President's Day

Our New Thread had to happen sooner or later...

The latter part of the last thread has a lot of good posts though.

Happy Presidents Day! :)

what did obama do that is an embarassment?

Dan, read it again...

Sam wrote "NOT"

President's Day

Submitted by SEDER on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 12:55pm.

"Still not used to not being embarrassed by our President."

that must be why they took down Barack Obama's picture... - Gazette

x-Presidents only.

done in by the old double negative trick.

Petition
Dear Representative,

I urge you to co-sponsor H.R. 676, the "Medicare For All" Bill introduced by Rep. John Conyers.

Our health care system is broken. We have nearly 50 million citizens with no health coverage, and at least 18,000 of them die unnecessarily each year as a result. Millions more have inadequate insurance coverage.

Every other industrialized country in the world makes sure its population has access to basic healthcare. The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee access to health care as a human right.

28 industrialized nations have single payer universal health care systems like the type proposed in this bill - privately delivered health care, publicly financed - and none spend as much per capita on health care as the United States. The United States ranks near the bottom among industrial countries in indicators from life expectancy (20th) to infant mortality (23rd).

Under H.R. 676, a family of four making the median income of $56,200 would pay about $2,700 in payroll tax for all health care costs. No deductibles, no co-pays, no worrying about catastrophic coverage.

The services covered include primary care, inpatient, outpatient and emergency hospital care, prescription drugs, durable medical equipment, hearing, dental and vision care, chiropractic treatment, mental health services, and long-term care.

Physicians for a National Health Program estimates the nation could save over $286 billion dollars a year in total health care costs. That's enough to cover all the uninsured and provide full prescription drug coverage for everyone in the United States.

No other issue so directly impacts Americans. Please sign on a co-sponsor to this vital issue. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

http://www.democrats.com/single-payer-petition

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

This week will see the release of the third benefit CD for the War Child organization, dedicated to providing aid to children in regions affected by conflict and poverty. This latest one, entitled War Child: Heroes, consists entirely of covers with the musical legends such as Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson and David Bowie choosing one of their songs and an artist to cover it. The resulting collection of talent involved is breathtaking.

Con't

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

...specifically, "rancid mystery meat"...and, more specifically, rebranding rancid mystery meat......and, even more specifically, Eric Cantor.

Imagine what it must be like to be a young impassionate Republican trying to successfully patch together and repackage stone age ideas with new technologies.

I read a piece or two somewhere last night (I'll try and hunt them down, but so far, no luck) about how the Republican "whips" are the new stars of the party. The post even went on to say that Cantor was ripping off Obama on his new website (below). It is pretty similar in overall structure, though definitely not as nice. Repubs are certainly still flailing in trying to come up with ways to make themselves seem more culturally and pop-culturally relevant. Considering how far behind they are and how little competent effort they really expend however, it is difficult for them to succeed in doing anything beyond lazy plagiarism and cheap tactics.

To me the following seems to be more of a rip off in the vein of the brazenly pathetic "Steele Democrats" campaign. Note the overwhelming use of blue and lack of the typical GOP branding.

You be the judge:

Republican Whip

Barack Obama

I'll bet that within the year we start seeing GOP infommercials.

"this machine kills fascists"

thats right out of the gop play book. the idea is to confuse people as to who owns what message and diminish the value that is gotten from brand identity.

don't forget that rove was once a telemarketeer.

doh
Submitted by dan on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 1:44pm.
done in by the old double negative trick.
----
It's not hardly unusual.

Anyone have some good nature and animal photo's to post or link to?

The following two paragraphs are excerpted from:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/4640673/Brit...
-----
...Although both are fitted with state-of-the-art technology aimed at detecting other submarines, it appears neither saw the other until it was too late.

One theory being considered was that their respective anti-sonar devices - which hide submarines - were just too effective in concealing one from the other...
-----
The World's Navies: "Nyaa-nyaa, you can't see [CRASH]..."

disgusting

Perves Musharraf was playing 'double game' with US

Washington sent Special Forces into Pakistan last summer after intercepting a call by the Pakistani army chief referring to a notorious Taleban leader as a “strategic asset,” a new book has claimed.

The intercept was ordered to confirm suspicions that the Pakistani military were still actively supporting the Taleban whilst taking millions of dollars in US military aid to fight them, according to the “The Inheritance,” by the New York Times correspondent David Sanger.

In a transcript passed to Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence in May 2008, General Ashfaq Kayani, the military chief who replaced Pervez Musharraf, was overheard referring to Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani as “a strategic asset”. The remark was the first real evidence of the double game that Washington had long suspected President Musharraf was playing as he continued receiving US military aid while aiding the Taleban.

Mr Haqqani, a veteran of the anti-Soviet mujahidin wars of the nineties, commands a hardline Taleban group based in Waziristan and is credited with introducing suicide bombing into themilitants’ arsenal.

Washington later intercepted calls from Pakistani military units to Mr Haqqani, warning him of an impending military operation d esigned to prove to the US that Islamabad was tackling the militant threat.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5747696.ece

Why was this such a surprise to the Director of National Intelligence when we all knew Musharef was doing this? Could they be that stupid? There's more to this than this story is telling.

I know, dan...it's too bad for them that THIS is actually Obama's new website!

I'm fascinated at the seemingly endless facets of incompetence that Republicans continue to cut and polish into the turd of their platform.

The aforementioned approach didn't work for Michael Steele in his campaign for Senate. In fact, ironically, he ended up being nominated RNC chair as a result of the same tactic:
as the most ostentatious and poorly manufactured Obama knock-off possible.

"this machine kills fascists"

Karzai probably is, too.....yes, there is a lot more to this, and I wonder if we will ever know.

National science group boycotting Louisiana in protest of Science Education Act
BATON ROUGE -- A national organization of scientists has informed Gov. Bobby Jindal it will not hold its annual convention in Louisiana as long as the recently adopted Science Education Act remains on the books.

The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology told Jindal in a recent letter that its executive committee chose Salt Lake City for its 2011 convention over New Orleans "in large part" because of the legislation. Satterlie's letter is posted on the group's Web site under the headline: "No Thanks, New Orleans."

"That's too bad," Jindal spokesman Kyle Plotkin said of the group's decision. "New Orleans is a first-class city for a convention." Plotkin said the governor did not respond to Satterlie's letter.

Jindal signed the law last year, agreeing with its supporters that science teachers need wider latitude to use supplemental materials for lessons on topics such as evolutionary biology, global warming and cloning.

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/national_science_boycotting_l...

waiting for 3

By Laura MacInnis GENEVA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Washington's "war on terror" after the Sept. 11 attacks has eroded human rights worldwide, creating lingering cynicism that the United Nations must now combat, international law experts said on Monday.

Mary Robinson, who was the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights when al Qaeda militants flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, said the United States caused harm with some of the ways it responded.

"Seven years after 9/11 it is time to take stock and repeal abusive laws and policies," the former Irish president said, warning that harsh U.S. detentions and interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba gave a dangerous signal to other countries that could easily follow suit.

While new U.S. President Barack Obama has announced he will close Guantanamo to break from the practices of his predecessor George W. Bush, Robinson said sweeping changes needed to take place to ensure Washington abandons its "war paradigm".

"There has been severe damage and it needs to be addressed," she told a news conference in Geneva. "We are not more secure. We are more divided, and people are more cynical about the operation of laws."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LG633039.htm

Mark Green?

Still not used to not hearing Sam.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at mounting U.S. criticism on Sunday, saying he expected "better judgment" from the Obama administration.

In the latest show of strain between the allies in a seven-year war against Islamist militants, Karzai told CNN President Barack Obama's description of the Kabul government as "very detached" from its people reflected the new U.S. government's immaturity.

"Perhaps it's because the administration has not yet put itself together," he told CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" program.

"I hope as they settle down, and as they learn more, we'll see better judgment."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/usTopNews/idUKTRE51E1W920090216

It seems that most progressives don't have much use for Randi Rhodes anymore.
Being a female limpball/savage type on the other side turns people off.

It will be hard for her to get syndicated after this latest temper tantrum.

yep.....i hope i live to see them repeal the Patriot Act, seeing it for the foolishness it was/is.

Hillary
Rahm
Giethner
Gregg
Summers
Gates

Biden-- Under consideration.

i feel bad for not feeling bad.

Rhodes, Nova M up in the air
Submitted by toniD on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 4:42am.

*DRAMA*

"If I had even a QUARTER of Dick Clark's money I would quit TODAY, and I would do NOTHING."
-Maron.
www.sigzone.blogspot.com

Will Obama institute a new kind of preventive detention for terrorist suspects?
by Jane Mayer

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/02/23/090223fa_fact_mayer?printa...

what did obama do that is an embarassment?
Submitted by ghettodefender on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 2:32pm.

Ah, man. C'mon. I like Biden.

I agree 500% about the other names, though.

"If I had even a QUARTER of Dick Clark's money I would quit TODAY, and I would do NOTHING."
-Maron.
www.sigzone.blogspot.com

While listening to the Thom Hartmann show Randi is no longer announced as a scheduled show.

The M$M is Clueless Most of The Time..
They also Love to Regurgitate Republican Talking Points Until Anyone With A Brain,Wants To Throw Up !

I sure hope Obama kicks some FCC ass !

www.stopbigmedia.com

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

i hope he kicke som Rethug bum, too

Gaza here is a dimming memory, a momentary nightmare now past.

But the Palestinian children wounded and charred by Israeli bombings are still screaming, their physicians unable to get hold of enough pain killers to still their yelps of pain. Some 5300 Palestinians, most of them children, women and noncombatants, were wounded in Israel's savage war on the Gaza population.

Please consider donating to UNICEF's Gaza children's fund
http://www.juancole.com/

UPDATE 2/15: Rhodes sent out a statement to her affiliates, in response to the Nova M statement. From Green 960's blog:

Nova M Radio has not yet corrected the problem that has kept me off the air despite my strong desire and readiness to broadcast my show. Respecting the employer-employee relationship that has existed between Nova M and me, and expecting the solution to be quickly achieved, details of the disabling event were withheld in good faith. But I can tell you this much: You should not beleive any statement implicating me as being in any way responsible for the disruption in the Randi Rhodes Show. There is no truth to any such message. In fact, I did everything in my power to help Nova M make it possible for me to return.

In light of the most recent developments, my show will be seeking a new home. I would ask for your continued patience and indulgence in respecting my rights during this time. Your unwavering support is cherished. Thank you.

Randi Rhodes

Whatever happens between the two parties, and if and when and if Rhodes returns, it will likely be only via WJNO for the time being.

Con't

Who knows what's really going on..It's all so secretive..I just hope Randi isn't being a Primadonna like she's been lately..Cause I do like her a lot..Just not the me,me,me bs..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

I actually like Biden, and enjoy seeing him at Townhalls on KClan. I certainly like his voice. But I'm still pissed about the Bankruptcy Bill. I think this issue will come up again, and with a Cabinet load of corporatists I not hopeful about the outcome.

It's 3:00.

Maybe Randi Rhodes is going into retirement like her older relative ex wrestler Dusty Rhodes.

Don't We All ! :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

straight out the caucus.

speaking English in quotations
the steel mills rust

it's skinner

I think Randi would be quite a good act for wrestling. She would have to get back into her old air force form though.

She's one hell of a tough broad that could wipe the mat with a lot of the female wrestlers.

"Let's Get Ready To Rumble!"

"And in this corner: She's a man baby, Coulter!!!!!!"

No pot charge for Phelps after photo

February 16, 2009 2:08 PM cst

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A South Carolina sheriff is not going to charge swimmer Michael Phelps after a photo of the 14-time gold medalist showed him smoking from a marijuana pipe.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott made the decision today.

The photo showed Phelps smoking from a marijuana pipe at a University of South Carolina party in November when he visited the
school.

Phelps has called his judgment bad and said he would learn from his mistake.

He was suspended by USA Swimming for three months in the wake of the photo, and Kellogg Co. said it would not renew its endorsement deal with one of the world's most acclaimed athletes.

-- Associated Press

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/02/no-pot-charge-for-phelps-afte...

The maverick MP knows how to get attention. This time, however, he is doing it by leading a mile-long convoy of aid trucks all the way from London to Gaza

Anywhere else, there would be a Berlin-style airlift, he says. "Almost every window has been broken but Israel refuses to allow glass across the border. So, in the bitter winter, 61,000 families whose homes have been destroyed are living among the rubble and the rest are freezing because they've got no windows. You could solve that problem in a weekend, but because it is the Palestinians it doesn't happen."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/george-galloway-becaus...

In & out,freeze,In & out,Freeze..Sucks..

Do they have a new version of the player I don't know about ? Jeebus !

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

anyone getting the show? tried Mogulus and

http://www.breakroomlive.com/

no seegar.

I have NEVER had a good experience with the Break Room Live video.

Randi can be great when she is really on target and not insulting some of her callers. That said, it has been a while since I have tuned it to hear her.

Ghettodefender is right about Joe's voice; and forgiving him the bankruptcy bill. I think he is the best vice president they were likely to give us. He has a heart, he does care about the middle class but his Delaware ties provoked the stupid Bankruptcy bill which we should now change. AND we also need a usury bill to forbid these 25-30+% rates of interest.

Decided to stop by and say hi, since Breakroom is a rebroadcast.

Happy Presidents' Day. There is a cartoon here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/hi.asp -- It sort of fits the tone of the opening comments.

Peace hugs!

The only news I could find is this:

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2009/02/nova_m_meltdown_randi_r...

although MMRules post above

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/4425#comment-308242

gives more info.

I checked Randi's website this morning and it was there, but had an old entry.

I tried it again this afternoon, and it just got redirected to Nova M.

Critiquing CNBC’s House of Cards and Its Role In The Crisis - PT 1 of 3(click on link for videos)

Last week, and again Saturday and Sunday, CNBC ran a two-hour documentary, ‘House of Cards,’ on the financial collapse. As a filmmaker myself who has been struggling to find the funds to finish a film based on my book PLUNDER, I was a tad jealous to be out scooped, but of course independents don’t always have the funding or TV access to compete with corporate products. PBS Frontline is running its show on the meltdown on Tuesday. Mine will get done or not, as quickly as possible, and most assuredly have a different spin, as you can see in our promo:

There is a lot of important information mined in the CNBC special and I am glad to see the networks finally taking the crisis seriously. CNN has been profiling some of the corporate criminals, and I am sure there will be more because this is not a topic that can be ignored anymore.

CNBC sees the problem more in terms of an attitude and sin— i.e., greed (one of the seven sins)—which we are all guilty of–rather than a broken and exploitative system. It predictably profiles victims for us to empathize with, and be shocked about. It goes after some of the smaller fish but does not name the names or reveal the deeds of the real profiteers. It’s hero is a hedge fund operator in Texas who made billions by betting against subprime loans in an unregulated industry. Duh? CNBC always likes winners more than losers. What about the organizations that fought predatory lending for years. Where are they? They are my heroes.

I will have more to say about the program in a minute, but first here’s an excerpt and then a some commentary about my own experience with and feelings about CNBC so you know where I am coming from. (Happy to show theirs; don’t expect them to show mine!)

First, the video excerpt from their well made TV special, which uses the TV correspondent format:
*******

CNBC And The Crisis

CNBC spent years promoting the financial euphoria that led to the debacle that we are trying to pick ourselves out of. It promoted uncritical faith in the markets and had its own share of mini conflict of interests. When I worked there, a new rule had to be issued to prevent staffers from investing in stocks they had inside knowledge of because of their reporting, Their female star, Maria Bartiromo, was tinged in a scandal after she was outed taking free rides on corporate jets. Their one time male star, Ron Insana, left to start his own hedge fund, which has since collapsed.

Some time after doing a stint as a producer in CNBC’s massive HQ on New Jersey’s Trillion Dollar Mile, I pitched their new head of documentaries - himself a high-level refugee from a scandal at CBS—my film, ‘IN DEBT WE TRUST.’ Those who have seen it know it warned of the then coming collapse.

I was told it was “too heavy” and asked to watch what they were running, an exploitative,fast paced, but sexy special on the business of extreme sports. Somehow, I felt my film would be more timely but I was told they control all their production and don’t run films by independents. The executive who rejected my film has since rejected or been rejected by CNBC.

The Complicity of CNBC

At the end of ‘House of Cards,’ the Wall Street investors they interviewed were asked if they felt guilty about the role they played in the crisis. Most couldn’t even understand the question, fudged around or didn’t answer it. I wonder how CNBC executives would respond if they were asked about their own role. As I explained in my book, ‘PLUNDER,’ I believe there was complicity by financial journalists and financial channels like CNBC, writing:

“The channel’s CEO noted last December in a memo to employees that they “own” the subprime issue because of the coverage they have given it. Admittedly, I am not a regular viewer but when I worked there came away with the distinct feeling that their business precluded too much criticism of business or its coverage. Bear in mind, also, that crises and controversies draw viewers. Viewing is said to be up 21% over last year. Perhaps I inadvertently made a small contribution to reinforcing its fearless self-image.

