What can you say ... Clinton, Edwards, Gore ... and liberal women want the gals to take one for the team !
Byron York article: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Sex-complaint-against-Gore-is-detailed_-credible-97329474.html
The allegation that Al Gore sexually assaulted a woman in a Portland, Ore., hotel room nearly four years ago has dealt a serious blow to the former vice president's story that he and wife Tipper simply "grew apart" after 40 years of marriage.
The police report of the masseuse's complaint is 73 pages long and extremely detailed. According to the document, she got a call from the front desk of the trendy Hotel Lucia on the night of Oct. 24, 2006. The hotel had a special guest. Could she come at 10:30 p.m.?
She went to Gore's room carrying a folding massage table and other equipment. Gore, whom she had never met, greeted her with a warm embrace. "The hug went on a bit long, and I was taken just a bit aback by it," the masseuse told police. But she went along because Gore "was a VIP and a powerful individual and the Hotel Lucia had made it clear to me by inference that they were giving him 'the royal treatment.'"
Gore said he was tired from travel and described in detail the massage he wanted. It included work on the adductor muscles, which are on the inside of the thighs. "I mentally noted that a request for adductor work is a bit unusual," the masseuse told police, because it can be "a precursor to inappropriate behavior by a male client."
Gore also requested work on his abdomen. When that began, "He became somewhat vocal with muffled moans, etc.," the masseuse recounted. Gore then "demand[ed] that I go lower." When she remained focused on a "safe, nonsexual" area, Gore grew "angry, becoming verbally sharp and loud."
The masseuse asked Gore what he wanted. "He grabbed my right hand, shoved it down under the sheet to his pubic hair area, my fingers brushing against his penis," she recalled, "and said to me, 'There!' in a very sharp, loud, angry-sounding tone." When she pulled back, Gore "angrily raged" and "bellowed" at her.
Then, abruptly, the former vice president changed tone. It was "as though he had very suddenly switched personalities," she recalled, "and began in a pleading tone, pleading for release of his second chakra there."
"Chakra," in Gore's new-agey jargon, refers to the body's "energy centers," which the masseuse interpreted as having a specific meaning. "This was yet another euphemism for sexual activity he was requesting," she told police, "put cleverly as though it were a spiritual request or something."
She wanted to end the session, but Gore "wrapped me in an inescapable embrace" and "caressed my back and buttocks and breasts." She tried to get away -- in the process calling Gore a "crazed sex poodle" -- but the former vice president was too strong for her.
A little later, she said, Gore produced a bottle of brandy and mentioned there were condoms in the "treat box" provided by the hotel. "He then forced an open mouth kiss on me," she said.
At that moment, the masseuse brought up Gore's long marriage. "How do you rectify this with your wife?" she asked. That brought on another "quick shift" in Gore's mood. "I never saw anybody's moods just go like this," the masseuse told police, snapping her fingers.
The accuser said Gore maneuvered her into the bedroom. His iPod docking station was there, he told her, and he wanted her to listen to "Dear Mr. President," a lachrymose attack on George W. Bush by the singer Pink.
"As soon as he had it playing, he turned to me and immediately flipped me flat on my back and threw his whole body face down over atop of me," she said. "I was just shocked at his craziness."
"He pleaded, grabbed me, engulfed me in embrace, tongue kissed me, massaged me, groped by breasts and painfully squeezed my nipples through my clothing, pressed his pelvis against mine, rubbed my buttocks with his hands and fingers and rubbed himself against my crotch, saying, 'You know you want to do it.'"
Finally she got away. Later, she talked to friends, liberals like herself, who advised against telling police. One asked her "to just suck it up; otherwise, the world's going to be destroyed from global warming."
She got a lawyer and made an appointment to talk with authorities. She canceled and did not tell police until January 2009 and even then did not press charges.
In 2007, a Portland paper learned what had happened. Gore's lawyers called the story "absolutely false," and it wasn't published.
Now the National Enquirer has made the police report public. And Gore's family-man image will never be the same.
Byron York, The Examiner's chief political correspondent, can be contacted at byork@washingtonexaminer.com.
Take One for the Team [Mark Krikorian]
Of all the terrible details in Byron York's column on the 73-page police complaint by the masseuse assaulted by Al Gore, the most interesting, politically, was this:
Finally she got away. Later, she talked to friends, liberals like herself, who advised against telling police. One asked her "to just suck it up; otherwise, the world's going to be destroyed from global warming."
