Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

Archives for September 2008

September 30, 2008 By Fausta

Sing a song of cultism:

UPDATED
Please scroll down

Anthony‘s officially weirded out…and so am I:

NOTE: The first video was pulled but now is back here:

Follow-up post.

Pay attention to the messianic cult lyrics:

“We’re gonna to spread happiness.
We’re gonna to spread freedom.
Obama’s gonna change it,
Obama’s gonna lead us.
We’re gonna change it
and we arrange it:
We’re gonna change the world.”

The drumbeat, and the drummers are marking the beat. In the background, the campaign logo with the rays of sunshine added, to remind you of this poster:

If this is not a hymn to the dear leader I don’t know what is.

UPDATE, Wednesday, 1 October:
Dymphna asks in the comments,

The background — the venue — is most intriguing. Is this a library in a private school?

What’s your guess, Fausta? Someone said an NBC exec is responsible. Do you think it’s his kids’ school. The music that continues long after the video is over is every bit as interesting as the main event.

Ed found the website Sing for Change, which makes it sound as if it was just something that came out of the blue even when they acknoledge that “several musicians…three High Definition cameras (Panasonic HVX250’s), and an AVID editing facility…a RED camera set up on a SteadiCam”, a professional-quality banner and 22 children were involved. And let’s not forget a fully set up website and all those pie-in-the-sky-blue t-shirts, too.

Scoop this.org also found out about music teacher Kathy Sawada,, who supposedly had the brainstorm

She teaches at the Colburn School of Performing Arts, an elite academy in Los Angeles, CA.

The Anchoress has lots more in her roundup.

NBC denies that the Jeff Zucker mentioned at the Sing for Change post is their Jeff Zucher.

Must be a different one, then, if they say so. Would NBC lie?

Digg!

Share on Facebook

Share

Filed Under: Barack Obama, Election2008, politics, propaganda, religion Tagged With: Fausta's blog

September 30, 2008 By Fausta

And now for a Humphrey Bogart moment

Betty Jo’s podcast is on right now and she’s talking about Humphrey Bogart.

I posted about Humphrey Bogart in Dark Victory last year, but my most favorite Bogey scene is this one:

You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow.

Digg!

Share on Facebook

Share

Filed Under: entertainment, films, movies Tagged With: Fausta's blog

September 30, 2008 By Fausta

ACORN, Obama, and the Mortgage Mess

In tomorrow’s podcast at 10AM Eastern Matthew Vadum will be my guest to explain how Financial Affirmative Action works.

Today Mona Charen, both at Real Clear Politics and NRO, explains ACORN and Obama’s ties to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (emphasis added):

ACORN does many things under the umbrella of “community organizing.” They agitate for higher minimum wages, attempt to thwart school reform, try to unionize welfare workers (that is, those welfare recipients who are obliged to work in exchange for benefits) and organize voter registration efforts (always for Democrats, of course). Because they are on the side of righteousness and justice, they aren’t especially fastidious about their methods. In 2006, for example, ACORN registered 1,800 new voters in Washington. The only trouble was, with the exception of six, all of the names submitted were fake. The secretary of state called it the “worst case of election fraud in our state’s history.”

Along comes Obama and the Chicago Annenberg Challenge,

ACORN attracted Barack Obama in his youthful community organizing days. Madeline Talbott hired him to train her staff — the very people who would later descend on Chicago’s banks as CRA shakedown artists. The Democratic nominee later funneled money to the group through the Woods Fund, on whose board he sat, and through the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, ditto. Obama was not just sympathetic — he was an ACORN fellow traveler.

Betsy has the must-read post on the bailout bill shennanigans:

And if Obama is the type of leader who lives up to his bragging about being able to bring all sorts of people together to solve difficult issues, why the blankety-blank didn’t he call a single House member to try to get this bill passed? It’s all well and good to blame John McCain for inserting himself into the negotiations last week, but without his efforts to bring the House Republicans to the table so that some of the most egregious parts of the bill like the money for ACORN, we wouldn’t have seen the numbers from the GOP voting for the bill that we saw yesterday.
…

And if you buy Pelosi’s argument that this was all the Republicans’ fault, perhaps the media could check out this video of Democrats in the House in 2004 denying that there is anything wrong at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and chewing out the regulators and Republicans who wanted more oversight. Watch the video and see how far off Nancy Pelosi is in blaming the Republicans and the free markets.

More blogging later.

Digg!

