Job Losses, Among Other Things, Off the Cliff,

as compared to previous "recessions."

Manhattan Madam's List Includes Lots o' Wall St. Bailees

"I think you're allowed to be racist in bed." It gets better/worse from there (Trump in women's panties??) Video from The Young Turks, worth checking that site out.

UPDATE: This the same kind of stuff that took Spitzer down -- only worse, since the guys were charging their fun to their companies. Oddly, the prosecutor chose not to pursue the Wall St. johns.

Here's abc's interview of the Madam.

The People Will Win in the End

Click on it for a bigger version. Source.

Dallas Burlesque Festival

Very enjoyable, and very well-organized for a first-time event -- the place was packed (and not just with photographers), but things went pretty smoothly; lots of enthusiasm and genuine talent (I'm trying to contact the DJ and two dancers; unfortunately there was no programme); and it was a fun way to see the partially-renovated Texas Theatre, in which Lee Harvey Oswald was apprehended.

During the warm-up and intermissions while the DJ played, I snuck past the barriers to the not-yet-renovated balcony and danced in the dark (watch out for the rubble, esp. if you're wearing heels).

I liked the art-ier acts, my sig. other liked the more traditional acts. By end of the nite I felt slightly bored by the basic strip formula (one gal, bless her, reversed it by starting in a g-string and pasties and then getting dressed) -- I'd have cut the total time of the Fest. by a half hour. But when it comes to sex, better too much than too little.

(Photos by Ben Britt.)

And While You're Contacting Your Congress Critters,

. . . why not urge them to pass legislation to extend the statute of limitations on prosecution of any B*sh administration crimes.

Remember my previous post re- how the Repubs might be holding up Eric Holder's confirmation for more than one reason? Got this from Peace Team today:

One of the most important recommendations by John Conyers in his 487 page recent report "Reining In The Imperial Presidency" was to extend the statute of limitations on the crimes of Bush and Cheney, to allow a fair opportunity for them to be actually investigated by a real prosecutor. Of course the [B*sh] Justice Department was entirely derelict in enforcing the law as to them while they were still in office. To fully preserve and protect the rule of law, the statute of limitations must be extended now.

And sure enough, just the other day Cheney was out there gloating about how the statute of limitations was expiring on some of their most egregious offenses. For example, the midnight putsch to institute a regime of illegal wiretapping occurred in early March of 2004, not quite 5 years ago.

(Emphasis supplied. Specifically, as reported by Politico, Cheney recently said he is "set to plunge into his own memoirs, feeling liberated to describe behind-the-scenes roles over several decades in government now that the 'statute of limitations has expired' on many of the most sensitive episodes. ")

Please go here and tell your reps to extend the statute of limitations. They don't have to convict anyone if there's insufficient evidence; but the B*sh admin's obstructionism must not be allowed to succeed.

Cuts from Stimulus Bill: Only the Most Impt. Stuff

I'm starting to wonder if the oligarchs' strategy is to deliberately enrage us masses to the point that either we stop looking in order to avoid having an apoplexy or we resort to sufficient violence to justify using our own army to lock us up in those "detention centers" Halliburton's been building in the U.S.

The "curiously weak" Demtoids' latest excuse is that they have to compromise on the stimulus bill or the Repubs will filibuster it. This is rubbish.

First: let the Repubs filibuster, and let 'em take the rap for it.

Second: the Dems can simply change the rules whenever they like on what's required to bring the bill to a vote; e.g., they could reduce the number of senators needed for cloture to 55% of the Senate -- see William Greider's more detailed explanation here -- or even 50% plus one. Writes Greider, "If Democrats allow the sixty-vote filibuster to survive, it is because they want to keep it as a convenient way to avoid taking responsibility." (Emphasis supplied.)

What's been cut from the stimulus? Among other things, per Gizmodo,

• $2 billion for public broadband access has been totally eliminated. Sorry, "real America," you're gonna keep getting screwed.
• $7 billion for energy-efficient public buildings has been cut in half.
• a fleet of hybrid vehicles for the federal government has also been cut in half, from $600 million to $300 million.
• $50 million for NASA has been totally cut.
• a combined $300 million for scientific research has been totally cut.

Funds for education and the arts have also been cut. Please contact your reps here.

New Orleans' WTUL

I love music but am pretty occupied by other stuff. But came across New Orleans' Tulane's v. eclectic station, streaming here (thanks Amy!). (Closest thing I'd found before was Paul Slavens' 90.1 at Night, which I love, on the eponymous Dallas pub. radio station; but it's only a few hours a week.)

(Feel free to let me know any other great sources.)

Earth to Dem Pols:

From Open Left:

"Media Gunning For Obama and Democrats
by Chris Bowers
Wed Feb 04, 2009 at 18:45

"Last night, commenter NFR83 wrote:

I just got laid off at ABC

and my best friend works at CNBC.

They don't want Democrats on air. We've been only booking Republicans because "everybody already knows where the Democrats stand."

After all, what are the Democrats going to do? complain? It's the liberal media, right?

I was in a meeting last week where our producer flat out said we needed to "bring Obama's approval ratings down."

Everyone who got laid off this week was an Obama supporter.

Surprised?

"This isn't definitive proof of anything, but it would explain why Republicans are dominating the airwaves these days."

What do you think about a Constitutional amendment to restore the independence of the Fourth Estate?