Fortune recently did a revealing piece for their corporate cousin CNN about their GE-NBC owned competitors: (I was certainly right to speak of their elite audience.)”

http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/2009/02/15/critiquing-cnbcs-house-of-c...

While the U.S. Senate took crucial votes on the stimulus package on Friday Feb. 6, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison was far from Washington, delivering a speech to the Richardson Chamber of Commerce. Hutchinson has announced she will run for governor in 2010, but has backed off from earlier statements about resigning the Senate seat to campaign for the post. - Examiner

It's well known around here that Kay wanted the Stimulus bill to pass but didn't have the courage to vote for it. Round here we call that cowardice.

dunno....

"this machine kills fascists"

Russia to aid Bolivia drug battle

Medvedev, left, said Gazprom would have a long-term involvement in Bolivia [AFP]

Moscow has agreed to supply Bolivia with helicopters to help fight drug trafficking in the South American country, Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, has announced.

A deal on battling the drugs trade was made at a meeting between Medvedev and Evo Morales, the Bolivian president, at the Kremlin in Moscow.

'Strategic project'

The pair also signed a declaration outlining their similar positions on global issues and opposition to policies by the United States, such as the embargo against Cuba, plans for a missile defence shield in central Europe and Nato expansion.

Neave Barker, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Moscow, said a deal with Gazprom "would allow Russian experts to travel to Bolivia to help the nation exploit its own raw materials," as Bolivia has the second largest gas deposits in the whole of Latin America.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/02/2009216141016474148.htm...

"Is that the most unprofessional, condescending note you've ever read, or what? I've got some news for Mrs. Drobny. If your primary selling point nationally is left-wing gasbag Mike Molloy, who could give Brother Theodore lessons in lunacy (if Theo was still with us, God rest his nutty soul), you might as well sell the station and buy a Jack in the Box franchise."

"If I had even a QUARTER of Dick Clark's money I would quit TODAY, and I would do NOTHING."
-Maron.
www.sigzone.blogspot.com

Critiquing CNBC’s House of Cards and Its Role In The Crisis - PT 2 of 3(click on link for videos)

Serving the Rich

“The network has a lock on the wealthiest audience in television. The typical CNBC viewer has a net worth of $2.7 million, with an average income of $156,000, according to Monroe Mendelsohn Research. Measuring only viewers watching from home, Nielsen puts the CNBC viewer’s income at $73,000, compared with an average cable viewer’s income of $48,000.”

Their CEO is quite adept at packaging the product and holding off the new Fox Business Channel which only tends to draw ten thousand viewers to CNBC’s average of 310,000 a day.

The channel is run by broadcast veteran broadcast veteran Mark Hoffman who “has added edge and emotion to a network that was heavily criticized in the run-up to the tech bust for its rah-rah business take on the news.

Ron Insana, a CNBC anchor, said critics were blaming the messenger. “We didn’t invent the game,” he said. “We covered it.” Still, executives of CNBC said the network had altered its style of coverage for the new environment.

“People are getting much more dimensional coverage than they did before from CNBC,” Mr. Cohen said.” A year later, the Columbia Journalism Review asked a veteran financial reporter, Ray Brady, to assess CNBC’s approach. He spoke of its history.

“Critics claim that CNBC’s on-screen personalities led the charge into the speculative stocks of the 1990s, stocks that eventually imploded. There are professional questions, as well, about the network’s cheerleading coverage of Wall Streeters who were extolling stocks that those same analysts were privately calling “crap.”

The Merrill Lynch analyst, Henry Blodget, for one example, had been a frequent guest on CNBC. His Internet stocks all came crashing down, and eventually it was learned that he’d been recommending stocks on-air that he privately called “junk.” (But Blodget came full circle: Mark Haines led Squawk one recent morning with the news that Blodget had been banned for life from Wall Street.) Alan Abelson, the respected financial columnist of Barron’s, comes down hard on the channel. “CNBC,” he says bluntly, “was a product of the stock-market mania. They contributed to it, and they ate off it.”
*******

Embedded In The Corporate Culture

There was a related concern I discussed with the New Yorker editor, Hendrik Hetzberg, “embedding” in the corporate culture. He agreed:

“You could say that they were embedded in the institutions, like the embedded reporters in Iraq, and that goes two ways. You could say that business journalism was in bed with, or embedded, in the institutions, the way that war correspondents were embedded in the units in Iraq, but you know, that can go both ways. You have a kind of Stockholm Syndrome, you adopt the point of view with whom you’re embedded with on one hand, on the other hand, you are seeing it, it’s coming before your eyes, the reality is coming before your eyes, whether you’re reporting it or not.

He compared the financial channels to the sports channels:

“TV financial journalism particularly, the business networks um, are sort of like the sports networks. You know they’re really there for, they’re for a niche audience that is invested in more ways than one. And the idea that the stock market is a wonderful game and you’re going to win not lose when you play it.

And so outliers who say, you know that everything looks great right now and the value of your house doubled last five years but, this is going, this is going, this is heading for the cliff. Unless you — that’s, that’s an unwelcome opinion, an unwelcome view and when there is no — when the numbers aren’t there to prove it um, who pays attention? This was a, this was a case where everybody had an interest in in keeping the bubble going - either because they didn’t know it was a bubble or because they knew damn well it was a bubble but um, but their quarterly earnings statements told them better stick with this, figure out, you know don’t get out just yet. Get out a little bit later, a little bit later, a little bit later and um, so I think that’s, that’s what happened.”

Bubbilicios

Columbia Law Professor, John C. Coffee, an expert on corporate crime, agrees the media did not warn us about the dangers of a bubble but encouraged it:

“Media also is not prophetic. In a market bubble the whole mood of the country is ‘things are doing great and we are all wonderfully successful and business is being led by geniuses.’ Now we recognize that genius really is in short supply and it doesn’t surprise me that there is a mass psychology during a bubble period that says things are going to get better and better and better and predicts really hyperbolic gains in the market.

We saw that in ‘98 to 2001 when we had the sudden crash of the Internet stock market bubble. Now we are having a bubble in the debt markets unraveling and it’s causing much greater injury and there are much more real individual injuries associated with it, but in both cases, the media was ready, just like the rest of the country, to buy into the idea that things were going to get hyperbolically better year after year.”
*******

Talking Back To CNBC on CNBC

A year ago, while covering a protest at Bear Stearns by angry homeowners, I was inadvertently interviewed by CNBC. I gave them a piece of my mind.

*******

I later leaned that someone in the industry told CNBC about my rap which had been posted on YouTube and to show fairness they played a brief excerpt. When I offered to come on their Power Lunch show to amplify my critique. I never got a call back, no surprise. (I was later intrigued by a strange coincidence or is it? In the video, I tell the CNBC reporter “they hate you.” Last week, Congressman Barney Frank used the same words in confronting top bankers who testified before his committee. “The public hates you,” he said.
*******

Now the network which “owned” the subprime issue also wants to own the criticisms of the crisis by commissioning and running, ‘HOUSE OF CARDS,’ a two-hour investotainment documentary that indicted the very greed that so many CNBC shows had been encouraging for years. I was glad to see a reporter I interviewed in the film as well as a real estate broker I quoted. Maybe someone was doing homework (I gave a copy of my book to a CNBC reporter who was covering a Wall Street rally I spoke at in hopes of getting on to talk about it. Fat chance. Never heard a word.)

The film does a good job in explaining how the subprime scandal emerged and documenting the plight of some of its victims. They had a healthy budget and were able to travel from Wall Street to Florida, California, and even Norway to show how CDOs packaged by the firms had a global reach with devastating impact.

See It And Also See What It Is Missing

You should see it. There mere many positive comments about it one website I visited. Many of those commenting said they believed the fraudsters should be in jail. That is not a remedy explored in the film,

The network amortizes its costs by running “House of Cards” many times. On last Saturday’s broadcast, I saw an ad for getting rich by buying commercial real estate that was very similar to the ads being challenged as deceptrive in the broadcast. But note, the program does not name names, and does not discuss why so many people got into financial trouble because as their costs went up, their wages have been held down.

“House of Cards” ends with the reflections of former Fed “maestro” Alan Greenspan, the husband of an NBC correspondent, who denies anything could have been done differently. (He is not challenged on his refusal to respond to the Fed’s Edward Gramich who continually warned him about pervasive predatory lending practices in the housing marketplace. At the time, Greenspan was deaf to those concerns. There are well-documented books challenging Greenspan’s promotion of his own brilliance, but he was treated gently by CNBC even though he is pushed on a few issues with great deference.)

Greenspan concludes with a defense of the free market system. (Unmentioned: he was a big Ayn Rand supporter). He tells us reform by government of market practices is all but impossible and says he expects a another crisis will happen again. Smile — Wink — Wink. The idea that the house of cards will collapse again is fatalistic conclusion of this program. (Or is it an ideological/editorial hope?) Did they think he was being ironic? Is that the takeaway they want us to take away?

SCHEDULE:

* Monday, February 16, 2009 at 6a/8p/12a ET
* Saturday, March 1, 2009 at 12a ET
* Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 9p ET

http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/2009/02/15/critiquing-cnbcs-house-of-c...

Critiquing CNBC’s House of Cards and Its Role In The Crisis - PT 3 of 3(click on link for videos)

FINALLY: More stories are coming out on mortgage abuses but YEARS AFTER the abuses occurred.

60 Minutes did one this week on World Savings, which was sold to Wachovia, which was sold to Wells Fargo. The banks founders were liberals who funded the Center for Responsible Lending. (This story was originally done by the NY Times.)

If you want to see a more radical “critique” of banking, check out the action thriller, ‘The International,’ (not the INTERNATIONALE, which I would have preferred). It’s inspired by the gun running and scams by the now defunct BCCI bank. a story Globalvision exposed on Frontline years ago. It reveals the role of debt scams, amorality and violence in the banking industry. It implies there is a vast conspiracy here which is not so far off the mark. (There is a great shootout scene supposedly staged in New York’s Guggenheim Museum.)
*******

RELATED LETTER:

Dear Danny,

My wife and I just had an opportunity to see your film documentary “In Debt We Trust“, which we had purchased early last year, but with our busy schedule, only got a chance to view yesterday. Our Reaction: A Brilliant Masterpiece!!!

It predicted everything that we are witnessing now: A dysfunctional, collapsing world economy. Q: With all that had happened since it was first produced almost four years ago, what are chances of any updated version/edition being released?

Keep up the Good work!

Ralph Vega, Jr. — Union, NJ

PS: I have thoroughly enjoyed your e-mail news updates and commentaries these last two years. I find them highly informative and extremely educational. I am especially grateful to you for bringing to the public’s attention the many news articles/pieces found in the Israeli press regarding the Israeli military incursion into Gaza … something we don’t read much about in the American corporate media. As a Puerto Rican with a strong interest in (among other things) American foreign policy, I find your website extremely valuable. Continued success!!!
*******

Music Video of the Day — The Money Song — Avenue Q

THE DISSECTRIX COMMENTS

What we need MUST have to commence resolving the “crisis of confidence” we are suffering, as a nation, that commenced 8 years ago, is a President who strides through the swamp of DC insider beltway politics with its petty egocentric grievances on daily display like a giant Colossus, boldly and without hesitation much less a “caving” to take into account the failed policies of the past three decades beginning with the mythical marvels of “trickle down economics” ala Ronald Reagan.

We the people need our own generational Lincoln who embodies the following thoughts written over 5 years ago by activist and environmentalist, Bill McKibben — “Small Change - Beating Around the Bush - Orion Magazine 2003:”

“And a force is what we need. …
We need nothing less than
a reconfiguration of
our economies,
our desires,
our worldview.

It seems at least possible that Dean will figure out how to turn a campaign — and maybe even an administration — into a two-way conversation with its supporters. If so, he will have done something truly remarkable, giving the people the voice they are meant to have in a democracy.

We need an eruption of hope, of determination, of participation, something hot enough to melt our frozen politics. Fate — in the curious and counterintuitive fashion that fate often operates — just might have chosen the unlikely Howard Dean as the volcano through which that passion could pour. At the very least, everyone can root for the people power that has broken the surface of our politics, root for it to go on gathering steam and savvy, and, a year from now or a decade from now, to transform our political landscape.”
*******

And there you have it.

Happy President’s Day. President Obama told us “help is on the way.” Yo, we need a stimulus around here — or at least some help from all of our readers to keep this truth machine in motion. Mediachannel.org has been challenging corporate media since l999. Help us sustain our work. Comments to: dissector@mediachannel.org. Donations via PayPal or tax deductible checks made out to:

The Global Center at 575 8th Ave #2200. NYC l0018, please write “For MediaChannel.org” in the memo section.

http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/2009/02/15/critiquing-cnbcs-house-of-c...

UK confirms nuclear subs collision

France said no crew members on Le Triomphant
were injured

Nuclear-armed submarines from Britain and France collided while on separate patrols in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, the head of Britain's navy has said.

Admiral Jonathon Band, Britain's First Sea Lord, said there was no damage to the vessels' weapons during the incident and that "there was no compromise to nuclear safety".

British newspapers had reported that the submarines were badly damaged in the collision and had to return to port.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/02/2009216142529456679.htm...

i going back to work.

later gang!

Stimulus Stirs Debate Over Broadband Access

By NPR.

Listen Now [4 min 23 sec]

Map of rural broadband access
See The Daily Yonder’s Data On Broadband Access Across Rural America

Morning Edition, February 16, 2009 · Former FCC economist Michael Katz didn’t hesitate to bash rural life last week when he addressed an American Enterprise Institute panel discussion on the broadband elements of President Obama’s economic stimulus bill.

“Other people don’t like to say bad things about rural areas,” Katz began. “So I will.”

The stimulus package includes $7.2 billion to expand broadband Internet access into “underserved” and rural areas. Katz listed ways that the $7.2 billion could be put to better use, including an effort to combat infant deaths. But he also spoke of rural places as environmentally hostile, energy inefficient and even weak in innovation, simply because rural people are spread out across the landscape.

“The notion that we should be helping people who live in rural areas avoid the costs that they impose on society … is misguided,” Katz went on, “from an efficiency point of view and an equity one.”

Just the week before, a New York Times story on the rural broadband funding in the economic stimulus package used the phrase “cyber bridge to nowhere.” That stung the rural issues advocates at the Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg, Ky.

“When they talk about ‘cyber bridges to nowhere,’ what they’re really doing is betraying arrogance,” complains Dee Davis, the center’s director. “When people think of rural as ‘nowhere,’ [they’re] saying the people who live in those places aren’t worth working with, they’re not worth helping.”

That is not how to address an economic crisis that affects everyone, Davis adds. “What we need to do is something that’ll lift the economy in all places, not just favor one area over the other.”

Broadband As Economic Stimulus

Rural advocates say high-speed access is a necessity in a global economy, and a critical part of economic revival and survival for rural places. Obama agreed during his campaign for president. His rural platform included this plank:

“Barack Obama will ensure that our rural Americans have access to modern communications infrastructure. He will … [promote] affordable broadband coverage across rural America as well.”

Davis notes that remote health care and education increasingly depend on good Internet access. And an increasing number of rural jobs are dependent on broadband.

One example of the connection between broadband and jobs is in Ten Sleep, Wyo., a town of 350 at the base of the Big Horn Mountains. Ten Sleep is home to vast ranches and a global cyberbusiness that expects to employ as many as 700 full- and part-time teachers from across northwest Wyoming by the end of the year. That would bring the company’s payroll to close to $3 million a year.

The cyberbusiness started three years ago, when Kent Holiday was visiting in-laws in Ten Sleep. Holiday had been a top executive at Korea Telecom in South Korea. So when he noticed spools of orange cable along freshly dug ditches in Ten Sleep, he knew the tiny Wyoming town was getting the kind of blazing fast fiber-optic service still elusive in most big city neighborhoods. Holiday called Chris Davidson, the general manager of Tri County Telephone, the local telephone, broadband and television provider.

“We discussed his idea for this business of teaching English via live video connection to South Korean students,” Davidson recalls. “And it ended up that he headquartered his company right there in Ten Sleep.”

Holiday’s Eleutian Technology uses fiber-optic bandwidth to link its teacher-employees with 15,000 students in Korea.

There are plenty of other anecdotal examples of broadband bringing jobs and commerce to rural towns. But there aren’t definitive studies or data, says Shane Greenstein, an economist at Northwestern University who specializes in telecommunications.

“We don’t know, for example, whether the wage rates go up or down just because broadband’s available,” Greenstein says. “We don’t know if the exit of businesses from rural areas increases or decreases when you have broadband. We don’t know whether you get growth. So, though we see examples, we don’t know whether those stories generalize.”

STORY CONTINUES:

http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2009/02/16/stimulus-stirs-debate-o...

Three years before the housing market crash, Paul Bishop says he warned his superiors at World Savings - the nation's second largest savings and loan company - that many of the mortgages they were granting were misleading and predatory.

Scott Pelley reports. Graham Messick is the producer.

60 Minutes World Of Trouble video link:

http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2009/02/16/60-minutes-world-of-tro...

