Republicans HATE Women AND The Post Office: What Can Be MORE UnAmerican?

The outrages keep piling up, don't they. When we can't distinguish Rachel's reporting of the latest Republican outrage from the Cialis commercial, you know, the part where the horny couple smilingly tells us all the ways the little blue (?) pill KILLS dudes who can't get it up, then it's time for Uncle Mike's "have I said yet this hour how much I HATE these Republicans?" to kick in — for us to maintain our sanity. Here's Rachel cheerily reporting how ante-dilluvian Republicans want to remove fluoridation from our water supply, restrict our most sacred franchise, the right to vote, and effectively KILL women by denying them life-saving health services. This Republican HATRED for women, this open-ended misogyny, is virtually ignored or written off as a mild symbolic act of Republicans just being Republicans (hahaha) and it's no biggie because the Senate will never pass it. Andrea Mitchell, WHERE'S YOUR OUTRAGE?! The Beltway Media is so beneath contempt, it's effectively under the radar.

As if that weren't enough, the Republican Party inserted a poison pill back in 2006, in the Lame Duck session of Congress, before Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats took over, to KILL the U.S. Postal Service, privatizing it to swell the for-profit coffers of FedEx and UPS. And for you Constitution-loving Teabaggers, the Post Office is enshrined in and predates the Constitution, and Founding Father Ben Franklin was its first Postmaster-General. More to the point, the heavily Republican "Dogpatch" Tea Party rural enclaves, where Democrats are called "socialist" devils, prepare to be ROYALLY SCREWED by the Republicans, not only with higher costs (how many of you can afford UPS or FedEx?) but with the salient fact that, while the Post Office, which doesn't take a nickel from the taxpayers, is required by statute to service the smallest of backwaters, FULLY A QUARTER — 25% — OF RIGHTWINGVILLE IS NOT SERVICED BY FEDEX AND UPS.

FUCKING MORONS. SEE HOW MUCH YOU LOVE YOUR TEABAG ANTI-GOVERNMENT EXTREMISTS IN CONGRESS WHEN YOUR POST OFFICE IS CLOSED AND 120,000 POSTAL WORKERS ARE THROWN OUT OF A JOB, AND YOU HAVE TO DRIVE 90 MILES FOR POSTAL SERVICE AT A HIGHER COST!

Senior Statesman of The Protest Movements Decodes OWS

Keith Olbermann who has been on the vanguard of the Occupy Wall Street media coverage, not coincidentally the political story of the year (although you wouldn't know it watching the bloviators of the Idiot Punditocracy), elicited the wisdom and cutting edge analysis of the iconic Tom Hayden, one of the leading figures of the protest movement — writ large — of the Sixties. Indeed, one Tom Hayden segment is worth a thousand overwrought sputterings of the Beltway Media. Consider the various scenarios laid out by Hayden — in particular the suggestion that if 10 or 20 thousand protesters were arrested in a peaceful civil disobedience action, they could effectively grind the system to a halt simply by demanding individual jury trials of their peers. (Do you suppose Mayor Bloomberg was listening in when he backed down from a park eviction confrontation this morning?) Or the advice he has for President Obama, which seems to have eluded the White House politicos: End the wars — one trillion saved; end the Bush tax cuts — another trillion; a "special adviser" on Wall Street is good — how about a special prosecutor; and "laying down the gauntlet" which is another way of demanding from this President bold, decisive action on the domestic front, his carpe diem moment of which Ron Suskind (as I was saying, not having read the book) noted on Rachel, there are intimations, as yet unfettered.

The President and the Democrats need to step up to the plate. The people demand it. Comically, OWS has the Idiot Punditocracy and many Democratic politicians in knots because they don't have a neat little list of demands. Take a look around, imbeciles. What do you see? A ravaged middle class, bailed-out criminals on Wall Street giving themselves extravagant bonuses with our money and using it to purchase Congress while throwing millions from their homes and trampling on the "American Dream" for the rest of us. What's the PREGNANT question hovering above the OWS movement? Here's a hint, MORONS: "Where's the accountability, where's the justice?" And for the President to say in his presser, a question that went largely unreported by the Idiot Punditocracy, that "no laws were broken" just isn't good enough. We're still waiting on Eric Holder to show the same dedication he has chasing down terrorist plots from Iran to chase down the criminals on Wall Street. And don't give us insider trading convictions; that's tinkering around the edges. Don't ask us to applaud the SEC for once doing its fucking job! We're still waiting on our government to start taking concrete actions on behalf of the American people to right the wrongs that engendered the OWS movement. Otherwise the Ayatollah's claim, that the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in a D.C. restaurant is a ruse to divert attention from OWS, might even gain traction.

A Rational Person's Reaction As Rachel Reports One Pernicious Republican Outrage After Another

3 - 2 - 1 — GO MIKE!

[Insert latest Republican outrage here.]

READ ALL ABOUT IT! INSIDE "OCCUPY WALL STREET" ... O.M.G!

Here's an OCCUPIED Wall Street Journal I can support — and these talented kids cranked this knockoff out in no time flat; eat your heart out, Rupert Murdoch.

SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK 'N ROLL! Sadly, NO ... ASSHOLES Ron Christie and Sean Hannity are spouting misinformation on MSNBC & FOX ... AGAIN! And I was so looking forward to a good ol' fashioned Bacchanal-in-the-Park ... ah, well.

Pay attention, Teabaggers ... Here's how a REAL GRASSROOTS demonstration takes flight. While you're wasting energy adjusting your fat asses on your lounge chairs and drinking beer off the cooler within walking distance of billionaire Koch-Bros funded buses and fattening fast food treats, these kids have a newspaper, a media center, a canteen, clean hand-me-down clothes for overnighters, and really creative NON-RACIST signs and posters ... Hmm. If banks/corporations are "people" what's their race and ethnic heritage?

Hat tip to Telemann in NYC for on-the-scene coverage.

NEFARIOUS IRAN PLOT: Hey, Isn't This "OCTOBER SURPRISE" One Year Too Soon?

Just saying. Hmm ... Democrats and their exquisite sense of political timing. Ah, never mind.

191 Second FLAT Post-GOP Debate Analysis: Perry Makes His Case ... In Song!

For the GOP Dogpatch crowd, aka ... the TEA PARTY! With a little help from ... Newt?