Share on Facebook

Share

Filed Under: Barack Obama, business, Democrats, economics, economy, Election2008, politics Tagged With: Fausta's blog

September 30, 2008 By Fausta

Ecuador’s new constitution: Today’s 15 Minutes on Latin America

Today at 10AM Eastern I’ll do a news roundup on Ecuador’s new constitution, which was approved on Sunday by a 65% margin.

Chat’s open at 9:45AM and the call in number is 646 652-2639. Join me!

Yesterday’s podcast on the US constitutional issues with Andrew Grossman generated a lot of interest. When I got up this morning I found I had 110 new emails, none of them spam, so please bear with me – I will reply! – there are a number of appointments I must keep today, too. Thank you for your patience.
If you have an urgent matter please call me on my cell phone or Skype me.

Listen to Faustas blog on internet talk radio

Share

Filed Under: Blog Talk Radio, Ecuador, Latin America, politics Tagged With: Fausta's blog

September 30, 2008 By Fausta

We’ve got a hostage situation here

The Obama campaign better cough up a couple of hot kinky young i-Macs or their man is toast:

Why doesn’t the McCain campaign or its supporters buy 5 minute infomercials and run this in heavy rotation from now until, and through, election day? Click on that question for a second question…

Digg!

Share on Facebook

Share

Filed Under: Barack Obama, Democrats, Election2008, politics Tagged With: Fausta's blog

September 29, 2008 By Fausta

Bailout fails in House

Washington Post and WSJ

Bailout Fails in House
The House defeated the $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan by a 228 to 205 vote. The legislation had been finalized Sunday after exhaustive negotiations, but ample “no” votes came from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle.
…
But it was clear that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle were skittish about voting on such a dramatic piece of legislation a little more than a month before the November elections. Polls have shown voters are wary of the plan to rescue financial firms by having the federal government buy up hundreds of billions of dollars of toxic assets, and many members described Monday’s decision as a “legacy vote” similar to the decision to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

This morning I talked to Andrew Grossman on the Constitutional issues in the bailout bill but there are many more reasons why the bill should be rejected:

Dale Franks at Q&O explains Why I Oppose the Bailout. It’s a lengthy post but worth reading every word. Money quote (all puns intended)

So we’re in the middle of this crisis because the Government of the United States created the incentives that caused it.

And with all this current talk of making the bad actors pay for their sins, you’ll notice that no one is talking about changing the government’s policies that caused this. It’s never the government’s fault, apparently. They only create the incentives. And hold a gun to the banks head to comply with them. But they don’t actually, you know, sign the mortgage papers, so they’re in the clear. They can just point at the bankers and say, “It’s the greedy capitalists, man!”

Dale’s reasons are:

  • It isn’t necessary.
  • The bailout will force us all to sign on as crewmembers of Wall Street’s sinking ship.
  • It doesn’t avoid the pain.
  • It props up the guys who are the biggest problem children.
  • The market actually works.
  • This isn’t “reform” in any meaningful way at all.
  • Ownership warrants are death to capitalism.

He proposes:

  • Clear the market.
  • Protect the depositors
  • Coordinated central bank activity
  • Re-examine the CRA

Dick Armey also opposes the bailout, for similar reasons:

Granting the Treasury broad authority to buy troubled assets from private entities poses a significant threat to taxpayers and fundamentally alters the relationship between the private economy and the federal government. Despite the sweeping breadth of the proposed bailout, there is virtually nothing in the bill that addresses the underlying problems that created the housing bubble and the oversized and over-leveraged financial services sector that grew with it. Taxpayers have become Wall Street’s newest financier, with little more than a promise—and a report to Congress on “regulatory modernization”—that Congress will not let this happen again.

Hidden in the bailout bill arcana there’s another issue that Andy McCarthy points out, The Bailout Follies: Taxpayers Will Be Forced to Buy the Bad Debt of LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

So in addition to rewarding irresponsible lenders and borrowers, we taxpayers are now to be “protected” by buying the toxic debt of states, cities and municipalities. It’s one thing to throw a life-line to the credit industry; local governments, by contrast, have the ability to cut spending drastically or raise taxes if their inhabitants want government services. Elected politicians are then accountable for runaway spending and mismanagement. If Detroit or Chicago is sinking because of big-government policies, that’s what the citizens of those cities asked for by voting for Democrats year in and year out. Why should the rest of us be on the hook for that?

A good way to understand a problem is to review how it came about:
Who caused “the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression?” by Roger Kimball and The Financial Mess: How We Got Here by Abraham Miller are two must-reads.

Matthew Vadum writing at American Spectator looks at Financial Affirmative Action

Last, but not least, ack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis

UPDATE
Michael Moore gets results.

