I wish I had a Chase bank account, just so I could go in there today and close it, much in the same manner as Emptywheel, over on Firedoglake.
Save American Jobs: Close Your Chase AccountHere's how I explained to the Chase people why we were closing our accounts.
I’m closing my Chase accounts because JP Morgan Chase has placed its corporate interests above the jobs and health care of the people of my community, unlike other banks that continue to invest in rebuilding Michigan.
JP Morgan Chase insists on putting Chrysler into bankruptcy
On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported that JP Morgan is “resisting government pressure to swap” its Chrysler debt for equity in a restructured Chrysler. But if JP Morgan refuses this swap, then Chrysler will be forced into bankruptcy within a month.
According to the Wall Street Journal, JP Morgan prefers bankruptcy because, “billions of dollars of government debt and the UAW retiree health-care obligation [would] be wiped out before the secured lenders [JP Morgan and other big banks] lose anything.” In other words, JP Morgan wants to force Chrysler into bankruptcy so it would get repaid before all other creditors—including Chrysler retirees and US taxpayers.
JP Morgan Chase has already gotten billions from US taxpayers
Mr. and Mrs. Emptywheel, after withdrawing their stash from Chase, "put that money into a credit union that's supporting Michigan, not trying to bankrupt it."
Bob Fertik agrees: Excellent idea. But could we take this idea one step further? What if we all took our money out of Big Banks and moved it into a "Blue Bank"?
Maybe, JP Morgan Chase, if they do this callous, cowardly, self-centered, "Me First" action, can hire Joe Pesci to do some new ads for them, to explain it all;
Obviously we're a pretty large group: 70 million of us voted for Barack Obama. We may not be rich, but if we each deposited $1,000 that would be $70 billion.
If we wanted to start from scratch, we could start a new credit union (assuming we could qualify as an "Association") or a bank. But why jump through all the startup hoops? If we collected deposit pledges worth a decent amount ($10 million?), we could negotiate with existing smaller banks to find one "worthy" of our collective funds.
[Snip]
This idea has many precedents, both in the U.S. and abroad. Perhaps the most famous is Amalgamated Bank, founded in 1923 by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, which is a commercial bank chartered in New York with nationwide service ...
"Always the dollars ... Always the fuckin' dollars. ..."
Bonus Wall Street Meltdown Riffs
This Didn't Make The 11PM News ...
Top Ten Cloves: Things About Citigroup Keeping Stadium Sponsorship After Getting Government Bailout
Rich on Ruben: "The Citi may never sleep, but he snored ..."
In A Nutshell ...
We're All In The Dance
Breaking! ... Obama Takes Action, Siezes AIG's March Madness Office Pools and Brackets
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Hit'em Where It Hurts - Support The Chase Boycott!
This Date ... On The Garlic
7 April 2008... On The Garlic
The Gift That Refuses To Stop Itself From Giving
What If Spartacus Was Running Hillary's Campaign ...
Perrin On McCain, Clinton and Pornographic Ringtones
7 April 2007... On The Garlic
Top Ten Cloves: Things About Having Rachel Ray Planning Your Prom
Ohhh, And We Had Such Nice Plans For Shock and Awe II -The Sequel ... The Results - The Garlic Weekly Poll
The Laura Bush Bummer Bombing-of-the Day; Warning - Bypass this post if you don't want to be discouraged
Editor's Note - Getting Back On Track
7 April 2006... On The Garlic
Libby As Enemy Combatant Unlikely, But Treason Charges Could be Leveled; White House Quiet But Signs Indicate May Mount Offensive Against Libby; Sources Say ‘Everything Is On The Table”, Including Enemy Combatant Status; Rove Working On “Special Smears”
Top Ten Cloves: Things White House Will Say To Claim President Didn’t Leak Classified Information
7 April 2005... On The Garlic
Papal Shocker! Pope's Will Read; Leaves Vatican City To Trump
Bush Snubs Carter On Pope's Funeral
Top Ten Cloves: Other Things Tom DeLay and Family Were Paid For
Monday, April 06, 2009
Top Ten Cloves: Ways Tim Geithner Will Fire Bank CEO's
News Item: Geithner Grows A Spine!
10. Use them as Human Shields, when Obama goes to speak at Notre Dame
9. Throws'em in Debtors Prison
8. Put them through the Obama Team Vetting process - They'll quit after months of frustration, waiting ...and waiting ...and waiting
7. Label them as Toxic Assets so they will move in the upcoming auctions
6. Rounds'em all up and ships them to Sweden
5. Beats them to within an inch of death with a new, giant bailout check
4. Gets Rush Limbaugh to take them out of town with him
3. Hires Rick Santelli to browbeat them, yelling and screaming, until they run out the door
2. Have one of his staff do the deed ... Oops!
1. Well, actually, before he does any firing, he has to talk Larry Summers, and get approval for the plan
Bonus Secretary of the Treasury Timothy "What's that, Lassie? (Woof, woof!!) Timmy Geithner's in the well?!!" Geithner Riffs
James Doran: US watchdog calls for bank executives to be sacked
Henry Blodget: The Question Tim Geithner Refuses To Answer
John Carney: Geithner Wrong, Crap Assets Correctly Priced, Say Harvard And Princeton Profs
Jeffrey Sachs: The Geithner-Summers Plan is Even Worse Than We Thought
Robert Reich: Will Geithner Fire Corporate America?
