The Hollywood Liberal

If Dennis says no, that’s good enough for me.-HL
Here is the text of Dennis speech on the floor of congress regarding the bailout

“The $700 billion bailout for Wall Street, is driven by fear not fact. This is too much money in too a short a time going to too few people while too many questions remain unanswered.

Why aren’t we having hearings on the plan we have just received? Why aren’t we questioning the underlying premise of the need for a bailout with taxpayers’ money? Why have we not considered any alternatives other than to give $700 billion to Wall Street? Why aren’t we asking Wall Street to clean up its own mess? Why aren’t we passing new laws to stop the speculation, which triggered this? Why aren’t we putting up new regulatory structures to protect investors? How do we even value the $700 billion in toxic assets?

“Why aren’t we helping homeowners directly with their debt burden? Why aren’t we helping American families faced with bankruptcy. Why aren’t we reducing debt for Main Street instead of Wall Street? Isn’t it time for fundamental change in our debt based monetary system, so we can free ourselves from the manipulation of the Federal Reserve and the banks? Is this the United States Congress or the board of directors of Goldman Sachs? Wall Street is a place of bears and bulls. It is not smart to force taxpayers to dance with bears or to follow closely behind the bulls.

The Shadow of the Pitchfork: Elite Panic Attack as Bailout Goes Bust

Excerpt:
The New York Times called the House vote “a catastrophic political defeat for President Bush, who had put the full weight of the White House behind the measure.” But this is manifestly untrue. As everyone but the nation’s media — and the Democratic Party — knows, George W. Bush has no “political weight” to use, or lose. Yes, he still retains the authoritarian powers that the spineless Democrats have given him with scarcely a whimper of protest (and often with boundless enthusiasm); but as a political force — i.e., someone whose opinions and statements can sway popular opinion — he has been a dead and rotting carcass for a long time. He is the most unpopular president in American history; and I can report from first-hand, eyewitness knowledge that he is thoroughly despised by some of the most rock-ribbed, Bible-believing, flag-waving, down-home, John Wayne-loving Heartland types that you can imagine. Even his own party — a party fashioned in his own image, the Frankensteinian melding of willfully ignorant religious primitivism and rapaciously greedy crony capitalism that he has embodied in his twerpish person — kept him away from their convention this year.

Nothing — absolutely nothing — could be politically safer than opposing George W. Bush. And yet the entire Democratic leadership, Barack Obama included, lined up to support a cockamamie plan proposed by this scorned and shriveled figure, a plan that was transparently nothing more than an audacious raid on the Treasury by Big Money hoods and yet another authoritarian power grab by a gang of murderous, torturing, warmongering toadies. This was the plan and these were the people that the Democrats decided to fight for.

Why Main St. Shouldn’t Weep for Wall St

Excerpt:
Why should anyone who isn’t a Wall Street insider cry for their demise?

At their height of glory, what were they up to?

Corporate raiders taking over firms and ransacking the pension funds, borrowing against the firm and then declaring bankruptcy, sending thousands into unemployment.

Massive tax breaks and insider deals for Wall Street fronted companies to exploit the American forests and wilderness areas for some oil, coal and uranium, then when the mine taps out, walk away from your phony front company, let it go into default and let the American public pick up the bill for cleaning up those toxic wastelands.

Late Late Nite FDL: Three Is A Magic Number
Schoolhouse Rock - Three Is A Magic Number.  Who sang this is answered here (my guess was wrong).

What’s on your mind tonight?

Schoolhouse Rock - Three Is A Magic Number.  Who sang this is answered here (my guess was wrong).

What’s on your mind tonight?

Bailout Rejection Sends out Financial Shockwaves, But It’s Also an Invigorating Moment for Democracy
Bowing to public outrage, the House rejected the bailout and Wall Street swoons. The political bedlam in Washington is as real as it gets.

Citizens of the World
Offending phrase highlighted … And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for…

Following bailout failure, Dow has ?worst point drop ever.?
After the House failed to pass bailout legislation this afternoon, stocks tumbled “with the Dow’s nearly 778-point drop being the worst single-day point loss ever.” Today’s drop surpassed the “the 684.81 loss on Sept. 17, 2001 - the first trading day after the September 11 attacks.”

After the House failed to pass bailout legislation this afternoon, stocks tumbled “with the Dow’s nearly 778-point drop being the worst single-day point loss ever.” Today’s drop surpassed the “the 684.81 loss on Sept. 17, 2001 - the first trading day after the September 11 attacks.”

Pelosi Remarks on the Bailout Bill
REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Madam Speaker, when was the last time someone asked you for $700 billion? It is a number that is staggering, but tells us only the costs of the Bush Administration’s failed economic policies — policies built on budgetary recklessness, on an anyt…

Obama Holds His Own on Foreign Policy
WASHINGTON — September began as John McCain’s month and ended as Barack Obama’s. McCain’s high-risk wagers aimed at shaking up the campaign turned into very bad investments. And Friday’s debate eliminated McCain’s best chance to deliver a knockout blow to an opponent whose most important asset may be his capacity for self-correction. McCain is supposed to own the foreign policy issue — and he should have owned Friday’s debate. During their respective primary battles, McCain was a better debater than Obama, who could be hesitant, wordy and thrown off his stride.