Digg!

Share on Facebook

Share

Filed Under: Barack Obama, business, Democrats, economics, economy, Election2008, politics Tagged With: Fausta's blog

September 29, 2008 By Fausta

The nuclear Venezuela Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your posts included, please email me: faustaw2 “at” gmail “dot” com.

The big news this week:
Alvaro Uribe visited the US and spoke at the UN. The American media paid no attention to the US’s greatest ally in the hemisphere.

A new oil field recently found in Colombia is larger than expected.

Chavez is back from his tour of China, France, Portugal and Russia promising he will develop nuclear power “for peaceful purposes” with Russia’s help

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had offered help with a reactor, adding that “we already have a commission working on this issue.”

From China, Chavez got agreements on oil, producing oil tankers and a refinery, and launching a Venezuelan telecommunications satellite from China.

A more important result from the trip is that $1 billion military loan and a new oil consortium from Russia. Putin doesn’t send you $1billion without expecting really big results: Russia is bankrolling an arms race right in our hemisphere, folks.

In other news, Ecuador’s new constitution was approved by a margin of 65%. I predicted yesterday that it would pass by 60%, only because Soviet-style 99%+ margins have gone out of fashion. This is probably the first Constitution in the world which grants inalienable rights to nature

Ecuador’s proposed constitution includes an article that grants nature the right to “exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution” and will grant legal standing to any person to defend those rights in court.

Conveniently so, considering how it’ll be yet another weapon against foreign corporations and political enemies.

And now for the Carnival
LATIN AMERICA
Today’s Brazil, Peru, Argentina: Latin America Bond, Currency Preview at Bloomberg.

ARGENTINA
Better late than never: Ms Fernández tries to charm the markets by revisiting the 2005 debt swap

BOLIVIA
The Last Days of a Nazi-Era Photographer

Via IBD Blog, U.S. moves to suspend trade benefits for Bolivia

Bolivia es un paraiso de narcotraficantes

Evo Morales Supports Terrorist Groups

US-Bolivia economic relations hit the skids

BRAZIL
Brazil Booms by Going Lula’s Way

Brazil unveils deforestation plan: The Brazilian government has pledged to end net deforestation by 2015.

Brazilian speeder gets $1.9m fine

Real-politik: Why elections, even to lowly office, are so expensive

Lula’s oil dream

CHILE
A force for good, now: A newly streamlined army polishes its democratic credentials

What We Can Learn From Chile’s Financial Crisis. I’ll add the video as soon as the code is available.

COLOMBIA
80%’er Meets 80%’er at UN Photos: Sarah Palin meets with Uribe

Solana Says Oil Field in Colombia May Be Larger Than Estimated

New NEFA Report on the FARC’s International Support Network

CUBA
Proposed Russian-Cuba-Venezuela Space Cooperation Raises Many Questions

Cuba silent on latest U.S. aid offer
The United States made another offer of aid to Cuba, this time in the form of $6.3 million worth of construction materials. Cuba has yet to respond.

Via Lucianne, Castro’s arrogance blocks aid

Back to normal, also at Babalu

Cuba’s ambitions for growth laid to waste yet again.

ECUADOR
Correa’s Communism Set to Win on Sunday: Opposition Failed to Tell the Truth; Carter Center Lies about Ecuadorean Constitution

Ecuador Seems Likely to Clear Constitution

Ecuador: New laws, new conflicts

China, Ecuador: Beijing’s Latin American Opportunity

GUATEMALA
U.S. Coast Guard Sinks 60-Foot Cocaine “Submarine” off Guatemala-Mexico Coast

MEXICO
1,000 slain: Juárez drug war death continue to mount

Mexico on the brink?

NICARAGUA
Rewriting the book of Daniel

Nicaragua’s stellar record of treatment of dissenting opinions

PARAGUAY
Critters!

PERU
Mitsui Mining to Restart Copper Production at Mine in Peru

VENEZUELA
Chavez says Venezuela will develop nuclear power

The Miami Venezuelan Maletagate trial part X: A Venezuelan court orders the assets of Maionica and Kauffmann seized

Some possible leftovers from the Vene-Russian love affair

Putin says ties with Latin America a top priority

Chavez: Latin States Should Partner With Russia Against U.S.

Venezuelan president arrives in China

Venezuela: Iran to finance 25 factories

Downright lunacy, via IBD Blog, US Department of Energy to deliver oil from strategic reserve to Citgo

La oposición venezolana acusa a la Policía de idear un falso complot para matar a Chávez

Russia, Venezuela to Form Oil Venture, Spend Billions

Newly installed in Caracas: a monument to the FARC’s founder, Manuel Marulanda, who died of a heart attack last March.

