[AlexdeLarge]

Obama fiddles.

Obamas big on White House gigs
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gEfUAdYWG5Ysa7CDcGMLMuIZ2xdwD9BEJCEO4

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ASHINGTON — Michelle and Barack Obama sat one table over from J. Lo and Marc Anthony, and all four of them were rocking in their seats as Sheila E. shook the house — well, really the tent.

The latest installment of the White House music series was too big for the East Room, so a high-wattage assortment of Latin musicians sent pulsating, can't-help-but-bob-along rhythms tumbling out of a giant tent on the mansion's South Lawn.

[smallpoxgirl]

LOL! And you want what? The guy is supposed to sit around 24 hours a day trying to look somber? It's a recession/depression, not a wake.

[AlexdeLarge]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'L')OL! And you want what? The guy is supposed to sit around 24 hours a day trying to look somber? It's a recession/depression, not a wake.

[flapjax]

OMG black folk and latinos are bob'n-n-weave'n to the rhythm of music at the White House? Was this the 'Hope-N-Change' I was hoping for?? Hell yeah!! Nice post, Alex. It feels good to gyrate your hips a little once and a while. Especially when you got all that blackness going on down there.

[basil_hayden]

If I remember correctly, there was a thread on this website a few years ago with the exact same title documenting Bush cutting brush at his ranch while some other major event was occurring.

It wouldn't be my first choice, but this appears better than trimming brush on the ranch in Crawford.

At least Obama shows up for work more than 80 days a year; GW was a bum, and his followers (ahem, Alex) are intellectually lazy as well as having a very short memory.

I support neither and think they're both tools. It's the alternating policies that will bring the US to its knees soon.

[AgentR]

I'll counterpoint on this, I think it is a good thing for Obama Corp to be recreating as they see fit; just as I thought it was a good thing for Bush Corp to recreate as they saw fit.

I do get a kick out of the two-faced nature of some who thought it was horror and villainy for Bush Corp to recreate on a ranch, but rejoice to the heavens that Obama Corp is recreating on the White House lawn. A symptom of the American illness, that its more important to discern whether the perpetrator is on your team, than it is to discern what the perpetrator is doing.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR', 'A') symptom of the American illness, that its more important to discern whether the perpetrator is on your team, than it is to discern what the perpetrator is doing.

[basil_hayden]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR', 'I')'ll counterpoint on this, I think it is a good thing for Obama Corp to be recreating as they see fit; just as I thought it was a good thing for Bush Corp to recreate as they saw fit.

I do get a kick out of the two-faced nature of some who thought it was horror and villainy for Bush Corp to recreate on a ranch, but rejoice to the heavens that Obama Corp is recreating on the White House lawn. A symptom of the American illness, that its more important to discern whether the perpetrator is on your team, than it is to discern what the perpetrator is doing.

[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('basil_hayden', 'I')n case you can't tell the difference, one type of recreation is at least keeping a few employed. And as I stated, I don't have a horse in this race.

[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'B')ush was compared to Nero during Katrina. The "nobody could have anticipated this" kind of ignorance and was mostly criticized (by those that were critical) for not doing enough, fast enough at the Federal level, while others had/have the opinion that the correct Federal response to a natural disaster is to do nothing. It was all about what he was or was not doing and I think that is a legitimate debate on natural disasters or (now) on the economy.

[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'T')wo-faced. Nothing two faced here. GW was a phony cowboy with a phony ten-gallon hat and a phony pickup. But his guns were very big and very real.

Obama is just a man doing the best he can.

[eastbay]

I thought the 1/2 billion dollars wasted on a party was excessive and reminiscent of Rome burning. Raising the US troop level to 100,000 occupation forces in Afghanistan is reminiscent of Rome burning as well.

Listening to music in the White House is most certainly not. Give the guy a break here.

But not on his wild displays of utter madness.

[mos6507]

Eastbay, is it possible for you to post on peakoil.com without mentioning afghanistan?

[mcgowanjm]

As Afghanistan was THE first War -STILL ongoing- in the
War FOR Resources, why NOT mention Afghanistan in every post?

Or GOLDMAN SACHS:


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '<')/div>“Come on in,” a buoyant Paulson said as he greeted everyone, shaking hands and giving bear hugs to some.

For the next hour, Paulson regaled his old friends with stories about his time in Treasury and his prognostications about the economy. They questioned him about the possibility of another bank blowing up, like Lehman, and he talked about the need for the government to have the power to wind down troubled firms, offering a preview of his upcoming speech.

Felix Salmon has the appropriate reaction:

How on earth did Paulson think this was OK? Goldman Sachs was a hugely powerful for-profit investment bank, and there he is, giving private chapter and verse on his opinions about the US and global economy, talking about internal Treasury matters, and previewing an upcoming (and surely market-moving) speech. All in secret, at a “social event” which somehow got kept off his official calendar. Oh, yes, and one other thing — the whole shebang took place in the Moscow Marriott Grand Hotel, in the context of Goldman directors joking about how all the Moscow hotels were surely bugged.[/quote]


Hank Paulson Held A Secret Meeting With Goldman Sachs In Moscow
October 21st, 2009

Via: Business Insider:

[eastbay]

Afghanistan is the premier signal that the empire is cracking. It was among the British empire's final gasps of imperialism, it marked the final breath of the USSR, and future history books may very well mark this disaster as the end of the American Empire too.

Much like fiddling during the inferno, the American public is strangely silent on this and other deadly US military transgressions worldwide. In fact, the American public demanded by a greater than 98% margin the pouring of more gas on the Afghanistan inferno while 'fiddling' mindlessly with pro sports, pop music, and screaming about relatively irrelevant minor social issues.

Afghanistan is the sign that the USA is dying. This should be clear to all.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', '
')Afghanistan is the sign that the USA is dying.

[eastbay]

About half of the eligible Americans voted during the last presidential election. Those who bothered to vote had a fuzzy choice between choosing more war or ... more war. They selected .... surprise!: more war.

A recent Washington Post, ABC News poll revealed 47% of the American public endorse raising the US troop level to 100,000 in Afghanistan. That's about the same percentage of Americans who voted and chose the 'more war' candidates.

You see, the Americans truly want war. 98% of voters chose it over peace. They think senseless slaughter and meaningless military occupations are the path to happiness. Obama and his circle of advisers knows this which is precisely why he will send tens of thousands of additional soldiers into Afghanistan and threaten Iran until another war breaks out there. He and his advisors know the history. They know what they're doing. They see the crumbling going on around them and they have selected the 'let's fiddle' option. As have 98% of the US electorate.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', 'A')bout half of the eligible Americans voted during the last presidential election. Those who bothered to vote had a fuzzy choice between choosing more war or ... more war. They selected .... surprise!: more war.

[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', '
')Afghanistan is the sign that the USA is dying.