CSPAN surveyed 65 presidential historians. The results:

1. Lincoln
2. Washington
3. FD Roosevelt
4. Teddy Roosevelt
5. Truman
6. Kennedy
7. Jefferson
8. Eisenhower
9. Wilson
10. Reagan
11. LB Johnson
12. Polk
I've always felt Polk should be nearer the top. A nation founded on the extermination of its indigenous population, suckled on slavery and nurtured on starvation wages should at least be honest. While G W and Polk were both unapologetic about imperialism, Polk was competent at it.

Le Triomphant class submarine:

The le Triomphant class of strategic missile submarines of the French Navy are currently being introduced into service to provide the sea based component (the Force Océanique Stratégique) of the French nuclear deterrent or Force de frappe, with the M45 SLBM...

...They are roughly one thousand times quieter than the Redoutable-class vessels, and ten times more sensitive in detecting other submarines...

...The French Navy's goal is to operate a force of four SSBNs (as with the Royal Navy's Vanguard fleet), of which two are on patrol at any given time...

http://www.answers.com/topic/le-triomphant-class-submarine
------------------------
A Vanguard is cruising the seas with an anti-sonar device in its gear.

Le Triomphant: "Hey, you've got an anti-sonar device in your gear."

Vanguard: "I can't hear you. I have an anti-sonar device in my gear."

The "Philadelphia Experiment"

Related resources::

Office of Naval Research (ONR) fact sheet
UFO Research Guide
Photograph of USS Eldridge

Allegedly, in the fall of 1943 a U.S. Navy destroyer was made invisible and teleported from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Norfolk, Virginia, in an incident known as the Philadelphia Experiment. Records in the Operational Archives Branch of the Naval Historical Center have been repeatedly searched, but no documents have been located which confirm the event, or any interest by the Navy in attempting such an achievement.
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq21-1.htm

and there was a winger on talking about how Obama put the country in danger by dismantling the CIA and others from interrogating (torturing) the captured terrorists. That the torture worked.

I can remember the name of the very attractive black host, but she laid into him asking where is your proof and he said Bush and the people that actually designed the program.

She said she had given him alot of time on an issue that has been unproved and debunked.

Her name is Tamarin and she has subbed for Keith Olbermann

BREAKING NEWS! No Pot Charge For Phelps After Photo
new
Submitted by Harbinger on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 3:18pm.
No pot charge for Phelps after photo

http://www.hulu.com/watch/56636/saturday-night-live-really-michael-phelp...

Maybe you have a old version of the player ?

The first week of BRL I couldn't get squat !

Then I thought it must be the player & it was..
**
Today it finally started to work..But,as soon as the show started over it got f*cked up again..
I think they are looking for a new outfit to do their broadcast from..Hope so..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

It's very interesting that these early republicans contributed very little. ;)

-----

Scientists get first draft of Neanderthal genome

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Gene sleuths who have come up with a rough draft of the Neanderthal DNA code said on Thursday the ancient relatives of modern humans shared with us one gene for speech, but little else.

The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany and 454 Life Science Corp, a Roche company, said they have sequenced more than 60 percent of the entire Neanderthal genome.

Preliminary results confirm what the group had already suspected: that Neanderthals, humanity's closest relative, contributed very little to the gene pool of modern humans.

"Our data really shows if there was a contribution, it was very small. It's tiny," Svante Paabo, who is heading up the effort at the Max Planck Institute, told reporters in a video conference.

Neanderthals lived in Europe and parts of Asia until about 30,000 years ago, when Cro-Magnon people, the ancestors of modern humans, moved in.

The group is working to get a complete Neanderthal gene map, which they plan to compare to the previously sequenced human and chimpanzee genomes in the hopes of gaining more insights about how Neanderthals differed from humans.

Paabo said the analysis so far confirms that humans and Neanderthals had the same variant of the FOXP2 gene known to play a role in speech.

"We cannot say from this they could speak. We can just say there is no reason to assume they couldn't speak from what little we know," he said.

The team wants to look at other genes, including those involved in brain ageing and development, he said.

So far, the two groups have sequenced a total of more than 1 billion fragments of Neanderthal DNA, generating a first draft sequence of the entire Neanderthal genome.

The researchers have had to devise computer programs that detect whether changes in the ancient DNA were due to chemical damage over time, or to contamination with modern human DNA from handling.

Most of the DNA sequences come from bones from Vindija Cave in Croatia, which has proven to be a particularly rich source of Neanderthal DNA.

But the team is looking for new fossils that can be carefully excavated to minimize human contamination.

And Paabo said given the age of the ancient DNA, using cloning technology to try to resurrect a Neanderthal is out of the question. "It is and will remain impossible," he told reporters.

Paabo said the team hopes to publish detailed findings later this year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090212/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_neanderthal;_ylt=A...

Maybe Cantor Wants It?
Slow news day, I'll admit it. But it seems that in addition to Rep. Eric Cantor's historically illiterate reverence for Winston Churchill, the great man is now at the center of a mini-tiff between the US and the UK.

After 9/11, as a symbol of the 'special relationship' between the US and the UK, Tony Blair loaned a bust of Churchill from the government's art collection to President Bush to keep in the Oval Office.

They extended the offer when Obama came into office, as TPM Reader DM just let us know. But the 44th president apparently said that wasn't necessary and sent Churchill back. For the moment, Churchill is hanging out at the British Ambassador's residence in DC. And it's not clear yet when or whether he'll be traveling back across the Atlantic.

The Brits seem to have their nose bent slightly out of shape over the incident, since Churchill's bust has now been replaced with one of Abraham Lincoln. They're trying to decide which if any alternative bust they should send with PM Gordon Brown when comes to DC in early March.

--Josh Marshall

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/maybe_cantor_wants_it....

By MediaChannel

Thank you for your positive response to our financial appeal! You have convinced us that you appreciate our work and recognize its value. In exchange, we commit to continuing our mission...

www.mediachannel.org

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

They call it Mellow Yellow?

By Matthias - Williams February 12, 2009

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A hardline Hindu organization, known for its opposition to "corrupting" Western food imports, is planning to launch a new soft drink made from cow's urine, often seen as sacred in parts of India.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or National Volunteer Corps, said the bovine beverage is undergoing laboratory tests for the next 2 to 3 months but did not give a specific date for its commercial release.

The flavor is not yet known, but the RSS said the liquid produced by Hinduism's revered holy cows is being mixed with products such as aloe vera and gooseberry to fight diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

Many Hindus consider cow urine to have medicinal properties and it is often drunk in religious festivals.

The organization, which aims to transform India's secular society and establish the supremacy of a Hindu majority, said it had not decided on a name or a price for the drink.

"Cow urine offers a cure for around 70 to 80 incurable diseases like diabetes. All are curable by cow urine," Om Prakash, the head of the RSS Cow Protection Department, told Reuters by phone.

Prakash, who is based in Hardwar, one of four holy Hindu cities on the river Ganges where the world's largest religious gathering takes place, said the product will be sold nationwide but did not rule out international success.

"It is useful for the whole country and the world as well. It will be done through shops and through corporates," he said.

The Hindu group has campaigned against foreign imports such as Pepsi and Coca Cola in the past, which it sees as a corrupting influence and a tool of Western imperialism.

The RSS was temporarily banned after a Hindu mob tore down a mosque in 1992 which lead to bloody religious riots.

The Shiv Sena, a hardline Hindu political party also known for attacking what it sees as threats to Indian culture such as Valentine's Day, started a similar initiative last year to appeal to its powerbase in Mumbai.

To promote the food of the native Marathi culture, the Shiv Sena said it was "making a chain like McDonalds" to sell a popular local fried snack.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090212/od_nm/us_urine_drink_odd

Vanguard: "This is Vanguard. Is that you, Le Triomphant, over."

Vepr: "Nyet. Is Akula class Vepr, over."

Vanguard: "Where are you Vepr, over."

Le Triomphant: "Ze Vepr, she is above us, over."

Vepr: "Who is that, over."

Le Triomphant: "Eh, eh. C'est le tres quiet frogs aboard Le Triomphant, over."

Vepr: "Where are you Vanguard, over."

Vanguard: "Above you, over."

Le Triomphant: "Mon Dieu! Les sous-marins sont stacked like ze poker chips!"

Vanguard: "Don't anybody move. We have the Vepr in a sub sandwich, over."

Le Triomphant: "Tres magnifique! Ze Vanguard make ze good one, over."

Vepr: "We don't get it, over."

Smart or Stoopid Test

When it says you only have 8 seconds to answer the question, they aren't kidding!.
Re-taking the test mixes up the questions so you can't gain anything there.

This is VERY FAST, so be prepared. You only have 8 seconds for each question.
Click the link and have fun.

Smartorstoopid
or
http://www.flashbynight.com/test/

Oh yeah. She's great! :)

Dubai is falling apart
John Aravosis (DC) · 2/16/2009 03:29:00 PM ET · Link
Make a comment · reddit · FARK · Digg It! · Stumble It! · facebook

Couldn't have happened to nicer people.
[F]aced with crippling debts as a result of their high living and Dubai’s fading fortunes, many expatriates are abandoning their cars at the airport and fleeing home rather than risk jail for defaulting on loans.

Police have found more than 3,000 cars outside Dubai’s international airport in recent months. Most of the cars – four-wheel drives, saloons and “a few” Mercedes – had keys left in the ignition.
...
Those who flee the emirate are known as skips.
...
“There is no way of tracking actual numbers, but the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming. Dubai is emptying out,” said a Western diplomat.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/02/skips-in-dubai.html

i got a 25 so we all know who is smarter here (hint: 1st letter is a T, last 4 letters are oniD)

its too bad you don't get to see which ones you did right and which ones you did wrong.

Laid-off foreigners flee as Dubai declines

No one knows how bad things have become, though it is clear that tens of thousands have left, real estate prices have crashed and scores of Dubai's major construction projects have been suspended or canceled. But with the government unwilling to provide data, rumors are bound to flourish, damaging confidence and further undermining the economy.

Instead of moving toward greater transparency, the emirates seem to be moving in the other direction. A new draft media law would make it a crime to damage the country's reputation or economy, punishable by fines of up to 1 million dirhams (about $272,000). Some say it is already having a chilling effect on reporting about the crisis.

Last month, local newspapers reported that Dubai was canceling 1,500 work visas every day, citing unnamed government officials. Asked about the number, Humaid bin Dimas, a spokesman for Dubai's Labor Ministry, said he would not confirm or deny it and refused to comment further. Some say the true figure is much higher.

====

I told all four that there are going to be some times where we don't agree with each other, but that's OK. If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator," Bush joked.

====

The point of the quote is to remind all of us about how lucky we are that bush is gone.

Liberty Media close to deal for Sirius XM
Stake would rescue Sirius from debt deadline

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5ba89940-fc73-11dd-aed8-000077b07658.html

A New installment of the maybe,daily or weekly,segment on Thee Old Blog..

Today's Music for you listening pleasure is some:

Buffalo Tom & Steely Dan..Plus a Mystery Song..Enjoy.. :)

Don't forget to tip your waitress..

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/3337#comment-308280

*Give it about 25 secs to get to the thread..It's a bit full & takes awhile to download.. :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

a long time. Hey hey Pee Dee.

What's knew?

I thought this was a Music Blog..

Now we have to take tests ? Jeebus ! ;)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

22 was the best I can do. I guess that means I have to go blog at RedState.

Hey tD, I saw the article on Cantor. Thanks for pointing it out for me. I was gonna use it on the show this week but you know what? There are more important things to talk about than these imbecilic conservative cretins.

I definitely write better than a 22! ;-)

Crank:Are you drinkin & smokin Mellow Yellow today ? ;)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

by digby

On president's day the gasbags are arguing about whether or not its fair that the historians have put George W. Bush at the bottom of presidential rankings. Howard Finemen wondered if it's reasonable to rank him with those president';s who've traditionally been at the bottom because of their immoral stand on slavery.

I dunno. I think ordering anal rape ranks right down there on the immorality scale. But it is a very low bar.

Digby :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

I'm surprised I did as well as I did.

Kcin, you saw Peter Dragon here? When? I miss him!

I'd suprised if GW got ten on that test.

The average is 17. something so you have superior intelligence!

He was logged in here about an hour ago. Lurked and left.

Until someone convinces me otherwise, this is the theory that sounds best to me.

The Republican reps knew that the Stimulus Package would carry on votes from the Democrats. Therefore, they knew that they could vote against it with the confidence that their "No" votes would not kill the bill.

Since the Republican reps generally represent districts having a majority of hardcore Republicans, the reps know without asking that their constituencies would oppose anything like the Stimulus Package (partially because their constituents are unwavering ideologues and partially because their constituents are ignorant, narrow-minded sacks of hammers masquerading as human beings).

For the Republican reps who know that a stimulus package, any stimulus package, is preferable to nothing, the ability to vote "No" without jeopardizing the bill was a godsend.

The reason that I subscribe to this theory is based on the absolute opposition by the Republicans in the House. I don't believe that all of those Republicans voted in lockstep because they share a common opinion of the bill.

If there was a chance that the bill would have passed or failed based on some of the Republican votes, I don't believe that they would have voted unanimously.

This might seem self-evident to some people but there are plenty of folks who believe that the Republicans voted "No" because they all agreed on the flaws in the bill or because they all agreed that a stimulus bill is always a bad idea.

The only thing that the Republicans agreed on was that their "No" votes wouldn't kill the bill but would look good to their neanderthal constituents come election time.

And they wonder why there are so many "Wandering Catholics"
like myself..
**
by digby

I'm not a religious person so I tend not to be too interested in the theological side of religious debates. But this truly is illuminating.

It comes from a Catholic Bishop:

Dear Friends and Benefactors:

Canadians strike me as a gentle people; but "strike" is the word! Ten yeas ago I was innocently asked in Canada whether women should wear trousers. Some ten weeks ago, also in Canada, I was asked whether a girl should go to a conservative Novus Ordo university. The answer now to the second question may be as stormy as the answer to the first:- because of all kinds of natural reasons, almost no girl should go to any university!
(It Gets better)

*That's from the holocaust denying Bishop, of course. But you can certainly see why the conservative Pope would want to reinstate this person. I suspect this is one thing they absolutely agree on.

Con't

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Relegated to listening to NPR again, I tuned in and heard the re-broadcast of this "Fresh Air" interview of M. Pollan. Thought it was worth a post -

October 12, 2008
The Food Issue
Farmer in Chief
By MICHAEL POLLAN

Dear Mr. President-Elect,

It may surprise you to learn that among the issues that will occupy much of your time in the coming years is one you barely mentioned during the campaign: food. Food policy is not something American presidents have had to give much thought to, at least since the Nixon administration — the last time high food prices presented a serious political peril. Since then, federal policies to promote maximum production of the commodity crops (corn, soybeans, wheat and rice) from which most of our supermarket foods are derived have succeeded impressively in keeping prices low and food more or less off the national political agenda. But with a suddenness that has taken us all by surprise, the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close. What this means is that you, like so many other leaders through history, will find yourself confronting the fact — so easy to overlook these past few years — that the health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security. Food is about to demand your attention.

Complicating matters is the fact that the price and abundance of food are not the only problems we face; if they were, you could simply follow Nixon’s example, appoint a latter-day Earl Butz as your secretary of agriculture and instruct him or her to do whatever it takes to boost production. But there are reasons to think that the old approach won’t work this time around; for one thing, it depends on cheap energy that we can no longer count on. For another, expanding production of industrial agriculture today would require you to sacrifice important values on which you did campaign. Which brings me to the deeper reason you will need not simply to address food prices but to make the reform of the entire food system one of the highest priorities of your administration: unless you do, you will not be able to make significant progress on the health care crisis, energy independence or climate change. Unlike food, these are issues you did campaign on — but as you try to address them you will quickly discover that the way we currently grow, process and eat food in America goes to the heart of all three problems and will have to change if we hope to solve them. Let me explain.

After cars, the food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy — 19 percent. And while the experts disagree about the exact amount, the way we feed ourselves contributes more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than anything else we do — as much as 37 percent, according to one study. Whenever farmers clear land for crops and till the soil, large quantities of carbon are released into the air. But the 20th-century industrialization of agriculture has increased the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the food system by an order of magnitude; chemical fertilizers (made from natural gas), pesticides (made from petroleum), farm machinery, modern food processing and packaging and transportation have together transformed a system that in 1940 produced 2.3 calories of food energy for every calorie of fossil-fuel energy it used into one that now takes 10 calories of fossil-fuel energy to produce a single calorie of modern supermarket food. Put another way, when we eat from the industrial-food system, we are eating oil and spewing greenhouse gases. This state of affairs appears all the more absurd when you recall that every calorie we eat is ultimately the product of photosynthesis — a process based on making food energy from sunshine. There is hope and possibility in that simple fact.

