Freedom & Honesty

How Ugly/Violent will this Get

2010-03-27T13:41:00.007-04:00

AP said Thursday that at least 10 congressional Democrats now have reported threats and menacing harassment, including incidents at their offices in New York, Arizona and Kansas. Others, including antiabortion healthcare supporter Bart Stupak, have received death threats, and an undisclosed number of lawmakers have been given increased police protection. Into that climate of real danger, Cantor inserted his own easily disproven claim of violence. And that's not all he did: He accused Democrats of increasing the risk of violence against themselves by complaining about it. "By ratcheting up the rhetoric, some will only inflame these situations to dangerous levels," Cantor claimed. "Enough is enough. It has to stop."

Palin this week faced criticism after posting a map on her Facebook page that had circles and cross hairs over 20 Democratic districts. She also sent a tweet saying, "Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!"

from Salon.com

Disintegration of a Civilization, in Real Time

2010-03-11T08:35:00.004-05:00

The Fire Department New York is estimating it might have to close 62 fire companies and lay off more than 1,000 firefighters and the board that governs the once flush-with-cash Kansas City school district is taking the unusual and contentious step of shuttering almost half its schools.

Fire Departments and Schools?!?!

Am I watching the complete disintegration of a civilization right in front of my eyes? Are these really our priorities? Our morals? Spend money on one illegal war and one that is impossible to win (why are we in Afghanistan?) and give $700 billion + to banks who were irresponsible and went bankrupt. The banks, with our tax dollars, then raise rates and continue to kick us out of our homes, then give big their top brass huge bonuses!

If this were a movie script someone handed me four years ago, I would say totally implausible.

Equal Rights for All American's May Soon Come

2010-03-10T12:46:00.005-05:00

Star litigators Ted Olson and David Boies, best known for opposing each other in the case Bush v. Gore, have teamed up to challenge California’s Proposition 8. I guess if the issue is obvious enough, bipartisanship can be accomplished. I hope they can restore civil rights (they say human rights) to gays in California!

The Right Shines

2010-03-02T16:48:00.003-05:00

On January 26, 2010, O'Keefe and three other conservative activists were arrested and charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony in connection with an incident at the New Orleans office of Senator Mary Landrieu.

The Brooklyn district attorney announced the local ACORN office there hadn't engaged in any criminal conduct, the dirt-bag who taped ACORN was arrested by the U.S. Marshals and the FBI for allegedly trying to interfere with the phones of the New Orleans office of Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, and the carpet bagger Harold Ford was run out of New York. How long will we let the right harm this country?

Now the shenanigans from Republican Senator Jim Bunning from Kentucky, who Time magazine called one of the nations 5 worst senators in 2006.

Americans, this is your country, not these clowns in political office. Drive these madpeople out of politics.

Anthony Weiner is an American Hero

2010-02-25T14:36:00.000-05:00

Just when I was about to give up hope on politicians, not just the Party of No (Gods Own Party), but the Democrats as well, Anthony Weiner steps up to the plate and tries to defend the American people. Wow, an elected official who cares about the people.

We Hurt Our Own For Profits

2010-02-24T10:24:00.001-05:00

Tax payers subsidize the very corn syrup that is making us obese. 35% of our children are obese or overweight. Seems our laws and subsidies favor profits over our health. I believe we need to reexamine our priorities.

New Yorkers Beware of Harold Ford Jr.

2010-01-14T16:24:00.000-05:00

Not a Single Republican Vote to give Citizens Health Reform

2009-12-24T13:06:00.001-05:00

The gift from Republicans on this Christmas Eve: I've got mine, screw you... Merry Christmas!

I knew the Stock Market was Evil, but didn't know this Evil was Behind it

2009-12-22T11:53:00.001-05:00

This Hipocrate was Almost our Prez

2009-12-20T19:43:00.001-05:00

Flashback: McCain Refused To Grant 30 Seconds Of Time During Iraq War Debate

Yesterday, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), acting on the orders of the Senate leadership, refused to grant Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) “an additional moment” to continue speaking on the Senate floor after his 10 minutes expired. Franken’s objection caused Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to groan about how Franken’s move was unprofessional, unprecedented, and disrespectful:

McCAIN: I’ve been around here 20-some years. First time I’ve ever seen a member denied an extra minute or two to finish his remarks. … I just haven’t seen it before myself. And I don’t like it. And I think it harms the comity of the Senate not to allow one of our members at least a minute. I’m sure that time is urgent here, but I doubt that it would be that urgent.

Unfortunately, McCain’s memory is suffering. In fact, McCain has engaged in the very same behavior that he was criticizing Franken for yesterday.

On October 10, 2002 — just ahead of the looming mid-term elections — the Senate rushed a debate on a war authorization giving President Bush the power to use force against Iraq. The resolution ultimately passed the Senate after midnight on an early Friday morning by a vote of 77-23.

During the course of the frenzied floor debate, then-Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) spoke in favor of an amendment offered by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) that would have restricted Bush’s constitutional powers to wage war against Iraq. After a minute and a half, Dayton ran out of time, prompting this exchange:

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator’s time has expired.

Mr. DAYTON. I ask for unanimous consent that I have 30 seconds more to finish my remarks.

Mr. McCAIN. I object.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/18/mccain-hypocrisy-franken/

"I've got mine..."

2009-11-16T15:33:00.005-05:00

I don't have health insurance. My dentist just emailed me about a December cleaning. I emailed back and said I don't have insurance and I need to cancel the cleaning.

Friday I had a dizzy spell. It was so strong I had to sit down as I was afraid I might fall down. I was too meet someone and had to cancel our plans. I had the dizzy spell again this morning. My action to this possible health crisis: cross my fingers.

A Harvard Medical School study released in September found that 45,000 Americans die annually because they lack health insurance, 2.5 times more than was estimated in a 2002 study.

The National Association of Free Clinics, a nonprofit organization started to help third world countries, is hosting a clinic today in New Orleans, USA. They estimate that 80% of the people they will see have a job but insufficient health insurance.

For those who feel "I've got health insurance, figure your own sh%t out" I say, "it could be you one day." Attempt empathy and compassion. Here are some other people with situations worse than dizzy spells.

Keep America Racist

2009-11-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

A former classmate of mine, whos Facebook postings seem extreme to me, told me yesterday that she ONLY watches FOX news... then it became clear as day.

Lou Dobbs, who many speculate left CNN (or was forced out) because of his racist views, said ""Over the past six months, it has become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us..." That "change" Lou, is that American may actually be evolving away from the racist views that it was founded on.

August 14, 2009 Dobbs, "You know, it's just killing the left wing in this country that they can't force CNN to fire me."

Adiós Lou Dobbs

2009-11-12T13:44:00.002-05:00

Over 100,000 people signed one of many petitions to get Lou Dobbs off of CNN. Now he is gone.

Our Service People Deserve Better

2009-11-11T12:33:00.002-05:00

A new study estimates four times as many US Army veterans died last year because they lacked health insurance than the total number of US soldiers who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the same period. A research team at Harvard Medical School says 2,266 veterans under the age of sixty-five died in 2008 because they were uninsured.

Read more here

When Will the Teabaggers & Congresspeople Wake Up?

2009-11-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

Teabaggers Defeated

2009-11-09T14:43:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Democrat Bill Owens for defeating Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and their extreme right-wing 'tea party' candidate Doug Hoffman in the NY-23 Special Election.

Boot Lieberman!

2009-10-30T11:32:00.002-04:00

You may have heard the news. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is threatening to help Republicans block a vote on health care reform if the bill includes a public health insurance option.

But when reporters asked Lieberman if he'd be willing to lose his powerful committee chairmanship as a consequence, he said: "Oh, God no."

What's our answer? Hell yeah!

You and 90,000 others signed our petition to Democratic senators asking them to strip leadership titles from Lieberman (or others) if they block reform. Can you help us get to 100,000?

Click HERE to sign

Who Has "Done Nothing?"

2009-10-29T16:17:00.004-04:00

Is it possible, that in nine short months, President Barack Obama and his administration have turned around the second worst economy in our history, the one George W. Bush left as part of his legacy? To those who say Obama has done nothing - Beck, Limbaugh, Coulter, Malkin - I beg you to become part of the solution or get out of the way. You have been proven very wrong. And you continue to hurt this country.

This from the BBC.com

Recovery ends US recession

The US economy grew at an annual pace of 3.5% between July and September, its first expansion in more than a year.

The US economy pulls out of recession with faster than expected, 3.5% annualised growth in the last quarter.

The growth was helped by a substantial government spending plan, including a scrappage scheme to boost car sales.

ACORN better for Americans than congress, and less corrupt

2009-10-28T13:50:00.002-04:00

If we want to stop corruption and misuse of tax dollars, we should investigate and perhaps defund congress, not ACORN.

Do something about it HERE

FOX president R. Ailes finally admits FOX is not news!

2009-10-22T06:00:00.000-04:00

Democrats often appear on FOX in hopes of reaching out to conservative viewers. But FOX cuts off their mic, distorts what they say, or runs biased headlines at the bottom of the screen.⁴ In the end, Democrats always lose on FOX.

FOX insists there's a difference between its news shows and its right-wing opinion shows with Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and others.

But in August, FOX's so-called news shows "aired 22 clips of town hall meeting attendees opposed" to Obama's health care plans and zero in support. CNN and MSNBC were more fair and balanced.⁵

In another "news" story, FOX passed off a GOP press release as its own research—typo and all.⁶

FOX executives now describe the channel as "the voice of opposition" to Obama's agenda. FOX president Roger Ailes—a former adviser to Nixon, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush—said, "I see this as the Alamo."⁷

But a Capitol Hill newspaper reports, "In the House and Senate, Democrats who pledged to follow the administration's near-boycott of Fox were hard to find, although many expressed support for Obama's stance."⁸

Democrats will only find the courage to join Obama if they hear from enough concerned voters. Sign this petition to ask Sen. Schumer and Sen. Gillibrand and Rep. Maloney to stay off FOX. Clicking here will add your name:

http://civic.moveon.org/foxobama/o.pl?id=17603-9815853-kyl2jQx&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Noah, Nita, Michael, Kat, and the rest of the team

Sources:
1. "Fox News viewers overwhelmingly misinformed about health care reform proposals," Think Progress, August 19, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=84884&id=17603-9815853-kyl2jQx&t=6

"Fox News Signs On To Tea Party Agenda, Aggressively Promotes Anti-Obama Protests," Think Progress, April 10, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=84885&id=17603-9815853-kyl2jQx&t=8

"Beck-led Fox News "czar" witch hunt moves to ridiculous smear of Anita Dunn," Media Matters for America, October 16, 2009
http://mediamatters.org/research/200910160004

2. "White House: Fox News 'a wing of the Republican Party'," New York Daily News, October 12, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=84886&id=17603-9815853-kyl2jQx&t=9

3. "The Battle Between the White House and Fox News," The New York Times, October 17, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=84898&id=17603-9815853-kyl2jQx&t=10

4. "Outfoxed: Fox News technique: cut their mic!" Brave New Films, May 11, 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTkFU4MtubU

"The Case Against FOX," FOXAttacks.com
http://foxattacks.com/facts.php

5. "Fox News' town hall coverage amplifies opponents of health care reform, ignores supporters," Media Matters for America, September 8, 2009
http://mediamatters.org/print/research/200909080004

6. "Fox passes off GOP press release as its own research—typo and all," Media Matters for America, February 10, 2009
http://mediamatters.org/research/200902100019

7. "'Voice of the opposition': Fox News openly advocates against Democratic Congress, White House," Media Matters for America, September 11, 2009
http://mediamatters.org/reports/200909110016

8. "Congressional Democrats defend the White House's snub of Fox News," The Hill, October 14, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=84899&id=17603-9815853-kyl2jQx&t=11

brought to you by MoveOn.org

What Are the Benefits of Benifits?

