120 Comments

1. rodomontade:

I think you overinterpret Ms. Rossett’s anecdote. The Wall Street Journal editorialized for years that Fannie Mae was dangerously overleveraged and might blow up soaking the taxpayers. It further editorialized that the purpose of the leverage was to make handsome profits by borrowing at a low, government-guaranteed rate to speculate in the markets.

Thus, the resentment displayed here isn’t about class envy. It is about their knowledge that this particular person was getting very rich operating a quasi-government hedge fund that risked costing taxpayers trillions — and of course did.

I suspect the Wall Street Journal editorial board interviews more than its fair share of VERY rich people.

Mar 19, 2009 - 2:47 pm 2. blert:

Raines’ extravagant dress stood in contrast to his quango perch.

He was the canary in the glitter dome.

Mar 19, 2009 - 3:05 pm 3. ECM:

This is pretty much textbook socialism/communism, isn’t it?

The ones that are all for the grand experiment, that control the levers of power, reap massive rewards while everyone else gets to eat mud all in the name of equality, i.e. some animals are more equal than others–especially those that can afford custom-tailored raincoats.

Mar 19, 2009 - 3:09 pm 4. blert:

How else would a mortgage pimp be expected to dress?

Mar 19, 2009 - 3:11 pm 5. wretchard:

I don’t think Claudia Rossett was engaging in class envy, though probably my post was at fault for not expressing that clearly. I thought the key line was:

I asked Susan, “How much do you think that raincoat cost.” The gist of her reply (I do not remember her exact words) was: Plenty, and we’re going to pay for it.

The problem wasn’t that the raincoat cost a lot of money. The difficulty was that “we’re going to pay for it.” A man in business for himself is entitled to spend his money. And even when a man is in business “for the people”, he is still entitled to the money, if he deserves it on the strength of his performance. Fannie Mae, as we now know, wasn’t exactly run along the best lines. So it is the contrast between the splendid raincoat and the shabby Fannie Mae that is ultimately the most striking.

Mar 19, 2009 - 3:17 pm 6. Herb:

There are the very rich (JP Morgan, Ford, Carnegie, Gates, TJ Rodgers, et al) who made their money by dint of their brains or personality or a combination thereof. These include the people who developed the CDS’s that were designed to offset the risk associated with the subprime mortgage market that Fan and Fred promoted. Those people were simply trying to operate in a game set up by others. (I dont think any of them are really, really rich.

Then there are the Raines, Clintons, Gores, Gorelicks, senators and congresscritters who made their money off their political prowess or ability to work other politicians. Its another industry just like steel or hamburgers or peanuts. The problem with it is that it is the industry of power. The power to use a gun take your property or your freedom or to lien some substantial number of the limited number of heartbeats you are authorized in order to advance the needs of that industry.

The Government, in an attempt to increase the number of people owning houses, has damn near destroyed the economy of America and thereby made the world economy very sick. Mr. Raines now sits somewhere, very comfortably, in a chair that probably cost as much as my car, in a room that cost as much as my house, worried only about whether or not there is enough ice in the bucket for his next 40 year old scotch.

He ought to be ruined and an object of public derision and contempt. But he’s not. Bush should have stolen $150 Million. He’d now have respect.

Mar 19, 2009 - 3:23 pm 7. weSwinger:

No overinterpretation at all – I’d go so far as to say that for Franklin Raines each luxury item is just one larger element of a big sneer at and raspberry blown towards us, the working, taxpaying, saving drudges. (You can add the Brooklyn salute to that too.) Franklin has mastered the art of directly feeding at the public trough without going to the trouble of getting elected.

OT Alert: Walt Erickson’s entry in Amazon’s breakthrough novel awards is good stuff for those of us who like Sci Fi. He deserves our support for the entertaining occasional verse he shares with us at the BC. Amazon does not publicize or make finding the contest easy. Go to Amazon. Search Books. Search Amazon Shorts. Type in Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. Hit enter. That will return 501 items. If you can stand it, have Amazon send you (they e-mail you these shorts for free) a couple of the other sci-fi’s for comparison purposes. Or, when you type in “awards” type ” – Soliloquy” to get just that one. As a bona-fide summa cum laude Eng. Lit. major from UC Berkeley, I dug it. Then go back to Amazon/*/Soliloquy and type in a nice review. If you didn’t like it, don’t.

Mar 19, 2009 - 3:29 pm 8. Quig:

Kleptocrat.

Mar 19, 2009 - 3:34 pm 9. 49erDweet:

W’s #5 is spot on. Why does shabby and substandard government work seem to generate $$$$ for the “connected”, and prison for the “losers”? And Herb’s group practicing “political prowess” are/were actually being sleazy. There’s no way a politician who lies, lies, lies and steals is being “political”. It’s “criminal” if a repub, “expected” if a dhim.

Mar 19, 2009 - 3:37 pm 10. ForNow:

Your comment was clearer than your post, Wretchard. It’s the fancy raincoat of the bilker, the swindler, and the mink coat of the bilker’s spouse – as seen by the bilked.

When your enterprise is at risk and he, who was paid to help, just says, “sometimes bad things happen,” and then you learn that all his advice had been B.S., his recommendations bought by kickbacks, then you think, the spouse’s mink stole. Sometimes that vision helps you change course before it’s too late.

Mar 19, 2009 - 3:37 pm 11. ForNow:

It sounds like I got it in the wrong order, but in fact sometimes people minimize the play-to-pay, the cut, the kickback, it’s just part of the way things are done yadda yadda, and think that its recipient still wouldn’t give you a bum steer, he or she would take a percentage only from a recommendation-worthy organization.

Mar 19, 2009 - 3:45 pm 12. Brock:

The problem isn’t that the raincoat was expensive, but that the money used to buy it was stolen.

Mar 19, 2009 - 3:46 pm 13. NahnCee:

Would it have been better or worse if he had gone to the closet and lifted a WSJ employee’s expensive coat and worn it out, leaving his own raggedy one behind?

Mar 19, 2009 - 3:46 pm 14. fiona:

It would have been better if he had gotten a bureaucrat’s salary and a London Fog instead of the $90 million and a slap on the wrist from the SEC for screwing up Fannie’s reporting

Mar 19, 2009 - 4:09 pm 15. RWE:

Yes, Brock #5 gets it.

Think now, that raincoat was not being worn by Mr. Forbes, Mr. Gates, or Mr. Buffett, or even Mr. Walton. It was being worn by someone whose claim to fame and money was based on a Federally mandated “stimulus package” provided at the expense of people who for the most part cannot afford to buy such raincoats.

For make no mistake about it: the CRA’s sweet deals and the Fannie and Freddie support of them was not done on the backs of the designer raincoat crowd but rather by stealing from the people who did not get such deals. People seem to think that when they manage to wrest a 4% no down payment loan for the poor from a bank that normally requires 20% down and a 7% rate they are preventing the bank management from buying designer raincoats for themselves. In reality, they are preventing thousands of other people from getting 6.75% loans and thus condemn them all to buying army surplus raincoats, at best.

Nahncee: If Raines had done that they could have shot him and saved the taxpayers untold billions.

Mar 19, 2009 - 4:13 pm 16. Gaffe Prices:

Now you just hold on now, and leave Franklin Raines alone. He’s always been a dandy, what with that perfectly coifed pate, and you’re just jealous anyway.

You you you, you rasist!

Mar 19, 2009 - 4:14 pm 17. Walt:

weSwinger @7

Thanks for the plug, and for the terrific review you posted on Amazon. There is an easier way to get there. If I could do a link I would, but simply type in http://www.amazon.com/abna, and that will take you to the main contest page. Under Browse the Quarterfinalists click on Science Fiction, which will take you to the entries for that genre. Scroll down to SOLILOQUY by Walter Erickson, click on the highlight and you will be able to download and read, for free, a sample of the novel. After that, if you like, you can write a review. The judges will use these reviews as part of the judging process to move on to the semifinals. Winning entry gets published by Penguin.

Thanks
Walt Erickson

Mar 19, 2009 - 4:52 pm 18. Walt:

Wretchard: Thanks for the link. Much appreciated.

Walt

Mar 19, 2009 - 4:59 pm 19. Gaffe Prices:

Don’t go away mad, Franklin, just go away, and leave those bonuses right there on the table where I can see them.

Mar 19, 2009 - 5:38 pm 20. Walt:

Childe Franklin has bought him a coat
To keep himself dry in the rain
The cost to him nary a groat
The cost to us many a pain
Childe Franklin has given his life
To serving the poor for no gain
And though accusations are rife
He knows that his duty is plain
To the poor Franklin says there I be
For the poor will be there in the main
Yes a true public servant as he
Deigns to answer nor needs to explain

Mar 19, 2009 - 5:50 pm 21. joe buzz:

I truly hope that there is much more exposure of the mismanagement and wrongdoing at Fannie and Freddie along with the efforts to block reform.
Here is a very well executed dressing down conducted from the house floor by the gentleman from the 11th district of Michigan and well worth the couple of minutes:
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/196888.php

Mar 19, 2009 - 5:56 pm 22. Doug:

Walt,
A bit of Pay Pal lobbying might be in order to sweeten the deal for the reviewers, and align your operation with the topic.

Mar 19, 2009 - 5:56 pm 23. Doug:

I’ll link again
Doug Ross’s Excellent Depiction of this Crew’s take:

This is the community agitator and ACORN attorney named Barack Obama, who sued Citibank in 1994; one of hundreds of nuisance lawsuits filed by ACORN and its affiliates to loosen mortgage underwriting standards.
————-
These are the pay packages the Democrats awarded themselves, through undeserved bonuses, immense salaries and incentive payments, all based upon pushing huge numbers of subprime loans through Fannie Mae.

CEO Franklin Raines – $90,128,761

CEO Timothy Howard – $30,155,029

Chair Jamie Gorelick – $26,466,834

CEO Jim Johnson – $21,000,000

————-
This is Fannie Mae’s stock price, the collapse of which devastated the capital-to-asset ratios of banks and insurance companies like AIG (which held five billion dollars in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac equities).
————-
These are the total campaign contributions (”investments”) Fannie Mae executives made to Democratic Senators Chris Dodd, Barack Obama and John Kerry in order to “fix” federal regulation.
————-
The list goes on and on…

Mar 19, 2009 - 6:00 pm 24. Leo Linbeck III:

I think there is another interesting question: why does anybody buy a designer raincoat?

I’m with W that anyone should be allowed to purchase said raincoat if they choose. But just because you can doesn’t mean it makes sense to do so.

In my experience, guys in Brioni suits are simply playing a role: the successful, rich guy who possesses the mojo that allows him to make money. The logic is that money-making ability is some kind of black magic, a shaman’s gift that is mysterious and incomprehensible, the exclusive province of the übermensch. The rich, you know, are different.

So, if I want to be rich and successful, I need to snuggle up to such folk and act like them. I don’t want to actually work to get rich; that is so, well, plebeian. This is the logic of Madoff, Stanford, and dozens of other fellow-traveling fraudsters in the world of high finance. The key is to look rich, so as to attract suckers who think dress is a good proxy for success. That’s why they join Palm Beach Country Club, sponsor cricket test matches, etc.

But this is really about manipulating perception, and may have nothing to do with reality. Clothes, like it or not, do not make the man. The true test of success is action and its results, over the long run. But it’s easier to dress for success than achieve success.

Think about this: several clubbers have made the point that Buffett, Gates, Walton, et. al. can afford, and should be allowed to purchase, any damn raincoat they wish. But can you imagine Warren Buffett in a Karl Lagerfeld-designed raincoat? Or Bill Gates walking around in his office in an Zegna suit? Or Sam Walton wearing a pair of Bruno Magli loafers? (Sidebar: Sam Walton always drove a pickup truck. I read once that after Sam made his first billion, a friend asked him why he didn’t drive a better car, like a Mercedes-Benz. His response: “I’d look like a damn fool driving around in a Mercedes with my hunting dogs.”)

The point here is that these guys have nothing to prove. Folks know they’re rich and powerful, so why feel the need to project an image of wealth? The fancy dressers are often trying to make folks believe they’re more successful than they really are.

In the case of Franklin Raines, the raincoat was part of this act. He was a big-time CEO of a huge and successful financial enterprise. FM was making enormous sums of money so it could pay him enormous sums of money so he could spend enormous sums of money on a raincoat. He probably also drove an AMD Mercedes – after all, you often need to go 0-60mph in 3.2 seconds in Washington and New York. (And he didn’t hunt.)

But the fact remains he destroyed more value than he created. Much more.

A pound of dog feces is still a pound of dog feces, even if it is wrapped in a Louis Vuitton designer raincoat.

And it still stinks.

L3

Mar 19, 2009 - 6:04 pm 25. Doug:

Barack Does Burbank: Tells Leno he was stunned by bonuses…

Mar 19, 2009 - 6:13 pm 26. Leo Linbeck III:

The apparatchik Franklin Raines
Whose ancestors came here in chains

Was a good Friend of Bill
That dress-ed to kill

So he did, and no Fannie remains.

— —

In order to keep himself dry
Mr. Raines went to Neiman’s to buy

A fancy new coat
That allowed him to gloat:

“What a powerful rich boy am I”

— —

When deciding how one should show-off
After feeding oneself at the trough

Avoid stands for umbrellas
Like that Kozlowski fella

And choose an Armani raincoat to doff.

— —

L3

Mar 19, 2009 - 6:30 pm 27. Insufficiently Sensitive:

For make no mistake about it: the CRA’s sweet deals and the Fannie and Freddie support of them was not done on the backs of the designer raincoat crowd but rather by stealing from the people who did not get such deals.

The kleftees were actually ordinary bank depositors, people who felt that their careful savings would be secure and make them a little interest (if inflation didn’t cancel or reverse the increase) in the custody of certain large banks.

Little did they know, that on the mandate of Congress, those large banks were coerced into lending those savings to folks who by virtue of zip code were ‘entitled’ to them, whether or not there would be any likelihooe of repayment.

Thus were the earnings of saver A wrested into the doomed finances of borrower B, so that political party C (uh, let’s say D) could graciously collect the credit, emplace its functionaries as high-paid ‘executives’, and enjoy lavish contributions to its members’ future campaigns. A veritable perpetual motion machine, until the real estate bubble finally popped and the taxpayers took the fall.

The most grim and cynical aspect of the recent ’stimulus’ is that it too, like the CRA, is named a ‘Reinvestment’ act, and apparently has the ultimate goal of emplacing a new and grander perpetual motion machine affecting ALL zip codes, not just the ones inside the invisible red lines.

Mar 19, 2009 - 6:34 pm 28. weSwinger:

The dandy’s full name: Franklin Delano Raines. F**king perfect. He was born to it.

Mar 19, 2009 - 6:44 pm 29. outta my league:

I once worked at a petrochem plant that slickered their employees with cheap safety-yellow rainsuits that had waist pockets without flaps.

The pockets filled with rain, freezing or otherwise.

Did Raines’ suit pockets have Rain Flaps?

Mar 19, 2009 - 7:00 pm 30. fred:

Absent his own explanation, we can only speculate the motivation of Mr. Raines as to why he would attire himself in such finery. Not that his explanation would provide us with the real or a positive reason. But we could infer what the dissimulation intends to mask, given his past behavior and how he has run his agency. Only someone very close to him could possibly have insight into the way Mr. Raines sees the world, assuming such person would pick up on these things and honestly size him up. But I’ll venture a guess that the kind of people he would be close to would never give that away, in all likelihood that they share the same sense of themselves. Birds of a feather flock together.

I would be curious to know if Mr. Raines and people like him are aware of how destructive they are and how self-serving they are. I do not begrudge the man his right to spend his money as he wishes. And I actually could care less. But the contrast has been described for us, and the stunning lack of congruence between his status symbols and the value his work “adds” to our economy cannot be lost on even the less insightful.

It says something about his perception of who he is. He sees himself as part of the natural oligarchy which people in his circle probably think themselves as.

I am reminded of a comment attributed to one of the more powerful international oligarchs, Maurice Strong: “I am a socialist in ideology, and a capitalist in methodology.” It’s just another way of expressing the fact that the powerful socialists see themselves as the natural leaders and that they should be allowed to live as such. By virtue of their Ivy League educations these people think of themselves as more intelligent and more learned than the rest of us.

They feel entitled to the perquesites of what they see as the natural order they are the guardians of.

Mar 19, 2009 - 7:00 pm 31. Aristide:

And socialism, when you think about it, isn’t a program to make us equal; just one to make some more equal than others.

A friend, in the world of public higher education, summed up that attitude quite well.. “Those that serve the poor, deserve more!“

Mar 19, 2009 - 7:12 pm 32. Gaffe Prices:

I hope this goes on to become a catch-phrase: “The Raincoating of Franklin Raines”

Mar 19, 2009 - 7:29 pm 33. sigintel:

#23 Doug…Those FM salaries add up to $167 million…about the same amount as the AIG bonuses that the dems are so outraged about and want returned…do you think they’ll pass a law to get Raines et al to return the money they bilked from the GSE? No Bill of Attainder for Frankie and Jamie… nope, to the dems Raines is hero. AIG has been used to funnel billions out to foreign banks and the Big 0 and the dems are shocked and outraged over the payment of bonuses that they authorized in the Stimulus Bill. What’s shocking is there’s no federal oversight on TARP, TALP and congress doesn’t even read the bills they pass.Obamy’s on TV and Timmy is out to lunch…I’m not sleeping to well these days are you?

Mar 19, 2009 - 7:38 pm 34. Starling:

Given that purple is the color of royalty, couldn’t help but think the title of this post could have been Purple Rain(es) or, perhaps, Purple Rain(coat)

Mar 19, 2009 - 7:43 pm 35. Gaffe Prices:

You know, I think a lot of these creepy Top-Hat types are going to go down before Obama can appoint them anything else in

Not that Franklin needs the money, au contraire mon ami, he’s sitting pretty, but its a real shame we won’t get to see whether or not he can resist the temptation to join this Most Ethical AdminisTration Ever Pt. deux and all the presitige that will bring.

Mar 19, 2009 - 7:44 pm 36. Tony:

What did it mean, I wondered, to think about the raincoat? Doesn’t Franklin Raines,

… make you think of Claude Rains, The Invisible Man … the way the bad guys all disappeared, while the peasants grasp at vapors.

“Look, he’s all eaten away” as the cop in the movie says of the cackling Invisible Man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY-ddVDk2do

Mar 19, 2009 - 7:47 pm 37. bob:

We’re all naked as jaybirds before the Lord.

Mar 19, 2009 - 8:07 pm 38. Rob:

The outrage is that simply because of one’s government contacts one can get insanely rich; this crosses economic systems, but it’s usually more associated with socialist systems. In the case of Fannie and Raines, one can get insanely rich by using one’s government contacts to block legislation that would correct insane policies that were based on taking advantage of racial guilt, but which had been shown to be very harmful to the general populace.

Mar 19, 2009 - 8:50 pm 39. fred:

Right now it is looking like we are being laid low at the feet of these known and unknown oligarchs of the new incarnation of Marxism by Antonio Gramsci. That is what boils my blood.

Mar 19, 2009 - 8:54 pm 40. Derek:

Leo: so right. I distrust people who dress the part, because they are trying to sell something.

Two stories from this small town. In the ’80s this resource town lost it’s mill, railway yard, and probably the equivalent in two other operations. I said small town, 10,000. But there were 5 investment houses in this small town, some money carefully husbanded.

A fellow showed up with some money, bought a large house by the lake, started doing some development. He had a name similar to Rockefeller, or Morgan, sounded like money. Chase I think. He would tip very generously, show up in the restaurants and put on a show. He talked and dressed the part. He discretely put out the word that he could help people invest and be as successful as himself. A surprising number of people got suckered when he disappeared with the cash.

Two years ago a fellow showed up in town, wearing work clothes, work boots, jeans. Not designer, obviously had seen some dirt. He went to a real estate vendor, asked at the counter for someone to show him some property. A few agents peeked out at him and didn’t show, finally a junior, not even had a sale yet was told to serve the man. He asked to see commercial properties, ended up spending quite a few millions. He didn’t look the part.

We have a government agency that insists on calling us their clients. I say don’t call me that, because I have no choice but to deal with you, and if I did, I wouldn’t. I ain’t no client.

Derek

Mar 19, 2009 - 10:24 pm 41. Doug:

I’ve ever been a Josh Marshall Fan, but found this interesting:
—
Talking Points Memo Bigger Than the Both of Us

There’s no end of puffed up outrage and opportunistic posturing over the on-going revelation of the AIG bonus scandal. But some line has been crossed. And it’s worth thinking really clearly about just what that line is.

What is so damaging about this isn’t the money — which is almost trivially small compared to the many hundreds of billions we’ve already committed. The problem is what appears to be the president’s mortifying impotence in the face of bankers and financiers who created the problem. The president speaks and acts for the federal government, which is to say, the American people, who have mobilized more than a trillion dollars and all powers of the state to repair the damage emerging out of the financial sector. And with all that, he’s jacked up on a employment agreement between a company the government now owns and derivatives traders who sank the world economy and may quite likely be looking at criminal charges for their activities in the not too distant future?

Anyone can look at that and see that the equation of power and accountability is all screwed up.
From Geithner and Summers, and indirectly from Obama, we keeping hearing financial-legal versions of
‘It’s bigger than the both of us’.

Like we’re along for the ride, still taking dictates from the people who got us into the mess we’re in.

Mar 19, 2009 - 11:14 pm 42. downtowndubai:

hey

this discussion is critical for our ”fight back” starting now.

if memory serves me, this ”poverty pimp” bought and /or moved into a 2 million dollar apartment on the heals of the fannie/freddie collapse.

just saying go scratch on that puss wound and at the puss wounds of Gorerlick, Emmanuel, Hillary and bingo…we get a pattern. funny how all their kids get into top schools after sweetheart deals on acceptance to private schools.

man i was at school with a lot of this crowd and they were scum then…and now only smell worst…

Mar 19, 2009 - 11:37 pm 43. Doug:

Confession Time

I’m feeling kind of guilty about that last post. I think I was a bit harsh.
And now I’m seeing headlines on Gibbsy’s BlackBerry that are making me feel sick to my hard drive:
My good friend Dick Holbrooke’s past past is coming back to haunt him.

Now I need to come clean. Those meetings back in 2002 where Holbrooke was speaking to his fellow AIG board members and telling them that it was a good idea to open that London office to handle mortgage swap derivatives? My dad was his Teleprompter.

I feel so dirty. Where’s the Windex?

Posted by Tele Prompter at 8:34 PM

Mar 20, 2009 - 12:29 am 44. Doug:

THE FED’S FUTILE MOVE

When the Fed expands the money supply, it doesn’t pass out $100 bills on Broadway. It gives lines of credit to banks and other financial intermediaries to generate some money and also buys up Treasury bills in circulation to pump out more cash.

But the money supply has already expanded by 271 percent in the past five months. Why does the Fed expect what hasn’t worked to suddenly start working?

Right now, there is about $800 billion plus currency in circulation sitting in wallets, purses and cash registers around the country. Another $800 billion is sitting in a vault at the Federal Reserve Board, for a total monetary supply of about $1.6 trillion.

In a vault? Yes. When Congress voted the TARP program to bail out banks, the banks actually took only a small part of the money. The rest they used to offset losses on their balance sheets while letting the Fed hold onto the money.

Why didn’t the banks want the money? Because they’re not about to make loans in this economy. They’re more than happy to let the cash sit at the Fed earning them interest. (The Fed decided to start paying interest last November).

So now the Fed will, in essence, be creating another trillion of money supply to sit in the vault alongside the $800 billion already there. The new money will remain idle for the same reason the old money has because banks won’t make loans in this environment.

And what of the money that is going out the door to buy Treasury bills? Those selling Treasuries won’t run out and spend the money on flat-screen TVs. With higher taxes coming up next year and the economy in the tank, they won’t spend it or lend it they’ll probably just turn around and buy more T-bills.
—
Yesterday’s Fed action won’t help but it will put more money out there that the Fed will have to mop up once the economy, on its own, revives.

ht al-Bob

Mar 20, 2009 - 12:54 am 45. ledger:

“I don’t resent the fact that Franklin Raines has a nice raincoat, or that he can afford one. What I simply disagree with it is the implication by some advocates of socialism… that wealth is an evil thing.” – Wretchard

That’s an understatement.

I despise government swindlers getting wealthy off of the backs of American Tax payers. This behavior sets and example for more government swindlers to follow. And, follow they will.

Mar 20, 2009 - 1:32 am 46. Gaffe Prices:

(gaffes) ombudsman: Sneer italics not used correctly, Its: “The Raincoating of Franklin Raines”

Mar 20, 2009 - 2:16 am 47. TonyB:

Sorry for going off topic but there is a must-read article by Ragah Omaar in yesterday’s Telegraph about the talibanisation of Pakistan – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/5011978/Rageh-Omaar-on-why-the-West-should-fear-the-Taliban-and-al-Qaedas-hold-on-Pakistan.html

Back on topic. Mr Raines is clearly no gentleman. Gentlemen buy their rainwear from Gieves and Hawkes – http://www.gievesandhawkes.com/

Mar 20, 2009 - 4:19 am 48. buddy larsen:

The Reign Coat, by Reignco, fully owned subcertiorari of Ronco, a production of Ron (”But WAIT! There’s MORE!”) Popeil who can sell you anything as long as it’s $19.99.

The ten billion dollar F&F “accounting irregularity” of 2005 is what cleared Franklin & Gorelick out of the kill box (with large dozens of millions which you can bet your sweet bibby was NOT invested in any risk play last September) to make way for the Reeform crew to come in and, under cover of scandal weariness and ostensibly to “get the stockholders back up on their feet” (actually their knees and elbows but that’s another story), amped old F&F up by several orders and, before anyone knew it, had, within the next two years, squirted enough of the new product, the Ninja or “liar” (wink grin wink*)loans to have us murdered before we even knew we were hanging around with murderers.

Meanwhile, old Franklin & Gorelick were allowed the conceit (by ’settling’) of claiming s0meone had forged their sigs on many don’t-look-so-good-in-the-light internal memos.

Gorelick then went to work for a DC law firm, a DEM lobbyist-at-large, that also furnised Odrama his new Deputy AG, a notorious kiddie porn lawyer named David Ogden.

MAN WHAT A CREW!!!

Mar 20, 2009 - 4:20 am 49. TonyB:

Oops realised that the link to G&H could be taken as spamming. Just meant as a joke.

Mar 20, 2009 - 4:25 am 50. Doug:

NRSC matches DSCC in fundraising

The National Republican Senatorial Committee will report raising $2.87 million in February, matching its Democratic counterpart in fundraising while using much of the money to pay down its debt.

The NRSC now has $1.05 million cash-on-hand at the end of February, with $2.7 million outstanding in debt. Last month, the committee held over $4 million in debt.

The NRSC’s fundraising total is up significantly from last month, when it raised just $1.8 million.

The Democratic Senatorial Committee also raised $2.87 million, and ended the month with $3.7 million in its campaign account. It still holds $10.9 million in debt from last cycle, and didn’t pay any of it off over the last month.

Buddy,

If someone doesn’t compare those piddling amounts to the

FOUR BILLION

dollars given to ACORN, I will.

(tommorrow)

Mar 20, 2009 - 5:26 am 51. Doug:

Steele hosted the Bennet Show

Bennet caller…
“It seems like stupidity has become a virtue in this country,
I lived in Africa for three and one half years, and I’ve seen poverty, and I know what poverty is. People in this country have no idea what poverty is.

I was so glad to get back to this country, because you realize what a great thing we have going here.
The man we have in this country as our President, I never thought I would say this:
It’s not my President, and it’s not my government.

I am black, I am 56 years old, I lived with the two water fountains, I’m from the South…
people have no idea, it’s like this incredible cabal that’s going on and these people are not stupid.

Michael Steele,
This weekend you’re going to see an unprecedented effort by this administration to galvanize the people of this country to get behind what I believe is creeping Socialism.

You’ve got this Pledge Project to canvas an unprecedented number of people across the country.

The President has access to Thirteen Million people who are supporting him.

This week they are going to go out and canvas the country and get people to support his agenda (ala “cardcheck”) on Healthcare, Energy, and Education.

Smoke and Mirrors
We are not focused on the fact that you are taking this economy in a direction that is going to ruin our ability to solve any of these problems.
No were going to go around the country and get people to sign pledge cards saying “me too, me too”

And meanwhile, we are not talking about, and focusing on the debacle that is administrative fiscal policy.

Don’t get fooled by the hype, if someone comes to your door with a pledge card, so no, say I am paying attention to what’s going on,
I don’t need to pledge support to anything,

I’m paying attention because my brain is still free, and it goes with my free heart that says I want to remain independent.

Mar 20, 2009 - 5:30 am 52. Wadeusaf:

Equality has nothing to do with it. Opportunity has everything to do with equation. To Socialists, Mr Raines use of “wealth” is viewed as an expression of power and status. The Capitalist doesn’t require the power or status to buy stuff, they haven’t earned the right to flaunt designer raincoats.

Mr Raines raincoat is not a symbol of wealth. In his mind as it is a symbol of power.

Mar 20, 2009 - 5:33 am 53. buddy larsen:

doug, not just ACORN –look into Robin Hood Foundation, and Cityyear, and Americorps pronounced ‘ameri core’ not ‘ameri corpse’). 500,000 facebook networked instant activists, just in Americorp grads alone. the fdems will be in good shape if there’s ever a “national emergency”.

Mar 20, 2009 - 5:34 am 54. Doug:

“FOUR BILLION”
…of OUR Dollars.

Mar 20, 2009 - 5:34 am 55. Doug:

Buddy,
ACORN is also registered to officially ASSIST in the next Census.

No doubt some of the groups you mention will ASSIST also.

Mar 20, 2009 - 5:36 am 56. Don51:

I recall a black and white photo from the turn of the 19th-20th Century showing the Robber Barons sitting around a large dining soiree. All clothed in the finest tuxes and smoking a fine cigar. Each rotund and obviously well feed. Other black and white photographs of the same period projected a different image of the working class and poor, lean. The usual outraged social critics of the time decried the disparity that allow this image to exist. So America applied itself. Today, it is the rich who look lean and hungry and the poor who are fat. The only thing that hasn’t changed is that the usual outraged social critics are still decrying the disparity.

Mar 20, 2009 - 5:41 am 57. Pseudo-Polymath » Blog Archive » Friday Highlights:

[...] Of wealth and power. [...]

Mar 20, 2009 - 6:26 am 58. Stones Cry Out - If they keep silent… » Things Heard: e59v5:

[...] Of wealth and power. [...]

Mar 20, 2009 - 6:26 am 59. David Levavi:

Barney Frank bought the coat for Franklin’s birthday. He looks just ravishing in it.

Mar 20, 2009 - 7:01 am 60. Mike Crockett:

and those who advocate socialism for the rest of us never envision themselves anywhere but at the top

Mar 20, 2009 - 8:07 am 61. michael hoskins:

I can’t get the scene from “White men can’t jump” from my mind, where Woody Harrelson says something (I don’t have the exact quote) about looking good being more important than making the shot.

Mar 20, 2009 - 8:21 am 62. BDelsol:

What I find interesting, though not surprising, is the left will vilify business leaders for their wealth, yet embrace someone like Raines. Clearly, it’s not the wealth per se they object to, it’s that the person got wealthy without them. To the left, it’s all about control.

Mar 20, 2009 - 8:30 am 63. trangbang68:

A Friday morning shoutout to Brother Frank Raines from the grooveyard of forgotten favorites:
“Be Thankful for What You Got” – By William DeVaughn

“Just be thankful for what you’ve got
Though you may not drive a great big Cadillac
Diamond in the back, sunroof top
Diggin’ the scene
With a gangsta lean
Gangsta whitewalls
TV antennas in the back”

Mar 20, 2009 - 8:46 am 64. Lifeofthemind:

Yesterday I posted a long OT on Afghanistan. Last night I attended another meeting and heard a talk by Gary Berntsen. He is the former CIA officer who ran the operation at Tora Bora in 2001. He is adamant that he requested an 800 man Ranger battalion to seal off Osama bin Laden’s escape rout to Pakistan, and that the denial came from the White House.

Mar 20, 2009 - 9:12 am 65. JMH:

In my experience, guys in Brioni suits are simply playing a role… I don’t want to actually work to get rich; that is so, well, plebeian. This is the logic of Madoff, Stanford, and dozens of other fellow-traveling fraudsters in the world of high finance. The key is to look rich, so as to attract suckers who think dress is a good proxy for success.

Bingo, L3. You’ve hit the nail on the head. I think there’s also a bit of the Palace Court syndrome. Those who want to be welcome at Court need to dress well, to do otherwise would insult your fellow Nobles. “Does he think he’s really that important, that he can come prancing in here wearing something that came off the rack at Men’s Warehouse? The nerve…” Plus there’s the chance you’d be mistaken for an aide (or worse, a page…). But ultimately it’s about bringing nothing to the table more imporant that a hollow image. Hmmm. Hollow image. We seem to be living in the age of Hollow Men.

can you imagine Warren Buffett in a Karl Lagerfeld-designed raincoat? Or Bill Gates walking around in his office in an Zegna suit

I used to work with Bill, and he walked around in pretty normal stuff. By then, I imagine he had someone doing his shopping for him, but I can definitely say 90% of what he wore to work went nowhere near a tailor’s marking chalk. But there were PR people (and really, and I say this as a former ‘Softie, is there anything that says “failure” more clearly than “Microsoft Public Relations”? Perhaps “Senate Ethics” but I digress). Bill had PR people, and they liked to dress him up. I remember walking past the Fountain one day. Bill was there, doing some sort of photo shoot. He was in a very expensive, well tailored suit, several people hovering around him fluffing hair and dusting his face, making him look as good and polished as possible. The look on his face was priceless. His mind was a million miles away. You could tell he wanted nothing more than to be done with the shoot so he get back to doing something at least vaguely productive.

I’ve also been around other people, the Raines type, who would have been beaming, positively glowing with all that primping and attention. Playing the part is what they lived for. Perhaps because universally they could do nothing else. Their value proposistion was always a scam.

Wearing nice clothes can be enjoyable. Getting dressed up for a night out or a special receiption and looking your best can be fun, on occasion. Well, for my part, I hate it, but I do enjoy seeing my wife dressed up, so it’s worth it. But it’s like eating lobster or duck. Nice in moderation and a vice in excess.

But more imporant, as L3 points out, a sign of something more dangerous. A believe that style trumps substance.

Mar 20, 2009 - 9:31 am 66. geoffgo:

Don@56

I recall a black and white photo from the turn of the 19th-20th Century showing the Robber Barons sitting around a large dining soiree.

Early examples of “yellow journalism.” Selective comparison of photos…poorest vs. richest. (They didn’t have PhotoShop, but could stage the shots, and mostly did.)

Robber barron was the description contrived by the Leftist activists of the day. It’s a socialist myth. Please don’t carry the water for the Left.

How about thinking of back then as the “first time in human history” that an average Joe, not born to Royaly or Overlordship, could amass fortunes in years that eclipsed any of those amassed through confiscation over centuries. Discoveries gushed forth, entrepreneurship was born. The race to create wealth was afoot. “Anyone can do it” was attractive to everyone, worldwide; and especially to those who had an insatiable urge to earn and produce. Millions came, and still do.

