The Information Super-Frog

Fox News had Bill Nye on to talk about volcanoes on the Moon. Host tries to connect story to some "climate change" spin. Big mistake -- Bill Nye "the Science Guy" has experience explaining basic science to small children and people of similar educational attainment.

Video

I doubt Fox News will have Bill Nye on again, but fun while it lasted.

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Meanwhile, "The Onion" headline again sums things up:

"Congress Continues Debate Over Whether Or Not Nation Should Be Economically Ruined"

"The Onion" also offers a reasonable solution:

"Emergency Team Of 8th-Grade Civics Teachers Dispatched To Washington"

What will happen if Congress doesn't fix the Debt Ceiling, as explained by Max Fleischer Studios in 1932.

Betty Boop's Ups and Downs

Another good one from Matt Taibbi:

Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? Financial crooks brought down the world's economy — but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them


Report concludes, Clean up on the oil spill is over. Personal pictures and testimony state otherwise.

Did Martin Luther King influence the Egyptian revolution ... via a 1958 comic book?

Egyptian Activists Inspired by Forgotten Martin Luther King Comic

The comic in question; English original plus Arabic and Farsi translations

Aughts were a lost decade for U.S. economy, workers. Zero net job creation

Healthcare Spending and Life Expectancy. U.S. spends most per person but without higher life expectancy.

For those who haven't yet read either of these two articles on the US & the economy, recomended:

The Quiet Coup by Simon Johnson

The Big Takeover by Matt Taibbi

tongodeon: Who Caused the Economic Crisis? (Plenty of blame to spread around)

tal_greywolf, registered Republican, Editorial endorsing Obama

(Via Tal:) U.S. Presidential comparisons Bigger deficits under Republicans; more economic & job growth under Democrats

jdquintette on ACORN

Tongodeon: Acorn and Election Fraud

Meanwhile, Jackson County, West Virginia voting machines rigged for McCain

Driftglass: Republican Right understood as addicts

Barry Goldwater's granddaughter endorses Obama

Andrew Sullivan: The Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Should Vote For Obama

I first posted this back in July 2002. I think it's time for a repost.
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Note:
The story is that singer/vaudevillian Eddie Cantor was at a recording session on what turned out to be Black Tuesday, 29 October 1929. In between takes he was making sarcastic remarks that had the musicians and recording engineers cracking up. The head engineer suggested he record his remarks as a monlogue.
As far as I can tell from Google, no one has transcribed this on the web or Usenet before. So, I figured it was time.


Well, folks,
They got me in the market
just as they got every-body else.
In fact, they're not calling it the Stock Market any longer.
It's called the Stuck Market.
Everyone is stuck.
Well, except my uncle.
He got a good break.
He died in September.
Poor fellow had diabetes at 45.
That's nothing.
I had Chrysler at 110.

With the way the market has been running,
many a man goes down to business in a Rolls-Royce,
And comes home in a Mack Truck.

If the market takes another slump,
I know thousands and thousands of married men
Who will have to leave their sweethearts
And go back to their wives.

Everyone is singing The Margin Song from Wall Street:
"Sucker Come Back To Me" [to tune of "Lover Come Back To Me]

Of course, if you can dig up the margin, you're all right.
If not, Brother, you're gone.

Now-a-days, when a man walks into a hotel,
And requests a room on the 19th floor,
The clerk asks him:
"For sleeping, or jumping?"

I met one chap in the lobby of a hotel the other day
And he looked quite sleepy.
And so I asked him:
I said "Why are your eyes half shut?"
He answered, "Eddie,
I had to give up my room at 4:30 this morning.
I had it on margin."

You know,
a lot of brokers down on Wall Street have devised a wonderful scheme.
With each five shares of stock
They hand you a loaded gun.
They don't tell you what to do with it
But you can use your own judgement.

Before I quit talking,
I want to give you one sure tip on the Market.
Go out tomorrow and buy National Casket.
You can't go wrong.

And by the way,
Have you noticed that the Market is reflected even in the way women are dressing?
Have you noticed how their skirts have dropped?

Personally, I shouldn't worry about my stocks.
I know my broker is going to carry me.
Yes sir.
He, and 3 other pall bearers.

The Crash of 1929 changed Cantor from being a millionaire to being over 200,000 dollars in debt.
( Read more... )

From: Minister of Treasury Hank Paulson

Dear American, My Dear Friend:

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America.

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with “Mr. Phil Gram,” lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a citizen, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check.

URGENT REQUEST FROM REPUBLIC OF AMERICA FOR BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP (CONFIDENTIAL!)

By this time next month, will things have gotten so bad both Obama and McCain will be deliberately trying to lose?