"Up until Wednesday, there was one single, lonely politician who stood
in the way of this creepy little assignation at the bankers’
bordello:..." Palast
Elliot’s Mess: Spitzer Investigation Tied To Fed Bail Out
http://www.crooksandliars.com/
By: Nicole Belle March 15th, 2008
At the time of Spitzer’s resignation, I blogged that something about
the investigation didn’t pass the smell test, the Don Siegelman case
foremost on my mind. But journalist Greg Palast has made a compelling
case tying the Spitzer investigation to a different top story.
[] While New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was paying an ‘escort’
$4,300 in a hotel room in Washington, just down the road, George
Bush’s new Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Ben Bernanke, was secretly
handing over $200 billion in a tryst with mortgage bank industry
speculators.
Both acts were wanton, wicked and lewd. But there’s a BIG difference.
The Governor was using his own checkbook. Bush’s man Bernanke was
using ours.
This week, Bernanke’s Fed, for the first time in its history, loaned a
selected coterie of banks one-fifth of a trillion dollars to guarantee
these banks’ mortgage-backed junk bonds. The deluge of public loot was
an eye-popping windfall to the very banking predators who have brought
two million families to the brink of foreclosure.
Up until Wednesday, there was one single, lonely politician who stood
in the way of this creepy little assignation at the bankers’ bordello:
Eliot Spitzer.
Who are they kidding? Spitzer’s lynching and the bankers’ enriching
are intimately tied.
How? Follow the money. read more...
http://www.gregpalast.com/elliot-spitzer-gets-nailed/
lc wrote:
>
> Bernanke♥Spitzer
>
> "Up until Wednesday, there was one single, lonely politician who stood
> in the way of this creepy little assignation at the bankers’
> bordello:..." Palast
>
> Elliot’s Mess: Spitzer Investigation Tied To Fed Bail Out
> http://www.crooksandliars.com/
> By: Nicole Belle March 15th, 2008
>
> At the time of Spitzer’s resignation, I blogged that something about
> the investigation didn’t pass the smell test, the Don Siegelman case
> foremost on my mind. But journalist Greg Palast
>
I knew you were going to post another Palast smear.
--
Like the Uruguayan rugby team crashed in the Andes mountains,
Hillary is "ALIVE!".
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Can't argue the facts, Bonzo?
Jim
Once again you have to have humour explained to you.
You mean it wasn't a "smear"?
Jim
Clave wrote:
>
> "Bill Bonde ( 'the oblique allusion in lieu of the frontal attack' )"
> <tributyl...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:47DF5CFB...@yahoo.co.uk...
> >
> >
> > Clave wrote:
> >>
> >> "Bill Bonde ( 'the oblique allusion in lieu of the frontal attack' )"
> >> <tributyl...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> >> news:47DDCA1F...@yahoo.co.uk...
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > lc wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> Bernanke♥Spitzer
> >> >>
> >> >> "Up until Wednesday, there was one single, lonely politician who stood
> >> >> in the way of this creepy little assignation at the bankers’
> >> >> bordello:..." Palast
> >> >>
> >> >> Elliot’s Mess: Spitzer Investigation Tied To Fed Bail Out
> >> >> http://www.crooksandliars.com/
> >> >> By: Nicole Belle March 15th, 2008
> >> >>
> >> >> At the time of Spitzer’s resignation, I blogged that something about
> >> >> the investigation didn’t pass the smell test, the Don Siegelman case
> >> >> foremost on my mind. But journalist Greg Palast
> >> >>
> >> > I knew you were going to post another Palast smear.
> >>
> >> Can't argue the facts, Bonzo?
> >>
> > Once again you have to have humour explained to you.
>
> You mean it wasn't a "smear"?
>
1) Palast almost seems to come up with absurd and sensationalist
reasons for things happening. The idea that the NY governor (or the
NJ one) got in trouble because of something that doesn't "pass the
smell test", something other than their own hubris and hypocrisy,
is just another case.
2) Palast smear is used in my comment as a pun of "Pap smear". If
you get the humour part of it, at least you could acknowledge it so
I wouldn't be forced to attempt to explain it.
Sure, the guy, by his own admission, is quite pathetic in all those
small, squirrelly ways that have messed up the lives of other grand
public figures before him, but why is an all-too-human sin, amply
predicted in early Scripture, getting all this incredible media play
as some sort of shocking event? The answer is that, while having
precious little to do with serious corruption in public life, it does
have a great deal to do with stoking flagging newspaper sales and
television ratings.
The sad truth is that reporting on major corruption, say, the
rationalizations of a president who has authorized torture, doesn’t
cut it as a marketing bonanza. Just days before this grand exposé, the
president vetoed a bill banning torture, and instead of being greeted
with horrified disgust, the president’s deep denigration of this
nation’s presumed ideals was met with a vast public yawn. Torture,
unlike paid sex, doesn’t have legs as a news story.
Sex sells, and frankly it would seem far more exploitative for the
news media to pimp this tale to the public than anything that VIP
escort service did with the pitiable governor. His behavior was not
really any more wretched than messing around with a young and
vulnerable White House intern who didn’t even get paid for her
efforts, yet Bill Clinton survived that one, whereas Spitzer was
presumed dead on the arrival of this “news.” The New York Times, which
editorially has supported the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, whose vast
White House experience clearly did not include corralling her husband,
now editorializes contemptuously about Spitzer’s betrayal of the
public trust as well as about his exploitation of his “ashen-faced”
wife, who, like Hillary, stood by her man.
The media consensus from the opening salvo was that Spitzer must
resign and he will be thrown to the dogs, which is unfortunate
because, like Clinton, he has done much valuable work in the public
interest, and the outrage over this personal dereliction, tawdry in
the extreme, is excessive. I certainly never wanted Clinton to resign,
let alone be impeached, but why is Spitzer’s paying for sex more
disgraceful than ripping it off? Yes, Spitzer allegedly broke a law
that shouldn’t be on the books, and his resignation in disgrace is
inevitable, but it bothers me that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
remain in office despite having violated enormously more serious laws.
Frankly, I don’t care what any of these politicians do in their
personal lives as long as the practice is consensual, and the
thousands of dollars that exchanged hands in this case would provide a
presumption that the lady in question was indeed a willing partner in
this commercial transaction. True, Spitzer is an outrageous hypocrite
for having prosecuted others caught in what should not be considered
criminal behavior, but since when is hypocrisy on the part of a
politician, particularly as to sex, so shocking?
I wouldn’t have written this column had I not read The Wall Street
Journal’s Page 1 news story headlined “Wall Street Cheers as Its
Nemesis Plunges Into Crisis.” The article begins with the crowing
statement “It’s Schadenfreude time on Wall Street” and goes on to
quote those whom Spitzer went after over what should be considered the
criminal greed that has predominated on Wall Street. It was Spitzer,
as much as anyone, who sounded the alarm on the subprime mortgage
crisis, the obscene payouts to CEOs who defrauded their shareholders
and the other financial scandals that have brought the U.S. economy to
its knees.
The best rule of thumb these days is that ordinary Americans should be
mightily depressed over any news that Wall Street hustlers cheer, for
they have been exposed as a dangerous pack of scoundrels quite willing
to rob decent, hardworking people of their homes. And of course no one
on Wall Street ever paid for sex.
On Mar 15, 6:20 pm, lc <lol7...@msn.com> wrote:
> Where the economy is going..http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/Vol2No215-Hell-In-Hand...http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/
<...>
> 2) Palast smear is used in my comment as a pun of "Pap smear". If
> you get the humour part of it...
Sorry, I'm not six years old any more.
> ... at least you could acknowledge it so
> I wouldn't be forced to attempt to explain it.
If you were *funny*, you wouldn't have to explain it.
Jim
Clave wrote:
>
> "Bill Bonde ( 'the oblique allusion in lieu of the frontal attack' )"
> <tributyl...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:47DFEE70...@yahoo.co.uk...
>
> <...>
>
> > 2) Palast smear is used in my comment as a pun of "Pap smear". If
> > you get the humour part of it...
>
> Sorry, I'm not six years old any more.
>
It's a pun. But don't worry, I don't have a pap to smear.
> > ... at least you could acknowledge it so
> > I wouldn't be forced to attempt to explain it.
>
> If you were *funny*, you wouldn't have to explain it.
>
If you weren't stupid, I wouldn't have to explain it.
The pun is the lowest form of wit
It doesn't tax the brain a bit
You simply take a word that's plain
And think of one that sounds the same
And no, that's not funny either, but it's closer than "Palast" and "pap".
I keep wondering how much worse you could suck at this, and you keep showing
me.
Jim
> Palast smear is used in my comment as a pun of "Pap smear". If
> you get the humour part of it, at least you could acknowledge it so
> I wouldn't be forced to attempt to explain it.
Palast smear?
Coming from the guy who couldn't grasp the term "Miss Parade"?
BTW, I defy you to find an adult female who would consider a Pap test to be
the slightest bit humorous or even humourous.
I'd challenge him to find an adult *male* who found it funny, but he'd only
try to redefine "adult".
Jim
That's why I limited the set, 'cause that kinda sophisty is Bill's
shuffle-in-trade, donchaknow...
Clave wrote:
>
> "Bill Bonde ( 'the oblique allusion in lieu of the frontal attack' )"
> <tributyl...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:47E09A76...@yahoo.co.uk...
> >
> >
> > Clave wrote:
> >>
> >> "Bill Bonde ( 'the oblique allusion in lieu of the frontal attack' )"
> >> <tributyl...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> >> news:47DFEE70...@yahoo.co.uk...
> >>
> >> <...>
> >>
> >> > 2) Palast smear is used in my comment as a pun of "Pap smear". If
> >> > you get the humour part of it...
> >>
> >> Sorry, I'm not six years old any more.
> >>
> > It's a pun...
>
> The pun is the lowest form of wit
>
Actually, a pun references something else, the original and the
punned whatever. That is something that can be used to connect the
connotations of each together. Palast is like a Pap smear. I what
ways? Does he help reduce the incidence of cancer in women caused
by the HPV virus? What?
> It doesn't tax the brain a bit
>
If the goal is simply to change a word slightly into another word,
that's possibly correct. OTOH, you'll notice that I brought out
more than just a mispronounced word.
> You simply take a word that's plain
> And think of one that sounds the same
>
> And no, that's not funny either, but it's closer than "Palast" and "pap".
>
It's actually a Papanikolaou smear. So if Greg's last name isn't
Papanilolaou, no puns? You'll notice that "smear" is the exact same
word as "smear", so that should have been a clue.
> I keep wondering how much worse you could suck at this, and you keep showing
> me.
>
You just lack any sense of humour.
Hawkster wrote:
>
> "Bill Bonde ( 'the oblique allusion in lieu of the frontal attack' )"
> <tributyl...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in
> news:47DFEE70...@yahoo.co.uk:
>
> > Palast smear is used in my comment as a pun of "Pap smear". If
> > you get the humour part of it, at least you could acknowledge it so
> > I wouldn't be forced to attempt to explain it.
>
> Palast smear?
>
That's close enough to get it.
> Coming from the guy who couldn't grasp the term "Miss Parade"?
>
Because I thought it referred to an unmarried woman whose last name
was "Parade"? That's kind of a natural response to seeing "Miss
Parade".. The next idea was maybe she was the winner of some beauty
pageant: "We would like today to welcome to the Elks Club our own
Miss Parade winner of the Miss Parade contest and a runner up Miss
March."
If you are making references, you should consider how you might be
steering the person the wrong way. It's not that difficult to come
up with examples where no one would ever figure it out. Of course,
perhaps, you could've made the reference clearer by posting enough
of it to make it clear enough to actually get: "If I save enough of
Clave's posts, I'll have a Shit Parade." That would be clear
enough, even if the person didn't get references to the 1930s.
Maybe you should make some jokes for Mr. Burns.
> BTW, I defy you to find an adult female who would consider a Pap test to be
> the slightest bit humorous or even humourous.
>
This is exactly like Greg Palast, so that makes the reference
pretty perfect. Obviously getting a Pap test isn't funny. I wasn't
claiming it was funny to get a Pap test.
Don't try writing comedy for a living Bill. It doesn't pay well if you
are the only one amused by your writing.
>
>
> Hawkster wrote:
>>
>> "Bill Bonde ( 'the oblique allusion in lieu of the frontal attack' )"
>> <tributyl...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in
>> news:47DFEE70...@yahoo.co.uk:
>>
>> > Palast smear is used in my comment as a pun of "Pap smear". If
>> > you get the humour part of it, at least you could acknowledge it so
>> > I wouldn't be forced to attempt to explain it.
>>
>> Palast smear?
>>
> That's close enough to get it.
>
>
>> Coming from the guy who couldn't grasp the term "Miss Parade"?
>>
> Because I thought it referred to an unmarried woman whose last name
> was "Parade"? That's kind of a natural response to seeing "Miss
> Parade".. The next idea was maybe she was the winner of some beauty
> pageant: "We would like today to welcome to the Elks Club our own
> Miss Parade winner of the Miss Parade contest and a runner up Miss
> March."
As many, many people here have intimated to you, your thought processes
are not necessarily in line with those of the balance of the human race.
>
> If you are making references, you should consider how you might be
> steering the person the wrong way. It's not that difficult to come
> up with examples where no one would ever figure it out. Of course,
> perhaps, you could've made the reference clearer by posting enough
> of it to make it clear enough to actually get: "If I save enough of
> Clave's posts, I'll have a Shit Parade." That would be clear
> enough, even if the person didn't get references to the 1930s.
Speaking of steering people in the wrong direction, the televison version
of "Your Hit Parade" ran through 1959 and was revived for a short while
in the 1970s. Your prior whiney posts (July 2007) indicated you had
googled this subject.
And geez, Topps sports cards has repeatedly issued special baseball sets
entitled the "Hit Parade" (latest edition - 2007).
I'm sure that (& only you) must wonder why a successful company would
continue to make such an obscure, wrong-headed reference.
> Maybe you should make some jokes for Mr. Burns.
Maybe you should stop being intellectually dishonest, but thanks for the
repeat lesson in petty pedantry.
>> BTW, I defy you to find an adult female who would consider a Pap test
>> to be the slightest bit humorous or even humourous.
>>
> This is exactly like Greg Palast, so that makes the reference
> pretty perfect. Obviously getting a Pap test isn't funny. I wasn't
> claiming it was funny to get a Pap test.
And that's why you always be number one with a bullet on your very own
Miss Parade. Even ol' Jak is aware that material which refers to a Pap
test would most likely prejudice anyone's view of the so-called humor
contained within, donchaknow.
Hawkster wrote:
>
> "Bill Bonde ( 'the oblique allusion in lieu of the frontal attack' )"
> <tributyl...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in
> news:47E14BE4...@yahoo.co.uk:
>
> >
> >
> > Hawkster wrote:
> >>
> >> "Bill Bonde ( 'the oblique allusion in lieu of the frontal attack' )"
> >> <tributyl...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in
> >> news:47DFEE70...@yahoo.co.uk:
> >>
> >> > Palast smear is used in my comment as a pun of "Pap smear". If
> >> > you get the humour part of it, at least you could acknowledge it so
> >> > I wouldn't be forced to attempt to explain it.
> >>
> >> Palast smear?
> >>
> > That's close enough to get it.
> >
> >
> >> Coming from the guy who couldn't grasp the term "Miss Parade"?
> >>
> > Because I thought it referred to an unmarried woman whose last name
> > was "Parade"? That's kind of a natural response to seeing "Miss
> > Parade".. The next idea was maybe she was the winner of some beauty
> > pageant: "We would like today to welcome to the Elks Club our own
> > Miss Parade winner of the Miss Parade contest and a runner up Miss
> > March."
>
> As many, many people here have intimated to you, your thought processes
> are not necessarily in line with those of the balance of the human race.
>
1) I am likely to see some things differently than some people see
them.
2) Has anyone else said that they got your "Miss Parade" reference?
Not everyone is hip to 30's references.
> >
> > If you are making references, you should consider how you might be
> > steering the person the wrong way. It's not that difficult to come
> > up with examples where no one would ever figure it out. Of course,
> > perhaps, you could've made the reference clearer by posting enough
> > of it to make it clear enough to actually get: "If I save enough of
> > Clave's posts, I'll have a Shit Parade." That would be clear
> > enough, even if the person didn't get references to the 1930s.
>
> Speaking of steering people in the wrong direction, the televison version
> of "Your Hit Parade" ran through 1959 and was revived for a short while
> in the 1970s. Your prior whiney posts (July 2007) indicated you had
> googled this subject.
>
How am I being whiny if I google to figure out what you are talking
about? "Miss Parade" sounds like some woman won a beauty pageant.
> And geez, Topps sports cards has repeatedly issued special baseball sets
> entitled the "Hit Parade" (latest edition - 2007).
>
> I'm sure that (& only you) must wonder why a successful company would
> continue to make such an obscure, wrong-headed reference.
>
"Hit Parade" is pretty self evident. It's "Miss Parade" that was
confusing.
> > Maybe you should make some jokes for Mr. Burns.
>
> Maybe you should stop being intellectually dishonest, but thanks for the
> repeat lesson in petty pedantry.
>
Maybe you should start making references to the 1840s, Tippecanoe
and Tyler too. Maybe that's not obscure enough. How about Hillary's
campaign slogan when she is running for president in twelve years:
"Mad Dog 20/20 or Fight!"
> >> BTW, I defy you to find an adult female who would consider a Pap test
> >> to be the slightest bit humorous or even humourous.
> >>
> > This is exactly like Greg Palast, so that makes the reference
> > pretty perfect. Obviously getting a Pap test isn't funny. I wasn't
> > claiming it was funny to get a Pap test.
>
> And that's why you always be number one with a bullet on your very own
> Miss Parade. Even ol' Jak is aware that material which refers to a Pap
> test would most likely prejudice anyone's view of the so-called humor
> contained within, donchaknow.
>
You can't be serious. One thing's for certain, you are luck you
don't have a pap to smear.
--
Very likely.
> 2) Has anyone else said that they got your "Miss Parade" reference?
Now you're just flailing, Bill -- or is this an unconscious admission of
private bitterness over the fact that folks here *don't* swoon over your
musings?
This is really the wrong forum for that type of high-fiving -- the
exception would be when our resident neanderthals congratulate each other
over various racial or anal references.
> Not everyone is hip to 30's references.
This is why you shouldn't reply on the fly, Bonde. I already hammered
you concerning this,ummm, distortion in my prior post below.
>> > If you are making references, you should consider how you might be
>> > steering the person the wrong way. It's not that difficult to come
>> > up with examples where no one would ever figure it out. Of course,
>> > perhaps, you could've made the reference clearer by posting enough
>> > of it to make it clear enough to actually get: "If I save enough of
>> > Clave's posts, I'll have a Shit Parade." That would be clear
>> > enough, even if the person didn't get references to the 1930s.
>> Speaking of steering people in the wrong direction, the televison
>> version of "Your Hit Parade" ran through 1959 and was revived for a
>> short while in the 1970s. Your prior whiney posts (July 2007)
>> indicated you had googled this subject.
> How am I being whiny if I google to figure out what you are talking
> about? "Miss Parade" sounds like some woman won a beauty pageant.
I made a simple reference; you didn't get it. Stop whining, Bill.
>> And geez, Topps sports cards has repeatedly issued special baseball
>> sets entitled the "Hit Parade" (latest edition - 2007).
>> I'm sure that (& only you) must wonder why a successful company would
>> continue to make such an obscure, wrong-headed reference.
>>
> "Hit Parade" is pretty self evident. It's "Miss Parade" that was
> confusing.
So I guess the phrase "hit or miss" is unknown to you.
You must lead a very, very sheltered (and boring) life, Bill.
>> > Maybe you should make some jokes for Mr. Burns.
>>
>> Maybe you should stop being intellectually dishonest, but thanks for
>> the repeat lesson in petty pedantry.
>>
> Maybe you should start making references to the 1840s, Tippecanoe
> and Tyler too. Maybe that's not obscure enough. How about Hillary's
> campaign slogan when she is running for president in twelve years:
> "Mad Dog 20/20 or Fight!"
>> >> BTW, I defy you to find an adult female who would consider a Pap
>> >> test to be the slightest bit humorous or even humourous.
>> >>
>> > This is exactly like Greg Palast, so that makes the reference
>> > pretty perfect. Obviously getting a Pap test isn't funny. I wasn't
>> > claiming it was funny to get a Pap test.
>>
>> And that's why you always be number one with a bullet on your very
>> own Miss Parade. Even ol' Jak is aware that material which refers to
>> a Pap test would most likely prejudice anyone's view of the so-called
>> humor contained within, donchaknow.
> You can't be serious. One thing's for certain, you are luck you
> don't have a pap to smear.
So what's it like to have the procedure done?
(Just taking your "serious" advice above that schoolyard humour is the
bomb, donchaknow)
<...>
>> 1) I am likely to see some things differently than some people see
>> them.
>
> Very likely...
...given the location of his head...