Gone Fishin

Too much laggard teabagging pessimism and ignorance around here.

Good luck America.

Enjoy the boom.

Don't forget that we're simply monkeys, floating on a rock through space

And at any moment, it could be over.

And one day, maybe sooner than you expected, you will die.

Enjoy your trip.

This just in - Tea Partiers are idiots

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

- Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963



Here it is folks.

Tea Partiers are idiots.

Sure, a few of 'em aren't. But damn, just look at these stats, and it should be fairly obvious, if you're not an idiot, that the teabaggers are idiots. Maybe the should rename the party as the Know Nothing Party.

I know it would have been a natural for readers of HousingPANIC to be teabaggers. Hell, that's what Dick Armey wanted when he got a hold of me, to support his astroturf Angry Renter blog. But I quickly saw that the Ron Paul tea party money bomb movement was being co-opted by Fox News, the GOP, Karl Rove, Roger Ailes, Sarah Palin, Dick Armey and essentially the very same bastards that got us into this mess, and no way no how was I going to support 'em.

And then I saw who was showing up at the Fox News Tea Party rallies. A bunch of wingnuts. Fox News viewers. Republicans. Conspiracy theorists. Ignoramuses. Idiots.

Be mad at deficit spending and taxes, but you better be against Social Security, Medicare and military spending too. And boy, I hope you don't support the Dick Armey Fox News teabaggers. I hope you don't support the bastards who got us into this mess - from either side of the aisle. And I hope you're not an idiot.

Here's some gems from the teabagger survey:

59% of Tea Partiers think Obama was born in another country or don't know

Two thirds of Tea Partiers said they had a favorable opinion of Palin, 59 percent have a favorable opinion of Beck. Fifty-seven percent think well of former Republican President George W. Bush

66% of teabaggers think global warming will have no impact. Seriously.

88% say the economic stimulus has had no impact on the economy - 36% said it actually made the economy worse. I guess they never took an econ 101 class. Or noticed the gdp numbers.

62% support Social Security. Idiots. They want low spending, low taxes, but DON'T CUT MY GOVERNMENT CHEESE!

89% are white. 1% are black. Surprise!

92% say that Obama is moving the country toward socialism

54% identify as belonging to the GOP while 41% claim to be Independents. Just 5% are Democrats

75% don't believe that the president shares the values of most Americans


[UPDATE - GOP operatives crash the tea party]

Looks like the Glenn Beck pessimism porn folks are in trouble: "How America pulled itself back from the brink—and why it's destined to stay on top"

One more time - HousingPANIC was about the shitstorm to come. And then it came. We crashed.

Soot & Ashes is about the world AFTER the crash.

March 2009 was the pivot.

We were pessimistic when the masses were optimistic. Now (some of us, especially those who read Manias, Panics and Crashes a few times) are optimistic, when the clueless masses are pessimistic.

Pivot.

Get out of your bunker.

Turn off Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Fox News.

We've got problems, but problems that can be solved. It was a hell of a storm, but storms pass. And if we're smart, we'll have learned some lessons, and we'll adjust.

Bottom line - I like America's chances.

Party time.

2011 - 2020.

But this one will be more tea and cookies, instead of hookers and cocaine.

And that's a good thing.





The Comeback Country

So what will our new economy look like once the smoke finally clears? There will likely be fewer McMansions with four-car garages and more well-insulated homes, fewer Hummers and more Chevy Volts, less proprietary trading and more productivity-enhancing software, less debt and more capital, more exported goods and less imported energy. Most significant, there will be new commercial infrastructures and industrial ecosystems that incubate and propel growth—much as the Internet did in the 1990s.

"A little learning is a dangerous thing"

"A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, 1709


You know, I don't think she knows that she's stupid.

And that's kinda funny, in a cute way, no?

And now a word from Lawrence Yun

If you suck really, really, really bad at what you do, don't you usually lose your job?

And if you own investment real estate, and then you go out in a professional capacity in public and pump real estate, shouldn't you at least have to legally disclose your holdings, and conflict of interest?

A special message to angry, teabagging, underemployed and unemployed Americans, whose fake housing "wealth" has disappeared:

This man didn't cause your problems.



This man did.



It may be convenient to blame the janitor for cleaning up the puke on the bathroom floor, but it would be stupid.

The "Ownership Society", corrupt deregulation and unchecked speculation and greed got us here. When we needed adults in charge, we got children. And of course, you're to blame too. You knew you couldn't afford that mortgage. And you should have known the home's P/E was out of whack.

