Mr. Peabody Helps Jesus Save Capitalism

"Put down that beaker of Ephadadrine, Sherman, and follow me to the WABAC Machine. Jesus needs our help!"

"But, Mr. Peabody, I think I've found a way to pay our electric bill.  And then some!"

"Never mind, my boy. Thanks to the miracle of time travel, we'll be back literally before you know it."

"Very well, Mr. Peabody. What settings shall I use?"

"Naples, Italy; Jan.25, 1962."

"But Jesus wasn't in Naples in 1962."

"Don't be so sure, Sherman, but in any case we're going to visit one Charles Luciano.  He's ill and may be more inclined to the truth than previously.  I need some information about the olive oil business and Prescott Bush."

" 'Lucky' Luciano, the heroin king? Olive oil? Prescott Bush? Mr. Peabody, I believe I've found the answer to that missing case of Bronkaid!"

"Never mind that now, Sherman, just set the dials and initialize.  Besides you know how my asthma has been acting up lately."

"Well, here we are, Mr.Peabody.  How will we find Mr. Luciano?"

"Quite simple, my boy; although many of these houses have several burley watchmen at the gate, very few also have American Cadillacs with CIA agents waiting out front. Ah, here we are! Signor Luciano?"

"Si?"

"I'm Mr. Peabody, and this is my boy, Sherman. I'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."

"Ha, you and everyone else! Hey, I've seen you on TV! You're a funny guy. 'Chicken-catch-a- Tory'! Haha! C'mon in!"

"What did you find out, Mr.Peabody?"

"Never mind, for now, Sherman, we need to move on. Set the WABAC for Florence, Italy, June 20, 1527.  We're going to see the great Niccolo Machiavelli."

"Gee, do we have to go right now? The girls here are so friendly!"

"Sorry,  Sherman, but even though we've got all the time in the world, paradoxically we're in a bit of a hurry right now.  Those bills aren't going to pay themselves, and you can always come back 'later'."

"Okay, Mr. Peabody. Hang on! Not the leg! Bad boy!"

"Sorry, Sherman. As you know I sometimes forget my manners when the quarry is afoot."

"Here we are. Florence.  How will we find Signor Machiavelli?"

"As you can imagine, this place is crawling with paranoids, but "Lucky" showed me the secret hand signal. You'll have to give it, though. What with my paws and all.  Here's a picture."

"Gosh, that's the same as the Dogtown Crips! See, LA roxx! It's funny that they all use the same sign. What a coincidence!"

"A coincidence, to be sure. There's a likely-looking ghoul. Try it out."

"Is that the right counter-sign, Mr. Peabody? Like he's stroking his beard. Which he doesn't have."

"No, but we'll probably see it a lot.  Try that guy."

"Yo! Yo. Whazzup?"

"Nicollo Machiavelli?"

"Who want's to know?"

"I'm Mr. Peabody and this is my boy, Sherman. I need to ask you some questions about "olive oil".

"Walk with me. Leave the kid."

"What did you find out, Mr. Peabody?"

"Patience, my boy.  For now, set the WABAC to Tel-Aviv, June 9, 25."

"But there was no Tel-Aviv, or for that matter, June in 25, Mr. Peabody."

"Sherman..."

"Shutting up, now.  Here we go!"

"Wow, look at those dinks! Looks like San Francisco in '67."

"How do you know? Our series ended in '64."

"I meant 1667, but I did look around when we were in  syndication.  Ever heard of the Cockettes? the Fugs? What a stink! Man, when did they invent deodorant?"

"Just start flashing the sign, my boy. There's a likely-looking pair."

"I see you are a sailor. Step into my tent and all will be revealed."

"Pardon me, sir, it's far from my mind. I'm just looking for a good friend of mine. Calls himself Jesus, among other things.  He's mc'ing a wedding party. Five wise virgins...five foolish. Ring a bell?"

"Yes, I know him! Follow me. And all will be revealed"

"Wait here, Sherman, and keep those kids out of the WABAC."

"How did it go, Mr.Peabody? Did you see Jesus?"

"Just for a second, he said he was headed out to the desert to be tempted.  He winked at me. He didn't seem to be surprised to see a talking dog; evidently there's a lot of that around here.  I saw the other rabbis, though; straightened them out.  If they listen to me, no more oil problem, no cruxifiction, no fall of Jerusalem, no diaspora, no crusades, no dark ages, etc."

"But all those things happened, Mr. Peabody!"

"We can but try, my boy."

"What did you tell them, Mr. Peabody? About the oil?"

