How To Win The War On Wall Street? Get Money Out Of Politics.

In case you've been out of the media loop this weekend - or frankly, even if you have been paying attention to much of the mainstream media - you may have only begun to hear about the Occupy Wall Street protests currently happening in New York, and beginning to spread around the country. We've said for some time that these kinds of events were likely to happen here in America and, once again, we're sadly correct.

While we're not in favor of mob rule, or thinly veiled attempts by police to cage, trap, and arrest protestors with legitimate grievances, we tend to agree with the protestors that it's high time someone focused on the white-collar criminals on Wall Street. While these "masters of the universe" have been sipping champagne from their balconies as they point and laugh at the Occupy protestors, they've been continuing to use the letter of America's economic laws to gut the spirit of those same laws - just as they've gutted the spirits, rights, and bank accounts of America's middle and working classes.

The methods of payback suggested by some - like comedienne Roseanne Barr, who said over the weekend that bankers and Wall Street Types should be guillotined for the damage they've done to our economy - are extreme. That kind of violent rhetoric, while it may feel good, really has no place in a modern, civilized discussion in the media.

That said, we fully agree that retribution of some kind is not only likely by the aggrieved in America's working classes, but warranted.

The fact is, while the myriad different factions that seem to upmake up the Occupy Wall Street contingent are using a somewhat ineffective decision-making method, and they've yet to officially coalesce on a single goal, they have no lack of ideas. Some of their ideas have been echoed by mainstream media figures, like imposing a financial transactions tax, or closing the carried interest loopholes (which allow the ultra-rich to effectively put off paying income taxes on their investments until the third Monday of never).

We think the Occupy movement should listen to the message that some progressive media and labor leaders have been trying to guide the Occupy protestors towards - to get money out of politics.

Even the most insane members of the Tea Party seemed to understand that a simple, basic message was needed to unite all their various factions. We're certain that the millions of dollars of right-wing corporate astroturf money and professional political and media guidance helped the Tea Partiers come up with their primary message, that Americans were taxed enough already (T.E.A.). While the facts continue to prove the Tea Partiers wrong on that issue, the lesson that can be learned from their movement is a basic rule of effective mass communications: have a simple message and stick with it.

That message should be "get money out of politics."

As we've pointed out more than once, even Warren Buffett has acknowledged multiple times that, "There’s been class warfare for the last 20 years, and my class has won." As Buffett has elaborated, his class has won because they've basically bought the laws and legislators, on all levels, that have given the wealthy an unfair advantage over the other 98% of Americans.

That unfair advantage could be significantly leveled if the Occupy protestors followed the message we’ve mentioned above, to “get money out of politics.” To that end, former Wall Street trader, and corporate media figure Dylan Ratigan and other media figures - including our own webmaster - have begun supporting a constitutional amendment to do just that.

Getting the money out of politics won't be easy to do well or correctly. Then again, nothing worth doing is.

Friday Funday: It's Fall. Time For Battle! Grab Your Spoon.

Even though the weather isn't entirely autumnal in many places, it's obvious to our entire staff that fall is coming.

It's not just the chilly evenings in DC and Lincoln, or the trees that have begun (barely) to change colors. Major League Baseball has reached the end of its regular season, and most college football and volleyball teams - including our Nebraska Cornhuskers - are getting into their conference schedules.

We're even doing a little traveling, as we often do in the Fall.

We won't be in Madison, Wisconsin this weekend though, as we know a great many HuskerNutz will. We've got a few friends in Madison and we know it to be a welcoming and wonderful town (even if Wisconsin's loopy Governor isn't always so welcoming or wonderful), so if you're going to see the game this weekend, plan on having a good time, and enjoying a great game.

The match we're looking to see this weekend isn't one that ESPN's Gameday is likely to carry (though they might, now that we've mentioned it ). We wouldn't want Kirk Herbstreit to get his suit sticky, anyway.

The match we're wanting to sink our teeth into this weekend is between the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The weapon of choice between these two titans?

Ice cream.