Annals of American Greatness [Jay Nordlinger]
In Byron’s piece on the Gore stuff, we read this: “Later, she talked to friends, liberals like herself, who advised against telling police. One asked her ‘to just suck it up; otherwise, the world’s going to be destroyed from global warming.’”
That reminded me of a great hit from the Lewinsky era. Time magazine’s Nina Burleigh said, “I would be happy to give him” — Bill Clinton — “[oral sex] just to thank him for keeping abortion legal. I think American women should be lining up with their presidential kneepads on to show their gratitude for keeping the theocracy off our backs.”
And let me also remember Gus Savage, the Chicago congressman who set himself on a Peace Corps volunteer — black, like the congressman himself — in Zaire. He said, “Oh, come on, baby, when you help the shepherd, you help the whole flock.” He also said, if she submitted to him, she would be helping “the movement.” Later, when the young woman reported the congressman’s actions, he called her “a traitor to the black movement.”
Savage was voted out of office — in favor of Mel Reynolds, who was later arrested for preying on underage girls. Oh, well. America the Beautiful. America the Screwed Up.
ADDENDUM: I see that Mark Krikorian beat me to the Gore-masseuse punch. Byron did indeed report a “terrible detail” — but, as I’ve said, one with kindred details in recent history. What a crazy nexus, the one between ideology and sex.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Obama Screws Up Russia Policy (Stalin, now he had Good Hair !)
Charles K. On the Obama administration’s resetting of relations with Russia:
The president speaks about the new relationship and how low the relationship was when he came into office — as if George Bush had some kind of genetic aversion to Russians. The reason our relations with Russia were low is because Russia invaded Georgia — a friend of ours, an ally, a small country — and detached two of its provinces against international law, which Obama, incidentally, says he believes in.
Now, the reason relations were cold is we wanted the Russians to pay a price. Now, we weren't going to send soldiers, but we froze our relations and denied them certain advantages.
Obama has no conception of making anybody pay a price. As you heard in that little address [yesterday with Medvedev], he said we disagree on Georgia as if it's some incidental issue, dismisses it.
Elsewhere what does he do? He gives the Russians a victory in Eastern Europe when he cancels the missile defense system — again no price, a freebie [to Russia].
The Russians are delighted with the relationship. It's all take, no give. And Obama thinks this is a great advance for the United States. . . .
When I heard [in the press conference, Obama use] the phrase "The Great Patriotic War," I was stunned. The tone of this relationship if you watch the press conference — it was Obama, the United States as the supplicant, as if the Russians were the superpower.
“The Great Patriotic War” is the word that Stalin invented for the Second World War after Hitler betrayed him on the Hitler-Stalin pact, which had been an agreement between Russia — the Soviet Union — and Nazi Germany to divide Europe between them.
It's like calling the leader of Iran the Supreme Leader or referring to [Iran] as the Islamic Republic [of Iran]. Obama does that as a way to ingratiate himself. You have to ask yourself, why?
President Obama’s Failed ‘Reset’ with Russia [Jamie M. Fly]
On the occasion of Russian president Medvedev’s visit to the White House yesterday, President Obama tried to argue that his “reset” of relations with Moscow has moved the U.S.-Russian relationship into a new post–Cold War era.
President Medvedev’s trip to the United States was rife with talk of technology cooperation and modernization of the Russian economy that overshadowed real questions about the success of the administration’s “reset.” As my organization, the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), pointed out in an FPI Analysis released on Tuesday, “The supposed successes of the ‘reset’ related to arms control, Iran, and Afghanistan have been limited and the United States has paid the heavy price of alienating key allies in Central and Eastern Europe and those fighting for human rights and enhanced freedoms on the streets of Russian cities.”
Instead of engaging in an honest debate about its Russia policy, the administration and its allies are intent on depicting critics of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and of the broader “reset” as out of touch Cold warriors. In a piece by Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin, administration officials mocked Sen. DeMint’s recent criticism of the administration’s new arms-control agreement with Russia, which faces an uncertain fate in the U.S. Senate.