Be angry, be upset. But look in the mirror, and look who was in charge when the problems could have been averted. To do otherwise is delusional.

"How to Get Dummies to Believe Fake Movements are Real"

Has SNL done one on Dick Armey and the tea party yet?

For the 16% of you here that self-identify as 'tea baggers', you are being conned. But deep down you probably know that anyway.

Imagine the worst. "al Qaeda are .. trying to secure a nuclear weapon -- a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at using"

Serious question - what would be the impact on humanity, and the future of world events, should terrorists set off a nuke in New York City? Or Mumbai? Or Paris? Or Moscow? And threatened that they had 5 more to go.

First, imagine that it happened.

What would be the impact? On the world economy. On how countries like India, Russia, China, the UK and the US dealt with foreign and domestic terrorists. On how people who lived in big cities felt and behaved. On political discourse in the US.

If one went off in Mumbai, would that be much different than one that went off in New York? Why? If one went off that killed 1 million, would that be much different than one that killed 10 million? Why? If one went off, who would be put to blame?

No jokes.

Because it's not a joke. With loose nukes and loose nuke material, combined with corrupt and incompetent government, military and science officials, the unimaginable could and should be imagined. And when Obama proposes increased efforts and funding to lock down nukes, and when the new START treaty with Russia comes to the Senate, those who oppose for political advantage or profit should be exposed.

It just takes one.





“We know that organizations like al Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure a nuclear weapon -- a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at using... If there was ever a detonation in New York City, or London, or Johannesburg, the ramifications economically, politically, and from a security perspective would be devastating.”

- President Obama, April 2010

You get one life.

Isn't life too short to be a realtor?

Isn't life too short to live in Newark. Or Detroit. Or Las Vegas?

Isn't life too short to be a tea bagger, or Fox News zombie?

Isn't life too short to spend it buying cheap crap you don't need at Walmart?

Jumping off cliffs in wing suits might be the answer for some. Raising a family and living a moral life might be the answer for others.

Just remember, life is short.

Enjoy it.

Republicans 2001 - 2008: the out-of-control, unregulated, drunk-on-power girl in the red dress. America 2010: the girl in white.

It's not just that the Republicans got out of control, and took the world down with them.

No, it's that everyone stood around and watched, and did nothing, until it was too late.

Watch out for girls in red dresses. After they sober up, and everyone's forgotten what they've done, they'll come right back another night and do it all again.

Watch out for girls in red dresses.

The Worst Town in America? "UNLV survey reveals 40 percent of Las Vegans would leave Nevada if they could"

I was actually surprised by this poll.

Only 40%?

Man, thought that number would be higher.

Life's too short to live in a realtor-infested-suburban-nightmare-morally-and-culturally-bankrupt-soon-to-be-out-of-water-hell-hole like Las Vegas.

Get out, people of Las Vegas. Get out. Now.


[If Las Vegas isn't America's Worst City, what is?]


LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas was once the fastest growing city in the nation, but the recession hit, and now a record number of people want to move out of the valley. A UNLV survey reveals 40 percent of Las Vegans would leave Nevada if they could. The question is why are these people leaving Las Vegas?

Las Vegas has grown from a gambling outpost to the entertainment capital of the world. It was just a few years ago, Las Vegas was a thriving town... A symbol of growth, a Mecca for opportunity. But then the housing market crashed, gaming was down on its luck, and unemployment skyrocketed.

Shocking video showing the destruction of America

Play Video


Is there a way to make the evil blue dots go away?

Taking advantage of dummies for money 101. Realtors and phishers? Of course. Glenn Beck? Dude conned America to the tune of $30 million in '09.

I gotta give it to Glenn Beck, he knows his history.

His P.T. Barnum.

His Father Coughlin.

His Rush Limbaugh.

His Joseph McCarthy.

Back when he was doing pie-in-the-face radio gags, I wonder in his wildest dreams if he thought he could create a character that would eventually go on to make $30 million a year. But so he has, and the money will keep pouring in. TV show, books, radio, speeches, merchandise, gold advertisements, you name it, he's his own industry. And Fox News is his pusher.

I like Glenn Beck. He entertains me.

But I worry about America. I'm not sure they're in on the gag?


Glenn Beck Earned $32 Million In 2009

Just how handsomely does it pay to be one of the most controversial men in America? For Glenn Beck, $32 million.

Beck, who became a household name in 2009, pulled in the shocking sum through a revenue stream that includes books, radio, TV, digital media, and speaking fees.

