In what has been a difficult and historic year I was given some great advice today on my Facebook page to take some time off of politics and enjoy some turkey.
So while I am recovering from a handful of boring football games, a couple pounds of turkey, and my mom's incredible stuffing, 17people wants to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving,, with what else?
A West Wing clip that will never grow old for me. Linked it in last year and will probably have it up next year too.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Mortgage Story of the Year
Tom Friedman's article today tells a story from a brilliant and stunning article by Michael Lewis, author of one of my favorite books ever Moneyball.
We all have heard stories about how we got into this mess, the following story will do that rare thing of making you laugh and then get angry when you think about it.
We all have heard stories about how we got into this mess, the following story will do that rare thing of making you laugh and then get angry when you think about it.
Long Beach Financial (then part of now bankrupt WaMu) was moving money out the door as fast as it could, few questions asked, in loans built to self-destruct. It specialized in asking homeowners with bad credit and no proof of income to put no money down and defer interest payments for as long as possible.
In Bakersfield, Calif., a Mexican strawberry picker with an income of $14,000 and no English was lent every penny he needed to buy a house for $720,000.”
Monday, November 24, 2008
Hypocrisy?
There has been a lot in recent weeks that I have not written about but today there is something that really irked me.
Read this morning that the US Treasury is infusing $20billion to Citigroup. This is on top of $25billion that the government has already given to Citigroup. So Citigroup has received $45billion worth of welfare from the US taxpayer. Read the 1st line of the article above and you will see what is even worse is that we the people have insured $300billion worth of Citigroups assets.
What really, really makes me mad is that Citigroup got this additional money after they announced last week that they would cut 52,000 jobs.
Thats right, after Citigroup announced that they would fire 52,000 people, the Treasury Department decided to reward them with $20billion.
This disgusts me.
Where is the congressional hearing and oversight?
Where is the Citigroup CEO to rake over the coals the way Congress did to the Big 3 automakers last week?
I implore Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who told us that the 'Bailout' had 'oversight' in it, to do their job and excercise some damn oversight.
The double standard in our country right now really worries me. The Big 3 Automakers employ a lot more people directly and indirectly than Citigroup does.
But we have limited outrage that when looking at the number the Big 3 have asked for 55% of what Citigroup alone has received thus far in the last 8 weeks. They flew into Washington on Friday and left with $20billion.
Must be nice.
Read this morning that the US Treasury is infusing $20billion to Citigroup. This is on top of $25billion that the government has already given to Citigroup. So Citigroup has received $45billion worth of welfare from the US taxpayer. Read the 1st line of the article above and you will see what is even worse is that we the people have insured $300billion worth of Citigroups assets.
What really, really makes me mad is that Citigroup got this additional money after they announced last week that they would cut 52,000 jobs.
Thats right, after Citigroup announced that they would fire 52,000 people, the Treasury Department decided to reward them with $20billion.
This disgusts me.
Where is the congressional hearing and oversight?
Where is the Citigroup CEO to rake over the coals the way Congress did to the Big 3 automakers last week?
I implore Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who told us that the 'Bailout' had 'oversight' in it, to do their job and excercise some damn oversight.
The double standard in our country right now really worries me. The Big 3 Automakers employ a lot more people directly and indirectly than Citigroup does.
But we have limited outrage that when looking at the number the Big 3 have asked for 55% of what Citigroup alone has received thus far in the last 8 weeks. They flew into Washington on Friday and left with $20billion.
Must be nice.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Democrats Lose Their Way
For the past week I have taken a bit of a sabbatical from my writing to run a whip operation to push House Democrats to make a smart decision. My whip operation did not yield the result I worked for though.
Today is a low point for 17people and the US House of Representatives. The House Democrats replaced the Great John Dingell as the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee with Henry Waxman.
17People has been emailing and calling Congressional Democrats for the past week urging them to support Dingell. My efforts and that of many but it turned out this was not enough as Dingell lost 137-122 in the Democratic Caucus.