What A REAL Democrat Sounds Like, And What The 60s Can Teach Us About Occupy Wall Street

Watching this AWESOME partisan takedown, I can't help but wonder what happened to today's Democrats, from the top down? Can you imagine how JFK would have reacted to today's obstructionist right wing Republicans and what he'd say about the CIRCUS spectacle witnessed last night in the Republican debate? It might go something like this:

And can you imagine President Kennedy EVER behaving as Mr. Obama has for the past two years toward these Republicans in Congress? They blame the President, unfairly, for the plight of the economy now, as we teeter on the edge of a double-dip recession, and desperately need another boost of Keynesian stimulus to the economy, a lá FDR's Works Project Administration. But no. The plutocrats and corporations are in charge. And they just LOVE using this country as a host for the Chinese infection.

Yet it was the President's passivity in the face of what many economists warned were half-measures on stimulus, and his terrible choice of an economic team, rewarding an arrogant sexist like Larry Summers and a Wall Street lapdog like Tim Geithner with the highest, most influential positions, while the guys who were REALLY right — Austan Goolsbee and Jared Bernstein — were benched, with no power even of the persuasive variety to influence policy, that has us in our current fix. The fix wasn't nearly big enough to fix the economy. History will show us, but it's clear already. And that's entirely on President Obama.

David Halberstam's seminal book The Best And the Brightest, chronicles the Kennedy-Johnson administrations' inexorable slide to war in Vietnam, a tragedy for which this nation paid with 58,000 American lives and which, in a way, opened the door to the right's power grab. Halberstam once described how one man within Johnson's inner circle tried unsuccessfully to pull us back:

"George Ball was the number two man in the State Department in the Johnson years. He had been a lawyer in France during the first part of the Indo-China War when the French were fighting the Vietnamese and losing. And it made him very wary of American intervention there and as such, he made a strong case against sending combat troops. It was a lonely business; he believed that Johnson was listening to him and taking him seriously but in the end, the forces for escalation were too strong."

We hope President Obama may be more successful winding down our devastating involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ironically, though, while the President is intent on not repeating the errors of Vietnam, it is on the domestic front, the don't rock the boat or upset Wall Street economic de-escalators on the President's team who are most responsible for our current economic downward drift. Goolsbee and Bernstein played George Ball's role in this administration, with the same result. They were unsuccessful in moving policy toward stronger economic stimulus — the imperious Larry Summers ignored them, and worse, female economic advisers were to be seen and not heard.

The President, it seems, set aside the political instincts that served him so well during the 2008 campaign while comfortably ensconced in his fraternity of Harvard pals. Summers shut down all dissenting views and sneered at critics like Paul Krugman. (To be sure, a Nobel Prize for economics isn't in Summers' future.)

President Obama's handling (or mishandling) of the economy is analogous to Johnson's tin ear on Vietnam, surrounded by a coterie of Ivy League hawks with one sole outlier, George Ball. Jared Bernstein and Austan Goolsbee were the George Balls of the Obama administration, but with less influence. And they're gone now; defeated by the toxic climate in Washington, or the fact that Summers crapped all over the joint and waltzed right out of there leaving them to clean up the mess. Geithner remains. But he's like the President's little brother. Obama likes him, protects him — they're the same age — empathizes with the searing criticism Geithner takes from all sides. It's as if Geithner's the economic lightning rod that validates the President's economic policy (in his own mind), the old adage that if both sides are criticizing you, then you must be doing something right.

The President has often put it in these terms to justify his conciliatory approach as the correct one toward a nest of Republican vipers  — encouraged by the Idiot Punditocracy, who can hardly wait for the chaos of a Republican in the White House. (If you look hard enough, you can actually see Chuckles Toddy salivating.) Mr. Obama is working hard to mend fences with progressives, years too late, and pushed back by multiple self-inflicted penalties to the one-yard line. He has frustrated and infuriated his liberal base (don't believe the polls, people are more complicated than that), who said all along he should fight back — like Kennedy. We were right, of course, and now he faces a long, hard drive to score his re-election.

Obviously, and truthfully, President Obama is no economist (which should have set off political warning bells in his mind like, e.g., "am I being rolled?") but he was comfortable in his Harvard fraternity of conservative economists — who had pushed for the very deregulatory policies that got us in this mess — just as Kennedy was when he assembled his own team around Dean Rusk and Robert McNamara, whose belated mea culpa over Vietnam was a singularly pathetic near-deathbed confession. But we never got to know whether Kennedy would pursue the same destructive escalation in Vietnam. There were tantalizing clues that he would have gotten us out of Vietnam.

For once, the Idiot Punditocracy is correct in its assessment that the state of the economy will determine whether President Obama is re-elected. Isn't it a bit premature for the President to claim no laws were broken by the Wall Street criminals (in the legal sense of the word) who brought this economy down? Maybe he was too busy to read Matt Taibbi's articles. The President should really get out of his "bubble" more often.

Chris Matthews hosted a couple of 60s revivalist segments on Hardball earlier this week, no doubt inspired by the sight of thousands of 21st century hippies on the streets of our nation, peacefully demonstrating against corporate greed, income inequality, and a host of other injustices. Very much like the 60s demonstrations. Chris could have booked any number of objective Republicans (like his buddy Ed Rollins, for instance) but instead, quite deliberately I think, he gave free rein to GOP attack dog Ron Christie to launch into a stream of 60s-like establishment slurs against the peaceful, diverse, middle class Occupy Wall Street demonstrators:

I guess my first emotional response is, I feel your pain. I understand where you're coming from, but GO GET A JOB.

I think when you find a lot of people who are coming to New York City, college Students who are out having sex on the lawn, people who admit that they`re there just to be part of a good time, people who are taking drugs, people who are breaking the law, yes, I think they need to go get a job.

MATTHEWS: You first, Ron. You smelled the crowd, you saw them. You know what we're talking about visually, right?

CHRISTIE: Yes, I do. And it's just a disgrace. I think people have the obligation, if they're upset with the government, they have the lawful petition right to say, hey, this isn't right. But they don't have a right to urinate on the lawn. They don't have —

MATTHEWS: Yes, but they're not mad at the government, they're mad at Wall Street. They seem like they're mad at the business people.

CHRISTIE: Well, their anger is misplaced. But if they actually really want to be angry at somebody, I would suggest their elected officials in Washington, D.C. who can't get it done. I'd be angry at this administration —

MATTHEWS: You know, Ron, there's really a historic precedent for this. I mean, going back to the beginning of our republic, people from the West have mistrusted the big New York bankers, I mean, as Andy Jackson stuff. This isn't un-American, is it? But how do you put it in our history? The stuff in New York right now?

