CFP

No Way..... Eybik Yung

nice to see them get together for a good cause....

single issue focused too...very smart.

Great job guys!!!

Seder, I'mma let you finish, but Larry King has Grayson v. Bachmann tonight!

Okay, Ya Think? has to be over by that!

"this machine kills fascists"

was great, i can't thank you enough for having recommended it to me. Now i am trying to convince my daughter and son-in-law to get into it, told me they watched season 1 but it was too hard paced and hard to follow, also a little too dark and violent for them. I am surprised I could get through it actually, but once you get hooked you can't stop...

i was disappointed with some of the ending. I would have let omar survive to maybe participate in the next season if they ever decided to continue it; i was also disappointed by - oh shoot i already forgot the name - the black woman detective, she turned out to be a snitch and i didn't like that even though mcnaulty forgives her, i do not

what else? i was just unhappy that it ended period, because now i don't have any more episodes to watch and as i said, i had become addicted.

»

By NORMAN FINKELSTEIN

Public outrage at the Gaza invasion did not come out of the blue but rather marked the nadir of a curve plotting a steady decline in support for Israel. As polling data of Americans and Europeans, both Gentiles and Jews, suggest, the public has become increasingly critical of Israeli policy over the past decade. The horrific images of death and destruction broadcast around the world during and after the invasion accelerated this development. “The increased and brutal frequency of war in this volatile region has shifted international opinion,” the British Financial Times editorialized one year later, “reminding Israel it is not above the law. Israel can no longer dictate the terms of debate.”

One poll registering the fallout from the Gaza attack in the United States found that American voters calling themselves supporters of Israel plummeted from 69 per cent before the attack to 49 per cent in June 2009, while voters believing that the U.S. should support Israel dropped from 69 per cent to 44 per cent. Consumed by hate, emboldened by self-righteousness, and confident that it could control or intimidate public opinion, Israel carried on in Gaza as if it could get away with mass murder in broad daylight. But while official Western support for Israel held firm, the carnage set off an unprecedented wave of popular outrage throughout the world. Whether it was because the assault came on the heels of the devastation Israel wrought in Lebanon, or because of Israel’s relentless persecution of the people of Gaza, or because of the sheer cowardice of the assault, the Gaza invasion appeared to mark a turning point in public opinion reminiscent of the international reaction to the 1960 Sharpeville massacre in apartheid South Africa.
http://www.counterpunch.org/finkelstein03032010.html

amazing cast in that thing, ron howard directing? and all donating their time for the cause? amazing infrastructure

It's hard to be satsfied by any ending of a great series and the removal of your favorite characters.

My mom is very averse to gratuitous TV and movie violence, but she loved The Wire, and she only caught the last three seasons..she still has to get the first two seasons

It's hard not to wish the creators of TV shows put that much thought and heart into their work...as it is, it's nice to have these special series' when they arise..

It's not as powerful, but Showtime had a three-season series called "Brotherhood" that I also enjoyed.

I like these nuanced, gritty dramas that hone in on sections of the American poor and middle class and the ties to politics/crime. This one focuses on Irish immigrants in Rhode Island and is very well-acted.

"this machine kills fascists"

"I don’t really care. I’m sick of starting with what can we get through the Senate; let’s start with
what solves the damn problem. Until the Senate gets its head out of its rear end and starts to see
the crisis we’re in, our country is literally at risk. Our economy is at risk, because these jobs are
being created overseas. It should have the same urgency with this problem that it had bailing out
Wall Street. We are swearing an oath to do what’s necessary to protect this country, not do what’s
necessary to get a bill through the Senate."

-- Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA

Link

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

MMRules

Hedges: Media Reformers Are out of Touch with the Reality of Today's Tabloid Media
Hedges argues that John Nichols' and Robert McChesney's new book on how to rescue our media assumes "that people still value and want traditional news. They do not."

......news, which costs money and takes talent to produce, is dying not only because citizens are migrating to the Internet and corporations are no longer using newsprint to advertise, but because in an age of profound culture decline the masses prefer to be entertained rather than informed. We no longer value the culture or journalism, as we no longer value classical theater or great books, and this devaluation means the general public is not inclined to pay for it.
http://www.alternet.org/news/145870/hedges%3A_media_reformers_are_out_of...

"Shheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiit"

--Clay Davis (D-MD)

"this machine kills fascists"

How the DEA Scrubbed Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Poppy Garden from Public Memory
Visitors to Monticello don't learn how Jefferson cultivated poppies, and his personal opium use may as well never have happened.