In addition to the problems of climate change and America’s oil addiction, you have spoken at length on the campaign trail of the health care crisis. Spending on health care has risen from 5 percent of national income in 1960 to 16 percent today, putting a significant drag on the economy. The goal of ensuring the health of all Americans depends on getting those costs under control. There are several reasons health care has gotten so expensive, but one of the biggest, and perhaps most tractable, is the cost to the system of preventable chronic diseases. Four of the top 10 killers in America today are chronic diseases linked to diet: heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and cancer. It is no coincidence that in the years national spending on health care went from 5 percent to 16 percent of national income, spending on food has fallen by a comparable amount — from 18 percent of household income to less than 10 percent. While the surfeit of cheap calories that the U.S. food system has produced since the late 1970s may have taken food prices off the political agenda, this has come at a steep cost to public health. You cannot expect to reform the health care system, much less expand coverage, without confronting the public-health catastrophe that is the modern American diet.
-alot more-
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?_r=1&partner=...

DOJ Yanks Ted Stevens Prosecution Team
The Justice Department has replaced the team of lawyers that won a conviction of Ted Stevens last fall, Politico reports. The prosecution had been plagued by missteps (including a typo in the original indictment), allegations of misconduct, and, most recently, a contempt of court ruling by the judge.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/justice_department_rep...

i scored 38.1% above average (I got 25 answers right, average was 18)

Keith used to have a very pretty curly black lady named alyson sub for him, smart too

Who says Bush opposes slavery? Early in his administration, Unocal faced a lawsuit for using slave labor to build their natural gas pipeline in Burma. The Bush administration filed of friend of the court brief asserting that US companies had a right to use slave labor in foreign countries that don't bar slavery. That sounds like at least a tepid endorsement of slavery to me.
fostert | 02.16.09 - 7:29 pm | #

you click on continue next page to see the answers

:)

Speaking of Fresh Air, the January 22nd show headline is: 'Wired For War' Explores Robots On The Battlefield.

The discussion examines all sorts of ramifications that don't immediately come to mind (at least not to idiots like War Dog) when contemplating robotic warfare. Some of the philosophical and ethical and psychological and legal aspects are discussed as well.

And, yes, robotic warfare is already here. The U.S. is using robot assassins a/k/a drone aircraft.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99663723

sounds like an automatic 10 point deduction. doh

a 19, but I'm drunk

Eaten something

A little high that's all!

Lampshade of Shame

than smart, treebu

I got
Submitted by treebu on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 7:43pm.
a 19, but I'm drunk
------
More than half of the time I read the multiple choices, then the question, then the multiple choices again while the clock ticked down in my peripheral vision.

I don't know why. There is something about the gap between the question 'way up there and the multiple choices filling the center of the screen that attracted me to the answers before the question.

It was sort of like Yoda playing Jeopardy.

That's why it's better to be a little high - then you don't care!

The Stimulus Package Votes
Submitted by Crank Bait on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 7:17pm.
The only thing that the Republicans agreed on was that their "No" votes wouldn't kill the bill.

...how right you are. In the House, they could get to mold the bill to their liking riding on that "bi-partisanship" wave; and, then the "moderate" senate rethugs, who would have to vote for it anyway to save their seats, took on that wave right through the conference to the final vote.

It was skillful, but so obvious. I only hope they all drown in 2010.

Ask Connie Morella--a moderate Republican, who once "owned" the MD 8th District seat until she forgot about her constituency--how going along with "party games" worked out for her?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Van_Hollen

I am making meatballs in your honor tonight!

Yoda playing Jeopardy: "Alex 100 for mythological beasts take I will."

Alex: "It has the body of a lion and the head and often wings of an eagle."

Yoda: "Gryphon what is?"

You know how much I hate the media. I was very much angered by the stunt Cspan pull during the banker’s testimony before congress, last week. Whether it’s blocking the phones or rearranging programs, Cspan has been strangling free speech for years. They do so, and yes, I’m going to talk about the media again, on our airwaves- with our money.

If you should investigate what Cspan is, you will find that it is a creation of the National Cable and Satellite Corporation. Here lies the problem. The board is allegedly made up of top cable company executives. However, an Internet search of the company won’t reveal the names of the executives. As a matter of fact, there is no website for the National Cable & Satellite Corporation. It will however, lead you back to the Cspan website.

Therefore Cspan is the National Cable & Satellite Corporation, and, the National Cable & Satellite Corporation is, Cspan. Brian Lamb is the chairman and CEO. You know of course, he worked for the Nixon Administration. Robert G. Kennedy and Susan M. Swain are listed as president. After extensive searching, the NNBD revealed two current and two former board members. The former are Neil Smit, CEO of Character Communications (more about him later), and Gene Schneider of the United Cable Television. Corporation.

The current board members, according to NNBD are Kevin Westbrook of Millennium Digital Media, and billionaire Amos Hostetter. Both men appear to Obama supporters. I gather they were recently installed on the board. However, Westbrook is also a member of the Friends of Roy Blunt- and serves on the Archer Daniels Midland Board. It is important to reiterate that board members do not appear anywhere on Cspan’s Website. It’s safe to say that Cspan is a mystery.

To proclaim that the Cable industry is corrupt is an understatement. Not only do they rip us off with lousy programming and high subscription fees, they funnel our money through their own Political PAC. Millions are laundered through these political organizations. That keeps our government incompetent and we the people - stupid. Now guess what party receives the most money?

One such PAC is the National Cable Television Association. To declare the media as liberal is absolutely a propagandist lie. The majority of C.E.O’s and their company surrogates are registered Republicans. What you have is a compilation of billionaires controlling, manipulating, and exploiting the first amendment solely to enrich themselves and Wall Street. Contempt is what they think of the citizenry. Therefore, one would have to conclude that American media is wholly operated and control by the Republican Party. Many of these executives serve on each other’s cable company boards. Some are former bankers- as well as serve on other corporate boards. Of course as a progressive, you are aware of this. But in case you are not, I have listed the top cable companies and their C.E.O.’s.

COMCAST:

is the largest cable company with 24 million subscribers. To be informed on it’s treatment of consumers and workers, please check out, http://www.comcastwatch.com/

Comcast is also the home of the Hotline Channel – where you can get hotel porn for a whopping 12.00 a movie. It’s C.E.O. and president, is registered Republican Brian l. Roberts. Indeed he was a supporter of Bush & Cheney. As a matter of fact, he along with his executives are mayor donors and organizers are for the Republican Party. One such executive was Stephen Burke, Comcast COO. In 2001 he became one of Bush’s campaign Rangers whose duty was to raise no less that 200,000.

Brian Roberts has suffered some misfortune lately. His pay fell to a mere 20.8 million- due to the pitiful performance of Comcast stock. Roberts also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Cable Television Association. Surprise! It wasn't’t until the 2008 election that they gave the Democratic Party more money from the PAC than the Republicans. Furthermore, it must be said that Roberts’s primary goal is to become the next Rupert Murdoch. He is a native Philadelphian. The Examiner, a Philadelphia publication, said this of Roberts:

Bill Gates and Brian Roberts have a lot more in common than just being America’s premier monopolists. Gates has $1 billion invested in Comcast, and Microsoft is supplying Comcast with new digital video recorders, so the two can put TiVo out of business.

But even the most evil of emperors knows that much is expected from those to whom much has been surrendered. Here is my humble request to Brian Roberts. Once you’re finished rinsing the taste of Karl Rove’s ass off your lips, how about you and your buddy Bill Gates get together and do us a favor?

Get rid of spam.

Check out the complete article: Contrarian: The Evil Emperor
All hail cable guy Brian Roberts and his coaxial of evil!
By Noel Weyrich

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/contrarian_the_evil_emperor/

TIME WARNER:

Is the second largest cable company with 13.3 subscribers. Jeffrey Bewkes is the new C.E.O. on the job. He is listed as a registered Democrat. But don’t get exited. He is the protégé of the former chair, Richard Parsons. Parsons is a registered Republican. He worked for the Ford Administration and was a supporter of Bush & Cheney. He was also a colleague of Rudy Giuliani.

Perhaps the Obama campaign had something to do with Parson's exit in 2007. He is African American and has aspirations to become the Republican candidate for mayor of New York. However, there is no doubt that during his tenure, CNN News kept navigating to the right. Remember the hiring of William Bennett and Glen Beck? So I’m not impressed. Bewkes is member of the Council On Foreign Relations. It is also important to note that he is former employee of of Citi-bank. Parsons also worked for Citi-Group and Dime Bancorp.

COX COMMUNICATIONS:

Have 6 million subscribers. Its C.E.O. is billionaire James C. Kennedy. Cox was a supporter of Bush Cheney. He is also no stranger to buying protectionism. He has paid for and entertained a number of high-ranking Federal Communications Commission directors, and employees. He has given 166, 447.00 to the Republican Party and 121,018.00 to the Democratic Party.

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS:

Neil Smit is the C.E.O. of Charter Communications. It has 5.7 million subscribers. Unfortunately for him, several of his executives were indicted for fraud. The company has fallen on hard times financially. According to Wikipedia, it is in bankruptcy. Mr. Smit is a registered Republican, and was a supporter of John McCain. According to a search on NNBD, he is or was, a board member of the National Cable & Satellite Corporation. Or shall I call it C-span.

CABLEVISION:

Billionaire Charles Dolan is the CEO and president of Cablevision. It has 3.3 million subscribers. The Dolan’s own Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and several sports teams. The Dolan Family likes to spread their wealth throughout the political sphere. However, Charles Dolan, a registered republican, donated 250,000.00 to the Republican National Committee. He was a supporter of George W Bush- and was a member of his transition team in 2001. He supported John McCain in 2008.

DIRECTV:

is the largest satellite company with 13.6 subscribers. Owned by Direct Group, it is a subsidiary of Liberty Media. Its president and CEO is billionaire John C. Malone. According to NNBD, he is a registered Republican. Malone recently increased the size of his voting share in Murdoch’s News Corp. Since the genesis of Liberty Media, he has benefited from mergers, recapitulations, stock splits and spin-offs. Like Brian Roberts, he has aspirations to become the next Murdoch. Malone also serves on the board of the Bank of New York. He was a supporter of George W. Bush and John McCain in 2008.

sources:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2004-09-03-cable-politics_x.htm
www.nndb.com/people/254/000177720
https://www.uakron.edu/pages/bliss/docs/BroxPaper.pdf
http://www.phillymag.com/articles/contrarian_the_evil_emperor/
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/index.jsp
http://slate.msn.com/id/2094402/
http://www.hoovers.com/free/co/people.xhtml?ID=121883ttp://www.newsmeat....

The National Cable Association-political PAC
This list includes federal candidates only for the past 10 years.

In 1998
Money raised for federal candidates $612, 968.00
59% went to Republicans
41% Democrats

In 2000
743,118.00
65 percent went to Republicans
35 percent went to Democrats.

In 2002

824,440.00 was raise for federal candidates
58% went to Republicans
42% went to Democrats

In 2004
1127,267.00 was raised for federal candidates
59% went to Republicans
41% went to Democrats

In 2006

I, 420.443.00 was raised for federal candidates
56% went to Republicans
43% went to Democrats

In 2008
1,306.873.00 was raised for federal candidates
53% went to Democrats
47% went to Republicans

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00010082&cycle=1998

I'm watching 'Right America: Feeling Wronged' and after only ten minutes in I am really saddened and frightened by what I've seen. This country is finished as there is no way to undo all that stupidity. We need to break up this nation and let the lunatic reichwingers go make their Christo-fascist utopia and let the rest of us move into a better future.

Those who keep perpetuating the notion that if you're not a reichwing nutjob then you're less of an American are truly evil.

Twenty five minutes in and I have to change the channel as it's just appalling how fucking stupid so many people are. There's just no hope.

Velvet Revolution Opposes Any Nomination Of Mark Gitenstein To the DOJ Office of Legal Policy

Submitted by davidswanson

http://www.velvetrevolution.us

Obama’s potential nominee to head The Department of]Justice’s Office of Legal Policy, Mark Gitenstein, worked as a lobbyist for the Chamber of Commerce between 2000 and 2008, helping his law firm earn more than $6 million in fees, according to federal lobbying records. Obama has set forth strict rules against lobbyists working for him and so Mr. Gitenstein will have to get a waiver. VR Is vehemently opposed to this appointment because of the obvious conflict of interest under which Mr. Gitenstein will labor and because of his work for the Chamber, an organization has been engaged in pervasive illegal and corrupt activity regarding elections nationwide at the behest of big business and Karl Rove.

Gitenstein, a partner at the Mayer Brown law firm in Washington, was a longtime senior aide to Vice President Joe Biden. And he has a good civil rights record. In recent years, however, he also has served as counsel to the Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform, which pushed for changes in federal litigation rules and adding business-friendly judges to state courts. http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2009/02 is_obamas_office_of_legal_poli.html#trackbacks Many of the same front groups which joined the Chamber ILR legal reform 'coalition' were involved in the organization's turn to full-blown rightwing partisanship and were responsible for putting George Bush into office and keeping him there.

Con't-AfterDowningStreet

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Strangely-frightened Senator Gillibrand
kept two rifles under her bed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has moved the two rifles that she kept under the bed to protect her upstate New York home, her spokesman Matt Canter said Monday.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/politics/ny-usgill0217,0,903835.story

Obama's photo removed after
complaints at US Air Force base

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
President Barack Obama's picture was removed this week from a Presidents Day sign at the Peterson Air Force Base commissary after customers complained.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/presidents_48070___article.html/obama_co...

There gunna love Malloy.

Liberty Entertainment

Attributed to Liberty Entertainment are:

* Liberty's 48% interest in The DirecTV Group
* Starz Entertainment (including Starz! and Encore)
* Liberty's 50% interest in GSN
* FUN Technologies, including Fanball
* Liberty Sports Holdings: Owners of FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Rocky Mountain, and FSN Northwest

On August 4, 1994 Liberty Media Corp. merged with TCI, an American cable television group. Before this, Liberty had been known as Liberty Communications Inc.

On March 9, 1999 TCI merged with AT&T for approximately $54 billion. It was spun-off from AT&T on August 10, 2001, subsequently spending $5 billion on nine German regional cable networks. Apart from television distribution it holds major interests in other groups. For example it was the largest shareholder in News Corporation (though the founding Murdoch family owns more voting shares), and has a 4 % stake in Time Warner. As of December 2003 it had never paid a dividend[citation needed].

In 2001, Liberty Media acquired the remainder of Liberty Digital and Liberty Satellite & Technology (formerly TCI Satellite). Both companies were independent spinoffs of TCI, though Liberty already owned 90 percent of both companies after an exchange for Sprint PCS stock. Being independent increased their asset values, but the stock prices of both dropped, negating any benefits[3][4].

In May 2006, Time Warner acquired Liberty Media's 50% stake in Court TV for $735 million.

On May 16, 2006, IDT sold its IDT Entertainment division to Liberty Media "for all of Liberty Media's interests in IDT, $186 million in cash and the assumption of existing indebtedness." IDT Entertainment's assets and Starz Entertainment Group's popular line of premium TV channels will combine to produce content for all distribution platforms [5].

Liberty negotiated an asset swap with News Corp. and Time Warner that would give it control of DirecTV and the Atlanta Braves baseball team[6]. On February 12, 2007, the deal was completed with Time Warner wherein Liberty would receive the Atlanta Braves, a group of craft magazines and $1 billion in cash in exchange for 60 million shares of Time Warner stock (valued at $1.27 billion as of market close on February 12, 2007)[7].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Media

John C. Malone
Malone was also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TCI. Previous to that, from 1973 to 1996, Dr. Malone served as President and CEO of Tele-Communications Inc. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Bank of New York, the Cato Institute, Expedia and the Colorado Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

in business dealings, he has been dubbed "Darth Vader", a nickname allegedly given to him by Al Gore while the head of TCI, where he demanded equity positions in cable programming services in return for carriage, and attempted to defeat the must-carry rules which protected broadcasters, which the cable industry eventually lost in 1997 at the US Supreme Court.[5][6]

By Jason Leopold, Public Record

A key line in George W. Bush’s defense against war crimes charges has weakened with the disclosure that an internal Justice Department watchdog has concluded that the legal advice, which cleared the way for Bush’s policies on torture and other abuse of detainees, was tainted by political influence.

An investigation by H. Marshall Jarrett, head of the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, reached “damning” conclusions about numerous cases of “misconduct” in the advice from John Yoo and other lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Bush administration, according to legal sources familiar with the report’s contents.

OPR investigators determined that Yoo blurred the lines between an attorney charged with providing independent legal advice to the White House and a policy advocate who was working to advance the administration’s goals, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the contents of the report are still classified.

The Public Record was the first news organization to publish a report on the preliminary findings of OPR's investigation.

One part of the OPR report criticized Yoo’s use of an obscure 2000 health benefits statute to narrow the definition of torture in a way that permitted waterboarding and other acts that have historically been regarded as torture under U.S. law, the sources said.

The report also criticizes Yoo’s legal theories that the President of the United States had the right to suspend Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, the sources said. It is believed that Yoo’s legal theories led to a warrantless wiretap program after 9/11.

The OPR report was completed late last year but was kept under wraps by Attorney General Michael Mukasey while Bush finished out his days in office, the sources said.

Con't

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

I'm watching 'Right America: Feeling Wronged'
Submitted by Smack-dab on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 8:15pm

...I came to the same conclusion and knew nothing good would come from watching the whole program, except I would be in a bad mood for weeks and confrontational. Good luck with that. HBO's movie, "Recount", I couldn't get past the first five minutes after several attempts.