2009-10-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

I have an aunt who, whenever I told her about a new job I had started, her first question would be, "do you get benefits?" I now realize how devoid of meaning that concern of hers really is.

Medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy, according to a Harvard University study, which also showed that more than 75% of those who declared bankruptcy because of mounting medical bills had health insurance at the start of their illness.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Health-Insurance-Bankruptcy---A-Common-Dilemma&id=1085936
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5530Y020090604

So it amazes me that the majority of people who I talk to who are against reform or a public option or single payer, are people with insurance who feel, "why should my tax dollars go to help someone else." I guess their ignorance and selfishness could very well be a nasty revenge. This is not the America I want to live in.

Government for the People?

2009-10-20T16:48:00.001-04:00

Is your healthcare money going towards your health?

2009-10-20T11:32:00.002-04:00

Its really interesting to see who is proud to be a Republican these days

2009-10-19T12:25:00.001-04:00

Could Repulicans Stoop Any Lower?

2009-10-17T14:05:00.002-04:00

Republican congress people are no longer being controlled by corporations, they are now in the pocket of the Devil himself. Nothing else can explain 30 congress people voting against Al Franken's first bill. This is truly amazing!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Rape-Nuts

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
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Ron Paul Interview

Don't think the lies are working Repulicans

2009-10-12T21:29:00.004-04:00

"Something has happened here that we all agree with the Taliban and Iran about and that is he doesn't deserve the award." Oh Limbaugh, why do you hate America so? And who are the "we all" you talk about? Obama is one of the most popular living human beings around the world and still popular in the USA despite the mountain of Republican lies and obstruction.

This from the Wall Street Journal: "...Republicans registered their lowest approval ratings since President Barack Obama was elected: 64% of voters said they disapprove of the way congressional Republicans are doing their job, including 42% of Republican voters. Voters also continue to trust the president over Republicans by a 47%-31% margin when it comes to health care."

"In the absence of any new leadership and an unwillingness to put forward any new ideas, the Republican Party has become the party of cranks and conspiracy theorists," Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan says.

FOX knows how to please their racist/sexist audience

2009-10-07T11:22:00.002-04:00

Radio legend Don Imus premiered on Fox Business Network yesterday, and according to ratings obtained by Mediaite, the show was a big hit.

Here’s a look.

Imus’ show got an average of 177,000 total viewers yesterday morning from 6-9amET. The last time numbers were reported for FBN, their business day (5am-9pmET), the average was around 21,000. Imus’ total viewer figure was at least 1000% better than the previous program, Money For Breakfast.

At 7amET, the show had its best hour, averaging 202,000 (Glenn Beck was a guest that hour). Other big name guests yesterday included Sen. John McCain and Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi.

read more at mediaite.com

Would Jesus be a Capitalist?

2009-10-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

I pose a simple question...: "Is capitalism a sin?" I go on to ask, "Would Jesus be a capitalist?" Would he belong to a hedge fund? Would he sell short? Would he approve of a system that has allowed the richest 1% to have more financial wealth than the 95% under them combined?
I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what's left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother's and sister's keepers and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you'd have a hard time finding the pin code to the pearly gates.
I guess that's bad news for us Americans. Here's how we define "Blessed Are the Poor": We now have the highest unemployment rate since 1983. There's a foreclosure filing once every 7.5 seconds. 14,000 people every day lose their health insurance.
At the same time, Wall Street bankers ("Blessed Are the Wealthy"?) are amassing more and more loot -- and they do their best to pay little or no income tax (last year Goldman Sachs' tax rate was a mere 1%!). Would Jesus approve of this? If not, why do we let such an evil system continue? It doesn't seem you can call yourself a Capitalist AND a Christian -- because you cannot love your money AND love your neighbor when you are denying your neighbor the ability to see a doctor just so you can have a better bottom line. That's called "immoral" -- and you are committing a sin when you benefit at the expense of others.

You can read Michael Moore's entire open letter to Christians here

ill profit

2009-10-05T12:28:00.000-04:00

The examples never end. The Money Vampires are real.

Finally a real Politician

2009-10-03T16:57:00.000-04:00

Here is a Congressman who is doing his job: looking out for the best interests of his constituents and the American people as opposed to contributing to Corporate excess. Wow, Crazy. Thank you Alan Grayson.

All Michael wants is democracy... in America!

2009-10-01T16:00:00.000-04:00

The American Dream may be gone, but at least we can laugh. Michael Moore's new film opens tomorrow. Many are saying it is his best to date. He is saying it may be his last.

Our 'Health Care' is Sick!

2009-09-29T15:25:00.000-04:00

The Shame in Breaking Records

As I listened to 14 month old Analeigha Rivera's tiny heart in the Reliant Center in Houston, I could hear the murmur interrupting her regular rhythm as blood swished through a hole between the main chambers of the heart. An echocardiogram confirmed the diagnosis, so I could show her mother Victoria exactly where the problem was and explained to her that if little Analeigha didn't get supervised care by a pediatric cardiologist, we might miss our window to prevent life-threatening damage. I looked in her mother's tear-stained eyes and heard the same story that hundreds of others have recounted to me -- Victoria had a job but had lost her insurance. So Analeigha had nowhere to go. After I explained to her that we had resources on-site to help plan the next steps, one of my staff took me aside and told me we had just broken the record for the most people seen in a free clinic in one day. That's when my spirit sank a little. 

Read the rest of what Dr. Mehmet Oz, M.D. had to say about the lack of health care in the USA here the the Huffington Post

CNN the new FOX?

2009-09-28T10:39:00.001-04:00

Most Americans Don't Believe GOP Lies

2009-09-24T11:08:00.000-04:00

Salon.com article by Gene Lyons Sept. 24, 2009

"I can't tell you how many foreign leaders who are heads of center-right governments say to me, I don't understand why people would call you socialist. In my country, you'd be considered a conservative." -- President Obama, Sept. 20, 2009

There have always been two basic arguments for health insurance reform: one based in morality, the other self-interest. For a documented 45,000 persons to die prematurely in America each year because they can't afford proper care is a national disgrace. Almost everybody apart from "conservatives" whose moral imagination is limited to judging other people's sex lives understands that.

The current cruel, wasteful system is indefensible. Surely that's why almost three-quarters of physicians polled by the New England Journal of Medicine favor genuine reform. About 63 percent of doctors surveyed nationwide support a public option; 10 percent would prefer a single-payer system, basically Medicare for everybody.

For all the hullabaloo, it appears alarmist rhetoric hasn't scared ordinary people as much as it has cable TV anchors. A Bloomberg poll asked which right-wing objections people found legitimate, and which were "scare tactics." Basically, voters rejected GOP rhetoric almost 2-to-1. About 63 percent think Sarah Palin's "death panels" are a distortion, versus 30 percent who fear them. It's 61 to 33 percent on the claim that health reform means government-paid abortions, 58 to 37 percent on the false claim that illegal aliens will get subsidized insurance, etc.

In short, hardcore opposition is mainly confined to the Republican "base," itself increasingly confined to the South. Why has Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, started making conciliatory noises? Consider these remarkable statistics from a Research 2000 poll: Voters in the Northeast overwhelmingly dislike congressional Republicans. The party's favorability rating there is a minuscule 7, yes 7, percent. Moreover, it's a paltry 13 percent in the Midwest; 14 percent in the West. Only in the South is the GOP politically relevant, with a 50 to 37 percent advantage over Democrats.

read all of Gene Lyons's article here at Salon.com

Hollywood Does Make Everything Clearer

2009-09-22T14:04:00.000-04:00

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

"Satire" more true than "real news"

2009-09-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

"SPECIAL EDITION" NEW YORK POST from The Yes Men on Vimeo.

"WE'RE SCREWED": MEDIA HEIST BLANKETS CITY WITH "SPECIAL EDITION" NEW YORK POST
Tabloid Tells Truth About Climate Change and How It Will Affect City, World

Early this morning, nearly a million New Yorkers were stunned by the appearance of a "special edition" New York Post blaring headlines that their city could face deadly heat waves, extreme flooding, and other lethal effects of global warming within the next few decades. The most alarming thing about it: the news came from an official City report.

Distributed by over 2000 volunteers throughout New York City, the paper has been created by The Yes Men and a coalition of activists as a wake-up call to action on
climate change. It appears one day before a UN summit where Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will push 100 world leaders to make serious commitments to reduce carbon
emissions in the lead-up to the Copenhagen climate conference in December. Ban has said that the world has "less than 10 years to halt (the) global rise in
greenhouse gas emissions if we are to avoid catastrophic consequences for people and the planet," adding that Copenhagen is a "once-in-a-generation opportunity."

Although the 32-page New York Post is a fake, everything in it is 100% true, with all facts carefully checked by a team of editors and climate change experts.

"This could be, and should be, a real New York Post," said Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men. "Climate change is the biggest threat civilization has ever faced, and it should be in the headlines of every paper, every day until we solve the problem."

The fake Post's cover story ("We're Screwed") reports the frightening conclusions of a blue-ribbon panel of scientists commissioned by the mayor's office to determine the potential effects of climate change on the City. That report was released in February of this year, but received very little press at the time. Other lead articles describe the Pentagon's alarmed response to global warming
("Clear & Present Disaster"), the U.S. government's sadly minuscule response to the crisis ("Congress Cops Out on Climate"), China's alternative energy program ("ChinaÕs Green Leap Forward Overtakes U.S."), and how if the US doesn't quickly pass a strong climate bill, the crucial Copenhagen climate talks this December could be a "Flopenhagen."

Another ad promotes civil disobedience, encouraging readers to visit BeyondTalk.net and pledge to risk arrest in a planned global action November 30, just before the conference in Copenhagen.