At the FPI event where those remarks were made, Sen. DeMint rightly pointed out that Russia and the United States have different obligations — Russia being “a threat to many but a protector of none” and the United States being “a protector of many and a threat to none.” DeMint also emphasized that he wants “a good relationship with Russia, but understanding their political environment right now, the only way we can work with them is to demonstrate that we have the resolve, the commitment, and the strength to back up what we say.”
This is a concept that the Obama administration has shown itself unable or unwilling to grasp as it has rushed to grant every possible concession to Moscow in an effort to obtain a new arms-control agreement. Despite the visit to a burger joint, talk about Russian economic modernization, and supposed civil-society cooperation, President Obama’s relationship with President Medvedev has been defined by one thing: arms control.
If Russia were truly ready for a “reset,” President Obama would be able to express concerns about political repression, the rule of law, and Russia’s policies towards its neighbors without risking the collapse of the relationship. President Obama has shown no willingness to broaden his engagement with Moscow to include such issues. Unlike President Reagan’s engagement with Moscow on arms control, which was coupled with criticism of the Soviet Union’s repression of its citizens, this administration has stood by while the situation in Russia deteriorates.
They, not critics like Senator DeMint, are the real Cold Warriors.
— Jamie M. Fly is executive director of the Foreign Policy Initiative.
The president speaks about the new relationship and how low the relationship was when he came into office — as if George Bush had some kind of genetic aversion to Russians. The reason our relations with Russia were low is because Russia invaded Georgia — a friend of ours, an ally, a small country — and detached two of its provinces against international law, which Obama, incidentally, says he believes in.
Now, the reason relations were cold is we wanted the Russians to pay a price. Now, we weren't going to send soldiers, but we froze our relations and denied them certain advantages.
Obama has no conception of making anybody pay a price. As you heard in that little address [yesterday with Medvedev], he said we disagree on Georgia as if it's some incidental issue, dismisses it.
Elsewhere what does he do? He gives the Russians a victory in Eastern Europe when he cancels the missile defense system — again no price, a freebie [to Russia].
The Russians are delighted with the relationship. It's all take, no give. And Obama thinks this is a great advance for the United States. . . .
When I heard [in the press conference, Obama use] the phrase "The Great Patriotic War," I was stunned. The tone of this relationship if you watch the press conference — it was Obama, the United States as the supplicant, as if the Russians were the superpower.
“The Great Patriotic War” is the word that Stalin invented for the Second World War after Hitler betrayed him on the Hitler-Stalin pact, which had been an agreement between Russia — the Soviet Union — and Nazi Germany to divide Europe between them.
It's like calling the leader of Iran the Supreme Leader or referring to [Iran] as the Islamic Republic [of Iran]. Obama does that as a way to ingratiate himself. You have to ask yourself, why?
President Obama’s Failed ‘Reset’ with Russia [Jamie M. Fly]
On the occasion of Russian president Medvedev’s visit to the White House yesterday, President Obama tried to argue that his “reset” of relations with Moscow has moved the U.S.-Russian relationship into a new post–Cold War era.
President Medvedev’s trip to the United States was rife with talk of technology cooperation and modernization of the Russian economy that overshadowed real questions about the success of the administration’s “reset.” As my organization, the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), pointed out in an FPI Analysis released on Tuesday, “The supposed successes of the ‘reset’ related to arms control, Iran, and Afghanistan have been limited and the United States has paid the heavy price of alienating key allies in Central and Eastern Europe and those fighting for human rights and enhanced freedoms on the streets of Russian cities.”
Instead of engaging in an honest debate about its Russia policy, the administration and its allies are intent on depicting critics of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and of the broader “reset” as out of touch Cold warriors. In a piece by Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin, administration officials mocked Sen. DeMint’s recent criticism of the administration’s new arms-control agreement with Russia, which faces an uncertain fate in the U.S. Senate.
At the FPI event where those remarks were made, Sen. DeMint rightly pointed out that Russia and the United States have different obligations — Russia being “a threat to many but a protector of none” and the United States being “a protector of many and a threat to none.” DeMint also emphasized that he wants “a good relationship with Russia, but understanding their political environment right now, the only way we can work with them is to demonstrate that we have the resolve, the commitment, and the strength to back up what we say.”