...still it looks pretty shaky given the state of the global financial thingy. ; -)

Israel seizes land for
settlement expansion

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plans to expand a West Bank settlement by up to 2,500 homes drew Palestinian condemnation Monday and presented an early test for President Barack Obama, whose Mideast envoy is well known for opposing such construction.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090216/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinian...

Investigations substituted for impeachment for two full years.

A "truth and reconciliation" commission as a substitute for prosecution would be counterproductive, as argued by Jonathan Turley, Peter Dyer, David Swanson, and Bob Fertik. The Justice Department itself has argued for "state secrets" blocks on prosecutions on the grounds that commissions can substitute for enforcing laws. The American public prefers criminal prosecutions to commission investigations.

www.afterdowningstreet.org

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Liberty Media close to deal
Submitted by ghettodefender on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 8:19pm
------

ghettodefender, I was unaware that John Malone was attempting to buy Nova M. Did you see what I posted about Malone? I'm troubled by this.

Submitted by edna ellen poe on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 8:08pm.

DIRECTV:

is the largest satellite company with 13.6 subscribers. Owned by Direct Group, it is a subsidiary of Liberty Media. Its president and CEO is billionaire John C. Malone. According to NNBD, he is a registered Republican. Malone recently increased the size of his voting share in Murdoch’s News Corp. Since the genesis of Liberty Media, he has benefited from mergers, recapitulations, stock splits and spin-offs. Like Brian Roberts, he has aspirations to become the next Murdoch. Malone also serves on the board of the Bank of New York. He was a supporter of George W. Bush and John McCain in 2008.

sources:

Dairy cows head for slaughter
as milk prices sour

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hundreds of thousands of America's dairy cows are being turned into hamburgers because milk prices have dropped so low that farmers can no longer afford to feed the animals.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/farm_scene_cow_slaughter;_ylt=AuRpKaGlLLV1baE...

Sirius creditors ready
to go after CEO

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sirius XM Radio's creditors want the company to make a deal with an investor rather than file for bankruptcy, and they're prepared to go after CEO Mel Karmazin's job if things don't go their way.

http://www.newser.com/story/50958/sirius-creditors-ready-to-go-after-ceo...

ABC's Donaldson to
retire next week

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam Donaldson is calling it quits after a 41-year career distinguished by a booming voice and tough demeanor.

http://www.newser.com/story/50971/abcs-donaldson-to-retire-next-week.htm...

Angry Clinton says don't blame
him for the economic crisis

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In an interview broadcast Monday, the former president took exception with a TIME Magazine article that said he was partly to blame for the economic collapse.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090216/us_time/08599187977400;_ylt=Apt1Og...

He is the only comedian smart enough to get that Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh are basically the same. Stern merely reiterates what Limbaugh does through so-called comedy.

Don't Like the Stimulus? Don't Take the Cash

If you think all that federal spending is damaging, there are easy ways to reduce it: Don't take federal money.
- Paul Begala

Here’s a clear way for political leaders to oppose spending in the stimulus package: “refuse to take the money,” Paul Begala writes for CNN. Case in point: South Carolina’s governor, who opposes the plan, shouldn’t help his struggling state with federal cash. Instead, he can follow his own advice and revive the state economy through tax cuts and trade deals. “Something tells me Gov. Sanford won't take that gamble,” Begala writes.

“South Carolina is a ward of the federal government. It's been on welfare for years,” the Democratic strategist notes. Under “Bush-Sanford” tax-cutting theories, unemployment in the state has soared. If the governor accepts the money, “he's got about as much credibility on fiscal conservatism as A-Rod has on steroids,” Begala writes. Instead, his state could play “guinea pig”: If he’d rather continue Bush-era policies, “good luck to him.”

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/16/begala.carolina/index.html

thank god -

No this can't be good. Frankly, I think this is worse news than, if News Corp were buying SIRIUS.
He's buying Sirius. I listen to XM-- where I hear Malloy, for example. Well, with the merger-- something, that of course, was never to be allowed-- XM and Sirius share programing. Very shortly, Malone will have control over programing for both satellite stations. Perhaps, he won't cancel progressive talk. I was always amazed he allowed LinkTV to continue to use DirectTV. But, I certainly wish the future of progressive talk on satellite radio wasn't being turned over to a Howard Hughes wannabee. We need the Fainess Doctrine and end to media consolidation more than ever.

Ruthless champion of Liberty

John Malone has been shopping and has bought QVC, the latest conquest in his attack on media giants. But the publicity-shy billionaire may now be playing a defensive game
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2003/jul/06/theobserver.observerbusin...

Randi doesn't work here anymore. "If you know how to get a hold of Randi, say hi."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton causes stir with plan to meet with opposition leader in Japan

WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton's plan to meet with in Tokyo with an opposition leader caused a political stir in Japan on Monday in the midst of a ruling party scandal over an allegedly tipsy finance minister.

Breaking with protocol, the Secretary of State said that Ichiro Ozawa, head of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, would be included in a round of meetings Tuesday beginning with Prime Minister Taro Aso of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Ozawa was among those calling for the resignation of Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who slurred his words and appeared to nod off at a Rome economic summit over the weekend attended by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. As video of his behavior played endlessly on Japanese TV, Nakagawa admitted to having some wine but denied "heavy drinking." He said he hadn't been feeling well and may have taken too much cold medicine, according to Kyodo News.

Clinton picked Japan as the first stop on her debut overseas trip to the Far East to shore up Japan's posture as the top U.S. ally in the region.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/02/16/2009-02-16_secretary...

Why her husband phucked up the economy?

Long overdue!
Submitted by toniD on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 8:47pm.
ABC's Donaldson to
retire next week

...Cokie Roberts is right behind him.

TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas has suspended income tax refunds and may not be able to pay employees on time, the state's budget director said Monday.

The state doesn't have enough money in its main bank account to pay its bills, prompting Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to suggest transferring $225 million from other accounts throughout state government. But the move required approval from legislative leaders, and the GOP refused Monday.

Budget Director Duane Goossen said that without the money, he's not sure the state can meet its payroll. State employees are due to be paid again Friday.

Goossen said the state stopped processing income tax refunds last week.

GOP leaders are hoping to pressure Sebelius into signing a bill making $326 million in adjustments to the budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

http://www.kansas.com/735/story/701750.html

Secretary of State Hillary
Submitted by toniD on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 9:09pm
------

I really hope we will not be bombarded with more Hillary drama. The Clinton soap opera has been going on for 17 years. I'm sick of Hillduggery and Bubba Skanks.

Kan. suspends income tax refunds, may miss payroll
Submitted by toniD on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 9:14pm.

...as a whole and state by state (California, now Kansas). This is getting scary.

WASHINGTON -- The deepening recession spells trouble for a little-known government corporation that insures the pensions of 44 million workers and retirees.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. already has an $11 billion deficit that seems sure to grow larger as corporate America suffers through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

With companies reporting shortfalls in their pension funds, it's all but certain that the PBGC will be forced to take over the pension plans of a rising number of bankrupt businesses.

That means more red ink at the corporation before things possibly can improve.

The future financial health of the agency is hard to forecast. It is hinged on interest rates, the length of the recession and the PBGC's own luck in playing the market, where it has billions invested.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/16/government-pension-agency-thr...

Submitted by toniD on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 8:18pm.
Obama's photo removed after
complaints at US Air Force base

President Barack Obama's picture was removed this week from a Presidents Day sign at the Peterson Air Force Base commissary after customers complained.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/presidents_48070___article.html/obama_co...
--------------------------------------------------------
From the link:

...A cashier at the commissary who did not want her name used said pictures of past presidents, including George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, have accompanied the Presidents Day closure sign.

One customer, a military retiree, objected this year because of Obama's race, the cashier said.

"He said they're not going to have no black man on the window where he shops," the cashier said.

The commissary agency disputed the cashier's story, saying no past presidents have had their picture displayed with the holiday message...
-------------
Perhaps the cashier was lying and the commissary agency was not.

Other than a possible fifteen minutes of fame (without his/her name), I don't know what the cashier had to gain by lying about the bigot and the President's Day signs in previous years. The cashier might have been risking future employment by speaking out.

On the other hand, I can think of many reasons for the commissary agency to be lying through its carefully-structured teeth.

Who knows? My gut says that the cashier was acting from innocent truthfulness while the agency was covering its ass.

Secretary of State Hillary
new
Submitted by toniD on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 9:09pm.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton causes stir with plan to meet with opposition leader in Japan

Malloy now
new
Submitted by ghettodefender on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 9:10pm.
Randi doesn't work here anymore. "If you know how to get a hold of Randi, say hi."

"If I had even a QUARTER of Dick Clark's money I would quit TODAY, and I would do NOTHING."
-Maron.
www.sigzone.blogspot.com

Universal Health Care With Private Insurers: Can the Dutch Model Fit the American Health Consumer?

I. What Do the Dutch Have that We Don’t Have? Besides Legal Marijuana

Answer: Universal health care. And they do it with private insurance companies.

U.S. business groups are understandably excited. The European health care model rated best in 2008 was that of the Netherlands---a system based upon competition between several private insurance companies. However, as I will discuss later in this journal, we have to be careful to give credit where it is due. How much of the success of the Dutch health care system is due to the design of the system (which we can copy) and how much is a result of the character of the Dutch people and decades of dedication to public health education aimed at disease prevention?

The EHCI praised the Dutch effort, describing the winning margin as "the biggest since this 31-country ranking started in 2005". The Netherlands was also paraded as "the truly stable top performer" in the EU, primarily due to its successful patient empowerment track record.

http://www.euractiv.com/en/health/dutch-healthcare-system-best-europe-20...

There's more info on this at Democratic Underground here:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/McCamy%20Taylor

I wonder if Malloy is sweating tonight as he ponders his (in)ability to carry a radio company on his back.

"If I had even a QUARTER of Dick Clark's money I would quit TODAY, and I would do NOTHING."
-Maron.
www.sigzone.blogspot.com

Nearly 800 jobs are being eliminated at the steering division of Delphi near Saginaw, Mich.

The cuts are hitting 425 hourly workers and 350 employees who are on salary. The layoffs were announced on Monday at the Delphi complex in Buena Vista Township and will kick in March 1.

Mike Hanley, president of United Auto Workers Local 699, says the news was anticipated. Delphi has had temporary furloughs since the start of the year.

Hanley tells The Saginaw News blue-collar workers who volunteer to leave will get severance.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/International_Business/Delphi_to_lay...

Men walking along the railroad tracks
Going someplace there's no going back
Highway patrol choppers coming up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretching round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleeping in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Searching for the ghost of Tom Jones

"A federal grand jury has subpoenaed the records of Pete Domenici (R-Crooked) as part of an investigation into
whether Gonzales and other Bush bastards should face criminal charges" for the 2006 firings of nine U.S. attorneys.
Prosecutors are also preparing to interview Scott Jennings, a former aide to Karl Rove."
-- Matt Corley

**

Can we get Scott Jenning to travel to DC by rail?
It's a lot harder for Bush's CIA buddies to kill everyone on a train.

--BartCop

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Contessa Brewer: Maybe it's the Republicans with deaf ears on the stimulus!
By John Amato Monday Feb 16, 2009 2:57pm

I'm shocked. Contessa Brewer finally starts stating the obvious. Republicans have been obstructionists during the stimulus plan and maybe playing politics with the country instead of trying to actually solve our problems. But for her to confront it head on for a change was quite refreshing.

Debra Cooper writes this in an email:

Is this a break in the media ice in their definition of bipartisanship?...it's the Democrats' responsibility to do it the Republican way..not that it's Republicans who should cooperate with the Dems and the president. I found this astonishing.....because I have never seen her as toeing the CW Broder line before. Contessa Brewer and John Harwood interview Sheryl Gay Stolberg of NY times, someone who took a lot of dictation from George Bush.

Brewer: Is President Obama able to control his message against than the Nattering Nabobs of Negativism Can he slowly change the ways of Washington?

Stolberg: Obama wanted a big bipartisan vote and he didn't get it. He passed it just like George Bush passed his...by pushing through a one party bill.

Harwood: Are you respond as a Nattering Nabob since he's at 66%?

Stolberg: I am a Nattering Nabob of Fairness instead
Stolberg: Obama went courting Republicans...he framed bill as a show of unity. Instead it could have been a lesson in setting expectations. We need this measure and if it get Republican votes fine, but it's a high priority for us.

Brewer: Didn't he do just that....Cocktails etc.Reaching across the aisle. But they wanted what? a Republican stamp on the bill. After all the Democrats won.

Stolberg: (long reply about the "I won" statement from POTUS meaning nothing) Even so the pres made such a strong point in his campaign of about changing the ways of Washington, it couldn't help but be a disappointment when it didn't get republican votes.

Brewer: Perhaps it was the Republicans with the deaf ears on that front

Stolberg (Taken aback and stutters) "Well perhaps.....

Brewer: Let's make that the last word on that

Stolberg: Okay I'll let you have the last word.

Notice how uncomfortable Stolberg is when she's confronted by Brewer about the deaf ears Republicans have? She can barely respond to the thought that it might be their fault. The Beltway elitist class of reporting Stolberg brings to this segment is why this nation is falling apart. Why was it so hard for her to admit that Republicans did not bargain in good faith with President Obama?

Video at link

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/contessa-brewer-maybe-its-republica...

This is getting scary.

Submitted by ghettodefender on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 9:43pm.

Men walking along the railroad tracks
Going someplace there's no going back
Highway patrol choppers coming up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretching round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleeping in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Searching for the ghost of Tom Jones

_______________

Bruce Springsteen would axe for his John Stein Back 'n have a Henry Fielding day w/this'n.

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Good to see ya.. :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Happy birthday to Abraham Lincoln, who was born 200 years ago today. And to mark the occasion, former Vice President Dick Cheney, earlier today, went into a theater and shot a guy.
- David Letterman

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Howdy,dr..

Submitted by MMRules on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 10:07pm.

Good to see ya.. :)

_____________

You too, MM. Can't stay long, tho'.

I been a little outta the loop here of late. Wuz wonderin':

Has our new preznit quit tryin' to curry favor w/peoples what despise him 'n ever'thing he hopes to accomplish 'n routinely deals in bad faith or is "bipartisanship" still an ideal that only Grover Norquist dares speak truthfully (if disgustingly) about?

Last I knowed they watered down the stimulus pkg. just so's it'd appeal to a small coterie of Republican "adults" in the House, who proceeded to vote inna strict party-line vote ag'in it.

Makin' a bill worse to appeal to assholes who can't be bothered to vote for it anyways seems purty much like Charlie Brown once again trustin' Lucy w/the football territory.

Ain't we seen that movie before?

My glass slipper's turnt into a rotten punkin' again.

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Submitted by toniD on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 9:52pm.
Contessa Brewer...
------
During my recent travels I saw Contessa Brewer on the tube for the first time.

My mother and my sister were entirely unconcerned that the woman has a title, not a name. They hadn't noticed until I mentioned it. I asked them, "Have you ever met, or even heard of anyone named Contessa?"

No, they had not. Nor did they care.

There is a Contessa sometimes living on the Caribbean island that I called home. She is known as "the Contessa" because it is a title, not a name.

I can only hope that Contessa Brewer will marry a European nobleman so that she will become the Contessa Contessa.
---------
For the curious, here is an excerpt mentioning the Contessa Nadia Farbo Navarro, the Romanian-born heiress to a great fortune.

...Nadia Farber, the contessa de Navarro, is the widow of Sid Farber, a Long Island, New York, industrialist (her title comes to her from a previous husband). The above-mentioned Yuri Farber is the industrialist's nephew. He and the contessa sometimes reside in splendid isolation in Castle Aura, a vast and inexpressibly strange stucco and marble ersatz-Moorish castle designed by the contessa herself; it stands high on a crest, overlooking the West Indies Laboratory...

RNLA Issues Fact-Free Fund-Raising Letter Claiming 'Desperate' Franken is 'Stealing U.S. Senate Seat'

Republican National Lawyers Association Says Goodbye to Any Credibility They May Have Once Had..

If the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) ever had any actual legitimacy, self-respect, or credibility as a professional organization --- and I think they used to have all three --- they have now, officially, thrown any last pretense of any of that down the drain, and have come out of the closet as hard-right, conspiracy theory-based, propagandist loons.

On the day that presumptive Senator-elect Al Franken (D) won a huge victory during former Senator Norm Coleman's (R) election contest in Minnesota, the RNLA issued an hysterical email with the subject line: "Al Franken Loses Legal Battle, He Is Very Desperate."

See below for the embarrassing email that the once-respectable-now-whack-job RNLA sent out via their equally looney-toons "media arm" partners at HumanEvents.com this past week, in hopes of raising funds to "Stop Al Franken From Stealing The Election"..

Con't

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Are we expected to pick sides between Rhodes and the Drobney's?

Because I'll pick the Drobney's. They back Malloy. :)

Mon 02.16 >>
Alternative media activist Alex Jones and author Jerome Corsi will discuss steps some states are taking to preserve sovereignty and personal freedoms which include gun ownership, gold & silver ownership, & home schooling. Joining the show in brief segments will be State Representatives Matt Shea, Jim Guest, Dan Itse, & Charles Key.
*******

Weak !

