Three cheers for my Sen. Harry Reid!

All the critics who failed to understand this man, should examine his biography. He boxed to pay for college and served as a Capital Hill cop to help pay for law school. Later on, he faced down the Mob as chair of our gaming control commission. It's even a scene in the movie 'Casino'.

He's a terrible public speaker. But he is a fighter, and has been underestimated by a long series of losers.

Saw heavyweight Republican Senator Richard Shelby (formerly an Alabama Democrat) on "Morning Joe" TV this a.m. He of the Dodd-Shelby legislation.

He came thisclose to calling for re-institution of the Glass-Stegall Act of 1933, a (*cough*) New Deal "aberration," because from 1933 to the end of the 20th century there were almost no bank failures.

Shelby recalled how he was the lone Senate Republican to vote against the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999.

Kev--

I second that. I've long said, Harry Reid, Unlikely Rock Star.

:)

MT:

In any case it's Exhibit A for the "make them filibuster" argument, seeing as how they folded like a card table rather than have to mount an actual filibuster.

Well, yes, but the difference is that this reform is popular and comprehensive health care wasn't.

Hopefully this bill has some bite, and is not simply a palliative which will only delay, instead of prevent, the next crisis.
Reforming the financial regulations is a topic upon which, when polled, Joe and Jane Public can reach a consensus. No one disagrees that progress is needed in this arena. Walk the streets and talk to the people you meet, and another two consensus-forming topics arise: immigration reform* and controlling deficit spending.
Progressives are missing the boat if these other two topics aren't addressed, because non-aligned independents feel just as strongly about these topics as do those with party allegiances.
In my mind, if lefthalfback were here, he'd be stressing these particular concerns of the electorate, as the party controlling the reins, obviously, can more effectively pursue its entire agenda.

*One will also hear, when speaking with the man on the street, "What's the military for if not to protect the border?" Despite the crypto-fascist overtones of Arizona's new law, bringing this dispute to light and holding the Feds accountable may be, in the long run, a positive.

9mile - Good 10:35PM.

"What's the "military" for if not to protect the border?"

Also known as the Department of Defense.

As to deficit spending, the healthcare bill was not helpful. The savings were needed for deficit control. And an immigrant amnesty would be a fiscal disaster.

Fin Reform is a given. The public wants to feel safe, and probably won't have a clue as to the bill content or value.

As to deficit spending, the healthcare bill was not helpful. The savings were needed for deficit control.

As someone with a pre-existing condition, I say some things are more important.

And do no t forget teh typos and dyslexias.

Kev --

...he [Our Rock Star Harry Reid] faced down the Mob as chair of our gaming control commission. It's even a scene in the movie 'Casino'.

Which scene?

That mob flick is up there for me above Donnie Brasco and almost on par with Goodfellas.

Spill it, please!

lol

this comment is soon to be removed by a moderator

As someone once said in a great film, "Must have been quite a sin..."

:)

V.M.:
You know precisely what the deletions were about. The mod's should be ashamed of themselves.

As for the scene from 'Casino':
It's the one where DeNiro's character goes up for his gaming license to run the casino openly and is turned down, and the Boys threaten the chair of the commission. It really happened. Harry Reid was that chair. He was under police protection for several years, had to carry a gun, have his car checked for bombs, the whole nine yards.

And before any righties jump on the gun thing: Reid is very pro-gun-owner. You may recall the recent 'Tea Party' rally in his home town of Searchlight, NV. At the same time that rally occurred, Reid was shoulder-to-shoulder with the national head of the NRA, at Clark Co's new public shooting range, blasting targets.

LOL!

wow, that's the first time I've ever been moderated. As I said, we couldn't even watch tv on Sundays when I was a kid, and I'm moderated for that?

V.M.:
You know precisely what the deletions were about. The mod's should be ashamed of themselves.

Kev --

Oh, I know very well.

As I said in my not-so-oblique reference to He Who Is Unmentionable, Who Has Been Vanished, Disappeared and Now Almost Without a Trace...must have been quite a sin.

Or, gunnie put it some time ago, this disgracefulness is "as Stalin-esque a piece of jobbery as you could imagine."

As for the details of the immortalizing of Our Harry the Hero by Scorsese...thank you, my friend.

:)

EvanW, I'm not sure which "savings" Ngavc was referring to, are you? And by the way I agree with you; I'd far rather see a country keep its workforce healthy than pay out bloated contracts to corrupt companies in Iraq.

Adult:
No, it was the other thing you said, and I said, and wacobloke too.
Welcome to the club! It's kind of an honor, especially for this cause.