This is a concept that the Obama administration has shown itself unable or unwilling to grasp as it has rushed to grant every possible concession to Moscow in an effort to obtain a new arms-control agreement. Despite the visit to a burger joint, talk about Russian economic modernization, and supposed civil-society cooperation, President Obama’s relationship with President Medvedev has been defined by one thing: arms control.
If Russia were truly ready for a “reset,” President Obama would be able to express concerns about political repression, the rule of law, and Russia’s policies towards its neighbors without risking the collapse of the relationship. President Obama has shown no willingness to broaden his engagement with Moscow to include such issues. Unlike President Reagan’s engagement with Moscow on arms control, which was coupled with criticism of the Soviet Union’s repression of its citizens, this administration has stood by while the situation in Russia deteriorates.
They, not critics like Senator DeMint, are the real Cold Warriors.
— Jamie M. Fly is executive director of the Foreign Policy Initiative.
O Canada ! G-20 Anarchists Trash Toronto; Police Watch
Spectators in Body Armor [Mark Steyn]
I may have to revise my old line about the British police being "the most monumentally useless in the developed world". For the G20 summit, the Toronto coppers ordered up a ton of new body armor, weaponry, gas masks, etc - and then stood around in their state-of-the-art riot gear watching as a bunch of middle-class "anarchists" trashed the city. Streetcars were left abandoned, and even police cruisers were seized, vandalized and burned. But hey, it's the taxpayers who pay for 'em, right? And I'm sure they'll have replacements ready when Constable Plod needs to drive over to Tim Hortons for his mid-morning Boston Creme.
As it happens, I wrote about the increasing indifference of the northern constabulary to the Queen's peace at the time of the Ann Coulter riot a few weeks ago:
As for Ottawa’s coppers, they certainly demonstrated that famously Canadian “restraint.” Faced with a law-abiding group engaging in legal activity and a bunch of thugs trying to prevent it, the police declined to maintain order. As George Jonas wrote, “Ottawa’s finest exemplified Canada’s definition of moral leadership by observing neutrality between lawful and lawless...”
There's a lot of that about. I referenced the bizarre incident in which the Finance Minister of Ontario was attacked during a public television taping:
As in Ottawa, law enforcement declined to enforce the law, the OPP remaining in the wings as thugs rushed the stage. “The police, I’m told, were urged not to intervene,” Paikin explained, “lest pictures of demonstrators being hauled off by the cops show up all over YouTube.”
True. You might haul off a Muslim or a lesbian and find yourself in “human rights” hell. Better just to linger nonchalantly by the side until it’s all over: O Canada, we stand around for thee. Her Majesty’s Constabulary seem to be sending the message that violence pays—at least for approved identity groups. That doesn’t seem a prudent strategy.
As we see. The Toronto PD are your go-to guys if you want a fetching police escort for the Queers Against Israeli Apartheid float in the Pride Parade, but they don't otherwise seem to perform any useful function. David Miller, the city's brain-dead mayor, can usually be relied upon for a fatuous soundbite.
In this case, he offered:
This isn't our Toronto.
Er, actually, it is. Try looking out the window. This wasn't quite as hilarious as his response to NPR's Renee Montagne after 18 Toronto Muslims were arrested for plotting to behead the Prime Minister and blow up Parliament:
"More than half of the people who live in Toronto, including myself, were not born in Canada. And I think that's why Canada works."
"Although it didn't work in this case," Ms. Montagne pointed out, somewhat maliciously.
And now it hasn't worked again. This comment seems more relevant than any of Hizzoner's:
Any city that stands aside to photograph itself burning - deserves to.
Keystone Kanuck Kops [Mark Steyn]
More fun from the G20 summit:
Having stood by watching as a mob trashed downtown businesses (and their own cruisers), the peculiarly insecure dweebs of the Toronto police are now threatening law-abiding passers-by (that would be Cop#3478) and beating up Guardian reporters:
Steve Paikin, a prominent Toronto journalist said that he was escorted away by two police officers who saw his government-issued summit media credentials. He was advised that if he stayed he would be arrested.
As he was being taken away, Mr. Paikin said he saw another journalist, Jesse Rosenfeld, a contributor to the Guardian website, showing his identification to two police officers. At that point, according to Mr. Paikin, each of them took one of Mr. Rosenfeld’s arm as a third police officer, wearing a t-shirt and shorts, punched the reporter in the stomach. After Mr. Rosenfeld fell to the ground, the third officer jabbed an elbow into his back. Mr. Paikin said.
