Here‘s a succinct account of the current difficulties big US financial firms are facing. It’s from Nuntii Latini, the Latin-language news service from Finnish radio.
And here is an argument that the bailout the treasury and Federal Reserve have proposed is, in the literal sense of a much-overused term, fascism.
And as usual, Tom Tomorrow has summed it all up quite well.
Posted by acilius on September 24, 2008
https://losthunderlads.com/2008/09/24/wall-street-bungles-and-bailouts/
Slate recently ran a feature about great political ads of the past that included a link to this site. Here‘s my all time favorite presidential campaign ad, as preserved there.
Posted by acilius on September 22, 2008
https://losthunderlads.com/2008/09/22/vote-for-mcgovern/
Ingredients:
Cooking oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 tablespoons curry powder (Use your judgment here. Too much of this stuff can have a strong effect, if you know what I mean. Fart sounds in background.)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 cube vegetable bouillon
10 ounces of frozen mixed vegetables
1.5 cups water
Salt and pepper as needed
In a pot or large saucepan over medium-high heat, saute your onions and garlic. Add your curry powder and tomato paste. Cook briefly for a couple minutes.
Now add diced tomatoes, vegetable bouillon cube, frozen mixed vegetables, and water. Salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
This easy recipe is a G.W. Bush favorite. I’ve made it several times, and all I can say is, you wouldn’t believe something so simple could be so hearty and flavorful. Potatoes might be a welcome addition, but it’s still great without them. I recommend adding some sort of meat. Last time, I took boneless skinless chicken breast fillets, grilled them in a George Foreman grill, chopped the cooked fillets into bits, and tossed the bits into the mix. Next time I might add in bite-size hunks of catfish while the curry simmers and see how that works. In any event, the vegetarian version (presented here and garnering our president’s enthusiastic approval) is a cheaper option and quite delicious. Make sure you have some nice fresh boiled rice on hand, Basmati or other. Additionally, I strongly recommend garnishing with big blobs of nonfat plain yoghurt and fresh chopped cilantro.
Posted by lefalcon on September 19, 2008
https://losthunderlads.com/2008/09/19/texas-air-national-guard-curry/
The theme of the issue is the importance of historianship; interesting pieces praise the historical works of David Hume, Edward Gibbon, and Ray Allen Billington.
Elsewhere in the magazine, William Watkins reports a case in Stoke-on-Trent, England, in which non-Muslim boys attending a state school were punished for refusing a teacher’s instruction to pray to Allah as part of a diversity lesson. Watkins is most disturbed that these boys must seek redress, not by appeal to the traditional rights of Englishmen, by under the European Convention on Human Rights. Here is a news story about the case; here is a news story about a deadly encounter between a Muslim man and his anti-Muslim neighbor in Stoke-on-Trent, suggesting why the school there may have been nervous about diversity issues.
Lefalcon’s idol Srdja Trifkovic takes the arrest of Radovan Karadzic as an opportunity to relate the recent history of the Balkans, demonstrating the plain falsity of much of the anti-Serb mythology Westerners have been fed since 1991. Read a slightly different version of Trifkovic’s article here.
Chilton Williamson, whose contributions lately have tended to be barely readable stories about preposterously stereotypical characters in Mexico, writes an 11 paragraph column, the first 10 of which are surprisingly cogent. He analyzes the notion of an “American Dream,” arguing that such a dream is “inherently inflationary, and therefore ultimately destructive.” Destructive not only of prosperity, but of the bonds of family, faith, and tradition. Just when it seems Williamson has abandoned his creepy racism and found a genuinely humanistic topic to explore, he concludes with a paragraph beginning “Barack Obama, the mulatto presidential nominee sprung from the loins of a white Kansas woman and a black man from Kenya, embodies the American Dream as it has been understood at least since James Truslow Adams’ day.”
Posted by acilius on September 12, 2008
https://losthunderlads.com/2008/09/12/chronicles-magazine-september-2008/
Via Counterpunch, a case that Sarah is the wrong Palin to send to Washington.
http://redstaterebels.org/2008/09/michael-palin-for-president/
Posted by acilius on September 12, 2008
https://losthunderlads.com/2008/09/12/the-wrong-palin/
From the 28 May edition of The Onion. Like everything that appears in The Onion, this article couldn’t possibly be as funny as its headline. But it is pretty funny.
CHICAGO—As the 2008 presidential election draws closer, Democrat Barack Obama has reportedly been working tirelessly with his top political strategists to perfect his looking-off-into-the-future pose, which many believe is vital to the success of the Illinois senator’s campaign.
When performed correctly, the pose involves Obama standing upright with his back arched and his chest thrust out, his shoulders positioned 1.3 feet apart and opened slightly at a 14-degree angle, and his eyes transfixed on a predetermined point between 500 and 600 yards away. Advisers say this creates the illusion that Obama is looking forward to a bright future, while the downturned corners of his lips indicate that he acknowledges the problems of the present.
Interactive Graphic
The Science of Inspirational Poses
Obama’s advisers have created a computer model to simulate the optimal looking-off-into-the-future pose.
“The senator spends six hours a day gazing resolutely off into the distance,” said chief political strategist David Axelrod, who regularly analyzes video of the pose with Obama, pinpoints areas that need improvement, and makes necessary tweaks.
“It is critical to get every detail right,” Axelrod continued. “If he looks up an inch too high, he appears aloof or confused. If he looks down too low, it appears that he is distracted by something in the back of the auditorium. If the curvature of his upper lip is not at the exact 0.87-centimeter radius, it reads that he does not care about preserving the environment for future generations.”
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/obama_practices_looking_off_into
Posted by acilius on September 12, 2008
https://losthunderlads.com/2008/09/12/barack-obama-practices-looking-off-into-the-future-pose/
Funny, she didn’t look like that on TV…
Posted by acilius on September 5, 2008
https://losthunderlads.com/2008/09/05/jacqueline-bouvier-kennedy-onassis/
From Politico.com, a view of the Republican ticket as they appeared in 2004.
Also, I keep waiting for somebody to pick up on Palin’s source for her “pit bull with lipstick” line. It’s been up on another candidate’s blog for a year or so. A female presidential candidate, with a female running mate, who has more than a little bit in common with the pair above…
http://www.theamericanparty.org/electtemplinandmoorein20041/
Oh, and here’s the same candidate making the same joke in 2004. http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2004-01-20/news_feat.html
Posted by acilius on September 5, 2008
https://losthunderlads.com/2008/09/05/deja-vu/
Here’s a funny picture from Wonkette.
Posted by acilius on September 4, 2008
https://losthunderlads.com/2008/09/04/juxtaposed-newspaper-articles/
Thanks to P the non-Thunderlad for calling this McCain thing to my attention.
Posted by acilius on August 29, 2008
https://losthunderlads.com/2008/08/29/mcmoney/
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