The question never heard is: What would all those workers have done to survive, had they not flocked by the millions into the mills, mines and factories produced by Capitalism unleashed? If it was so much better back on the farm and impoverished, they’d have stayed right? What was new to the bargain was the option of earning a wage vs. subsistance-living off the land. Whoa! Money to spend vs barter-existence. Shopping begins in earnest.

One under-reported example of bias: Check the infant mortality rates for that time. Deaths of children 14 and under. Best in the world and moving lower. Little or nothing to do with medical advances, yet.

Sweatshops? Making all those immigrant “babies” work in such deplorable conditions! Child labor laws were demanded on every front page. After passage of laws prohibiting the employment of children in the workforce (union payback), the child mortality rate rose after 30 years of improvement, and 10s of thousands of children became unemployed, most living on the streets. Those immigrant kids would have starved any elsewhere. Think Rio today. The so-called sweatshops offered the highest wage available. There was competition for those jobs. Millions more were fed, ever better.

Oh! Turns out those Orientals were happy building their half of our transcon RR. Hardest of hard labor? Sure. Ten cents a day, and 2 meals of just some rice gruel? Of course that’s what they told the evil taskmasters that they all wished to eat. Rice. Like back home. (And, this demand caused rice to be introduced and cultivated as a staple foodstuff in the US, which we continue to enjoy to this day.

And they feasted on buffalo, when the herds got close…today, it’s about $12/lb, and a delicacy. Some died, it was dangerous work, and anyone could be eaten by critters, too. No one starved. Incidentally, most of those oppressed laborers saved enough on that “meager” salary to finance the immigration of their entire family, to their new homeland and explained buying-in. Many more went home wealthy by back home’s standards.

Electricity was new; first big customers -factories, mines and mills…installed to remove the smell, soot and danger of the prevailing petrol-burning lighting systems, which permeated the end product. Or, an amazing by-product of this greedy move on the part of those Barrons (electrification) improved mankinds’ working environment forever. Everywhere, above and below ground.

Air-conditioning was invented to serve the factory floor. Yes, it kept the workers’ sweat from soiling the textiles. Or, it produced the best working environment in human HISTORY, for everyone yet to come.

The current dialogue is controlled, mis-motived and taught by the Left. We need to get more truth into the real story and honor those Robber Barrons, every chance we get. They may have been greedy (subjective term); but they were certainly giant contributors to the wellfare of mankind. Stop permitting the Left to sh*t where we eat.

Atlas Shrugged is about the revolt of the Robber Barrons, facing exactly the theatre now performing. Read it (again?) and tremble. Prescient? Scarily so…down to the rationale for new agencies. The Left may not be perceived as competent; but they are certainly effective at what they do, and incessent, and on your dime. Who’s smarter now?

It’s not as if we haven’t had the gameplan laid out in detail, since 1958. Jeez, they made a movie out her earlier Fountainhead, back in the late 40s about the State’s willingness/need to break fundamental contracts like patent, trademark and copywright. On to confiscation of compensation, retroactively by new law? Rand should have foreseen they’d go for the money first.

Mar 20, 2009 - 9:32 am 67. peterike:

One of the things that consistently galls me about guys like Raines is how the media totally ignores the story. Just think what they could do if they chose to — as the NY Times used to put it — “flood the zone” with the story. Raines, Gorelick et al would be cursed by the masses. That might, just might, make all those millions sting a little.

Yet the media won’t touch it. Jon Stewart, Colbert… where is the mockery? Nothing and nothing again. The newspapers don’t even care that exposing the entire dirty Democratic money machine might spur sales of their dying rags. They are just that blinded by ideology.

Mar 20, 2009 - 9:32 am 68. peterike:

Geoffog @66: We need to have your post stapled in to every American history text book in the land. Though one of the most commonly used texts — Howard Zinn’s fantasy book of depravities — would burst into flame if touched by your words.

Mar 20, 2009 - 9:38 am 69. twobyfour:

OT: Heh

Outspoken anti-war islamist appeaser MP George Galloway has vowed to fight an ‘outrageous decision’ to ban him from Canada on the grounds of national security.

Mr Galloway said the ban was ‘not something I’m prepared to accept’ and pledged to use all means at his disposal to challenge the ruling.

But a spokesman for Canada’s immigration minister Jason Kenney insisted the decision, taken by border security officials, would not be overturned for a ‘infandous* street-corner Cromwell’ (*’infandous’: too odious to be expressed or mentioned).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1163502/George-Galloway-banned-Canada-grounds-national-security.html

Mar 20, 2009 - 9:39 am 70. Chicago Boyz » Blog Archive » The Worlds of Benjamin Franklin & Franklin Raines:

[...] we will value Benjamin Franklin’s advice and have little longing for Franklin Raines’ raincoat – value more what’s in our chest than what covers our [...]

Mar 20, 2009 - 9:42 am 71. Lifeofthemind:

Many years ago, before PC and empowered women etc., a friend from college who was working in Marketing for Citicorp told my the following story. “You can go into the boardroom of any Fortune 500 company in America and you will see a dozen men in identical Brooks Brothers sack suits, one man in a silk Armani suit with a large gold watch and several gold rings and one guy dressed like Bing Crosby in a golfing cardigan. What do you do? The answer is, keep your eye on Bing. He owns the company. The guy in the fancy silk suit? He’s the delivery boy.”

Even more years ago my Father treated me to lunch at the Chock Full O Nuts near his office. I loved the nutted cream cheese on date nut bread sandwich. As we left Dad asked me if I noticed anything about the other men who were sitting at the lunch counter. I mentioned that they all seemed to be wearing good suits. Dad nodded, “Yes they are. Theri wives won’t let them out of the house without them. Every man at that counter (except for Dad and me) is worth over 30 million dollars (an enormous sum in those days.) They have to wear a good suit for business but they eat at Chock Full o Nuts because they aren’t entertaining clients and you don’t waste money.”

Mar 20, 2009 - 10:33 am 72. Kelly B:

One of the enormous political advantages traditionally enjoyed by the Left over the right is their emotional appeal – they consistently present the message that the role of government is to help the underprivileged, the downtrodden, the (in no way silent) minority. Any argument that the role of government is to free the citizenry to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps comes across as being cold and “mean-spirited”.

But it seems to me that those truly invested in helping others start by emptying their own pockets first. I think that’s where this story rankles; Raines was/is employed to run an organization with the mission of helping the downtrodden poor and minorities achieve home ownership, but he doesn’t even care enough to work on the appearance that he’s contributing to the cause. And nobody’s calling him on it.

Mar 20, 2009 - 10:55 am 73. michael hoskins:

LOM
Remember a small book called “Dress for Success”. It was an attempt (non scientific) to catagorize this phenomenon. I read the book and tried to repeat the observations. It seemed to be pretty close to correct.

My wife is currently preparing a thesis paper in a philosophy department discussing fashion as a philosophy… Her research has been fruitfull…Who Knew

Mar 20, 2009 - 11:16 am 74. Lifeofthemind:

michael hoskins,
Her research has been fruitful.
You talked your wife into dressing like Carmen Miranda?

Mar 20, 2009 - 11:28 am 75. michael hoskins:

Touche’
I don’t do no spellin’. I also don’t do no talking my wife into anything…we all know who does the talking into.

Mar 20, 2009 - 11:31 am 76. buddy larsen:

…so many great sentences/ideas leap off this thread –just reading quickly from the bottom,
73 “fashion as a philosophy”, 71 the cardigan owns the company, 66 ‘robber baron’ propaganda (did you know that the European smallpox which devastated the New World was most likely a native ‘black plague’?), 65 “Their value proposistion was always a scam”, and a grand slam @ 60 “and those who advocate socialism for the rest of us never envision themselves anywhere but at the top”.

great stuff –but how can a body get any work done, for trying to keep up with Belmont’s prodigious output?

Mar 20, 2009 - 11:39 am 77. buddy larsen:

hoskins, i’m sure you do whatever you want. you might have to check with her to find out what it is you want, but who’s counting

Mar 20, 2009 - 11:43 am 78. Triton'sPolarTiger:

@76 Buddy:

“but how can a body get any work done, for trying to keep up with Belmont’s prodigious output?”

Sneaking over from work, I’m asking myself the same question!

Mar 20, 2009 - 11:47 am 79. michael hoskins:

I am writing a lesson plan. When pretending to think, I bounce over. (Buddy, my wife thinks I want her to use the home computer for her work, so I do BC on the bosses time)

Mar 20, 2009 - 11:50 am 80. geoffgo:

Michael@73

The raincoat is symbolic, but perhaps a gift from a wife who could think of nothing else he didn’t have, on which to spend ill-gotten gains. So, the objection is about crooks flauting luxuries we’ve paid for.

I once sold $5M boxes to major corps (1975-80), and suit-wearing was obligatory to be considered for the job and insertion into the marketspace.

The idea that one could enter the boardroom to sell to C-level execs, absent a really spiffy appearance and shined shoes, with haircut to proper length, was unheardof. There were no casual Fridays.

I had occasion while in Hong Kong to have suits custom-tailored @ $90 ea. by Mr. Sam. Bought six. And two dozen tab-collar shirts for $108/dozen. All ready in 3 days. I didn’t outgrow them for 12 years. There were no labels, just my name embroidered on the right inside suitcoat pocket, and initials on the shirt cuff. Very unobtrusive; tasteful I hoped. Nobody knew they were custom, nor did I care, nor wish them to. Always felt great.

Don’t knock it til you’ve worn stuff made by craftsmen specifically for you to wear. Bespoke is comfort applied stylishly to convention.

Mar 20, 2009 - 12:11 pm 81. buddy larsen:

When 19th century French impressionist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, right after a grand luncheon at the Moulin Rouge had difficulty trying on his new bespoke suit, the tailor opined, “I’m afraid it’s too tight, Toulouse.”

Mar 20, 2009 - 12:37 pm 82. elby:

My great grandfather used to chip coal with a young Andrew Carnegie. Then gramps married a tidy German woman who used to make his buddy Andrew come to the back door because he was always dirty! The lesson here is that it took long hours of dirty hard work for the ‘robber baron’ Carnegie to make it big. Today, it seems that many very wealth people earn their money quickly and without much work.

Another Carnegie story: Tolley fare was 4 cents, but most people just dropped in a nickel and didn’t wait for change. Not Andy Carnegie. He always waited for his penny. When asked why, he responded: “Pennies make dollars.” Spoken like a true Scotsman!

Mar 20, 2009 - 12:44 pm 83. south dakota lawyer:

Thomas Sowell described the type well in his column “The New Nomenklatura.”

http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2006/09/06/the_new_nomenklatura

Mar 20, 2009 - 1:14 pm 84. Habu:

Sometime in late 2009. 0bamas SS is in semicontrol, losing only 20-30 members a week, but up in TOTUS land the MSM is saying.

“We all need to just understand that 0bama inherited all of the problems from all the previous administrations. This latest issue of RAPE, Reparations and Personal Endowment program is only 4.7 trillion, just a small part of what we spent on TARP,TALF and ROTFLMAO. So let’s allow for unpaid labor costs of hundreds of years of slavery And we can afford it since the Department of Defense was shuttered last year. Just give TOTUS more juice and he’ll fix anything. Mr Franklin Delano Raines will administer RAPE as well as he dresses, trust me.

Mar 20, 2009 - 1:25 pm 85. Herb:

The online source for all this h/t Jonah Goldberg at NRO:

http://coolmaterial.com/cool-list/24-ridiculously-expensive-everyday-items/

Mar 20, 2009 - 2:15 pm 86. buddy larsen:

Habu, stay away from the 2/27, 3/06, and 3/13 entries here.

Mar 20, 2009 - 2:45 pm 87. buddy larsen:

The Philistinism of our prevailing value-neutral self-help terminology underscores America’s national disorientation on the eve of calamity.

To paraphrase Cato the Younger, “If you want to keep all your fancy furniture, perhaps now is the time to do something for the Republic.”

(from the latest, the 3/20 entry, at that #86 link)

(ye gawds, i gotta quit reading that guy –and go fishin’ or sump’n)

Mar 20, 2009 - 2:52 pm 88. Doug:

Throw your fancy furniture into the cleansing flames of Alah!
PBUH

Mar 20, 2009 - 2:58 pm 89. Doug:

“Clearly, it’s not the wealth per se they object to, it’s that the person got wealthy without them”
—
Those who earn it deserve to be punished by those who inherit it, or acquire it through faithful service to the state.

Mar 20, 2009 - 3:05 pm 90. Doug:

Freedom is Slavery

Mar 20, 2009 - 3:05 pm 91. 3Case:

Thank you for the clarification in #5, W.

Mar 20, 2009 - 3:18 pm 92. Doug:

“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly

all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

T. Jefferson, 2 July 1776

ht ‘Rat

Mar 20, 2009 - 3:22 pm 93. Dave:

The artist Lautrec always had bad luck.
They said he was born Toulouse.

Mar 20, 2009 - 3:34 pm 94. Doug:

Newsbusted

Mar 20, 2009 - 3:36 pm 95. Doug:

Down with Facebook!

Matt Labash

Mar 20, 2009 - 3:38 pm 96. Clioman:

“I’m with the Government, and I’m here to help myself.” – Franklin Raines

Mar 20, 2009 - 3:58 pm 97. Doug:

“I’ve also been around other people, the Raines type, who would have been beaming, positively glowing with all that primping and attention. Playing the part is what they lived for. Perhaps because universally they could do nothing else. Their value proposistion was always a scam.”
—
– The All-About-Me Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

At a minimum cost of $200,000 per wax statue, the team needed to be thorough and precise, especially since the mayor is all set to become one of 80 celebrities featured at the new Madame Tussaud’s, opening on Hollywood Boulevard next spring — further fulfillment of the fame Villaraigosa avidly pursues.

Holland says the wax-sculpting team not only makes an exact copy of its subject but “is also able to discern the character and personality of a person, which makes our creations so lifelike.”

It’s unknown what the team learned about Villaraigosa’s character or personality. But the fact that the mayor so eagerly posed for a tribute to himself offered some telling clues.

Mar 20, 2009 - 4:09 pm 98. Gaffe Prices:

# 84 Habu: you forgot about TALC, and just how small that is in comparison to all the other administrations and their bugets (combined), and just how eggregious were their abuses of … ooooooooh!, (sorry, I know we’re not spoze’d to talk about [TARP] until we’ve set up some schmuck to take the fall for it, I’m sorry, My Bad)

Mar 20, 2009 - 4:34 pm 99. Doug:

The Slaughter of the Innocents Continues
Two Teens Shot & Killed Last Night in Highland Park –

Two teen boys, one sixteen and one fifteen, have died following being shot by suspected gang members Friday afternoon in Highland Park, according to an LAPD press release. The shooting took place just before 3:30 p.m. in the 1600 block of North Figueroa Street. Officers arriving on scene found Alejandro Garcia, 16, and Carlos Hernandez, 15, lying on the sidewalk suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Both victims later died at the hospital. “According to detectives, a group of men believed to be gang members confronted the teens while they were on a sidewalk. A fracas broke out and one of the gunmen pulled out a handgun and fatally shot them. The suspects then ran from the scene.” Police believe the shooting was “gang motivated,” and the suspects remain at large.
—
When the victims are black, and the perps are Hispanic (which is often) neither BHO, or any other “black leaders” are able to recognize the crime.
…move right along, nothing happening here.

Mar 20, 2009 - 4:42 pm 100. blert:

Are these gang crimes or ethnic cleansing?

If there is one trend I have seen in person is the intense flow of Afro-Americans towards Atlanta and out of California.

This was first picked-up during the 1990 census. Maxine Waters may lose her district as it moves east.

Mar 20, 2009 - 5:03 pm 101. Doug:

Say it ain’t so!
Not Our Maxine!

I’ve got one for you, next, blert.

Mar 20, 2009 - 5:14 pm 102. JFSanders:

67. peterike:

One never bites the hand that feeds…

Buddy,

I have given up trying to keep up. You can’t do it and hold a regular job. Or sleep anywhere near 8 hours a night. I just barely keep up reading. Grant you just reading is like eating banana pudding. Heavenly!

Jim

Mar 20, 2009 - 5:55 pm 103. Doug:

blert,
Even the LA Times has had articles calling it ethnic cleansing.
…but they just re-elected racist gangster Tony Villar.
Walter Moore ran on getting rid of sanctuary city policies, and came in second.
Too bad there were other candidates, keeping him from getting the required 50 percent needed for a run-off.

Mar 20, 2009 - 7:49 pm 104. blert:

Yeah, I’ve been reading of child murders where the victim was plainly too young to be a ‘player’ but was gunned down walking from the bus stop to his home.

There a lot of ‘tagged’ buildings/signs marking no-go zones…

So it seems as if Balkanization is already a reality in our ghettos. How charming.

Mar 20, 2009 - 7:55 pm 105. buddy larsen:

you know, that was a good town not so long ago. had everything, really. why is it mankind’s governments keep ruining him?

Mar 20, 2009 - 7:57 pm 106. Doug:

It was almost Paradisiacal for a big city.
First rate schools, conservative populace.
Then the EPA put black small businesses out of business in Watts.
Much like the eggs, the cars still get painted, but by illegal operations following NO guidlines!

Mar 20, 2009 - 8:10 pm 107. Doug:

Browner must be so proud of her predecessors.

Mar 20, 2009 - 8:11 pm 108. Doug:

First they came for the Blacks.
Now they’re cleansing the state of animal molesters and defilers of the Earth.
The Exodus of the productive continues at an ever higher rate.

Mar 20, 2009 - 8:14 pm 109. blert:

Wait until the ultimate weapon is unleashed: The Franchise Tax Board!

Only then will you KNOW terror.

Mar 20, 2009 - 8:17 pm 110. buddy larsen:

the place is on crack. for real –the San Andreas crack.

Mar 20, 2009 - 9:05 pm 111. blert:

Just another parallel to AD 79 then.

We’ve got our Nero, check.

We’ve got our geophysical disaster, check.

We’ll get a crash in the currency, yeap.

Mar 20, 2009 - 9:22 pm 112. buddy larsen:

got our pyroclastic flow (the internet) check.

Mar 20, 2009 - 9:30 pm 113. blert:

When I think of super heated rhetoric rising only to collapse down upon the humanity below I think of poor, poor Pompei.

No one could escape its horror.

So it’s riots in August 2009, oh my…

Mar 20, 2009 - 9:35 pm 114. buddy larsen:

If we expect trouble, maybe it won’t come. maybe we’ll find whatever we found in the 30s –cooperation. Tho i’ve heard that trouble was coming then too, only the foreign war prevented it.

Mar 20, 2009 - 10:59 pm 115. Dave:

Hey Buddy; Any more news from the Massachusetts Hot Dog?

Buddy, Buddy, you okay? Buddy, speak to me. MEDIC!

Wow, that was close. BTW has your son or daughter at UT ever found you a copy of Texas CSA by James Farber?

Mar 21, 2009 - 12:25 am 116. buddy larsen:

hey Dave, hot dog –har har –naw not yet, on the book, but it IS on my list –birthday next month –that’s whut i’ll ax fer –and thanks for the ‘minder –!

Mar 21, 2009 - 2:10 pm 117. NahnCee:

“Alejandro Garcia, 16, and Carlos Hernandez, 15″

Why are you assuming they’re innocents? They’re not black, they’re hispanic, too, and 15 and 16 are *plenty* old enough to be gang members also. Why can’t this be a self-cleaning oven phenomena?

The only thing outstanding in this story that I can see is that it took place in broad daylight on a busy street. A busy “multicultural” street, I might add.

The lesson here for readers of Belmont Club is the same lesson as we learned in Compton, Watts and Oakland: Nice white and Asian people best avoid these areas and leave them to their rites, or if you *have* to go through them, do it at warp speed.

Mar 22, 2009 - 10:24 am 118. Doug:

Geithner’s Last Stand

The indignation over AIG will serve a useful purpose if it focuses public attention on the much larger issue — the failure of the entire approach that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and White House economic czar Larry Summers are using to rescue the banking system.

It would be hard to find two administrations more different than Bush and Obama. Yet, when it comes to bailing out financial firms, Geithner’s approach is a seamless continuation of his predecessor, Hank Paulson’s. It makes you wonder who is the permanent government. Perhaps Wall Street?

Even the players are the same Goldman-Citigroup crowd. The well named Neel Kashkari, the Citigroup executive brought in by Paulson to run the TARP program, is still in place. Geithner’s top assistant, Mark Patterson, is from Goldman. And most of the concepts are coming from the same Wall Street crew.

So far, the policy has been an abject failure. The latest idea is to use some of the remaining Treasury funds from the TARP program approved by Congress last October to anchor several trillion more in loans and loan guarantees by the Federal Reserve and FDIC. For weeks, Geithner has announced only vague principles of his next move

Mar 22, 2009 - 9:30 pm 119. buddy larsen:

Doug, along the lines of Citi being the true nut, this guy has some good stuff. for some reason, it won’t post –in fact any post with the URL just disappears. So go here and then use the site’s searchbox to ask about the sec of tres in question. you’re after a feb 23rd article by james bibbings. pardon my opacity but something is making the spelled out addy disappear. i mean, about 5 or 6 times, no fluke.

Mar 22, 2009 - 10:16 pm 120. buddy larsen:

scratch that, it’s (oops) Feb 16, not 23rd. i just tested. all ya need do is open the ‘go here’ link above, then type the sec treasury’s last name into the website search box uppr left corner, and then scroll down the result page until you get to the Feb 16 entry.

Mar 22, 2009 - 10:25 pm

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