"We need strong action on climate change," said David Solnit of Mobilization for Climate Justice West, one of the partners in BeyondTalk.net. "But history shows
that leaders act only when people take to the streets to demand it. That's what needs to happen now."

This paper is one of 2500 initiatives taking place in more than 130 countries as a response to the "Global Wake-up Call" on climate change. For more information, visit tcktcktck.org/wakeup

Blood is on my hands

2009-09-21T09:45:00.000-04:00

Israeli soldiers laugh as they bulldoze family shacks of non-Jews in Israel. Good chance that that bulldozer was funded with US tax payers money. Good chance it was made by a US corporation. There is little sicker to me than this. And it was done with my money. The "blood" is on my hands.

The Rise of Right Wing Fanatics

2009-09-17T10:19:00.000-04:00

Fanatic right-wing fear mongers are not unique to Fox. Pressure is on CNN to drop Lou Dobbs, who is not only a birther (spreads the idea that Obama was not born in the USA), but has come up with a conspiracy theory that illegal Mexican immigrants will spread leprosy throughout America. A certified nutter.

More on this at Huffington Post

Reason Returns (Stewart, not the ridiculous 9/12 stunt)

2009-09-15T12:31:00.000-04:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Mad Men

www.thedailyshow.com

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Healthcare Protests

Death Panels are Real and Now

2009-09-14T13:36:00.000-04:00

#1 in Tanks, #37 in Health Care

2009-09-13T11:50:00.000-04:00

Thanks Mark Z. for forwarding this to me

What is up with SC Politicians?

2009-09-11T11:12:00.000-04:00

First you have Gov. Mark Sanford telling his wife (and four kids) he is going on a solo hike on the Appalachian Trail but instead flies to Argentina to have an affair, now you have representative Joe Wilson redefining disrespect by yelling out at a joint meeting calling our president a liar.

First off, Obama did not lie about tax money not going to undocumented people if this bill passes, but to call out like this during a speech by any president is out of order. What is up with South Carolina? The GOP?

Joe Wilson's website was down yesterday, I'm assuming from people trying to email him about his uninformed outburst... or maybe it was even more ignorant, racist right wingers writing to congratulate him. I don't doubt anything in this time of Fox News/Palin/Townhall madness.

Listen to Another Smart Man

2009-09-11T09:00:00.000-04:00

Smart People are Talking, is America Listening?

2009-09-10T09:00:00.001-04:00

Here is 5 minutes and 18 seconds of what one of our smartest men and greatest journalists has to say about health care reform and the nuts fighting against it. Below is a bit of text from the transcript. The video is here.

...we've posted on our website an essay by the media scholar Henry Giroux. He describes the growing domination of hate radio as one of the crucial elements in a "culture of cruelty" increasingly marked by overt racism, hostility and disdain for others, coupled with a simmering threat of mob violence toward any political figure who believes health care reform is the most vital of safety nets, especially now that the central issue of life and politics is no longer about working to get ahead, but struggling simply to survive.

So here we are, wallowing in our dysfunction. Governed — if you listen to the rabble rousers — by a black nationalist from Kenya smuggled into the United States to kill Sarah Palin's baby. And yes, I could almost buy their belief that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, only I think he shipped them to Washington, where they've been recycled as lobbyists and trained in the alchemy of money laundering, which turns an old-fashioned bribe into a First Amendment right.

Open Letter to Fox Republicans

2009-09-08T18:04:00.000-04:00

Where have the intelligent conservatives gone? Have they all become Libertarians?

I saw a woman on TV crying because our president was going to talk to our school children. Please, get a grip. What exactly is at the core of your hatred for Obama? Really. Here are a few notable past presidents who personally addressed our school children:

President Regan 1988 (who talked to the children about the importance of cutting taxes!)
President Bush Sr. 1991
President Bush Jr. 2001 was reading to school kids on 9/11

Please, please, please stop listening to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, Michael Savage and Ann Coulter. They are misleading you and making you dumber. If you must bunker yourself down in purely partisan politics, read/listen to those on the right such as Tony Blankley and David Frum. These people are smart, not to mention sane. Hell, even Bill Kristol is better than the above mentioned nut cases, though his predictions are often wrong and I question his sanity sometimes.

Here is the real question to ask the Fox News Republicans: What are you really scared of? If you are a conservative, please try to answer these questions:

Do you believe Obama is a Nazi?
Do you believe Obama wishes the USA to be Socialist?
Do you believe Obama was born in Kenya?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, it is strongly in your best interest to stop watching all Fox programming except the Simpsons. The lunatic fringe on this network who are trying to delegitimize our president and publicly treat him with disrespect are not helping you or our country. Truthfully, I don't believe any of these people believe Obama is a Communist, Nazi, Muslim, Socialist or Kenyan. But these pundits use fear to make you hate this man.

What are they really afraid of? I ask you to try to answer that question. The answer seems simple to me.

How Many People are Dead Because of George W. Bush?

2009-09-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

Sheri Fink, reporter for ProPublica, and a doctor, had this piece published in the New York Times Magazine that on the cover said, “The floodwaters from Katrina had knocked out the power. Doctors and nurses were overstretched and overtired, patients were dying and the evacuation of many of the sickest seemed impossible. “Injecting drugs was one answer that some members of the medical staff decided on. Were they trying to comfort those patients—or hasten their [demise]?”

This article is about 18 patients who may have been "killed" with lethal injection by hospital attendants because hospital workers thought the patients could not be evacuated after the power went out because of floods after Katrina. Are the doctors and nurses responsible? Or is George Bush, who could barely be bothered to leave one of his many vacations (this one a month long) during one of America's worst "natural" disasters.

These excerpts are from Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! where the whole interview with Sheri Fink can be heard or read.

Sheri Finks article can be read on the New York Times Magazine website.

Cheney Clearly Ignored the US Constitution

2009-08-31T18:06:00.000-04:00

From Democracy Now!

Former Vice President Dick Cheney lashed out at the Obama administration Sunday over Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to investigate whether CIA operatives broke the law while interrogating prisoners. During an interview on Fox News Sunday, Cheney described the probe as politically motivated and said it "offends the hell out of me.”

Vice President Cheney: “The approach of the Obama administration should be to come to those people who were involved in that policy and say, ‘How did you do it? What were the keys to keeping the country safe over that period of time?’ Instead, they’re out there now threatening to disbar the lawyers who gave us the legal opinions, threatening, contrary to what the President originally said, they’re going to go out and investigate the CIA personnel who carried out those investigations.”

In response to a question from host Chris Wallace, Dick Cheney defended interrogators who waterboarded prisoners and used electric drills and guns to threaten prisoners, even if done in violation of Justice Department guidelines.

Chris Wallace: “Do you think what they did—now that you’ve heard about it, do you think what they did was wrong?”

Cheney: “Chris, my sort of overwhelming view is that the enhanced interrogation techniques were absolutely essential in saving thousands of American lives, in preventing further attacks against the United States, in giving us the intelligence we needed to go find al-Qaeda, to find their camps, to find out how they were being financed. It was good policy. It was properly carried out. it worked very, very well.”

Wallace: “So, even these cases where they went beyond the specific legal authorization, you’re OK with it.”

Cheney: “I am.”

Appearing on ABC’s This Week, John Kerry, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, accused Cheney of having disrespect for the Constitution. Kerry defended the Obama administration.

Sen. John Kerry: “I think there is a little bit of a tension between the White House itself and the lawyers in the Justice Department as they see the law and as what their obligation is. And in a sense, that’s good, that’s appropriate, because it shows that we have an attorney general who is not pursuing a political agenda, but who is doing what he believes the law requires him to do. And we have an administration, on the other hand, that is balancing some of those other interests.”

Weapons of Mass Fear

2009-08-28T15:25:00.000-04:00

For close to 100 years, opponents of health care reform have used fear to squash all attempts to make a better system for the citizens of America. I have to hand it to them, they are batting 100%.

Great news piece on NPR this morning on how our politicians use fear to control us. Listen and/or read here:

In Health Care Debate, Fear Trumps Logic

An American Hero Moves On

2009-08-27T14:45:00.000-04:00

"...My friends, if that health insurance is good enough for the members of the Congress of the United States and good enough for the President of the United States, it’s good enough for everybody in Montgomery County, everyone in Pennsylvania, and everyone across this country."

- Senator Ted Kennedy, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, April, 2008

What makes me so sad is that Senator Kennedy has been trying to accomplish this for the citizens of the United States for close to forty years! Do not underestimate the power of for-profit Corporate health care.

"I am proposing today a new national health strategy. It helps more people pay for care, but it also expands the supply of health services and makes them more efficient. It emphasizes keeping people well, not just making people well.
The purpose of this program is simply this: I want America to have the finest healthcare in the world, and I want every American to be able to have that care when he needs it."
- Senator Ted Kennedy, 1971 newscast on CBS anchored by Walter Cronkite

USA is now 'Third World'

2009-08-26T09:10:00.000-04:00

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times / August 11, 2009

Health care in the USA today, thanks to our present capitalist/corporate system. Dozens of volunteer dentists work on participants in the Remote Area Medical expedition at the Forum in Inglewood, Los Angeles, on Tuesday. Services are provided by volunteer medical and dental personnel for the uninsured, underinsured, unemployed and those who cannot afford to pay.

Remote Area Medical was set-up to bring free health care to people who cannot afford it in Developing Countries (formerly known as Third World Countries). Now that health care has collapsed in the USA, they have come to help Americans. Without a single payer option, you may want to consider contacting them for your health care, dental care, eye care and veterinary needs:

Remote Area Medical

Fun Fact #1: Did you know the USA is the ONLY Developed Country where its citizens file bankruptcy when they run into high medical bills. Keep shouting at those town hall meetings ignorant citizens; someday it might be you or your family member.

Fun Fact #2: Profits at ten of the countries largest publicly traded insurance companies in 2007 rose 428% from 2.4 billion to 12.9 billion.

Fun Facts taken from Your Call Radio

33 Fox advertisers abandon Glenn Beck

2009-08-25T08:16:00.000-04:00

America is one of the most racist countries I have ever been in. But its good to know that even Capitalism can keep one of the most racist of our corporations will be kept in check if they cross the line (far enough over the line at least).

A total of 33 Fox advertisers, including Walmart, CVS Caremark, Clorox, and Sprint, directed that their commercials not air on Glenn Beck's show, according to the companies and ColorofChange.org, a group that promotes political action among blacks and launched a campaign to get advertisers to abandon him.