(V.M., I witnessed the thread in question. Even describing it would get me deleted again, I know, been there, and been that.)

Yes, thanks, KevinN. I'll try and see it as an honor. Right now I just feel the Guardian should be a bit more careful not to drive away reasonable and polite people.

Re this thread, I think every time there's a stunt like this financial regulation stunt, the Democrats should say be my guest, filibuster away. When they shut down government under Clinton, it stopped the stunts for awhile.

I wish I had seen the thing in question, KevinN. Then I might understand. I also wish we North Americans could form some type of loose club the way the Brits seem to have done.

Re this thread today: With respect, I think the Guardian needs to do some very serious work on their free speech policy, as was pointed out by a Guardian commentator on a recent "free speech" thread.

In fairness, the Guarniad is a private entity- censorship and free speech are, strictly speaking, matters of how the government treats speech. Though private companies can have chilling effects (especially given the media oligopolies of today), comment moderation is sort of a common thing.

Took me forever to remember where I'd plucked that "must have been quite a sin" line from.

Was a work of genius, the 1979 BBC production of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

The line was delivered by Ian Richardson as Bill Hayden.

To George Smiley.

Of course.

Evanwaters, with respect I'm not speaking of free speech in the sense you are using the term. I'm referring to a thread of about 3-4 weeks ago, in this paper, asserting there should be complete freedom of speech on the Internet. People were writing in and commenting about the issue some discussed here today, and a Guardian commentator (whatever you call the posters with the little C's by their name) posted saying the Guardian's free speech policy was rather inconsistent. Thank you.

Adult;
the only clue I can give you all, without being deleted, is that 'free speech' is a chimera over on CiF-Belief.

There's a prissiness to that forum that quite appalls me.

It's so bad, it may be worse than the Daily Kos. V.M. knows.

VM, thank you, I was once a huge "Tinker Tailer" fan, but I'd forgotten that line.

Thank you KevinN. I think its a bit sad that people can come on here and scream about "libs" every day or post as obvious trolls every day, but polite differences are wiped without explanation.

But let's keep our online posting and maybe someday we can all get together the way the British posters did and raise a glass to our ideals. Cheers.

" 'What's the "military" for if not to protect the border?' "

Enrich various war-profiteers. Slaughter lesser breeds outside the law.

adult - ACA (HCR) is being paid with cuts to Medicare Advantage and various tax increases. We needed those for deficit reduction, which should have waited until the deficit commission had completed its work.

Moderation of the courteous and thoughtful Kev is quite ridiculous.

And an immigrant amnesty would be a fiscal disaster.

No, it probably wouldn't be a disaster at all. If these people become legal, they will also be registered on the tax rolls. That should please anyone who's worried about fiscal matters.

The subprime meltdown isn't so long ago that Americans have forgotten it.

The phrase "the Republicans opposed financial reform following the big bank meltdown that threw you (or your family, friends, etc.) out of work and caused a massive recession" is not one the GOP would want to have to deal with as the midterm elections loom later this year. They don't like to run on their records typically, but running against a record of action with one of inaction in an area where many Americans feel a problem needs to be addressed is unwise.

Let's enjoy the fact that some wisdom is perhaps seeping back in.

Ngavc, I take your last posting as something of a personal attack so won't respond. Also several unfailingly courteous people got moderated here.

As to the Arizona issue, the New York Times has an article this morning talking about the state being governed by talk radio issues.

adult - ACA (HCR) is being paid with cuts to Medicare Advantage and various tax increases. We needed those for deficit reduction, which should have waited until the deficit commission had completed its work.

Those of us directly affected by a lack of health insurance would rather not wait longer than we absolutely have to, thank you very much.

As Megan Carpentier writes in the Guardian 27th April

Another 'reform' bill, another sideshow
The US financial reform bill is far from complete ? but rather than focus on policy, politicians prefer to play the great Beltway game.

Its called Rope a Dope.

"So what's in the bill? Not a Fed audit, not the Volcker Rule to limit depository institutions from gambling with their depositors' money on the stock or the derivatives market, and not even any strict rule on derivatives trading transparency. There's no Glass-Steagall Act reinstatement that would strictly separate commercial from investment banking ? one of the Clinton-era financial deregulation reforms that even former President Clinton now regrets. There's no independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency: instead, it's to be housed at and subjugated to the Fed's determination of what's good for The Economy as opposed to what's good for consumers, as those two goals are incompatible (which, if you're as cosy with the big banks that regularly deceive and take advantage of consumers to pad their bottom lines as the Fed is, they probably do seem incompatible).

