Arran's Alley
Mick Arran
- Location
- Savannah, Georgia, USA
- Bio
- I've done everything from recycling to teaching in a pre-school. Most recently I was for 10 years an acting and theater teacher as well as a pallet builder. I read a lot and I'm an old man who remembers the distant past with somewhat more clarity than this morning's breakfast.
I've been blogging for a decade and I don't do "light". If you're looking for recipes, self-promoting displays of items made for sale, titillating stories about how I was a pimp for an afternoon, or the beauties of toasters, you've come to the wrong place. Check the Front Page.
MY RECENT POSTS
- Where Have We Seen This
Before?
May 17, 2011 08:40AM - Candidate Gingrich Wants a
"Conversation" About Medicare
May 16, 2011 08:39AM - A Calm, Rational Conversation
April 14, 2011 04:46PM - The Rich Win. Always
March 26, 2011 05:36PM - Socialism - It's Not Just For
Crackpots Any More
March 19, 2011 04:08PM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “Whatever works.”
May 17, 2011 08:41AM - “Excellent point,
Elijah!”
May 16, 2011 06:23PM - “Everybody keeps telling
me how "smart" Gangrene is but
if
this is the b…”
May 16, 2011 08:41AM - “Do you think she's being
sarcastic?”
April 14, 2011 04:48PM - “Time. Is. Running.
Out.”
March 26, 2011 05:39PM
Mick Arran's Links
- Blogs Worth Checking
- Savannah Regional Central Labor Council
- The Sideshow (Avedon Carol)
- Unclaimed Territory (Glenn Greenwald)
- Robert Reich's Blog
- Barbara's Blog (Barbara Ehrenreich)
- Norwegianity
- Crooks and Liars
- Walled-In Pond
- Mine Blogs
- Arranology
- Fact-esque
- mickarran's blog (Savannah Morning News)
- Series
- Siren Song
- The Bush Cult
- Dump the Dems
Aunt Harriet's Revenge: Episode 6
wheels within wheels
by Ponsonby Q Braithwaite
My efforts to talk her out of this madness were about as effective as burning banana skins to cure cancer. She was determined that I was going to tramp along forthwith to the wilds of the Upper Hudson, brave the dagger-like teeth… Read full post »
Bernanke Fires Latest Shot in War Against Social Security
The signs have been around for quite a while that Corporate America, Wall Street, and the Investor Class were all going to work together to use the massive Bush deficit as an excuse to cut back and then kill Social Security. Recently Pres Obama joined the killers by first making
… Read full post »It's the Greed, Stupid
Alabama has been a reliably conservative, even ultraconservative, state for decades. Pro-business, pro-privatization, anti-regulatory, anti-tax. In Northport, the McDonalds where Ronnie Rayguns stopped for a Big Mac is a major tourist attraction. Maybe the only one. Its two wingnut Senators, Di/
… Read full post »The Future of Health Insurance After "Reform"
It is important to remember as you read what follows that the Democrat healthcare "Reform" bill is based on the model Massachusetts adopted in '06. It has the same weaknesses and flaws. That makes it a viable predictor of our future as a nation with regard to health insurance except
… Read full post »We Can Do It If We Want To, We Just Don't Want To
OK, so Krugman isn't wild about Dodd's banking reform bill. Nevertheless he is bending over backwards to make it sound better than it is.
… Read full post »[H]ow good is the legislation on the table, the bill put together by Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut?
Not good enough. It's a good-faith effort to
Moody's Hip-Deep in Wall Street Conspiracy
Investors depend on ratings sercvices to give them timely warning if a stock or bond isn't really worth the price being asked for it. The biggest and most prestigious bond-rating service in the country is (or was before last year's revelations) Moody's. Prior to, say, the Enron fiasco, most people
… Read full post »Fiction Friday: Aunt Harriet's Revenge, Episode 5
She snorted. “Kuala Lumpur, my sainted butt. Want to try again?”
I sighed in abject surrender. My ammunition dump was empty. “Alright, Auntie, lay it on me. But I’m making no promises to
… Read full post »Thursday Palin: The Legacy of Teh Cuda
Have you no sense of decency, madam, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?
Having reworked that famous accusation for Teh Cuda, I might add
that you can never have something "left" when you didn't have it to
begin with.
As in: it appears that Sarahcuda's time
… Read full post »In-the-Tank Media Laud Geithner's Citigroup Scam
The NYT, WaPo, Bloomberg, everybody is breaking their journalistic arms slapping Wall Street Timmy on the back for his decision to sell Citigroup for what he - and they - are calling a significant "profit". Pay attention to that word.… Read full post »
Report on Project Free Labor
From the Desk of: PS Winterhalter, Dir Worker Management
To: John Engler, Pres & CEO, National Association of Manufacturers
Re: Update Report on Project Free Labor
Dear John:
The latest statistics are in from our most recent study and I am pleased to report that Project Free Labor has taken… Read full post »
Where Do Liberals Go Now That The Dems Are Pubs?