He was actually on another Fox show July 28 when he referred to Obama as a racist with "a deep-seated hatred for white people." The network immediately distanced itself from Beck's statement, but Beck didn't. He used his radio show the next day to explain why he believed that.

information borrowed from the Associated Press

Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story'

2009-08-24T09:12:00.000-04:00

I know it is "alternative" now to dislike Michael Moore, but let me ask you this: Are you doing more to change the lunacy that is going on in our country? Are you reaching more people than Moore? I think it is worth 1.5 hours of our lives to learn what he has found. You might have a good laugh as well. Here is the trailer.

2009-08-23T11:00:00.000-04:00

On an industrial lot in Brooklyn, N.Y., three garbage bins have been transformed into swimming pools. They're set in what looks like an urban country club — with tent cabanas, barbecue grills and a dozen plastic beach chairs.

The idea of swimming in a trash container grosses you out? Think again. They're clean. The bins are lined with thick sheets of plastic, and the water is chlorinated and filtered, just like what goes in an inground pool.

The company behind the pools is Macro Sea, a Manhattan real estate developer. Jocko Weyland, the guy in charge of the pool project, says Macro Sea got the idea from a rock musician in Georgia.

The pools are behind a chain-link fence in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood. The 5 1/2 foot-deep containers are in an H-formation with a wooden deck built around them. There's also a shallower kiddie pool.

News of the Brooklyn trash bin swimming pools first surfaced on a blog for ReadyMade magazine, which helps do-it-yourselfers use familiar objects in new ways.

"It's a Dumpster. It's not trying to pretend it's not a Dumpster, you know," Weyland says.

"We wanted to show that this is not that hard. If you got a Dumpster donated or found one or stole one, you could do it for under $1,000. Show some initiative. Get off your ass and put it together," Weyland says.

Then throw a party and invite your friends.

excerpts from NPR's Morning Edition

Senator Sanders Unfiltered: Lies, Fibs and Anti-Reformers

2009-08-20T15:44:00.000-04:00

I couldn't have said it better than Senator Sanders. My fear is that not enough people are getting this message, and too many are only getting the lies from FOX and the Sarah Palins.

Well Done FOX, Your Lies are Working

2009-08-19T12:22:00.000-04:00

Americans are not the 'sharpest knives in the international cutlery drawer.' This is well known world wide. I travel a lot, believe me. If you doubt me, watch this video. Now, lets try to figure out why Americans are not really known for their superior gray matter.

Two polls came out this week, one by Daily Kos and the other by NBC. By joining these two polls - the first about who watches FOX News, MSNBC or CNN and the later which shows the misconceptions on Obama's health bill - one can deduce that Republicans are most often wrong about the issues surrounding the proposed health bill and they are getting the majority of their news from FOX. The grain of salt to take along with these numbers is this: the first poll is by a progressive organization and the second by FOX's competitor. So read this from the pro-corporate, conservative Wall Street Journal:

Nearly half of Americans believe that a proposed overhaul of the health care system means the government will decide when to stop providing medical treatment to senior citizens, according to the latest polling by NBC News released this evening.

Some 45% said they believe the plan is likely to include such a provision that has become known as “death panels” despite bipartisan efforts by President Barack Obama and the provision’s author, Republican Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson to dispel the idea. (Isakson, in a recent interview with the Washington Post called the confusion “nuts.”)

To be sure, 50% of respondents said they believe the bill was unlikely to include such a provision, but the deep split over the veracity of “death panels” underscores the difficulty Democrats have had in selling their overhaul to the public.

Further, a majority of Americans (55%) believe the bill will extend health insurance coverage to illegal immigrants even though no proposals currently under negotiation would do so. An equally high number (54%) believe the overhaul will lead to a “complete” government takeover of the health care system, although there is also no actual proposal for that, either.

Additionally, 50% believe that the overhaul will use federal tax dollars to pay for abortions. While it is unclear if the final bill would do so, current law bans federal funds from being used to fund abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the mother’s life. The president has said he is not interested in expanding abortion rights in the health care package. “I’m pro-choice, but I think we also have the tradition in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government-funded health care,” Obama said in a July interview with CBS.

Americans are also sharply divided on the town hall meetings taking place during the August recess, with 43% of respondents saying the often disruptive and angry encounters with lawmakers—focused mainly on health care—are doing “more harm than good” while 42% said they are doing “more good than harm.” The meetings, however, have also captivated Americans, some 85% of which said they have “seen, heard, or read” news coverage of the events.

As for the president’s approval on handling the health care issue, his numbers are virtually unchanged from last month with 41% saying then and now that they approve of the job he’s doing. While 46% in July said they disapprove, now 47% said the same.

Despite the headwinds Democrats are facing on health care, the NBC poll offers little in the way of good news for their Republican opponents. By a nearly three-to-one margin, 62%-21%, Americans said they disapprove of the way Republicans in Congress are handling health care reform.

The poll, conducted Aug. 15-17 of 805 adults, has a 3.5% margin of error. The full poll results are posted at msnbc.com.

Wall Street Journal

At least we are not Palistinian

2009-08-18T17:48:00.001-04:00

No matter how stupid things get in the USA over things like Death Panels and our president who was born in Kenya, at least we are not Palistinian. Here is a story of a Palistinian father who lives under Isreali occupation (KHALED ABED RABBO = father, ANJALI KAMAT = Democracy Now!‘ announcer). Human Rights Watch released a report last week detailing new evidence of possible Israeli war crimes committed during last winter’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza that left over 1,400 Palestinians dead. Keep in mind that since the 1970s, Israel has been one of the top recipients of U.S. foreign aid, with most of that money going toward the military. Which means you the tax payer funds this.

KHALED ABED RABBO: [translated] January 7th, it was a Wednesday, the Israeli army ordered us over a megaphone to leave our houses. We came out holding white flags—my wife, my mother and my three daughters and I holding white flags. We exited our house from there and came to this very spot. We stood at the spot for seven minutes, waving flags, waiting to see if they would let us enter our house or go somewhere else.

There was a tank there with two soldiers sitting on top of it. One was eating chips, and the other, chocolate. For seven minutes, we stood there without talking. Then, suddenly, one emerged from the tank and fired at the children. My daughter Amal, she was two years old, her intestines fell out. My daughter Suad, age seven, was also shot. My daughter Samar, age four, was shot in the back, chest and stomach; her spine was destroyed.

ANJALI KAMAT: Suad died almost instantly, and Amal died of her wounds a few hours later, because no ambulances were allowed into the area. Samar is paralyzed from the waist down. Khaled Abed Rabbo’s mother was also seriously injured. When the family returned home towards the end of Operation Cast Lead, their home was a pile of rubble. I asked Khaled Abed Rabbo whether Hamas had a presence in the area.

KHALED ABED RABBO: [translated] This is a border area. There’s no resistance here at all. The soldiers were eating chips and chocolate. How ironic that as my child were shot dead, the Israeli soldiers were eating chocolate. They were sitting on top of the tank, not even inside the tank. I mean, there’s no resistance here.

Manditory Vacation

2009-08-17T10:42:00.000-04:00

Did you know, the United States is the ONLY country in the industrial world where paid vacations are NOT required by law.

In countries like Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, employers are required to provide up to 20 days of paid leave. The French get 30 days. Americans, on the other hand, get an average of 12 days every year. A study conducted by the Families and Work Institute found that less than half of U.S. employees take the full vacation.

"People felt healthier during vacation. They had a better mood. They were less tense. And they had a higher level of energy, and they were more satisfied with their life," says Jessica de Bloom who studies the effects of vacation on stress, recovery and work motivation at the Radboud University in the Netherlands

story inspired by NPR

Must have iPhone/iTouch app for amateur cooks

2009-08-16T13:20:00.000-04:00

[laidback Sunday edition]

If you are lucky enough to own an iPhone or iTouch, and you enjoy cooking, this is a must have app. I use this site all the time for recipes. But what I needed was a mobile recipe book with ingredients list. Epicurious was a step ahead of me. From Epicurious's own press release:

Epicurious.com, the award-winning food site, today introduced its first application in the Apple App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The free application, "Epicurious' Recipes & Shopping List: On the Go and In the Kitchen," allows users to browse and search Epicurious.com's database of over 25,000 editor-tested recipes, toggling between an easy-to-view shopping format, and a cooking format that shows one instruction step at a time.

"We're delighted to bring our much-lauded recipe collection to the iPhone and iPod Touch," said Tanya Wenman Steel, editor in chief of Epicurious.com. "Everyone from beginner cooks to experienced chefs will be able to shop from Epicurious recipes on-the-go and then create these amazing dishes at home by using this free app."

"Epicurious' Recipes & Shopping List: On the Go and In the Kitchen" features:

Proven recipes: Over 25,000 professionally tested recipes to ensure a delicious meal. Sources include two of the most respected brands in the business, Gourmet and Bon Appetit, plus web-exclusive recipes from renowned chefs and cookbook authors.
Browse functionality: Browse popular recipe collections, from Weeknight Dinners to Cool Cocktails. Select a recipe collection from the Home screen, then swipe to flip from recipe to recipe.
A robust search engine: Swipe through cool icons on the search screen to filter by what's in your fridge, what's healthy, what's in season, and more. Find inspiration browsing by type of dish, main ingredient, cuisine, dietary consideration, dish type, and season or occasion. Or, search recipes by keyword.
Saving and sending functionality: Save recipes to your Favorites by tapping the plus sign on any recipe image. E-mail any recipe to yourself or to a friend.
Shopping List: Shop on the go by saving recipes to your Shopping List (just tap the plus sign on any recipe image). At the store, check off items as you shop.
Cookbook mode: Turn your iPhone into a cookbook! Tap "view recipe" and turn the iPhone on its side to see the recipe in step-by-step view for easy-to-follow instructions in the kitchen
Stunning graphics: Gorgeous photography, graphics, and design make this app fun and enticing.

The "Epicurious' Recipes & Shopping List: On the Go and In the Kitchen" application is available free from Apple's App Store on iPhone or iPod Touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

Boycott Whole Foods

2009-08-15T12:43:00.000-04:00

John Mackey is a right wing libertarian.

He’s a union buster.

He believes that corporations should not be criminally prosecuted for their crimes.

He has just launched a campaign to defeat a single payer national health insurance system.

And he’s the CEO of Whole Foods.

Primo hangout of liberal Democratic yuppies.

from CommonDreams.org

You can read John Mackey's Wall Street Journal OpEd here, Whole Foods Alternative of ObamaCare.

Or this commentary from Teaberry posted on the Daily Kos:

He's quite full of himself about the fabulous health insurance plan he offers his employees.

For example, Whole Foods Market pays 100% of the premiums for all our team members who work 30 hours or more per week (about 89% of all team members) for our high-deductible health-insurance plan. We also provide up to $1,800 per year in additional health-care dollars through deposits into employees' Personal Wellness Accounts to spend as they choose on their own health and wellness.