There's not even a provision that states, once and for all, that the government shall never again bail out a failing bank ? which would go a long way in eliminating the moral hazard that pervaded especially the mortgage market and caused people to take stupid risks ? because there's no real effort to eliminate the stranglehold of the four megabanks that hold fully half of the assets in the US banking system."

adult --

you are so welcome. One of the first purchases I made some years ago when I first got a DVD player and started building my home film collection was buy the DVD set for Tinker Tailor, also for Smiley's People. Another wonderful BBC Video set I have is Ricky Gervais's the office. A work of bent genius.

Apparently the four biggest US banks now control 50% of all deposits.

Isn't it about time they came under scrutiny by the anti-trust legislation already in place ?

Wall Street Reform by Elizabeth Warren

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/29/elizabeth-warren-challeng_n_556362.html

It's time for senators -- especially the Republicans -- to square their upcoming votes on financial reform with their long-professed desire to protect families, said consumer advocate and federal bailout watchdog Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday in an interview with the Huffington Post.

"Everyone in Washington claims to be on the side of families and to support reform," said Warren, a member of the 2010 TIME 100 list of the world's most influential people. "But the test is who votes to paper over problems with another regulatory system designed to fail and who votes for real Wall Street accountability even if it means that some donors will be disappointed.

"I'm tired of hearing politicians claim to support families and, at the same time, vote with the big banks on the most important financial reform package in generations. I'm deep-down tired of it."

Of all the proposals in the 1,400-page Senate bill attempting to reform Wall Street and protect American consumers, none is more contentious than the one calling for the creation of a consumer-focused agency dedicated to protecting borrowers from abusive lenders.

Reform-minded Democrats want a powerful independent entity able to defend powerless families from the banks and financial firms that squeeze profits out of customers through tricks, traps and outright predatory loans.

Wulf --

thanks for that post. As I've said before, Elizabeth Warren for Justice Stevens' Supreme Court seat!

From janitor's daughter to Harvard Law prof and Top Tarp Cop.

Great American story. Right Age. Impeccable liberal credentials. Enormously appealing when interviewed about "the bailouts" on American TV, as she routinely is.

Even better, she articulates the causes for the economic crisis and for its underlying greed not only with great force but with compelling clarity.

She's very different from, say, even the better super-lib talking heads on MSNBC because she comes across as forcefully intelligent (and cuddly, everyone's favorite cousin, aunt, sister, friend of the family) and cogent, using persuasive tools and analysis that don't play only in Greenwich Village gay bars or coffee houses in Madison, Wisconsin.

Posted by

Whitt
27 Apr 2010, 8:49PM

It's not hard to understand why the financial reform bill is so tepid and toothless: it's all about the benjamins. All you have to do is look at the money the FIRE sector (Financial, Insurance, Real Estate) gives in campaign contributions to Presidential candidates, Senators and Representatives, and everything will suddenly become crystal clear:
-
FIRE Campaign contributions for the 2008 election cycle

Obama, Dem, $37.6M
McCain, Rep, $27.9M
Clinton, Dem, $18.9M
All Presidential candidates combined: $130.5M

Nancy Pelosi, Dem, Speaker of the House $437.8K
Steny Hoyer, Dem, House Majority Leader $519.4K
James Clyburn, Dem, House Majority Whip $389.7K
John Boehner, Rep, House Minority Leader $509.3K
Eric Cantor, Rep, House Minority Whip $786.4K
Harry Reid, Dem, Senate Majority Leader $1,163.5K
Dick Durbin, Dem, Senate Majority Whip $1,241.8K
Mitch McConnel, Rep, Senate Minority Leader $2,141.9K
Jon Kyl, Rep, Senate Minority Whip $1,652.4K

And as you can see, FIRE does not discriminate between Democrats and Republicans. No matter which party is in control, they have the leaders very much in their pockets.

EvanWaters, you may want to watch as you replied to something Ngavc wrote, not me.

VM, sorry I have to live the "Office" every day, so I can't stand watching it, but God I loved the Smiley books. Theres a guy who used to post here who called himself Peterguillam, so I know we're not alone. Best, A.

adult --

Peterguillam once posted here? And I missed it?

May have to change my name...

I think le Carre, especially his "Smiley" novels, is without question a great realist novelists of the late 20th century.

Especially if by realist tradition we mean novels that depict a society's class relations\ and its larger politics.

In the US, I'd put in that tradition in the late 20th century John Updike and his series of Rabbit novels (especially the final two in that trilogy) and, yes, Tom Wolfe and (he predicted Goldman Sachs almost 25 years ago) Bonfire of the Vanities and A Man in Full.