Glen Greenwald: Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and Wall Street's ownership of government
Mike Madden: Pay no attention to the treasury secretary behind the curtain ...President Obama figures out the key to selling his economic policies: Hide Tim Geithner
This Date ... On The Garlic
6 April 2008... On The Garlic
Heston Dead; Coroner Can't Pry Gun From Cold Dead Hands ... NRA To Provide Special Custom Casket, If Needed
6 April 2005... On The Garlic
Aliens Jam Arizona Border; Many Disappointed With 'Historic' Minuteman
Pope Mourners Protest Fees; Claim TicketMaster Overcharging
Top Ten Cloves: How ABC Plans To Fill In For Peter Jennings
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Play Ball! ... The Best Baseball Primer Is Here!
Yes, it's that time of year when The Garlic swings into Public Service mode, to educate the young'ins, nourish the nattering needy, and give you the blueprint for being able to sit down and watch a Major League Baseball game, not feeling as if, suddenly, the world began speaking Esperanto, and no one gave you the memo.
It's our triannual posting of "Could You Please Tell Me, What Is This Thing Called Baseball?"
And, in fact, we can brag some, as, with only a little stretching, we can say that our Baseball Primer was endorsed by the now-sitting President of the United States;Great piece! I’d like to ask if I can record ‘Could You Please Tell Me, What Is This Thing Called Baseball?’ for my next Spoken Word project?”
Barack Obama, Senator, U.S. Senate
And, it has crossed international boundaries;Since I’ve been in a letter-writing mode lately, thought I’d drop you a note to say how much I enjoyed the baseball essay and how much I learned from it. Perhaps, someday, we’ll have the game over here (and with the stadium lights powered by our new nuclear energy!)
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran
What makes The Garlic's "Could You Please Tell Me, What Is This Thing Called Baseball?", so good?
We drill down.
For instance, do you know the difference between a starting pitcher and a relief pitcher;The man that throws the ball is called a pitcher. You have different kinds of pitchers – starting pitchers and relief pitchers. A starting pitcher will pitch for as long and and as well as he can. If he doesn’t have his stuff (all pitchers will tell you that they have stuff) and can’t finish the game, a relief pitcher is brought in.
There are various breeds of relief pitchers. You have long relievers and short relievers. The title refers not to their size but to the length of time that they pitch. After all, you have long relievers that are short and short relievers that are tall.
Or the difference between leftfield and the opposite field?In the outfield, you have a right fielder, left fielder and center fielder. There is no opposite fielder. The three outfielders are expected to cover the opposite field - wherever that may be based on who’s at bat. You also have utility fielders and, no, there isn’t a utility field. A utility fielder can play both the infield and outfield, but not at the same time.
Or how a hitter (or batter) can hang in there?A hitter can hang in there by fouling one off or fouling it upstairs. He can also foul it out of play, foul it back, chop it foul or pop it foul. Sometimes the ball just drops foul. There are times when a hitter will foul out. If a pitcher (starter or reliever, long or short) throws a spitter, you’ll see the hitter cry foul. The umpires, the men in dark suits who stand behind the bases and enforce the rules, take a lot of foul abuse from players and fans, who holler foul when they don’t agree with the umpire’s decision. Foul weather will cancel a game, putting everybody in a foul mood.
There's a lot to grasp in our national pastime, so, if you're sitting there with your sweetie, or going out with the gang after work, to catch a game, you don't want to come off as Miss South Carolina.
Have a little pride, get glove, get in the game, as they say.
Go read The Garlic's "Could You Please Tell Me, What Is This Thing Called Baseball?"
It will save you from suffering a summer of ridicule.
Bonus Fungo Riffs
Politics and Sports Collide ...Paperwork Mix-Up Has Feingold Censuring Bonds and MLB Investigating Bush
Breaking News! ... Baseball Bombshell Expands Steroid Scandal ... Giants’ Bonds Tests Positive For Landis Testosterone ... Cyclist Said To Be Kingpin Of Lucrative Doping Ring, Selling His Own DNA
Top Ten Cloves: Reasons Mitchell Baseball Steroid Investigation Is Unlike CIA Torture Tapes Case
Top Ten Cloves: Things About Citigroup Keeping Stadium Sponsorship After Getting Government Bailout
You Don't Hit With Your Face
This Date ... On The Garlic
5 April 2008... On The Garlic
Breaking News! MLK, Posthumously, Pardons McCain
No, Wait A Minute ... I Think It Was The Hospital That Was Under Sniper Fire ...