OK, let's assume you're working at Whole Foods, making $10 an hour (a quick intertube search shows this a fair estimate) and working the minimum 30 hours per week. This means you're only grossing $15,000 per year. Even after you add the $1,800 WF sets aside for you, you're still only up to $16,800. How far does that even go for subsistence level living, let alone paying for health care to meet the $2,500 deductible before the insurance kicks in?

He blathers on with bullet points about how health care should be reformed. Here's a fun one:

Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying.

WTF? "Government mandates?" Insurance companies cover only what they want to cover, when they feel like covering it. WTF? "Consumer preferences?" Consumers would prefer that insurance cover them when they need care, not drop them the minute they get sick or need something more than a band-aid.

Another one of my faves:

Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost. How many people know the total cost of their last doctor's visit and how that total breaks down? What other goods or services do we buy without knowing how much they will cost us?

This false premise that health care is somehow a commodity really burns me. That an individual must comparison shop when they need health care? Health care is a human right, not "goods or service," like a TV or car or a pedicure.

But wait, Mr. Mackey says:

Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges. A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That's because there isn't any. This "right" has never existed in America.

I guess that part in the Preamble to the Constitution where it talks about promoting the general welfare, doesn't count. And I'm so glad we don't have any pesky government agencies regulating the food supply or building codes to mess up our "voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges."

And of course, there's the obligatory dig at Canada and the U.K.:

Even in countries like Canada and the U.K., there is no intrinsic right to health care. Rather, citizens in these countries are told by government bureaucrats what health-care treatments they are eligible to receive and when they can receive them. All countries with socialized medicine ration health care by forcing their citizens to wait in lines to receive scarce treatments.

No, actually, Mr. Mackey, citizens of these countries HAVE decided health care is a right by the act of establishing their national health care systems. The United States has far more rationing of care. Insurance companies ration and deny it to increase their profits. And individuals self ration it because they can't afford it.

I'll have to quit soon, because I've gone way past the fair use standards, but one more for the road:

Unfortunately many of our health-care problems are self-inflicted: two-thirds of Americans are now overweight and one-third are obese. Most of the diseases that kill us and account for about 70% of all health-care spending—heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity—are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal alcohol consumption and other healthy lifestyle choices.

True as this may be, it matters not how many doughnuts, cigarettes or PBRs one forgoes, if you've got MS, get hit by a bus, get pregnant, or any number of other things that have nothing to do with lifestyle choices, you're SOL in this country.

Whole Foods is a whole lotta crap and I won't shop there. I hope you won't either.

When Capitalism Works

2009-08-14T12:40:00.000-04:00

Well, I have to admit, there are times when capitalism does work. Here is one of them, from the pages of Alternet:

ColorOfChange.org’s James Rucker reports that in response to the group’s campaign, GEICO has decided it no longer feels comfortable financing fearmongering paranoia and has pulled its ads from Glenn Beck’s Fox News program. This makes five advertisers who have distanced themselves from Beck since he declared that President Obama is “a racist” who harbors a “deep-seated hatred for white people.”

From ColorofChange.org’s press release:

“On Tuesday, August 4, GEICO instructed its ad buying service to redistribute its inventory of rotational spots on FOX-TV to their other network programs, exclusive of the Glenn Beck program,” said a spokesperson for GEICO Corporate Communications in an email to ColorOfChange.org. “As of August 4, GEICO no longer runs any paid advertising spots during Mr. Beck’s program.”

“We applaud GEICO and all of the other companies who have stepped forward to pull their ads from Glenn Beck,” said James Rucker, executive director of ColorOfChange.org. “Beck’s rhetoric is dangerous to the fabric of our democracy, and we are heartened that so many big companies feel the same way. We won’t stop here — we’re going to continue our fight to see that as many of Beck’s advertisers pull their support as possible.”

The question is quickly becoming, why do Beck’s other advertisers still feel comfortable with his inflammatory, hateful rhetoric?

Beck is not enough of a racist for FOX

2009-08-12T12:32:00.000-04:00

As if Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh were not racist enough, FOX is trying to sign Don Imus on. Too much, really.

TVNewser has confirmed with a source close to the negotiations that Fox Business Network executives are in talks with Don Imus to bring his radio show to the 22-month old network.

AllYourTV.com, which first reported the news Friday night, reports the show "could make the move as early as September 1." RFD-TV, which currently simulcasts Imus in the Morning is looking to drop the show, "due to financial problems at the network," the blog reported.

A Fox Business spokesperson tells TVNewser, "We're always talking to interesting talent."

Full story on MediaBistro

How long will we believe the lies?

2009-08-11T13:43:00.000-04:00

- We did not sell arms to Iran or negotiate with terrorists
- John Kerry lied about his war record
- We must go into Iraq because Saddam Hussein has Weapons of Mass Destruction
- We do not torture
- Obama wants to kill our grandparents and children

Here is some truth:

• Congress has government sponsored health care and it works
• Military personal in America have government sponsored health care and it works (Tricare)
• Many low income Americans have government sponsored health care and it works (Medicaid)
• Most Americans over 65 have government sponsored health care and it works (Medicare)
• Most of the developed world has government sponsored health care and it works

What is this nonsense about Obama wanting to kill people? Unplug yourself from the corporate matrix and wake up.

Freedom and Honesty is Back!

2009-08-11T11:17:00.001-04:00

I'm a super busy person but I need an outlet for the ridicules, unAmerican acts happening in the United States today. As long as the GOP is held captive by the religious right trying to force their sick version of fundamentalist Christianity down our throats (I'm not against all Christianity, just the proselytizing extremists) and self serving, greedy corporations who are abusing the privileges we have given them, I'll continue to post in hopes of bringing insight and truth to more people. If you see a mistake here or you disagree, I would love to hear from you.

Contrary to the belief of what I thought were some of my more intelligent conservative friends, I am not partisan. Hell, I'm not even a Democrat. You'll see criticism here of Obama and his team and of the left when it is needed.

Today's video: UnitedHealthcare CEO Stephen Hemsley makes $102,741 an hour. Do you think he cares more about your health or his obscene profits?

banks more important than your childs education or your home

2009-05-18T13:07:00.000-04:00

Hundreds of BILLIONS of our tax dollars are being given to failed, maybe fraudulent banks and poorly run car companies while public schools are being closed, teachers laid off and hard working American's are loosing their retirements, savings and even their homes.

Simple question: what are the priorities of Capitalistic America?

Looking for that 'change' you promised Obama.

The bold effort the present (central) bank had made to control the government ... are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it.
- Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States (1829–1837)

The Cheney Torture Tour: What's the Deal?

2009-05-05T12:35:00.000-04:00

by Harry Shearer from the Huffington Post

Monday's NYT piece on the unraveling of the torture program during the second Bush term provokes a key question, and provides a stark answer. If, as the article reports, the Bush administration, due to rampant internal debate, had stopped waterboarding and walling and all the other repellent practices by 2005, what is Dick Cheney doing in 2009 saying that the Obama administration's rejection of those practices is making us less safe?

Of course, Cheney's resort to old-style Republican "the Democrats hate America" rhetoric is amusingly disturbing in any case. But if he's re-fighting an internal argument he lost four years ago, what's the point?

Three words: "don't prosecute me."

Cheney's goal is now revealed: to stir up enough passion on the Republican side to make a decision to prosecute the Bush administration's torture syndicate a political hot potato.

Without the former Vice President's publicity tour ginning up a "torture debate," public revulsion at the revelations in the declassified torture memos, and at the photographs the Pentagon is preparing to release, might have made prosecution not only politically desirable, but, to use a Tenetism, a slam dunk.

So why didn't the Obama administration react by saying publicly that Cheney was defending practices his own boss had disowned? Why was it necessary to set the usual "high administration officials who insisted on anonymity" loose on the Times?

Whatever the answer to that question, one waits eagerly to see what Cheney says now, as he sits down with Regis and Kelly and the ladies of The View.

Waterboard Dick!!!

2009-05-01T13:44:00.000-04:00

From Bradley Whitford on the Huffington Post

Poor Dick Cheney.

Free at last from The Bunker and ready, as always, to do whatever it takes to protect the United States of America, he's seen the vital information that proves that waterboarding works, but, doggone it, the country went and elected this softy-brainiac guy who just doesn't "get it" the way George Bush did, and doesn't want to release it.

Obama's such a wuss, he's making it sound like America doesn't have the guts to torture people anymore.

What's a patriot to do?

It would be illegal to leak classified intelligence himself. Dick Cheney has too much respect for the rule of law to do something like that.

But waterboarding works. American lives are at stake. And Dick Cheney has the all the information we need.

Open your ears America! Are you so jaded you can no longer hear the patriot's call? He's begging us. The time has come.

Waterboard Dick!!!

Americans [heart] Torture

2009-04-22T16:36:00.000-04:00

"I've said to the people that we don't torture, and we don't." George Walker Bush

We are all so used to being lied to by the Bush administration, that I wonder if anyone really cares about this lie? But they should, because it bruises the reputation of what I once believed was a wonderful country. But if administrations can torture humans, lie about it to its own civilians, and when caught in that lie get away scot-free, well then why don't we just rip up our constitution and change our name to Burma or North Korea?

Here is how you can preserve our constitution and our great country:

sign a petition at Democrats.com

sign a petition at MoveOn.org

John Yoo of UC Berkeley Could be in Trouble, FINALLY

2009-04-21T18:46:00.000-04:00

From the BBC:

CIA memo prosecutions 'possible'

Barack Obama said he could support a congressional investigation

US President Barack Obama has left open the possibility of prosecuting officials who wrote CIA memos allowing harsh interrogation techniques.

It would be up to the attorney general whether to prosecute, Mr Obama said.

The memos detailed a range of methods the CIA could use on terrorism suspects under the Bush administration.

Mr Obama had said he would not use anti-torture laws to prosecute CIA personnel who relied in good faith on legal opinions issued after 9/11.

The BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says the president's comments marked a change of tone amid growing pressure from the Democratic Party not to rule out potential prosecutions.

"With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that that is going to be more of a decision for the attorney general within the parameters of various laws," Mr Obama said.

He also said he could support a congressional investigation of the issue if it was conducted in a bipartisan way.

'Very complicated'

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had previously said in a television interview that the administration did not want to pursue those who "devised policy".

As a general view, I do think we should be looking forward, not back

President Barack Obama

Cheney enters 'torture' memos row

Q&A: Waterboarding

The memos revealed that two al-Qaeda suspects were subjected to waterboarding - a technique which simulates drowning - 266 times.

Other methods mentioned in the memos include week-long sleep deprivation, forced nudity and the use of painful positions.

Former Vice-President Dick Cheney has said the techniques produced results.

He has called for the release of additional documents that he said would show what the techniques yielded.