The following is an excerpt from Jim Hogshire's "Opium for the Masses: Harvesting Nature's Best Pain Medication" (Feral House, 2009).

Thomas Jefferson was a drug criminal. But he managed to escape the terrible sword of justice by dying a century before the DEA was created. In 1987 agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency showed up at Monticello, Jefferson's famous estate.

Jefferson had planted opium poppies in his medicinal garden, and opium poppies are now deemed illegal. Now, the trouble was the folks at the Monticello Foundation, which preserves and maintains the historic site, were discovered flagrantly continuing Jefferson's crimes. The agents were blunt: The poppies had to be immediately uprooted and destroyed or else they were going to start making arrests, and Monticello Foundation personnel would perhaps face lengthy stretches in prison.

The story sounds stupid now, but it scared the hell out of the people at Monticello, who immediately started yanking the forbidden plants. A DEA man noticed the store was selling packets of "Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Poppies." The seeds had to go, too. While poppy seeds might be legal, it is never legal to plant them. Not for any reason.

Employees even gathered the store's souvenir T-shirts -- with silkscreened photos of Monticello poppies on the chest -- and burned them....
ow the DEA Scrubbed Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Poppy Garden from Public Memory
Visitors to Monticello don't learn how Jefferson cultivated poppies, and his personal opium use may as well never have happened.
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/145872/how_the_dea_scrubbed_thomas_jeffers...

Don't believe half of what you see and none of what you hear

hahaha...home slice is catching on quickly...

That kind of rhetoric will save his seat down here...the only thing the people in the more rural areas around here appreciate more than keeping down those "beneath" them, is someone trying to whittle the high and mighty down to size...a populist, even a more Liberal one, stands a chance with the rednecks...and a Tom Perriello is definitely an upgrade from a Virgil Goode, wouldn'tcha say?

Later.

it's a common sight in the italian countryside in the summer

i should try growing some - wonder if using the commercial seeds in the food stores would work

"The award demonstrates that the government recognizes KBR's ability and expertise in delivering high quality service in challenging contingency environments," KBR said in a statement."

Army Awards Lucrative Iraq Contract to KBR

WASHINGTON - Defense giant KBR Inc. was awarded a contract potentially worth $2.8 billion for support work in Iraq as U.S. forces continue to leave the country, military authorities said Tuesday.

"Giving KBR this contract while denying them award fees for their enormous problem of accidentally electrocuting soldiers amounts to rapping them on the knuckles on one hand while handing them a multibillion dollar deal in the other," said Tiefer, who is also a member of the independent Commission on Wartime Contracting.]"
KBR was notified of the award Friday, a day after the company told shareholders it lost about $25 million in award fees because of flawed electrical work in Iraq.

The company was charged with maintaining the barracks where Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a 24-year-old Green Beret, was electrocuted in 2008 while showering. The company has denied wrongdoing, and investigators said in August there was "insufficient evidence to prove or disprove" that anyone was criminally culpable in Maseth's death.

The uproar over his death triggered a review of 17 other electrocution deaths in Iraq and widespread inspections and repairs of electrical work in Iraq, much of it performed by KBR.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/03-1

Poppies have long been used as a symbol of both sleep and death: sleep because of the opium extracted from them, and death because of their (commonly) blood-red color. In Greco-Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead. Poppies are used as emblems on tombstones to symbolize eternal sleep. This aspect was used, fictionally, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to create magical poppy fields, dangerous because they caused those who passed through them to sleep forever.

of that time about 10 years ago when i lived around the Chianti region in Tuscany - one day i was driving around that gorgeous hilly countryside and ran into one of those red poppies' patches interspersed among the vinyards, so i decided to stop and take pictures, i had this clunky camera, old-school, not a digital; so i spent about twenty minutes rolling in the dirt around these flowers trying not to step on them. Not easy to frame a good shot under those conditions. In order to get a shot like the one in the picture i posted (that's not mine, but looking very much like one of mine) you have to lie flat on the ground on your back with the camera pointed towards the bright sky and hoping something good would come out of it - since I couldn't control the result in the viewfinder like you can now with digital cameras i shot a whole bunch of film hoping for the best and i got a few good ones, which i developed and printed later. That was such a beautiful time, rolling in the mud under the poppies...

Obama says replacing private insurance system with government-run system would not make sense for US - Reuters

is on C-Span & is unveiling
the Health Care Proposal
right now.