CHRISTIE: I don't think it's un-American. I think, frankly, of our history, this looks a lot to me like 1968 -- a lot of people coming out against the Vietnam War, a lot of people protesting. The difference here, though, when you look at Eric Cantor's use of the word "mob," Chris, I looked it up on Webster's before I came on tonight. A mob, according to Webster's, is a large and disorderly crowd. What you have in New York City is a large group. Some of these folks have been disorderly. By definition, that's a mob. You didn't see the same sort of activity with the Tea Party. [Huh?! Whaaa ...? Excuse me?!]

And this allegation that Nancy Pelosi just had me that had me so angry, I was at that Tea Party rally when she said that members of Congress were spat upon. I was standing right there, I saw these members of Congress, who are the members of the Black Congressional Caucus, I didn't see a thing. [Right. HEAR no, SEE no ... but speak plenty of EVIL on Hardball.]

So, if she's got some proof, I'd like to see it. But denigrating the Tea Party, who have been largely peaceful in their demonstrations, is nowhere near analogous to what we're seeing in New York. [Huh?! Whaaa ...? Excuse me?! Are we going to relitigate what we've all seen on tape, despite Andrew Breitbart's attempts to whitewash it?]

MATTHEWS: OK. You may be right, [No, Chris. You brought this asshole on to insult tens of thousands of your viewers, with impunity. It's your responsibility to set the record straight.] but you're wrong about the 60s. I loved them, they were fabulous. And I love -- I didn't like the assassinations, obviously. But the other part of the '68 experience was incredible. [To quote Christie, "if you've got some proof, I'd like to see it." I think the 60s you're talking about — Summer of Love in San Francisco, 67 — is all in your head, pal.]

Then the next evening Chris tried to make amends for his reactionary verbal bacchanalia with Ron Christie by hosting Ron Reagan, a really lovely guy, to speak some more of the OWS demonstrations. But not before injecting his bias with this inflammatory tease:

"Can the Democrats embrace the Occupy Wall Street protesters? Should they? If they jump in, as one person pointed out, what happens if the protesters start throwing garbage cans through the windows, or worse?"

What's really creepy about comments like these, coming from Beltway luminaries like Chris, is that it shows just how brainwashed they are by the right wing hysteria over the OWS demonstrations. I'm convinced Chris internalizes this shit from Bill O'Reilly and other wingnut propaganda sources, and then spouts them on his show, on a supposedly "liberal" network. It's just one more example in hundreds, daily, of how much the Beltway Media is in the thrall of Fox right wing propaganda.

FYI, Chris, while the demonstrations have been orderly and peaceful, right wing provocateurs have infiltrated them to cause disruption and then blame the chaos on OWS. The same pattern occurred in Wisconsin, and everywhere people have gathered to rage against the corporate right wing machine that is destroying their lives. Keith has covered this, and Rachel too, showing Breitbart protegé James O'Keefe walking the crowds looking to promote trouble for his heavily edited video hit jobs. Hardball? Crickets. That is, until a wingnut provocateur creates an incident, in which case Chris will go hysterical. After whimsically declaring his faux flower child bona fides, Chris goes Archie Bunker ... and good on Ron for replying in kind:

MATTHEWS: Ron, what are your impulses when you watch those people up in New York. I mean, we have gotten different pictures of them. Do you feel for them? Do you think — do you wish like, in the summer of 67, we all felt we were all out in San Francisco? Is this something you wish you were a part of? Do you sense there's a downside for the Dems if this stuff gets more rowdy, if you will, rougher up there and other places besides New York?

REAGAN: Well, yes. Imagine — imagine what would happen if people at these Occupy Wall Street groups should start showing up with assault-style weapons and talking about Second Amendment solutions. Yes, then I`m sure the roof would come off, wouldn't it?

I thought Chris was a guard, or something, during the 60s. To be fair, he did the Peace Corps too, which is a great thing. But as far as Chris's political "evolution" (watch out for people whose views "evolve" or who switch horses in mainstream, well into their adult lives) to the "40-yard line" or whatever, well, that's anyone's guess. Here's how I see Chris in the 60s, face-to-face with Bobby Kennedy. Chris plays the part of the sheriff:

When Chris, the Zeitgeist sponge, said "... nor do I want political flourishes — gestures that give joy to the left or the right"... perhaps he was referring to Congressman Alan Grayson's takedown of his  buddy, P.J. O'Rourke. Well, you know, Chris — when you host a ratbastard like Ron Christie, who comes on your show to insult the 24 million Americans who can't find a fulltime job and who now swell the throngs of the OWS demonstrations, the minute you cut Christie his "political analyst" check, in effect doubling down on the insult, that's something for which you and MSNBC ought to be ashamed.

It's Because You "Aim So High" That We LOVE You, Rachel

And also because Glenn Beck seems to bring out the totally adorable in you. Watch this segment, folks, and I challenge you not to go "YES!" with a fist pump and your own celebratory end zone dance. Because, you know, I've never found wingnut comedians like P.J. O'Rourke very funny. Their brand of "comedy" relies on a meanness which makes light of the struggles of the least fortunate and most vulnerable among us which is really ugly. Not funny, pal. Just plain ugly. Watch the takedown. It's awesome and it got a standing O from the audience and a "TOUCHDOWN!" sign from Bill Maher, which was SUPER COOL. Watch; this is just great:

Chris Matthews Remedial Ed: Get Some Better Guests, Willya ...

Chris:

(a) It's Demo-CRATIC National Committee, NOT Demo-CRAT — shame on you;

(b) If you're going to bring on a WINGNUT shark, LIAR, SOPHIST, like Ron Christie to smear the OWS demonstrators while you stand by like a dolt, at least match him up with a WORTHY opponent. Steve Kornacki?! Gimme a fucking break. You know, Joan Walsh is from Salon too; top-level, for a reason. Plus, she ALWAYS gets the best of Christie and totally UNHINGES him. She speaks well for progressives, has one of the best BULLSHIT radars around, and ALWAYS sets the record straight. Look at it this way: At least it makes for good TV.

What, now you have wingnuts booking your guests, too? That was a shameful segment worthy of Fox, but not Hardball standards, such as they are (which seem to be slip-slidin' away.):

Notes From The Fringe: Krugman, Fat Cats, Hitler, et al ...

The other day I stopped by my bank and while doing my banking asked my friendly banker whether they would raise fees for the "privilege" of using their money machines. He was evasive, said he didn't "hear" or "know" of anything (which usually means the opposite in such situations), then said "blame the government" for Bank of America charging five bucks a pop at the ATM machine. Thankfully, I'm not a BofA customer but once something sets me off in the realm of politics and its offspring, Fairness and Justice, it's hard to shut off the spigot.