On Thursday, when the memos were released, Mr Obama said CIA personnel working from Bush administration legal opinions would not be prosecuted.

His comments drew criticism from human rights organisations and UN officials, who say charges are necessary to prevent future abuses and in order to hold people accountable.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mr Obama said the episode involved a "host of very complicated issues".

An investigation would be acceptable, he said, "outside of the typical hearing process" and with "independent participants who are above reproach".

He added: "As a general view, I do think we should be looking forward, not back.

"I do worry about this getting so politicised that we cannot function effectively and it hampers our ability to carry out critical national security operations."

Search for the Controversy Over this Dog

2009-04-12T14:59:00.000-04:00

The Obama's have picked a dog. I can't wait to see what the party of haters, aka the GOP, have to say about this. You know windbags like Rush Limbaugh and chronic lair Sean Hannity have their researchers and writers on a negative campaign against Barack's 10- and 7-year old daughters' new puppy as we celibrate Passover and Easter (or play videogames like I am doing). For Reagans sake, a Kennidy gave the dog to the Communist/Socialist/Muslim president...

Did You Know 3.0 - A Snapshot of Our Place in the World

2009-03-30T15:11:00.000-04:00

Amazing video about culture, technology and the world community. If half of this stuff is true, its incredible.

A New Word to Describe US Tax Payers: Suckas

2009-03-25T00:43:00.000-04:00

Illustration by Victor Juhasz

from Democracy Now!

Bailed-Out J.P. Morgan to Buy Luxury Jets

The bailed-out financial giant J.P. Morgan says it’s going ahead with with a $138 million plan on two luxury jets and a deluxe aircraft hanger. The firm has received $25 billion under the taxpayer-funded bailout.

From a separate, excellent Democracy Now report with Matt Taibbi, contributing editor for Rolling Stone Magazine:

AMY GOODMAN: Many view the massive losses at AIG as the result of corporate greed combined with lax government oversight and regulation. But in a new article in Rolling Stone Magazine that takes an in-depth look at the AIG story, journalist Matt Taibbi writes the financial crisis and the bailout that followed, quote, “cemented and formalized a political trend that has been snowballing for decades: the gradual takeover of the government by a small class of connected insiders, who used money to control elections, buy influence and systematically weaken financial regulations.”
Taibbi goes on to write, “The mistake most people make in looking at the financial crisis is thinking of it in terms of money, a habit that might lead you to look at the unfolding mess as a huge bonus-killing downer for the Wall Street class. But if you look at it in purely Machiavellian terms, what you see is a colossal power grab that threatens to turn the federal government into a kind of giant Enron—a huge, impenetrable black box filled with self-dealing insiders whose scheme is the securing of individual profits at the expense of an ocean of unwitting involuntary shareholders, previously known as taxpayers.”

Here is the Taibbi article in Rolling Stone

Understanding the American Thought Process

2009-03-23T14:06:00.000-04:00

How Long Until Bush is Held Accountable?

2009-03-19T13:00:00.000-04:00

Hundreds Protest Bush in Calgary

In Canada, hundreds of protesters gathered in Calgary Tuesday outside President Bush’s first foreign trip since leaving office. Bush was speaking before an invite-only crowd at a private event. At least four people were arrested. Activists constructed a giant shoe cannon in a symbolic tribute to the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush last year. Bush entered Canada without any apparent trouble after the Canadian government ignored a request from a group of Canadian lawyers for his arrest or deportation as a war criminal.

From Democracy Now!

What Motivates a Republican?

2009-03-18T14:29:00.000-04:00

President Carter not only set a goal of obtaining 20 percent of our energy from solar power by the year 2000, but he installed solar panels on the grounds of the white house. Reagan tore them down.

This from the New York Times (J. David Goodman):

During the energy crisis of the 1970s, Jimmy Carter installed solar panels for a heating system on the roof of the West Wing. “No one can ever embargo the sun or interrupt its delivery to us,” he said during the dedication. The panels were removed by Ronald Reagan when he moved in, though they worked fine (and did for more than a decade, supplying hot water to a dining hall at Unity College in Maine.)

I first read about this in an article by Robert Redford on the Huffington Post.

How can the Republicans be so against a clean source of energy that frees us from countries like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela? This is not rhetorical, I want to know!

I have a (very) educated guess: money and personal gain. It is not in Reagan's, Bush's and other Republicans best personal interest to see American renewable energy take hold over oil, coal or nuclear energy. What else could be the reason?

We all know how in bed the Bush's are with Saudi Arabia. I'm not old enough to remember Reagan's reason for removing the panels put up by Carter after the energy crisis of the 70's, but I keep hearing about scientists that were paid by the Bush administration to refute global warming and the resistance by present Republicans toward renewable energy and ask why? Money and personal gain is the only answer that keeps coming up.

My Republican friends and readers, am I missing something? I heard a report this morning about how milting glaciers are much worse than even imagined and I can't reconcile that the selfish motivation of personal wealth would move a Republican leader is disregard the well being of our nation and its people, but I can't find any other reason. Maybe that is why I'm not a Republican...

More Evidence That The Bush Administration Tortured

2009-03-16T14:45:00.000-04:00

Report claims CIA used 'torture'

By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

The ICRC report implies the US violated international law

CIA interrogation techniques used on al-Qaeda suspects "constituted torture", according to a leaked report by the international Red Cross.

The findings were based on testimonies by 14 so-called "high-value" detainees who were held in secret CIA prisons.

They were interviewed after being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.

President George W Bush denied torture had happened and President Barack Obama has banned US agents from carrying out such practices.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has an international role in monitoring standards for prisoners and trying to ensure compliance by governments with the Geneva Conventions.

It was denied access to the prisoners until their transfer to Guantanamo Bay.

I was told that they would not allow me to die but that I would be brought to the 'verge of death and back again'

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Among those interviewed by the ICRC was the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who said he was told he would be "brought to the verge of death and back".

The ICRC report was obtained by Mark Danner, a US writer, whose account is in the New York Review of Books.

The report was not intended for publication but, as is the procedure in such cases, was given in confidence to the US government.

"For the first time the words are those of the detainees themselves," Mark Danner says in a podcast attached to his story.

From the BBC.com

Who is Winning and Who is Losing the War on Drugs?

2009-03-16T14:28:00.000-04:00

This is from the Lindsay Mitchell blog in which she tries to "debunk the myths surrounding the welfare state." Thanks for sending this Alex.

'Decriminalisation' of drugs in Portugal

Portugal is predominantly Roman Catholic, has a population of 10 million and ranks 39th in international GDP per capita stakes.

In 2001 Portugal changed the law to allow people to have in their possession up to ten days supply of any drug, including cocaine and heroin, and escape a prison sentence. Under the decriminalisation model employed, regional authorities, made up of health professionals and social workers, focus on 'dissuasion' of drug use. If police discover people in possession of the prescribed amount or less they are referred to one of these boards to appear within 72 hours. According to their individual circumstances a number of things can happen. They can still be fined, although people found to be dependent are not. Professional licences can be revoked. But the main aim is to refer problem users to services and dissuade new users.

Trafficking, supply and cultivation are still crimes and police/court resources are freed up to concentrate more heavily on these.

The results by 2007 were an increase in cannabis use but drop in use of other drugs. Deaths from drugs dropped dramatically.

The perceived increase in cannabis use might not be an effect of decriminalisation because it is in line with European trends. Italy and Spain, without decriminalisation have also experienced an increase. Or it might be an effect of decriminalisation simply because people are being more honest when self-reporting about their use - not because of increased use.

The drop in deaths has a lot to do with heroin use and people now being able to get on substitution programmes (which NZ already has but are over-subscribed). Portugal had a big problem with HIV infection from shared needles.

Apparently the law change is still controversial but in place at this time.

For Jesus and/or Perpetual War

2009-03-14T22:08:00.000-04:00

There's one ass on the front end [of the subway] who is molesting women, that's the Republican party now...

Frank Schaeffer, author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back .

Do you wonder why the Republicans tell such whopping lies about President Obama and his economic recovery plan ? Isn't one conservative value truth telling? Not when you are serving the "higher call" to save America for Jesus and/or perpetual war...

The Republican base is now made up of religious and neoconservative ideologues, and the uneducated white underclass with a token person of color or two up front on TV to obscure the all-white, all reactionary all backward -- there-is-no-global-warming -- rube reality. Actual conservatives, let alone the educated classes, have long since fled.

Read more from former Republican Frank Schaeffer on the Huffington Post.

Capitalism Rules

2009-03-13T15:26:00.000-04:00

I spend a good part of my time on this blog criticizing Capitalism. This morning I had to step back and applaud our financial system. In all the socioeconomic systems I have studied, none have come close to making the rich richer than ours. Russia couldn't do it as well, China couldn't, Japan couldn't, England couldn't (not sure about the leaders of the Roman Empire).
How long can this go on? Really?

Taxpayers have given FAILED banks about $2,000,000,000. This was suppose to stimulate our economy. What have we gotten in return for our HUGE investment? Loans are no easier to get and interest rates on credit cards are higher than ever. Where has the money gone?

Three days ago, the New York Post reported that Citigroup just gave their Smith Barney Brokerage unit brokers cash bonuses of $1,000 to $3,000. These bonus amounted to about $3.5 million of the taxpayers money to 'reward' businessmen in a failed company, IN THE FACE OF ONE OF OUR COUNTRY'S WORST FINANCIAL BREAKDOWN IN HISTORY! Pure brilliance.

Two days ago, Citigroup claimed an $8 billion dollar profit. Is this a turn around? I wouldn't put what little money I have left on it. So when they are failing, we give them money and see nothing, and when they are profiting we give them money and we see nothing.

Do you know what Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner plan is? Hoping private equity firms will buy toxic assets. "Hope" and "toxic assets" in the same sentence for a $2 trillion taxpayer investment doesn't sound like sound financial plan to me.

Transparency? Full Disclosure? Accountability? Demands? Don't hold your breath. Nothing has changed. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The middle class declines.

This from Democracy Now!

Fed: US Families Lost Record 18% of Wealth in 2008

A new government report says American families lost a record-high amount of wealth last year. According to the Federal Reserve, American families in 2008 cumulatively lost 18 percent of their wealth. The losses amount to $11 trillion, equal to the combined annual output of Germany, Japan and the UK. As losses add up, debt is also skyrocketing. Mortgages and credit card debt now amount to $13 trillion, or 123% of after-tax income. In 1995, debt amounted to 83 percent of income.

Criminal Teaching at UC Berkeley?

2009-03-10T13:31:00.000-04:00

John Yoo is sorry for nothing

Sneering with contempt, the unrepentant Bush attorney has challenged "Obama's antiwar base" to read his infamous memos closely. So I did.

