Purdum's Rundown and Update on Sarah Palin's Vanity Fair

"As Palin has piled misstep on top of misstep, the senior members of McCain’s campaign team have undergone a painful odyssey of their own. In recent rounds of long conversations, most made it clear that they suffer a kind of survivor’s guilt: they can’t quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job, and might never be. They quietly ponder the nightmare they lived through."

and

"None of McCain’s still-loyal soldiers will say negative things about Palin on the record. Even thinking such thoughts privately is painful for them, because there is ultimately no way to read McCain’s selection of Palin as reflecting anything other than an appalling egotism, heedlessness, and lack of judgment in a man whose courage, tenacity, and character they have extravagantly admired—and as reflecting, too, an unsettling willingness on their own part to aid and abet him."

In an unfriendly portrait by Todd Purdum in Vanity Fair, we get a rundown of Sarah Palin. The article does not attempt to be balanced, nor does Palin agree to set the record to reflect what would invariably be her imagination.

Let's just think back, and look back, at the actions said and done, and during a time that the United States was headed into serious economic trouble. Thank you McCain for your cynicism and unmatched hunger for power.

No serious voter, or serious Republican, should be able to tolerate the complete lack of attention to policy that has continued from the 2008 presidential election forward. There is a contingent of voters who bring strong moral sensibilities to their choices for office, and that should not be abandoned. However in the ever present realness of the financial difficulties in which we live-- where even now, the Arizona state government is on the edge of not closing a budget in time, Republicans fighting Republicans over a $3 billion deficit--we must ask: if you are on a plane and the pilot is drunken and sloshed, do you seek a replacement that carries the greatest morals, or the person with the best aptitude at landing the plane so normal life can go on.

While that example presents only two choices, it is highly reflective of recent events.

End of the World Strikes Michael Jackson... How Long Us?...How Long Me?

A busy news day, ending with the deaths of the beautiful Farrah Fawcett and the talented Michael Jackson. All good things come to their end, and one hopes the end is but a temporary change in physiology leading to new life somewhere, somehow.

Mr. Jackson managed to squander quite a bit, but some of the music he left us with is sure compensation, and he will be missed, in part because we felt there was much more for him to give musically. Sadness now. He was mocked, and will be dismissed by some, unable to find anything good at all. "I never liked his music or him," will go the refrain from less talented people with harder, possibly darker hearts, and as though that personal injunction carries any weight at all when so many more have been blessed.

In these parts, Mark Knopfler is our musician we respect the most and consistently turn to when contemplating who we might listen to if limited to but one person. But Michael Jackson was the person we often identified with,  for he, like us, always seemed strangely out of place and off sync with the people around him. We wish there was more of him in the music, and not just glimpses and illusions and masks of something deeper. Now he is gone.

Our favorites written by him: "Give In to Me", "Who Is It", "Will You Be There" on his  Dangerous album, "Dirty Diana", "Smooth Criminal" and "Leave Me Alone" off of Bad, and "Billy Jean" from Thriller.

We also like "Human Nature" from Thriller and "Man in the Mirror" from Bad, but those were not his own words. For us, it's his voice combined with the mystery of his own ramblings and writings that intrigue and keep us listening in the dark.

Tonight when we lay down our head, we will wonder where he has gone, and if the spirit truly lives on beyond sentimental remembrance. When we listen we see another lonely soul that matches our own.

That matches my own.

Sanford and the Republicans, Screwing U.S. Toward Prosperity

Here we go again. The Republicans have decided the most appropriate strategy to getting America back on it's feet is via getting assorted women off of theirs. Obama works for you, the voter, via the big head, while the Republicans use the little head on the down low.

First it was Senator John Ensign, head of the Republican Policy Committee coming forward with a confession about his affair with a married staffer, and now, but a week or three later, it's Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, all teary eyed and chatty over his affair with a South American theoretical beauty.

Dana Milbank, Washington Post columnist, reports:

As he rambled his way through his confession of adultery, he stumbled upon incoherence: "The biggest self of self is indeed self." He meandered into the trivial: "We called it Jurassic Park because of the kids' dinosaur sheets." And, just off the plane from his last tango in Buenos Aires, he confessed the dark details: "I have seen her three times since then, during that whole sparking thing, and it was discovered."

(W.P.)

Now as a man I can fully understand that temptation lurks, and lurks rather aggressively for those blessed with power, money or extreme good looks. Women can be delightful, with the one you don't have, or can't have, ever more fetching than the one back home raising the kids and washing your dirty, dirty laundry. I understand that. That said, there is probably a more honorable way to have that woman you find oh so lovely.