"Well, as you may know, the five wise virgins had enough lamp oil to last for the entire feast, but the five foolish virgins were short by varying amounts.  'Lucky' told me the thing about olive oil is that it can be all different quality as well as quantity and needs to be mixed right to burn right.  Of course, he was talking about "olive oil", but the same principle applies; to make everybody a winner you got to give a little to get a little, and you always want to have another wise virgin around.  I got that from Niccollo.  Smart cookie, knows human nature. Even Rabbi Paulson got it, I think."

"But, I don't get it, Mr. Peabody.  How does another Virgin solve anything?"

"Sherman, do you mean you've never heard of Extra Virgin Olive Oil?"

The Big Billionaire Bastard Bailout Bill

These ladies and gentlemen voted against the bill both times.

HR1424 "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and HR 3997

You should vote against any incumbent except...

Aderholt Akin Altmire  Bachman Barrow  Bartlett(MD) Barton(TX) Becerra    Bilbray   Bilirakis Bishop(UT) Blackburn  Blumenauer Boyda  Broun(GA)   Brown-Waite, Ginny   Burgess Burton(IN) Butterfield  Buyer  Capito  Carney  Carter  Castor   Cazayoux  Chabot Chandler Childers  Clay Conyers Costello Courtney Culberson Davis(KY) Davis, David  Davis,Lincoln Deal(GA) DeFazio Delahunt Diaz-Balart,L. Diaz-Balart,M.   Doolittle  Drake   Duncan English(PA)    Feeney  Filner  Flake  Forbes  Fortenberry   Foxx  Franks(AZ)     Gallegly   Garrett(NJ)   Gillibrand Gingrey  Gohmert Goode Goodlatte  Graves  Green,Gene   Grijalva Hall(TX)  Hastings(WA)  Hayes Heller Hensarling Herseth-Sandlin Hill  Hinchey Hodes Holden  Hulshof  Hunter Inslee  Issa  Jefferson  Johnson(GA)  Johnson(IL)  Johnson,Sam   Jones(NC)  Jordan  Kagen  Kaptur  Keller King(IA) Kingston  Kuchinich   Lamborn    Lampson   Latham   LaTourette  Latta  Linder Lipinski  LoBiondo  Lucas  Lynch  Mack  Manzullo Marchant Matheson McCarthy(CA) McCaul(TX)  McCotter   McHenry  McIntyre    McMorris-Rodgers  Mica  Michaud Miller(FL) Miller(MI) Moran(KS) Murphy,Tim  Musgrave  Napolitano Neugebauer  Nunes Paul Payne  Pearce  Pence Peterson(MN)  Petri  Pitts   Platts  Poe Price(GA)  Rehberg  Reichert  Renzi Rodriguez Rogers(MI)  Rohrabacher Roskam Rothman Roybal-Allard Royce Sali Sanchez,Linda Sanchez,Loretta Scalise Scott(VA)  Sensenbrenner Serrano Shea-Porter Sherman  Shimkus  Shuler  Smith(NE) Smith(NJ)   Stark   Stearns  Stupak Taylor Thompson(MS)   Tiahrt   Turner  Udall(CO)  Udall(NM) Visclosky  Walberg  Walz(MN) Westmoreland   Whitfield(KY)   Wittman(VA)   Young(AK)    Young(FL)

A Republic, If you Can Get it Back

Well - blogging again, or at least making my comments on other threads into blog posts. I'm surprised no one thought of that before.
I basically threw in the towel after the way Ron Paul was treated in the primaries, but since then the economy has gotten so bollixed up in just the way he predicted, that today's defeat of the Big Bailout has given me a ray of hope, even though I know the attack will recommence at dawn; or as I said to the hapless "lester" over at Taki's - (quoting myself [the sound of one hand jerking]...

"Never fear, Lester; your billionaire buds won’t give up that easily. The only reason they lost this round is because of the upcoming elections after which you can be sure they’ll “get ‘er done”. I’m truly sorry for your stock losses, but President Yomama is just going to capital gains tax you back to zero anyway. I would recommend buying gold, but that would be “donkey business”. For the remnant, I strongly suggest that when the tally becomes available, printing out the list of yeas and bringing it along when voting. This wound in our backs is not going to heal as long as the knife keeps going in."

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll674.xml

I'm going to actually do a little research on this matter and see if I can find the corresponding Senate vote on this. I'm not sure if it's actually come up in the Senate yet, although I should know, after majoring in PoliSci and all, but unfortunately the only thing I took away from my classes in legislative procedure is that it's intentionally opaque to keep the unwashed in the dark; in fact, being unwashed in the dark pretty much describes my undergraduate years, now that I recall. Anyway, I'm interested to know how Senator Webb voted, since I made a point of voting for him in the primary and general elections. I never expected much of him as a Dem, anyway, but that's the good thing about being a pessimist; any surprise is got to be good, and besides, I feel pretty much the same about Repubs now. The fact is, most of those on the the nay list should be voted out anyway, because of the Iraq thing, but that's unfortunately become ancient history, and we need to focus on this bailout because after the election begins round two.

