In Which The "Shock Doctrine" Lady Confirms Some Of My Worst Fears

I can't even wager a guess of how many hours we dedicated fans of TRMS have spent watching segments on the economy since Rachel launched in Sept. 08. They are almost uniformly depressing. (Thanks, Rachel's pessimistic nature! And...the really depressing economy.) They are usually hair-on-fire sorts of reports and interviews. But none of them has made the impression on me that Naomi Klein's interview tonight made.

If you haven't read "Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism," get going. I was late to the party, reading it last year when I heard it mentioned during election politics. It is chilling, and carries with it an authority built on logic and evidence. Her interview above seemed the same to me. When she said that we have had a "massive transfer of public wealth into private hands," I actually shuddered. To hear it stated so simply was like getting the news for the first time.

I have written about the Glass-Steagall Act before, and Klein mentions that FDR used the leverage of public outrage to have GSA passed in two days. Two days! Have we lost our leverage to force regulation? I can't imagine a time in which our government could move so quickly. I've not seen it in my lifetime.

Sometimes when I'm watching the MSNBC lineup, I am so filled with impotent rage against those who enjoy "the impunity of the elites," whether they be in the economic sector or the governmental sector. I have fantasies about all of us impotently angry people marching in numbers so great that we cannot be denied our satisfaction! And accountability will reign o'er their heads! Why yes, the mood leveling drugs are working great; thanks for asking.

Whew. On a lighter note, I noticed that Rachel was communicating via eye semaphore again: "Ana...Marie...Cox...&...Naomi...Klein...stop...too...much...brains...and...hotness...stop...head...may...explode...stop"

In Which We Celebrate A Friend Of TRMS

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Paul Rieckhoff
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Gay Marriage

Paul Rieckhoff, TRMS buddy from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, was on Colbert last night, and I thought he did a great job. Additionally, he tweeted throughout the evening: "Out for drinks w Colbert Report writers and crew--many of them headed to the middle east. They very cool, and very afraid" - about 15 hours ago from TwitterBerry

So let's hit the Support Your Vet link and help them get their 100K views of the new PSA by Sunday.

In Which We Attempt To Break Rachel's Secret Code

As I have mentioned before, I am no expert when it comes to make-up. Having said that, I have noticed on several occasions that there seems to be some sort of white, reflective material over Rachel's eyelids. When she blinks, this white material flashes, not unlike a stranded boater signaling an SOS in Morse code with a mirror. I am only just starting to break the code, but I'm pretty sure it reads, in part, "Get me the fuck out of this make-up and these lady clothes!" But I'm not positive. Oh, and something about "goddamn something prissy drinks something something something show something something a cocktail is...I something something Angostura." Haven't really figured that one out yet.

In Which We Find Sen. Sessions To Be Scary, But Familiar

Today, after some creative wrangling, it was announced that Sen. Sessions (R-AL)would now be the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. You know, the committee that the Supreme Court nominee will have to face. This same Sessions was denied a judgeship in the mid-eighties because he was considered "racially insensitive."

I grew up primarily in Key West, but I went to high school in Jacksonville, Fl. And while it has been a few years, let me tell you, it was a racist environment. A KKK group actually met out in the open, at one of the public high schools. Just like the PTA, or Adult Ed. The most scandalous thing about that? Hardly anybody thought it was scandalous. I am not surprised in the least by the racist charges the Sen. Sessions faced when he was nominated by Reagan for a U.S. District judgeship twenty-plus years ago. I suspect he was very surprised to discover that his views were not the prevailing ones. (You have to watch the clip above to see Ted Kennedy unleash a little whup-ass.) The "good 'ol boy" network, of which Sessions appeared to be a member, was alive and well in the mid-eighties. Probably still is, but as I am no longer an eyewitness to the Bubba-ism of the South, I can only surmise.

Sessions new committee position will please the far right conservatives. And I think of him as a shining beacon of the Southern GOP that has hijacked conservatism, taking the Republican Party with it. Does someone with such a dreadful ideological past, or for that matter, ideological present, belong on the committee that will decide the fate of a Supreme Court Nominee nominated by an African-American President? What if the nominee is African-American? Hispanic? Female? The nominee will undoubtedly be pro-choice. Sen. Sessions is most decidedly not.

Perhaps Sen. Sessions learned from his failed judgeship nomination all those years ago, and can remove his right-wing, uber-conservative ideology from the process. Right about the same time those monkeys fly out of my ass.

In Which The Judge Tells KBR, "Umm, No"

TRMS has aired many a story about KBR and the electrocutions they are accused of causing with shoddy workmanship. Yesterday, May 1st, a federal judge denied an appeal request by Kellogg, Brown & Root to appeal over a lawsuit which accuses the company of negligent homicide in the electrocution death of a U.S. soldier, Sgt Ryan Maseth. (above)

“KBR filed a motion with U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer asking her to amend a March order that will allow the case to move forward; the order prevented an appeal during the course of the case,” reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The contractor wanted her to change that order to allow it to appeal her decision on a motion for dismissal to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Now, I don't speak lawyer, but I do understand "Kellogg, Brown & Root" and "denied." Granted, it's usually in the form of "KBR denied any wrongdoing." To any one who does speak lawyer: I would like to understand this whole "appeal during the course of the case" business. I do know that a few articles said that Judge Fischer was "reaffirming" a previous decision. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

But anyway, KBR loses at least one to The Good Guys.