A man he was who tried to bring justice

As Greenwald here has told the tale to us.

But Spitzer went and had consensu'l sex

And all the wingnuts howled, "his home he wrecks!

Oh God! his wand'ring dick, it's such a sin,

To corporate crime there's no comparison."

And so Spitzer's crime busting work was stopped

While AIG's bad risks could not be topped

And now all fools should see in wise hindsight

That Glenn Greenwald most certainly was right

In pointing out that this one man's pleasure

Cannot compare to looting of treasure

By corporations who lack public trust

And whose rapacious acts the public must

Bring to an end as much the greater "sin"

And toss the Congress in the same dustbin.

This country is taking corruption, of every type and flavor, to a new galactic high.

I can vouch for the accuracy of this statement. I am well-versed in the intricacies of intergalactic politics among the Klingons, the Cardassians, the Daleks, the Wraith, the Vulcans, Tybo the Talking Carrot and the Rebellious Vegetables, the Kylothians, and even the Reavers, but never have I seen such goings on.

(from sysprog's letter) He writes:

"But didn't these 'highly expert people' basically destroy your company?" I ask.

Pretto protests, says this isn't fair. The employees at AIGFP have already taken pay cuts, she says. Not retaining them would dilute the value of the company even further, make it harder to wrap up the unit's operations in an orderly fashion.

This is another fantastic example of how laissez-faire assholes worship the Free Market all the time, except when they don't. I am sure that in other circumstances, Pretto would be talking about how the labor market is fluid and how workers sell their labor and employers are free to choose the best of the best from the labor pool and people who work hard can go far and la de dah and wings take dream. So, when a company moves its entire plant to Mexico, for example, dumping all of its workers, that doesn't "dilute" the value of the company?

Anyway, I like to read Taibbi. I still laugh when I think of this comment of his:

When Obama picked Tom Daschle to be the HHS Secretary, I nearly shit my pants. In Washington there are whores and there are whores, and then there is Tom Daschle. Tom Daschle would suck off a corpse for a cheeseburger.

If I were the LW, I'd think twice about the boyfriend. That he is demanding his family gets precisely their 50 per cent suggests that he is going to turn out to be just as controlling as his father. The whole scene gives me the willies.

I think our presidential candidates must instead prove that they have spent significant amounts of time in other parts of the world, and not on cushy diplomatic trips; even better, that they've lived for a time among average people in other countries.

I think that Obama's background has contributed to his refreshing take on international relations, at least in this instance.

I confess I am still a bit surprised about this, especially after his talk to AIPAC during the primaries, and his belligerent sounds at the inauguration. Wow.

That's bad news. What were the reasons given for the banning of Galloway?

Cripes, and Canada just let terrist George Bush in the country, despite loud opposition from that lawyers' group (sorry, I can't remember their name) and citizens, etc.

I'll so have what their not having, too!

Great line. I have to steal it from you for future use.

PDA:

They are armed to the tits.

Truly! You'd think that they were as weak as a kitten with all the pearl clutching from the idiocracy.

From AP:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad . . . has said Iran would welcome talks with the U.S. — but only if there was mutual respect. Iranian officials say that means Washington must stop accusing Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism, charges Tehran denies.

On Friday, an Ahmadinejad adviser played down Obama's video, saying "minor changes will not end the differences" between Tehran and Washington.

"Obama has talked of change but has taken no practical measures to address America's past mistakes in Iran. If Mr. Obama takes concrete actions and makes fundamental changes in U.S. foreign policy toward other nations including Iran, the Iranian government and people will not turn their back on him," press adviser Ali Akbar Javanfekr told the state-run English-language Press TV satellite station.

...

At the least, Obama's overtures put pressure on hard-liners to justify their anti-American stance to Iranians, said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Previously, the hard-liners have been able to blame the impasse on Bush, who was widely unpopular in Iran.

"Rather than tip the scales in favor of (hard-line) radicals, as the Bush administration did, I think Obama's efforts at diplomacy will undermine them and puncture their narrative of a hostile U.S. government bent on oppressing Iran," Sadjadpour said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jVPq_niez7THUHLUXdl7rtCM0FoQD971VQ701

If only the Anti-Appeasement Brigade could rationally analyze cause and effect in the same way that Sadjadpour does.