BTW; what a surprise to see my Rep., Tom Davis, on the rat list. A final FY to cap his career of phony Republican, big government arselicher. (He had already decided not to run - the Republican brand had “lost it’s shelf appeal” or some such bs). Now he can take his congressional pension and go back to destroying the country as a full time private sector defense contractor lawyer and part-time homewrecker. God I hate that guy.

What the heck have I been doing?and was it worth it?

Best. Candidate. Ever.

There is still some talk of a third-party Ron Paul run, an idea I favor, although he has pretty much ruled it out. He is right to concentrate on his house seat, mostly to keep his ideas in play. One divided by four hundred thirty six is not much but it's not zero.

The calculus changes considerably if Paul (and/or Walter Jones) loses his House primary. There will then be exactly zero Constitutional Republicans in power nationally. The system has already won; however the Ron Paul candidacy was “worth” the expense, in that

a. it messed up the script for the primary charade only being open to pre-approved candidates.
b. completely exposed the corruption of the MSM being in on the charade
c. re-introduced the concept of the Constitution as law that applies directly to our biggest problems, war and the economy, a concept that may prove useful in the near future.
d. took out Rudy, although he was able to lateral the 911 whistle to McCain
e. gave the Republicans the last possible benefit-of-doubt: they blew it.
f. showed how a gentleman conducts himself.

If he loses the House primary, he will be free of any imaginary debt to the Republican Party, or perceived duty to his donors and volunteers.  He could easily justify retiring, having done more in either of his careers than most men do in one.  I'd like to see another moneybomb as a thank you/retirement gesture.  If it were big enough it might tempt someone into one more tilt at the windmill, before the damned thing shakes itself apart.

Bob Barr - Good Enough for Government Work

From Antiwar Blog:

(Ex. Congressman) Bob "Barr is rumored to be considering a Libertarian Party run for President this November. The LP nominating convention will be held in late May." I was a big fan of Congressional Republicans circa. 1995, not so much by circa 2000. My impression was that he was one of the few that didn't get all gooey when they were no longer in opposition. I'm not sure if he was beaten at some point or he just quit and if he did, more power to him. In any case he would make a better president than anyone running, ERP. Speaking of whom,

Ron Paul's House primary is in two weeks, according to his page
(give him $50.00 while you're there)

If, God forbid, he lost the primary, how would that effect the overall equation?
Would anyone care that he almost promised that he wouldn't run as a third party candidate? I wouldn't mind seeing Paul/Barr on both Lib and Const. tickets, but I could live with Barr/(Paul Craig) Roberts. (for instance)

It's somewhat unlikely that a third party might win, and that the most likely outcome is to help elect the democrat; Okay by me. I fail to see how one liberal Senator could be worse than another, and there is a (very) faint chance that Obama might (three-and-a-half years, like Nixon) pull out of Iraq. Besides, they will be out of money and probably in a depression. McCain needs to lose because he will be able continue Bush's policies without effective opposition. A Democrat will not.

Last One Out that can figure out how, Get the Lights

From a comment over at Half-Sigma:

"...why is a Depression necessarily bad? If you're intelligent, you've already paid off your house and have enough money to live off for the next decade. It's not my problem if most people can't save a dime and live off credit.
I don't think it would be a bad thing to see useless bankers jumping from windows and pompous Lexus-renting suburbanites in soup lines. I think the US deserves a depression."

Really. Unless you own stock in Goldman, why should you give a shit if it collapsed. We're screwed when they manipulate the interest rate, blued when they inflate the money supply and tattood when they bail out the (supposedly) private institutions that fail, and if you don't like it - "Dude, don't you love your fellow countryman?" That's the real reason the GOP hates us Paultards; nobody likes a smart-ass, especially when he's right about every goddam detail.

The Fed was sold to us as a way to prevent bank panics; depositors not being able to get their savings out. What savings? We have net negative savings because we already earn less in interest than inflation and the entire system depends on the government loaning money to the banks at even lower rates. Why shouldn't we eliminate the middle man and just borrow directly from the government? Better yet, why shouldn't we all just have government jobs and pensions with free healthcare and broadband so we can telecommute, and then get bailed out if we still can't make ends meet after we get our stimulus rebate and mortgage moratorium?

What's really mystifying is that there enough Americans smart enough to fill out the loan forms.
Schmucks