You Don't Get to Whine When You're Called On Your Lies

See, children, this is why it always better to tell the truth. Remember that story about little George Washington and the cherry tree? Don't ever tell lies. And you better not start whining and throwing a tantrum when you're called on those lies. Actions have consequences, kids.

I don't respect liars or crybabies. Which is probably why I don't care very much for politicians like McCain. After eight long years of this, I've had enough.

Palin Still Being Shielded From the Public

I find it beyond stunning that the Republicans have offered a Vice Presidential candidate who has refused to give a single press conference. It's been weeks and yet still no real appearance before the news media and the American public. No accontability, no questions. Are we living in Soviet Russia? Did I miss something here?

Then again, considering her rapidly falling polling numbers, the McCain campaign is forced to play defense at this point. We've seen these numbers since late last week, and I think it's pretty conclusive by this point. Sarah Palin's 15 minutes of fame are over. Good work to the netroots for doing their job and helping to frame the debate. Keep up the good work, everyone.

Three Times is Enemy Action - How We Got Into This Mess

Daily Kos writer Devilstower wrote an outstanding essay this weekend on the financial crisis, and how exactly we got into this fine mess. Markos Moulitzas hails it as possibly the finest DKos post ever; high praise indeed from a truly gifted and humble man. This article has even been chosen to be the cover story for The Nation.

The saga of our 2008 financial meltdown has its roots in the Savings & Loan scandals of the 1980s, continuing to the de-regulation frenzy of the past 25 years, to the California energy "crisis" brought upon by the likes of Enron, to today. At the end of it all, greed, ideology remain. These are the men who have destroyed the American Republic. Read and weep.

"Three Times is Enemy Action"

Videogames of the Damned - Happy 2nd Birthday!

Great news, everybody! September 22 marks the second birthday for this humble blog, Videogames of the Damned. Thanks to all who supported me and followed me along the various websites where I've been writing these many years.

Here's to many more!

Now it's $1.8 Trillion

You gotta love this. These guys are just like pigs at a trough, aren't they? They just love the smell of free money. Now that $700 billion "bailout" has more than doubled to $1.8 trillion. Nice. You do understand this is Bush's henchmen want zero oversight, right? This is a money heist. All of your money will be vaccuumed into the pockets of their cronies, the very same Wall Street criminals who put us into this fix.

And now everyone with a stake in creating this disaster will be lining up for the free money. Free money courtesy of you, the taxpayer, all of which shall be piled onto our national debt. Which, naturally, means a lower standard of living for you and your families. Sorry, kids, can't fix those bridges anymore. No more money. Forget about health care. No more money.

You gotta love this system of government we have in America. It's a great scam, the greatest heist ever pulled. You can just hear Bush and company laughing hysterically. Sure would be nice if the Dems stood up and tried to stop this. Fat chance on that, kiddies. Fat bloody chance.

Dr. Doom

The Times wrote a profile last month on economics professor Nouriel Roubini. Great read, as always a must. He's just about the only economist I can think of who was correct about everything that has happened these past two years. Compare that to the mindless bobble-heads you see on tv, and you wonder why you ever wasted a precious minute watching cable news.

Seriously, folks. Turn the teevee off.

Video - Chu Chu Rocket! (Dreamcast)

Chu Chu Rocket is a perfect example of what made Sega and Dreamcast so special. No one else in the games industry, save Will Wright and Shigeru Miyamoto, carried such a passion for the quirky, the strange, and the original. Sega went out of their way to come up with novel, fun little games, and the Dreamcast quickly piled up a collection of modern classics that have yet to be matched.

It is sad that despite the growth of videogames, and the success of Sony and Microsoft, nearly every game on the shelf today follows the same, predictable formulas. I honestly can't name five titles on PS3 or 360 that reach out and grab me. It's all the same 3D adventure, first-person shooter, racing, or sports. And very often, we're getting sequel after formulaic sequel. Nintendo really are the only ones trying to be different with the Wii. Bless their hearts.