Memo to al-Qa'eda: This would be a really great night to blow up the CN Tower. The billion-dollar security presence will be too busy clubbing the BBC correspondent and working over the gal from Le Monde to notice.
Old Canadian police motto: The Mounties always get their man.
New Canadian police motto: The Mounties always get their Guardian reporter. Frankly, it's a lot easier.
John Hinderaker asks a good question.
06/27 09:19 PM
I may have to revise my old line about the British police being "the most monumentally useless in the developed world". For the G20 summit, the Toronto coppers ordered up a ton of new body armor, weaponry, gas masks, etc - and then stood around in their state-of-the-art riot gear watching as a bunch of middle-class "anarchists" trashed the city. Streetcars were left abandoned, and even police cruisers were seized, vandalized and burned. But hey, it's the taxpayers who pay for 'em, right? And I'm sure they'll have replacements ready when Constable Plod needs to drive over to Tim Hortons for his mid-morning Boston Creme.
As it happens, I wrote about the increasing indifference of the northern constabulary to the Queen's peace at the time of the Ann Coulter riot a few weeks ago:
As for Ottawa’s coppers, they certainly demonstrated that famously Canadian “restraint.” Faced with a law-abiding group engaging in legal activity and a bunch of thugs trying to prevent it, the police declined to maintain order. As George Jonas wrote, “Ottawa’s finest exemplified Canada’s definition of moral leadership by observing neutrality between lawful and lawless...”
There's a lot of that about. I referenced the bizarre incident in which the Finance Minister of Ontario was attacked during a public television taping:
As in Ottawa, law enforcement declined to enforce the law, the OPP remaining in the wings as thugs rushed the stage. “The police, I’m told, were urged not to intervene,” Paikin explained, “lest pictures of demonstrators being hauled off by the cops show up all over YouTube.”
True. You might haul off a Muslim or a lesbian and find yourself in “human rights” hell. Better just to linger nonchalantly by the side until it’s all over: O Canada, we stand around for thee. Her Majesty’s Constabulary seem to be sending the message that violence pays—at least for approved identity groups. That doesn’t seem a prudent strategy.
As we see. The Toronto PD are your go-to guys if you want a fetching police escort for the Queers Against Israeli Apartheid float in the Pride Parade, but they don't otherwise seem to perform any useful function. David Miller, the city's brain-dead mayor, can usually be relied upon for a fatuous soundbite.
In this case, he offered:
This isn't our Toronto.
Er, actually, it is. Try looking out the window. This wasn't quite as hilarious as his response to NPR's Renee Montagne after 18 Toronto Muslims were arrested for plotting to behead the Prime Minister and blow up Parliament:
"More than half of the people who live in Toronto, including myself, were not born in Canada. And I think that's why Canada works."
"Although it didn't work in this case," Ms. Montagne pointed out, somewhat maliciously.
And now it hasn't worked again. This comment seems more relevant than any of Hizzoner's:
Any city that stands aside to photograph itself burning - deserves to.
Keystone Kanuck Kops [Mark Steyn]
More fun from the G20 summit:
Having stood by watching as a mob trashed downtown businesses (and their own cruisers), the peculiarly insecure dweebs of the Toronto police are now threatening law-abiding passers-by (that would be Cop#3478) and beating up Guardian reporters:
Steve Paikin, a prominent Toronto journalist said that he was escorted away by two police officers who saw his government-issued summit media credentials. He was advised that if he stayed he would be arrested.
As he was being taken away, Mr. Paikin said he saw another journalist, Jesse Rosenfeld, a contributor to the Guardian website, showing his identification to two police officers. At that point, according to Mr. Paikin, each of them took one of Mr. Rosenfeld’s arm as a third police officer, wearing a t-shirt and shorts, punched the reporter in the stomach. After Mr. Rosenfeld fell to the ground, the third officer jabbed an elbow into his back. Mr. Paikin said.
Memo to al-Qa'eda: This would be a really great night to blow up the CN Tower. The billion-dollar security presence will be too busy clubbing the BBC correspondent and working over the gal from Le Monde to notice.
Old Canadian police motto: The Mounties always get their man.
