Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie on Privatizing the police force

Thanks to Griffon, here's a hilarious sketch by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. The subject is the privatization of public services, and it's a propos this story about the fire department watching a house burn down in fee-based rural Tennessee — because there, apparently, they've got better things to do than tax people to provide services.



Both Laurie and Fry appeared in Jeeves & Wooster, and Laurie's the lead in House. (Hugh Laurie's also hilarious in Blackadder, by the way, and Stephen Fry is terrific in everything he does.)

A Sunday treat; enjoy.

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No COLA increase for Social Security

But really, how selfish are the Social Security recipients? Don't they know that extra money went to pay for banker bonuses because otherwise, they would only be at the bottom or possibly a few hundred thousand dollars over the $250,000 mark? Please people, think about the bankers. They're only human and gosh, they really tried making the most with the bailout money that they received. Now that the money has been spent, they have so little to work with so it's best that we think more about what's best for them and their exclusive lifestyles.

As if voters don't have enough to be angry about this election year, the government is expected to announce this week that more than 58 million Social Security recipients will go through another year without an increase in their monthly benefits.

It would mark only the second year without an increase since automatic adjustments for inflation were adopted in 1975. The first year was this year.

"If you're the ruling party, this is not the sort of thing you want to have happening two weeks before an election," said Andrew Biggs, a former deputy commissioner at the Social Security Administration and now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

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More from Barton Gellman's Time story on Extreme Militias

A mere bagatelle for your weekend consideration. I found this quote interesting. Again, from Barton Gellman's excellent Time cover story on domestic militias in the age of Obama & financial distress (our previous coverage is here):

"We're not planning to overthrow the government," he said. "We're planning for what could happen." He proceeded to list, among other scenarios, a pandemic; economic collapse; hunger-driven big-city refugees; a biological, chemical or nuclear terrorist attack; an electromagnetic pulse from the sun that wrecks earthly machinery; invasion by Mexican drug cartels; and an eruption of ash from Yellowstone that "wipes out the breadbasket of the United States." Any one of those would likely give Washington the excuse to declare martial law. If so, Wright and his brothers in arms would fight back. "Hopefully," he said, "if they rule the cities, we'll rule the countryside."

Just because it sounds like a down-market Dolph Lundgren vehicle doesn't make it less real. Some of those events — and several he didn't mention — could actually happen. And if they do, consider the scenarios.

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Obama administration had been warned of foreclosure signing problems

If ever we had (and these days it's past tense, sadly) a president who had the ability to grab a microphone and speak, it was Obama. Somehow I have a very hard time listening to the excuses here that they had no choice but to go along with this. If this president and his wonder team could not figure out how to take such an issue to the public and push the banks into both stopping fake foreclosures and also forcing the banks to go along with other programs, then we have some serious problems.

Who really thinks the public would not be receptive to shoving the banks in the right direction? Maybe the White House brain trust never heard of the bully pulpit. Either that or there wasn't any desire to change an obvious wrong. It's unfortunate that there doesn't seem to be any issue worthy enough for the White House to dig in for a fight. It's not easy being enthusiastic as a voter when thhose who promoted change keep staying the course. Washington Post:

Consumer advocates and lawyers warned federal officials in recent years that the U.S. foreclosure system was designed to seize people's homes as fast as possible, often without regard to the rights of homeowners.

In recent days, amid reports that major lenders have used improper procedures and fraudulent paperwork to seize properties, some Obama administration officials have acknowledged they had been aware of flaws in how the mortgage industry pursues foreclosures.

But the officials said they could take only limited action to address the danger. In part, this was because they wanted lenders' help carrying out federal programs to modify mortgages that had fallen into default or were poised to do so.

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I mean, who hasn't dabbled in Nazism?

From the Atlantic:

An election year already notable for its menagerie of extreme and unusual candidates can add another one: Rich Iott, the Republican nominee for Congress from Ohio's 9th District, and a Tea Party favorite, who for years donned a German Waffen SS uniform and participated in Nazi re-enactments.