So I checked my politics at the door, talked nice weather with my nice banker and took my leave. It never ceases to amaze me how liberals manage to exist, happily, in a state like Oklahoma. I couldn't do it. I have a hard time as it is living in a Blue state.

I remember going off on a political dissertation with my insurance agent, a single mom who should by rights be a Democratic voter but all she kept bringing up was anecdotal hearsay about poor people gaming the system. Divide and conquer. Our cultural and political conversation is so skewed to right wing nostrums that the truth — just the truth and the facts, ma'am — has an almost impossible time punching through. It takes time to knock down, to debunk, sound bite sophistries repeated as lies with buzz words like "class warfare" and "hard left" — where did Matthews come up with this bullshit? Then it hit me, of course, he watches Bill O'Reilly. Here's Bill-O The Clown browbeating, or rather, bullying the president of the AARP charging, idiotically, that it's a "left wing" organization.

Chris Matthews reminds me of the elder pundit who is revered for having 40 years' "experience" in politics when it seems, as Damon Runyon famously said in another context, it's one bad year's experience forty times over. The Michael "they keep pulling me back in" Corleone of political punditry deserves points at least for trying hard. Even as Bill O'Reilly keeps pulling him back, keeps him stupid. It's not easy being a liberal, a progressive, having history on our side. There is something to be said for ignorant bliss. Although the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression should be able to focus even the dimmest minds ... there are still so many of Lincoln's fools in this country. And they're mostly in the Republican/Tea Party ... and in MSNBC studios.

But at least we've got Paul Krugman on our side. Paul has been on a tear of late, for a political commentator, that is. Here's one more reason why he's the best of the best, in this observer's opinion — on the Wall Street/right wing/Fox propagandists hysteria over the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Isn't it amusing how these ratbastards embrace their gun-toting, racist Teabagger hordes as "patriotic Americans" but when a true grassroots movement of the left (which is really the middle and really progressive) emerges with its clarion call to Occupy Wall Street it's a "mob" that's "pitting American against American" (yeah, Cantor you scumbag, the 1% against the 99ners) and "class warfare" (of the rich plutocrats against the rest of us) and a sinister Democratic conspiracy, according to the Pizzaman, who was fine and dandy sitting at the back of the bus as civil rights history passed him by right under his nose:

What’s going on here? The answer, surely, is that Wall Street’s Masters of the Universe realize, deep down, how morally indefensible their position is. They’re not John Galt; they’re not even Steve Jobs. They’re people who got rich by peddling complex financial schemes that, far from delivering clear benefits to the American people, helped push us into a crisis whose aftereffects continue to blight the lives of tens of millions of their fellow citizens.

Yet they have paid no price. Their institutions were bailed out by taxpayers, with few strings attached. They continue to benefit from explicit and implicit federal guarantees — basically, they’re still in a game of heads they win, tails taxpayers lose. And they benefit from tax loopholes that in many cases have people with multimillion-dollar incomes paying lower rates than middle-class families.

This special treatment can’t bear close scrutiny — and therefore, as they see it, there must be no close scrutiny. Anyone who points out the obvious, no matter how calmly and moderately, must be demonized and driven from the stage. In fact, the more reasonable and moderate a critic sounds, the more urgently he or she must be demonized, hence the frantic sliming of Elizabeth Warren.

So who’s really being un-American here? Not the protesters, who are simply trying to get their voices heard. No, the real extremists here are America’s oligarchs, who want to suppress any criticism of the sources of their wealth.

 Kudos to Chris Hayes for slamming CNN's alpha-bitch Erin Burnett, another idiotic woman who uncovers her ignorance of everything political with a Fox blondie 'tude and lotsa cleavage:

Is it just me, or did the obnoxious libertarian sophist, liar, dissembler, neurotic politico Dylan Ratigan and MSNBC outlier from the CNBC wingnut stable —whose talking heads said the OWS protesters “let their freak flags fly” and are “aligned with Lenin” — dodge a left hook to the jaw from Big Eddie because they were at different locations for color commentary on the President's recent presser? It's too bad, because Ratigan used his MSNBC platform to promote the Tea Party and convince low information voters (can you blame them, given the crap they're fed daily?) to bring to power one of the most right wing reactionary Congresses in history, with all the attendant misery for the 99ners. Now he's trying to glom onto OWS with his hidden agenda, which includes 100,000+ signatures for a constitutional amendment to "get the money out of politics."

That's something all progressives support, in principle, except Ratigan wants to use it as a springboard to a third party, libertarian. Hosting his hero Ron Paul — another reactionary who was the original Tea Party creator/Kock money fundee — Ratigan tried to get him to sign on, musing that it's somehow related to small government. How public funding of campaigns, which progressives fully support, and is the way elections are run in social democratic European countries, amounts to "small government" escapes rationality. It isn't "big government" either; it's good government. But that's just another example of how much the asshole who hisses under his breath about the "lefty agenda" (whatever that means) is secretly committed to his own weird libertarian "agenda." You are what you are, pal. Spell it out instead of trying to make nice with liberals and progressives, whom you obviously loathe.

Remember that football coach who stood on the sidelines and tripped an opposing player as he was streaking down the playing side of the line toward a sure touchdown? That's Ratigan and his brand of destructive politics. Libertarians are sideline court jesters and trippers who acidly criticize those who are trying to move this country forward, but have nothing to show for it, because government is "the enemy." As I've said before, the reason they hate liberals is because we have a great pedigree. We built this country. We established the ground rules which allowed them to prosper. There are enduring monuments to this country — of good, inspired government and brick and mortar too — built in our name that they will never have, except in novels. Or in comedic entertainment, or less talented political agitation, like Ratigan's and Paul's. They hate liberals because we've achieved great things and they haven't. And they know it. Their irrational ideology continues to tread water, so they project. Such are the burdens of arrogant elitists.

