LouieB

I was hoping to get one of those jobs!!! LouieB

Sorry to hear this. It is always a shock to lose a parent no matter what. You are in my thoughts. LouieB

This has nothing to do with Costello, but clearly "I shall be released" is the great closer/singalong that "This Land is Your Land" was for an earlier generation. I watched Wilco do this with the Fleet Foxes at some show on YouTube last night. Great song. LouieB

Finally something we can all agree on, nuclear weapons suck. Anyone disagree with this? I am sure we can find someone who thinks they don't. LouieB

Thank goodness I am part of the evil cabal, the Jews. Where do I sign up for my part of the action, cause I ain't never seen it. LouieB

Hey brother KevinG...Nice Post. Feel free to read mine since our minds must be in the same gutter. Meanwhile I am pretty much done with commenting in this thread. LouieB

Wow, a publication I have actually heard of. Amazing. Just for the record, I don't necessarily believe the "lying bastards" at the Fed or anywhere else, I just don't necessarily trust some other lying bastard either, which includes a whole raft of the borderline cyber-publications that keep being quoted here. Many are so dreadfully partisan in such ideological backwaters that it is hard to believe they are telling the truth either and in fact they may not be ,because truth is a tough commidity, particularly in the area of economics which is so dreadfully unscientific. So everyone or any

Which Birch? As in John Birch? Please elaborate. Thanks. LouieB

More Libertarian stuff? Is Nick Sheedy this guy?? And quoting an 19th century touriist from France. Interesting in historical perspective I suppose. I do enjoy reading about historical figures and philosohies myself, a whole bunch actually, but at some point folks who wrote about issues 100 or more years ago rarely have an relevance to a complex and dramatically different world than we now live it. LouieB

That NY Times article was about as boring an article as you can get (and clearly confusing) about one of the major musicians of the last 50 years. When the writer decided to write about how cool he is that he got to hang out with Neil Young, you know you are in trouble. LouieB

Awesine quote from a book review in the NY Timesthis weekend: "Once upon a time there was a radical president who tried to remake American society through government action. In his first term he created a vast network of federal grants to state and local governments for social programs that cost billions. He set up an imposing agency to regulate air and water emissions, and another to regulate workers’ health and safety. Had Congress not stood in his way he would have gone much further. He tried to establish a guaranteed minimum income for all working families and, to top it off, proposed a

Okay so this is my broken record.....nearly every person and every family benefits from some sort of government subsidy. That is what we expect goverment to do at this point. Are there things that should be dropped? Probably, but when YOU are in need or someone in your family is in need, then those subsidies don't seem like a "waste of money." Everyone is affected by government programs, everyone and if you don't think you are, look closer. And in the future you made need more, if the need arrives. So really we aren;t talkinb about 100 million poeple we are talking about EVERY person. Yo

The reason Van doesn't get the press is that most of his recent output isn't that interesting. (I guess there is an echo in here.) Unlike Dylan, who releases an album rarely anymore, Van keeps pumping them out. Incidently the article in the NY Times magazine last week may be the most boring article about Neil Young ever published. LouieB

Cell phones for homelessis a great program.Thanks for the personal take on this Mr. Heartbreak. You would have to be a heartless bastard to think that this program is a bad idea. I am sure lots of "good Christians":would decry this as a bad idea. Taxes on various services pay for all kinds of stuff. There is a tax on phones that helps pay for e-rate which helps schools put in internet and support other telecommunications programs. It is all part of the famous "redistribution" of wealth that the right wing is always decrying. Those "wealthy" enough to be able too afford a cell phone also

We actually just went through a collapse of epic proportions and somehow we survived, though clearly limping along. The one thing is clear; the banksters and the wall streeters aren't going to let a complete meltdown occur. Okay it is possible, anything is possible, but money is ultimately an abstract which like everything else, is subject to ebbs and flows. Are there going to be more bubbles and busts? For sure, only a fool would think otherwise, but we saw the worst in recent memory and maybe will see that again. Gold is always an option, but even that isn't a guarantee we won't all be s

I had planned to ask him to play Henry since Jeff won't anymore. But now that he isn't playing at all, I may just talk about it. I guess I got the call because I have a car. Actually I got a new (old) car so Ian and his posse get to drive in relative comfort. (2006 black Prius) Should be fun. Thanks linclink for following the teacher strike posts. Amazing how people can dump on teachers huh?? LouieB

The imminent financial collapse has been predicted for years (decades) and so far it has not happened. Not unlike second coming it probably isn't going to happen. Gold and silver are worth something in and of themselves because it is a commodity that is traded on many markets. But the idea that each state will someday have their own currency based on whatever is also far fetched. Between the talk of going back to a gold standard (decades/centuries old idea), the collapse of the stock market (it also hasn't happened and in fact the market is doing pretty well), the decline and fall of weste

Really are you just sititng here waiting for me to say something stupid so you can follow up with something equally idiotic? I have to go to the west side of Chicago (want to come with me and solve THAT problem???) and do my job. I get paid for trying to make sure our hard earned tax money given out to the 47% is used correctly. I take one day and one program at a time and sometimes fail miserably (I have a great story from late yesterday afternoon which is both crazy and boring all at the same time...) but no matter what genius (Stockman or Chomsky) thinks they know how things work, we ult

I keep trying to figure out what I am supposed to learn from all the Fed is evil talk. But I think we now know that Sparky is also a public sector employee (like me) or do we? OKay fine, so free market capitalism is the way to go (or is it?) If all things were equal there is a fighting chance it would work, but the market isn't free and it isn't simply the Fed that keeps it from being free and not all economies that get help from the government have failed. What are the chances the Fed is going to be disbanded? Exactly zero. How many politicians want to dispand the Fed?? Nearly zero.

I didn't watch the whole thing, but he does mention the name of an investment fund patron and also says some annonymous donor. After that I turned it off. LouieB

No performance. Apparently his people won't allow it. Kind of sad really. Just a couple acoustic numbers would be nice. Actually I have been designated as his chauffeur to this event and back to his hotel.. LouieB

No doubt Mike Love is a douche on many levels, but honestly the fact that he owns the Beach Boys name and has kept this thing going for so many years (I feel like the right wingers in the Presidental race thread), is somewhat to his credit. No way I would ever both seeing those Beach Boys (or the reunion ones either, but that is just me), but at least he had the good sense to buy the francise when back when no one gave a shit and he is riding the gravy train to his grave. LouieB

How about the irritating musical saw on The Flatlanders? LouieB

NOW we are supposed to believe something David Stockman says? Really? Mr. Supply-side, trickledown, raise the debt, end entitlements? Come on!! LouieB

They are playing Minn, so why not Chicago? LouieB