I was going to write a post on Obama's latest attempt to force reluctant banks to honor the Honor System Law about re-aligning underwater mortgages and saving people's homes but it turns out Saturn Smith already did it, probably better than I would have. Go read it.
Instead, I decided to start… Read full post »
Fiction Friday: Aunt Harriet's Revenge, Episode 4

kuala lumpur, here i come
by Ponsonby Q Braithwaite
She recovered quickly.
“Schemes, Nephew?” she asked, scowling in disbelief. “Was that the word I heard you use?”
Whenever she calls me “Nephew” I know I should be on my way to the neares
… Read full post »Resolution Authority: This Ain't Your Father's Reform
Mike Konczal at Rortybomb is still looking at Dodd's Senate Banking Reform Bill. In comparing it to Barney Frank's House version, he finds a few significant differences. One of them is the way they handle prevention: Barney's does (barely), Dodd's doesn't.
… Read full post »Picture if you had a woodsh
Corporate Bluster Dept: M's of the U Threats All Hogwash
You may remember not too long ago when the Masters of the Universe were insisting that they just had to have their bonuses and their GIGANTIC salaries because otherwise they just wouldn't be able to work in banking any more, or get anybody else
Kabuki Wins! Next Up: More Kabuki (Updated)
As carefully choreographed as it was, there was still some slight fear in the insurance community that healthcare "reform" might actually end up reforming something. This morning the NYT Business section was crowing with delight that insurers had dodged a bullet… Read full post »
Fiction Friday: Aunt Harriet's Revenge, Episode 3
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The door burst open with a thud and Aunt Harriet strode into my suddenly diminutive abode like Godzilla looking for a village to stomp. The fact that she was smiling as she did it sent shivers
… Read full post »Make-Believe "Reform" All Over the Place
There are 3 huge bills in the pipeline now, and what they all have in common is that none of them - NOT ONE - is going to change much of anything. It's important to remember that.
Healthcare "Reform"… Read full post »
Liberals to WH on Jobs Plan: "Are you Kidding?"
The pressure building up in Congressional liberals who've been asked to swallow Bushian policies by the barrelful in the name of "party unity" is beginning to reach critical mass, it seems. When economist Christina Romer, chair of the president's Council of… Read full post »
Financial "Reform" Will Stumble Over Enforcement
The path to passage of the financial "reform" bill is fraught with characteristic obstacles provided by the usual suspects. The bankers don't want to be regulated and the BD/GOP wants whatever the bankers want. Now that the two bills, Barney Frank's… Read full post »
Obama's Education Plan: Good-Bye to NCLB But Hello to What?
old new lefty, an ex-teacher, thinks Obama's education plan (TBA tomorrow) presages Obama finally finding his feet as a progressive.
I know that many...have given up hope on President Obama. Yes, we are all disappointed in
… Read full post »
The GOP Has a Lot of Ideas, It's Just That They're All Bad
There's a meme going around the left side of the blogosphere that has spread so far it sometimes even makes the corporate-conservative MSM, and that is that the GOP concentrates on kill-all obstructionism because it's completely barren intellectually and doesn't have… Read full post »
Fiction Friday: Aunt Harriet's Revenge, Episode 2
a flock of trouble this way comes

by Ponsonby Q Braithewaite
In the pantheon of Aunts Who Plague Me, Aunt Harriet barely merits Honorable Mention. In fact, she’s fairly mellow as Braithwaite Aunts go. She doesn’t yell or threaten to haul platoons of exorcists t… Read full post »
Obama Embraces the RW Fantasy of Massive Medicare Fraud
Barack Obama’s Blue Dog Presidency took another step toward Bushist crackpottery yesterday when he actively and enthusiastically reached out to Bushist crackpots by embracing a theme almost as close to their dear little paranoid hearts as voter fraud and SocSec fraud: the supposedly massiv… Read full post »
On the Bright Side: Barney's Being Frank
Of course it might turn out to be nothing but a new wrinkle in the old shadow dance but it's just barely possible that some lib-Dems are not only awake to the conservative menace in their own party, never mind the suicidal GoOPers, but… Read full post »
Financial Reform Confirmed As Kabuki Non-Reform. Surprised?
Well, it appears to be official: the financial industry's highly paid lobbyists have managed to remove all financial reform from the financial reform bill. We have this on the good authority of the Washington Post, which was crowing about it on Sunday. (No, I… Read full post »
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