Archive for February, 2010

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An Accountant’s Life Is Not a Lot Of Fun (from Pirates in Pinafores, a G&S pastiche)

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Since my last stab at a Gilbert and Sullivan pastiche – “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Intellectual” – seemed to have been enjoyed by a lot of people here on NQ and on my Youtube channel, I thought I would share one of my latest efforts.

This time there is no video involved, however. This is a special preview for NQ readers only. It is a scene from “Pirates in Pinafores: A Gilbert and Sullivan Pastiche”, which features the most popular G&S music (mainly with new lyrics from me) from seven of their shows, all wrapped up in a semi-modern story about love, duty and corporate intrigue. It was partly the reception I got here on NQ and on Youtube to “Modern Intellectual” that inspired me to do a whole show. The final show has 25 songs and two reprises that most people will recognize.

(One of the reasons I haven’t been doing much on NQ or Youtube lately is because I have been too busy with this project and dealing with new interest in my other stage musicals.)

The song in the scene I am printing below is sung by three accountants who work for the Pieman of Penzance (also known as the Franchise King), who has built up a huge fortune with his pie franchise.

SONG 4: AN ACCOUNTANT’S LIFE IS NOT A LOT OF FUN
to the tune of “A Policeman’s Lot Is Not a Happy One” from “Pirates of Penzance”)

ACCOUNTANT 1:
I am Alistair McDuff the chief accountant

CHORUS
Number cruncher

ACCOUNTANTS 2 and 3
And we are his assistants, Keith and Ron

CHORUS
Keith and Ron

ACCOUNTANTS
It’s our job to take good care of all finances

CHORUS
All finances

ACCOUNTANTS
And make sure our number crunching’s never wrong

CHORUS
God forbid

ACCOUNTANTS
But there’s no joy in being an accountant

CHORUS
No excitement

ACCOUNTANTS
For nobody ever thinks of us as fun

CHORUS
Dull as dirt
(ALL YAWN)

ACCOUNTANTS
No-one ever thinks of us as hot and sexy

CHORUS
Never sexy!

ACCOUNTANTS
We always seem so dull to ev’ryone

ALL
It’s not nice when ev’rybody thinks you’re dull
and no fun
An accountant’s lot is not a jolly one
Not a jot

ACCOUNTANTS
But you’ll find in private life we’re quite eccentric

CHORUS:
You? Eccentric?

ACCOUNTANTS
If you knew what we got up to you would say
That you never would have thought that an accountant
Could behave in such a nonconformist way

CHORUS
There’s no way

ACCOUNTANT 1:
In my private life I am an outlaw biker

CHORUS
Who’d have thought it?

ACCOUNTANT 1
At weekends I wear leather ev’ry day

CHORUS
Ev’ry day?

ACCOUNTANT
I ride my Harley with such wild abandon
I scare the pants off all who come my way

ACCOUNTANT 2
At weekends I become a secret nudist

CHORUS
The mind boggles

ACCOUNTANT 2
I strut around as naked as can be

CHORUS
T.M.I.

ACCOUNTANT 2
So never knock upon my door at weekends

CHORUS
We’ll avoid it

ACCOUNTANT 2
Unless you want to see the naked me

CHORUS
No, not me

ACCOUNTANT 3
At weekends I dress up in women’s clothing

CHORUS
No surprise there

ACCOUNTANT 3
I have a diff’rent dress to wear each day

CHORUS
Come what may

ACCOUNTANT 3
I’ve lots and lots and lots of pretty outfits

CHORUS
Bet that cost you!

ACCOUNTANT 3
But though I’m a crossdresser I’m not gay

CHORUS
Gay? No way!

ALL
Oh, when there is number crunching to be done,
to be done
An accountant’s job is not a lot of fun
Not much fun

PS I am now putting Mozart’s music to a Hans Christian Andersen tale. See what you started?

Posted in Gilbert and Sullivan, Hillary, Humor, Music, OldGrumpyGuy, Satire | Comments Off

Canada vs. Canada

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Editor’s Note: The gold medal hockey game starts at 3 p.m. ET, on NBC, live in all time zones. Or, watch live at NBC’s Olympics site. ALSO: Catch Larry Johnson on John Batchelor’s radio show tonight. Details at end of post.

 

The Canada Hockey Team vs. Canada Hockey Cult closing contest at the Vancouver Olympics on Sunday 28, with the USA team allowed on the ice as a designated loser, is a treat to anticipate and a smile when it is done.

Reed Albergotti, WSJ, has told me several times over the last two weeks that he fears for his life if Canada loses.

The Canada hockey cult includes suicides, berserkers, mystics and a collective trance state. One country breathes as one mesmerized worshipper until Canada delivers the gold on home ice.

All other metrics for Canada must wait — the strong loonie, the booming natural resource economy, the cautious and sound banking system, the assertive wonderland of Nunavut, all must wait for that third period horn and Canada wins.

Final score? Canada Hockey Team 5, Canada Hockey Cult 14,000,000.

USA nowhere. Unless? Nah. Too awful to imagine, and Reed Albergotti must escape with his wits, and the destined Martin Brodeur must join the gods on Olympus. 

martin_brodeur_team_canada.jpg

_____________________________________________

Listen to Larry Johnson tonight on The John Batchelor Show. Larry usually joins the expert panel at 10:05 p.m. ET. John’s show starts at 9 p.m. ET, and lasts until 1 a.m. ET. To listen via iTunes:

(1) Double-click Radio.

(2) Double-click Talk/Spoken Word.

(3) Scroll down to WABC-AM, and double-click. (WABC is the NYC anchor station for John’s syndicated show. The sound quality is excellent.)

Posted in Current Affairs, Hillary | Comments Off

Democrats Go For Suicide

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

This issues may be different now than they were in the early days of the U.S. 2003 invasion of Iraq, but the attitudes of arrogance and hubris displayed by the Republicans with respect to the insurgency in Iraq seven years ago are now in full bloom with the Democrats. The mantra of the Democrats is bizarre. I just watched Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Meet the Press and she gamely insisted that the American people are all on board with the Democrats approach to Health Care reform.

Debbie. NO THEY ARE NOT!! If you did not take time to watch this focus group run by Frank Luntz, please pay close attention. Half of this group are Obama supporters.

Did you catch Frank Luntz’s final comment?

He’s quoting a song from the movie, 1776, but it is a question worth asking. This is no longer a partisan issue. When you have Obama supporters along with Republicans saying, “start over,” it is time to start over. Scott Rasmussen’s polling supports the views expressed in Luntz’s focus group. Rasmussen reports:

Following President Obama’s bipartisan health care summit on Thursday, 44% of voters nationwide rate the U.S. health care system as good or excellent. That’s up from 35% when the President first proposed his reform ideas last May and up from 29% two years ago. In more recent months, perceptions of the system have stabilized
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 28% now say the U.S. health care system is poor.
Additionally, 76% of those with insurance rate their own coverage as good or excellent. Just three percent (3%) rate their own coverage as poor.

The fact that most Americans are comfortable with their own insurance coverage has proven to be a major obstacle for advocates of reform. Forty-nine percent (49%) of insured Americans say it’s at least somewhat likely that the plan before Congress could force them to change their own coverage. Just 39% say it’s not likely. Those figures include 28% who say the proposed legislation is Very Likely to force them on to a new insurance plan while only 11% are confident that outcome is Not At All Likely.

Polling conducted last week showed that a solid plurality of Democrats believe it would be good for workers if they were forced off their private insurance plan and on to a government program. Republicans and unaffiliated voters disagree.

If the Democrats in House agreed with the Democrats in the Senate all of this would be moot. A bill would be passed and would be sitting on the President’s desk. But they don’t. Nancy Pelosi barely passed the Health Care bill towards the end of 2009 and now cannot count on the votes of Congressman Wexler (who left Congress) and John Murtha (he died). Worse the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts signaled that voters are fed up. There are a few Democrats on the House side who understand that pressing forward on Health Care will end their jobs. And most of the guys and gals in the House are making more money as a legislator than they ever made in previous jobs.

A majority of Americans want Congress and the President to start over on health care. The process needs to be transparent. Americans with Health Care coverage don’t want the Government tinkering with what already works. The Congress would be on more solid ground if they would focus on some specifics like the following:

Step one–Allow cheaper drugs from Canada to be sold in the United States. Eliminate the monopoly behavior of the drug companies, who charge higher prices for medicine in the United States.

Step two–Remove the anti-trust protection from Insurance companies and force them to compete across the board. This will reduce costs and prevent insurance companies from their own form of monopoly behavior.

Step three–The Government should set up a fund, much like the FDIC, which will backstop insurance companies who provide coverage to people previously denied coverage for pre-existing conditions.

Step four–Tort reform and government backed malpractice insurance. Too many doctors, especially Obstetricians (ie, baby doctors), are bailing out of practice and leaving folks without coverage. This is an appropriate area for government intervention.

But the Democrat leadership is not inclined to do so. They are convinced they are right and are going to muscle this through. But they do so at their peril. To pretend that the majority of Americans are not satisfied with their health care and want to scrap the current system is insane. The majority of Americans do not back what the Democrats have put forward in the House and the Senate. If Democrats insist on pursuing this madness they will be reminded come November who is in charge.

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air likes Nancy Pelosi and the Dems to our old friend, Baghdad Bob. He’s right. We have not seen this level of denial since the good old days of Baghdad Bob insisting that the American invaders would be completely vanquished. How did that work out?

My favorite Baghdad Bob moment, “They are nowhere near Baghdad.” And now, Nancy Pelosi insists, we have the votes to pass health care.

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No Quarter Radio’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle Welcomes Jeff Zwerling

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Feeling disenfranchised these days? Feeling that Wall Street remains protected by Washington and a regulatory structure that serves to protect the financial industry more than the investor? Where can one go to get some understanding from corporate and political cronyism?

You have come to the right place as tonight from 8-9pm ET No Quarter Radio’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle Welcomes Jeff Zwerling.

The firm of Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP was formed on January 1, 1985, and is currently involved in numerous class actions in the areas of securities fraud, consumer fraud, and antitrust litigation.

Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP successfully represents the David’s of this world against the Goliaths of commerce and industry. With its strong leadership, the firm has gone from strength to strength prosecuting increasingly high-profile and ground breaking class actions involving securities fraud, antitrust violations, and far-reaching consumer fraud.

Since its inception Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP has built a reputation for solid legal expertise and thoroughness that has earned it the respect of its peers, as well as courts throughout the United States. Courts have selected Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP many times as lead counsel in complex matters. Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP often receives favorable comment from the courts.

Jeffrey C. Zwerling was admitted to the bar of the State of New York in 1972 and to the bar of the State of Arizona in 1981; he is admitted to the following federal courts: the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He received a Bachelor of Science degree with Honors from Lehigh University in 1968 and a Juries Doctor degree from Columbia University School of Law in 1971. He was Articles Editor of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. His professional affiliations include: New York State Bar Association, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Nassau County Bar Association, and State Bar of Arizona.

Can’t get any satisfaction from regulators? I guarantee you will get plenty of satisfaction listening to and engaging in my conversation with Attorney Jeff Zwerling tonight. Join us at 8pm ET at the BlogTalkRadio website.

LD

Posted in Hillary, NoQuarter Radio, Sense on Cents (Larry Doyle blog) | Comments Off

Obama’s Gambits Aren’t Working

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

I get the reason that Obama held the health care summit on Thursday. You and I — we who follow the news closely — know that the entire reason that Obama has failed to get Obamacare passed is because of dissension among the Democrats in the House and Senate.

Obama is harping on Republicans because he is desperately trying to recast the “bad actors” in this soap opera as the Republicans instead of his fellow Democrats. He wants to take the onus off of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and their quarreling broods, and put the onus entirely on the GOP Congressional leadership.

We shall see if re-casting the role of the “villain” works for Obama.

In the meantime, Obama’s approval ratings are sinking. In its daily tracking poll, Rasmussen shows Obama with his lowest numbers yet, and Rasmussen finds that his sinking numbers are due to people’s disapproval of Obama’s obsession with his health care plan. Methinks the American people aren’t interested in who Obama is blaming for his failures, and wish their president were addressing the concerns they most care about: the economy, the deficit, and unemployment. Here are the numbers:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 22% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21. That matches the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for President Obama.

The only other time the Approval Index was this low came in late December as the U.S. Senate prepared to approve its version of health care reform (see trends). Most voters continue to oppose the proposed health care plan. …

Read all at Rasmussen Reports.

You can view the daily graph of presidential approval ratings here.

Posted in Current Affairs, Hillary | Comments Off

The Secret History of Gen. Alexander Haig

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Editor’s Note: Republished from Truthout.org with the express permission of Mel Goodman, whose bio is at the end of this post.


Alexander Haig. (Photo: Tom Ordelman)

The obituaries in the mainstream media failed to capture the full extent of the controversy and confrontation that marked Gen. Alexander M. Haig’s political career in the White House during the Nixon administration and the State Department during the Reagan administration. In his memoir, Henry A. Kissinger praised Haig’s role in 1973-1974 in "holding the government together" in the final days of the Nixon era. Kissinger was respectful of Haig because the general allowed the national security adviser to do as he pleased in his stewardship of foreign and national security policy.

Haig’s hands-off attitude allowed Kissinger to unnecessarily and dangerously raise the nuclear alert status to Defense Condition III for the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in an effort to deter the Soviets from any military intervention in the last days of the October War of 1973. But there was no Soviet intention to intervene, and our European allies – let alone Moscow – were particularly upset with the nuclear alert. Several of our NATO allies, including Germany, Spain and Italy, limited US access to their bases as a result of DefCon-III. Neither Haig nor Kissinger ever explained their rationale for the heightened nuclear alert – although they promised to do so.

Gen. Haig never should have permitted Kissinger to chair a meeting of the National Security Council, let alone raise the nuclear alert status, without the presence of President Richard M. Nixon, who was indisposed at the time. The National Security Act of 1947 makes it clear that only the president or the vice president must run such a meeting or the president must issue a written authorization to make it clear who is going to run the meeting. The United States had no vice president at the time because Spiro Agnew had been forced to resign and Gerald Ford had not been confirmed. The meeting was held shortly before midnight on October 24, and Haig refused to awaken the sleeping president. The decision of Haig and Kissinger was reckless and could have had grave consequences.

Haig was a major player in the US failure to understand the role of international terrorism and to falsely blame the Soviet Union for the orchestration of terrorism. As the new secretary of state, Haig arrived at the State Department with strong anti-Soviet baggage, based in part on his belief that the Soviet Union was a primary source of support for international terrorism. There had been an attempt to assassinate Haig in Europe in June 1979, only four days before he stepped down as Supreme Allied Commander for Europe. The Soviets had nothing to do with the assassination attempt, but in his confirmation hearings on January 14, 1981, Haig charged the Soviets with orchestrating the attempt. On that same day, the Senate confirmed William Casey as director of the CIA by a vote of 95 to 0. From that point forward, Haig and Casey led an effort to portray Moscow as orchestrating terrorism "like a giant Wurlitzer organ."

Haig and Casey immediately conspired to produce a National Intelligence Estimate on international terrorism, knowing that they had a high-level supporter for their views, the incoming president, Ronald Reagan. Reagan’s campaign oratory against the Soviets regularly referred to "Soviet-trained terrorists who are bringing civil war to Central America," requiring a "stand against terrorism in the world." Haig and Casey believed that CIA political analysis was naive and unsophisticated, and wanted an estimate on terrorism for key policy-makers to demonstrate that a new era had begun at the CIA. The new National Intelligence Officer for the Soviet Union, Robert Gates, immediately became an advocate for Casey’s hard-line views, serving as Casey’s special assistant, deputy director for intelligence and deputy for central intelligence.

A senior intelligence official, the late Richard Lehman, who facetiously referred to policy-makers as "our masters," told a group of us responsible for the estimate that Casey and Haig have to be "let down, and that it is our job to let them down easily." We were well aware of the difficult bureaucratic task we faced, but we were also aware that there was no good evidence of Soviet support for international terrorism in Western Europe and the Middle East. What we didn’t know was that Haig and Casey had read Claire Sterling’s polemic on terrorism, "The Terror Network," and that no amount of factual information would disabuse them of their notions about Moscow and terror. Haig immediately appointed Michael Ledeen to his staff; Ledeen was Sterling’s collaborator on "The Terror Network." Haig, Casey and Gates used the accusations of Soviet responsibility for terrorism to block any possibility of improved relations with the Soviet Union. Fortunately, Haig’s successor, George Shultz, ignored these accusations.

The obituaries pointed out that President Ronald Reagan’s acceptance of Haig’s offer to resign his post as secretary of state was a shock to the general, but they failed to note the reason for Reagan’s acceptance. In his memoir, "Caveat: Realism, Reagan, and Foreign Policy," Haig claims that the United States sent the "strongest possible warnings" to Israel not to launch its war against Lebanon in 1982. There were no US warnings. In fact, Haig was one of a very few members of the Reagan administration to understand that the Israeli offensive was going to reach Beirut, the Lebanese capital, in violation of Israeli intentions not to threaten Arab capitals. As secretary of state, Haig was in a position to warn the Israelis against such a disastrous military adventure and its obvious consequences, but chose not to do so. Instead of issuing a "red light" against such a campaign, Haig merely issued a "yellow light" of caution regarding the clandestine arrangements between the Israelis and the Lebanese Maronite leaders. These arrangements led to the bloody conquest of Beirut, byzantine political alliances between Lebanese factions, the frustration and tragedy of the US Marine occupation, the Palestinian massacres at the Sabra and Shatila camps and the formation of Hezbollah. Lebanon has had no stability for the past three decades, and Israel continues to have a security problem on its northern frontier.

Haig’s role in all of these events – DefCon-III; the handling of international terrorism; and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon – had unintended consequences that harmed the interests of the United States and delayed the process of diplomacy and negotiation. Like many of the neoconservatives who dominated the administration of President George W. Bush, Haig placed too much reliance on the use and threat of military force and relegated diplomacy to a back burner. This militarization of American national security and foreign policies has harmed US interests and raised the hidden costs of US involvement in the Cold War.

—————————————————–


Melvin A. Goodman, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University, spent 42 years with the CIA, the National War College, and the U.S. Army. His latest book is Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA. [This story originally appeared at Truthout.org.]

Posted in Current Affairs, Hillary | Comments Off

Fannie Mae Blight Plagues America

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Is it any surprise that the next drawdown in a multi-billion dollar ongoing bailout gets posted at 5pm on a Friday afternoon? Not in this economy where Uncle Sam, that’s you and me boys and girls, continues to pay for the woefully mismanaged financial and legislative practices of those in Washington.

The gutless typically prefer to operate under a veil of darkness.

I am referring to the sinkhole that is the organization known as Fannie Mae, as it comes back to the well for another $15 billion. Bloomberg highlights this ongoing bleeding in writing, Fannie Seeks $15 Billion in U.S. Aid After 10th Straight Loss:

Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance company under federal conservatorship, said it will seek $15.3 billion in aid from the U.S. Treasury after posting a 10th straight quarterly loss.

A fourth-quarter net loss of $16.3 billion, or $2.87 a share, pushed the company to request its fifth draw on an unlimited lifeline from the government, Washington-based Fannie Mae said in a filing today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Fannie Mae, which posted $120.5 billion in losses over the previous nine quarters, has already taken $59.9 billion in federal aid since April. Its shares, which peaked at $87.81 in December 2000, closed at 99 cents today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

While America has become numbed by the steady flow of red ink pouring from this organization, the fact is that Fannie’s then CEO, Franklin Raines, raped and pillaged this organization and walked out the door with tens of millions in bonus money. Franklin’s successor, Daniel Mudd, was an administrator not a risk manager.

Franklin’s friends up on the Hill, including Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, John Kerry, Barack Obama, et al not only promoted the misguided policies allowing Fannie to grow out of control, but these pols lined their pockets in the process.

If these aforementioned individuals worked in the private sector, they not only would have been summarily fired but they would have been banished as well.

I forecasted these losses at Fannie Mae last July in writing, Uncle Sam’s Dirty Little Secret Is Revealed:

The fact remains that these two wards of the state are no longer for profit entities but rather vehicles for promoting Obama’s housing plans and redistribution of wealth.

The losses within Fannie and Freddie will accrue as long as housing delinquencies and defaults increase. No credible analyst can truly predict when those statistics may peak. They can guess but given the runup in home prices along with the growth in housing, that is all they can do.

In fact, the argument can be made that the very policies being utilized to forestall delinquencies and defaults will ultimately exacerbate and extend the pressure on the housing market, and in turn, Fannie’s and Freddie’s losses.

Will the American taxpayer ever see a return on the funds being pumped into Fannie and Freddie? Don’t hold your breath.

These losses were avoidable.

This is no way to run a country.

LD

Posted in Bailouts, Economy, Fannie Mae, Fannie Mae bailout, Hillary, Sense on Cents (Larry Doyle blog) | Comments Off

Tune In To NoQuarter Radio’s Sins of Omission with Paulie Abeles Tonight at 9:00pm ET

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

The promo for the March 1st program has been bumped down. Listen to the archived show via BlogTalkRadio, or follow our instructions in the right column to listen via iTunes.

paulie-s1Join Sins of Omission Monday, March 1, 2010 at 9pm (ET) as host Paulie Abeles interviews award-winning documentary filmmaker and author Rick Beyer whose new book, “The Greatest Science Stories Never Told: 100 Tales of Invention and Discovery to Astonish, Bewilder & Stupefy”, documents the strange and unlikely origins behind everything from Teflon and the first dishwasher – to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Tonight’s questions include:

  • Did the Persians create the first battery in 250 B.C.?
  • Was radar discovered during the Second World War by a scientist who was trying to develop a ‘death ray’?
  • What about the undertaker who invented the first telephone exchange to drum up business?

Bio:

Rick Beyer has worked with the History Channel, National Geographic, Smithsonian and A& E.

His latest book “The Greatest Science Stories Never Told” is the fourth volume in the popular ‘Greatest Stories’ history series.

________

TONIGHT at 9 p.m. ET: NoQuarter Radio’s Sins of Omission with Paulie Abeles

Paulie’s weekly show is aimed at giving listeners insight into the topics of the day beyond the nightly news. To listen to more of Paulie’s recent shows, follow our instructions in the far right column to retrieve all NoQuarter radio shows via iTunes and/or BlogTalkRadio.com.

Posted in Current Affairs, Hillary | Comments Off

Larry Johnson on John Batchelor’s Show

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

(Promo bumped down for February 28th show. Listen to the podcast. Podcasts are available typically the morning, or afternoon, after John Batchelor’s show.)

batchelor-sTONIGHT AT 10:05 PM ET: Tune in to John Batchelor’s syndicated radio show when Larry Johnson joins the experts’ panel every Sunday. The show is carried on many radio stations and via iTunes. (Open iTunes, then click on Radio || Talk/Spoken Word (used to be called News/Talk Radio) || WABC-AM.) FYI, John’s show starts at 9:05 p.m. ET / 6:05 p.m. PT. Here’s tonight’s schedule for Larry:

Sunday 1005P: (705P Pacific Time): Larry Johnson, No Quarter, John Avlon, Daily Beast, re Healthcare summit, re CPAC.

Sunday 1020P: (720P Pacific Time): Continued.

OF NOTE, in case you haven’t checked our Batchelor promos in a while: John’s show used to be carried by KFI-AM; he has moved to several new stations. Follow these three easy steps once you’ve opened iTunes:

  1. Select Radio;

  2. Scroll to and select Talk/Spoken Word (that’s a newly worded category — used to be News/Talk Radio); and

  3. Scroll to and select WABC-AM.

NOTE: You can also try connecting via these talk radio stations: WMAL, WLS, KSFO, WBAP. I have tried WABC-AM, which is the “parent” station for John’s syndicated show, and it worked perfectly for me, so I encourage its use.

Posted in Current Affairs, Hillary | Comments Off

Can ACORN Fool You Twice?

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

ACORN is in the process of restructuring in the wake of multiple scandals, including voter fraud and misuse of tax dollars.

So, watch out for lots of little acorns wearing funny glasses and fake moustaches.

Instead of trying to mend its broken image (and fill its empty coffers), ACORN will dissolve its national structure and split into local “independent” chapters. They will sport new names, but with underlying operating procedures remaining unchanged and retaining a lot of the same personnel.

Here is one example. The California group is operating under a new name. The remaining connection is made clear, even from its own description, and the “new” Executive Director has been with ACORN for many years. From the site: “The leadership and staff that were working with ACORN in California made the decision to break off from ACORN and launch a new organization here in California called Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE).”

The Brooklyn New York ACORN Office shuttered briefly before rebranding itself as the New York Communities for Change. Other ACORN chapters are expected to follow suit.

Whether the falling Mother Oak spewing multiple rebirths on its way down is only a bait-and-switch PR scam or a sincere attempt to do meaningful work on behalf of the poor remains to be seen. Borrowing from two proverbs, will the result be “Mighty oaks from little acorns grow” or “As the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined?” Unless they start from scratch, my money is on Proverb #2.

For more, read Rev. Amy’s recent No Quarter article, “A Nut by Any Other Name” here.

And a BIG thank you to Nunly for the illustration and caption idea.

Posted in ACORN restructuring, ACORN scandal, Acorn, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, Current Affairs, Hillary, New York Communities for Change | Comments Off

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