Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the sphere… The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble
[1]This is the ‘Gee, you’re smart” edition.
- Irony, but no starchy: I note Michael Barone this morning [2], pointing out that Obama proposes to use the unregulated industres to bail out the regulated ones.
I haven’t commented on Timothy Geithner’s plan, the one promised for February 10 and delivered on March 23, to clear out the toxic waste assets from the banks and other financial institutions that hold them. I hope it works, and I fear that it won’t. But this isn’t my area of expertise and I’m not confident enough to make any predictions. I note with interest that it’s being attacked, and being defended, by people on the left and people on the right.But I have noticed what I think is a paradox in the Geithner plan. He is asking the most unregulated parts of the financial system—hedge funds, private equity firms—to bail out the most regulated part of the financial system—the banks. With government help, or subsidy, of course. But of course the government isn’t really regulated either, is it? Except, I suppose, through the political process.
The obvious questions are, why the unregulated businesses are doing better… well enough in fact to the point where they propose doing soemthing like this. Could it be that the reason the regulated businesses are in trouble is… (gasp!)… Regulation?!!?!?! We are forever hearing from the left that the problems we are in just now are the direct result of insufficient regulation. If that’s true, then why are businesses are in trouble to the exact degree that they are governmentally controlled? Trust me, you’ll not get a straight answer out of Democrats on that one. Ever.
- That’s gonna leave a mark: I Rambled about the murder of George Weber of WABC fame the other day. The situation has taken a rather odd turn. According to the NY Daily News [3]:
A 16-year-old confessed to stabbing WABC newsman George Weber during a drugged-up date with the older man, police sources said Wednesday.The emotionally disturbed teenager was arrested early Wednesday morning after he admitted to cops that he had answered an ad Weber placed on the Internet looking for a partner in rough sex, police and law enforcements sources said.
“He saw the victim’s ad looking for violent sex and said “I can smother somebody for $60″ but it got out of hand,” a source said.
Yikes. The things they advertise on Craigslist, these days. I expect those of us in the north east will be hearing about this rather a lot as it moves forward.
- Headline of the day honors go to Drudge: Sperm bank offers stimulus deals… [4]
- TOTUS:Gone, but…. Oh, wait. So, what we saw last night on national TV was the president working without a teleprompter. What we didn’t see was that the thing had been replaced by a huge flat screen at the back of the room [5], with the teleprompter text on it. Now, ask yourself, why would Obama want to hide the thing? Maybe because someone would get the false impression he’d been ‘robbed’ of the teleprompter’s aid [6], and was therefore smart enough to work on his own? Well, he wasn’t robbed, and clearly, he wasn’t smart enough, either. Even when he really wasn’t delivering all that much new. [7] ( Here’s a Transcript [8]… You know, I can remember a time when parsing this stuff [9]just so you could understand what was what, wasn’t needful. )
- Shouting ‘Theatre” in a burning firehouse: So, Obama wants to have an online townhall [10], where Joe and Jane Lunchpail can ask questions. Do you suppose there’s even a chance that any real questions will get through? I don’t, either. This is Obama in campaign mode, and as the bit with the teleprompter shows us clearly, he can’t deal with anything that doesn’t mesh exactly with the mantra. [11]This stuff isn’t even good political theatre, anymore… if that ever was a good thing.
- Slip sliding away: Zogby’s polling [12]is still showing Obama dropping. Too early for last night’s presser to affect these numbers, frankly, but you know the speed with which this was laid on last night is in direct response to the drop.It’s why Obama’s people ahve retreated to the more freindly confines of campaign mode. If Zogby is seeing it, you know Obama’s internals are showing it more.
- I noted without commenting on it, that Arlen Specter had decided to vote against Card Check’ [13] ‘until the economy improves’. Way to stand on principle’ I thought. Clearly the move was an expediant one, not a principled one. Now we understand why.
Apparently paying a political price for his support of President Barack Obama’s Stimulus Plan, longtime Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter trails former Congressman Pat Toomey 41 – 27 percent in a Republican primary for the 2010 Senate race, with 28 percent undecided, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
Go ahead. Tell me again how the Tea Parties aren’t having an effect. If the total effect of the tea party movement is to get Arlen Specter out of office, it will have served a noble purpose. Bruce McQuain [14]has me nodding agreement on this topic.