Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

Well it was about time, in any case Ron Paul's Audit the Fed bill is picking up steam in the House. And Senator DeMintt is bringing the cause to the U.S. Senate.

This IN BED policy between the Fed and Big Banking will never end.

People talk, whine, butch, complain, hold meetings, hold hearings, yadda, yadda,yadda.

And what happens?

Nuttin'!

They're IN BED and we're the ones who get F***ed. The whole thing is INBRED.

AND no one in Washington seems to know what's going on. Can I have one of them jobs?

tt

I'd like to know more about this General Aviation that's asking for donations. Anybody?

The All-Star Game is in St Louis this Tuesday - everybody but DarkLord should watch it. He hates my town and might stroke out if he sees it. :)

Anyway, my old teaching buddies, man and wife, will be there. He has been the clubhouse manager for the Cards since the retirement of an old timer from close to the gashouse gang,named Doggie Lynch, quite a few years. I asked Martha if they're excited, and she emailed me back on on her phone that they were at that moment sitting in chairs underneath the arch waiting to see Sheryl Crow and Elvis Costello in concert. Don's working his job but Martha will be at the game with their son. She said Don always said he'd do the job till they had an all-star game there, so she doesn't know if he'll retire now. Oh, no. If you do watch the game and happen to see Captain Kangaroo, that's my old buddy.

A satirist named Andy Borowitz says there's a competitor to the Iphone called an Ipal. You hold it up to the tv screen and it translates what Sarah Palin is saying into English.

Seems to me the Fed's got lots o' 'splaining to do.

"Can I have one of them jobs?"

If you get one of 'em -- put in a word for me as well....

Would you guys really want to know the truth??? It might just finish you off. I, for one, can't handle the truth. If the entire truth comes out it just might finish off the financial system. Then I will need a stronger mattress, one with a safe in it. I'm already frightened every time I have to put my paycheck in the bank.

We should have put Gordo on this project instead of his Obama birth certificate quest.

And for some serious news, the same-sex penquin couple at the SF zoo split up.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2009/07/12/Same-sex-penguin-couple-split/UPI-56931247417354/

Is there anything we can depend on?

The problem isn't the Fed, although more transparency in their posture would be appreciated. The actual problem is in the mega-banking conglomerates created during Reagan. Following the money is like tracing North Korean computer transgressions.

and speaking of north korea, bbc reports kim has pancreatic cancer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8147048.stm

Who would oversee this audit? A Wall Street accounting firm, a congessional committee, or maybe someone like Jeffrey Immelt (Chairman GE) who sits on an Economic Advisory Board to the President and also sits on the Federal Reserve Board in New York.Who could be trusted to conduct an audit and report the findings to the public?

What exactly is congress doing when they hand out billions & can't explain were it is going. They admit to never reading the bills being passed not only do they not know where its going they don't even know what it is.

and what politician with an upcoming election could be trusted to keep his constituency interests separate from the best interests of the national economy? also, it would be too tempting for those inclined toward following the political fad d'jour to tinker and to tweek.

ubns.... it's great to see you again.... welcome back....

and that's a great question of who would we trust to oversee an audit....
frankly.... I wouldn't trust anybody. As I believe only an insider could more than likely understand it all... and why would we the public trust what an insider says.

Bethy....
I've been a Red Sox fan for over 40 years.... I wouldn't miss this All Star game for anything. Our 42 yr old knuckleball pitcher, Tim Wakefield, is going to his first all-star game. He has the best pitching record in baseball at the moment. At the beginning of the season, I thought Wake should finally retire.
Boy was I wrong... and I couldn't be happier about it. Go Wake!

"Most of Wall Street, and America, is still waiting for an economic recovery. Then there is Goldman Sachs.

Up and down Wall Street, analysts and traders are buzzing that Goldman, which only recently paid back its government bailout money, will report blowout profits from trading on Tuesday"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/business/13goldman.html?_r=1&hp

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/07/storming-the-federal-reserve.html#comment-243399

Carol, I wonder what the break-up rate is for heterosexual penguins.

Pat, this morning's Times also reports on Kim's pancreatic cancer. Depending on how you look at it, if the reports are accurate, it's either good news or bad. Change is almost always accompanied by anxiety.

Patd

There is money to be made out there for those bold enough,

There is a lot of scared money out there

Jack

"Who would oversee this audit? -- posted by ubns
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/07/storming-the-federal-reserve.html#comment-243402

ubns -- glad to see you stopping by. The Government Accountability Office would audit the Fed under the pending bill (HR 1207 and S 604). Currently the Federal Reserve is exempt from GAO oversight.

Jack -- since you mentioned grain dust deaths and illnesses....I posted a piece I once wrote about my family's experience in the Dust Bowl and my father's dust pneumonia.

http://booksandmusic-patsi.blogspot.com/

Flatus

It's all those boys with their "neat ideas" (to quote Ollie North)
They do drive creation but some where along the way the large banks forgot the value of basic conservatism.

While we need the risk takers and their bright Ideas, they also need some adult supervision. Things got way out of balance and the children were running things.

Jack

here's the text of the so-called Federal Reserve Sunshine Act: http://tinyurl.com/mqn4t9

Patsi

Great story,

Now you have made me run late.
I've got to get out of here

Thanks

Jack

Patsi

From your story I can guess where you came by this fiestyness.

Later

Jack

Craig-

How can I follow the progress of The Sunshine Federal Reserve Act?

Mornin'

OK, all you C-spanners - it's a great day to watch Repugs try to do something akin to tantric yoga to try and contort the judicial reastraint Sotomayor exercised in the Ricci case into thejudicial activism they claim to decry. I'd put on a seatbelt because it's going to be a whirlwind of a ride. I predict that the Repugs will be silent on Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush - which was a decision hailed by Bushco and the Repugs who want to uphold Bush/Palin-style birth control policy.

I meant to write Federal Reserve Sunshine Act.

UB, get the bill number for either the Senate or House version and go to the Senate or House website - they both have bill tracker functions that will tell you what the bill's progress is.

ubns and pogo, i included the link to the bill in today's posting above, and my earlier comment.. http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/07/storming-the-federal-reserve.html#comment-243412

the bill is up to 260 co-sponsors in the House, they had hearings on it last week. The Ron Paul-affiliated group, Campaign for Liberty, is also keeping track.. http://www.campaignforliberty.com/

Because they can't use her body of judicial decsions against Sotomayor, the Repugs plan to use her "wise Latina" comment to show that not only ar ethey the party of NO, but hat they are the party of hypocrisy. (See Jeff Sessions' comments about the KKK as an example).

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/us/politics/13talkshows.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Craig, you are too good to us. :-)

Thank you, Craig. I have been fuming about the fed for some time and I posted last week about the lovefest between Geitner and Bernanke. Geitner praising him when the dufous started the financial collapse in August 2007. I still think Obama made a bad choice in Geitner.

So much for change we can all believe in....

"I would reform the banking laws; they are a disgrace to our great country."

- Woodrow Wilson

craig and pogo-

Thanks for the info---Just finished 2nd cup o' joe. Everything is falling into place now.

Patsi,

I wrote a bit of family history and the dust bowl. The pictures of what was blowing at those folks are horrifying

http://jdurward.blogspot.com/2007/05/manic-monday-green.html

Suggestions for watching the Sotomayor confirmation hearings today-- from Tom Goldstein (SCOTUS Blog & Daily Beast)--every time these "buzz words" are mentioned---drink up.

1. Frank Ricci
2. Empathy
3. Pearl-def (Puerto Rican Legal Defense Education Fund
4. Miguel Estrada
5. Strict Construction & Activism
6. Bard Didden
7. Belizean Grove
8. Umpire
9. Baseball
10. Nancy Drew
11. Document dump
12. Privacy & Stare Decisis

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-12/the-sotomayor-hearings-a-guide/full/

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/07/storming-the-federal-reserve.html#comment-243395

Bethy,

Here is some additional information about General Aviation, the jobs, and airports.involved

http://www.gaservesamerica.com/

While some security and safety regulation may be necessary, I side with GA in opposing Obama on the current proposals.

Give the Federal Reserve more power---& how about
this--Larry Summer to run it.

Seems Washington rumors are that National Economic Council is just not big enough for Larry Summers--that he regrets not leading the Treasury & yearns to run the Federal Reserve.

"Lunch with the Financial Times: Larry Summers"

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/6ac06592-6ce0-11de-af56-00144feabdc0.html

Coreen, Sotomayor will likely simply say that her record reflects that she follows the law - unlike SCOTUS did in Ricci - despite her background as a Latina woman giving her a different perspective than other justices - such as Alito - who also noted in their confirmation hearings that they allow their immigrant background to inform their consideration of issues in the cases before them. I wish she would say to Cornyn - although it will probably be that idiot Sessions who gets the first bite, though - that apparently he is too stupid to understand that stare decisis is what she employed when she wrote the opinion affirming Ricci - and which the District court employed in its analysis of 2nd Circuit decisions that led to it upholding the city's decision to throw out the results, and to have held otherwise would have required her to engage in the judicial activism that the Roberts Court engaged in when it changed the law to reach the result it wanted to reach.

renee-

I just read that the President will be in the booth with Fox sportscasters for the All Star Game. Will he reveal a preference or vote "present."

I think the Republicans need a dictionary. Just because you have "empathy" for a person or situation doesn't mean that you automatically favor that person or situation, only that you understand the causes.

Coreen...thanks for the FT article...I found this paragraph interesting.

This new American economy, Summers hopes, will be “more export-oriented” and “less consumption-oriented”; “more environmentally oriented” and “less energy-production-oriented”; “more bio- and software- and civil-engineering-oriented and less financial-engineering-oriented”; and, finally, “more middle-class-oriented” and “less oriented to income growth that is disproportionate towards a very small share of the population”. Unlike many other economists, Summers does not believe that lower growth is the inevitable price of this economic paradigm shift.

Obama's a Sox fan. If he's consistent, he'd pull for the AL.

Pogo,

Just for the entertainment value---watching/listening
to Sessions, et al, exhibit their well--lack of knowledge
is worth the admission--court jesters all.

music for the theme of the day: "money" by liza and joel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkRIbUT6u7Q

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/07/storming-the-federal-reserve.html#comment-243427

Did she read "Nancy Drew" as originally published in classic language of the 1930's, or the "modern" (i.e., dumbed-down) versions? Girls had to work their brains to follow the original "Carolyn Keene."

"Alighting from the roadster, Nancy stood for a moment gazing toward the lake." ... "Mysteries sometimes pop up in strange places, Nancy, and I must say you have a faculty for running into them."

-- The Mystery at Lilac Inn, 1930

Ivy,

Those original Nancy Drew stories were wonderful. I loved that little Roadster that Nancy drove.

The dumbing down of the series is almost criminal

One of the reasons I love the Harry Potter series is that Rowling expects readers to love the story enough to stretch their brains into a better vocabulary.

Oh Goodie, Sessions is reading the oath to a judge who has taken it often. He is such an ass.

Ivy,

If I had to guess, I would bet that quite a few trailmixers
were Nancy Drew mystery fans. I know I was.

A trip to the library then meant bringing home
as many Nancy Drew mysteries as were allowed--but
I don't know which version I was reading--probably
the "modern/dumbed down" version--but I really
enjoyed them.

Jamie, Sessions can read? Who knew?

Coreen, court jesters indeed. If Jeff sessions wore one of those four point fool's hats with the points and bells, I doubt that anyone would even notice. He is what we used to refer to in AL when I still lived there as a f*cking idiot - as a bama boy, he'd know what we meant.

flatus, did you see this?

"...Secretary Clinton’s announcement on Friday that the State Department and USAID will conduct a “Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review” (QDDR) is significant. Modelled on the Pentagon’s “Quadrennial Defense Review” (QDR), the QDDR will, in Secretary Clinton’s words, be

a tool to provide us with both short-term and long-term blueprints for how to advance our foreign policy objectives and our values and interests. This will provide us with a comprehensive assessment for organizational reform and improvements to our policy, strategy, and planning processes."

http://shadow.foreignpolicy.com/

For anyone who hasn't seen this, here is a very powerful video essay from CBS Sunday Morning yesterday made by the aunt of a soldier killed in Afghanistan the same day that Michael Jackson died.

Warning: I cried while I watched it, and you probably will, too.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/12/sunday/main5153229.shtml?tag=cbsnewsTwoColUpperPromoArea

This sort of puts the whole MJ thing into its proper perspective, while at the same time raising serious issues about the role of the media in failing to cover the two wars now being conducted in the margins, and our role as citizens to keep attention focused on this issue. Very moving, indeed.

Posted by Coreen

If I had to guess, I would bet that quite a few trailmixers
were Nancy Drew mystery fans. I know I was.

Good guess, Coreen. I still remember cars being called roadsters in the novels.

Loved your Oklahoma blog post Jamie -- especially the photo of the OK girls!

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/07/storming-the-federal-reserve.html#comment-243443

Pogo --

The Alabama Democratic Party has offered no effective alternatives to the electorate.

Pogo,

"court jesters indeed. If Jeff sessions wore one of those four point fool's hats with the points and bells",
I doubt that anyone would notice"

Your Sessions description makes for a delightful visual---my lack of respect & dislike of him goes way
back to the bankruptcy 2005 senate debate--when he
showed himself for the fool he was then & still is.

Ivy

The basic stories remain the same but they are "modernized" in language and all the quirky things that create pictures of Carolyn Keene's 1930s world are updated but not for the better.

When were the Nancy Drew books first changed?

Patsi,

The revisions started in 1959 and have been redoing all the originals plus adding more books with modern settings by newer authors ever since.

http://www.nancydrewsleuth.com/history.html

Ivy, there's still an Alabama Democratic Party? Who knew?

Coreen, think Alfred E. Newuman ("What, me worry?") ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Newman

...in a jester's hat ...

http://www.fantasycostume.net/renaissance/renaissancejesterfools.html

... and you're almost there.

http://www.collectmad.com/madcoversite/index-quiz_favorite.html

Scroll almost to the bottom and there is a Jack-in-the-box cover witha single point jester cap on AEN. Looks a lot like Jeffie to me.

ubns, Obama is throwing out the first pitch tomorrow night. Or as George Carlin once said: "The President doesn't throw OUT the first pitch. If he did, somebody would have to go out into the parking lot to retrieve the ball."

What did the heckler say? I was born in the USA. Instead of hollering out his question there should be a party of people for the people for him to tell his problems to. We don't really have a voice,we keep putting down the republicans for showing no leadership ,we are just as lost or even more so .

"...there's still an Alabama Democratic Party? Who knew?"

I think so, they cash my checks...

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/07/storming-the-federal-reserve.html#comment-243452

Jamie --

After I had read my way through all of my mother's original editions from the 30s and 40s, I began borrowing from the library and receiving gift books for birthdays and holidays. I was 10 and 11 years old, but I recognized they were not the same, not as interesting to read. They might move the plot along, but they didn't advance the art of language. I believe the same thing has been done to other classics, such as "Little Women."

Ivy,

That was my experience. The ones I read in the early 1950s were those Mildred A. Wirt originals (under the pseudonym of Carolyn Keene) versions. By comparison, the newer ones just seem blah.

Discussing Nancy Drew because while watching hearings some of these senators would turn me into a raging virago.

Lindsay Graham even when I disagree with him may be one of the few voices of sanity left in Republican party.

Dr. Regina Benjamin about to be announced as Surgeon General

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_31.html

"That was my experience. The ones I read in the early 1950s were those Mildred A. Wirt originals (under the pseudonym of Carolyn Keene) versions."

Same here.

Sestek gaining funds for primary run against Specter

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/07/13/sestak_pulls_in_more_than_1_million.html

More music for the Fed and the banks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bysDJG2O4E

If the Fed's got the money, the banks got the time. . .

And good morning, all.

NEW SEARCH.. http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/07/sotomayor-blinks-while-senator.html

Good Morning KY,

NEW THREAD

... that should have been Good Morning KT

that should have been Good Morning KT

Posted by: chloe

Hi, Chloe. And it actually should have been "good afternoon" because I didn't notice that big hand done moved past High Noon. . .