Are you ready for some racism!?!!? Not on Monday Night Football anymore, now that ESPN (with a reluctant Fox, I suppose) made its firing of MNF racist intro songster Hank Williams Jr., has-been country third-rater and Tea Party devoteé, permanent. One, two, three (like a typical Teabagger, Williams can't count) you're outta there! Good guy Michael Smerconish is an honest independent who eloquently expresses the view of the great majority of decent Americans:

Proving there are always basement "class" acts in America, this unfortunate talentless dim son will be trying to make hay out of Hitler on The View and maybe, if he's lucky — FOR HIRE: Racists, religious fundamentalists, wingnuts in general - Rick Perry campaign — he lands this new "official" political gig:

Krugman Does Buffalo Springfield — And Hits Nail On The Head

One of the anthems of the 60s demonstrations against the Vietnam War was the Rock classic by Buffalo Springfield, which later morphed into CSN&Y, "For What It's Worth." Many of the Occupy Wall Street protesters hadn't even been born when the song came out, but as with every great piece of music it has an enduring, universal message that is as relevant today as it ever was. Notably, Paul Krugman's column starts off with the song's opening, and he nails the landing. Here's Steven Stills with a kickass solo version of the song.

Confronting the Malefactors
By Paul Krugman

There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear, but we may, at long last, be seeing the rise of a popular movement that, unlike the Tea Party, is angry at the right people.

When the Occupy Wall Street protests began three weeks ago, most news organizations were derisive if they deigned to mention the events at all. For example, nine days into the protests, National Public Radio had provided no coverage whatsoever.

It is, therefore, a testament to the passion of those involved that the protests not only continued but grew, eventually becoming too big to ignore. With unions and a growing number of Democrats now expressing at least qualified support for the protesters, Occupy Wall Street is starting to look like an important event that might even eventually be seen as a turning point.

What can we say about the protests? First things first: The protesters’ indictment of Wall Street as a destructive force, economically and politically, is completely right.

A weary cynicism, a belief that justice will never get served, has taken over much of our political debate — and, yes, I myself have sometimes succumbed. In the process, it has been easy to forget just how outrageous the story of our economic woes really is. So, in case you’ve forgotten, it was a play in three acts.

In the first act, bankers took advantage of deregulation to run wild (and pay themselves princely sums), inflating huge bubbles through reckless lending. In the second act, the bubbles burst — but bankers were bailed out by taxpayers, with remarkably few strings attached, even as ordinary workers continued to suffer the consequences of the bankers’ sins. And, in the third act, bankers showed their gratitude by turning on the people who had saved them, throwing their support — and the wealth they still possessed thanks to the bailouts — behind politicians who promised to keep their taxes low and dismantle the mild regulations erected in the aftermath of the crisis.

Given this history, how can you not applaud the protesters for finally taking a stand?

Now, it’s true that some of the protesters are oddly dressed or have silly-sounding slogans, which is inevitable given the open character of the events. But so what? I, at least, am a lot more offended by the sight of exquisitely tailored plutocrats, who owe their continued wealth to government guarantees, whining that President Obama has said mean things about them than I am by the sight of ragtag young people denouncing consumerism.

Bear in mind, too, that experience has made it painfully clear that men in suits not only don’t have any monopoly on wisdom, they have very little wisdom to offer. When talking heads on, say, CNBC mock the protesters as unserious, remember how many serious people assured us that there was no housing bubble, that Alan Greenspan was an oracle and that budget deficits would send interest rates soaring.

A better critique of the protests is the absence of specific policy demands. It would probably be helpful if protesters could agree on at least a few main policy changes they would like to see enacted. But we shouldn’t make too much of the lack of specifics. It’s clear what kinds of things the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators want, and it’s really the job of policy intellectuals and politicians to fill in the details.

Rich Yeselson, a veteran organizer and historian of social movements, has suggested that debt relief for working Americans become a central plank of the protests. I’ll second that, because such relief, in addition to serving economic justice, could do a lot to help the economy recover. I’d suggest that protesters also demand infrastructure investment — not more tax cuts — to help create jobs. Neither proposal is going to become law in the current political climate, but the whole point of the protests is to change that political climate.

And there are real political opportunities here. Not, of course, for today’s Republicans, who instinctively side with those Theodore Roosevelt-dubbed “malefactors of great wealth.” Mitt Romney, for example — who, by the way, probably pays less of his income in taxes than many middle-class Americans — was quick to condemn the protests as “class warfare.”

But Democrats are being given what amounts to a second chance. The Obama administration squandered a lot of potential good will early on by adopting banker-friendly policies that failed to deliver economic recovery even as bankers repaid the favor by turning on the president. Now, however, Mr. Obama’s party has a chance for a do-over. All it has to do is take these protests as seriously as they deserve to be taken.

And if the protests goad some politicians into doing what they should have been doing all along, Occupy Wall Street will have been a smashing success.

Steve Jobs, Apple Creator And American Genius, Dead at 56

Chris Matthews Remedial Ed: Michael Moore Schools Chris ...

Touted as the "Great Democratic Debate"— should President Obama jaywalk or go "passionate progressive" (code for "HARD LEFT") — Chris Matthews pitted Mark Penn, a contemporary of Bob Schrum's in the can't lose (Hillary) win-loss column and Democratic establishment pol with a rather gross Nixonesque upper-lip sweat (worse in HDTV), versus filmmaker Michael Moore. Viewed as a "passionate progressive" (code for non-politico, non-pragmatic silly idealist who will argue generalities against the pragmatic electoral/electorate analysis of pros like Penn) Moore was supposed to be a relative pushover in this opening segment. Oops ...

Michael began by schooling the Beltway Idiot Punditocracy on key definitional terms, pushing back against their twisted, right-leaning political worldview: "I don't know that I agree with the definition of terms here. Let me say this, President Obama should actually move to the center, because he's not there now. The center of American public opinion right now is the vast majority of Americans want to tax the rich. Every poll shows that. The vast majority of Americans want these wars to end ASAP. The vast majority of Americans want strong environmental laws. And you go down the whole list of things, that's the center position."

Here it is, AGAIN, a nice picture for the slow learners among the Idiot Punditocracy:

Michael Moore continued: "What you're calling the left position is actually the center, middle position — the majority of Americans want this and they don't want Social Security or Medicare touched. Not one single dime of it touched. The more that [President Obama] talks about creating some grand bargain with the Republicans or trying to appease them in some way, that's why he, I think, has suffered in recent times, because he's left where the center of real — where the real political majority is in this country right now and he`s gone over to try and placate this other side. And when he does that, he loses so many people that are either no longer interested in him or they`ll vote for him but they`re depressed about it."

GAME, SET — MATCH to Mr. Moore!

From Chris's perspective, his planned choreography of the wimpy center (actually the center-right) went downhill from there. Chris got snippy when Clarence Page, columnist for the conservative Chicago Tribune, unsettled him by going off-script — Chris's script. Chris (irritably): "I thought you were going to make the moderate argument, the Mark Penn argument, the Eddie Rendell argument, should go down the middle ..."

