None dare call it socialism

When the federal government uses 250 billion dollars of taxpayer money and buys the stock of the nine largest US banks, that's called 'nationalizing the banking system'. Or in other words, socialism. However our media specifically avoided using those words to describe what was happening until today. Last Friday:

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Friday that the U.S. government was working on a plan to buy stock in financial institutions by using part of the $700 billion authorized by Congress to stabilize the financial system.

"We are working to develop a standardized program that is open to a broad array of financial institutions," Paulson said.

"Such a program would be designed to encourage the raising of new private capital to complement public capital," he said following a meeting of G-7 finance ministers and central bankers.

Positively Orwellian, Mr. Paulson. On Sunday some truth slipped through, though ...

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told international leaders on Sunday that isolationism and protectionism could worsen the spreading financial crisis. With a new trading week dawning, U.S. lawmakers urged quick action by the Bush administration on measures to make direct purchases of bank stock to help unlock lending.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said an administration proposal to inject federal money directly into certain banks, in effect partially nationalizing the banking system, “is gaining steam.”

“I am hopeful that tomorrow, the Treasury will announce that they’re doing it. And they have to do it quickly ... markets are waiting,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said.

And then yesterday ...

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. outlined the plan to nine of the nation’s leading bankers at an afternoon meeting, officials said. He essentially told the participants that they would have to accept government investment for the good of the American financial system.

Of the $250 billion, which will come from the $700 billion bailout approved by Congress, half is to be injected into nine big banks, including Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, officials said. The other half is to go to smaller banks and thrifts. The investments will be structured so that the government can benefit from a rebound in the banks’ fortunes.

Well at least the stock market liked the idea (those damned Social Fascists):

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 936 points, or 11 percent, the largest single-day gain in the American stock market since the 1930s. The surge stretched around the globe: in Paris and Frankfurt, stocks had their biggest one-day gains ever, responding to news of similar multibillion-dollar rescue packages by the French and German governments.

See, the genuine banking experts -- the ones in Europe -- told the U.S. (as in 'us') that we had to do this, because they couldn't stand to watch Henry Paulson and George W Bush screw up the bailout, too:

First you mess up the world's financial system. Then you blow the rescue of it. Now let's show you how to do it properly.

That, in a nutshell, is the less-than-flattering message European governments are sending to the U.S. as they mount their own gigantic bank bailout. The plans, announced Monday after two weeks of dithering, involve Britain, Germany, France and some others recapitalizing national banks that require help, and providing state guarantees and other measures to kick-start the stalled credit market. The details are strikingly different from the U.S. approach adopted by U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and the Federal Reserve Board. And there's a big reason for that: The Europeans think Paulson got it badly wrong, and have watched aghast as he failed to restore confidence in the world's financial system.

Doesn't anybody besides me think that Hugo Chavez has the more sensible approach to nationalizing industry within Venezuela? He just takes it over, he doesn't pay anything for it or assume any of its debt.

Barack Obama could never be the socialist that George W Bush has proven himself to be. Not even if he successfully nationalizes health care (something the American people actually want to see happen).

So to review, two things happened yesterday that hadn't happened since the 1930s: the government took over the banks, and the stock market promptly went up nearly a thousand points.

Woo Hoo! We have staved off a depression recession. And if you buy that, I've got some newspaper companies and automobile manufacturers for sale real cheap, too.

Kansas vs. Darwin At the River Oaks Theater

Kansas vs. Darwin
with director Jeff Tamblyn
A free documentary film screening followed by a conversation with director Jeff Tamblyn

Tuesday, October 14
7:00 p.m.

River Oaks Theater
2009 West Gray

In May of 2005, a three-member subcommittee of the Kansas State Board of Education held hearings to determine whether Darwin's long-held Theory of Evolution should be challenged in public school science classes. At stake was, in effect, the definition of science for Kansas schoolchildren.

Kansas vs. Darwin takes you inside the hearings to meet the characters who captured the world's attention: school board members who believe their literal interpretation of the Bible trumps modern scientific evidence, and members of the "Intelligent Design" network who believe mainstream science is conspiring to suppress evidence that would overturn evolution. You'll also get face to face with an organization of Kansas scientists, educators, and citizens that mobilizes a worldwide response to put an end to what they see as a kangaroo court run by religious extremists.

You may be aware that we're having our own little creationism-as-science moment here in Texas. Reminding ourselves of what happens when you elect religious zealots to the school board is good practice for casting the right vote in a few weeks.

The Weekly Wrangle

One week before early voting in Texas begins, and the Texas Progressive Alliance blog round-up is full of posts you should read before you cast your ballot. This week's round-up was compiled by Vince from Capitol Annex.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme agrees with Webb County elections commissioner Patricia Barrera and Webb County voters: electronic voting machines need a voter verifiable paper trail.

jobsanger thinks the Texas Legislature should rescind the Texas Driver Responsibility Program, which has one million Texas drivers owing $815 in fines, and wonders if a Denver mural is artwork or a political sign.

Justin at AAA-Fund Blog makes note of nearly violent anti-Iraqi racism at Texas A&M.

Captain Kroc at McBlogger has some advice for evangelicals narrowly focused on abortion.

Voter suppression by Republicans in Harris County is carefully distinguished from the "voter fraud" the conservatives continually whine about, but PDiddie's favorite (indeed his only) conservative commenter studiously doesn't get it. At Brains and Eggs.

nytexan of BlueBloggin points out that once again Bush lied and Congress went along with NSA Eavesdropping On Americans And Bush’s BS War On Terror. Americans now have the pleasure of knowing that NSA has listened to US citizens. Happy now!

Off the Kuff takes a look at the 30-day finance reports for Harris County candidates.

Mail in ballots returned for postage? It has already happened in Denton County. The Texas Cloverleaf has more.

Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News posted videos that explain why Obama is leading in North Carolina to the new GOP base and other stuff in one of his rambles around the web.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is saddened how some Americans cannot progress beyond old thinking. I’d Rather Not Say It's About RACE is an expose showing how Republican politics exploits "old thinking" to control voters.

If you live in Bellaire, Sugarland, Galveston, or another part of the oddly gerrymandered SD 17, you may have gotten a "push poll" from folks trying to whittle down Democratic candidate Chris Bell's lead in the state Senate race. George at The Texas Blue points out some dirty tricks in Texas' 17th Senate district.

Vince at Capitol Annex -- freshly back from a six-day hiatus after moving servers -- has ranked "Hot" Texas House races in anticipation of the 2008 elections.

Harris County election details (updated)

Reposting with a few updates and corrections to the original September 25 post, due to questions posed about the SD-17 race ...

-- There will be 874 voting precincts in the nation's third-largest county. Some precincts will be combined in polling places, being determined by your respective county commissioner even now.

-- There are 263 ballot versions in the general election, and more than a hundred others for "limited" voting (for example, someone from out-of-state voting just a presidential and/or federal candidate ballot).

-- There are thirteen different election entities, which split precincts in some cases (such as school districts and MUDs).

-- The special election for SD-17 (79 precincts in Harris, but also on ballots in Jefferson, Brazoria, Fort Bend, and Galveston counties) will be at the very top of the ballot, above the presidential candidates and even the straight-party button. Alan Bernstein explains:

The contest will appear before the "straight ticket" option that allows voters, with a single physical motion, to vote for all candidates of a particular party, from president to justice of the peace. But, since there are multiple Democrats and Republicans in the SD 17 race, the straight ticket vote would not apply to it anyway. Voters in the district can mark their choice in that race and then get on with the businesses of voting "straight ticket" or cherrypicking their way down the ballot.

Chris Bell will appear first on the ballot in Fort Bend, Galveston and Jefferson counties, in the third position in Brazoria County, and in Harris County Bell's name appears as the last one listed in the SD-17 contest. As I have previously noted -- and despite what you may have read elsewhere, like in Al's post above -- he is the one true Democrat in the race.

-- Here's a sample ballot, listing all of the races. You will obviously get to vote for a single Congressional and statehouse candidate to represent your area, but all of the judicial candidates and all of the Harris County executive races will appear on your ballot (if you're voting in Harris, of course).

-- The deadline for voter registration was October 6. Learn which candidates represent you and will be on your ballot through the various links listed here. Early voting begins October 20. Here are the EV locations, hours, and more useful information.

-- Harris County election officials project that 1.2 million votes will be cast here. If that holds historically accurate it would represent about 20% 15% of the statewide tally, which works out to six somewhere between 8 and 9 million Texas votes.

-- Finally, Harris County will be parallel-testing its voting machines for the first time ...

Parallel testing, also known as election-day testing, involves selecting voting machines at random and testing them as realistically as possible during the period that votes are being cast. The fundamental question addressed by such tests arise from the fact that pre-election testing is almost always done using a special test mode in the voting system, and corrupt software could potentially arrange to perform honestly while in test mode while performing dishonestly during a real election.

And I will be present as they do.

Charles Kuffner points out in the original posting's comments that I significantly underestimated the statewide turnout, leading to the strikeouts and revisions above.