The great depression Allowing it to be called a “bailout” even after changes were made to make it less so was probably the first mistake. Assistant News Editor Nora Ankrum tells us to look on the bright side: The last Great Depression, she says, brought us some great things: gunnysack fashion, dance marathons, newsie caps, Hoovervilles (which she acknowledges are not good things but still insists that she will invest in them), and The Grapes of Wrath. I added screwball comedies to the list. Likewise, this economic crisis has brought the entire country to one particularly pleasurable realization that so many gay people have known all along: Barney Frank is one brilliant SOB.
God, I love Barney Frank. The Massachusetts congressman and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and, as such, a major player in the current bail-out crisis on Capitol Hill, says this about John McCain’s chest puffery and panic regarding the financial mess:
“It’s the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football … or Marys.” The jolly poof then goes on to compare the Bush administration and Secretary Paulson’s resistance to conceding executive pay caps or “golden parachutes” to “trying to force the grand rabbi of Jerusalem to eat bacon on Yom Kippur.” Thank you, Barney Frank, for reppin’ the GLBT with some serious funny.
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This article appears in October 3 • 2008.