PAGE: That is the middle.

MATTHEWS (Irritably): Progressives — OK. Here we go with the definitions.

WALSH: That is the middle.

MATTHEWS (Über-irritably): We can play this game all night.

WALSH: I know.

MATTHEWS: If the progressive side was such a popular side in this country, why do they have to keep changing their title, their name? If liberalism sold, we'd still be calling it liberalism. This country has a built-in resentment against big government.

PAGE: That's not the real America, Chris. That's not the real America part about populist, liberal, conservative. People of real America care about the issues; rebuilding roads and bridges. Whether you're left, rightor middle or whatever, it doesn't matter. They want to see the jobs. They want to see the work being done. They want to see Obama out there fighting for their side. They want to feel like he is an ally, and not too aloof.

Then Chris gets downright snippy and confrontational when his guests go off-script, and lets us in on, maybe this wasn't supposed to be an open, free-wheeling discussion after all:

MATTHEWS: I thought Clarence was going to go on tonight — and that's what I thought you said you were going to do (Oops ...) — and back the Bill Clinton approach, not the populist approach. I'm going back to Clarence. What is your position, sir?

WALSH: No, but you know what?

MATTHEWS: I need to know. You first. (Condescendingly) I know where — I know where you are, Joan. Where are you, Clarence?

WALSH: So compromise with Boehner. Forget about it. The other thing I want to say —

MATTHEWS: (Inaudible; blowing Joan away). I got to divide the time. I'm sorry. Clarence, should he be seen trying to make friends with Republicans across the aisle, having beer lunches and all that other crap? Or should he be going to war with the right?

PAGE: He should be seen — he should be seen as getting something done or trying to get something done. And if he fails, at least he'll be able to say he fought hard.

MATTHEWS: OK, there we got your position, trying to cut a deal with Republicans.

END SEGMENT.

Um, Chris ... FYI, it may be your show but the audience isn't stupid and neither are your guests. You lost it here trying to fit a square peg into a round hole to push your bankrupt Beltway Media political fallacies. You present us (and your guests) with a false choice, go to "war" with the right or "make friends with Republicans across the aisle." Huh? That's yesterday's news, pal. The ONLY thing on the table now is the President's jobs bill, which he is pushing hard with support from a phalanx of progressives while it's your remaining so-called MOR Blue Dogs who are balking. What Clarence is saying, CLEARLY, is the President should get his jobs bill done, and if he fails the American people will know he tried and he can run on it blaming Republicans BY NAME.

Incidentally, THIS BLOG, not some of our friends at MSNBC now taking credit for it, was first out of the gate (as we are with most of our cutting-edge political analysis) in pleading with President Obama to "take numbers and name names." So far, he's called out John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Eric Cantor, the top Republican leadership in Congress. So much for the "expertise" and "wisdom" of the Idiot Punditocracy.

And Chris, you and Joan may go way back, but even old friendships can be strained by the kind of rudeness you showed Joan. She deserves an apology. A real one. Best quote of the program from one of my favorite historians, Douglas Brinkley:

"Obama has to not just work about his reelection, but he`s fighting for the history of the Democratic tradition of Franklin Roosevelt, and to abandon it by a kind of mealy-mouthed middle course would be a mistake. There is no grand bargain. This is war in 2012, and Obama has to win."

TEA PARTY Remedial Ed: OCCUPY WALL STREET Protester Schools Fox

Attention Teabaggers: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be able to articulate more than three words into a coherent sentence rather than a stupid slogan — "SHUT 'ER DOWN!" or "TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY!" — when the Fox propaganda machine shows up at your widdle demos? I know, I know, you're brain-addled, overweight, middle-aged white people in stupid costumes.

But there's always room for growth, if you're willing to reform your ways and join a true-blue populist movement. Hell, even Dylan Ratigan found a Teabagger amid the protesters to justify his wingnuttery even as he works through decades of his Reaganomics neurosis. What I'm curious about is what's this "lefty agenda" that so offends Dylan.

But we digress. Take note Teabaggers, here's how a LEFTY protester in regular street clothes schooled a Fox crapagandist ON THE ISSUES THAT MATTER TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, AND HOW FOX AND THE REST OF THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA ARE GROSSLY MISINFORMING THE PEOPLE. POP QUIZ, Teabaggers: Was this clip, or any part of it, ever aired by Fox. What do you think, Teabaggers? I can't HEAR YOU ...

The young man's name is Jess LaGreca, and I LOVE how SMART AND ARTICULATE these kids are. You're totally awesome, Jess:

Here Comes The GOP ELEPHANT (Are You In Or Out?): Chris Christie's Campaign Song

Waiting for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to throw his FAT into the ring ... MEANWHILE, here's the Republican savior's campaign song:

SUPERSIZE 'EM!

Plugging Chris Matthews, LITERALLY: EXTRA RIDICULOUS Show Tonite!

You can always count on the Dean of the Idiot Punditocracy for some totally amorphous, irrelevant, unintentionally hilarious political theater. Let's LISTEN to Chris:

"Which way should Obama go? Which way will offer the most compelling case for reelection next November? What will attract the majority of voters to decide that an Obama second term, four more years of a Democrat controlling the White House and setting national direction is a better bet than giving the Republican candidate a chance? ...

But the problem for Obama is that like a batter in the Major Leagues, by the time you know what pitch is coming your way, it`s too late to adjust your swing. So, it would be best for Obama to make up his mind, HARD LEFT OR DOWN THE MIDDLE."

Hmm ... Well, it seems Mr. Yellow-Stripe-Roadkill has already made up his mind and President Obama's for the rest of us. Since it's Dean Matthews's show, count on it to be accordingly tilted and choreographed with an assortment of Chris's favorite idiot pundits to make the case for Chris's treasured "40-yard line" where nothing much other than lots of spectatin' speculatin' (Chris's specialty) happens. Here's some homework for Chris: Please to define what, and who, is "HARD LEFT." Is it Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman? Is it Gene Robinson, David Corn, Eric Boehlert, E.J. Dionne? Is it his "blogger friends"? Or his hated "netroots people"? Is it Michael Moore (we already know he's being set up for an attempted takedown on Hardball)? Or could it be Chris's colleagues Lawrence (a self-described Hollywood "socialist" — we call them "festive left" in South America) or Rachel, our muse? Maybe it's some "gadfly" Chris and Michael Steele hadn't read about first on this blog, when I described Ron Paul as a GOP "gadfly" and therefore a safe target for (MS)NBC-POLITICO to ask the anti-government questions of, when everybody else on that debate stage subscribed to the same basic nonsense.