Late Late Nite FDL: Bye Bye Bluebeard

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. and Merrie Melodies present Bye Bye Bluebeard, staring Porky Pig.  Story by Sid Marcus.  Animation by Basil Davidovich, J. C. Melendez, Don Williams, and Emery Hawkins.  Layouts by Don Smith.  Backgrounds by Philip de Guard.  Voices by Mel Blanc and others. Musical direction by Carl Stalling.  Directed by Arthur Davis.

What’s on your mind tonight?

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. and Merrie Melodies present Bye Bye Bluebeard, staring Porky Pig.  Story by Sid Marcus.  Animation by Basil Davidovich, J. C. Melendez, Don Williams, and Emery Hawkins.  Layouts by Don Smith.  Backgrounds by Philip de Guard.  Voices by Mel Blanc and others. Musical direction by Carl Stalling.  Directed by Arthur Davis.

What’s on your mind tonight?

Sarah Palin, 21st Century Theocrat
The religious right can be confident that they’d have a fundamentalist in the White House with Sarah Palin.

Anti-Immigration Hardliner Goes Ballistic Over Obama’s Answers on the Issue
The head of the Center for Immigration Studies goes nuts over Obama questionnaire.

Today at Cafe
Jonathan Taplin digs into some peculiar military spending and Todd Gitlin takes a rummage through American history. At the Book Club, Bill Bishop explores the strong link between lifestyle and political choice while Walker Smith takes a step back: What…

Citizens of the World
Offending phrase highlighted … And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for…

After Attacking Earmarks, Graham Unable To Defend His Own Pork: ‘I’m Part Of The Problem’
During the presidential debate on Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) responded to a question about how he would “lead this country out of the financial crisis” by railing against the tangential issue of “earmark pork-barrel spending.” “The first thing we have to do is get spending under control in Washington,” said McCain, adding that earmarks […]

During the presidential debate on Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) responded to a question about how he would “lead this country out of the financial crisis” by railing against the tangential issue of “earmark pork-barrel spending.” “The first thing we have to do is get spending under control in Washington,” said McCain, adding that earmarks are “evil.”

Asked on Fox News Sunday today about McCain’s “narrow focus” on earmarks, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) claimed that “if you believe earmarks is a narrow problem, then you don’t understand what’s happened because of earmarks.”

But asked by host Chris Wallace, “If earmarks are so bad, why did you ask for 71 projects totaling $305 million dollars in the last fiscal year?,” Graham could only respond by saying that he has “been part of the problem” and would change:

GRAHAM: I have been part of the problem. I — my earmarks have been authorized, number one. They’re out there for you to look at. And, I’m part of the problem, I’d like to be part of the solution because the good part of earmarks has been overwhelmed by the bad part. Let’s just start over. Let’s start over because the $3 million to DNA to bear studies in Montana, the $250 million bridge in Alaska for fifty people is drowning out some of the good things I’ve done and John’s done. So I’m willing to start over. But there’s one guy in this town who hasn’t gotten a penny. I’m willing to follow his lead because he’s convinced me that the greater good would be achieved if we all just had a time out on this.

Watch it:

Considering that McCain has demagogued against earmarks for years, it’s laughable for Graham to claim that he is just now “willing to follow” McCain’s lead even as he continues to request pork.

In fact, despite Graham’s previous vote for an earmark moratorium for fiscal year 2009, Graham recently placed $20 million in earmarks into the 2009 Defense Authorization bill.

Brothers in Arms Hit Road to Rally Support for McCain
AKRON, Ohio — The men gathered for breakfast around the long table at a Bob Evans restaurant here consider Sen. John McCain a brother. Most have never met him and never will, but he is a veteran, just like them, and that is enough.

Dr. Paulson’s Tough Medicine, In a Pill the Public Can Swallow
After a week of political brinksmanship and 100 pages of concessions to political reality, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson seems to have finally won the power and money he asked for to mount an unprecedented rescue of the financial system.

Troop Surge for Afghanistan is Unrealistic
WASHINGTON — If there was one foreign-policy issue on which Barack Obama and John McCain agreed during Friday night’s debate, it was that the United States should send more troops to Afghanistan. The bipartisan enthusiasm for this surge is so strong that there has been relatively little discussion of whether this strategy makes sense. So here’s a skeptical look at the issue, drawn from conversations during a visit to Afghanistan this month with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Rather than more troops, the real game-changer in Afghanistan may be Gates’ plan to spend an extra $1.3 billion on surveillance technology to find and destroy the leadership of the insurgency.

Late Late Nite FDL: Yes We Can-Can
Mighty prescient song written by Allen Toussaint, made famous by The Pointer Sisters, the groups first hit record in 1973.

The Pointer Sisters “Yes We Can-Can”

Mighty prescient song written by Allen Toussaint, made famous by The Pointer Sisters, the groups first hit record in 1973.

What’s on your mind tonight?

Obama!
CNN post-debate poll:

Who did the best job in the debate?

Barack Obama 51
John McCain 38

Who would better handle Iraq?

Barack Obama 52
John McCain 47

Who would better handle the economy?

Barack Obama 58
John McCain 37

FLOW: The Film that Will Change the Way You Think About Water
The Sundance hit “FLOW: For Love of Water” is taking the country by storm and waking people up to our water crisis.