Jerome Corsi ? What a Hack !
And,all the Reps are Rethugs !

I sent them a email telling them if they keep up this
kind of Republican Propaganda show,I'll be Canceling my Streamlink account !

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Security measures brought in after September 11 attacks 'undermined the rule of law'

Dame Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, has accused the Government of exploiting public fear of terrorism to restrict civil liberties.

Her comments came on the same day as a report published by international jurists suggested that Britain and America have led other countries in "actively undermining" the rule of law and "threatening civil liberties" in the guise of fighting terrorism.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Dame Stella said that a series of increasingly draconian policies have led British citizens to "live in fear and under a police state".

The 73-year-old said: "Since I have retired I feel more at liberty to be against certain decisions of the Government, especially the attempt to pass laws which interfere with people's privacy.

More here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/terrorist-threat-exploited...

MI5 interrogations in Pakistan agreed by lawyers and government

A policy governing the interrogation of terrorism suspects in Pakistan that led to British citizens and residents being tortured was devised by MI5 lawyers and figures in government, according to evidence heard in court.

More here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/16/pakistan-torture-mi5-agent-b...

"Terrorist threat 'exploited to curb civil liberties'
new
Submitted by Cat Chew on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 11:19pm.

Security measures brought in after September 11 attacks 'undermined the rule of law'

Dame Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, has accused the Government of exploiting public fear of terrorism to restrict civil liberties.

Her comments came on the same day as a report published by international jurists suggested that Britain and America have led other countries in "actively undermining" the rule of law and "threatening civil liberties" in the guise of fighting terrorism."

since it was taken out of the Stimulus Package ?

That just burns me up ! Stupid Asses..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Terrorist threat 'exploited to curb civil liberties'
Submitted by Cat Chew on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 11:19pm
*******
WE all knew that but,finally some Gov.types are coming out of the woodwork..
That's why we need Whistle blower protections..Duh !

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Human Rights Investigator and Rwandan Expert Alison Des Forges Dies in New York Plane Crash

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/16/human_rights_investigator_and_rwan...

Interview from 2004:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/desforge...

Whistleblower protections... thanks for the excuse to link to a letter from Bunny Greenhouse:
Fight For Whistleblower Protection Continues!
http://capwiz.com/whistleblowers/issues/alert/?alertid=12666936

Thanks too for mentioning HR 676. I have a new Rep., and I can't believe I neglected to nag him about supporting it! D'oh!

My fellow sufferer:
http://images.salon.com/comics/tomo/2009/02/17/tomo/story.gif

Art lovers might enjoy this site.

http://charleshawes.org/

I have one of Bud's watercolors. I worked in Bud and Jane's house for several weeks and never felt comfortable with the idea of asking to buy one of Bud's pieces. He and Jane were not actively selling any of them at the time and Bud had been too weak to paint for nearly a year. The existing paintings were insurance against unexpected expenses.

My girlfriend also knew Bud and Jane. Unbeknownst to me, she told them that I admired Bud's work but I didn't want to put them on the spot by asking to buy a painting.

One day I arrived at their house and Jane handed me a painting I had admired. I told her that I couldn't possibly accept it. She said, "It isn't free. Susie already paid for it."

Later I learned that Susie paid nearly nothing for it. Jane didn't want to accept money, Susie insisted, so now I have a lovely watercolor of an island sloop at a pier with two figures.

Several of the remaining pieces that are pictured in the website are scenes familiar to me. I didn't know that the website existed until today.

The picture of Bud on the home page was shot in the studio in his house. Now I have a bad case of nostalgia.

I got 26...
I was wrong about who shared a border with China, and who the president at the end of end of WWII.

a lot were wild guesses that ended up being right. I didn't know they were going to be right.

http://www.infowars.com/new-legislation-authorizes-fema-camps-in-us/

New Legislation Authorizes FEMA Camps In U.S.

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A new bill introduced in Congress authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to set up a network of FEMA camp facilities to be used to house U.S. citizens in the event of a national emergency.

The National Emergency Centers Act or HR 645 mandates the establishment of “national emergency centers” to be located on military installations for the purpose of to providing “temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster,” according to the bill.

The legislation also states that the camps will be used to “provide centralized locations to improve the coordination of preparedness, response, and recovery efforts of government, private, and not-for-profit entities and faith-based organizations”.

Ominously, the bill also states that the camps can be used to “meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security,” an open ended mandate which many fear could mean the forced detention of American citizens in the event of widespread rioting after a national emergency or total economic collapse.

Many credible forecasters have predicted riots and rebellions in America that will dwarf those already witnessed in countries like Iceland and Greece.

With active duty military personnel already being stationed inside the U.S. under Northcom, partly for purposes of “crowd control,” fears that Americans could be incarcerated in detainment camps are all too real.

The bill mandates that six separate facilities be established in different Federal Emergency Management Agency Regions (FEMA) throughout the country.

The camps will double up as “command and control” centers that will also house a “24/7 operations watch center” as well as training facilities for Federal, State, and local first responders.

The bill also contains language that will authorize camps to be established within closed or already operating military bases around the country.

As we have previously highlighted, in early 2006 Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root was awarded a $385 million dollar contract by Homeland Security to construct detention and processing facilities in the event of a national emergency.

The language of the preamble to the agreement veils the program with talk of temporary migrant holding centers, but it is made clear that the camps would also be used “as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency.”

As far back as 2002, FEMA sought bids from major real estate and engineering firms to construct giant internment facilities in the case of a chemical, biological or nuclear attack or a natural disaster.

A much discussed and circulated report, the Pentagon’s Civilian Inmate Labor Program, was more recently updated and the revision details a “template for developing agreements” between the Army and corrections facilities for the use of civilian inmate labor on Army installations.”

[end excerpt]

http://www.infowars.com/fda-declares-form-of-vitamin-b6-a-drug/

FDA Declares Form of Vitamin B6 a Drug

Mike Adams
Natural News
February 14, 2009

The FDA has effectively banned a naturally-occurring form of vitamin B6 called pyridoxamine by declaring it to be a drug, reports the American Association for Health Freedom. Responding to a petition filed by a drug company, the FDA declared pyridoxamine to be "a new drug."

Now, any nutritional supplements containing pyridoxamine will be considered adulterated and illegal by the FDA, which may raid vitamin companies and seize such products. See the history of FDA raids on vitamin companies here: http://www.naturalnews.com/021791.html

Pyridoxamine occurs naturally in fish, chicken and other foods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B6), putting the FDA in the strange position of banning a substance from dietary supplements even though it is already present in the food supply...

It’s not the first time the FDA has declared a natural molecule to be a "drug" while attacking nutritional supplements that contain the same molecule. A similar story unfolded with red yeast rice and the lovastatin molecules it contains that lower high cholesterol. The drug companies engaged in biopiracy, ripping off the molecule from red yeast rice to make their now-famous "statin drugs." Once the statin drugs were patented, Big Pharma and the FDA went after red yeast rice, claiming the supplement was "adulterated with pharmaceuticals."

It wasn’t really adulterated, of course. It just contained a natural statin-drug-like molecule that the drug companies copied and patented.

It would be like Big Pharma patenting vitamin C, then the FDA claiming that all oranges and lemons were adulterated with drugs because they naturally contain their own vitamin C.

This is the insanity of the FDA as it operates today. You can read more about the FDA on our channel webiste www.FDAreform.org which is updated every few days.

So will this ruling on pyridoxamine affect nutritional supplements? Yes, any supplements containing this form of vitamin B6 can now be declared "adulterated" by the FDA. Manufacturers of such supplements can be arrested and shut down for engaging in "illegal drug trafficking." Such is the nature of the FDA’s agenda to criminalize nutritional supplement companies and limit consumers’ access to Mother Nature’s remedies.

[end excerpt]

====================================

This is dreadful and removes a healthful option.

Vitamin B6 used to help regenerate damaged nerve tissues -- used to help carpal tunnel problems, boost healing in some cases of reflex sympathetic dystrophy....

Why is the only inclusiveness being displayed an inclusiveness toward Republicans and righty religions? Why have the progressives been left out? Is it really a Corporatist Club that is displaying solidarity and locking out the progressives and their goals? Shouldn't inclusiveness embrace more than just Rushpublicans and Christianists and Federalists?

02/16/2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7891849.stm

Japan's economy in quarterly dive

Japanese exports have been hit by the global economic downturn

Japan's economy contracted by 3.3% in the last quarter of last year - its worst showing since the oil crisis of the 1970s, official figures show.

The contraction means the economy shrank at an annual pace of 12.7% during the October to December period.

Economic Minister Kaoru Yosano said Japan faced its worst economic crisis since the end of World War II.

The slowdown in the world's second-biggest economy is steeper than that being experienced in the US or Europe.

Japan has been hit particularly hard by falling global demand for its products.

People had been saying for some time that GDP would be bad, so while the market didn't welcome the numbers there was no excessive reaction

Hiroaki Osakabe, Chibagin Asset Management
Exports, particularly of electronics and cars, have slumped and production has been slashed.

Consumers have cut back too, alarmed by rising unemployment.

"This is the worst economic crisis in the post-war era. There is no doubt about it," Mr Yosano said at a news conference.

[end excerpt]

You go girl
John Aravosis (DC) · 2/16/2009 08:00:00 PM ET · Link

The White House has released a photo essay about the economic stimulus package, and how it came about. The caption to the photo above is a keeper:

Jan. 27, 2009: House Republicans surround the President after the meeting. Many of them were seeking his autograph. Every House Republican eventually voted against the bill.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/you-go-girl.html

Cantor Doubles Down By Opposing Obama Mortgage Relief Plan.
by TomP
Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 03:36:37 PM PST

Well, the new Newt Gingrich is at it again. Virginia Representative Eric Cantor, who takes "credit" for leading the House Republicans to unanimous opposition to the Obama Jobs Bill, now is "opposing" the plan to help prevent foreclosures:

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that the Obama administration's yet-to-be-announced $50 billion plan to stem home foreclosures may only add to the country's fiscal and housing problems.

snip

"Homeowners, right now, are suffering under skyrocketing property taxes. And if we put the bill for $50 billion plus on top of all the bills that families have right now, you may very well be set to encourage more foreclosures," said Cantor.

The Hill: Cantor offers early criticism of Obama mortgage aid

If you don't have a home, you can't pay property taxes. And property taxes don't go to the federal government. Cantor knows that. Clearly he is being disingenuous.

Foreclosures have skyrocketed during the mortgage crisis.

A total of 8.1 million homes, or 16 percent of all households with mortgages, could fall into foreclosure by 2012, according to a Credit Suisse report in December.

Yahoo.com: Obama to unveil foreclosure plan, big lenders wait

President Obama will unveil his plan to prevent that tomorrow [actually Wednesday]:

President Barack Obama will unveil a plan to stem home foreclosures on Wednesday, a spokesman said, and major U.S. lenders said they had stopped foreclosing until details of the program have been firmed up.

The Obama administration is still hammering out its plan, but is considering helping borrowers that are not yet behind on their mortgages, sources told Reuters on Thursday. Current programs focus on borrowers that are already delinquent.

Reuters, Obama to unveil foreclosure plan

It sounds like it will be directed at people at risk of falling behind, but who are not behind yet.

Mr. Axelrod provided few details of the housing plan, but said a government investment of $50 billion to $100 billion to fund foreclosure prevention "is obviously a necessary part." He promised that the plan would contain "a lot of aspects."

In a later appearance on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press," he cited a letter Mr. Obama recently read from an Arizona homeowner as an illustration of the problem. "He showed me a letter the other day that was just heart wrenching from a woman in Arizona whose husband lost his job," Mr. Axelrod said. "He now has a job that's one-third the pay and they're really struggling to make their payments and meet their responsibilities. And she was emblematic of people all over this country."

One likely element of the plan would reduce Americans' payments on troubled mortgages, people familiar with the discussions said late last week, possibly through a cut in the interest rate, the costs of which would be shared by the government and mortgage servicers. Government officials would make the reduction available to people who are at risk of defaulting. A loan-modification program at government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac currently calls for holding monthly housing-related payments to 38% of pretax income. The new formula is likely to be as low as about 31%, according to some people.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/16/145110/580/474/698215

Asian markets fall as Japan's recession deepens

HONG KONG – Most Asian stock markets fell Monday, as new figures showed Japan's economy contracted at its quickest pace in 35 years and Group of Seven finance ministers warned the global slump will drag on through most of the year. European shares opened lower.

Japan's worse-than-expected fourth quarter GDP numbers were a sobering reminder of the toll on Asia's export-driven economies as world demand collapses amid the worst slump in decades. The world's second-biggest economy shrank 3.3 percent from the previous quarter, or at an annual pace of 12.7 percent.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090216/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets;_ylt=An7k4...

Cantor creates rock music video boasting that zero Republicans voted for recovery package.
By Satyam Khanna on Feb 16th, 2009 at 7:22 pm

Cantor creates rock music video boasting that zero Republicans voted for recovery package.»
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) has created a YouTube video set to the tune of Aerosmith’s “Back In The Saddle” boasting that zero Republicans voted for the recovery package. The video is called “The House GOP is Back.” Watch it: at link

“Republicans in the House of Representatives are trying to mold success out of what is, at its core, a legislative failure,” notes the Huffington Post. Many conservatives have been rooting for the economic recovery package’s defeat, hoping to turn it into a political issue in 2010.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/16/cantor-stimulus-video/

G.M. Presses Union for Cuts in Health Care
By BILL VLASIC and NICK BUNKLEY
With its access to a government lifeline in the balance, G.M. was locked in intense negotiations with union leaders.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/business/economy/17auto.html?hp

Japan’s Finance Minister to Quit After G-7 Blunder
By HIROKO TABUCHI and BETTINA WASSENER 1:43 AM ET
Shoichi Nakagawa had raised eyebrows for slurred speech and muddled answers at a news conference.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/world/asia/18japan.html?hp

another time and another place and he might have been walking the corridors of the white house talking to the pictures.

the union finally realized that bush is gone and that the conservatives demands that the unions be sacrificed on the altar are no longer a given.

if obama was clever, he would use this as the catalyst for single payer national healthcare.

nothing but bad economic news is driving the markets down and down. futures are way off this morning.

===

that story about kansas is probably the scariest. whats it mean when a state goes bankrupt?

Geithner's "Stress Test" for Banks, and a Stress Test for America

The only way to make sense of Tim Geithner’s “stress test” for banks is to assume a kind of triage. Banks that are reasonably healthy right now -- whose assets are fully adequate to fund their liabilities, and can make new loans -- don't need a bailout. And banks that are too far gone to save –- whose loans when realistically valued won’t make them solvent even when the economy recovers -- shouldn't be bailed out. They should be put under receivership that pays off depositors, wipes out shareholders, and then closes the bank.

This leaves a third category of bank that could be salvaged -- whose assets are likely to be enough to make them solvent when the economy turns up again -- but that need bailouts in the meantime. Money from the Treasury and Fed will be used to lure outside investors to buy up these banks' bad loans and clear up their balance sheets so they can make new, responsible loans.

At least, that's the only sense I can make of it.

But how much of our financial system falls into the “too-far-gone-to save” category, and how much into the “might be saved with taxpayer help?” And how will Geithner and his colleagues at the Treasury be able to tell? After all, we got into this mess because banks were fiddling with their numbers and making bets off their balance sheets. And most still aren’t willing to write down their bad loans to realistic market values.

It would be far cheaper, quicker, and safer for the government to just take over every questionable bank. This is the only way we can get the truth about which should be shut down. And the way taxpayers who will be bailing out salvagable banks can ever recoup our costs. Why should any upside gains go to private shareholders who made bad bets or to bank executives and directors who got us into this mess in the first place?

Meanwhile, the rest of America could stand a stress test on a much bigger scale. No need to worry about families with adequate assets to get them through the storm. And the stimulus will help many others. But families that have lost their savings and are within a few years of retirement, or whose breadwinners have been out of work for months and have exhausted their unemployment benefits, or have no health insurance, or who are on the verge of losing their homes – may not make it. Instead of rewarding executives of insolvent banks that would otherwise fail, we should be helping insolvent families for whom failure spells disaster.

http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2009/02/geithners-stress-test-for-banks-...

Calif. budget crisis boiling over
Bonds downgraded and credit cut; Budget deal fails by a single vote.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/us/17cali.html?_r=1&hp

And that single vote...Who cast the last nay vote and what must he/she be thinking right now?

Missing Iraq billions could be 'greatest fraud in US history'
Stephen C. Webster

The US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), the Army's criminal Investigation Command and the Justice Department are investigating US soldiers and officials in the alleged misuse of a portion of the $125 billion initially sent to Iraq for reconstruction shortly after the fall of Saddam.

Monday, The Independent's Iraq correspondent Patrick Cockburn reported the inspectors believe misuse may account for over $50 billion, exceeding the scope of Bernie Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme and making it potentially the "greatest fraud in US history."

