or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
December 04, 2012
Are You a Crazy Billionaire? Antonio Villaraigosa Would Love to Hear More of Your Fascinating Ideas!
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (and chairman of the 2012 Democratic National Convention) has just joined the Steering Committee of Fix the Debt.
Fix the Debt is the latest Wall Street/Corporate America front group for their decades-long campaign to slash Social Security and Medicare. As always, it's not that they want to kill America's most popular social programs; it's just that if we don't the United States is going to run out of money in the next three minutes and explode in flame. (This might remind you of how in 2003 we had to invade Iraq in the next three minutes or Saddam was going to eat all your children. It's the same guys – they really only have one game plan.)
Anyway, because Wall Street and Corporate America fund both parties, Fix the Debt is "bipartisan," and it's no surprise to see Villaraigosa snuggling up to them. All you really need to know about him can be found in this long article:
One night last May, some twenty financiers and politicians met for dinner in the Tuscany private dining room at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas...The richest man in the room was Leon Cooperman, a Bronx-born, sixty-nine-year-old billionaire...he has gained notice beyond Wall Street over the past year for his outspoken criticism of President Obama. Cooperman formalized his critique in a letter to the President late last year which was widely circulated in the business community; in an interview and in a speech, he has gone so far as to draw a parallel between Obama’s election and the rise of the Third Reich…
The star guest at the dinner was Al Gore, who was flanked by Antonio Villaraigosa.
…[hedge-fund manager Anthony] Scaramucci, the organizer of the dinner, told me the next day that the guests had witnessed the “activation” of a “sleeper cell” of hedge-fund managers against Obama. “That’s what you see happening in the hedge-fund community, because they now have the power, because of Citizens United, to aggregate capital into political-action committees and to influence the debate,” he said…“If there’s a pope of this movement, it’s Lee Cooperman.”…
Cooperman had come to the dinner to give Gore a copy of the letter he’d written to President Obama. “I’d like you to read this,” he told the former Vice-President….
Al Gore was diplomatic when presented with the letter...but others in the room were enthusiastic. Villaraigosa gave Cooperman his direct phone number.
So if you're Villaraigosa and anxious to get input from billionaires who believe Obama's 2008 election was similar to Hitler's rise to power, it's no surprise you're also willing to shill for Fix the Debt. Their ideas on Medicare, as crazy and disgusting as they are, are actually a step up sanity-wise.
—Jon Schwarz
Posted at December 4, 2012 08:51 PMHopefully, if his "HEARING IMPAIRED" status ( from the day of National Democratic Convention ) is continuing to this day ( and will do so much longer ), it may turn out to be advantageous after all for ordinary Americans if the Billionaires with his direct number do communicate something to him which is important to them!!
Posted by: Rupa Shah at December 4, 2012 09:32 PMI believe the Hodgman-approved adjective is "deranged", not "crazy". http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/4cc168ca62/that-is-all
Posted by: darrelplant at December 5, 2012 11:35 AMMoney talks and bullshit walks. I've spent many a day staring at the ass ends of many a bovine, both male and female, so I testify today, that bullshit walks along way and gets deep.
The billionaires play both sides with their money, some backed Obama. Obama can NEVER be a "good ole boy" for some no matter how much he fills their pockets.
(HINT-----Hitler wasn't black)
(HINT 2----Save YOUR Social Security, call Boehner @1-202-225-0600, express YOUR concerns)
ok, but aren't there any benevolent billionaires?
Posted by: frankenduf at December 5, 2012 01:25 PMfrankenduf: Benevolent toward whom?
Posted by: Mike Meyer at December 6, 2012 12:18 AM"Fix the Debt" ads are appearing at a lot of the blogs I read now - places where the articles clearly disagree with them (firedoglake, e.g.)
http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/12/03/report-republicans-could-allow-tax-increase-use-debt-limit-for-future-leverage/
Who knows if it's good or bad?
It appears bad to my limited perception.
Posted by: mistah charley, ph.d. at December 6, 2012 12:02 PM(This might remind you of how in 2003 we had to invade Iraq in the next three minutes or Saddam was going to eat all your children. It's the same guys – they really only have one game plan.)
Yeah... it also reminds me of how we desperately needed to re-elect a guy who gave a few trillion dollars of public money to bankers and ordered hundreds of due-process-free executions using flying death robots because otherwise MITT ROMNEY!!1!.
