is so bonkers that it just might upend the economy.
Giving in is exactly what Obama cannot do. The president offered Boehner a face-saving way out on Tuesday, suggesting that he’d be happy to engage in broad budget talks if the government reopened and there was at least a short-term increase in the debt limit. To go any further would be to prove to the far right that its extra-constitutional extremism will pay dividends every time.
What’s required from the outside forces who want this mess to go away is unrelenting pressure on Boehner and the supposedly more reasonable Republicans who say they want to open the government and pay our debts. Up to now these Republicans have been the enablers of the tea party faction. They’re the ones who must become the “adults in the room,” because they’re the ones who allowed all this to happen.
The tea party folks at least know what they believe in and fight for it. The rest of the Republican Party cowers before them, lacking both conviction and courage. This, too, would be heartbreaking: if a once-great political party brought the country down because its leaders were so afraid of confronting unreason in their ranks.
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-obama-cant-cave-in-the-face-of-gop-extremism/2013/10/09/3760cd86-3103-11e3-9c68-1cf643210300_story.html
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