17 March, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Senator Chuck Grassley has said that AIG executives who took bonuses should follow the ‘Japanese example’ by either resigning or committing suicide.  Not a bad idea.  This whole business with AIG is sickening and I really wonder when Americans are going to take to the streets.  These executives are giving us the finger and Obama and his team are acting like they have no control over a corporation to which they gave $170 billion of our tax dollars. Outrageous.

In other news of the insane, the Pope has said that condoms are not the answer to the AIDS crisis in Africa and that sexual abstinence should be encouraged.  It’s no surprise that the Pope would say something like this.  What I don’t like is that his comments are reported by the media as if they have some sort of legitimacy, rather than what they are – insane.  If some Imam stated that adulterers should be stoned to death, scorn and ridicule would be heaped upon him (except in England, where criticizing his ideas would be ‘hate speech.’)  Both the Pope’s ideas and the Imam’s ideas rest on the same continuum of hatred and ignorance, yet we’re supposed to believe the Pope has something of value to contribute.  His comments belong with the comments of other religious men of our times – on the scrap heap of irrelevancy.

To end on a lighter note, I’m sure many people have already seen this, but Will Ferrell’s video sketch ‘The Landlord’ is hysterically funny.

1. Comments RSS

1. Ken Says:

   March 17th, 2009 at 3:53 pm

   Anglofille: It certainly is outrageous. I saw a young dickhead who writes for the NY Times on TV this morning. He was bleating about the sanctity of contracts. Everyone was nodding in agreement. Feigned helplessness–what got us into this mess in the first place.

   AIG is insolvent. It is headed for some kind of receivership or Chapter 11 proceeding. The people write the bonus checks know it’s insolvent. The people cashing these checks know it’s insolvent. This a blatant attempt to subvert the bankruptcy laws by jumping special friends to the head of the line instead of where they belong: the unsecured creditors.

   Wall Street is unapologetic. They make it clear they will blow up the economy if they don’t get what they want. People are angry, but we aren’t at riots in the streets yet. Where we are at are shanty towns. Our town grew one last winter, a growing settlement underneath the Interstate in the no man’s land between Downtown and the Jewelry District.

   We also have scavengers. All the deposit cans and bottles were removed again last night from our recycle bin.

   This is just the beginning.

2. Caroline Says:

   March 17th, 2009 at 4:31 pm

   What sets off alarm bells for me is the impunity with which the AIG executives blew off Obama’s and Geithner’s call to suspend the bonuses. It’s not a good sign for the beginning of his presidency. He needs to lay down the law here and make it stick.

3. Ken Says:

   March 17th, 2009 at 5:05 pm

   Caroline: AIG and their ilk have been clear about something since Lehman Bros. failed: they accept no responsibility and they want the money. They checked out on America a long time ago.

   Even today, the NY Times guy said we need them because having built a financial doomsday machine, they are the only people who know how to disarm it. If that’s not blackmail, I don’t know the meaning of the word.

4. AlieMalie Says:

   March 17th, 2009 at 5:22 pm

   AIG is successfully holding the US taxpayer hostage. I’ve not liked Geithner from the beginning – why should I trust a guy with my treasury who can’t submit his taxes correctly? And why should we retain the “talent” that got us in to this position in the first place? Anyone worth their salt who could help solve this problem will realize that none of these companies, nor the American taxpayer, can afford to pay them millions of dollars to help maneuver us out of this. Despicable.

   Also, totally other subject, I find it odd that you, after all of your thoughts on feminism and women’s rights, would use the word “hysterical” given its origins.

5. Anglofille Says:

   March 17th, 2009 at 5:52 pm

   I use the words “hysteria” and “hysterical” a lot. [Tabloid hysteria, for example.] The origin of this word may be sexist, but it has evolved from its original use into a perfectly legitimate non-sexist word in my view.