JJG Journal

That’s what I am asking myself. What does it take for (non) Joe the (non) plumber to realize that the country has been driven into a ditch during the last 8 years? Are Americans simply not sufficiently intelligent to competently govern themselves, as suggested in this piece written by President Nixon’s former counsel? I have a smug, semi-serious answer to this question: The average American citizen spends more...Continue Reading »

In a SNL performance that has me smiling…

Josh Marshall has this clip on his site, explaining how the U.S. Presidential race looks from the angle of the electoral college vote. Remember: in the U.S. elections are indirect. The founding fathers did not really trust the people to make this important decision without the intervention of middle-men. Very funny, but true.

This morning there was agreement (which still has to get receive House and Senate approval) on the Financial Bailout (ahhm….Financial “Rescue”) deal for U.S. financial institutions. This thing is deeply unpopular with U.S. taxpayers resulting in some political grandstanding from our “fiscally conservative” (seriously) Republican friends in Congress. Democrats have by-and-large accepted this deal that now includes some Congressional oversight provisions, the fig-leave limits of executive pay, but other than that pretty much gives Treasury Secretary Paulson what he...Continue Reading »

Apparently not so much. The U.S.-led “war on terrorism” is not weakening al Qaeda, a majority of respondents in a massive global BBC poll believe. See also this recent post.

Me thinks that he is simply an incompetent sociopath. But for some more hilarious explanations see this article in which readers contribute their own take on why Bush effectively bankrupted this country.

Here’s a little common-sense prediction: It currently looks like the U.S. taxpayer (against my better advice) will bail out the U.S. financial sector (i.e., all those non-productive capitalist parasites at Wall Street) at the official tune of $700 billion. We all know that this figure is just an estimate and that the true cost of this historic fascist-government...Continue Reading »

The French opposition today withdrew its support for the France’s military deployment in Afghanistan, calling the mission there an unwinnable “war of occupation”. If civilian and military casualties continue to escalate  in this most nightmarish of states Germany will follow. Who is going to be left to “finish the mission”, whatever the heck the mission really is? The U.S. under the next president, that’s who.

I always thought that no person in their right mind...Continue Reading »