31 Days to Total Financial Hell - Gas Up Now!

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeA friend of mine manages a multi-million dollar fund and sometimes I think he is afraid to admit the truth to himself. Days like today wring him out like a dishrag. We have previously discussed what happens when days like today happen. What happens when you get two in a row? Three? Five? After five days, other feedback loops might kick in because that is a 2000 point loss in 5 days, other fears and factors are put in the mix which all put downward pressure on the market. A clip from today's disaster: Stocks tanked Friday, with the Dow industrials shedding 395 points, after oil prices spiked more than $11 a barrel and the May jobs report showed a big jump in the unemployment rate. Bond prices surged, as investors sought safety in government debt, while the dollar tumbled versus the yen and euro. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 395 points, or 3.1%, its biggest one-day decline on both a point and percentage basis since February of 2007, at the start of the subprime mortgage crisis. My friend was unwilling to speculate when you are faced with more than a week of downturns. Other than "full economic collapse" you can't really project how bad it will be. I see these guys on CNBC still reading rosy days ahead in their financial tea leaves so I did the math. With a drop like today's, you only need 31 in a row for the Dow to hit zero. With so much of the government in debt, I don't think a collapse will be a pretty picture. SPECIAL REQUEST FOR TCD FANS: The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper - a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads - highly recommended). You can read the Chronicle article here and please add your thoughts to the comments if you wish. If anything, put in a good word for Darren and Candorville. I am submitting Town Called Dobson to the paper for their consideration. They seem to have given great weight to receiving 200 messages considering Candorville. I am asking TCD fans to try to surpass that amount. (I get more than that many hate mails a day, surely fans can do better?) This is not a race between Darren and I, it is a hope that more progressive strips can be represented in the printed press of America. So if you read the San Francisco Chronicle or live in the Bay Area (Google Analytics tell me there are a lot of you), please send your kind comments (or naked, straining outrage) to David Wiegand at his published addresses below. If you are a subscriber, cut out your mailing label and staple it to a TCD strip and include it in your letter. candorcomment@sfchronicle.com or David Wiegand Executive Datebook Editor The San Francisco Chronicle 901 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94103

Who isn't fired up?

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge Everyone I know is fired up about Barack Obama and the highly improbable success of a black man named Hussein winning the Democratic primary. Not only will he be the first black US President, but he will be the first elected leader in the history of Western Civilization that comes from African roots. Do you know people who have been politically inactive who are now "fired up?" Maybe know some folks who only watched game shows and are now Tivoing C-SPAN? Share those stories. Cause God knows, my cat was fired up over something, I am guessing it was Barack Obama. Could be wrong though... SPECIAL REQUEST FOR TCD FANS: The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper - a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads - highly recommended). You can read the Chronicle article here and please add your thoughts to the comments if you wish. If anything, put in a good word for Darren and Candorville. I am submitting Town Called Dobson to the paper for their consideration. They seem to have given great weight to receiving 200 messages considering Candorville. I am asking TCD fans to try to surpass that amount. (I get more than that many hate mails a day, surely fans can do better?) This is not a race between Darren and I, it is a hope that more progressive strips can be represented in the printed press of America. So if you read the San Francisco Chronicle or live in the Bay Area (Google Analytics tell me there are a lot of you), please send your kind comments (or naked, straining outrage) to David Wiegand at his published addresses below. If you are a subscriber, cut out your mailing label and staple it to a TCD strip and include it in your letter. candorcomment@sfchronicle.com or David Wiegand Executive Datebook Editor The San Francisco Chronicle 901 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94103

Obama needs an Orthopedist. Suggestions?

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeMy wife, an African American, was watching the delegates roll in for Barack Obama and she asked "can this really be happening, can this be for real? I guess so - typically Blacks struggle for everything." And struggle Barack did. He battled bullshit from all corners, including his own party. Even the candidate who now wants to be the VP accused him of being unfit to be Commander In Chief. Hillary Clinton deployed what is now called the "Kitchen Sink Strategy" and she deployed it constantly throughout the campaign. It may still be being deployed behind the scenes. Now he is battling the racist beliefs of Hillary's supporters like Harriet Christian (fitting name), "the Democrats are throwing the election away. And for what, an inadequate black male?" Or how about the Hillary supporter from West Virginia who claimed she had had enough of "Hussein." Personally I think Hillary not only threw every kitchen sink she could find at Obama, but she started heaving toilets (heavily soiled, unflushable, fully loaded, public toilets) at Obama and never let up. And still Obama won the nomination. But it ain't over yet. I am sure besides the kitchen sinks and clogged toilets, Hillary is also fully stocked with more goal posts. I hope Obama knows a good orthopedist. He still has some field goals to kick. SPECIAL REQUEST FOR TCD FANS: The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper - a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads - highly recommended). You can read the Chronicle article here and please add your thoughts to the comments if you wish. If anything, put in a good word for Darren and Candorville. I am submitting Town Called Dobson to the paper for their consideration. They seem to have given great weight to receiving 200 messages considering Candorville. I am asking TCD fans to try to surpass that amount. (I get more than that many hate mails a day, surely fans can do better?) This is not a race between Darren and I, it is a hope that more progressive strips can be represented in the printed press of America. So if you read the San Francisco Chronicle or live in the Bay Area (Google Analytics tell me there are a lot of you), please send your kind comments (or naked, straining outrage) to David Wiegand at his published addresses below. If you are a subscriber, cut out your mailing label and staple it to a TCD strip and include it in your letter. candorcomment@sfchronicle.com or David Wiegand Executive Datebook Editor The San Francisco Chronicle 901 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94103

Obama & the Orgasmic Orgy of Approval

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeThere are few times in my life where I hoped the mainstream media was right about their reporting. Last night and today, the Team Clinton seems to be packing up and getting ready to call it quits. Superdelegates are lining up to spew forth their support for Barack Obama all in one cascading, orgasmic orgy of approval. One can only hope. Damn, there goes that word "hope" again. But is my wanting Camp Clinton to finally concede hope or heightened desperation? How many millions of dollars has Obama wasted defending himself against Hillary Clinton since Super Tuesday? How much more traction has McCain received because of his free ride to June? I hope Clinton is not offered up as a VP choice. I really don't believe she can be trusted, especially after her backstabbing over Michigan. She promises one thing and then does another. I am frankly tired of that kind of politics. Sick of it, in fact. If she is the VP choice, what in the Hell will you do with Bill? I used to think Bill would be a good choice for Sec of State or some other position where he would excel at. Now I think, after his horrible performance this campaign season, Bill would do nothing but stab Obama in the back in an attempt to "set-up" Hillary to be President. Unlike Rev. James Cleveland, I do feel always tired. SPECIAL REQUEST FOR TCD FANS: The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper - a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads - highly recommended). You can read the Chronicle article here and please add your thoughts to the comments if you wish. If anything, put in a good word for Darren and Candorville. I am submitting Town Called Dobson to the paper for their consideration. They seem to have given great weight to receiving 200 messages considering Candorville. I am asking TCD fans to try to surpass that amount. (I get more than that many hate mails a day, surely fans can do better?) This is not a race between Darren and I, it is a hope that more progressive strips can be represented in the printed press of America. So if you read the San Francisco Chronicle or live in the Bay Area (Google Analytics tell me there are a lot of you), please send your kind comments (or naked, straining outrage) to David Wiegand at his published addresses below. If you are a subscriber, cut out your mailing label and staple it to a TCD strip and include it in your letter. candorcomment@sfchronicle.com or David Wiegand Executive Datebook Editor The San Francisco Chronicle 901 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94103

Chronicling The Uprising: An Interview With David Sirota

The topic below was originally posted on my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal and cross-posted at Progressive Historians, the Wild Wild Left, The Peace Tree, the Independent Bloggers Alliance and Worldwide Sawdust. The centrifugal force in American politics today is the establishment’s failure to deliver prosperity and security. In 2006, Americans voted for a change of direction in Iraq and economic policies at home. Instead, President Bush’s “surge” in Iraq was enabled by a feckless congress as fuel prices soared, the cost of healthcare kept spiraling out of control and corporate CEOs continued to enjoy the benefits of a twenty-first century Gilded Age. Senseless privatization, predatory crony capitalism, political corruption, incompetence and corporate greed have combined to put the American Dream out of reach for people who work hard and play by the rules. Indeed, a self-gelding plutocracy machine of ineptitude currently governs America. We’re not respected abroad and institutions designed to protect working people at home no longer function properly. Nobody on the Right or Left is satisfied with our immigration policy. Young people are not properly educated to compete in a global economy while too many senior citizens are forced to choose between paying for medication and buying food. Young men and women are dying to sustain two failed military occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, our over extended military has been forced to resort to a back-door draft as America fails to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Is it any wonder that Americans across the political spectrum are yearning for change? In his provocative new book, Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington, (The Crown Publishing Group), David Sirota investigates whether populist outrage can be harnessed into a unified and enduring political movement. Sirota’s spent a year traveling the country and his book chronicles uprisings across America’s ideological and cultural spectrum. He closely observed progressive netroots bloggers, workers at union halls in Albany and Seattle as well as the Minutemen’s headquarters at the California-Mexico border. Sirota also obtained close up access to the epic struggle over tax policy with Montana’s Governor Brian Schweitzer, his Democratic allies in the legislature and their ultra conservative anti-tax government-hating adversaries. He later traveled to Washington D.C. to learn how newly elected anti-establishment Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jon Tester of Montana and Bernie Sanders of Vermont are reconciling their populist objectives within a culture that abhors change. From the Workers Family Party in New York State to the Lou Dobbs program on CNN, and the protest industry struggling to end the Iraq War, David Sirota provides readers with his close up observations and analysis of an angry country fed up with the status quo. Thomas Frank, author of What’s the Matter With Kansas had the following praise for Sirota’s book: “After so many decades of fake populism-of revolts by the wealthy, red-state fantasies, and stock-picking grandmas-could we finally be looking at the real thing? In this compelling book, rooted in history but as contemporary as this morning’s newspaper, David Sirota gives us reason to hope.” David Sirota is a frequent guest on several national news programs, including Comedy Central, The Colbert Report and MSNBC’s Countdown With Keith Olberman. After years of working in the trenches of political campaigns on capital hill, including then Congressman Bernie Sander’s staff, he became a journalist and nationally syndicated columnist. Two years ago, his book Hostile Takover was a New York Times bestseller. Sirota blogs regularly at Credo Action and is currently on a book tour. He is scheduled to appear in New York City on Monday June 2nd @ 45 Bleecker Street between 9:00PM and 10:00PM as well as The Strand Book Store @ 11th Street and 4th Avenue from 7:00PM to 8:00PM on Tuesday, June 3rd. Sirota agreed to a podcast interview with me over the telephone about his book and observations of the populist movement in America. Our conversation was approximately twenty-three minutes. Please refer to the flash media player below. This interview can also be accessed at no cost via the Itunes Story by searching for the “Intrepid Liberal Journal.”