Cocktailhag, the blog

Here’s a Portland picture I found at Digby, and it’s my old bank branch, where they used to retroactively explain their many fees to me.  Nice to know somebody’s got their back.  

Now, I’ve read some dumb things in my life at the Atlantic (especially since Megan McArdle came along), but this is ridiculous.  Wendy Kaminer, an “author, lawyer, and civil libertarian,” which in plain English means “wingnut welfare queen,” leapt into the fray with one of the silliest “slippery slope” arguments against OWS I’ve ever heard, [...]

In the aftermath of the of the rout of OccupyPortland yesterday afternoon, I decided to take a look at the oft-touted “damage” to the parks.  Peering through the hastily installed cyclone fences at a crew of city workers, who had doffed the ever-so-telegenic masks worn by the earlier invaders, all I saw was what any [...]

Back in 1928 the Supreme Court, in Olmstead v. United States, upheld a decision that was not only a boneheaded travesty at the time, but has some pretty horrifying implications for today,  in a time of social unrest against a corrupted and lawless government.  In his sadly prescient dissenting opinion, Justice Brandeis wrote:  (emphases mine) [...]

Well, if this whole 99% thing has accomplished anything worthwhile, it’s shown the world that Republicans are, truly, only on the side of the 1%, and they’re no longer the least bit shy about saying so.  Gone are they days of sending $200 checks to the hoi polloi to soften the blow of such wanton [...]

Well, it seems that Goldman Sachs, whose stock has lost 43% of its value since 2010 and has reported its first-ever quarterly loss, still has its priorities; mainly, stealing from everybody so a few guys can stuff their pockets with millions.  Granted, they did pay a $500 million fine for defrauding investors, lost money in [...]

Please call 212-NEW-YORK (212-639-9675), and tell Mayor Bloomberg not to interfere with Occupy Wall Street tomorrow. Residents of New York City can call 311.  (H/T DailyKos) UPDATE: (Friday) Occupy Wall Street will remain in Zuccotti Park. Admittedly, it’s happened a little later than I expected, but it appears that over the next few days, the [...]

That didn’t take long.  Perennial austerity advocate Robert J. Samuelson over at the WaPoo  frets about the poor little feelings of America’s rich, in these troubled times: There are many theories about why inequality has increased, though no consensus: New technologies reward the highly skilled; globalization depresses factory wages; eroded union power does the same; [...]

  It seems that war profiteer and Pentagon shill Barry McCaffrey slithered into Little Beirut the other day, to talk about some things near and dear to his heart, like, well, war profits, and their indefinite continuation.  The Oregonian’s jaw-droppingly credulous and fawning interview  with this flagrant criminal contained some of the most blatantly authoritarian [...]

Well, it’s been finally settled, what ails America.  You see, the richly overpaid media stars who spout errant nonsense to us each day disguised as news seem to agree with the plutocrats that even words that might hurt that the delicate feelings of those who make, say $50,000 per hour, must be censored at all [...]