This is the kind of move that has to give pragmatic Democrats pause. The entire leadership of the House of Representatives has been taken over by the far left of the caucus. The entire leadership now owes their position to the Speaker of the House and it is worrisome that those who have questioned her have all been removed from power.
I am a liberal and actually to the left of Mr. Dingell on many issues. But that doesn't distort the fact that he is the best man for this job and has been for the past 28 years. No chairman of any committee has passed and written more meaningful legislation than John Dingell and his reward for that was being outflanked by the left wing.
There is no member of Congress I respect more or think would write and manage the best possible legislation that appeals to the widest range of Americans. The Energy and Commerce Committee will be working on with the Obama administration on Health Care, Energy Policy, the 'Green Economy'.
I have learned in my life to try and say as little as possible when I am mad. This will mean I won't have to apologize for more than I need to later. Once I calm down I will write more, but this is it for now,,, this is a bad day for Democrats.
Here's the story from Politico.
Today is a low point for 17people and the US House of Representatives. The House Democrats replaced the Great John Dingell as the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee with Henry Waxman.
17People has been emailing and calling Congressional Democrats for the past week urging them to support Dingell. My efforts and that of many but it turned out this was not enough as Dingell lost 137-122 in the Democratic Caucus.
This is the kind of move that has to give pragmatic Democrats pause. The entire leadership of the House of Representatives has been taken over by the far left of the caucus. The entire leadership now owes their position to the Speaker of the House and it is worrisome that those who have questioned her have all been removed from power.
I am a liberal and actually to the left of Mr. Dingell on many issues. But that doesn't distort the fact that he is the best man for this job and has been for the past 28 years. No chairman of any committee has passed and written more meaningful legislation than John Dingell and his reward for that was being outflanked by the left wing.
There is no member of Congress I respect more or think would write and manage the best possible legislation that appeals to the widest range of Americans. The Energy and Commerce Committee will be working on with the Obama administration on Health Care, Energy Policy, the 'Green Economy'.
I have learned in my life to try and say as little as possible when I am mad. This will mean I won't have to apologize for more than I need to later. Once I calm down I will write more, but this is it for now,,, this is a bad day for Democrats.
Here's the story from Politico.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Kudos to Goldman Sachs?
Every once in a while there is a story where a company or individual does something really good and they deserve credit for it.
Yes, you read the title correctly. Liberal 17People is giving Goldman Sachs some positive recognition.
Today on the front page of The Wall Street Journal is that rare story where 17People says something nice about Wall Street. That news is that Goldman Sachs, one of the largest investment banks in the world announced that it's top executive will be forgoing their bonuses for 2008.
Now these bonuses aren't like most of us who if we are lucky get an extra paycheck or a few hundred dollars. The CEO of Goldman Sachs got a $70million bonus last year! The next two guys around $68million each. While these numbers are huge you have to credit them for giving up real sacrifice here.
This news comes on the heals of the
The Journal said around $312billion was paid out in 2007 in Wall Street executive bonuses. So by taking a year to invest that money into their companies,,, would be a way to save jobs and show the public they are serious about change.
If the leadership of more companies take responsible steps like this I think we will be able to bounce out of this economic mess faster than by having executives continue to put their own self interests ahead of their employees.
Despite the fact that I view Goldman as one of the companies who had responsibility in getting us into this financial mess, 17People gives them our highest compliments for this decision.
Their decision does two important things, it shows the public that someone on Wall Street can do something to be responsible and more importantly puts the pressure on other banks to do the same.
How can other investment banks take huge bonuses upon the heals of this stunning example of corporate responsibility? Hopefully it means they can't.
17People One Year Anniversary
A year ago I started this blog after watching a Democratic Debate with 9 Presidential Candidates on stage. The direction of 17people has changed based on my moods, interests, and tolerance for the politics.
There have been a dorkish number of references to the West Wing, a handful of movie reviews, a small number of personal stories, a brief arc on my fitness/weight loss regimen, and about five episodes of writers bloc or as I like to refer to it 'writers self loathing' (the most recent bout which ended last week).