"In one case, auditors working for SIGIR discovered that $57.8m was sent in 'pallet upon pallet of hundred-dollar bills' to the US comptroller for south-central Iraq, Robert J Stein Jr, who had himself photographed standing with the mound of money," wrote Cockburn. "He is among the few US officials who were in Iraq to be convicted of fraud and money-laundering.

"Despite the vast sums expended on rebuilding by the US since 2003, there have been no cranes visible on the Baghdad skyline except those at work building a new US embassy and others rusting beside a half-built giant mosque that Saddam was constructing when he was overthrown."

The SIGIR auditor's report, entitled "Hard Lessons," was published in early February.

"'Hard Lessons,' a draft of which was leaked to the news media in December, concludes that the U.S. reconstruction effort in Iraq was a failure, largely because there was no overall strategy behind it," reported the Washington Post. "Goals shifted from 'liberation' and an early military exit to massive, ill-conceived and expensive building projects under the Coalition Provisional Authority of 2003 and 2004. Many of those projects -- over budget, poorly executed or, often, barely begun -- were abandoned as security worsened.

"In a preface to the 456-page book, Bowen writes that he knew the reconstruction was in trouble when he first visited Iraq in January 2004 and saw duffel bags full of cash being carried out of the Republican Palace, which housed the U.S. occupation government."

"As part of the inquiry, the authorities are taking a fresh look at information given to them by Dale Stoffel, an American arms dealer and contractor who was killed in Iraq in late 2004," reported the International Herald Tribune on Sunday.

"Before he was shot on a road north of Baghdad, Stoffel drew a portrait worthy of a pulp crime novel: tens of thousands of dollars stuffed into pizza boxes and delivered surreptitiously to the American contracting offices in Baghdad, and payoffs made in paper bags that were scattered in 'dead drops' around the Green Zone, the nerve center of the United States government's presence in Iraq, two senior federal officials said."

"Prosecutors have won 35 convictions on cases related to reconstruction in Iraq, yet most of them involved private contractors or midlevel officials. The current inquiry is aiming at higher-level officials, according to investigators involved in the case, and is also trying to determine if there are connections between those officials and figures in the other cases. Although Bell and Hirtle were military officers, they worked in a civilian contracting office."

So far, there have been just 35 convictions for the misuse of government funds during the reconstruction of Iraq.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Missing_Iraq_billions_could_be_greatest_02...

Bid to push GM crop on EU nations foiled
Would have forced France, Greece to grow genetically-modified Monsanto corn.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/EU_foiled_in_bid_to_force_France_Gr_0216200...

besides questions about the safety of gm foods, doesn't monsanto have a fleet of lawyers who travel the countryside extracting money from farmers who have the "gm" seed growing on their land because the wind or the rain carried it over to their property, and according to monsanto, you have to have a license from them to be in possession of the seed?

wasn't there also something where you had to come back each year and buy new seed. you weren't allowed to grow new crops from last years seeds?

altogether a heinous approach to farming and the food supply.

if you want a good laugh at how uttlery stupid conservatives are, check out:

The Best Conservative Movies

over at the national review.

one of my favorite's is:

In his fight against the terrorist Joker, Batman has to devise new means of surveillance, push the limits of the law, and accept the hatred of the press and public. If that sounds reminiscent of a certain former president — whose stubborn integrity kept the nation safe and turned the tide of war

seriously, how did we manage to lose twice against idiots like this?

thanks crank bait for the watercolors!

(but please stop "wallowing" in your nostalgia)

understandable though, those caribbean places are dreamy beautiful, you were lucky to be able to live there, and to have known Charles Hawes and to own one of his watercolors

i would like to buy one or two (depending on cost); for now i am still busy browsing, copying and pasting, enlarging, looking, trying to decide which one (might take a while, I am still at set5 of the caribbean series and I haven't even started on the Spain and Portugal ones)

grateful for a little break from the gloom and doom and humdrum grey morning of another workday

besides, why didn't I hear any stupid republican yet gush about how obama has managed to keep us safe (we haven't been attacked yet, have we? so there)

steve doocy is calling your name

wouldn't it be fun to see what wardog would have scored? (or any other average stupid republican?) i suspect into the minus range

Now they tell us! If only we had thought to send copies of A Simple Plan (1998) to PNAC...

FALLUJAH - Driving through Fallujah, once the most rebellious Sunni city in Iraq, I saw little evidence of any kind of reconstruction underway. At least 70% of that city's structures were destroyed during massive US military assaults in April, and again in November 2004, and more than four years later, in the "new Iraq", the city continues to languish.

More here:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KB14Ak01.html

http://cagle.com/working/090214/bagley.jpg

how true, he did fend off an attack by the republican talibanistas led by that evil sessions character.

instead of gym took a brisk walk in my neighborhood looking at the beautiful flowers and thinking they would make such beautiful watercolors if i just had the time and the skills of charles hawes

ah, time to run to work now, already late and an ungly day of mean meetings ahead, it's gonna be a rough one

WSJ reports building the biggest brokerage co on Wall Street is proving costly to Morgan Stanley (MS) and Citigroup (C), which are planning to pay brokers about $3 billion to keep them from being poached away from the joint venture, people familiar with the matter said. While the terms aren't expected to be announced until later this month, the issue could grow politically sensitive, because the U.S. government holds stakes in Citigroup and Morgan Stanley as part of its bailout of the financial system.

===

the public is being played like a fiddle by wall street and the banks.

Palin's Biographer is on my teevee hawking books and telling me about how Sarah hid her pregnancy for 7 months because she "she wanted to her kids out of the limelight".

"this machine kills fascists"

Trump Entertainment files for bankruptcy
Chris in Paris · 2/17/2009 04:16:00 AM ET · Link
Make a comment · reddit · FARK · Digg It! · Stumble It! · facebook

The rise and fall and rise and fall of Donald Trump. If nothing else, he's an interesting character to observe because not many people can have any many lives as Trump. Though it's certainly possible, I believe such examples are more difficult to find outside of the US at such a level. The arrogance and bluster of Trump is always a spectacle so it won't surprise me to see him bounce back even stronger in a few years.
Trump Entertainment Resorts, Donald Trump's casino group, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, court documents show.

The casino operator had assets of about $2.1 billion and total debts of about $1.74 billion on Dec. 31, 2008, it said in its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/29220893

Clueless Capitol Hill Republicans are
missing the point on economic rescue

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Republicans in Congress -- all but completely united in their effort to build a wall of obstruction in the path of President Obama’s economic revitalization effort -- seem to be missing this essential point.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/opinion/17herbert.html?ref=opinion

*****

Republicans turning into
'modern-day Herbert Hoovers'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once the economy turns around, Republicans could easily be cast as modern-day Herbert Hoovers who wanted to do nothing -- even though the GOP presented its own stimulus plans, which were heavier on tax cuts and lighter on government spending.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwmXd2At1xo7YxJpwKkeAT...

*****

Beginning of the end for GOP

The Republicans need to break free of an economic theory that was drafted on economist Arthur B. Laffer's napkin. Supply-side theory may have sufficed at a different time, but takes no account of the present economic reality.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-oped0217gopfeb17,0,1788854.story

Crippled US auto firms to
report on restructure plans

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major carmakers in the crippled US auto industry were to report to the government Tuesday on their restructuring plans, a condition of a 17.4-billion-dollar auto industry bailout funded by taxpayers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090217/bs_afp/useconomyautounioncompanygmc...

*****

GM to get $4 billion
in federal aid today

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The U.S. government will release $4 billion in additional aid to General Motors Corp (GM.N) on Tuesday as planned, a White House aide said on Monday, ahead of the deadline for the automaker to submit a new survival plan.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090217/bs_nm/us_autos_gm_tranche;_ylt=AnIGn...

US, Japan sign pact to move
Marines from Okinawa to Guam

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hoping to give new momentum to a plan to rework the deployment of U.S. troops in the Pacific, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed an agreement Tuesday with Japan that will move 8,000 Marines off the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090217/ap_on_re_as/as_clinton_asia_guam;_yl...

"Let me be clear." I understand what they are. I know the value of Pi as well. I just choose not to pollute my beautiful mind. It's either math or too much like math. ;)

Phonetics for Spanish-language teaching requires a rather limited exposure to that terminology (with which I am fine). Reasons for language change ("really unreal")also fine, even interesting. It's the idea of deriving proto-languages and things like that that gives me flashbacks.

Obama plots huge
railroad expansion

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The $787.2 billion economic recovery bill -- to be signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday — dedicates $8 billion to high-speed rail, most of which was added in the final closed-door bargaining at the instigation of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18924.html

Oil slips to $37 as
demand for crude wanes

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dismal global economic news dragged oil prices close to $37 Tuesday, with rising supplies and inventories offsetting expectations of further OPEC production cuts.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090217/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices;_ylt=AlXo2SDx...

Frightened Southern gun nuts go crazier after paper posts names

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Memphis Commercial-Appeal posted on its website a publicly available list of citizens who have concealed weapons permits. Did this cause gun nuts to go crazy, terrifying the newspaper's editors? You bet!

http://gawker.com/5154693/newspaper-really-really-didnt-mean-to-offend-g...

either. Y'all can just assume I got a 10 if it makes you feel better. :P

(I hate those effin tests.And I bet all it's really testing is PIQ, which is only one part of IQ, if that.)

(Not to be obsessive or defensive or overreact or anything even close to that. What are you looking at??!!)

;}

Stocks fell at the open, as investors continued to fret about the financial system. The Dow dropped 150 points, while the Nasdaq and S&P lost around 2.9% each. The declines follow similar losses overseas, with the Nikkei down 1.4%, the Shanghai Composite down 2.9% and the FTSE 100 down 2%. Gold climbed to a 7-month high as traders scrambled for safety.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123487180665799141.html

Barack Obama’s relationship with DC Republicans is on the rocks, but he couldn’t be getting along better with GOP governors, reports the New York Times. Why? Follow the money. Struggling to balance their budgets, the governors don’t care which party help comes from. “The essence of a recovery package is essential to get our nation’s economy moving,” says Vermont’s Jim Douglas.

GOP governors including Douglas, California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Connecticut’s Jodi Rell flouted their congressional counterparts to back the stimulus, which allocates $135 billion to the states, nearly halving their collective budget gap. The National Governors Association sent a bipartisan letter in support, and Florida’s Charlie Crist even campaigned with Obama. Meanwhile, Joe Scarborough, TV host and former Florida congressman, called the bill “a steaming pile of garbage.”

http://www10.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/us/politics/17repubs.html?_r=5&partn...

too bad it isn't bigger and bolder. it should be electric based and the speeds should target 300+ mph. and it should allow freight as well as people to travel.

look what the interstates did for the economy.

Strings attached? Jindal, legislature to decide if state will accept stimulus (Louisiana)

BATON ROUGE, La. – You would think with Louisiana staring at a possible $2 billion budget shortfall next year, Governor Bobby Jindal would anxious to get a hold of the state's nearly $4 billion cut of the federal stimulus package.
Video: Watch the Story at link

But, instead, the republican governor appears to be a bit weary of democrats bearing gifts -- especially when he's set to give the GOP response to President Barack Obama's first State of the Union address.

-snip-

State House Speaker Jim Tucker says the governor is just being cautious, not playing politics.

-snip-

"He needs to take this $4 billion," said Rep. Walker Hines, D-New Orleans. "He needs to put it in our economy. This will improve the quality of life for many in Louisiana. It will create jobs. It will do some really great things that cannot be done without that money."

http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl021609cbstimulusjindal.22935c...

NATO says Pakistan deal with militants a concern

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO expressed concern on Tuesday after Pakistan signed a pact with Islamists to introduce Islamic law in the northwestern Swat valley to try to take the steam out of a Taliban uprising there.

"We would all be concerned by a situation in which extremists would have safe haven," NATO spokesman James Appathuraitold a news briefing.

NATO heads an international force battling Taliban militants in Pakistan's neighbor Afghanistan and Appathurai said he did not know if the pact would make its task more difficult. However, he added: "It is certainly reason for concern."

Appathurai said NATO did not doubt the commitment of the Pakistani government and its President Asif Ali Zardari to fighting extremism. Zardari's wife, Benazir Bhutto, was killed by militants.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/17/AR200902...

An Italian court has found British tax lawyer David Mills guilty of accepting a bribe of about £400,000 and sentenced him to four-and-a-half years in prison.

The prosecution claims the bribe was paid by the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.

He denies that claim, and was removed from the case after passing a law making himself immune from prosecution.

Mr Mills, the estranged husband of UK minister Tessa Jowell, is expected to appeal against the verdict.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7894766.stm

Who else did Berlusconi bribe?

CA BUDGET ONE VOTE SHY OF PASSAGE: HOLLINGSWORTH IS ONLY SAN DIEGO-AREA SENATOR OPPOSED

February 17, 2009 (San Diego)—Efforts to pass a $40 billion state budget plan collapsed over the weekend due to Republicans refusal to support the plan, which fell one vote shy of passage in the Senate. The state has halted refund checks to taxpayers and payments to vendors, stopped 2,000 public works projects and announced plans to stop payments for foster parents and other social services because California has no more money. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered furloughs for state workers and tonight said he will send lay-off notices to 20,000 people on Tuesday. Loans are no longer an option due to the state’s bad credit rating.

“I don’t know what it takes for people to believe this really is a crisis,” said Senator Denise Ducheny, (D-San Diego), chair of the Senate Budget committee, whose district includes Lemon Grove, Spring Valley, and some eastern portions of San Diego.

State Senator Christine Kehoe of San Diego, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also supports the measure, along with the rest of the Democratic Senators in Sacramento. But at least one Republican vote is needed, and thus far, the GOP has blocked passage despite the urging of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to support the latest measure, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Republican Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (photo), whose district includes most of East County as well as portions of Riverside County, issued a press release calling the budget plan a “disaster” for Californians. “Punishing every Californian by increasing their taxes, especially in a time such as this, is not only wrong-headed for the economy, it is simply morally wrong,” he said. “The people sent Republicans to Sacramento to be a blockade against tax increases. Once that wall crumbles, there will be no end to the expansion of taxes and spending,” he predicted, adding that people would “rightly figure they can vote for Democrats and at least stand a fair chance of getting their entitlements and programs along with tax increases. As Republicans, we will only remain as the party that gives them tax increases and no programs.”

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/563

things would be a lot easier if we had a dictatorship and if i was the dictator, he he, he he

wtf is wrong with republicans. what is moral about driving a state into bankruptcy. what is moral about causing people to lose their jobs and not be able to support their family. what is moral about deny essential services to people that have not other access to them?

Exactly. They get more and more insane every day. I can't believe that we (which definitely includes me) are still sitting here while they ruin what at least used to be the fifth largest economy in the world. Something needs to be done--now!! (And no, I don't know what...but I wouldn't be flying across to the country to another state nearby to do a symbolic signing of a bill that already passed when this was going on. I'd at least be dropping everything and speaking directly about it. )

Jindal is setting himself up for epic FAIL...

what a spiral of stupid they are..

"this machine kills fascists"

About the frakking fricative... please don't mind me, it's just that I couldn't resist the temptation to link to a Vivian Stanshall (with Eric Clapton!) tune.

Submitted by gloryoski on Tue, 02/17/2009 - 11:05am.
They get more and more insane every day.
-----

The first mistake was putting that Nazi, son of a Nazi, in power. Don't think for a moment that Arnuld wouldn't like to privatize the whole state.

the only possible answer is that they think things will be so bad in 2010 that by distancing themselves they will be able to ride in and "save" the country.

which is why the message that needs to be drummed into everyones head is that this mess was caused by the republicans and made worse by the republicans.

all PHUN with phonetics....;)

(I'll have to remember that one.)

President Urged to Compromise Less on the Rest of Agenda

By Alec MacGillis, Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 17, 2009

As President Obama prepares to sign a $787 billion economic stimulus package today amid gales of Republican criticism of its cost, he is also facing quieter misgivings from liberal Democrats who say the bill does not go far enough -- and who are already looking ahead to future legislation that they hope will do more.

Liberal Democrats recognize the package's scale and accomplishment, and they have defended it against Republican attacks. But they also wonder whether Obama could have used the opportunity of a large congressional majority and a moment of economic emergency to pass a bigger package, with a better chance of boosting the economy and with more of his priorities intact.

As Obama moves on to issues such as health care and energy, liberals are debating how to ensure that the stimulus outcome does not define the outer boundaries of his agenda, so that future legislation is not limited, as the stimulus was, by the demands of centrist senators such as Susan Collins (R-Maine), Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).

Some say Obama must aim higher next time, so that compromises produce a more satisfactory result. Some say he needs to take greater control of drafting legislation, instead of leaving it to Democratic congressional leaders, and needs to adopt a harder line with Republican legislators. And some say liberals and pro-Democratic interest groups such as labor unions must do a better job of pressuring moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats to back the president.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/16/AR200902...

I have a video tape of Michael Hudson that is about 11 years old. He was on C-Klan. He was warning us about the banks, mortgage companies , check cashing companies, etc., etc. He called them the "Merchants of Misery". Apparently nobody listened. It does appear that it's over.