Interestingly, Forbes reports that Beck's Fox News contract is the least lucrative of all his ventures.

According to the Forbes analysis, Beck earned $12 million from book sales thanks to his "profit participation co-venture with Simon & Schuster typically reserved for authors like Stephen King." He has a five-year, $50 million contract with Premiere Radio Networks that netted $10 million for the year. His website, supported by both ads and an "Insider" subscription service as well as retail merchandise sales, brought in another $4 million. Speaking fees and events like his "Bold Fresh Tour" with Bill O'Reilly earned him $3 million, and his Fox News contract brought in $2 million. Add in a final $1 million from his Fusion magazine, and Beck had a $32 million year.

KyrgyzstanPANIC

Man, I wish they knew how to do this in China.

Or Iran.

Or in America back in 2003.

Seriously, in the past couple of years, I'm surprised this hasn't happened more. Greece, Spain, Ireland, Iceland, Russia, China, Thailand, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, Dubai, Mexico, America - all the housing bubble countries, especially the ones with corrupt governments, should have went up like a tinderbox.

Money bombs and police states can only hold back the tide so long.

Here's Jim Grant destroying Alan Greenspan, Ayn Rand and by association the idiots who followed them while America burned

I despise Alan Greenspan.

I laugh at Ayn Rand and her greedy, self-centered, ignorant, as*hole followers.

I don't think it's possible for the two of them to be more discredited at this point. Now, and forever.

Being an Ayn Rand follower should disqualify anyone from the Fed, or any public office. They're a danger to America. Watch out for them. They'll screw you every time.

Makes sense now, don't it?

Forget your troubles. Come on, get happy.

Get out of the bunker.

Seriously.

Get out of the bunker.

I dare you to get happy.

For awhile at least.

Hell, you're paying for it. Might as well enjoy the party.

(anyone wonder if this cheap-money no-regulations party will end just as badly if not worse than the last one?)

Forget your troubles
Come on get happy
You better chase all you cares away
Shout halleluja
Come on get happy
Get ready for the judgement day

The sun is shining
Come on get happy
The lord is waiting to take your hand
Shout halleluja
Come on get happy
We're going to the promise land

So, looking back on it, how close did we come?

So, if it wasn't for the $10 trillion money bomb, the 0% interest rates, the stimulus bill and the bank bailouts, would it have been a World-Weekly-News-worthy depression-of-all-depressions? People eating dogs in the streets, ATMs not working, 50% unemployment, martial law imposed?

How close were we to total economic Armageddon?

Yes, this is called "piling on". Sean Hannity needs to apologize to the families of Oklahoma City. And that audience of his should be ashamed.

Sarcasm and joking around end when it comes to 9/11 and Oklahoma City.

And if you're ever in an audience, and you're referred to as "Tim McVeigh Wannabe's" or anything like that, you don't cheer.

Never.

Not in the America I remember.

Too bad there wasn't an American hero in that audience that day. One who would have taken the insult, rushed the stage, grabbed the microphone out of the multi-millionaire's hands, and told him to go f*ck himself.

No, you don't expect people to do good things at Hannity/Fox News rallies.

Just the opposite.

They cheered.

They cheered.

I've waited 20 years for a simple device to access the internet. That's it. And now the wait is (almost) over. The iPad is here.

100 years from now, this day will be seen as a historic day. They'll still have an internet, of course, and it will be everywhere. They'll think of life before the internet as the "dark ages". They'll have no comprehension as to how we survived, or learned, or communicated, or thrived, without it. And they'll wonder what took us so long to develop a device to take the internet with us. Everywhere. As it should be. As it should have been all along.

And now Apple has found a way to take the internet everywhere. As it should be. As it should have been all along.

Apple will eventually become the largest company on the planet by market cap. Bigger than Exxon. Bigger than Walmart. Bigger than GE and P&G combined.

Why?

Because they invented magical products and services, loved by their consumers, and were miles ahead of their competition. Steve Jobs is a genius, but Jonathan Ive is from outer space. Between the two of them they changed the world. They showed everyone what American (and British) ingenuity looks like. And they simply changed the world.

Apple's competitors will get stories planted poo-poohing the iPad. Laggards will complain about this and that. And some of you will see lines to buy an iPad as consumerism run amok.

For me, I see the iPad as a dream come true. And I see it not as a product - a noun - but as a verb. It's not a computer. It's simply the internet. Information. Knowledge. Newspapers. Magazines. Films. Games. Ball games. Encyclopedias. Phone calls. Books. TV Shows. Stocks. Travel reservations. Blogs. In bed. At the pub. In the john. At the cafe. On a plane. In Bulgaria. In France. In Texarkana. Everywhere.

As it should be. As it should have been all along.

Bravo Apple.

Bravo.


(disclosure - of course I still own Apple stock. And now they need to get iPad to Europe ASAP!)

Happy Easter

From S&A: "Top 10 Ways You Know You're a Tea-Bagger"

1) You've conveniently forgotten who got us into this mess

2) You only watch Fox News, morning, noon and night

3) You call yourself a christian, but you hate poor people, and think if you're sick and uninsured you should just go ahead, suffer and die

4) You didn't go to college, and if you did your degree is of Sarah-Palin-quality

5) You hate science, you hate scientists, you don't understand evolution, you dismiss global warming, and you think dinosaurs and humans roamed the earth together

6) You have guns in your house. Lots of 'em.

7) You're in a dead-end career, or you've already lost your job

8) You enjoy your government benefits, but you don't want to pay taxes to the socialist US government

9) Tim McVeigh, the Branch Davidians, Eric Rudolph and Scott Roeder are heroes of yours

10) You're a sucker born every minute. Even if you don't know it.


[bonus edits...]

11) You're white

12) You're easily conned

Read this book: The Next 100 Years, by George Friedman (STRATFOR).

Easily the best non-fiction book I've read this year.

HP and S&A have been about what comes next. And although nobody can accurately predict the future, some do come close.

Get popcorn. Enjoy The American Century. Watch Poland and Turkey. Say goodbye to old dying decaying Western Europe. Get ready for us to start PAYING people to come to America. Wait for drone wars, country break-ups and space power. And seriously, read this book. It's a fun one.

The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century

Sean Hannity admits the truth. His supporters, the Tea Baggers, are simply "Tim McVeigh Wannabes". Wow.

Pretty sick to see the audience cheer at that one. You know, instead of recoiling in horror. Instead of booing. Instead of walking out in droves.

Tim McVeigh - hero of the right? The Original Tea Bagger? Are you serious? Are we no longer Americans?

At this rate folks, they won't be simply "wannabes".

No, I'm afraid, soon, they'll be the real thing.

Dead innocent women and babies. Assassinated politicians. Domestic terrorist bombings. Militia crazies doing their thing.

Why? Because Fox News, Sean Hannity, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Dick Armey and the rest of their ilk called for it. Encouraged it. Asked for it by name.

I think they did it for the money. I think scum like Hannity and Beck simply sold their souls for a buck. But soon enough, they'll have (even more) blood on their hands. And you have to wonder, at that point, will they have any shame?

Don't hold your breath.

NEWSFLASH! GUAM MAY TIP OVER!

Why do we put morons in Congress?

Serious question.

Utter, complete, total morons.

I guess in total though Congress is indeed a good representation of America. Morons, corrupt criminals, religious whackos, sexual deviants and the insane.

Nice job American voters.

Perma-Bears and Tea Baggers will hate this post

HousingPANIC was about the shit-storm to come. Before people knew. And then it came.

Soot & Ashes was the pivot, from crash to recovery. Before people knew. And then it came.

Even my March 2009 "green shoots" call was rejected by 94% of readers here, although it was the EXACT bottom, perhaps to the hour, but it doesn't matter, history proved me right yet again. Perma bulls get slaughtered. Perma bears get slaughtered. Smart and open-minded people who read Manias, Panics and Crashes do OK.

And now, a year later, it's nice to see The Economist on it yet again. Their "In Come the Waves" article was hands-down, without-question the single best piece of reporting during the Great Bubble. And this piece, "A Special Report on America's Economy", is one of the best pieces I've seen during the recovery.

So many of you are still (wrongly) perma-bears. Still sickeningly Glenn-Beck-Fox-News-Tea-Bagger negative. Still stuck in 2007, and 2008. And still see so much as what's going on as the future, when instead it's a trailing indicator. You have no hope, you think we'll never recover, you're angry, you want problems and not solutions, and, as always, you're wrong. Dead wrong.

The US is rising from this disaster, whether you want it to or not. We fired the corrupt GOP f*ckers who got us into this mess, and we're rooting out the corrupt f*ckers now on both sides of the aisle who want to keep us down.

We hired a great president, not just a good one, but a great, for-the-history-books one, even if he is to be hated or killed in his time.

We realized that the current path was unsustainable. We accounted for (most of) the bad debts. We took the 30% - 50% haircut on home prices. We stopped the stupid lending. And we got on a long, long path, that will eventually take us to solvency and fiscal and social responsibility. Eventually.

Now is the time for radical change, and radical change we shall have. Health care. Social Security. Medicaid. Medicare. Energy policy. Taxes. Trade. Education. Fiscal policy. Social policy. Infrastructure. The military. Transportation. Gays and civil rights. Commerce. Immigration. NCAA football playoffs. Internet devices. Pop culture. The American brand. Views on religion. Scientific knowledge. How we get our news.

You name it, everything will soon change. Dramatically. Like it or not, everything will soon change. There will be ups, and there will be sickening oh-dear-god downs, but everything, for the better, will now change.

So buckle up. Get out of the bunker. Bet on America. Bet on knowledge. Bet on change.

In the end, as always, you'll win.

Sarkozy to America: "Welcome to the club of states who don't turn their back on the sick and the poor"

"Welcome to the club of states who don't turn their back on the sick and the poor... The very fact that there should have been such a violent debate simply on the fact that the poorest of Americans should not be left out in the streets without a cent to look after them... is something astonishing to us."

-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, telling Americans who despise taxes, government services and poor people (of course, that is, funny enough, until they need, consume or qualify for government services, or become poor - then they love their government cheese) his views on America, March 2010

Welcome to the FoxNews.com Hot Sex Channel

I dropped by FoxNews.com, to check in on attractive missing blonde girls, porn stars, hot celebrities and sex tapes. And no, Fox News did not disappoint!

Oh, there was some stupid stuff about politics and ugly old men too. But I skipped right over that.

Gotta love Roger Ailes. Genius. Suck 'em in with hot babes, christian paranoia and some American flags, and then feed them your corporate-sponsored GOP political hypnosis.

Genius.

Straight from foxnews.com yesterday - you know, the right wing family values conservative christian network - here you go. You can't make this stuff up folks. Bill Loofah O'Reilly must be in heaven.

• 

  Mindy McCready Sex Tape

  EXCLUSIVE: Troubled country star in explicit sex tape, talks about alleged affair with Roger Clemens, others | NSFW: VIDEO COVER

• 

  'Hot Tub' Hot Stuff

  MAXIM MONDAY: Lyndsy Fonseca, John Cusack's girlfriend in 'Hot Tub Time Machine,' talks about her zebra-striped, spandex cat suit in the movie...

• 

  Bombshell Blindsided

  Jesse James' tattooed lover thought they were an item, until she watched the Oscars, dad says | DO YOU WISH YOU HAD JESSE'S GIRLS?

• 

  Eat Your Heart Out Reg!

  FOX411: Kim Kardashian looks to have bounced back nicely from last week's breakup with Reggie Bush | KIM'S TWIT PICS

• 

  More Stars Without Makeup

  BEFORE/AFTER: Brooke Mueller looks worse for wear from the drama surrounding her marriage. How do other stars fare without the warpaint?

• 

  VS Model Dreams of Curves

  POP TARTS EXCLUSIVE: Alessandra Ambrosio may seem perfect to us but she wishes she could beef up one body part ... | VICTORIA'S SECRET ALL STARS

• 

  Uchitel Longs for Privacy ...

  Yet, she still showed up at gossip blogger Perez Hilton's birthday bash, where she bragged that anybody would want to be her friend | RACHEL HOT SHOTS

• 

  Kate's 'DWTS' Disaster

  More trouble for Gosselin on 'Dancing With the Stars' as her partner threatens to quit during rehearsals and judge slams her performance as a 'nightmare'

• 

  'I Won't Be Edited'

  FOX411: Heidi Montag, famous for editing her own body with multiple procedures, looks forward to life after 'Hills' | HEIDI'S

I think this is a joke. An SNL sketch. A gag. But like a lot of things on Fox News, I'm not quite sure.

I guess nobody else in America was available to have on Fox News?

Wow.

At one point, you'd figure the Fox News news actors would be like "OK, this is a gag, right?" and cut it off. And you'd figure they wouldn't make the mistake of having crazy lady keep coming back to reinforce their tea party narrative.

I love Fox News. Best entertainment channel on the TV, bar none.

Tea Baggers are gettin' angry. They're "on their last piece of chewing gum" if you know what I mean.

Man, I hope the FBI and Secret Service are staffing up.

Hate and rage sure goes good with some country music, don't it?

And why are they so angry at the government? Shouldn't they start with the realtors? Or maybe the people no longer in government who got us into this mess?

We wondered where the rage was, when the crooks were getting away with the loot. Well, the rage finally came, albeit too late. And stay tuned. Some kooks are going to go over the edge soon enough.

How'd that buying cheap crap from China at Walmart work out for you Americans?

You did it to yourselves. You offshored your jobs. You sold you soul. You gutted your downtowns. You destroyed your small businesses. You permanently altered your way of life.

All because of you love cheap crap from China, more than your fellow (now jobless) man.

Such a shame. It didn't have to be this way.

Enjoy your trip today to Walmart.

Try not to notice the blight on your way there.

US Unemployment Rate

Goodbye US manufacturing jobs.

Americans used to make things. And then they purchased things that other Americans made.

And then came Walmart, corrupt and incompetent unions, bad management at GM, lots of robots, idiots in DC, and, of course, communist China.

Well, I guess everyone can work at Walmart. Or maybe they can build robots and have their robot go to work for them?

BTW, are charts supposed to do that?

Jon Stewart destroys Glenn Beck

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Conservative Libertarian
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

Epic.


(FYI traveling, back Sunday)

Hate. Rage. Danger. Ignorance. Disinformation. Self Enrichment.

History will be brutal.

We've seen as*holes like these guys before.

Don't worry. Eventually the people wise up, and they go away.

"We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat." - Bush speechwriter David Frum

There are some adults left in the Republican Party.

Not many.

Some.

And the adults know the truth. That their party has been hijacked by whackos, liars, discredited hacks, con artists, ignoramuses, lobbyists, the military industrial complex and corporations. And that even though the American population's memory is short, and they may soon escape the blame for the economic catastrophe they caused our land, and they may soon escape blame for leading us into an idiotic and unjustifiable war, they won't be able to escape trying to score political points while attempting to sabotage the Obama presidency. They won't be able to escape not working in good faith toward good policy, and good government.

Because, yet again, they failed. Epic fail. Yet again.

They failed their party. They failed their nation. They failed.

And America is better off for it.

I know I've seen these angry ignorant racist white teabagger mobs before...

I saw them here...




I saw them here...




I saw them here...


I saw them here...



And, of course, I see them here...

If you're a "Tea Party" member, you're associating yourself with right wing racist ignorant intolerant thugs, sponsored by Fox News, the GOP and FreedomWorks.

The "Tea Party" is now a Republican/Fox News/FreedomWorks/Corporate-Sponsored movement of paranoids, racists, ignoramuses, fringe right wingers and thugs.

You know, just like the ones we've seen time after time, bringing shame to America.

History, again, will not be kind.

Finally

Good.

Evil.

What side are you on?

Without comment.

Been there. Done that. From 1989: "Is Government Dead?"

Twenty years have gone by, and still no solution for America's biggest problems - Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance, financial regulation, manufacturing, energy reinvention, and of course, the deficit.

Twenty years.

But soon you'll be able to take health insurance off that list. Next must come entitlements. You think Congress and Obama are unpopular today? Wait until they (rightly) try to touch the social security retirement age. Or try to defuse the medicaid/medicare $61 trillion timebomb.

People (especially selfish baby boomers) want the streets paved with gold. They want to be treated as children. They want services, but they don't want to pay for them - they want to leave that up to their kids. And they elect leaders who promise them everything will be fine, no need for change, until the day when the whole ponzi scheme unravels (and that day is getting close).

The incumbents are going to lose their jobs anyway. Maybe they'll do the right thing for the nation on the way out the door.

Fix this mess now. Or else history will not be kind.

Hint - I think history will not be kind.

Health Insurance Overhaul Open Thread

Have at it.

Think it's gonna pass?

Five years from now, will this help the Dems or the Reps more?

And as part of your comments, share your health insurance status.

Flash: Realtors Care!!! They're Superheroes!!! Here's proof: "Realtors Care Nevada Foreclosure Councelling"

Realtors care?

Uh, then can we have all those commissions back?

And what's their angle? They want the foreclosure listing no doubt. And they want people who got foreclosed to be able to buy houses again ASAP. Gotta make that commission!

Bloodsuckers. Leeches. Cockroaches. Realtors. Made money lying to people on the way up, made money screwing people on the way down, making money hand-over-fist off the very people they screwed on the way back up. Giving that "comprehensive and unbiased advice" you know.