New Canadian police motto: The Mounties always get their Guardian reporter. Frankly, it's a lot easier.
John Hinderaker asks a good question.
06/27 09:19 PM
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Financial "Reform" - Another You Have to Pass the Bill to Find Out What's in it Moment ... ugh
Courtesy of those masters of disaster, outgoing Sen. Chris Dodd; and Barney "Fannie Freddie Not my fault and not my Marijuana" Frank.
The money quote:
Sen. Dodd: "No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we've done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done."
So, what did they do ?
‘Wall Street’ ‘Reform’ ‘Compromise’ Reached [Daniel Foster]
After a 20-hour all-nighter, the House/Senate conference committee struck an early morning deal on financial reform, setting up a final vote next week.
Why all the inverted commas? Well, there is much in the bill that has nothing to do with 'Wall Street' or the root causes of the crisis (i.e. debit card and interchange fee rules); there is little in it that will 'reform' too big to fail or change the incentives for the kind of behavior that led to the crisis (implicit subsidies and bailout authority galore); and it was a 'compromise' mostly between Democrats.
From WaPo:
A new consumer protection bureau housed in the Federal Reserve would have independent funding, an independent leader and near-total autonomy to write and enforce rules. The government would have broad new powers to seize and wind down large, failing financial firms and to oversee the $600-trillion derivatives market. In addition, a council of regulators, headed by the Treasury secretary, would monitor the financial landscape for potential systemic risks.
"The finish line is in sight. The bill that has emerged from conference is strong," Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said in a statement early Friday. "It will offer families the protections they deserve, help safeguard their financial security and give the businesses of American access to the credit they need to expand and innovate."
On the House side, the final tally was 20 to 11 to approve the conference committee's report. On the Senate side, it was 7 to 5. The votes fell along party lines, earning no support from Republicans on the two panels.
Why didn't Republicans support the measure? Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) sums it up:
"This legislation is a failure on both counts," Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) said in a statement that denounced the compromise as failing to address "shoddy underwriting practices" or problems with the government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. "It will not encourage much-needed stability and confidence in our financial markets. It will not significantly reduce systemic risk in our financial sector."
The conference report supposedly contains a weakened Volcker Rule and thoroughly-gutted derivatives language. Under that compromise, financial houses could continue interest rate, currency, gold and silver derivatives trading, as well as to hold derivatives that offset balance sheet risk. They are still required to "spin off only their riskiest derivatives trades, including particular forms of credit-default swaps, which are complex financial bets that exacerbated the financial crisis."
Prediction: if you thought financial instruments were complex before, wait until you get a load of the vehicles Wall Street will construct to get around these rules.
In addition, banks will have two years to spin-off their derivatives trading, and can retain the operations under independently capitalized affiliates. This latter might do some good if it keeps the riskiest products off the balance sheets of the biggest banks — effectively creating a good bank / bad bank situation in advance, instead of trying to do it on a sinking ship, as Lehman tried in September of 2008.
More on the bill as it becomes clearer, to be sure. But a parting thought from outgoing Sen. Chris Dodd (D., Conn.), a sequel to Nancy Pelosi's "pass the bill to find out what's in it."
"It's a great moment. I'm proud to have been here," said a teary-eyed Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee led the effort in the Senate. "No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we've done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done."
Indeed.
We've Heard This Song Before. We Were Forced into Starring Roles in the Video. [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Chris Dodd on his beloved banking legislation:
"It's a great moment. I'm proud to have been here," said a teary-eyed Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee led the effort in the Senate. "No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we've done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done."
I'm beginning to think all you need to do to win this November is convince voters you'll actually care to know what you're voting on before it becomes law. For the likes of Dodd and Pelosi, that appears to be beyond their paygrade.
Mark Calabria argues that the financial regulation bill should be rejected.
And then there is the media: Andrea Mitchell congratulated Barney Frank at the end of her interview with him on MSNBC, for all his hard work on the banking bill.
The money quote:
Sen. Dodd: "No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we've done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done."
So, what did they do ?
‘Wall Street’ ‘Reform’ ‘Compromise’ Reached [Daniel Foster]
After a 20-hour all-nighter, the House/Senate conference committee struck an early morning deal on financial reform, setting up a final vote next week.