Anyway, here is Sonic Team's frantic multiplayer classic, Chu Chu Rocket. The idea of the game is to guide streaming numbers of mice into rockets, by placing arrow icons around various mazes. It's a simple concept, but the pacing is so frenetic, so reckless, so damned crazy. It's funny as hell. You'll laugh yourself silly as you learn how to screw over your friends at the drop of a hat. You won't remember any of it; the whole trip is lost in a mad blur. But you'll have the time of your life. This is one of the great multiplayer video games.

Video - Virtua Tennis (Dreamcast)

Here is one of the Sega Dreamcast's very best titles. Virtua Tennis appeared out of nowhere and quickly established itself as the finest tennis game ever made. Exactly why video game tennis was always so poor remains a baffling mystery. I mean, c'mon - videogames started with Pong, for cryin' out loud.

Virtua Tennis has continued on with a couple sequels, VT 3 can be played today on PS3 and XBox 360. I haven't spent any real time with those games, but I would expect them to be excellent, if only because of its pedigree. I don't think, however, that anything will truly eclipse the original. This first VT just knocked our socks off, and it was probably the most popular 4-player Dreamcast game I ever had. Ah, great times, kids, great times.

I'll be looking long and hard for this game come Thursday. Enjoy the video:

Video - Hydro Thunder (Dreamcast)

Here's a vintage video of Hydro Thunder on the Dreamcast. This was one of the better launch games for Sega's console in 1999; definitely one of my favorite water-racing games. It's an arcade port from Midway, very similar to their San Francisco Rush series of games.

I will definitely try to get my hands on this game later this week when I score another Dreamcast. It's an excellent racer that offers lots of fast and cheap thrills. The 2-player mode was a little rushed, and I always wished Midway would have made a sequel, but DC wasn't allowed to live long enough.

Ah, well, enjoy the video:

What Digby Said - Vikings Victory Edition

Okay, has nothing whatsoever to do with the Vikings, but, hey, the Vikes won today! Here's your Sunday dosage of What Digby Said. Same goes for What DDay Said.

Why You Should Oppose Treasury Bailout Proposal

Naked Capitalism offers another lengthy analysis on the Bush administration's proposal for the $700b bailout of Wall Street. Give it a good read during the commercials or halftime.

Big Bailout - Roubini Says No

The more I read about Bush's proposal for bailing out Wall Street, the worse it sounds. But we've come to expect this from these criminals. Two main themes of this Presidency always emerge: the lust for more and more executive power, and greater and greater freedom for socialist oligarchs* to steal and loot our nation's wealth.

Bloomberg offers an excellent rundown on the bailout, including condemnation from Nouriel Roubini, who has been correct on this crisis since day one:

The Bush administration sought unchecked power from Congress to buy $700 billion in bad mortgage investments from financial companies in what would be an unprecedented government intrusion into the markets.

Through his plan, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson aims to avert a credit freeze that would bring the financial system and the world's largest economy to a standstill. The bill would prevent courts from reviewing actions taken under its authority.

"He's asking for a huge amount of power,'' said Nouriel Roubini, an economist at New York University. "He's saying, `Trust me, I'm going to do it right if you give me absolute control.' This is not a monarchy.''

(*No, I won't call these people "capitalists". It's clear that they aren't in any serious sense. It's much closer to an organized crime racket, or as I put it, a socialist oligarchy. The economic minds of the Bush crowd more closely resemble the crooked makeup of Putin's Russia than anything from the West.)

Sunday Football Thread

Okay, not really an open thread, since I barely have any readers. Whatever. The Vikings finally knocked the cobwebs from their gears and played some great football. It was a great, solid win by all sides, especially the backup Quarterback which needed to bail out poor Tavaris Jackson.

I have to admit I've never been a big fan of the current Viking's coach. But Childress finally pulled off a convincing win, and the foundations of this team are very solid. The glory days of the 1998 season still linger in my mind. I don't think this team is nearly as good on offense, but I also remember that Denny never cared much for that part of the game called "defense." Easy to overlook when you're scoring five touchdowns every game, but look where that left them. A 15-1 record and no Super Bowl.