So please define for us, Chris, who or what is "HARD LEFT" on the American political spectrum. Unfortunately, I'll bet Chris was too busy scurrying under his desk, fearful of those mean commies on the "HARD LEFT" ...

To catch this political science class — and he's been mangling this reality ever since; even when we show him the PICTURE!

Chris, you will begin the road to recovery once you realize the problem isn't US ... it's YOU. AND THEM:

The REVOLUTION Is Being Televised ... Sort Of

This weekend New York City's finest staged a mass arrest of some 700 protesters participating in OCCUPY WALL STREET with relatively little fanfare. The protesters were blocking traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge, creating a public nuisance. But the BIG STORY here is the ho-hum attitude of the mainstream media that continues under-reporting this true grassroots populist uprising, a peaceful occupation of the Wall Street area by people representing the rest of us 99ers — barely topping 53% of the nation's wealth compared with 47% owned by 1-ONE-UNO% of the occupied shuffling trillions of money bytes in their trading casinos. Here's Michael Moore at Liberty Square, lending his support to the protesters: "I want to see a perp walk! I want to see the people responsible for destroying the lives of millions of people in handcuffs, and put away, and brought to justice — IMMEDIATELY!" Yeah!

Oh the media came, for a spell, when three young women were MACED by a PIG named Bologna. (You're on YouTube, ASSHOLE.) "If it bleeds, it leads," noted Keith Olbermann sardonically. But not for long. You see, the diverse rainbow of humanity occupying Wall Street — multicultural, multilingual, multiracial and overwhelmingly poor — don't have a "TEA PARTY" label in front of their movement. Therefore, in the corporate media's "editorial judgment," they aren't worthy of anything more than drive-by coverage. Why? Well, they don't have the financial backing of right wing millionaires and billionaires; they don't have a dedicated propaganda network (Fox) hyping them 24/7; and they don't pose a (perceived) threat to the mainstream media's financial assets.

Wall Street isn't governed by the ups and downs of Bulls and Bears. It's ruled by SACRED COWS. As we have learned (below) from the eye-opening insights of a Eurozone trader, the markets could care less whether this rescue package or that jobs bill succeed or fail. They stand to make money hand-over-fist no matter what, as long as they prepare and are properly positioned to profit from a "downward market."

The fact is, Wall Street and the top 1% are the ultimate anti-government nihilists; they are governments unto themselves, and they have the hubris and power that comes with unlimited wealth to believe and act as if they're above the law — ANY LAW, national or international — when the rubber meets the road. Oh they'll put up with defanged rules and regulations as long as they don't hurt the bottom line, for cosmetic purposes mainly — go along to get along, and make sure they've bought the whole damned government with millions in chump change to do their bidding. They even fund private groups to write the state and federal laws and regulations that govern the rest of us — 21st century serfdom is their business model, they being the Lords of the Manor.

And they control what's left of freedom of the media, to varying degrees. We still have pockets, enclaves of free media that push back against the corporate media narrative that seeks to box all substantive news and commentary within certain defined parameters. The Beltway Media narrative is one example of peer pressure gone wild. If you don't have "access" (a word that defines emasculated faux journalists) you're nothing. "Access" means giving every rogue and liar the deference due their exalted titles. "Access" also means reporting whispers, innuendo, gossip and lies from anonymous sources as if they're the gospel truth.

Sadly, we acknowledge, celebrate, and encourage the few, the stalwart journalists who are televising the first rumblings of a new American Revolution which began in the states, kept alive by Big Eddie's passionate advocacy for unions and the middle class (they're symbiotic, linked at the hip; people need to understand this), and moved on to Wall Street with an ongoing, remarkable demonstration against the entrenched power of the oligarchs, plutocrats, and ruling elites.

KUDOS to MSNBC's LAWRENCE (my DVR's not working, so sue me!) who has been on top of this story from the very beginning, hosting Michael Moore with a live feed from the Belly of The Beast, Rachel, and Chris Hayes, and of course, the great Keith Olbermann. Everywhere else there's been a virtual news blackout. But not for long. Welcome to AMERIKA!

TEA PARTY Remedial Ed: President Obama, Terrorist Hunter

No shit, Teabaggers!

While Republicans talked an evil game, mostly to inflame the racist predilections of their bloodthirsty base, President Obama actually went about the task of killing terrorists who would do Americans harm.

You have no idea, Teabaggers, not the slightest clue. As stated here, it came as no surprise that President Obama erased OBL. In fact, it's not that hard to hunt down and kill these scumsuckers, given our military and intelligence resources. Seriously. Bin Laden was a useful tool to the Bush regime, including W's re-election, so they kept him alive. Bin Laden's cockiness, living pretty much in plain sight in a heavily guarded compound in Pakistan right around the corner from their "Pentagon" indicated he was in on the game. Or so he thought.

Until a new sheriff came to town. No one should be surprised at President Obama's tough stance. He was to the right of John McCain in this regard, when he said during the campaign that, given actionable intelligence, he wouldn't hesitate to take Al Queda's leadership out, no matter where they were hiding. John McCain, sounding like a Democrat, criticized President Obama for circumventing the proper channels of international collaboration, etc. The Idiot Punditocracy thought the President's statement was hyperbole. Not any more.

 Some have argued that killing terrorists who are U.S. nationals abroad, in hostile territory — Yemen and Pakistan — is unconstitutional; that we should capture them and try them in our courts and, while we're at it, give them a latte and a scone. I don't think so. A U.S. citizen who joins the terrorist organization that killed some 3,000 innocent people on 9/11 is, by definition, a traitor. Whether or not terrorist mass murderers are held for trial, their fate is sealed. They will be executed, just as the Nazi war criminals hung at Nuremberg. Another important distinction is that the Nuremberg trials were held after WWII ended, when Germany was defeated. During the war, Hitler was fair game. There were numerous attempts to assassinate him, and his headquarters were reduced to rubble. Dictators and terrorists have one thing in common: They're protected by heavily reinforced concrete bunkers, compounds, and natural fortresses such as caves.

The notion entertained by Ron Paul that, given actionable intelligence, we should risk the lives of Special Forces teams to extract a terrorist who happens to be a U.S. citizen and bring him up on charges, is ridiculous. Wherever terrorists may gather in hostile territory, whether it be Yemen or Pakistan or any other country that harbors people bent on the mass killing of innocent Americans, if we find them with our 24/7 remote-controlled drones, they're toast.