Why all the inverted commas? Well, there is much in the bill that has nothing to do with 'Wall Street' or the root causes of the crisis (i.e. debit card and interchange fee rules); there is little in it that will 'reform' too big to fail or change the incentives for the kind of behavior that led to the crisis (implicit subsidies and bailout authority galore); and it was a 'compromise' mostly between Democrats.
From WaPo:
A new consumer protection bureau housed in the Federal Reserve would have independent funding, an independent leader and near-total autonomy to write and enforce rules. The government would have broad new powers to seize and wind down large, failing financial firms and to oversee the $600-trillion derivatives market. In addition, a council of regulators, headed by the Treasury secretary, would monitor the financial landscape for potential systemic risks.
"The finish line is in sight. The bill that has emerged from conference is strong," Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said in a statement early Friday. "It will offer families the protections they deserve, help safeguard their financial security and give the businesses of American access to the credit they need to expand and innovate."
On the House side, the final tally was 20 to 11 to approve the conference committee's report. On the Senate side, it was 7 to 5. The votes fell along party lines, earning no support from Republicans on the two panels.
Why didn't Republicans support the measure? Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) sums it up:
"This legislation is a failure on both counts," Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) said in a statement that denounced the compromise as failing to address "shoddy underwriting practices" or problems with the government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. "It will not encourage much-needed stability and confidence in our financial markets. It will not significantly reduce systemic risk in our financial sector."
The conference report supposedly contains a weakened Volcker Rule and thoroughly-gutted derivatives language. Under that compromise, financial houses could continue interest rate, currency, gold and silver derivatives trading, as well as to hold derivatives that offset balance sheet risk. They are still required to "spin off only their riskiest derivatives trades, including particular forms of credit-default swaps, which are complex financial bets that exacerbated the financial crisis."
Prediction: if you thought financial instruments were complex before, wait until you get a load of the vehicles Wall Street will construct to get around these rules.
In addition, banks will have two years to spin-off their derivatives trading, and can retain the operations under independently capitalized affiliates. This latter might do some good if it keeps the riskiest products off the balance sheets of the biggest banks — effectively creating a good bank / bad bank situation in advance, instead of trying to do it on a sinking ship, as Lehman tried in September of 2008.
More on the bill as it becomes clearer, to be sure. But a parting thought from outgoing Sen. Chris Dodd (D., Conn.), a sequel to Nancy Pelosi's "pass the bill to find out what's in it."
"It's a great moment. I'm proud to have been here," said a teary-eyed Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee led the effort in the Senate. "No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we've done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done."
Indeed.
We've Heard This Song Before. We Were Forced into Starring Roles in the Video. [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Chris Dodd on his beloved banking legislation:
"It's a great moment. I'm proud to have been here," said a teary-eyed Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee led the effort in the Senate. "No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we've done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done."
I'm beginning to think all you need to do to win this November is convince voters you'll actually care to know what you're voting on before it becomes law. For the likes of Dodd and Pelosi, that appears to be beyond their paygrade.
Mark Calabria argues that the financial regulation bill should be rejected.
And then there is the media: Andrea Mitchell congratulated Barney Frank at the end of her interview with him on MSNBC, for all his hard work on the banking bill.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Video worth watching re: Gaza Hate Boats / The Truth about the Mavi Marmara
A video about the Gaza flotilla incident, "Maritime Martyrs: The Truth about the Mavi Marmara," was produced by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for internal uses. A copy has been made available to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and can be viewed here.
What the video suggests will not surprise my readers:
The objective of the flotilla dispatched by the Free Gaza Organization and the Islamist IHH movement (Insani Yardim Vakfi) was not to provide humanitarian aid, it was to create a public relations dilemma for the Israelis as a way to break the embargo against the delivery of missiles and other weapons to Hamas.
What the video suggests will not surprise my readers:
The objective of the flotilla dispatched by the Free Gaza Organization and the Islamist IHH movement (Insani Yardim Vakfi) was not to provide humanitarian aid, it was to create a public relations dilemma for the Israelis as a way to break the embargo against the delivery of missiles and other weapons to Hamas.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
World Sees Obama As Incompetent And Amateur
Shocking, I know ...
Now They Tell Us [Mark Steyn]
From Mort Zuckerman:
World Sees Obama As Incompetent And Amateur
Most of what follows won't come as news to NR readers, but this is the nub of it:
The end result is that a critical mass of influential people in world affairs who once held high hopes for the president have begun to wonder whether they misjudged the man.