As the Lincoln Journal Star published Thursday, it seems that Wisconsin also has a dairy store that makes ice cream. Apparently, they think they have what it takes to beat the best that Nebraska churns out. [Yes, that was a dairy pun. No, we're not apologizing.]

We've previously mentioned our friends at the UNL Dairy Store, on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's East Campus. They've got some of our favorite flavors of ice cream (try the Maple Bacon - seriously), great cheese, and they also host the culinary offerings of the legendary P.O. Pears at the Dairy Store once a month during good weather. We've been acquainted with Dairy Store manager Bryan Scherbarth for many years, and we have to say - if it was a fair battle, on neutral territory we think Bryan and his staff at the UNL Dairy Store would win, hands down.

This weekend's event is going to take place at Madison, however - so we're asking those HuskerNutz traveling to the game to make a major sacrifice for their team...

Go eat Scarlet and Cream ice cream in Madison, at their version of the dairy store, Babcock Hall.

We know, being asked to eat ice cream you love in a strange place is a difficult task. Still, to show your Husker pride, we're asking you to show up for Bryan and the gang and help Nebraska to a UNL Dairy Store victory in Wisconsin.

Also, we'd like the football and volleyball teams to win this weekend. However, if we can't prevail at  either of those, we'll take the win at the Ice Cream Bowl.

Here's to a sweet victory this weekend, either way.

The Difference Between Improbable And Impossible

It should be no surprise to anyone that the right wing media threw visual, audio, and printed garbage at the President again yesterday, as he visited a school in the DC metro area. It should also be no surprise to see the shuffling of GOP 2012 Presidential candidates in multiple polls that came out yesterday.

We don't mean to sound jaded, but the facts regarding who is doing what - or NOT doing what - in Washington are very clear.

On Wednesday, President Obama was just getting back from a swing through the Western United States, where he made several campaign fundraising stops, and also visited young students and pushed for his jobs bill. Instead of heading to Capitol Hill to work with Congress - which he couldn't do, since BOTH the House and Senate are on vacation again - the President went to a DC high school, and gave the kids there his annual back-toschool message.

He could have told the kids what most of them already know - that even if they do go on to college or tech school, there may not be jobs available in their field of study when they get out. Instead, President Obama remained positive and told the kids to work hard, get good grades, and go on to almost any kind of post-high school formal education, from trade schools, to certifications, to community and four-year colleges.

The President's message was considered by some to also be a subtle jobs pitch - which is a good thing for a nation desperate to get its people back to work.

What's more, a group of 34 economists, after looking at the President's American Jobs Plan are now saying the $447 billion dollar plan would do exactly what the President says it would - help avoid a deeper recession, and spur job growth across the country.

It's obvious the President has gotten the message from the American people, on jobs and the economy - and he's trying to act on it.

Meanwhile, his opposition - the Republicans in Congress - haven't really been saying anything -- because, as we already mentioned, they're on vacation again.

The Republicans who'd like to become President, on the other hand, are still on the campaign trail - but they aren't really answering the President speech for speech on job specifics. They're busy swapping spots in the polls, apologizing for not being mean enough for the GOP base, while making sure not to be too mean so that they don't scare away the soccer Moms.

Of the two near-sisyphean tasks facing the Republican Party and President Obama, if we were forced to take one up, we'd actually prefer the economic rock President Obama has to try and push up the metaphorical hill. At least at some point, business leaders will realize they're not going to get a tax-free world. They'll look at the money they're losing by pointlessly fighting the President, and give up their no-win crusade, for a sensible, realistic alternative.

We're not sure if the current Republican Party will ever be able to find a single candidate for President they can all agree on - let alone a candidate that anyone not inside the GOP would be willing to vote for.

Sadly for Republicans, they don't have an unlimited period of time before the 2012 election cycle ramps up - and with Florida throwing a monkey wrench into the 2012 GOP primary calendar, Republicans look like they'll have even less time than they usually do to figure out who they want to pick as their nominee.

To us, the choice of who has the easier task seems fairly obvious.