John Yoo testifies in Washington in June 2008 before the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties on legal rights for detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

You have to give John Yoo credit for chutzpah. The disgraced author of the so-called torture memo was back in the news last week, when the Obama administration released seven more secret opinions, all but one written in whole or in part by Yoo and fellow Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) lawyer Jay Bybee, arguing that the Bush administration had the right to override the Constitution as long as it claimed to be fighting a "war on terror." Professor Yoo, who I am embarrassed to say holds a tenured position at the law school of my alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley, was already known as the official who provided a legal fig leaf behind which the Bush administration tortured inmates at Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. His legal misdeeds are widely known, but now they have been exposed chapter and verse. Among the new memos is one written in 2001, in which Yoo and co-author Robert J. Delahunty advised the U.S. that the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids the Army to be used for law enforcement, and the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, do not apply to domestic military operations undertaken during a "war on terror."In other words, bye-bye, Bill of Rights.

read more here at Salon.com

written by Gary Kamiya

W. Spent Most Since... Nixon/Ford

2009-03-04T13:05:00.001-05:00

graph from Independent Institute

I'm really tired of hearing Republicans complain about spending. Why were their pie holes shut when George W. Bush, who started his eight year reign with a federal surplus, was completely destroying our economy in less than ten years. He spent more than any Democrat in the last thirty years (Clinton x2 and Carter) and is only beat by Republicans Nixon and Ford in the early '70s. Enough already. Don't you Republicans have better things to do, like look for a direction and perhaps a leader more credible than 'air hunter' Palin, 'fib fabricator' Bobby Jindal and comedian Rush Limbaugh?

Airlines in US are not the only idiots

2009-02-27T15:41:00.000-05:00

You might be able to use your cell phone on a RyanAir flight but you might have to pay to pee

Ryanair mulls charge for toilets

Irish budget airline Ryanair has said it is considering charging passengers for using the toilet while flying.

Chief executive Michael O'Leary told the BBC that the Dublin-based carrier was looking at maybe installing a "coin slot on the toilet door".

Consumer group Which? said the airline was putting "profit before passengers".

Ryanair's PR chief Steven McNamara later played down the idea, saying: "I don't think it's going to happen in the foreseeable future".

"Will it happen long-term, I'm not really sure," he said.

"It's one of those things that when Michael starts looking at something, you know, it's always up for discussion."

Last week Ryanair confirmed it planned to close all of its airport check-in desks by the end of the year in a bid to reduce the cost of its flights.

Equal Rights in the USA? Someday

2009-02-26T23:10:00.000-05:00

I believe this was the first award at the Oscars and in my opinion the best speech of the night. If you didn't see the awards, take a minute and thirty-three seconds to watch this.

The unfortunate thing missing from this clip is the majority of audience reaction is cut short. Hollywood stars were crying and clapping enthusiastically.

Screenplay, Original
Dustin Lance Black
Milk

Clean Coal

2009-02-26T16:35:00.000-05:00

Video by the Coen Brothers (thanks Mangfish)

Certainly Rumsfeld

2009-02-24T16:22:00.000-05:00

"I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today would last five days, or five weeks, or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last any longer than that."

Interview with Steve Croft, Infinity CBS Radio Connect, November 14, 2002

At least we protected the oil

2009-02-24T01:23:00.000-05:00

Here is a headline from BBCs "latest" ticker:

Iraq's National Museum re-opens, six years after it was looted following the US-led invasion.

Just another example of why people around the world dislike Americans. Here are some more excerpts from BBC.com:

Iraq's National Museum has reopened nearly six years after it was looted and vandalised in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion.

Thousands of its antiquities were stolen at that time, and only about a quarter have since been retrieved.
Coalition forces had no orders to intervene, and stood by as Iraq's priceless heritage was pillaged.
Many of the nation's treasures were in the museum, and analysts decried its looting as scandalous.
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki was at the opening ceremony inside the museum, and described what had happened there as Iraq's "dark age".
"I'd like to offer my sincerest thanks to all the countries which stood by Iraq, whether through their contributions towards rebuilding this museum or returning the smuggled artefacts," he said.
"We want to make our museum a place which will be at the forefront of international museums. There's a long road ahead of us."
It is estimated that about 15,000 artefacts and antiquities were stolen in the chaos that accompanied Saddam Hussein's ousting.

You Are Getting Ripped Off, Big Time! Again!

2009-02-22T23:03:00.000-05:00

The Wolves are in the hen house. Will there be change under Obama? This excerpt from Bill Moyers Journal, February 13, 2009.

BILL MOYERS: Geithner has hired as his chief-of-staff, the lobbyist from Goldman Sachs. The new deputy secretary of state was, until last year, a CEO of Citigroup. Another CFO from Citigroup is now assistant to the president, and deputy national security advisor for International Economic Affairs. And one of his deputies also came from Citigroup. One new member of the president's Economic Recovery Advisory Board comes from UBS, which is being investigated for helping rich clients evade taxes.

--- and later ---

BILL MOYERS: There was a moment in the hearings this week, when Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent, the independent senator from Vermont, almost lost his cool. Watch this.

SENATOR BERNARD SANDERS: In 2006 and 2007, Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, was the highest paid executive on Wall Street, making over 125 million in total compensation. Due to its risky investments, Goldman Sachs now has over 168 billion in total outstanding debt. It's laid off over 10 percent of its workforce. Late last year, the financial situation at Goldman was so dire that the taxpayers of this country provided Goldman Sachs with a $10 billion bailout.

Very simple question that I think the American people want to know. Yes or no, should Mr. Blankfein be fired from his job and new leadership be brought in?

SECRETARY GEITHNER: Senator, that's a judgment his board of directors have to make.

I want to say one thing which is very important. Everything we do going forward has to be judged against the impact we're going to have on the American people and the prospects for recovery. And every dollar we spend will have to be measured against the benefits we bring in terms of-

SENATOR SANDERS: Mr. Secretary, you're not answering my question. You have a person who made hundreds of millions for himself as he led his institution that helped cause a great financial crisis. We have put, as taxpayers, $10 billion to bail him out and we have no say about whether or not he should stay on the job?

SECRETARY GEITHNER: No, I didn't say that. I think there will be circumstances, as there have been already, where the government intervention will have to come with very tough conditions, including changes in management and leadership of institutions. And where we believe that makes sense, we will do that.

BILL MOYERS: Geithner says that's something "his" board of directors, the board of Goldman Sachs, will have to decide. But aren't we all ipso facto stock holders now?

SIMON JOHNSON: We should certainly have a big say over critical matters like this. Like the CEO. Because, two things. First of all, it's our money that kept these banks in business. Not just the treasury recapitalization money, that's relatively small.

It's the financial support provided by the Federal Reserve. Make no mistake about it, if the Federal Reserve hadn't stepped in late September, in dramatic fashion, to prop up organizations like Goldman Sachs, they would be out of business, okay?

It was our money that did that. The Federal Reserve acting on behalf of the American taxpayer. And secondly, Senator Sanders is exactly right. That a CEO, like Lloyd Blankfein, made mistakes, and led his company into deep trouble.

Now, other companies are in deeper trouble. His company was in deep trouble and had to be rescued at that moment. It's absolutely the right way to pose the question. And the answer to Senator Sanders' question is, in my opinion, yes. We should change the leadership of these major banks.

BILL MOYERS: And, yet, Secretary Geithner's chief-of-staff is the former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs.

And the War on... Something Continues

2009-02-20T18:40:00.000-05:00

Within hours of Barack Obama's swearing into the office of the presidency, unmanned American drones like the one above, called Predators, honed in on villages in Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan, striking like silent intruders in the night, against suspected terrorists.

Early accounts of casualties varied from a dozen to more than 20 dead and wounded. One Pakistani security official told THE WASHINGTON POST that perhaps ten insurgents had been killed, maybe even a high value target, a senior member of al Qaeda or the Taliban.

Then the TIMES of London quoted locals who said "... three children lost their lives" when the missiles destroyed several homes. Since last August, 38 suspected U.S. missile strikes have killed at least 132 people in Pakistan.

One of the main problems, for those keeping track, is we are not at war with Pakistan. In fact, for those listening carefully, Pakistan is our ally who we have given over $6 billion dollars to since 2001. According to CNN:

Pakistan is the largest recipient of payments from the Coalition Support Funds, which gives money to 27 partner countries to help combat terrorism.

Still waiting for that change Obama. I know our allies are as well.

Much of this was taken from Bill Moyers Journal, January 30, 2009.

What Happens to Bullies?

2009-02-19T16:58:00.000-05:00

The other "kids" take their toys and go home.

From Democracy Now!

Kyrgyz Parliament Votes to Close US Air Base

In Kyrgyzstan, lawmakers have voted to close a key US air base used for the occupation of Afghanistan. Earlier today, the Kyrgyz parliament voted 78-to-1 in favor of shuttering the Manas Air Base. The base is a transit point for 15,000 troops and 500 tons of cargo each month. But it’s become widely unpopular amidst opposition to US foreign policy and controversy over US refusal to pay a higher fee. The US has also refused to revoke the immunity of a US soldier who fatally shot a Kyrgyz truck driver in late 2006. The move comes one day after President Obama ordered an additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan. The head of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, praised the decision.

General David McKiernan: “I am very delighted with the President’s decision yesterday to send additional US forces to reinforce our efforts in Afghanistan. I will use most of those forces in the southern part of Afghanistan, an area where we do not have sufficient security presence.”

This from the Associated Press, where the photo comes from:

20 months ago: Activists hold banners reading "Kyrgyzstan is not a beachhead for war" during a rally at the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Saturday, June 2, 2007. Several dozen activists rallied on Saturday in front of the U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan to call for the closure of a U.S. military base in the former Soviet republic. The United States maintains the military base at Manas airport outside the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, to support operations in Afghanistan, but Kyrgyz politicians are increasingly calling for its closure, accusing U.S. military personnel of behaving with impunity and saying the base spoils the environment.

(AP Photo/Nina Gorshkova) miting protiv prebivaniya voennoi bazi "Gansi" v Kyrgyzstan. Na photo v centre: vdova Aleksandra Ivanova, ubitogo amerikanskim soldatom. A. Ivanov bil voditelem toplivo-zapravschika. Photo: Nina Gorshkova

The USA "seriously undermined international human rights law"

2009-02-16T12:11:00.000-05:00

To those on the right who believe Bush made us safer, the experts disagree... again.

From the BBC.com:

Anti-terror tactics 'weaken law'

The law experts said many anti-terror measures breached human rights

Anti-terror measures worldwide have seriously undermined international human rights law, a report by legal experts says.

After a three-year global study, the International Commission of Jurists said many states used the public's fear of terrorism to introduce measures.

These included detention without trial, illegal disappearance and torture.