-----------

Finance Capitalism Hits a Wall
The Oligarchs' Escape Plan
By MICHAEL HUDSON

The financial “wealth creation” game is over. Economies emerged from World War II relatively free of debt, but the 60-year global run-up has run its course. Finance capitalism is in a state of collapse, and marginal palliatives cannot revive it. The U.S. economy cannot “inflate its way out of debt,” because this would collapse the dollar and end its dreams of global empire by forcing foreign countries to go their own way. There is too little manufacturing to make the economy more “competitive,” given its high housing costs, transportation, debt and tax overhead. A quarter to a third of U.S. real estate has fallen into negative equity, so no banks will lend to them. The economy has hit a debt wall and is falling into negative equity, where it may remain for as far as the eye can see until there is a debt write-down.

Mr. Obama’s “recovery” plan, based on infrastructure spending, will make real estate fortunes for well-situated properties along the new public transport routes, but there is no sign of cities levying a windfall property tax to save their finances. Their mayors would rather keep the cities broke than to tax real estate and finance. The aim is to re-inflate property markets to enable owners to pay the banks, not to help the public sector break even. So state and local pension plans will remain underfunded while more corporate pension plans go broke.

con't

http://www.counterpunch.org/

The oligarchy’s plans for a bailout (at least of its own financial position)

Excerpt:

In periods of looming collapse, wealthy elites protect their funds. In times past they bought gold when currencies started to weaken. (Patriotism never has been a characteristic of cosmopolitan finance capital.) Since the 1950s the International Monetary Fund has made loans to support Third World exchange rates long enough to subsidize capital flight. In the United States over the past half-year, bankers and Wall Street investors have tapped the Treasury and Federal Reserve to support prices of their bad loans and financial gambles, buying out or guaranteeing $12 trillion of these junk debts. Protection for the U.S. financial elite thus takes the form of domestic public debt, not foreign currency.

http://www.counterpunch.org/

gloryoski,

Your most recent plosive sprayed spittle on me.

Republicans try to block Guantánamo detainees from prisons in their districts

Party members in Congress introduce legislation seeking to prevent inmates from being held near their electorates

Republicans in at least six states are seeking to block the White House from transferring Guantánamo Bay detainees to their districts, in what critics call an effort to stymie Barack Obama's efforts to close the prison.

Congressional Republicans have introduced bills that would bar the government from moving any of the 250 inmates to some of the most prominent military and civilian detention centres in the US, including a "supermax" high-security federal prison in Florence, Colorado, which holds at least 16 convicted international terrorists, and a South Carolina naval brig that holds the only enemy combatant jailed in America.

...

Last week, 20 Texas Republicans sent a letter to Obama urging him not to send Guantánamo detainees to their state. Sam Brownback, the Kansas senator, aims to keep detainees out of a military prison there, and an Arizona Republican has filed legislation that would prevent detainees from being shipped to federal civilian or military prisons.

...

The legislation is unlikely to pass, and Guantánamo and terrorism researchers say Republican security concerns are unfounded.

"If they think that US prisons can't hold terrorists without a good chance of those terrorists of running away and killing Americans, then I wonder why they haven't spent every waking hour of their lives in the Congress trying to fix that problem, considering that US prisons currently house some of the world's most dangerous convicted terrorists," said Tom Malinowski, Washington director of Human Rights Watch.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/16/guantanamo-republicans-priso...

I never believed in the Merry Fitzmas! Under Santa's suit was an elephant.

Arresting Rod Blagojevich but not Scooter Libby
By Margie Burns, Ph.D
Online Journal Contributing Writer

Feb 17, 2009, 00:25

Some conservative commentators, including Chris Wallace interviewing then-Vice President Cheney on Fox News Sunday (Dec. 21, 2008) initially paralleled the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on Dec. 9, 2008, to the indictment of I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, Cheney’s Chief of Staff, on Oct. 28, 2005.

Both legal matters were prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, but there is little similarity in the treatment of Libby and Blagojevich.

One leading difference is that the bureaucratic processing of Scooter Libby, genteel from start to finish, did not include arrest. No guns, few badges; no nightsticks; no handcuffs. Libby was not arrested; he was indicted. This is not singular: In white-collar criminal cases, indictment is more typical than arrest. The news is not that Libby was not arrested; the real news is that Gov. Blagojevich was not indicted.

The absence of an indictment, of course, was not what made news that cold December morning when the U.S. attorney’s FBI troops arrested Blagojevich in a daring pre-dawn raid on his house in Chicago -- but quietly, as they assured the public in a press conference the same day, so as not to wake the children. The headline that flashed around the globe, saturating the 24-hour news cycle from the first moment, was the governor’s arrest. Most media outlets took two weeks or more to cease calling the charges an ‘indictment.’

Con't
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4374.shtml

KBR wins U.S. Army contract

KBR Inc. has been awarded a $19.2 million contract by the U.S. Army Contracting Command for work in Kuwait.

The Houston-based engineering, construction and services company will execute bulk fuel farm operations at specific military sites near Shuiba Port and at Camp Buehring.

Work will include fuel transfer, inventory management and operations and related maintenance at specified locations for equipment and vehicles.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2009/02/16/daily10.html

Oops, sorry I didn't warn you .... :P

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) — Republican Norm Coleman's attorneys Monday sent a letter to the three judges overseeing the election trial asking them to reconsider their game-changing ruling from Friday that put significant limits on the types of rejected absentee ballots they want examined.

The judges on Friday outlined about a dozen categories of ballots that should not be counted because they said those categories of ballots were not legally cast under Minnesota law. Those included ballots in which signatures didn't match, those submitted by non-registered voters or those inside a return envelope not signed by the voter.

But Coleman, who is seeking to add more rejected ballots to the recount of his November 4 race with Democrat Al Franken for a U.S. Senate seat, argued that not including all of about 4,800 ballots he wants re-examined was a matter of equal protection.

In their letter sent to the court Monday, Coleman's team is arguing that "likely thousands" of the ballots that had been sifted through during the recount process could have fallen under these now-taboo categories.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/16/coleman-to-judges-recons...

Excerpt!

Looking at FBI agents arriving on Dec. 9 to handcuff Blagojevich at his home, one is struck by the different handling of Scooter Libby. Scooter Libby was eventually convicted on four counts in the CIA leak matter but was spared prison time by President Bush, as Fitzgerald undoubtedly anticipated; the notion that Libby would somehow be ‘flipped’ to incriminate the vice president was always wishful thinking in the liberal blogosphere. (See below.) Meanwhile, Libby was extended every courtesy.

con't

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4374.shtml

The Plight of the Left-Wing Talkers

Of course, the reason Senators Durbin and Harkin and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Dianne Feinstein of California yearn to revive the Fairness Doctrine is that it would precipitate the end of conservative talk radio. And they have the power to do this. The FCC is theoretically empowered to demand "balance" (and punish transgressors) because
the airwaves are public property, and Congress reserves the right to regulate what it claims.

That is why neither Dick Durbin nor Tom Harkin--nor even Bill Press--has expressed the slightest concern about "balance" or "both sides of the story" in, say, the nation's daily newspapers or news magazines or in Hollywood or the book publishing trade. In the one place where conservatives have gained a foothold, and might even be said to dominate, congressional Democrats are determined to shut them down--and not by way of market forces, or competition, but through enabling legislation. So much for the First Amendment.

Philip Terzian is literary editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD
http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/149fjail.a...

(Norm) Coleman to judges: Reconsider your ruling
------

Oh God when is he going to shut the phuck up!

The US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) has issued a report on as much as $125 billion unaccounted-for reconstruction and military equipment money in Iraq. Patrick Cockburn at the Independent quotes a US businessman active in Iraq after the US invasion who observed that Iraq was looted alright, but the big looting did not come at the hands of poor urbanites but rather at that of US officers. Although immense peculation was engaged in by Iraqi government and military figures, it seems unlikely that their US military minders were not complicit in the corruption.

As Digby points out, the same Republican congressmen who never hesitated to vote more hundreds of billions of deficit spending on the Iraq War are now suddenly shy about running a necessary Keynsian deficit to get us back out of the 2009 Depression. Their friends and cronies stole much of the money they used to just hand out like free samples. And they are now suddenly wise stewards of money and fiscal conservatives?

Cockburn says the Iraq embezzlement is a ponzi scheme bigger than that of Madoff. But both gigantic swindles were made possible by the same philosophy, that the "private sector" needs no government oversight or auditing, since the Magic Hand will operate to ensure probity. As Alan Greenspan recently admitted, his conviction that bankers would not steal from us because it would be bad for the bank was naive; I guess that is what comes of never growing out of Ayn Rand when you move into your twenties and later.
http://www.juancole.com/

Congressional Approval Ratings Jump
A new Gallup Poll shows a sharp 12 point increase in congressional approval ratings from last month, rising from 19% to 31%. While still quite negative on an absolute basis, this is the best rating for Congress in nearly two years.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/114670/Congress-Approval-Rating-Jumps.aspx

And it's not because of the GOP

Cheney Furious with Bush Over Scooter Libby
Sources close to Dick Cheney told the New York Daily News the former vice president repeatedly pressed President Bush to pardon Scooter Libby, "arguing his ex-chief of staff and longtime alter ego deserved a full exoneration -- even though Bush had already kept Libby out of jail by commuting his 30-month prison sentence."

However, the "unsuccessful full-court press left Cheney bitter."

Said the source: "He's furious with Bush. He's really angry about it and decided he's going to say what he believes."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/02/16/2009-02-16_exvp_dick...

Too bad, so sad!

Far, Far Away from Washington, D.C.
"Notice how few (if any) actual members of Congress are traveling to Colorado to attend today's bill signing," First Read observers. "Rather, the attendees will be Vice President Biden, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D). Of course, had the president wanted congressional presence, he would have asked for it. Read into THAT what you will... It seems like another opportunity to show Obama as non-Washington, no?"

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/02/17/1798470.aspx

The Denver Post previews today's bill signing.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/6266385.html

Later Sederites!

As the Obama administration begins to deploy U.S. troops back to the Iraq or Afghan war zones for their fourth or fifth tours of duty, I remain amazed at the silent complicity of my country. Why have we been so quiet? Is it because the Bush administration was, in fact, successful in sending our military down the path to foreign legion-hood? Is the fate of our troops no longer of much importance to most Americans?

Even the military's recruitment and demographics are increasingly alien to much of the country. Troops are now regularly recruited in "foreign" places like South Central Los Angeles and Appalachia that more affluent Americans wouldn't be caught dead visiting. In some cases, those new recruits are quite literally "foreign" -- non-U.S. citizens allowed to seek a fast-track to citizenship by volunteering for frontline, war-zone duty in the U.S. Army or Marines. And when, in these last years, the military has fallen short of its recruitment goals -- less likely today thanks to the ongoing economic meltdown -- mercenaries have simply been hired at inflated prices from civilian contractors with names like Triple Canopy or Blackwater redolent of foreign adventures.

The French Foreign Legionnaires knew better than to expect such an outcry: The elites for whom they fought didn't give a damn about what happened to them. Our military may not yet be a foreign legion -- but don't fool yourself, it's getting there.
http://tomdispatch.com/post/175034/william_astore_whose_military_is_it_a...

would that be the same norm coleman who with a tenuous lead and a lot of uncounted votes said right after the election that al franken should do the honorable thing and concede the election? that norm coleman, the one who didn't feel the need to count all the ballots, because it was clear that franken hadn't won?

mire,

I am partial to the scenes that are unmistakably West Indian, but I keep going back to "Docked" (1980, located in Caribbean set 4) which is a scene that could be in Louisiana or Florida as easily as the West Indies.

The brilliant yellow west sky after sunset and the reflections in the water (calm water characteristic of the end of the day) are sucker bait for this Crank.

Following is a link to an older website which was created prior to Bud's death. There are only eleven pieces featured on it but they are good'uns (I especially like "About Town" and "Young Friend").

http://www.usvi.net/hawes/

Travis The Chimp Shot Dead After Attacking Woman, Leaving Her Badly Mauled (VIDEO)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/17/travis-the-chimp-shot-dea_n_167...

=================================

The video is not graphic but...

U.S. Intel Chief's Shocking Warning: Wall Street's Disaster Has Spawned Our Greatest Terrorist Threat

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig. Posted February 17, 2009.

The Director of National Intelligence argued that Wall Street, rather than Islamic jihad, has produced our most dangerous terrorists.

We have a remarkable ability to create our own monsters. A few decades of meddling in the Middle East with our Israeli doppelgnger and we get Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaida, the Iraqi resistance movement and a resurgent Taliban. Now we trash the world economy and destroy the ecosystem and sit back to watch our handiwork. Hints of our brave new world seeped out Thursday when Washington's new director of national intelligence, retired Adm. Dennis Blair, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He warned that the deepening economic crisis posed perhaps our gravest threat to stability and national security. It could trigger, he said, a return to the "violent extremism" of the 1920s and 1930s.

It turns out that Wall Street, rather than Islamic jihad, has produced our most dangerous terrorists. We will see accelerated plant and retail closures, inflation, an epidemic of bankruptcies, new rounds of foreclosures, bread lines, unemployment surpassing the levels of the Great Depression and, as Blair fears, social upheaval.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/127252/u.s._intel_chief%27s_shocking_warn...

The RNC Needs Your Ideas

"I have worked in Republican politics for sixteen years—my entire professional life.

The conversation doesn’t end there. Over at the GOP Tech Summit Ning site the RNC is asking people to keep contributing their ideas."

"committed to transformational change"??

Caveman Leader: The other tribes are getting all the good meat! Quick! How can we make this crooked spear fly faster and farther?

Caveman 1: Strap it to a bird!

Other Cavemen: So say we all.

Caveman 2: Fuck that spear, let's invent tire rims and anthrax, so we won't have to hunt to eat.

Other Cavemen: So say we all.

Caveman Leader: Excellent! Meeting adjourned.

"this machine kills fascists"

anybody listening to the wingnut on hartmann?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer

Will Kim Jong Il?

Clinton warns N Korea over missile

The US secretary of state has warned North Korea against following through on hints that it will carry out a missile launch.

"The possible missile launch that North Korea is talking about would be very unhelpful," Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday in Tokyo, the first stop on her maiden tour as Washington's chief diplomat.

(just a theory.)

thag simmons

A little distracted by big boss coming down, checking his stocks and, apropos of Cali, saying "We're thinking of giving our employees IOUs, you know just for fun. Take your IOU to Walmart, and see what it gets you there."

Huh?!

I thought I had finally trained him not to "joke" with me like that....

His credit seems fine. We are getting deliveries. So if he's even halfway serious, he's tying it to his personal stock portfolio performance, not to the store's?

Hahahaha....I get it....

are the bestest.

one of the good ones

"this machine kills fascists"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer#See_also

See also

Stegosaurus, tail spikes
Strigiphilus garylarsoni

Other scientific terms first used in comedy

Horrendous Space Kablooie
Flange of baboons
Shmoo

"this machine kills fascists"

He denies that claim, and was removed from the case after passing a law making himself immune from prosecution.

With MSNBC announcing that it was looking to fill its 10PM time slot with original broadcasting, two prominent self-avowed liberals are positioning themselves for the post.

Cenk Uygur, of the Young Turks Show, and Sam Seder, who headed a popular eponymous show on Air America, aren't taking the traditional route to the recently announced opening. Rather than rise through the cable news structure, they are using new media tools to organize their supporters and put pressure on MSNBC brass. In Uygur's case, the effort is billed as an election-year style campaign (think: Barack Obama meets "30 Rock.")

"We thought that it would be fun to run it like a political campaign and involve the online community as much as possible," said Uygur. "We're gonna use Facebook, bloggers, and friends in the online community ... In the end, there is only one real voter and in this case the voter is [network president] Phil Griffin. In reality, of course, there is a wider constituency there."

To that end, both Uygur and Seder have Facebook groups touting their rightness for the post, with 4,200 and 2,700 members respectively. The signatories are almost all of a progressive tilt. But they also represent the young, wealthy, tech-savvy demographic that leaves networks and advertisers salivating........
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/17/progressive-hosts-vie-for_n_167...

There is a new thread open

when they say new orleans has a west indian feeling

Sirius XM: Will John Malone Be a Better Partner for Mel Karmazin?

Sirius XM’s Mel Karmazin is probably feeling pretty good today.

The embattled chief executive has just scored a $530 million investment from Liberty Media, which gives Karmazin more cash to run the company, allows him to maintain control and gives him an better chance of keeping his job without the office politics of working for his old rival, Charlie Ergen, at EchoStar.
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2009/02/17/sirius-xm-will-john-malone-be-a-be...

I keep checking on this story. I don't think we are paying enough attention to this. A few months ago I dumped my DirectTV because it was a ripoff. I literally had over twenty QVC channels (QVC was founded by John Malone). But DirectTV did offer something other than a million shopping channels: a slew of fire & brimstone ministers. One evening I counted the number of religious shows I was paying for: 27. This curious mix of programming was like living in a scene from "Repo Man." Pissed off I finally dumped DirectTV, and haven't missed anything but DN.
Anyway, we need to pay attention here. Shortly, we may really need to get progressive talk on more AM stations.

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