The problem in too many of these situations is that the politician (or any other soul creeping and seeking) want to have it all. The illicit relationship issue itself is simple enough to solve by giving up the one person--the spouse--for the new person, and taking the hits to your career and wallet. Unfortunately honesty all around is never the initial instinct after the affair starts, honesty increasing exponentially as discovery looms and novelty wares off.

This should be a trivial event, to the extent that we all have "sins" or issues that we carry with us and hide. The reason it is not, is that it shines the light on continued Republican goofery, where real issues get swamped by the ridiculous, in action or rhetoric.

You cannot screw your way to economic prosperity unless you are a prostitute...an even then it's a long row to hoe.

North Korea Calls in Middle of Night, Clinton Can't Pick Up Phone, Elbow Shattered

Right about now you are sitting down to some Spam musubi and a loco moko plate, and thinking, "Awesome, Hawaii is making the news on the mainland!" And since all attention is good attention, potential nuclear destruction included, one might as well make the most and value this moment in the blazing sun while it can still be seen.

Kim Jong-Il of North Korea has the missiles pointed east, and on lock, and is not swayed by the current budget difficulties engulfing Hawaii, re-targeting being such a bitch and all.

"I recognize the impact the furloughs will have on many employees and their families. This is not something we want to do, but something we have to do to balance the state budget," Lingle said.

Lingle announced at the beginning of the month that she will begin the furloughs on July 1. She said payroll is prepared to begin the paycheck adjustments.

In a letter to employees, the governor informed workers that anyone hired before July 1, 1998, will see their adjustments starting on July 20; anyone hired after July 1, 1998, will see the adjustments in the Aug. 5 paycheck.

Barring an injunction by the courts, workers will see a 14 percent drop in their paychecks."

(KITV ABC)

Certainly this is a run for your lives or visit the family on the mainland kind of moment, and the extra three days off a month should provide that extra time for disaster preparedness. Last place you really want to be, actually, is at work during a nuclear moment. You want to be home with the loved ones, eating a delicious meal of barbecued meat and macaroni salad, and catching up on missed episodes of The Office while you still have the chance. Why worry anyway?

The mainland stands ready to come to the physical (if not financial) aid of Hawaii, so things are not all that bad:

"Speaking at a Pentagon news conference, Mr. Gates said he had directed the military to deploy mobile, ground-based interceptors to Hawaii. Mr. Gates also ordered seaborne radar into the waters off Hawaii to provide detailed information to track and attack any North Korean missile."

(N.Y. Times)

I'm pretty sure this is that "phone call in the middle of the night" moment Hillary Clinton and Republicans warned us about. Certain Republicans are probably a bit anxious, hoping events prove them right, and are willing to sacrifice a few Hawaiians on the alter of predictive accuracy.

What's really ironic is that during this moment of crisis, Hillary probably cannot pick up the phone with the strong arm, given her shattered elbow:

Hillary Clinton will undergo surgery after shattering her right elbow in a fall on the way to a meeting at the White House.

The US Secretary of State has cancelled all public engagements, including a scheduled appearance alongside the Hollywood star Angelina Jolie to mark World Refugee Day.

President Obama is understood to have phoned Mrs Clinton to express his sympathy after the accident last night.

(U.K. Times)

Sit back Hawaii. You have Spam. And when times get tough, Spam is all you need.

Palin, Ensign, the Socialists, the Banks, the Wind, and the Willows

Part of last night was spent watching NOVA on PBS in an episode that explored the Federal bailout of several banks and Wall Street investment firms. What the program was able to portray was the gravity of the financial situation in the fall of 2008 as regulators struggled to get a fix on the situation and figure out which firms to help, and how.

There comes a point when the heads of several major firms are called in for a meeting with Treasury Secretary Paulson, and are told, forced even, to accept government funds. Some of the firms did not want the assistance, putting personal freedom above broader financial stability and forward thinking. Critics of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) would probably suggest that the firms that resisted were justified, and that that resistance showed the lack of necessity for the program. Mind you, these were (and are) the same firms with assets on the books that have not been fully valued even today.

One of the truths of the process, and the politics around the process, is that this minor nationalization of the banks--and we say minor because the government was not taking majority stakes, nor dictating who could sit on the board or what business could be engaged in--was the result of the Bush Administration. They took these actions to prevent worldwide economic collapse. These actions were justified and necessary to preserve the foundation of American capitalism.