It also said that the UK and the US have "actively undermined" international law by their actions.

It concluded that many measures introduced to fight terrorism were illegal and counter-productive.

It called for justice systems to be strengthened and warned that temporary measures should not become permanent.

The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is a non-governmental organisation which promotes the observance of the rule of law and the legal protection of human rights.

The panel of eminent lawyers and judges concluded that the framework of international law that existed before the 9/11 attacks on the US was robust and effective.

But now, it said, it was being actively undermined by many states and liberal democracies like the US and the UK.

What Year Did George W. Take Office?

2009-02-15T12:49:00.000-05:00

From the New York Times:

Decade at Bernie’s

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: February 15, 2009

By now everyone knows the sad tale of Bernard Madoff’s duped investors. They looked at their statements and thought they were rich. But then, one day, they discovered to their horror that their supposed wealth was a figment of someone else’s imagination.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Paul Krugman

Unfortunately, that’s a pretty good metaphor for what happened to America as a whole in the first decade of the 21st century.

Last week the Federal Reserve released the results of the latest Survey of Consumer Finances, a triennial report on the assets and liabilities of American households. The bottom line is that there has been basically no wealth creation at all since the turn of the millennium: the net worth of the average American household, adjusted for inflation, is lower now than it was in 2001.

At one level this should come as no surprise. For most of the last decade America was a nation of borrowers and spenders, not savers. The personal savings rate dropped from 9 percent in the 1980s to 5 percent in the 1990s, to just 0.6 percent from 2005 to 2007, and household debt grew much faster than personal income. Why should we have expected our net worth to go up?

Yet until very recently Americans believed they were getting richer, because they received statements saying that their houses and stock portfolios were appreciating in value faster than their debts were increasing. And if the belief of many Americans that they could count on capital gains forever sounds naïve, it’s worth remembering just how many influential voices — notably in right-leaning publications like The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and National Review — promoted that belief, and ridiculed those who worried about low savings and high levels of debt.

Then reality struck, and it turned out that the worriers had been right all along. The surge in asset values had been an illusion — but the surge in debt had been all too real.

So now we’re in trouble — deeper trouble, I think, than most people realize even now. And I’m not just talking about the dwindling band of forecasters who still insist that the economy will snap back any day now.

Now were did those guns go?

2009-02-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

Oops! Dear Bush Administration. Your complete incompetence never ceases to astound me. That is nearly a quarter of a million guns! I can have the librarian from my high school come teach you all how to keep track of items.

This from the BBC.com:

US 'lost track of Afghan weapons'

The Pentagon admits that there are failures tracking weaponry

The US military has failed to keep track of thousands of weapons shipped to Afghanistan, leaving them vulnerable to being lost or stolen, a report says.

The report has been compiled by congressional auditors, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).

It found that, in the four years up to June 2008, the US military failed to keep complete records on some 222,000 weapons entering the country.

I don't get the GOP

2009-02-12T11:16:00.000-05:00

So, Republicans healthily voted for George Bush's stimulus plan which failed terribly. Now, with seemingly all 'pork' removed from Obama's stimulus plan and something called accountability, hardly a Republican can be found in congress to pass it. The GOP says it is not partisan. Then what is it? Not enough tax breaks going to millionaires? Why does this party exist?

The Looting of America

2009-02-08T20:02:00.000-05:00

When governmental leaders loot a countries funds, you know, like those evil foreign criminals like Ferdinand Marcos, former President of the Philippines, or Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, it is easy for us Americans to watch them on TV and think, "What evil bad people." But what happens when it is our government and the corporations that prop them up?

I don't have enough time in the day/week/month/year to quote every example I have heard over the last year, and the examples keep coming. When will the people of this country say, "enough?"

This from Democracy Now!

Madoff Whistleblower Faults SEC for Ignoring Warnings

The key whistleblower in the Bernie Madoff fraud case has criticized government regulators for ignoring repeated warnings. Harry Markopolos told lawmakers he began warning Securities and Exchange Commission officials about Madoff in 2000. Markopolos said the SEC didn’t take action in large part because of incompetence and deference to financial interests. He said, “I gift-wrapped and delivered the largest Ponzi scheme to them.” Markopolos also criticized the Wall Street Journal for failing to pick up the story. He said Wall Street Journal editors apparently refused to let a senior reporter follow the story after Markopolos had tipped him off.

The Value of Education to Capitalist America

2009-02-07T19:48:00.000-05:00

I have a theory why the United States education system is deteriorating so quickly. Its very simple: We don't value education. We elect a president who we can "have a beer with" but who has trouble completing a sentence (elected him twice) and criticize presidential candidates who attend Ivy League schools as elitist. Teachers in China are considered some of the most valuable members of society (I taught there for three years), yet here in America they can barely afford to buy a house with their income. We have taken one of the best institutions of higher education, the college/university system here in the USA and turned it into a business with prices so high, the majority of our citizens can no longer afford to attend.

This from Democracy Now!:

Senators Seek Stimulus Cuts as Obama Warns of Economic “Catastrophe”

A bipartisan group of senators is seeking to cut at least $80 billion from President Obama’s $900 billion economic stimulus plan. Most of the cuts would come to education spending, including $40 billion for state programs.

Not All of Obama's Nominees are Smart

2009-02-06T18:59:00.000-05:00

This from the BBC.com:

CIA nominee decries waterboarding

Mr Panetta also condemned the use of extraordinary rendition

US President Barack Obama's nominee to head the CIA, Leon Panetta, has condemned the interrogation technique "waterboarding" as "torture".
But he made it clear that agents who had carried out waterboarding in the past should not be prosecuted if they believed they were following the law.
The Bush administration approved the practice for at least three terror suspects in 2002 and 2003.
Mr Obama has banned harsh interrogation techniques, including waterboarding.

Hey Leon, quick question: I'm pretty sure that if I walk into a bank and shoot everyone working their in the head and then walked out with all of the money, I would be following the law. So by your thinking, if by chance I am wrong, I should not be prosecuted? Are you for real?

Is all that "negligence of the law" not being an adequate excuse for committing a crime only 70's cop show fantasy?

The United States prosecuted Japanese soldiers in WWII for waterboarding. US soldiers were prosecuted for waterboarding during our invasion of Vietnam in the 60/70s. Bush was alive for the WWII trials and for Vietnam. This is not ancient history.

Waterboarding was designated as illegal by U.S. generals in the Vietnam War.

All nations that are signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Torture have agreed they are subject to the explicit prohibition on torture under any condition.

This man is going to lead our secret soldiers? This man scares me.

Imprison Bush & Cheney

2009-02-05T12:02:00.000-05:00

This from Democrats.com

President Obama's choice for Attorney General, Eric Holder, was confirmed by the Senate yesterday and sworn in today. In another proud historic first, Mr. Holder will be our first African American Attorney General.

During his confirmation hearings, Mr. Holder declared unequivocally, "Waterboarding is torture." This terrified Republicans because it means Holder must prosecute George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, and other top officials who authorized waterboarding and the rest of the "Bush System of Torture," as Keith Olbermann calls it.

Republicans pressured Mr. Holder to promise not to prosecute the torturers, but Mr. Holder refused. He said, "No one is above the law." That's exactly what President Obama said when ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked him our question on January 11.
Of course Mr. Holder must also end eight years of absolute corruption under John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, and Michael Mukasey. He must reverse George Bush's criminal policies on torture, habeas corpus, secret government, and warrantless wiretapping.

Accountability Returns to Washington

2009-02-04T14:17:00.000-05:00

What?!?! A president who takes responsibility for a possible mistake and apologizing? I knew this country would fall apart if the liberals took control. Obama, who campaigned against 'business as usual' in Washington, apologized for his support of Tom Daschle after Daschle dropped out as a possibility for Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, is in trouble for not paying taxes on a "gift" of a limo and driver. I heard a good Republican joke that went something like this, "Why do Democrats favor raising taxes? Because they don't pay them themselves."

I'm beginning to accept that most who enter politics will eventually get corrupted, but the irony in this case is amusing. So Daschle "forgot" to pay $146,000 in taxes for this limo/driver while not too long ago, ran this ad in South Dakota.

Daschle's withdrawal came just hours after Nancy Killefer, Obama's nominee to be chief performance officer, withdrew her nomination following the revelation that she had a $946.69 lien on her property in 2005 for failure to pay taxes.

Troop Suicides Highest Since Record Keeping Began

2009-02-02T14:52:00.000-05:00

Remind me how Republicans "supported our troops" over the last eight years? This from Democracy Now!

Army Suicides at Record High

...suicides amongst US troops have increased to a three-decade high. Pentagon officials say at least 128 soldiers took their own lives last year. The final tally could be higher, as more than a dozen other deaths are still under investigation. It’s the highest total since record keeping began in 1980.

Accountability Returns to the USA?

2009-01-29T17:27:00.000-05:00

A good example of Karl Rove's complete contempt for America

I try to teach my students that they are responsible for their actions. But teaching responsibility and accountability is difficult when these sixteen, seventeen and eighteen year old students have only known the politics of the last Bush Administration (they were about eight years old went George W "took" office). Well, responsibility and accountability maybe returning to our culture. This from Democracy Now!

The chair of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers, has subpoenaed former White House adviser Karl Rove to testify next week about the Bush administration’s firing of nine US attorneys and the prosecution of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. This marks the second time Conyers has tried to get Rove to appear in connection with what he calls the Bush administration’s politicization of the Justice Department. But it remains unclear if Rove will be compelled to appear before the panel next week.
Rove previously refused to appear before the committee, contending that former presidential advisers cannot be compelled to testify before Congress. For more than a year, former president George W. Bush upheld Rove’s legal position. The White House’s assertion of executive privilege prompted Rove and other Bush aides to refuse even to show up for a hearing. A federal judge has since rejected that position. Karl Rove’s attorney, Robert Luskin, said he would consult with President Obama’s White House counsel to determine the Obama administration’s stance.
In a press release announcing the subpoena, Conyers was hopeful, saying, “Change has come to Washington, and I hope Karl Rove is ready for it. After two years of stonewalling, it’s time for him to talk."

Congressperson John Conyers, one of the few high level government officals actually doing their job for a better America

Do American's Have Any Idea?

2009-01-28T14:44:00.000-05:00

Is this woman's pain any less to us because she wears a scarf on her head? Because she doesn't live in the USA? Because she prays five times a day instead of once a week?

I put my last posting on the 40+ members of one Palestinian family killed by Israeli forces on Facebook and asked if empathy still exists, or ever did, in our country. I got back some great feedback, mostly that Americans are empathetic, if they know what is going on. With popular journalism all but dead in America, my friend Seth pointed out there are organizations like If Americans Knew trying to get the word out. But how far is their reach? A few stats from their site: