The Nation's Katrina Vanden Huevel rips Karl Rove

From ThinkProgress, quoting their appearance on ABC's THIS WEEK this morning:

VANDEN HEUEVEL: But, Mr. Rove –

ROVE: Call me Karl.

VANDEN HEUVEL: It’s laughable for you to talk about fiscal responsibility from someone who helped plunge this nation into trillion dollars of debt, through tax cuts for the very rich and a war we never should have fought. And also starving the beast. Starving government has been a Republican role in terms of government. And, therefore, when George asks why government hasn’t functioned, people have not seen the role of government improving the conditions of their lives for decades.

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Bush's first public address since leaving office? In Canada.

He had to leave the country to find anyone interested.

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Warren Buffet tells everyone to relax

Newsweek:

Amid this bad news, however, never forget that our country has faced far worse travails. In the 20th century alone, we dealt with two great wars (one of which we initially appeared to be losing); a dozen or so panics and recessions; virulent inflation that led to a 21 percent prime rate in 1980; and the Great Depression of the 1930s, when unemployment ranged between 15 percent and 25 percent for many years. America has had no shortage of challenges.

Without fail, however, we've overcome them. In the face of those obstacles—and many others—the real standard of living for Americans improved nearly seven-fold during the 1900s, while the Dow Jones Industrials rose from 66 to 11,497. Compare this with the dozens of centuries during which humans secured only tiny gains, if any, in how they lived. Though the path has not been smooth, our economic system has worked extraordinarily well over time. It has unleashed human potential as no other system has, and it will continue to do so. America's best days lie ahead.

Read the entire letter here (pdf format). Read the rest of this post...

Jindal and GOP think volcano monitoring is silly. Alaska volcano reportedly ready to blow.

One of the things that GOP posterboy Bobby Jindal criticized in his response to Obama's address to Congress was "volcano monitoring." Jindal thinks it's silly, and a waste of taxpayer money. Well, one of the volcanos that Jindal finds silly is apparently ready to blow. Ironically, it's just outside of Anchorage.

I was in Anchorage the last time Mount Redoubt blew in December 1989. It was surreal. We were driving to an officemate's sister's place when we heard on the radio that the volcano blew. Weird, we thought. I didn't have a camera with me (it was 1989, no cell phone cams back then - well, no cell phones other than the huge luggables that John McCain still uses). As we were driving, suddenly we noticed a black cloud on the horizon. Over the minutes, it crept closer. And closer. Suddenly, 1/3 of the sky was black. The rest was sunny and clear. It was afternoon, I think - maybe even noon. But I remember it was a clear sunny day, except for the black mass that was slowly advancing on us as we drove down the highway. By the time we got to my friend's sister's house, the sky was black. Pitch black. Street lights came on. It was the middle of a sunny day. And it was darker than the darkest closet, lights off, middle of the night. But there were no stars. Nothing. I've seen few things as creepy, and nothing as apocalyptic-seeming, in my life. The city initiated a quarantine, so I was stuck at my friend's sister's for 24 hours. Then the ash fell. Fascinating. A snowshower of volcanic ash - they're these sort of large grey snowflakes that fall even slower than snowflakes. Beautiful in a way. But not very good for you, healthwise. Volcanic ash has a way of making you choke. It nearly brought down a commercial airliner after it got sucked into the planes engines and they all turned off.

The next morning I had to cab it through the volcanic ash over to the FAA headquarters in town because Senator Stevens was upset that I wasn't at work. Mind you, it was still pitch black, in the middle of the morning, and everything in town, the roads, the buildings, the cars, everything was covered in volcanic ash. We were all wearing surgical masks to help our breathing. We were still under quarantine, and Stevens was pissed that I wasn't at work. Ah, the memories. Anyway, I made it to work, then back to my hotel. The ash started making its way into the hotels, into everything. The central heating was bringing in the ash, and you could feel it in your throat. It was a bit scary. I think at the time I didn't use my camera because they were warning us that the ash could kill any electronic device (it was so gritty, it would lodge in any moving parts), and I wasn't willing to sacrifice my new $700 SLR that mom and dad got me. So, no pics.

Anyway, this is what Bobby Jindal finds silly. Bobby Jindal who doesn't mind sucking at the teat of the federal government any time a strong wind blows through New Orleans has a problem helping other states through their own natural disasters. Then again, he is a Republican. And we learned long ago that Republicans love to practice what they preach against. Read the rest of this post...

GOP Limbaugh label takes off

Over the past few weeks, there's been a slow-growing movement to label the Republican party as the party of Rush Limbaugh. It's been rather organic, not organized by anyone in particular, but you could tell it was bubbling out there. I think it now just exploded into a full-fledged problem for the Republican party.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel charged Sunday that conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is “the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party.”

Emanuel, speaking in deliberately soothing tones, told anchor Bob Schieffer on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Limbaugh has been up front about “praying for failure” by President Obama.

“I think that’s the wrong philosophy for America,” Emanuel said. “What Americans want us to do, and what President Obama has been very clear about, is work together setting our goals …

“Our goal, Bob, is to continue to reach out and it’s our desire that the Republicans would work with us and try to be constructive, rather than adopt the philosophy of somebody like Rush Limbaugh.”

Emanuel’s comments were in line with a new strategy by White House allies in the private sector to make Limbaugh synonymous with the GOP.

The union AFSCME and Americans United for Change began airing an ad late last week showing a clip of Limbaugh saying “I want him to fail,” along with quick cuts of top Republican congressional leaders saying, “No … No. … No … No … No … No.”

Asked by Schieffer if the GOP really pays that much attention to Limbaugh, Emanuel replied: “I do think he’s an intellectual force, which is why the Republicans pay such attention to him.”

I'd disagree with Rahm on this one. Limbaugh is not an intellectual force, he's an anti-intellectual force. He's popular fascism with a multi-syllabic touch. And that is exactly why he's so popular with the GOP. From Sarah Palin, to Bobby Jindal, to Joe-the-Tax-Cheat, the GOP loves its intellectual lightweights. Look at Ann Coulter. Not a stupid woman, by any means, but not very bright either. Her trick is that speaks well. She's the intellectual equivalent of a British accent: Doesn't matter what they say, but with that highfalutin Oxford accent, they could read the phone book and it would sound like Shakespeare.

Rush, Palin, Coulter, Joe-the-Tax-Cheat, and the other most public faces of the GOP offer little more than bread and circus. Which isn't just a criticism of them, it's a criticism of the Republican masses who demand nothing more from their leaders than a pretty face and a touch of fascism. Read the rest of this post...

Mystery over the Santelli rant and "Chicago Tea Party"

Was it real or was it planted by Republicans? The fact that the chicagoteamparty.com domain was registered last summer is odd though there are so many competing interests involved including the suggestion that Santelli is up for contract negotiations this summer. He used to be one of the least offensive and sometimes balanced reporters on CNBC. Lots of chatter out there including this blog by Barry Ritholz and others. Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

After the big speech, the budget and the announcement about withdrawing from Iraq, there is no shortage of subjects for the shows today.

There are a couple of Repubs. showing up and it would be good, very good, if one of the hosts, like George S., asked Eric Cantor, how the GOP became the party of Rush "I want him to fail" Limbaugh. Republicans don't get the concept that we are in a crisis and if Obama fails, the country fails. Real people seem to sense that. Rush's sweaty, ranting CPAC speech, which was mostly a paean to himself, really did put him in the category of ranting lunatic party leaders like Kim Jong-Il.

Here's the lineup:

ABC's "This Week" — Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag; House Republican Whip Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.

___

CBS' "Face the Nation" — White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

___

NBC's "Meet the Press" — Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

___

CNN's "State of the Union" — Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen.


"Fox News Sunday" _ Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen; Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

Couple people asked if we could include the guests on Fareed Zakaria's show, which it isn't included in the AP wrap-up. Here's his preview:

On GPS this week: What is the difference between fundamental Islam and radical Islam? Four experts argue over whether there's a distinction between those who want Islamic law and those who want to kill us. Also, the prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, says we'll never defeat the insurgency in Afghanistan. Finally, The Financial Times' Martin Wolf paints a frightening picture of how bad the economic downturn really is.

Yeah, those last two guests sound pretty intense. Read the rest of this post...

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway drops 96% in Fourth Quarter

Gulp. That's quite a loss for anyone. Even billionaire investors.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. reported a 96 percent drop in its fourth quarter profit because of largely unrealized losses of $3.25 billion on investments and derivative contracts.

The Omaha-based company released its results Saturday morning along with Buffett's annual letter to shareholders.

Berkshire reported net income of $117 million, or $76 per Class A share, in the quarter ending Dec. 31. That's down from net income of $2.95 billion, or $1,904 per share, in the same period a year ago.

The two analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected Berkshire to report fourth quarter net income of $1,486.50 per share on average. The estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Berkshire owns a diverse mix of more than 60 companies, including insurance, furniture, carpet, jewelry, restaurants and utility businesses. And it has major investments in such companies as Wells Fargo & Co. and Coca-Cola Co.

Buffett said the retail businesses, such as the furniture and jewelry stores, and those tied to residential construction, such as Shaw carpet and Acme Brick, were hit hard last year, and they will likely continue to perform below their potential in 2009.

But he said Berkshire's utility and insurance businesses, which includes the insurer Geico, both delivered outstanding results in 2008 that helped balance out the other businesses.

Most of the investment losses that affected Berkshire's results were unrealized losses on long-term derivative contracts, some of which are tied to the value of stock market indexes.

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Winnie Mandela working on comeback

It's difficult to say what is worse between her wanting to come back or the ANC wanting her. She's a disgrace and an embarrassment to the Mandela name and deserves no public support but every country has its strange examples, including the US Nixon eventually recovered from his early scandals and had a successful comeback, though that did seem to confirm the initial results.

In Winnie Mandela's case, she was connected to a murder and during my last visit to South Africa, she was battling another scandal related to fund raising for the ANC womens league. The fund raising was reaching out to the poor and raising a few million though somehow, it never quite made it to the organization but instead to the very wealthy Mandela who was building a mansion. What a humanitarian and thankfully she was found guilty.

Nelson Mandela's controversial former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, is poised for a dramatic return to the centre stage of South African politics - and possibly a cabinet job - after securing a top position on the African National Congress's list of future MPs.

The ANC list for the 22 April general election is headed by party president Jacob Zuma. South Africa's president, Kgalema Motlanthe, is second, followed by ANC chair Baleka Mbete and finance minister Trevor Manuel. That Madikezela-Mandela comes next, ahead of many cabinet members, suggests that she is seen as a crucial electoral asset and a possible future minister.

The rehabilitation and re-emergence of Madikizela-Mandela, 72, will be greeted with dismay and indignation in many quarters. Following corruption allegations, she was dismissed after only 11 months as deputy minister of arts in the first post-apartheid government and convicted of fraud in 2003.

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Cat music

Wow, 18 million views. Sushi is in one of those moods today but so far, nothing has been broken. The day is still early though. Read the rest of this post...

Boy has First Savings Mortgage Corporation got a deal for you!

I bought a condo. I moved in about ten days ago. My mortgage was through First Savings Mortgage Corporation. And now, I've received no less than 4, maybe even 5, frantic form letters from First Savings telling me that I, yes I, may be eligible for a low-cost No Physical Exam (bolded and underlined) Mortgage Life & Disability Insurance Plan! You see, First Savings explains to me, my loved ones could be devastated if I were so callous as to die while holding this mortgage. And, they ask, can you really pay your mortgage if you lose your job? But First Savings is coming to the rescue - repeatedly, pretty much every day, in appeal after appeal that reads like it was written by Ed McMahon.

It's very hard not to believe that this is a scam. One solicitation by First Savings might have been legit. Repeated soliciations, pestering me about how I may have just qualified - maybe! - for life insurance that doesn't even require a physical, strikes me as the very attitude that got us into this mortgage mess in the first place. And the best part, First Savings sold my mortgage about 14 days after I got it. But that's not stopping them from spamming me with letters that include the exact amount of mortgage, so that I have to shred each and every one.

Truly despicable people. Read the rest of this post...

How long before Citi is back for more bailout money?

It's hard to imagine that Citi was suing to have the right to receive even more bailout money so they could buy the failing Wachovia only last October. Ahh, those were the days of capitalism, Republican style. When else and where else could a failure have the opportunity to buy another failure on the taxpayers dime? And where else but in America could so many failures from such an ugly behemoth get jobs with an administration calling for change? The crisis is not something that requires small tweaking here and there. The crisis is not going to end until someone gets serious.

By any measure, the federal government’s latest rescue for Citigroup is perhaps the most daring attempt yet to stabilize the nation’s beleaguered banks.

But it almost certainly won’t be the last. No sooner did the Treasury Department announce on Friday that it would increase its ownership in Citigroup than the questions began to swirl.

The big question, of course, is this: Will this plan, the third since October, be the one that finally works? Will it shore up this $2 trillion behemoth? Or is the outcome that the banks and the government are so desperately trying to avoid — nationalization, under whatever guise — only a matter of time?

Wall Street’s judgment was swift and brutal. Citigroup’s share price, which a little over two years ago was flying high at $55, plunged 96 cents to a mere $1.50. Other banking shares also fell hard, underscoring the acute anxiety over where this will end and what the government will do next.

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