Every day is a good day to make a commission!

A message to the corrupt and paranoid communist leaders of China: Go f*ck yourselves.

Hey, everyone get down to Walmart today?

I wonder if S&A is censored in China. I'm doing all I can.

OVERTHROW YOUR LEADERS, BRAVE PEOPLE OF CHINA!

Man, it must be hard to mind-control 1.3 billion people. This can't last much longer, can it?

Oh, for a good and swift revolution.

Meet GOP hack and uber-corporate-lobbyist Dick Armey, the scum who brilliantly hijacked the 'tea party' movement

Don't forget, HP'ers were really amongst the first 'tea partiers'. Amongst the first to promote, and then endorse, Ron Paul. Amongst the first to support his 'money bombs', which became 'tea party money bombs', which then became essentially a Ron Paul tea party movement.

And then, seemingly overnight, probably because of a meeting over brandy and canapes with Rove, Armey, Gray, Ailes and Murdoch, it became the GOP Fox News Dick Armey Corporate Lobbyist Angry Renter Astroturf Fake Blog Hijacked Fool the Idiots Into Voting For the People Who Caused the Mess Tea Party Movement.

Brilliant. Seriously, brilliant. Watching Fox News, the GOP, Karl Rove and Dick Armey hijacking the tea party movement is only equaled to watching the GOP hijacking christians after Watergate. As if jesus would be a supporter of the rich and the corporations over the poor and the people. As if people angry at the corruption and incompetence of government leading America to financial ruin would support the corrupt fools who were in charge for eight years.

Brilliant. Flipping brilliant.

So, here he is, again, Dick Armey. Founder of fake astroturf quasi-housing-panic blog "angry renter". Founder of Freedom Works, and bankroller of the now-fake "tea party" debacle.

I detest Dick Armey, and everything he's about. One of the most destructive men of the past twenty years. This man is a scoundrel, pure and simple, absolute disgusting scum. But damn, he's good. Brilliant at what he does. And confirms that people really are that stupid.

Dick Armey's 'tea party' history is a strange brew

Dick Armey is intellectually versatile: The former leader of House Republicans went from being a rainmaker for a Washington lobbying firm to being the unofficial leader of the anti-Washington "tea party" movement.

Worth watching again - Mike the Discredited Hack Norman, Tom the Discredited Hack Adkins and Peter Schiff, 2006

It's tough to do a victory dance when the entire world economy has collapsed, but I guess you all can take some solace in the fact that you were right. Dead-on, historically right. And hacks like Norman and Adkins will live in shame forever. Thank you youtube. Thank you internets.

"What artificial lending standard are you talking about" - Mike Norman, clueless idiot full of bravado but little knowledge, December 2006

"You're gonna see prices go up" - Tom Adkins, spinner of misinformation so as to earn a commission, December 2006

(btw, did you know that Tom Adkins, the Fox News caveman hair realtor, was doing the Fox Business News anchor Brenda Buttner at that point? True story. Even though Fox didn't disclose it. Makes you wonder who Mike Norman was doing.)

Jesus is Here. (so, are you gonna buy an iPad?)

Lots of Americans think America sucks now. That it's doomed. That this recession will never end. That there's no future. That America is falling behind. That we don't make things anymore (correct - we don't make them, but we design them). That we're raising a generation of lazy idiots. That we've lost our edge. That we don't lead anymore. That we're doomed.

Sure. We still have realtors lurking amongst us. Nobody big got arrested for the housing bubble scam. Our politicians are incompetent and corrupt. And Sarah Palin is seen as a 'political leader'.

But I submit Apple. And the iPad.

And for good measure, I submit Google, Amazon, FedEx, Facebook and In-and-Out Burger. For starters. Great innovative American companies, great products, great services, brilliant people, and if we're gonna get out of this mess, our saviours.

(and I can't wait to get my hands on one of the little iPad buggers. And yes, of course, I still own AAPL).

Runaway Toyota Hoax realtor "I think about 95 per cent of the realtors filed bankruptcy". Yup. And now I bet they'll all get Toyotas.

1) get real estate license

2) gamble in real estate

3) fail

4) foreclose home, steal appliances on way out, do some insurance fraud, declare bankruptcy

5) come up with a new con

6) watch incompetent mainstream media buy it hook line and sinker (again)

7) get exposed by blogs

8) fail again


I wonder what other con game realtors will get into next. More insurance fraud? Maybe survival seed farms for tea partiers? Start a hedge fund? Run for Congress? Oh, no, wait, I know, that can still be realtors! Because people are too clueless to realize they're the conmen who got us into this mess in the first place, and love giving them their hard-earned money!