Pass The Word ... Mukasey Lies!
5 April 2006 .. On The Garlic
Look What They're Saying!
5 April 2005 .. On The Garlic
Google Ups Ante In Email Wars; Now 2-Gig, plus Cars, Chickens and Pots
Washington Monument Reopened After Trim; 500-Feet Chopped Off For Security Precautions
Bewitched Tune Writer Dies; Third of Show To Fall From Spell Cast in 1964
Top Ten Cloves: New Changes At CBS Evening News
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Meu Nome é Gal
Good Evening Garlic Fans
Once again, we have hat-in-hand, brim full of apologies, for the lack of posting the past few days.
We, more-or-less, hit a wall, needing rest, to recharge the batteries, after attempting to balance out the writing time, with all the activity we've had on the homefront the past few weeks.
And, we had intended to do some posting today, however, it turned into a "Comcastic" day, as our fabled service provider had, apparently, a nation-wide email outage.
Not that this, necessarily, should have prevented us from posting, however, if keeping Outlook open, after anticipating, per Comcast, resolution, almost on an hourly basis, this slowed things up, as our Outlook cycled, perpetually, often leading to time-consuming, computer-freezing, "file synchronization", and having a "Network Password" box popping up, about every five-seconds, all not anywhere close to inspiring creativity.
So, another day of chilling out (well, as best we could), with a eye towards a plan to start banging away tomorrow (Sunday).
To help buffer the nuisance today, we turned to one of our all-time favorites, vocalist Gal Costa, to drift away from it all.
Here's one of her classics - Enjoy!
GAL COSTA - MEU NOME É GAL (PROFANA)
This Date ... On The Garlic
4 April 2008... On The Garlic
In Your Land, There Was A King ...
4 April 2006... On The Garlic
DeLay Resignation Clears Way For Medal of Freedom Award
Top Ten Cloves: Things To Look Forward To When Katie Couric Takes Over As CBS News Anchor
4 April 2005... On The Garlic - Special Pope Coverage
Who Gets Nod For Next Pope? Conclave Wide Open; Third World, Koppel, Buchanan, Schwarzenegger On Short List
Special Pope-Cam Gives Round-The-Clock Coverage
Frist Concurs With Vatican Diagnosis; Viewed Videotape of Papal Apartment For Hours
Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard At The Red Sox-Yankee Opener
Friday, April 03, 2009
Thursday, April 02, 2009
It Never Entered My Mind
Lo Siento ...
Busy, full, bursting day on the homefront, leaving me completely drained ...
So, while we gather back our energy, check out a little George Shearing, with his monster rendition of a classic staple ...
George Shearing - It Never Entered My Mind
It Never Entered My Mind - George Shearing
This Date ... On The Garlic
2 April 2008... On The Garlic
A Little Yoo Wop
I Missed Home Ec For This!
2 April 2007... On The Garlic
Look No Further, Your Handy Baseball Primer
2 April 2006... On The Garlic
Special Essay - Play Ball! ... Batter Up! Could You Please Tell Me, What Is This Thing Called Baseball?
Garlic Poll Results: Most People Think The PNAC Is ...
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
New Math
A bit of a cumbersome day on the homefront (and perhaps, with the excitement of last weekend, a wee bit tired).
So, we're going to throw one out to those hardy, game nitwits in the PartyofNoicans.
After the ridicule they received last week, for there infamous "Budget with No Numbers", they had another bell-ringing today, calling attention to their new budget, which, well, it's barely an improvement of what they offered last week
Still few numbers, lots of tax cuts, a bigger deficit, and even more unanswered questions.
They are pathetic.
Here's a sampling you can wade through.Steve Benen: A BUDGET PERFECT FOR APRIL FOOLS' DAY...
Josh Marshall: Reassuringly the Same
Bob Cesca: $4 Trillion
D-Day: New And Improved, With Numbers!
So, with the PartyofNoicans deft mathematics skills in mind, what better salute can we give them, but the classic Tom Lehrer tune, "New Math" (the audio is Lehrer, the visual, an actor).
Somebody, please, send the PartyofNoicans a copy of "Writing A Budget for Dummies", though, we realize, even with that, it also, may be above their capabilities.
Tom Lehrer: New Math
This Date ... On The Garlic
1 April 2008... On The Garlic
Don't Tell The Lincoln Group About This ...
Rififi Director, Jules Dassin, Blacklisted, Dies at 96
1 April 2007... On The Garlic
Hey, Wait A Minute ... We're Not Falling For That One Again ... The Results - The Garlic Weekly Poll
1 April 2006... On The Garlic
Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves 1 April 2006
1 April 2005... On The Garlic
Happy April Fools Day! Entire World Clicks Onto The Garlic Sets New Web/Blog Record
Top Ten Cloves: Special April Fools Headlines We'll Never See