This was also, as I recall, the premise of the Obama 1, Kerry, and Gore campaigns.
Looks like both parties only know one game plan.
Posted by: Picador at December 6, 2012 12:44 PMmistah charlie ph.d: All that selling the debt fixin' is a simple grab for the SS trust fund(2 1/2 trillion and growing). George Carlin sez it best.
Should TRUE&SINCERE TALK about "fixing the debt" ever show up, the words "gold standard"&" dismantling the federal reserve" should appear somewhere in the conversation.
Picador: Mittens wanted to bomb people too, and feed bankers. Where as someone like myself would probably feed people and chase bankers with armed drones were a THIRD PARTY candidate to be elected. Either way is abuse of power and NEEDS control and OVERSIGHT by Congress as proscribed in The U. S. Constitution. Sadly, though The Constitution describes Congress' mighty powers over even The Presidency and indeed to stop these illegal actions, NO DEFINITION for backbone was described.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at December 6, 2012 08:57 PMMike, a couple of links from one of my alltime favorite sites.
1) http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-overclass.html
(I cannot tell a lie, this is the bait, and if you don't dig it I give you permission to go down on my mom).
2) http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/LiberalFAQ.htm#Backgold
No 3rd party bashing. Promise!
Sorry, sorry, I realize that was a tasteless joke and not funny, not at all. But anyway you really wouldn't want to go down on my mom.
Posted by: godoggo at December 7, 2012 02:11 AMNo, really there are places I'd promptly get banned for that, and rightly so.
All done.
Posted by: godoggo at December 7, 2012 02:19 AMI lied about being done. Just one more thing: keep in mind that the site's really old.
Posted by: godoggo at December 7, 2012 02:45 AMYeah, that passage leapt out at me, too, since Villaraigosa is our mayor out here. Apparently, he started out all right, but he's been pulling this crap for a while. (I know a political activist who grew up in the same neighborhood as "Tony.")
Posted by: Batocchio at December 7, 2012 04:14 AMLA Weekly's had a lot of stories about his sleezeball behavior over the years.
Looking at the link below I see a recent story about the topic of this post, and another recent on about his presidential ambitions.
http://www.laweekly.com/related/to/Antonio+Villaraigosa/
Posted by: godoggo at December 7, 2012 04:50 AMPDJpaCIWgdWeramVRw 8243
Posted by: weyjRAGTOCDTBPb at December 7, 2012 01:12 PMgodoggo: Was unable to find those pages though I did look around Tom Huppi's site, THANX.
Batocchio: I see on Americablog there's a petition up to oust Villaraigosa.
George Carlin sez it best
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpcd0woY2KY
Posted by: mistah charley, ph.d. at December 8, 2012 04:32 PMMike:
I'm not sure why you were unable to find the pages. They are from an old site called "Liberalism Resurgent." Huppi maintains one of several mirrors that appeared after the creator committed suicide.
The first link was a page called "The Origins of the Overclass." The second was the anchor for a series of links titled "Myths about economics" on a page titled "The Long FAQ on Liberalism." You should be able to google them.
Posted by: godoggo at December 8, 2012 08:37 PMgodoggo: Found them, and again, THANX.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at December 9, 2012 12:21 PMThe futurists recognized the collapse of the American "Economic" Empire as a certainty as far back as 1982. They also recognized the "Generational Storm" and the 75 million (those born after WWII) lining up for their social security cheques and the cookie jar is empty.
The Rich Folks knew and intended to break every promise made to the Working Class since WWII.
http://www.dotandcalm.com/calm-archive/EconomicNotes.html
Calm
Posted by: Calm at December 10, 2012 01:21 AMJust think of the shine a 2.5 trillion dollar pile-o-money would put out.(ouch!!) Most rich people I've met would dive in front of a bus after a rolling nickle.
Wall Street Bankers slobber like Pavlov's Dog at the mere mention of The SS Trust Fund. They want that money and much like Citizen Carlin said, "They're gonna get it, too!"
I JUST HAD TO SHARE this....
JFK speaking......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ILqHSH4X_w
Posted by: Rupa Shah at December 10, 2012 01:26 PMThe function of government is the looting of the governed.
Always was, always will be.
Posted by: Bill Jones at December 10, 2012 09:27 PM