And good riddance. No more Mr. Nice Guys (Bush and Cheney) keeping terrorists alive to foment internal fear in the population in order to justify the national security state. We've got a Ninja President in the White House who has a different idea of how best to protect the lives of Americans. Here's President Obama's impressive record of hunting down and killing terrorists:

Nate Silver Rubs It In: The Red Sox's Epic Meltdown, By The Numbers

Did the New York Times' Master Geek Nate Silver write this exposé of the Boston Red Sox late season meltdown, which let the Tampa Bay Rays in through the playoffs back door courtesy of the New York Yankees, just to torment Rachel Maddow? (Nate usually reserves his probabilities expertise to polling and politics.) But if Nate's numbers baffle, there's always the conspiratorial view of sports. Here's the New York Times account of those dramatic eight minutes that sealed the fate of two teams. Can anybody say, "yeah, right"?

“Within eight minutes the world changed,” said Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who was one of several Yankees players monitoring both games in the clubhouse. “That’s what makes baseball the greatest game.”

As the clock approached midnight, the Orioles came back to tie the Red Sox with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and when the score was relayed to the fans at Tropicana Field, their cheers let the Rays know what was happening up north.

A few minutes later, the Orioles won their game on a walk-off single by Robert Andino, and as the cheers went up again, Rays second baseman Ben Zobrist turned to his teammates in the dugout and said: “This is our game now. We have to win this now.”

At 12:05 a.m. Thursday morning, they did. Evan Longoria, the Rays’ most talented player and the face of the franchise, ripped a 2-2 pitch from Scott Proctor over the low part of the left-field fence and the Rays completed two improbable comebacks, beating the Yankees, 8-7, in 12 innings to win the American League wild card.

After trailing the Red Sox by nine games on Sept. 4, the Rays overcame the largest September deficit in major league history to make the playoffs, unleashing a wild celebration in the process.

“I don’t think there’s any specific explanation for it,” said Longoria, who also hit a three-run home run as part of a wild comeback in the eighth inning. “It’s just a bunch of guys who put together an incredible season.”

Oh really, Mr. Longoria? Here's one "specific explanation": Maybe the fix was in; not for an entire game, but for one inning, maybe even one at-bat. Consider this sequence of events: The Yanks improbably blow a 7-run lead to the Rays — the fastidious Mr. Silver calculalted the chances of this happening at 0.2% while the Red Sox had what can only be termed as a 99.6% metaphysical mortal lock probability of making the playoffs; the game is tied going into extra innings early Thursday morning; the players are tired and want to get off the field, especially the Yanks, for whom this is a meaningless (wink-wink) game; the fans erupt as news of the Red Sox defeat to the Orioles flashes on the scoreboard; then Longoria, their franchise player, seals the Red Sox fate by ripping a (telegraphed? batting practice?) Yanks pitch over the fence.

Hollywood ending? Cinderella finish? Or A-Rod — "who was one of several Yankees players monitoring both games in the clubhouse"— huddling with his millionaire teammates fixin' to inflict some more of the Babe's Curse on their arch-rivals by playing sports gods with a double-whammy: The Yanks clinch a playoff berth and are instrumental in keeping the Red Sox out ... against the same team and principal beneficiary, the Tampa Bay Rays! Sealed with a fist pump. Yep, and it's happened before, too. On the World Cup stage. Just sayin'. Kidding. Maybe. Is Henry Kissinger a Yankees fan, too?

Should that mysterious cosmic force sometimes called "Bad Karma" hit the Yankees during the playoffs, we'll know for sure the fix was in.

TEA PARTY Remedial Ed: A View From The Belly Of The Beast ... VOTE For the AntiChrist!

Attention Teabaggers: You’re about to get a chilling, blood-curdling look inside the BELLY OF THE BEAST, courtesy of this low-level trader whose twisted remnant of a conscience cattle-prods him into letting us in on their filthy, deranged, treasonous little secret: How to make money from the imminent collapse of the world’s economies. Maybe he’s hedging his bets against the suffering of billions he’ll be profiting from, just in case things go south on him too. And for those of you who think this is about Europe, not the U.S. economy, think again: “The governments don’t rule the world. Goldman Sachs rules the world.”

If you're a Republican, or vote Republican against your own best interests — unless you're a two percenter — and you can't believe Republicans are seriously trying to tank the U.S. economy, think again. This isn't the action of irrational people. Treasonous, maybe, but irrational, no. The sole remaining impediment to Republicans making money hand-over-fist from another Great Depression is President Obama. Mitch McConnell openly declared his top priority is defeating Obama in 2012. As we have seen from accidental revelations of Republicans like Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan who stand to benefit from investments and policies that bet against economic recovery, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Watch and you'll understand the evil webs these Republicans weave. They've taken this dude's advice. They're uniquely prepared:

“See, I’m a trader. I don’t really care about that kind of stuff. If I see an opportunity to make money I go with that. So, for most traders, we don’t really care that much how they’re going to fix the economy, how they’re going to fix the whole situation. Our job is to make money from it. And, personally, I’ve been dreaming of this moment for years.

I have a confession: I GO TO BED EVERY NIGHT, I DREAM ABOUT ANOTHER RECESSION, I dream of another moment like this. Why? Because people don’t seem to maybe remember, but the 30’s DEPRESSION, the (GREAT DEPRESSION) of the 1930s wasn’t just about the market crash. There were people who were prepared to make money from that crash. And I think anybody can do that. It's not just for some people in the elite. ... It’s an opportunity. When the market crashes, when the Euro and the big stock markets crash, if you know what to do, if you have the right plan set up, you can make a lot of money from this. For example hedging strategies is one, [the Republicans — Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan, whose investments against economic recovery came accidentally to light] then investing in bonds, Treasury bonds, that sort of stuff.

Everybody who’s watching this; this economic crisis is like a cancer. If you just wait and wait, thinking this is going away … just like a cancer, it’s going to grow and it’s going to be too late. What I would say to everybody is, get prepared. This is not a time right now to wishful thinking that government is going to sort things out. The governments don’t rule the world. Goldman Sachs rules the world. Goldman Sachs does not care about this rescue package, neither do the big funds.”

Then this dude goes on to say he wants to “help people” actually make money from a “downward market” because in less than 12 months “my prediction is, the savings of millions of people [will] vanish. So, I would say, be prepared and act now.” But wait, Teabaggers, there's still hope. Comes the AntiChrist to the rescue, and ... Rapture! Lawrence explains: