This Would Be the Laugh of the Day if It Weren’t So Aggravating: Pious Rationalizations About “Morality in the Marketplace” from Our Buddies at Goldman Sachs

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Gee whiz, we’re supposed to feel sorry for the health insurance industry if there’s a public option for healthcare and Lord knows, allowing that Bush tax cut which benefits the top 2% income bracket to expire is positively horrific.

And the people at FOX “News” and Rush Limbaugh keep weeping over all this, but do they ever express similar angst over THIS?   NAH!!!

Goldman Sachs’s Griffiths Says Inequality Helps All

A Goldman Sachs International adviser defended compensation in the finance industry as his company plans a near-record year for pay, saying the spending will help boost the economy.

“We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all,” Brian Griffiths, who was a special adviser to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, said yesterday at a panel discussion at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The panel’s discussion topic was, “What is the place of morality in the marketplace?”

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., based in New York, set aside $16.7 billion for compensation and benefits in the first nine months of 2009, up 46 percent from a year earlier and enough to pay each worker $527,192 for the period. The amount set aside this year is just shy of the all-time high $16.9 billion allocated in the first three quarters of 2007. Goldman Sachs spokesman Michael DuVally in New York declined to comment.

Hey, isn’t some of that money from US, the despised little people who’ve been funding this financial feast?

But I guess “tolerating” all that “inequality” must be one helluva burden to bear, indeed.  And exactly how much are we are boosting the economy?

Of course, this kind of rationalization by a former Thatcherite just goes to show how the “Goldman Grip” extends outside U.S. borders.

More claptrap follows…notice the emphasis on “giving” to improve business reputations:

Griffiths, 67, called on bankers to boost their charitable giving to help improve the financial industry’s reputation following a worldwide crisis.

‘Much Is Expected’

“To whom much is given much is expected,” he said. “There is a sense that if you make money you are expected to give.”

And Griffiths rambles on:

Griffiths said that banks should hire and promote people based on criteria beyond how much money they could or did make.

“It was the failed moral compass of bankers which was primarily responsible for why we had this crisis,” he said. “The question is: what can we do in the culture of institutions to make them behave in a more socially responsible way?”

What can you do?  Well, why not stop offering the huge, friggin’ packages for a start!!  Of course, all you hear is the the constant drumbeat about how it’s impossible to get the “best talent” without these huge compensation deals…

Give me a break!!

The Past Week: May 10-16, 2009 (The Smugness of Obama; Soros and Chinese Cars in the U.S.?; Cinie Sums It Up re: Bush/Obama; Gibson, the World’s Largest Dog, Recovers from Leg Amputation; Harold Pinter Adaptation of “The Handmaid’s Tale”

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Chicago Correspondent Leslie saw this on the cover of the local “free” newspaper and thought The One looked awfully smug. She captions: “I guess I really pulled one over on them.” Grail Guardian added this comment: “Hmmmm. Is there anyone left that I haven’t thrown under the bus yet?”

***

The recent news that GM will be selling cars made in China here in the U.S. by 2011 came just before the news later in the week about the dealer closings.  But there’s an interesting twist to the story, as reported by China-Motors.Ru:

Chinese Cars – Soros help to Chery take USA market

Miliarder Georges Soros considers{examines} injection of hundreds millions dollars in Chinese Chery to throw out on the market of the USA cheap Chinese cars.

“Chery” – a copy of the South-Korean Spark sold in the USA in partnership with GM. GM has begun litigation against Chery Automobile Co. Having accused Chery in a piracy of the car, created Daewoo, and Chery should change the name of the car for the USA.

MORE

Can’t vouch for the accuracy of the story, but these days nothing would suprise me…

***

My favorite post of the week comes from Cinie’s World.  It’s titled It’s The Medical Records, Stupid. The section which grabbed me because it summarizes EXACTLY how I feel:

I have always been struck by the cozy, lovey-dovey relationship Georgie’s Ba’ Bruh has always seemed to have with “Obamacans.”  When I first heard of Republicans for Obama, I was like, “what’s up with that, huh?”  Why would a group of Republicans get together in 2006 to encourage the “most liberal Senator in the history of…liberals and Senators” to run for President after the guy had only been voting against their interests on a national basis for a couple years or so?  Sure, coulda been just another Axelrove AstroTurfing campaign, but, if it was, why weren’t real Republicans yelling their heads off about it?   Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney are not exactly shy about slamming one of their own for being too buddy-buddy with the other side.  Why did all the black Republicans endorse this “most liberal Senator, blah, blah, blah, either explicitly, or tacitly?  Why did so many registered Republicans switch party affiliation to vote for a community organizer, (a phrase they utter with all the dripping sarcasm, venom and contempt a mother uses to describe her law school-grad son, the “rap singer”’s career choice) in the primaries and caucuses, then neglect to switch back, swelling the ranks of Independents while depleting their former party’s numbers so significantly it’s now a shell of itself?  In fact, didn’t the guy Al Franken called a “big, fat, idiot,” encourage that?  Operation Chaos, anyone?  Why didn’t the sleazy Obama ploy plea for Republicans to become Democrats for a Day cause the “liberal media” and the “progressive blogospherians” who supported him with a blind fury to turn their backs on, and wash their hands of, him?  How come the Barackamedian’s biggest laugh on his Rock Star Tour campaign trail come from his oft-related response of “Thank you, why are we whispering?” to Republicans’ hushed confessions of “I voted for you”?

I think this says it all, Cinie!

***

Here’s a story about Gibson, the world’s largest dog, who stands about 7 ft. tall on his hind legs. This wonderful Great Dane was diagnosed with  cancer in one of his front legs and to save his life, the leg was amputated.  But, he’s going back to his work as a therapy dog as soon as he recovers. Let’s send all  our best thoughts to Gibson for a speedy and COMPLETE recovery! (Yes, that’s Oprah he’s greeting…)

Visit Gibson’s website at http://gibsondog.com/index.php.

Gibson

***

Finally, I happened to find the 1990 Harold Pinter adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” last night on Indieplex, which starred Robert Duvall and a young Natasha Richardson in a role that was much different from “The Parent Trap” made about 8 years later and was aired earlier this week.  The combination of seeing the late actress who died so tragically only a couple of months ago, along with the horror of this story, was too much for me and I had to change the channel after a short time.  The “guide” called the film “sci-fi.”  Frankly, with the misogynist in chief in the White House playing fast and loose with women’s issues, and a general feeling that we’re in the “colonies”–well, it didn’t seem very “sci-fi” to me…

***

THE PAST WEEK

Saturday Sanity: The Antidote to the Madness (May 16, 2009) Cactus in Bloom! Gorgeous!

“The Bailout” by Cartoonists

In Search of the American Personality: Warnings from the Nuremberg Trial Rohrschach Inkblot Tests

The Past Week May 3-9, 2009 (Chicago Suits Pressure Wells Fargo; Push for a Single-Payer Advocate at Baucus Table; David Cameron Interview Re: British Politics One Year Away from Election)

Iowa Gone Wild With Nazi Reference at Public Hearing (Listen to the Audio) as New Yorkers in CD-20 Test Obama’s Popularity

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

It’s not just about “Tea Parties” anymore…

Things are starting to get wild…in IOWA, of all places. But, actually, it’s pretty ironic. After all, this is where Obama began playing games with the Democratic primary system, by delivering people to the caucuses across the Iowa-Illinois state line.

So, here we see some people in Iowa starting to getting unruly at public hearings.  From the DesMoines Register:

BREAKING NEWS: Hundreds of Iowans thrown out of public hearing

By JASON CLAYWORTH • jclayworth@dmreg.com • March 31, 2009

More than 500 people who are upset with a plan to change Iowa’s tax laws were cleared from a hearing tonight at the Iowa House after they interrupted multiple times.

House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, cleared the crowd at about 8:30 p.m. The decision brought about loud protests as the crowd was escorted from the chambers by Iowa State Patrol officers.

“This is the most atrocious thing I’ve seen in the history of the 15 years I’ve been a lobbyist. Pat Murphy has acted like a jack-booted Nazi,” said Ed Failor Jr., president of Iowans for Tax Relief, a conservative taxpayers’ rights group from Muscatine with 50,000 members…

MORE

Note the word “Nazi” in print…with “jack boots,” no less. And here is the short audio clip of Failor’s comment.  And the state troopers…

And, oh dear, Iowa’s governor, Democrat Chet Culver, was simply aghast, too:

Gov. Chet Culver said today that he was disturbed by reports that unruly audience members threw objects from the House gallery during Tuesday night’s public hearing.

“I was very disturbed to hear that some things were thrown from the gallery. That’s completely unacceptable, completely out of bounds. I hope the next time we have a public hearing that people will be respectful and civil. That has to be a part of the process,” Culver said.

Were Murphy and Culver this upset when Obama freaks intimidate voters during the primary caucuses?  When they abused caucus rules?

I don’t condone riots, but if we’re facing chaos according to the Obama plan, it might as well start in Iowa. (And don’t forget, we’ve already seen fisticuffs outside a closing car dealership recently.)

Last night on Lou Dobbs I saw a sign up in Hoboken, New Jersey by a realtor which suggested people could lower their property taxes by LEAVING! Problem is, there’s no where to go in New Jersey that doesn’t have high property taxes.  We left New Jersey ten years ago this coming September to escape what was obvious–in the future, we couldn’t afford to live in Jersey on retirement incomes.  Well, the future is now, and we’re really happy to be out Jersey.

As for New York, Rush Limbaugh, who makes millions, can rant about the taxes in NYC, but what about the “little people” elsewhere in the state?  Apparently, Obama’s “coattails” are beginning to fray there, too.  The election for the seat that Kirsten Gillibrand vacated to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate is now too close to call. (Gillibrand won this district with 61%  of the vote just 5 months ago…and Obama beat McCain here, too.) Sure, it’s a rural, traditionally Republican district, but Pelosi and the  Obama people put a lot of effort into this race–and Obama endorsed candidate Scott Murphy publicly:

That makes the election an intriguing test of Democrats’ claim to hold the middle ground and also of Republicans’ ability to recover from their electoral drubbing in 2008.

Justin Phillips, a professor of political science at Columbia University, said that victory in New York would be a springboard for next year’s nationwide Congressional polls.

“This becomes a tool for fundraising and candidate recruitment. They say, look: ‘You can run in 2010 as a Republican and you can win.'”

Tedisco hopes that the Obama stimulus package — hamstrung by the storm over executive bonuses at the government-rescued AIG insurance company — will tarnish his opponent.

As of this writing, recounts, lawsuits, etc. are probably coming down the pike; the winner probably may not be known for a couple of weeks.

So, while Obama and his lovely wife Michelle (who got touchy-feeling with the Queen, ignoring simple  manners, let alone formal protocol) zip around London, things may be shifting here at home.

You know what’s sad?  The country has been ready for many Democratic ideas for awhile now, but Obama’s reckless spending plans and the slow revelation of what’s in all those bills being passed are beginning to add up.  His 3-Card Monte game may be getting stale. The Republican Party is offering the same old tax cut mantra but the country just may lurch toward this simplistic message again and sooner than we may think.  And decent Democrats could suffer and where would we wind up?  Perhaps, with the Democratic Party destroyed, as many of us warned last year.  Either way, it seems, it’s the little guy that’s going to get screwed.

Or suffering from a severe case of whiplash…

The Past Week, November 2-8: Recaps & Random Thoughts (Chicago Trib’s “RedEye” Pic of “Royalty”; Frightening Treatment of McCain Supporter in Philly on Election Night; The Price Paid Due to Non-Voters (Deals with Ministers); Help “Free Us Now Mavericks” Hosted by Betty Jean Kling; Stray Dog Update

Well, it was such a disappointing week, but on Friday, Obama’s Nancy Reagan faux pas brightened my day. Keep it up, Obama!  Now, onto the roundup:

***

From regular reader Leslie in Chicago…this GEM. She writes:

This is the photo on the front page of the Tribune’s “RedEye” free daily newspaper.

Beneath the photo in HUGE type reads:

AMERICAN ROYALTY

PS: Saturday’s web edition is more simple: just has a pic labeled just “Royalty.”

Camelot already??  Well, about the Royal Couple’s subjects …What happens when Obama doesn’t deliver whatever it is they expect to be delivered?

***

This benign title masks a VERY disturbing video which might answer the question just asked. I haven’t been to Philly in a long time…I’m glad I didn’t show up in the middle of this…see Minute 3:15

Man Arrested for Wearing McCain Shirt at Obama Victory Rally

***

Over the past week, we’ve had some excellent analyses of the election.  Texas Hill Country (note the new address) sent out a letter to mailing list members which think I speaks for many of us:

The American public rejected the hard right swing that was part and parcel with the Bush Administration and, blinded by rhetoric, swung far to the left…  but not the traditional Democratic left.  This is a new Democratic Party.
In the wake of this election cycle, people should remember that:

• It was Democrats that voted against GLBT rights in 4 states
• It was Democrats that voted against two very strong and capable women
• It was Democrats that attacked two very strong women with vicious sexism
• It was Democrats that found the attacks on freedom of speech acceptable (truth squads)
• It was Democrats that applauded unfair and unethical election practices (primaries)
• It was Democrats that abandoned campaign finance reform
• It was Democrats that conducted a questionable war on the sanctity of the vote (acorn, ohio)

And also that

• It was evangelicals that failed to come out for the Republican Party
• It was the evangelicals that turned out in higher numbers for the Democrats

No matter what the rhetoric, no matter what the politicians say, the Democratic Party has abandoned two of its’ key constituencies…  women and gays.  I shudder to thing what will happen when little bites begin to be taken out of Roe v Wade.  I no longer have any confidence that the Democratic Party will protect women’s right to choose.
It is time for the Republican party to abandon the Neo-Conservatives.  It is time for the Republicans to recapture the center and to become the party of Lincoln, Martin Luther King and Barry Goldwater once again.
It is time to remake the face of the Republican Party as the party of small government, both in business and in our daily lives.
It is time for the Republican Party to become the party of equal rights and freedoms for all.
It is time for the Republican Party to become the party that it once was.  The party that fought to give African Americans the right to vote.  The party that fought to give women the right to vote.  The party that helped the first woman get elected to Congress.  The party that fought for the individual against the crushing weight of the society and the government.
It is time for the Republican Party to abandon the path set forth by John Sears and Karl Rove and get back to its’ roots.
I am calling on the Republican Party to abandon the “Religious Right” that abandoned you.
I am calling on the Republican Party to abandon its attack on a woman’s right to choose.
I am calling on the Republican Party to abandon the attacks on the division between church and state.
I am calling on the Republican Party to abandon the injection of religion into social policy
I am calling on the Republican Party to allow people of any race, creed, color or sexual preference to associate in any way they deem appropriate…  including marriage.
I am calling on the Republican Party to defend my rights as a citizen to live my life without interference from the government as long as my actions are not harming others.
I am calling on the Republican Party to stop being a RINO and start being Republican once again.

Over at Not Your Sweetie, Edge wrote a piece with some hard numbers that summarizes what happened on Election Day succinctly, with a focus on who stayed home and the price we’re all going to pay for it. Edge points out that evangelicals ministers kept their flocks home on the promise of Obama’s support for money and “their ability to hire and fire based on faith. For more background on what Obama was up to during the campaign, see these pieces:

6/11: So, What’s Obama Going to Give Away to Conservative Religious Leaders and Constitutional Law Profs Who Work with Ken Starr??(Just Say No Deal)

6/26: Part 1: Obama’s Conservative Meeting Guests–Non-Pastors (UPDATED 1x)

6/28: Part 2: Obama’s Conservative Meeting Guests–The Pastors

***

Ministers weren’t the only problem. I heard Rush Limbaugh way just days before the election that “”we don’t want any moderate Republicans…social moderates”…in the Republican Party.”  According to him, it has to be a purely “Conservative” party.  What effect did THAT have on his listeners?

***

I can’t let go of the “racial” crap…

How come when Rice and Powell were elevated to very powerful positions I didn’t see endless blather about how they were “post-racial”?…I didn’t see the GOP making it a big selling point, either.  The editor of the “Pulse” section of the local paper (entertainment section) is a young woman who wrote that “Pulse” never got political..BUT she was so happy to see what she didn’t think she’d ever see in her lifetime…a BLACK president…Well, I zipped off GG’s post and challenged her to think about why that image was more important than seeing a woman in the presidency and why she seemed so oblivious/willing to accept as the norm the misogyny of this campaign??

Young women, wake up!!

***

And this should help them…FROM BETTY JEAN KLING, THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE. She needs some people to give her radio show site some hits. SEE BELOW. I listened and she’s GREAT and she needs our support! Play the archived 11/3 show for a few minutes…the guest is Dr. Lynette Long at about the 15:00 Minute mark…Betty Jean is great and will keep your fighting spirit up! From her Friday email:

Please do me a very big favor- go to this link http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FreeMeNow and download 11/3 show – don’t have to listen but I need 50 downloads – I changed from 6PM to 8 PM and NO One and I mean not one person showed up and I could lose my show so please I need 50 downloads to save my show. Every download helps please help.

---

Join BettyJean at the new Prime Time Slot 8 pm est.

Tune in Monday Night 8 PM EST- FreeUsNow Mavericks

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FreeMeNow

As promised launching FreeUsNow Mavericks

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Just in case you think we do not need a new woman’s movement

Think Again!

We cannot let what happened during this year’s election cycle—rampant sexism and misogyny—continue or ever happen again. I fear women might stop running for the highest offices. Why wouldn’t they stop trying? It’s dangerous and devastating for our daughters to see. Join us as we go straight at all that is wrong with the way women were treated by our party, our media, our opponents, and other women.

***

Obama was talking dogs at his press conference and I have my own UPDATE on the stray that I talked about in my Election Day post on my miracle rescue dog, Slick. (See below.)  I had just put out food and water in the hope of attracting him/her.  A couple of days went by without any indication that he had passed by…then, on Thursday morning, I noticed that all the food had been eaten, but a treat I also set out had been left behind. On my dog walk in the afternoon, the treat was gone!  Friday, night, I moved the dishes and once again the food was gone as well as the little treats I had left!  Saturday morning I moved the dishes again to a sunnier spot on the opposite side of the driveway because the water had frozen in the other location.  So, let’s see if the food is gone Sunday!  This is the pattern I saw with Slick…probably an early morning visit. So far, the wanderer hasn’t returned in the afternoon like Slick did, but we’ll see. If the the dog finds the food in the new place overnight/in the morning, then I’ll start moving it further up the driveway.  Stay tuned!

And in the garden: It turned very cold at night a couple of nights ago, reaching the freezing point so I’ve started covering up the plants with the sunshade material.  I set up the mini-greenhouse and I’ll be transferring the geraniums into that any day now.  Tonight I had a sweet potato pizza crust topped with swiss chard picked from the garden and drizzled with olive oil.  Scrumptious!

THE PAST WEEK

*By Kenosha Marge

**By Grail Guardian

***With American Lassie

Obama Humor: Get Used to It! The Jerk Makes a “Careless and Offhanded” Joke About Nancy Reagan

***The SCANNER-Politics 11/7/08: Newsweek Editors on Charlie Rose in the SCARIEST Description of Obama So Far…(Video/Partially Transcripted); Sharia Hits the Treasury Department/HARVARD Alert!; Hill the Shill (UPDATE 1X)

*The Incredible Shrinking Democratic Party

Introducing…THE SCANNERS!

Testing…Do you like this design? Comments Welcomed…UPDATE…TEST OVER

THE SCANNER-Politics, 11/06/08: NM Elections; PUMA Integrity; LA Times Crapola on Post-Racial Promise; Class; Movie–”Rope”

**Post Election Thoughts…The Last Salvo or REALITY BITES

REGROUPING: The Morning After the Day Before (A Joint Post with kenosha Marge & American Lassie (GG Will Be Posting Separately) (UPDATED 2X)

Today, A Stress-Free Post! What Could Be Better Than a TRUE Story About a November MIRACLE DOG!! (With Pics)

Obama–A Look at the Personality Behind the Handwriting

The Past Week, October 26-November 1: Recaps and Random Thoughts (A Mindblower of a Piece at Logistics Monster on “Obama’s American Socialism”; The Illegal Aunt/Donation Problem; 1995 Video of Obama Praising Rev. Wright; Zogby Polling Race; “A Face in the Crowd”–How Timely!; Fall Harvesting)

Don’t Let the Edwards Story Let This Get By You…Next Week, “The Atlantic” is Possibly Publishing “Leaked Clinton Campaign Memos” on the Internet (Updated 3X)

OK, I’m so disgusted by John Edwards that I can’t express it strongly enough.  I was an Edwards supporter originally…another one goes down the tubes…Enough said.  Onward with this:

The Atlantic is supposed to be publishing on the internet “leaked” memos from the Clinton campaign next week. Josh Green is the reporter. Green is a SENIOR EDITOR at The Atlantic.  According to Limbaugh, who broke this today, there are a couple of hundred of them, and about 150 are going to be released.  Some are written by Mark Penn and other people in the campaign.

Some of the quotes from them include remarks about Obama’s “unelectability” and a few others that I can’t recall at the moment.

I will admit that I heard this on Limbaugh, but quite by accident, since I never tune into him willingly. But I don’t doubt it. The Atlantic is a big enough publication that unfounded rumors about what they were doing wouldn’t go down very well. Limbaugh said he got the info from an insider. We know it’s a center-right publication. On this matter, I am inclined to believe him.

Now, the big question is:  WHO LEAKED THESE MEMOS if this is all true?? My mother, who listens to Limbaugh regularly, has told me that he has been saying that the Clinton team has a plan in place.  He speculated today that it was the Clinton camp that leaked these memos.

Frankly, when he first said they were going to be published next week, MY FIRST REACTION was that it may very well have been the Clinton camp.  When Limbaugh read the purported quotations, which were all negative about Obama, I thought it sounded like even more of a possibility.  They were the sort of comments that most people would not find all that shocking, considering how the Obama team has been screwing up lately.  They sounded like logical conclusions reached by people who could see a train wreck coming.

(UPDATE–Hat tip to SUGAR for reminding me of another quote…”The only person Obama could beat is Attila the Hun”!!!)

My other reaction was “Why not release them all? Why are some being held back?”  Maybe we’ll be figure that out once the released memos come out, maybe not.

I am simply offering this info as food for thought. I know nothing else about this leak, other than what I heard today.  We’ll have to see what comes down the pike next week.

As for the Edwards story…who knows if the Obama camp originally floated it to get Edwards out of the primary race?  Whoever was behind it may never be known. It’s just really disgusting that it turned out to be true. My heart goes out to Elizabeth and the kids.  Their oldest daughter must be as devastated as her mother must be. She listened to him talk about morals and trust throughout the primary season. It is a very, very sad situation all around.

What an AWFUL political season this has been…

UPDATE 3

Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic: announcement on August 8, 2008 about the upcoming memo release…

UPDATE 2

I did hear right the first time. He did tell Elizabeth about the affair back in 2006. Sigh.  And she listened to him talk about morals and trust during the campaign.  Not my business about their relationship.  But, I don’t know….I just don’t know anymore…

UPDATE

I was under the impression that Elizabeth had known about this in 2006.  I heard Hannity reading the story as it broke and I thought he said “the family knew about it in 2006.”  I can’t verify this, so I’ve deleted the mention of Elizabeth knowing about it then…