Metavirus is a 30-something lawyer in the Midwest who started an obscure politics-focused blog in 2008 in order to join in the excitement of the election cycle.
After the election, he started Library Grape - a more permanent anchor in the blogosphere that gained wider readership and a diverse group of opinionated authors.
If you're interested in reading more about the many stages of Metavirus' political evolution over the years, please check out the following: A Heartfelt Testament from Someone Who Lost Faith in the GOP and The Intellectual Bankruptcy of Today's GOP.
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If you’re looking for a core principle that defines the modern Republican Party, a good candidate is the never-ending smokescreens they use to cover up their true intentions. This is especially the case when the GOP goes to bat for the Wall Street plutocrats that stuff their campaign war chests.
Consider a new House GOP push to strip the FDIC of the power to liquidate failing financial institutions:
The House Financial Services Committee voted along party lines to repeal the section of the law that allows the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp to liquidate large, failing financial institutions seized by the government.
This authority was included in the law in an attempt to avoid the type of market chaos and government bailouts that followed the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 by giving the government a mechanism for better controlling the breakup of a financial giant.
Now consider the weak tea they’re serving up on why they want to repeal the provsion:
House Republicans justified repealing the provision by claiming that it would reduce deficits by $22 billion over the next ten years. This was based on a rather bizarre score from the Congressional Budget Office, which said the provisions “costs” $22 billion because, in the event that the government needs to unwind a failing firm, it might not recoup all of the money spent unwinding it within a ten-year budget window; therefore, CBO said, the provision “costs” money (though no money is actually being spent). As financial analyst Brian Gardner said, “it’s tough to understand where the $22 billion comes from — it’s a wild assumption since there are currently no cash flows involved with this part of Dodd-Frank.”
I know there are lots of complex issues wrapped up in the financial crisis and the resulting bailouts – but this ain’t one of them. The biggest reason why Bush was forced to bail out the big financial institutions is that the FDIC didn’t have the authority or capability to dissolve the institutions that became “too big to fail”. Instead of being able to conduct what is, in effect, a structured bankruptcy liquidation that mitigates the risk of blowing up the entire financial system, we were forced to desperately pump hundreds of billions of dollars of life support into the very institutions that pushed the country off a cliff.
With all that in mind, it’s no wonder that Wall Street lobbyists want their paid GOP lapdogs to undo a law that forces failing financial institutions into bankruptcy liquidation. But it’s kind of sad that Republicans can’t even keep up the pretense that they’re not just doing what their lords and masters bid of them.
I’m a relatively intelligent guy with a decent head for business but, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot understand why anyone would value a free iPhone photo app at $1 billion. I’ve been reading things online and trying to figure it out but am still not getting it. In the process, I came across the following blurb from some Instagram user and had my biggest “kids today are fucking retarded” moment ever:
People like Facebook. People use Facebook. People love Instagram. It is my single most-used app. I spend an hour a day on Instagram. I have made friends based on photos they share. I know how they feel, and how they see the world. Facebook lacks soul. Instagram is all soul and emotion.
Maybe I’m old, and I’m definitely antisocial, but I suppose that’s ok if the alternative is spending hours on my iPhone searching for people’s “souls” based on some stupid retouched photos someone spent their valuable time uploading to some stupid app.
Snack Food
Politico parodies itself (via): The Senate, once the chamber of deliberation and reason, is getting its own extreme makeover. Moderates such as Maine Republican Olympia Snowe and Democrat Ben Nelson are bolting an institution that barely resembles the one they entered as idealistic deal makers. Ben Nelson? Idealistic dealmaker? These are words that should not be in the ... (1 comments)Despicable Quote of the Day - Icky Gay Sexytime Is A Threat To National Security
“Given the propensity for members of the homosexual community to engage in frequent and anonymous sexual encounters, the risk to national security of having a homosexual in a high-ranking position with access to secret information is obvious.” Bryan Fischer, Nutbag (0 comments)Newsweek Hearts America. Seriously. They Really F*cking Mean It.
I guess a cover featuring Uncle Sam hungrily masturbating to a painting of Jesus wearing an American flag was deemed to be insufficiently patriotic.[Embiggen]
(1 comments)Paul Ryan Suddenly Realizes That Ayn Rand Was A Rabid Atheist
Republicans Cave Again: Student Loans Edition
Mississippi: A Shining Example Of Limited Government
Ah, the land of Mississippi – that shining bastion of God-fearing, limited-government conservatism. Well, unless you want to father illegitimate babies — then the government will throw you in jail. (5 comments)Over in the UK, Labour is now up big over the ruling Tories. Part of that is almost certainly a stalled, ailing economy, but what’s sort of interesting because a big part of their drop is due to implementing a cap on charitable deductions, which is essentially what Obama wanted to do here to cut ... (0 comments)Death Penalty Loses Another One
Connecticut ends the practice. I have to say, this is one of those social movements that is regularly winning big victories, but almost nobody seems to be paying attention. Which is fine by me–under the wire is probably the best way for this thing to go for now. (0 comments)Look, Mitt, I know you want to get women back on your side, but the notion that women have lost 92.3% of jobs in the recession may be technically correct in some manipulated and spun context, but it’s not correct, and it’s not even a good bullshit statistic. You might have been able to get ... (0 comments)What Do You Want Schwarzenegger To Write About In His Memoirs?
The Santorum Has Officially Been Mopped Up In The 2012 Race
I think this gets it right. Additionally, though, while I find Rick Santorum’s beliefs to be pretty risible, and his inability to accept that his ideas had some less-than-ideal results during the ’00s is a personal failing, but at the very least he seemed to possess some sense of personal honor and integrity. Not as good as ... (0 comments)I hadn’t used Instagram because I’m not so much a pictures sort of guy, but an article in the SF Chronicle article makes an interesting point that they were a much bigger threat to Zuckerburg’s empire than the other commonly named competitors. (0 comments)Fun Friday: Robocop Is Filmed In Front Of A Live Studio Audience
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