Harry Reid (finally) shows some spine, basically tells Mitch McConnell and his insurance-company-funded henchmen to go F themselves

Maybe next he'll demand that the GOP actually fillibuster next time. You know, bring out the cots and see how long these coddled old white men can go. See if they can keep it up for a week or a month or a year.

Now THAT would be worth seeing.

Here's Droopy Dog Harry, giving corrupt piece of sh*t Mitch McConnell the bizness. And yes, even though I favor Reid on this one, I can't stand the both of 'em.

"Given this history, one might conclude that Republicans believe a majority vote is sufficient to increase the deficit and benefit the super-rich, but not to reduce the deficit and benefit the middle class. Alternatively, perhaps Republicans believe a majority vote is appropriate only when Republicans are in the majority. Either way, we disagree.”

-Harry Reid, growing a pair, March 11, 2010

You may not know it yet, but there's a good chance you've been hypnotized.

It's all just one big formula.

But you knew that. Right?

(Oh, and if you're a Fox News viewer, add in the "you're under attack" narrative - you know, christians, whites, straights, republicans, kkk members, militia members, gun owners, businessmen, the rich, young blonde girls. whatever. just fill in the blank.)

2006, just as housing started an epic and historic collapse. Suzanne from Century 21: "This listing is special John. You guys can do this!"

Now fast-forward to today's conversation:

Husband: "Our home dropped 50%, we're $300,000 below water, you've lost your job at the bank, we've blown through our savings, and we can't even short sale this debt trap!"

Wife: "I TOLD YOU I DIDN'T WANT TO BUY THIS HOUSE YOU FAT IDIOT! WHY DID I EVER LET YOU TALK ME INTO IT! I HATE YOU! AND I'M SLEEPING WITH YOUR BROTHER!"

Ring, ring, ring, ring

On speakerphone, it's Suzanne

Suzanne: "Hi guys, it's Suzanne!!! How is my favorite couple doing? Ready to trade up to a nicer home?"

(sound of gunfire erupts)




(hint - realtors aren't superheroes. never forget.)

URGENT FRAUD ALERT - TREASURY DEPT CONSIDERS HAVING REALTORS ON COMMISSION SET 'FAIR PRICE' FOR SHORT SALES, FEDS TO BRIBE FAILED HOUSING GAMBLERS

Oh. Dear. God.

Either they're corrupt, or they're idiots. One or the other.

If this news is to be believed, the Treasury Department is going to try to stimulate short sales, and as part of the process they're going to have lenders enlist REALTORS ON COMMISSION to tell them what a fair price should be for a short sale property.

Not appraisers (who are corrupt anyway and got us into this mess). Not government-hired investigators. Not CPA's.

No, they're going to ask REALTORS ON F*CKING COMMISSION. You know, the ones who will MAKE A F*CKING COMMISSION when the short sale goes through, they're going to ask what the fair price of a home is.

ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME?

SERIOUSLY, ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME?

HEY GOVERNMENT - EVER HEAR OF A THING CALLED ZILLOW.COM? EVER HEAR OF AN HONEST REALTOR? AND PLEASE, JUST GET THE F*CK OUT OF THE HOUSING MARKET. YOU'RE ONLY MAKING IT WORSE.

Please, MSM and bloggers, pay attention to this issue. This is, I believe, the single worst idea and single worse government meddling scheme I've seen during this whole housing fiasco, and it must be stopped.

From the report:

Under the new federal program, a lender will use real estate agents to determine the value of a home and thus the minimum to accept. This figure will not be shared with the owner, but if an offer comes in that is equal to or higher than this amount, the lender must take it.

And wait, it gets worse. The govenment is going to PAY HOUSING GAMBLERS WHO GAMBLED AND LOST to short sale their homes. Seriously. THEY'RE GOING TO PAY FAILED GAMBLERS $1,500 IN COLD HARD TAXPAYER CASH:

To bring the various parties to the table — the homeowner, the lender that services the loan, the investor that owns the loan, the bank that owns the second mortgage on the property — the government intends to spread its cash around.

Under the new program, the servicing bank, as with all modifications, will get $1,000. Another $1,000 can go toward a second loan, if there is one. And for the first time the government would give money to the distressed homeowners themselves. They will get $1,500 in “relocation assistance.”