17people is no question a left leaning blog and will continue to push progressive ideas and battle conservative stances and candidates I disagree with. As a result of this we have lost some Republican readers over the year. 17People has tried its best to also call out the left and show respect to the right and will make this a big goal of our second year.
This first year was a learning year and hopefully as time goes on some of those Republican readers will come back and argue their points here.
It's ironic that some Republicans have stopped reading my blog considering that in my personal life, most of my friends are,,, strong Republicans. 17People has learned the hard way that it is harder to show understanding and respect for other viewpoints when I write about politics than when I discuss politics.
A smile, a wink, voice inflection are not as easy to decipher in a blog post than in a conversation.
As happy as I am that Democrats control the government this blog will give them no free pass in the year to come. 17People will be a watchdog and if President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, or Leader Reid fail to deliver for the American people, this blog will call them out.
Most importantly,,, 17People wants to thank the loyal readers of this blog for pushing, reminding, and inspire me to keep writing even when I don't want to. Without their support and encouragement 17People could have ended long ago.
Finally, a give away to the sometimes readers of 17People. There are two little known facts about this blog that I get asked all the time which I will attempt to answer here.
Because of a lack of personal confidence,, I have done almost nothing to promote 17People. Think I emailed it out to about 10 people when I started and have not let many more people know since then. So when people ask how many readers I have,,, the answer is I don't know, but maybe as I believe in my writing a bit more I will push 17People to more outlets.
The second and more often asked question is '17People'? What the heck does that mean?
As stated earlier this blog derives a lot of content from my all time favorite television show The West Wing. Went through a lot of ideas and possibilities and came across a clip on YouTube I thought dealt with telling the truth, and more appropriately,,, telling truth to power.
The West Wing was an amazing show which did more than entertain, it educated. It made complex issues a little easier to understand. While 17People the blog will never be as smart as the writing of Aaron Sorkin, that is what I strive to give to my readers.
17People will alert readers to stories and opinions that you may not hear everywhere and to try and explain some issues in terms that are a little easier to understand.
17People, The West Wing episode, was to me about accountability and the pains of telling the truth and why I chose it as the episode to base the title of my blog.
The clip is below, the words are Aaron Sorkins, and they are brilliantly performed by President Bartlet (Martin Sheen), Communications Director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), and Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (the great John Spencer).
President Bartlet has just told Toby that he concealed the fact that he has Multiple Sclerosis from the country and his staff.
There have been a dorkish number of references to the West Wing, a handful of movie reviews, a small number of personal stories, a brief arc on my fitness/weight loss regimen, and about five episodes of writers bloc or as I like to refer to it 'writers self loathing' (the most recent bout which ended last week).
17people is no question a left leaning blog and will continue to push progressive ideas and battle conservative stances and candidates I disagree with. As a result of this we have lost some Republican readers over the year. 17People has tried its best to also call out the left and show respect to the right and will make this a big goal of our second year.
This first year was a learning year and hopefully as time goes on some of those Republican readers will come back and argue their points here.
It's ironic that some Republicans have stopped reading my blog considering that in my personal life, most of my friends are,,, strong Republicans. 17People has learned the hard way that it is harder to show understanding and respect for other viewpoints when I write about politics than when I discuss politics.
A smile, a wink, voice inflection are not as easy to decipher in a blog post than in a conversation.
As happy as I am that Democrats control the government this blog will give them no free pass in the year to come. 17People will be a watchdog and if President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, or Leader Reid fail to deliver for the American people, this blog will call them out.
Most importantly,,, 17People wants to thank the loyal readers of this blog for pushing, reminding, and inspire me to keep writing even when I don't want to. Without their support and encouragement 17People could have ended long ago.
Finally, a give away to the sometimes readers of 17People. There are two little known facts about this blog that I get asked all the time which I will attempt to answer here.
Because of a lack of personal confidence,, I have done almost nothing to promote 17People. Think I emailed it out to about 10 people when I started and have not let many more people know since then. So when people ask how many readers I have,,, the answer is I don't know, but maybe as I believe in my writing a bit more I will push 17People to more outlets.