Six months or so later, when we hear certain politicians and public personalities continuing to call the current administration "socialist", let us remember what actually happened, who made it happen, and why it was done. Careful observers know that the Republicans have been gaming the issue, lacking any substantive policy initiatives.  We are reminded of Alaska Governor Palin's recent and extended battle with a talk show host; she made the rounds on television, expressing her outrage over the idea of one her daughters being the target of a joke. She  was able to expound upon and spin the issue at great length, and with an energy and enthusiasm unmatched by any of her previous attempts to weigh in on more important national concerns.

It was truly amusing to observe, given that it was Palin's mouth that was one of the chief sources of nasty insinuations against Obama during the campaign. Those barbs and insinuations, unchecked by her brain and spilling out into the public debate, helped take the Republicans deeper down a road with no exit. The biggest news the Republicans have going, aside from Palin's outrage at talk show host David Letterman, is that some senator has been having an affair.

When the head of the Republican Policy Committee (Senator Ensign) is too busy with other  non-governmental affairs, it's not surprising that Republicans are struggling to come up with policy alternatives.

As a critic, Palin was at the center of the "Obama as socialist" mantra, so she must turn to other news, to whipped up drama, to avoid commenting on the fact that banks right and left are becoming, in effect, "denationalized" under the Obama administration. Why focus when you can divert national attention to issues of modest import. Palin has yet to speak deeply on issues like North Korea or how to improve the financial structure of the banking system. She hasn't because she can't. Better to talk about the wind and the willows.

The news today is that several more banks are repaying TARP funds:

"J.P. Morgan repaid $25 billion, Morgan Stanley gave back $10 billion, Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp refunded $6.6 billion and Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based BB&T Corp. paid $3.1 billion, the companies said today in separate statements.

The banks are among 10 companies that last week said they would repay a total of $68 billion to the Troubled Asset Relief Program after Treasury approved the payments. Banks have unveiled plans to raise more than $100 billion in capital, and financial stocks have climbed in the past three months on signs the global credit contraction is easing."

(Bloomberg)

And, while Ensign and Palin are busy with family drama that impacts nobody, the Administration has come out with new, somewhat imperfect, financial regulations that are an attempt to avoid repeating the type of mistakes  that brought capitalism to near collapse.

Verizon, Sprint, A.T.&T., T-Mobile Share Underwear

Why do Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and A.T.&T all have wireless plans that offer 5 gigs for $59.99 or $60, with only Verizon's Alltel unit offering a $59.99 plan that does not immediately specify a usage cap. Is this some form of corporate collusion?

And why are certain websites really badly designed from an information organization standpoint? T-mobile in particular does little to clarify which data plans are for which device, or the differences in data plans, until you have selected the phone. How about spelling out the exact differences when listing all the data plans?

Sprint's current website is also not fun. On my limited system, it seems quite sluggish, and one has to pay attention for a few moments and weed through the oxymoron of titling plans with the word "Everything" followed by their particular focus, like "Everything Data". Clearer language with less visual manipulation is in order. Once you get used to the voice plan page, it does have a logical order, moving from high price to low. But one imagines it could be a lot simpler and brighter visually.

The companies need to really be clear on what the various data plans offer, and if they offer more than one, explain, for example, how one data plan at $39.99 offering unlimited is different from the other data plan offering capped service for $59.99. (I think it's T-Mobile that leaves this contradiction a mystery until you pick a given phone and discover what data options are actually required).

Ideally someone needs to offer a 500 anytime minute, 10 favorite, 2000 text, unlimited nights and weekend, unlimited data with tethering (hooking up to your laptop or pc) plan in the range of $50 to $75. The permissability and cost of using the phone as modem (tethering), accessing data over the phone, and what kind of data (the internet or company sponsored data) needs to be made much clearer. And the companies need to stop branding their house products in ways that don't clearly specify what they are offering, or the usual limitations of the offerings.

Finally, why is T-Mobile not allowing some people to access updates of their Favorites via Google's Chrome browser after their recent website update? It's about time most company website updates circa 2009 are compliant with not just IE, but Opera, Chrome and Safari, not to mention Firefox. When you are using Chrome and the website is not allowing a function, telling you that you are on Safari, that's a problem.

It's annoying having to keep multiple browsers on hand, or having to default to the worst (in terms of features and speed), IE, in order to take care of business.

