Tonight on FRONTLINE

“Rice seemed semi-competent only by comparison.

It was darkly hilarious how Rumsfeld reminded me so much of Saddam's PR guy..... just one ridiculous claim after another.”

“They were also pretty lenient on Bush I thought - portraying him as being somewhat above the fray.

But the way he allows this farce to continue for years is illustratvie of why he's been a poor President. He's unable to pull together four people at the top of his administration to unify behind a policy.

It also demonstrates how his sheltered upbringing has led to a lack of understanding of the world and ened up with him being led around by the nose by Cheney and Rumsfeld. We joke about him not being smart - but I think this is an example beyond the verbal gaffes.

If I could sit here before the invasion and say the 'war' would be over in short order, but it was the post war situation that was the problem, then why the hell couldn't the most powerful man in the world.

Seriously - what sort of fool have you got to be to buy into a scheme which goes against evidence from every other conflict in history?

He obviously knew nothing of the history of the region, or the extent of Islamic fundamentalism.

Rumsfeld and Cheney I think just spent too long in the corridors of power to see how the world works outside the boardroom - like most CEOs they sit on mount Olympus saying 'make it so'.”

“... and all of those yes men ended up with bus tire tracks across their backs.

Some of the "intelligence" was pretty pitiful. It's a foregone conclusion that you don't act on unconfirmed reports from untested sources without some form of corraboration. And none of that "intelligence" came from the established intell community. It was all from Chalabi cabal.

The funniest thing to me was the intell about Sad Sack Insein being at some building. By the time they scrambled the 117s and flew them to Iraq, he would have gotten tired of twiddling his thumbs and left. An instant cruise missile strike might have done it.”

“I always thought Sir Charles threw Barney under the bus.”

“Someone needs to now check the TT archives and see just how far off we were about this crap.”

“In late summer 2002 as they beat the war drums I could see how the U.S. Congress was set up very much like they were set up just before the election of 1964 with the Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution.

To vote against it would have been the right thing to do but it would have been political suicide as well.”

“In late summer 2002 as they beat the war drums I could see how the U.S. Congress was set up very much like they were set up just before the election of 1964 with the Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution.

OK XL!

[runs away]”

“I remember the crap about Saddam starting in the news about a month after 9-11 with Bush's “announcement” in front of the cameras at Camp David that a report by the IAEA stated Saddam could have a working nuclear device within twelve months.

The al-Baradei responded with hours that Bush was completely full of crap, but on Monday Bush's crap was on page one across the country and al-Baradei's response was on page 17 (below the fold).   And it went downhill from there.

Remember the box of papers buried under that rosebush -----

”

“No one has the balls to keep this alley rolling or are they waxing the lanes?”

“Powell was used.

What a friggin immoral way to treat a guy with his background.

I pray every night for GW's health. The mere thought that that #&%!$ing Cheney might ascend to the Presidency makes me more nervous than a whore in church.”

“Powell: he coulda been a contendah.

Cheney: I hate the constant smirk more than I hate Bush's monkey grin.”

“hmmm, part 1 seems to be on other PBS station now.”

“FRONTLINE.... NOW       DO   IT.

(gotta go ----)”

“the DVR is running”

“http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/badvoodoo/

They said to check the website over the coming weeks and months because more video will be posted as it comes in from the guys.”

“Cool.

Tilt, for another perspective from some Marines go to www.Patdollard.com some powerful video for sure.”

“I'll check it out ---- Thanks.

There are some Military blogs of experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan that have been published as books lately.   I just caught part of the segment on C-SPAN about that a month or two ago --- wish I had some links.   It was riveting.”

“Blood makes the grass grow

Was written by a GI in Afghanistahn. I have yet to read it but it comes highly recommended.

Post some titles if you find em...”

“Still looking..... but the keyword is milblog.”

“The "Bush's War" episode was replayed tonight on SC-ETV.

Somehow, I don't think it helped o'Reilly's ulcers ----”

“Welcome back to TT, Tilty.”

“So many people killed for nothing.”

“How's things at Latta?”

“I didn't cotribute to the mayhem.

I didn't attempt to profit by it either.”

“That's the ticket, yea! ;-)”

“I forgot how great that ignore feature was.”

“My mom just took a picture of a dude in a fanny pack and sent it to me because my mom "gets it".”

“Nice seeing Tirdtherm again”

“Still working on the Spelling Thing, I sea.






(sic)”

“In September '08 there was a $500+ electronic 'run' on the banks. Frontline will provide the documentary on Tuesday.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/story/2009/02/banking-at-the-brink.html”

“500 Billion , that is....”

“Thanks for the reminder.”

“Tonight's the night.

In the meantime, check out this Interview with Simon Johnson (Former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, MIT Sloan School of Management professor and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics).”

“What a great show!

I especially loved how they kept using all those NY Times journalists to explain it all.

But the best part was the repeated interviews with Barney Frank. Good golly who better to explain the problem? Maybe Mr. Watt? Do hubris and irony get any better?



Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
By STEVEN A. HOLMES
Published: September 30, 1999

..."Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits."...

...''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.'' ...

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260


Sub-prime mortgages backed up with government funding? Why not bet the house?


New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
By STEPHEN LABATON
Published: September 11, 2003

"The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago."...

..."Significant details must still be worked out before Congress can approve a bill. Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said."

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec
last edited: 2/17/09 8:29:16 PM”

“Heads Up!
Ann Coulter will appear on "Hannity" show tonight”

“Did you get your jack rags ready in time???”

“What happened to Sean's R. A. Stanford ads- they got to close to the hot stovie?”

“;-)”

“Some of you sound to me like you are joking around: like at the moment just before one or all of you get tossed for a thrashing into the principals office in high school. The jokes and laughter are coming from a sense of nervousness of not knowing who's going to get the what-for, or if all of you are going to be in trouble, no matter what, out of anxiety.

No party loyalty or dogma -- left or right -- will rescue us -- no nice mother will come in and cease the paddling were about to get.

The epochal changes coming may mean to us the end of continental backpacking and climbing, sooner rather than later.”

“The One will save us.”

“Say whaaaat? Umm, I'll be backpacking regardless of the paddling.”

“What Rosey said....”

“Spank me harder, MarkO!!”

“The end of backpacking is usually a get-together for coffee, etc.”

“AIG is asking for more money now.

And Soros says this:

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE51K0A920090221?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&rpc=23&sp=true”

“Soros isn't an unbiased source.
AIG is nuts.”

“And there's Dr. Doom.

I've been reading his Roubini Global Economics Monitor since September. Lotsa new terms/concepts.

Your Acronym for the Day:
TCE......................Tangible Common Equity

”

“That's a dirty commie, marxist, hippy free-loving, do-nothing, suck off of mommy government term, isn't it Tilt? You red flag with a hammer and sicle waving, community dirty underwear washing, peacenik!”

“ROF   ROF

I'm telling you, though..... reading that Roubini website will give you a braincramp in a New York Minute.”

“I'll read around on it...”