Why God Invented C-SPAN

He's obviously never been to Asia.

Or Redmond WA for that matter...

Hello Kitty is super happy fun credit card.

Wouldn't you think one of his staff would have mentioned Hello Kitty to him?

Why did the mainstream press corps virtually ignore Dick Durbin's claim "own" Capitol Hill?

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has been battling the banks the last few weeks in an effort to get 60 votes lined up for bankruptcy reform. He's losing.
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On Monday night in an interview with a radio host back home, he came to a stark conclusion: the banks own the Senate.
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"And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place," he said on WJJG 1530 AM's "Mornings with Ray Hanania." Progress Illinois picked up the quote.

Why the yawns...is this another one of those "open secrets" that make savvy Hill reporters roll their eyes, as if Durbin had said "it rains during the rainy season"?

"it rains during the rainy season"
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Isn't that the thesis of just about every piece JNS submits?

LOL

OT -
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So's I don't be doin' a Cincy...an I do be missin' 'im fierce,
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I be settin' sail fer a few weeks o' explorin' th' Spanish Main(land) - a wee bit o' R&R, wi' a fair amount o' pillagin' an' wenchin' t' boot! Ye'll likely be findin' me loungin' on th' beach a' Rota, wi' an IV full o' tinto de verano hooked up t' me veins - fer medicinal purposes, o' course - t' o'ercome th' sad effects o' winter (an' autumn...an' spring...an' summer, from th' looks o' things 'ere!) in th' great PNW.
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Someone tell Michael me lad t' keep 'is balls on whilst I be away - he be doin' a right fair bit o' work o' late, an' I don't be wantin' t' find no geldin'-like backslidin' when I be returnin' t' th' swampboat!
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Keep th' boom at th' ready fer lowerin' on rusty, spongy, texty an th' rest o' their crew o' scurvy brigands until I be returnin'...
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Fair winds, me hearties!
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Arrgh!

jcapan: If you continue to notice things like that you'll be a very unhappy person. If you see a woman pushing a stroller get nailed by a car, focus on the cloud that looks like a bunny rabbit.

jcapan: If you continue to notice things like that you'll be a very unhappy person. If you see a woman pushing a stroller get nailed by a car, focus on the cloud that looks like a bunny rabbit.
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Feel for JC-san even more Sacred. That little white cat is literally EVERYWHERE in Japan. in fact when I first saw it I thought he was showing a card targeted for a Japanese consumption audience!

pirate wench: Be careful, have fun and good luck on that "wenchin'" part. The metal pictures getting conjured up are sinful yet somehow compelling.

Rioja yourself into a stupor me dear Wench, 53 and I will hold down the fort in the home waters till you be sailing back loaded down with booty!

yutsano: I was talking about the JNS comment, but advertising campaigns also get the best of me. To this day, I switch the channel every time that Gecko lizard comes on the tv.

To this day, I switch the channel every time that Gecko lizard comes on the tv.
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I think they were on to something when they were about to let that lizard get squashed by the CEO. Unfortunately you never get to see the end result there. Now they're on those idiotic stack of bills with eyeballs commercials. They sure have some doozies I'll give them that!

Taibbi:
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"We simply do not have a real functioning mechanism in American politics for converting public anger into tough government policy. The closest thing we have in that regard is the relationship between elected officials and the media: when TV news decides to flip out about something like the AIG bonuses for more than a day or two, we might sometimes see public officials do something about… something like the AIG bonuses. But that's about it. In point of fact the only significant "reforms" to date, even in the face of this most extreme financial crisis, have been moves instituted to restrict short-selling and a relaxation of mark-to-market accounting rules, both measures on the deregulatory wish list of the big firms."
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http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2009/05/05/credit-card-companies-as-evil-villains-its-not-that-simple-los-angeles-times/

And Yuts, you may enjoy: http://www.kittyhell.com/

Tha' be me aim, sacred...sinful yet somehow compelling .
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The cap'n be arrivin', so I best be shovin' off!
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Arrgh!

"I think they were on to something when they were about to let that lizard get squashed by the CEO. Unfortunately you never get to see the end result there."
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I think the pictures were suppressed. "All right, Gecko, I want the operational relationship between Geico and Great Britain or this big, dumb CEO is going to squash you like a bug."

stuart, thanks for the Durbin quote. I had missed that. Even when I'm busy I spend vastly more time reading news than most people and it's still possible to miss something quite important like that...

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Personally, I prefer Domo over Hello Kitty.
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But he has a point about kiddie marketing...and banks are slow in pitching to tweens-and-younger. You can read this for an overview and maybe try Alissa Quart's Branded for a deeper dive into 'starting-in-the-cradle' marketing.

Rose:
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it's still possible to miss something quite important
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...which is why we have each other.
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BTW: I went to see Valenti read from Purity Myth at a feminist bookstore near my apartment with Lovely Bride last night. It was really very interesting...especially because LB hadn't actually heard of "Purity Balls" until Jessica described the phenomenon, and turned to me, whispering in my ear "That's disgusting!"

SZ: The idea behind the Purity Balls may be entirely innocent, but to most outsiders, it is definitely a creepfest. I've never heard of one taking place in our area (too close to West Virginia I guess) and even the very conservative religious guys I work with make fun of them. This is hardly a high culture area, but Purity Balls will never catch on here.

I had to follow the Purity Ball link (thinking because of LB's reaction it might be something titillating) and remembering my initial reaction considering how popular they are in the South. Something rather Jeff Foxworthy-ish.

And JC-san: I'm gonna follow that link when I get home from work tonight just to be on the safe side. My boss doesn't really log our Web content (though he has the capability) but the person to my right is a MAJOR gossip and I'm better off not chancing it. If it is what I think it is though I plan on showing my brother.

"I've never heard of one taking place in our area (too close to West Virginia I guess)"
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What goes unsaid there is priceless. I say this as someone partly "educated" in W-by-God. This involved far more drunken bellowing of "Country Roads" than bookish awakening--thus the relatively dumb specimen you see before you today.