The 2008 Vikings have a great defense. A really strong, formidable defense. That was always my favorite thing about the Bud Grant glory days of the 1970's. So as long as the offense can produce results (especially in that passing game), this will be a very good season for the Vikings.

The Packers-Cowboys game is tonight. I don't know which team to root for, but it should be great fun regardless. We'll probably want the Pack to lose, if only for the division standings. Take that, Cheeseheads! Ha ha ha ha! Ah, I'm just kidding, you guys are alright.

If you feel like chatting away, go ahead, knock yerselves out. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Update: Oh, I should probably also point out that I'm getting a Sega Dreamcast this Thursday. It's payday and I need some NFL2K1. Still the best football game ever made. You can thank EA's crummy monopoly for ruining sports games, kids. I'll take your flashy Madden against my NFL2K any day of the week. My game has late hits. Yours don't.

This is a Stickup - Hand Over $700 Billion and No One Gets Hurt

Remember when I wrote earlier about that meeting between Bush administration officials and members of Congress? I was skeptical as hell; sounded like yet another scare-em-into-another-bad-swindle scheme. Even given the state of this financial crisis, you would be crazy to trust these criminals.

Well, surprise, surprise. Bush is asking for a $700 billion handout to Wall Street. It's not even a bailout, like the bailout of the Savings & Loans two decades ago. We're just handing away the money, no strings attached. Good lord, Bush's proposal didn't even fill three pages. The largest bailout in this nation's history, and the damned paper is less than three pages. This is bullshit, folks.

We've seen this game before, and I have no doubts the Dems can be rolled once again, as they've been rolled so many times. There's that imperative to show the voters that you're doing something. Doesn't matter if that something is a lousy, terrible idea. Just show the voters you did something. The consequences, naturally, won't become painfull obvious until months later; after the election, of course, which is the only thing these spineless weasels care about. It's a wonder that representative democracy ever worked in this country.

What makes me angry is the simple fact that there's no give-and-take on this $700b handout. We, the taxpayers, pick up the tab on all this bad debt, and we get nothing in return. No sensible regulation. No rollbacks on the de-regulation frenzy pushed by the Republicans and men like former Sen. Phil Gramm (who would likely serve as Treasury Secretary in a McCain administration). No takeover of the bad banks themselves. No firings of executives. No prosecution for the corporate crimes that threw our economy into chaos. No nothing.

Just gimmie your money. Or somethin' bad will happen to you. Wall Street has WMD's. Or somethin'. This whole damn thing just stinks to high heaven, and you know in your bones that the bad guys will get away with it, laughing all the way. And don't fall for the line that we'll somehow get our money back. Fat bloody chance.

I'd like to hear what others think. I'd like to hear from some economists and people who understand this issue backwards and forwards. All I have going for me is common sense, and my gut instinct, and that idiot savant in the White House.

Paul Krugman gives his thumbs-down on this deal...

Here’s the thing: historically, financial system rescues have involved seizing the troubled institutions and guaranteeing their debts; only after that did the government try to repackage and sell their assets. The feds took over S&Ls first, protecting their depositors, then transferred their bad assets to the RTC. The Swedes took over troubled banks, again protecting their depositors, before transferring their assets to their equivalent institutions.

The Treasury plan, by contrast, looks like an attempt to restore confidence in the financial system — that is, convince creditors of troubled institutions that everything’s OK — simply by buying assets off these institutions. This will only work if the prices Treasury pays are much higher than current market prices; that, in turn, can only be true either if this is mainly a liquidity problem — which seems doubtful — or if Treasury is going to be paying a huge premium, in effect throwing taxpayers’ money at the financial world.

And there’s no quid pro quo here — nothing that gives taxpayers a stake in the upside, nothing that ensures that the money is used to stabilize the system rather than reward the undeserving.

ABC: New Doubts Over Palin's Trooper-Gate Claims

The latest news from ABC News on the brewing Trooper-Gate situation in Alaska. McCain's people are working their hardest to squash this investigation until after the election, so be sure to pay attention to all the facts as they squeeze out. Sigh...joy.