I touch on this very subject in my own column. The question is whether these "influential people" are sufficiently chastened to examine in any meaningful way which of their own biases caused them to think a community organizer with no executive experience and more memoirs than accomplishments was just what the world's superpower needed.
'Cause if all these "influential people" aren't up for a bit of self-analysis, golly, they might make the same mistake all over again next time round.
Now They Tell Us [Mark Steyn]
From Mort Zuckerman:
World Sees Obama As Incompetent And Amateur
Most of what follows won't come as news to NR readers, but this is the nub of it:
The end result is that a critical mass of influential people in world affairs who once held high hopes for the president have begun to wonder whether they misjudged the man.
I touch on this very subject in my own column. The question is whether these "influential people" are sufficiently chastened to examine in any meaningful way which of their own biases caused them to think a community organizer with no executive experience and more memoirs than accomplishments was just what the world's superpower needed.
'Cause if all these "influential people" aren't up for a bit of self-analysis, golly, they might make the same mistake all over again next time round.
Gaza Flotilla Hamas Terror Supporters Update
"We Con the World" [Andy McCarthy]
PJTV has made available Caroline Glick's "We Are the World" parody, dedicated to the "peace flotilla."
You should watch.
Also:
Video footage taken by shipboard cameras and released by the Israel Defense Forces shows activists suiting up in bulletproof vests and assaulting Israeli commandos with metal bars and clubs as they tried to board the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish “aid” ship Burney describes in his YouTube interview. Other footage, taken from Israeli helicopters, shows the “activists” assaulting an Israeli commando as he is rappelling down to the ship and tossing him off the deck of the ship. The primary weapon the Israeli commandos used during the boarding operation was a Tippman 98 Custom — a paintball gun.
Testimony one of the commandos released later described how the “activists” shot this commanding officer in the leg and stabbed him in the stomach before tossing him off the deck. Other “activists” on the lower deck then dragged the officer inside, taking a knife to expand the wound in his stomach. “They cut his ab muscles horizontally and by hand spilled his guts out,” the soldier said. “When they finished, they raised him up and walked him on the deck outside. He was conscious the whole time. If you are asking yourself why they did all that here comes the reason. They wanted to show the soldiers their commanders’ body so they will be demoralized and scared,” the soldier said. “Luckily, when they walked him on the deck, a soldier saw him and managed to shoot the activist that was walking him down the outside corridor. He shot him with a special non lethal bullet that didn’t kill him. My commander managed to jump from the deck to the water and swim to an army rescue boat (his guts still out of his body and now in salty sea water). That was how he was saved. The activists that did this to him are alive and now in Turkey and treated as heroes.”
PJTV has made available Caroline Glick's "We Are the World" parody, dedicated to the "peace flotilla."
You should watch.
Also:
Video footage taken by shipboard cameras and released by the Israel Defense Forces shows activists suiting up in bulletproof vests and assaulting Israeli commandos with metal bars and clubs as they tried to board the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish “aid” ship Burney describes in his YouTube interview. Other footage, taken from Israeli helicopters, shows the “activists” assaulting an Israeli commando as he is rappelling down to the ship and tossing him off the deck of the ship. The primary weapon the Israeli commandos used during the boarding operation was a Tippman 98 Custom — a paintball gun.
Testimony one of the commandos released later described how the “activists” shot this commanding officer in the leg and stabbed him in the stomach before tossing him off the deck. Other “activists” on the lower deck then dragged the officer inside, taking a knife to expand the wound in his stomach. “They cut his ab muscles horizontally and by hand spilled his guts out,” the soldier said. “When they finished, they raised him up and walked him on the deck outside. He was conscious the whole time. If you are asking yourself why they did all that here comes the reason. They wanted to show the soldiers their commanders’ body so they will be demoralized and scared,” the soldier said. “Luckily, when they walked him on the deck, a soldier saw him and managed to shoot the activist that was walking him down the outside corridor. He shot him with a special non lethal bullet that didn’t kill him. My commander managed to jump from the deck to the water and swim to an army rescue boat (his guts still out of his body and now in salty sea water). That was how he was saved. The activists that did this to him are alive and now in Turkey and treated as heroes.”
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