The second and more often asked question is '17People'? What the heck does that mean?
As stated earlier this blog derives a lot of content from my all time favorite television show The West Wing. Went through a lot of ideas and possibilities and came across a clip on YouTube I thought dealt with telling the truth, and more appropriately,,, telling truth to power.
The West Wing was an amazing show which did more than entertain, it educated. It made complex issues a little easier to understand. While 17People the blog will never be as smart as the writing of Aaron Sorkin, that is what I strive to give to my readers.
17People will alert readers to stories and opinions that you may not hear everywhere and to try and explain some issues in terms that are a little easier to understand.
17People, The West Wing episode, was to me about accountability and the pains of telling the truth and why I chose it as the episode to base the title of my blog.
The clip is below, the words are Aaron Sorkins, and they are brilliantly performed by President Bartlet (Martin Sheen), Communications Director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), and Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (the great John Spencer).
President Bartlet has just told Toby that he concealed the fact that he has Multiple Sclerosis from the country and his staff.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Stop Talking
Yesterday, 17people essentially pleaded with Sarah Palin to not overdo her interview schedule before she was able to have a clear and coherent message.
Then last night, Jon Stewart showed what I was trying to accomplish in the brilliant Daily Show clip above.
First of all, if she is trying to connect to 'regular Joe Six Pack Americans' how many of them where high heels and a suit coat while they are cooking chili dogs (check around the 2:36-3:48 mark).
Then at the 4:00 mark of the above piece, Stewart illustrated what I was warning about when it comes to a consistent message. These interviews have absolutely no consistency and when looking at them together, they just get even more ridiculous,, something that given the beating her reputation took, she can ill afford.
The worse part for Palin is that in the interviews thus far have been all about Palin.
I don't blame Palin for this, I blame the interviewers who are obsessed with the 'soap opera' that has become Palin's political existence. They only ask her about clothes, her daughters pregnancy, and moose chili dogs. All 'fluff' topics that do nothing to make people think she is a more serious person who has a political future.
17people hates to say 'I told you so' but this is exactly what I warned about yesterday. Many have to be like me who have been feeling bad for Palin about the awful leaks that have come out against her. She had an opportunity to hit back and make herself look good or even play the 'victim card'.
Instead she came out swinging wildly and today instead of Sarah Palin beginning a comeback in the eyes of the country she is making herself more of a national punchline, as opposed to establishing herself as a respected national figure.
The below clip is from an obvious liberal partisan, but it again illustrates the problems that Palin is creating for herself with this whirlwind of an undisciplined media tour. While often Olbermann stretches things to go after Republicans,, Palin made his job very easy as you can see.
3 Votes
Today the lead on the Alaska Senate race has spread to an 814 vote lead for Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich over incumbent Ted Stevens.
But maybe the coolest story of the election year was reported last night.
After 41,000 absentee and early votes were counted yesterday Begich took the lead over Stevens through the first 250,000 votes.
That lead,, was 3 votes!!
Not 300, 3000, but 3 votes.
We often think that our votes don't matter, but for one news cycle, until the 814 vote spread hit this morning,, we saw how much our votes really do count.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
17People Predictions Breakdown
After an awful year of misreading polls and making predictions that did not come true in primary after primary,,, 17people redeemed itself by nailing the Presidential election only missing two states and 6 electoral votes. 17people said Obama would get 370 electoral votes (he ended up with 364) and 53% of the vote (he ended up with 52.6%), and said he would win by 6 million votes (ok I underestimated, he won by 8.3million).
If not for overestimating the impact of the Obama ad buys in North Dakota and Montana,,, I'd be the blog being talked about instead of Nate Silvers awesome fivethirtyeight.com.
In 17people's Senate predictions it is too early to tell on my call of 60 which remains a possibility. I stupidly forgot to put the Mississippi Senate race on my battleground list, but would have given it to incumbent Republican Roger Wicker, though I would have said that it would be closer than it was.
17people correctly called easy races in Virginia, New Mexico, and Colorado. Called tougher races in North Carolina, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Oregon, and for a Republican in Kentucky. Also correctly called the runoff in Georgia which will get plenty of coverage over the next month.
As for the two other undecided races in Alaska and Minnesota.
Am genuinely surprised that Alaska is still leaning for convicted felon Ted Stevens. The polls at the end were between 10 and 22 points against Stevens, so something doesn't feel quite right in Alaska. But with 90,000 absentee and provisional ballots to be counted, maybe Alaska can redeem itself and fire Ted Stevens before the US Senate does.
As for Minnesota I wrote last Tuesday it was "the toughest race of the year in Minnesota" and the 200 vote spread with a recount coming,,, proved that out. Minnesota proved to be a state that baffles. Jesse Ventura was an eccentric, if not very bad Governor, Paul Wellstone was one of the most progressive Senators, and this year they reelected the crazy Michelle Bachman.
Perhaps only in Minnesota could Al Franken, unapologetic liberal with a career of politically damaging statements is still a possibility to become that states Senator.
Now I predicted a 33 seat gain for Democrats in the House and missed the boat on that as more endangered Republicans survived than I thought.
The Dems have picked up 20 seats in the House so far with a chance for maybe 4 more which is a big gain, just two years after winning 20+ seats. The Democrats have more than a 75 vote advantage meaning they have much more power than either party has had in some time.
After picking like Mush from "A Bronx Tale" for most of the year, 17people is relieved to have come back with a vengeance this General Election.
If not for overestimating the impact of the Obama ad buys in North Dakota and Montana,,, I'd be the blog being talked about instead of Nate Silvers awesome fivethirtyeight.com.
In 17people's Senate predictions it is too early to tell on my call of 60 which remains a possibility. I stupidly forgot to put the Mississippi Senate race on my battleground list, but would have given it to incumbent Republican Roger Wicker, though I would have said that it would be closer than it was.
17people correctly called easy races in Virginia, New Mexico, and Colorado. Called tougher races in North Carolina, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Oregon, and for a Republican in Kentucky. Also correctly called the runoff in Georgia which will get plenty of coverage over the next month.
As for the two other undecided races in Alaska and Minnesota.
Am genuinely surprised that Alaska is still leaning for convicted felon Ted Stevens. The polls at the end were between 10 and 22 points against Stevens, so something doesn't feel quite right in Alaska. But with 90,000 absentee and provisional ballots to be counted, maybe Alaska can redeem itself and fire Ted Stevens before the US Senate does.
As for Minnesota I wrote last Tuesday it was "the toughest race of the year in Minnesota" and the 200 vote spread with a recount coming,,, proved that out. Minnesota proved to be a state that baffles. Jesse Ventura was an eccentric, if not very bad Governor, Paul Wellstone was one of the most progressive Senators, and this year they reelected the crazy Michelle Bachman.
Perhaps only in Minnesota could Al Franken, unapologetic liberal with a career of politically damaging statements is still a possibility to become that states Senator.
Now I predicted a 33 seat gain for Democrats in the House and missed the boat on that as more endangered Republicans survived than I thought.
The Dems have picked up 20 seats in the House so far with a chance for maybe 4 more which is a big gain, just two years after winning 20+ seats. The Democrats have more than a 75 vote advantage meaning they have much more power than either party has had in some time.
After picking like Mush from "A Bronx Tale" for most of the year, 17people is relieved to have come back with a vengeance this General Election.
Sarah Palin?
I think that the leaks coming from the McCain campaign about Sarah Palin are disgraceful. The finger pointing and attempts by the 'senior aides' and 'unnamed sources' to tear down Sarah Palin has been baffling to me for the past three weeks, since before the election.
When I worked in politics I heard stories about many high profile people in the Democratic party,,, but to send an anonymous email to Drudge or go 'off the record' to a reporter was something you don't do. Even tell all books like All Too Human by George Stephanopoulos about the Clinton years are looks at as betrayals of your code.
This flood of attacks has to be behind the decision by Palin and her team to overdo the talk show circuit this week.
When Bill Clinton was on Larry King, Letterman, The Daily Show, etc, he was on to talk about his Global Initiative. If you turned on any of them you would have heard almost the same thing and he got his message across clearly. Palin in her first two interviews has been all over the place in her answers to questions, which leads me to believe she's winging it and that means she has no recipe for success.
Let's be honest if we saw one thing in the campaign,,, Sarah Palin is at her weakest when she is on the spot talking a wide arrange issues with a tough interviewer.
While Van Susteren is a friendly lead off, the follow up interviewers are not going to be cupcakes. Even Larry King has been hard on Palin. Watch her past interviews,,, she has a hard time delivering a consistent message, and the more she talks on issues that she doesn't know, the more trouble she gets herself into.
Her best impromptu performance was at the debate which was still tough to watch, but she didn't have follow up questions like she will this week.
Instead of taking some time to develop a clear message or game plan to roll herself out post campaign, Palin is heading out blind. Watch this clip and ignore the guy mocking Sarah Palin afterwards.
The one question that Palin will be asked in every interview is if she will run for President in 2012. The answer she gave in the answer above showed she wasn't even ready to answer that question which is unbelievable to me.
There are many mistakes that we make in our professional lives. Celebrities have a tendency to fall into the trap of overexposure, Politicians often suffer when they lack a consistent message, and in everyday jobs or in school we all know how awful it is to be unprepared is.
Sarah Palin can answer D to the mistakes above,, as in 'all of the above' in her post election roll out.
She may come out of this week with better numbers than she had before, but her early interviews are going to do what her Gibson and Couric interviews did during the campaign. Inspire the Right Wing to like her and the rest of the country to roll their eyes at her.
When I worked in politics I heard stories about many high profile people in the Democratic party,,, but to send an anonymous email to Drudge or go 'off the record' to a reporter was something you don't do. Even tell all books like All Too Human by George Stephanopoulos about the Clinton years are looks at as betrayals of your code.
This flood of attacks has to be behind the decision by Palin and her team to overdo the talk show circuit this week.
- Monday Night she had an interview with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News
- Tuesday Morning she was on the Today Show with Matt Lauer in Alaska
- Today she'll be in The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer
- Tonight she will be on Larry King.
When Bill Clinton was on Larry King, Letterman, The Daily Show, etc, he was on to talk about his Global Initiative. If you turned on any of them you would have heard almost the same thing and he got his message across clearly. Palin in her first two interviews has been all over the place in her answers to questions, which leads me to believe she's winging it and that means she has no recipe for success.
Let's be honest if we saw one thing in the campaign,,, Sarah Palin is at her weakest when she is on the spot talking a wide arrange issues with a tough interviewer.
While Van Susteren is a friendly lead off, the follow up interviewers are not going to be cupcakes. Even Larry King has been hard on Palin. Watch her past interviews,,, she has a hard time delivering a consistent message, and the more she talks on issues that she doesn't know, the more trouble she gets herself into.
Her best impromptu performance was at the debate which was still tough to watch, but she didn't have follow up questions like she will this week.
Instead of taking some time to develop a clear message or game plan to roll herself out post campaign, Palin is heading out blind. Watch this clip and ignore the guy mocking Sarah Palin afterwards.
The one question that Palin will be asked in every interview is if she will run for President in 2012. The answer she gave in the answer above showed she wasn't even ready to answer that question which is unbelievable to me.
There are many mistakes that we make in our professional lives. Celebrities have a tendency to fall into the trap of overexposure, Politicians often suffer when they lack a consistent message, and in everyday jobs or in school we all know how awful it is to be unprepared is.
Sarah Palin can answer D to the mistakes above,, as in 'all of the above' in her post election roll out.
She may come out of this week with better numbers than she had before, but her early interviews are going to do what her Gibson and Couric interviews did during the campaign. Inspire the Right Wing to like her and the rest of the country to roll their eyes at her.
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