The group's website includes a lengthy history of the Wiking unit, a recruitment video, and footage of goose-stepping German soldiers marching in the Warsaw victory parade after Poland fell in 1939. The website makes scant mention of the atrocities committed by the Waffen SS, and includes only a glancing reference to the "twisted" nature of Nazism. Instead, it emphasizes how the Wiking unit fought Bolshevist Communism:

Nazi Germany had no problem in recruiting the multitudes of volunteers willing to lay down their lives to ensure a "New and Free Europe", free of the threat of Communism. National Socialism was seen by many in Holland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and other eastern European and Balkan countries as the protector of personal freedom and their very way of life, despite the true underlying totalitarian (and quite twisted, in most cases) nature of the movement. Regardless, thousands upon thousands of valiant men died defending their respective countries in the name of a better tomorrow. We salute these idealists; no matter how unsavory the Nazi government was, the front-line soldiers of the Waffen-SS (in particular the foreign volunteers) gave their lives for their loved ones and a basic desire to be free. [emphasis added]

Historians of Nazi Germany vehemently dispute this characterization. "These guys don't know their history," said Charles W. Sydnor, Jr., a retired history professor and author of "Soldiers of Destruction: The SS Death's Head Division, 1933-45," which chronicles an SS division. "They have a sanitized, romanticized view of what occurred." Sydnor added that re-enactments like the Wiking group's are illegal in Germany and Austria. "If you were to put on an SS uniform in Germany today, you'd be arrested."

Oh come on, a little Nazi veneration never hurt anybody. Oh wait, yeah it did. Read the rest of this post...

Chilean miners to be freed by mid week

Everyone was hoping that it might be sooner, but at least it's near.

The evacuation of 33 miners trapped underground in Chile is likely to start on Wednesday, the country's mining minister has said.

Laurence Golborne was speaking after engineers had drilled through to the underground chamber where the miners are sheltering.

He said the top part of the shaft needed a steel casing that would take about a day and a half to assemble.

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Sunday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The lineup for the Sunday talk shows can be viewed here. Lots of politics on the shows today, including two Senate debates. ABC hosts the candidates for Senate in Connecticut: Richard Blumenthal vs. Linda McMahon. NBC has candidates from one of the tightest races in the country - the Illinois Senate: Alexi Giannoulis vs. Mark Kirk. Axelrod is on Face the Nation.

Christine O'Donnell was featured on Saturday Night Live -- again. This takes spoofing her "I'm not a Witch" ad to a whole new level:
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Solomon Burke

The music legend died today at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. He was only 70 years old.

We have lots of sunshine out there today. Yes! Saturday was a picture perfect day so I ventured out alone the Marne and stumbled upon a regatta. There were all sizes of racing sculls out there. It's due to be a bit cooler out there today (mid 60s or so) but it's perfect for riding. Hope your Sunday is as nice wherever you are. Read the rest of this post...

British far right teams up with Teabaggers

Right wing Islamaphobic loons of the world, unite.

The English Defence League, a far-right grouping aimed at combating the "Islamification" of British cities, has developed strong links with the American Tea Party movement.

An Observer investigation has established that the EDL has made contact with anti-jihad groups within the Tea Party organisation and has invited a senior US rabbi and Tea Party activist to London this month. Rabbi Nachum Shifren, a regular speaker at Tea Party conventions, will speak about Sharia law and also discuss funding issues.

The league has also developed links with Pamela Geller, who was influential in the protests against plans to build an Islamic cultural centre near Ground Zero. Geller, darling of the Tea Party's growing anti-Islamic wing, is advocating an alliance with the EDL. The executive director of the Stop Islamisation of America organisation, she recently met EDL leaders in New York and has defended the group's actions, despite a recent violent march in Bradford.

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