(Not my usual post but had to get that off my chest)

N.Y. Politics: Identity Style

Identity politics.

The big accusation against blacks was that they supported Obama because he too was black. While this may be somewhat true, for some people, it ignores the rubric of black voting, where they support first, and always, the Democrats, followed by those people they feel are most open to "their" issues. Hence, you might be black, and Republican, but will not get a bit of support if you are merely black, but not with them on certain issues.

One hopes that we never get to the point where identity is the great motivator of voting behavior or legislative action. One would hope that whites will continue to vote for blacks, that blacks will vote for Asians, and Hispanics for blacks, and so on in the virtuous circle.

The chief problem for Republicans in the last election was a lack of solutions that addressed the real problems of the nation or the needs of individuals. They still are not hopping on the idea bandwagon. When things are bad, or headed downward, the guy you don't want in charge is the one who is still professing the merits of sailing into the iceburg, or glorying in how the last captain held great shipboard parties. Dismissing the black candidate as an empty suit, while simultaneously lacking any ideas is not the quick path to support.

Which makes events in the New York State legislature quite interesting. In an identity inspired Puerto Rican show of strength and power, and with the support of Republicans who normally are not supposed to be in favor of these things, two Hispanic legislators,Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Monserrate "joined Republicans on the Senate floor Monday to kick off their surprise takover of the chamber." (N.Y. Times)

"...almost every other Democratic senator in the room walked out in anger, shock or disgustBut as Mr. Espada stood to be sworn in as the new president of the Senate, several other Latino lawmakers, all members of the Assembly, filed into the room and stood behind him, beaming like proud parents."

(N.Y. Times)

Putting ethnicity above principle is always the long road to disaster, and on can see this particular action as just the beginning of many such possibilities, especially as it relates to our open borders.

Having marginalized their Latino partners for so long, the call of power became too great for some, no matter the method to that power. Because blacks see themselves as the longer suffering and more authentic population, lacking alternative homes (like Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic), but with the history inside the country, it bothers them that they should in fact take second place to Hispanics, which amounts to taking third, fourth or last place when all ethnicities are factored into the power totem pole.

Our current immigration policies will likely increase this trend.

Wells Fargo Almost Loves Blacks More Than Subprime Loans, But Not

Much of the great housing fiasco has been sourced to minorities, or so most conservatives would have you think. Presumably if you could have manufactured some sort of benign holocaust and killed all the ethnics, primarily, blacks, no bank would have failed, and all would be well. Kill the ethnics, make the government take their hands off free enterprise, and abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and things would have been that level of peachy approaching keen.

Ridiculous. We know Fannie and Freddie were not responsible for the bulk of the loans going sour. We know that all the bad "minority" loans, stacked up against all the non-minority loans, would still lead to more defaults on the part of the less colorful (meaning, non-minorities). We also know that you cannot look at the collapse of the economy due to housing problems as merely being about mortgages going unpaid. What stalled out the economy was leveraged bets by large financial firms that assumed that mortgage payments and prices would remain stable, if not escalate. Thus hindered by the miscalculation, those responsible for providing credit have been unable to funnel cash to those needing credit, resulting in one factor that is slowing the economy down, and jacking unemployment up (and furthering the crisis).

We can't help but come back to mortgage practices, and today's New York Times piece on Wells Fargo, (also read Dealbreaker's take here) and how certain employees there manipulated the home buying process when dealing with minorities. This has resulted in law suits against Wells, though we tend to suspect that like most directives from above, the intent was pure, but greed and pressure warped the process.

This theoretical fact, mentioned in the article, is particularly disturbing:

"Both loan officers said the bank had given bonuses to loan officers who referred borrowers who should have qualified for a prime loan to the subprime division. Ms. Jacobson said that she made $700,000 one year and that the company flew her and other subprime officers to resorts across the country."

and

"Both loan officers said the bank had given bonuses to loan officers who referred borrowers who should have qualified for a prime loan to the subprime division. Ms. Jacobson said that she made $700,000 one year and that the company flew her and other subprime officers to resorts across the country."

So here, customers deserving of a standard loan are funneled into subprime, with the result being much higher overall interest payments. Now whether these higher payments led to default or not (and that may be debatable), it surely underscores the delicate status of blacks in society, who remain sufficiently grateful for any sort of consideration. Or perhaps insufficiently educated. It's the psychological feeling of inferiority when you are grateful for the substandard when you actually qualify for something better.  And it's something else when others play on that, seeing blacks as an easy mark.