AMERICAN POLITICS
Republican quits in Hispanic row

Moscow on the main

Change for Change’s Sake isn’t Enough

This week’s podcasts and posts

Uribe, Brazil, and the UN: 15 Minutes on Latin America

Special thanks to Eneas, GoV, Larwyn, Maggie and Maria.
Digg!

Share on Facebook

Share

Filed Under: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Caribbean, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Hugo Chavez, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, politics, Rafael Correa, Russia, Venezuela Tagged With: Fausta's blog

September 29, 2008 By Fausta

Today at 10AM: The bailout and the Constitution

UPDATE
Andrew and I discussed many of the Constitutional questions affecting this legislation, which aims to solve the present liquidity crisis.
Among them, oversight, meaningful standards, whether the standards are capricious, who are the people on the 5-person board reviewing the Secretary of the Treasury, and the aspects of due process involving any actions.

You must listen to this podcast and read Andrew’s papers; the issues raised will affect us for generations. The podcast is here

The Heritage Foundation elucidates:

p>However, there are still two major constitutional problems that need to be addressed. First, the latest text does not sufficiently narrow the scope of authority delegated to the Treasury secretary; i.e., [2] the law provides no “intelligible principle” to guide and direct the secretary’s actions. [3] Our Constitution allows no czar, with standardless discretion to prop up or manage various industry sectors. [4] Language does exist that can both provide Treasury with the tools it needs while protecting liberty. Hopefully, conservatives in Congress will fight for such measures.

The second constitutional problem arose only after Congress tried to fix the first. Instead of finding language that properly directed executive action, Congress punted by creating a new “power-sharing” arrangement: the Financial Stability Oversight Board. Composed of the chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Treasury secretary, the director of the Federal Home Finance Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary, this quasi-executive entity would have unprecedented structure and power. A majority of these board members are not removable by the president except for cause.

Congress has never attempted to give the discretion and responsibility to one cabinet official who is directly answerable to the president, and then subject his actions to the direction, modification and veto of another board – especially one not wholly subject to the president’s direction and control. This oversight “fix&” makes it harder for the American people to hold their elected leaders accountable. It remains dubious whether such an entity would pass muster in the courts, as it clearly offends Article II and the lines of democratic accountability that it established.

[Read more…]

Share

Filed Under: Blog Talk Radio, business, Democrats, economics, economy, Republicans Tagged With: Fausta's blog

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 17
  • Next Page »
Tweets by @Fausta
retirees_raise-2015_300x250

Pages

  • About
  • Email

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Previous Posts

  • Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly
  • Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • You need to unfriend me
  • Go ahead and Kiss the Girl, if you dare
  • Ashamed

Recent Comments

  • John on Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! – PoliticalWitchDoctor.com on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! - AmericanTruthToday on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Did Venezuela’s Minister of Defense Back Out At The Last Minute? on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Roseanne Not Back, Khan not Invited, Operaman’s back, Jobs back, Fausta’s back (but not here yet) Thoughts under the fedora – Da Tech Guy Blog on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?

Archives

  • 2019
    • December 2019
    • May 2019
    • January 2019
  • 2018
    • December 2018
    • October 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
  • 2017
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
  • 2016
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
  • 2015
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
  • 2014
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
  • 2013
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
  • 2012
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
  • 2011
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
  • 2010
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
  • 2009
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
  • 2008
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • May 2008
    • April 2008
    • March 2008
    • February 2008
    • January 2008
  • 2007
    • December 2007
    • November 2007
    • October 2007
    • September 2007
    • August 2007
    • July 2007
    • June 2007
    • May 2007
    • April 2007
    • March 2007
    • February 2007
    • January 2007
  • 2006
    • December 2006
    • November 2006
    • October 2006
    • September 2006
    • August 2006
    • July 2006
    • June 2006
    • May 2006
    • April 2006
    • March 2006
    • February 2006
    • January 2006
  • 2005
    • December 2005
    • November 2005
    • October 2005
    • September 2005
    • August 2005
    • July 2005
    • June 2005
    • May 2005
    • April 2005
    • March 2005
    • February 2005
    • January 2005
  • 2004
    • December 2004
    • November 2004
    • October 2004
    • September 2004
    • August 2004
    • July 2004
    • June 2004
    • May 2004
    • April 2004
    • March 2004
Content Copyright Fausta's Blog

Site Developed and Managed by 300m.com