Day: March 18, 2008
Exclusive: New Feature at Pensito Review
Pensito Review is proud to announce the addition of a new feature. Kevin Pettway, professional illustrator and publisher of his own web comic, Heroes of Lesser Earth (HOLE), will be adding a political cartoon called, “1000 Words” to the site on a regular basis. One picture is worth…well, you know.
We welcome Kevin to the PR team and hope you will enjoy his contributions.
Bush Tops ‘Heckuva Job’ With Clueless Comment on Financial Meltdown: ‘I Want to Thank You, Mr. Secretary, for Working Over the Weekend’
Former Federal Reserve Chief Alan Greenspan says the U.S. economy is in the worst shape in 60 years:
It is now official: George Bush has Katrina-ized the U.S. economy.
“The current financial crisis in the US is likely to be judged in retrospect as the most wrenching since the end of the Second World War,” Greenspan said in a Financial Times commentary.
“It will end eventually when home prices stabilise and with them the value of equity in homes supporting troubled mortgage securities,” he said, referring to the meltdown in the US sub-prime home loan market and subsequent massive losses for the banks holding the debt instruments.
“The crisis will leave many casualties,” he said, his remarks coming after Bear Stearns, the fifth largest US investment house collapsed Friday and was taken over by JP Morgan Chase for a fraction of its value of only a week ago.
But Pres. George W. Herbert Hoover Bush says his government has stabilized the crisis — and it wasn’t even all that difficult. It just required putting in a little O.T.:
“I want to thank you, Mr. Secretary, for working over the weekend,” Bush said as he met with his economic advisors at the White House. “You’ve shown the country and the world that the United States is on top of the situation.”
Actually, many analysts and critics said, by focusing on Paulson’s working hours instead of on the fear gripping Main Street and Wall Street, the president seemed to show just the opposite — that he has failed to grasp the gravity of the country’s economic crisis.
“He has no idea what’s going on. Even by his standards, he’s wrong,” said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who said he had been trying to get the president to pay more attention to the economy for more than a year.
Bush’s “working over the weekend” line also suggested a comparison to another disaster in which he was accused of acting too slowly: Hurricane Katrina. After the storm, the president was ridiculed for praising FEMA Director Michael D. Brown for doing “a heck of a job” — even as thousands remained stranded in floodwaters in New Orleans.
Our worst fears are confirmed. This makes it official: George Bush has Katrina-ized the U.S. economy.
Quote du Jour
Hell hath no fury like a bureaucracy scorned.
— Milton Friedman (1912-2006), American Nobel Laureate economist and public intellectual
Cheney in Baghdad Says Iraq Security ‘Phenomenal’ – As Bombs Kill 52
The Worst Vice President Ever goes to Baghdad and says:
“I was last in Baghdad 10 months ago, and I can sense, as a result of the progress that’s been made since then, that there have been some phenomenal changes, in terms of the overall situation, both with respect to the security situation, where Iraqi and American forces have done some very good work, as well as with respect to political developments here in Iraq.”
Meanwhile:
At sunset Monday, however, a female suicide bomber killed at least 40 people* and injured more than 50 when she blew herself up in a crowded pedestrian area near a Shiite Muslim shrine in the southern holy city of Karbala, according to government and hospital officials. Among the victims were several Iranian pilgrims who’d come to worship at the Imam Hussein shrine, one of Islam’s most sacred sites…
The majority of casualties in the Karbala suicide bombing were female pilgrims who’d gathered at refreshment stands about a half-mile from the shrine.The majority of casualties in the Karbala suicide bombing were female pilgrims who’d gathered at refreshment stands about a half-mile from the shrine, said Saleem Kadhim, a spokesman for the Husseini Hospital, which received 40 dead and 56 injured from the blast.
Medics from nearby towns were called in to help the overflowing hospital, and the government imposed an open-ended citywide curfew on Karbala.
“I was near the bus station when I saw a woman who was pushing others and then, a few seconds later, I saw a flame in the sky,” said Jassim Hussein, 32, who helped carry victims from the scene. “I blame the Baathists and members of the old regime. As you know, Karbala is a target for so many enemies, especially those against the Shiites. And I also blame the security forces because we don’t have checkpoints in this area.”
…In other violence Monday, a car bomb exploded at a busy intersection in the Baghdad neighborhood of Karrada, wounding eight people. Three separate roadside bombs in the capital also left casualties: One policeman was killed and one wounded when their patrol was targeted near a teachers’ training institute in Mansour; three Iraqi civilians died at a busy intersection near the Shaab Stadium in Zayuna; and one civilian was injured near the landmark Mr. Milk grocery store in Mansour.
And:
