Cheap Blogging Crutch 07.03

The Great American Bubble Machine
Matt Taibbi decides to take a look at Goldman-Sachs and their manipulation of financial crisis' to their advantage, their culpability in creating bubbles, and their governmental influence and manages not to sound like a tinfoil hatted crank. He begins by calling them a "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money" and the piece has resulted in GS shrieking hysterically at him for daring to point out some obvious facts. Unfortunately Rolling Stone has only put up excerpts from the article, so to see the full body blow he delivers you'll have to buy the magazine. I think it's worth a purchase.

To Critics, New Policy on Terror Looks Old
Charlie Savage of the New York Times takes a look at some of the Obama Administration's embraces of Bush era....let's call them unethical dalliances. The picture painted is not too pretty as many of the policies have now become entrenched methods and have now been legitimized. Some would even go so far as to say all Obama has done is just enact the “liberal, centrist, Democratic version of the construction of these same governing practices.” I think he forgets one important factor: it's OK because a Democrat is doing it. At least I think that's the going rationale for some these days. If you're interested, Savage does an interview with Glenn Greenwald where they point out and discuss all this stuff.

In Tactical Shift, Troops Will Stay and Hold Ground in Afghanistan
Hey what present did you want to receive in celebration of the Nation's impending 233rd birthday? If it was a major increase of ground forces in Afghanistan and an escalation in combat in a concerted effort to knock the Taliban out of the country, then you're in luck. This is all part of President Obama's larger body of work entitled "Doing things that were supposed to have been done eight years ago". It's a work of art that will be on display around this country for at least until January of 2013.

This Post Brought to You by Poker
Wonkish statistics molester Nate Silver has decided to put his robot brain to work mathematically analyzing the game of poker and using it to slay the competition at the World Series of Poker. It's ostensibly "research" for a "book", but papa needs money and he's got a gambling itch to scratch. He also discusses the UIGEA law that helped the rise of online poker and efforts to legalize (and tax) online poker. But we'll have to wait for what we're all interested in: video of Silver dominating the competition as he tries to understand the human emotions surrounding "loss" and "anguish".

Lunar Probe Sends First High-Res Images
NASA has sent a probe up to the moon and unlike the Japanese has no plans to smash it into the Sea of Tranquility for shits and giggles. No, they're taking photos, mapping it, and gathering data for America's glorious "safe human return to the moon". That's right moon, we're making you our bitch again...or for the first time depending on various conspiracy theories. In any event this is all part of NASA's new mission to do awesome covers of its old material.