Brazil rebuffs US, says it will go own way on Iran

Brazil vowed Wednesday not to "bow down" to gathering international pressure to impose new economic penalties on Iran over its nuclear program if further negotiations might be fruitful.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8972552

i just don't understand what sort of sick game he is playing. he provides one of those personal vignettes about someone who is fighting cancer and is worried about debt and says this shouldn't happen in america.

if he truly believed that he would be fighting for single payer healthcare, not for making sure the insurance companies can get every last drop of blood from us.

For the billionaire with everything … Abu Dhabi unveiling for the boat with a beach built in

One of the many stresses of being a billionaire is the difficulty in choosing between purchasing a yacht or an island.

Happily, designers this week unveiled plans for a "moving island" that renders the conundrum redundant.

"Everybody's dream is to live on an island, in complete freedom, without constraint, with the independence that only self sufficiency can provide," said Wally's president, Luca Bassani Antivari.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/mar/03/yacht-island-why-hermes

http://www.why-yachts.com/#/Making-of-WHY-58x38

Anti-abortionists target African Americans with US racist history

A Georgia campaign is accused of drawing parellels between abortion and slavery and using the phrase 'womb lynchings'

Row as anti-abortionists target African Americans with US racist history

A Georgia campaign is accused of drawing parellels between abortion and slavery and using the phrase 'womb lynchings'

Trailer for a Texan anti-abortion film, Maafa 21, which alleges the while elite has used terminations since the abolition of slavery to contain black population growth

Anti-abortion activists have been accused of exploiting America's tragic racial history with a growing campaign to persuade black women that the high rate of terminations among African Americans is a racist conspiracy on a par with slavery and lynching.

The campaign, launched in Georgia, is targeting the black community with rallies, meetings in churches and colleges, and now billboards around Atlanta that describe black children as an endangered species and accuse abortion providers of targeting African Americans for what are described as "womb lynchings". The strategy has also focused on the fact that one of the country's leading abortion providers, Planned Parenthood, was founded by a woman who was a leading proponent of eugenics, a belief that the human gene pool could be improved by selective breeding and sterilisation, and who heavily promoted birth control among blacks.

The campaign also has the backing of Martin Luther King's niece, Alveda King, who described abortion among black women as "ethnic cleansing" and "this last bastion of racism".

Now the group has placed 80 billboards in Atlanta declaring: Black children are an endangered species.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/03/anti-abortionists-target-afr...

"Chile's modern seismic building code, drafted to resist earthquakes, was adopted in 1972. That year is enormously significant because it was one year before Pinochet seized power in a bloody U.S-backed coup. That means that if one person deserves credit for the law, it is not Friedman, or Pinochet, but Salvador Allende, Chile's democratically elected socialist President."

Chile's Socialist Rebar
by Naomi Klein

Ever since deregulation caused a worldwide economic meltdown in September '08 and everyone became a Keynesian again, it hasn't been easy to be a fanatical fan of the late economist Milton Friedman. So widely discredited is his brand of free-market fundamentalism that his followers have become increasingly desperate to claim ideological victories, however far-fetched.

A particularly distasteful case in point. Just two days after Chile was struck by a devastating earthquake, Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens informed his readers that Milton Friedman's "spirit was surely hovering protectively over Chile" because, "thanks largely to him, the country has endured a tragedy that elsewhere would have been an apocalypse.... It's not by chance that Chileans were living in houses of brick -- and Haitians in houses of straw -- when the wolf arrived to try to blow them down."

According to Stephens, the radical free-market policies prescribed to Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet by Milton Friedman and his infamous "Chicago Boys" are the reason Chile is a prosperous nation with "some of the world's strictest building codes."

There is one rather large problem with this theory: Chile's modern seismic building code, drafted to resist earthquakes, was adopted in 1972....
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/03-11

A bill introduced in Congress would reduce congressional pay by five percent. Representative Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.) introduced the Taking Responsibility for Congressional Pay Act, which would cut congressional salaries for the first time since 1933.

"Families across the country are getting by on lower wages and finding ways to cut back during the downturn, and these are the folks that pay our salaries. The federal government's budget is in much worse shape, so why shouldn't senators and representatives have to feel the same pinch?" asked Kirkpatrick in a press release.

Kirkpatrick is running for re-election but holds a "safe" seat, according to Cook Political Report.

A members of Congress earn a yearly salary $174,000, in either the House or Senate, with higher salaries for leadership positions. A cost-of-living increase is built into salaries. The median income in the United States is $52,175, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/should-congress-take-a-pa_n_483...

There's a poll at the link.

toniD's Ya Think?

http://espresso.repubblica.it/multimedia/23371821

am i the only one to think that the story of the kid in the airtraffic control is no big deal - enough already, we've got more serious news to worry about

Frank: 'If They Want To Kill Consumer Protection, Let There Be 41 Jim Bunnings Over There'

Rep. Barney Frank reacted angrily on Wednesday to a proposed bipartisan compromise on the Consumer Financial Protection Agency in the Senate.

"That's not coming over here," Frank told HuffPost, insisting that the House wouldn't agree to putting consumer protection authority inside the Federal Reserve, as Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) is proposing.

"I thought that was a joke," he said. "Even by Senate standards, that's mind-boggling."

Frank sought out reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday night to express his extreme displeasure.

"It's like making me the chief judge of the Miss America contest," Frank said. "It's already been in the Federal Reserve!"

The Fed has had authority over consumer financial protection for years but consciously decided not to use it, despite a congressional mandate to do so. In 1994, Congress instructed the Fed to protect consumers from subprime loans, but when Republicans took over in 1995, then-Chairman Alan Greenspan decided he could ignore the directive. The rules weren't put in place until Democrats retook control of Congress and the crisis was well underway.

"The Federal Reserve is undemocratic, it's non-transparent, it's elitist, it's arrogant: Let's give them consumer protection," marveled Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

"They better vote on this," he said of the Senate. "If they want to kill consumer protection, let there be 41 Jim Bunnings over there."
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Bunning (R-Ky.) spent the better part of the last week blocking a routine extension of unemployment insurance. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) has vowed to take the fight to push for a strong independent CFPA to the Senate floor.

The banks and Dodd's chief negotiating partners, Sens. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) argue that banking regulators must have veto power over consumer protections, because restricting some bank activities could harm the institutions and put at risk their "safety and soundness."

But Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) wondered aloud how banks could argue that preventing them from ripping off consumers puts them in jeopardy.

"It would be one thing if they were saying, 'They're making us do things that will cause us to lose money.' But they're saying, 'If you don't let us do these things because they're abusive to consumers, we won't make enough money to survive,'" Miller said.

"The legislation doesn't require the banks to offer anything. It would prohibit certain practices. So their argument is, they have to be able to cheat consumers to stay solvent. I'm not sure I'm persuaded by that argument, or that a bank that has to cheat consumers to stay solvent is one we should keep afloat. Maybe it's time to send in the FDIC."

Miller said the argument is lacking "particularly when there's no interest rate regulation. There's not an interest rate cap on anything. It really is the traps hidden in the legalese that most consumers aren't going to understand until the traps are sprung on them. So I'm pretty unimpressed by that argument."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/frank-if-they-want-to-kil_n_484...

toniD's Ya Think?

-Anti-abortionists target African Americans
Submitted by ghettodefender on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 3:20pm.-

ditto. you can bet these same people that are outraged about it said nothing when raygun put all air traffic at risk by destroying PATCO.

They're acting as if the guy left the kid there in his seat all day thile he sat in the breakroom playing cards.

isn't it obvious the guy was sitting there telling the kid what to say and all the pilots were having fun.

American hyperventilation over bullshit can be so inane...

"this machine kills fascists"

heroin to me.

they grow wild on the ranch. Amazing to watch them in the breeze.

Health Care Deadline In TWO WEEKS: Dems Want Bill Finished By March 18

The deadline for accomplishing health care reform, which for months has been a moving target, has moved yet again. This time to March 18, before President Obama leaves for an overseas trip to Indonesia and Australia.

Politico's Mike Allen reports that the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are pushing for the deadline.

"Hill aides tell us this is physically possible, although some doubt that it's psychically possible," Allen wrote. "The backstop is the Easter break, which would provide a week-and-a-half cushion. Then, the White House finally gets to make its big pivot to 2010 messaging."

More from MSNBC's First Read: "The new deadline to get this done -- have the House pass the Senate bill plus the fixes to that legislation, and then have the Senate pass the fixes via reconciliation -- is Easter (or even the day the president leaves for Indonesia on March 18). If Democrats can't get a vote in the House by then, we'll know if this last push is in trouble."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/health-care-deadline-in-t_n_483...

toniD's Ya Think?

Eric Massa To RETIRE: New York Congressman Leaving Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations

Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) announced on Wednesday that he will leave Congress after serving one term.

Politico reported that the House Ethics Committee has been told of allegations that Massa sexually harassed a male staffer, a charge that the congressman downplayed on a conference call with reporters Wednesday afternoon.

"There are blogs who are saying I'm leaving because there are charges of harassment against my staff," the New York Democrat said on the call. "Do I or have I ever used salty language? Yes I have and I have apologized to those where it is appropriate.

"But those kinds of articles -- unsubstantiated and without fact and backing -- are a symptom of what is wrong in this city," he added, a likely reference to the Politico story, which quoted anonymous sources discussing charges of harassment.

Massa also distanced himself from reports that he would be resigning from office immediately, telling reporters that he remained, "fully committed to helping the families of the 29th district."

The reason he was not running for reelection, Massa said, was a third re-occurrence of cancer, and subsequent orders from his doctor to tone down his intense schedule.

"This last December I underwent my third major re-occurrence scare," he said. "I was briefly hospitalized, kept it private to myself and my immediate family. It was a very intense and personal experience, especially in light of going through this before.
Story continues below

"I do not have the life's energy to fight all the battles all the time," he said of the charges of harassment and the intense partisanship in Washington. "I will now enter a final phase of my life at a more controlled pace."

Massa's decision to retire came as a complete surprise to many political observers. Democrats will now be left with the difficult task of finding another candidate in hopes of holding New York's 29th congressional district.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/eric-massa-to-retire-new_n_4842...

toniD's Ya Think?

It's Apparently Very Hard Being Rahm Emanuel

As Washington emerges from the icy grip of the Snowpocalypse and slides into spring, everyone's fancy has turned to thoughts of love. The Beltway media is no different, and, as you know by now, their latest passion has been to take an obsessive look at the life and times of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel -- his noble sacrifices, his bootless labors, his fruitless attempts to moderate the Obama agenda into a bland paste that could pass through the body politic like the Blueprint Cleanse -- in order to lend support to a guy who essentially is mounting a long and preemptive campaign of blame-avoidance.

The latest journalist to get caught in this bad Rahmance is The New Republic's Noam Scheiber, who asks, "You think it's so great being Rahm Emanuel?" Well: do we? Think it's: so great? Consider the following facts, Scheiber helpfully provides:

--Emanuel lost weight and had to drink a bunch of coffee in order to sign up a bunch of Democratic representatives who now require gale-force ass kissing to support their president's agenda.

--Apparently, "laboring as chief of staff during the first year or two of a presidency can be a prolonged form of torture." You know, like the GITMO detainees endured! WHY WON'T THE ISLAND NATION OF PALAU OFFER RAHM ASYLUM?

--"A new White House tends to be heavily populated with campaign personnel, many of whom have little experience at governing, much less in the West Wing." Indeed, how could Emanuel have coped with this, having only been a White House aide to Bill Clinton?

--Rahm "has his own unique set of frustrations," among them being the "near-constant mythologizing" of his "outsized personality." How did he come to be known as a "diabolical operative who excels in the dark art of psychological warfare," when every day he totally disabuses us of this notion?

--Poor Rahm haz a sad over "activists on the left," who Scheiber says treat Emanuel as a "crypto-conservative." (Actually, those activists simply don't understand why this "diabolical operative who excels in the dark art of psychological warfare" spends all his time practicing those dark arts on them, when he could be practicing them in support of avoiding "a too-small stimulus, a too-generous bank bailout, a variety of health care compromises.")
Story continues below

--Tim Geithner exasperates him! (Actually, we don't blame Emanuel for this.)

--Again with this whole bit about him "brooding" over alienating Lindsay Graham! Who cares? Lindsay Graham and $4.99 will get you a Trenta from Starbucks.

Once you get past the litany of Things That Make Rahm Emanuel's Life So Hard, Scheiber takes a deep dive into Emanuel's role in the health care reform debate. To boil it down, Emanuel preferred a strategy that placed a premium on speed and momentum. Unfortunately, President Obama apparently took all that stuff he said about operating in an open fashion with all parties seriously, and so, at a critical moment, he let Max Baucus be Max Baucus, and that prolonged the reform debate to where it is today -- facing a post-Scott Brown Senate, and the obstacles that creates.

As it turns out, I'm pretty sympathetic to Emanuel on this score. The deliberations of Baucus's "Gang Of Six" and the intense attempt to court Chuck Grassley proved to be largely useless (much in the same way as an intense courtship of Lindsey Graham, frankly!).

It's still curious! For a guy who was supposedly at odds with White House staffers rooted in campaigning, Emanuel's approach was to manage health care reform as a horse-race campaign rather than a policy that needed to be well-crafted. And for a guy who was worried about how it was "just too easy for opponents to cull a few smelly details" on the health care reform policy, his approach -- selling out to the pharmaceutical industry and hospitals (deals that Rahm "trumpeted loudly," so that people noticed) -- put some foul-smelling stuff pretty front and center.

But look: let's circle back around to Scheiber's primary question: "You think it's so great being Rahm Emanuel?" In fact, I do. And the elegant proof of this contention can be found in the lede of this November 7, 2008 article in New York Times's Dealbook:

President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is already widely known in the halls of Washington for serving as an adviser to President Clinton, and most recently as a congressman from Illinois. But in between those two roles, Mr. Emanuel made millions of dollars on Wall Street as an investment banker with Wasserstein Perella, as the boutique firm was known at the time.

Look. Whether or not Emanuel works in the White House or doesn't, whether he's praised or blamed for his efforts, whether he gets his way or he doesn't and whether or not Americans get expanded health care coverage or crucial financial reform, the important thing to remember is that Rahm Emanuel is going to be just fine, forever and ever. It really is vastly, almost inconceivably easy, to be Rahm Emanuel. Let's stop pretending the man is suffering.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/its-apparently-very-hard_n_4840...

toniD's Ya Think?

toniD on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 4:29pm.

I told Obama to keep his big mouth shut about your surprise. Some people.....

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair Committed To Independent Consumer Agency

One of the nation's top banking regulators reiterated her support for an independent agency to protect borrowers from predatory lenders, putting her at odds with her fellow regulators and the industry she oversees.

"Consumer abuses were one of the root causes of the financial crisis and regulatory reform legislation should address this problem," Andrew Gray, a spokesman for Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair, wrote in an e-mail to Huffington Post. "The FDIC has been on the record that the ideal way to do this is through an independent agency with the power to write rules for the banks and non-banks alike."

The statement follows Bair's remarks Monday on consumer protection before a conference of state attorneys general in which she said that the proposed agency "would help community banks, not hurt them," reports The Associated Press.

The banking industry fiercely opposes the new agency, fearing it will burden them with costs. It's spun the debate in its favor by telling lawmakers that such an agency will affect access to credit, denying consumers and small businesses much-needed money.

Consumer advocates naturally support such an agency because for the first time a federal agency would be charged with the sole purpose of protecting borrowers. Also, it will be able to end abusive (though profitable) lending practices, a responsibility currently shared by seven agencies -- none of which appropriately acted in the face of abusive lending in subprime mortgage products, say consumer groups.

The House of Representatives passed a bill in December calling for the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) is retooling his version of the bill. The latest leaked proposal calls for the agency to be housed inside the Federal Reserve.

"Granting the Fed consumer protection authority would create a lapdog for Wall Street, not the watchdog consumers need," said Carmen Balber, Washington Director for Consumer Watchdog, in a statement. "We can't cross our fingers and hope the regulators whose failures caused the crisis in consumer lending will do a better job for the public next time around."
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There's been widespread criticism of the way federal agencies -- most notably the Fed -- have handled their consumer protection responsibilities.

"I don't think we've done a good job protecting consumers in financial services," Bair told the crowd Monday. Bair, a Republican, was appointed to head the FDIC by former President George W. Bush.

Recently-leaked proposals from the Senate Banking Committee would give other federal regulators veto power over the proposed agency's rule-making authority and limit its enforcement powers, crippling moves that could render the new agency virtually powerless.

"We will continue to work constructively with Congress on this and other important pieces of regulatory reform legislation," Gray wrote.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/02/fdic-chairman-sheila-bair_n_482...

toniD's Ya Think?

through reconciliation in the senate. What if the senate fixes don't pass at that point? I don't trust those doggish senators one bit

Democratic senators say stimulus is aiding clean-energy jobs overseas

By Dan Eggen
Wednesday, March 3, 2010; 3:43 PM

A group of Democratic senators called Wednesday for the government to halt a federal stimulus program aimed at building wind- and clean-energy projects, arguing that too much of the money spent so far has gone to create jobs overseas.

The Obama administration and wind-energy advocates strongly disputed the criticism by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and three other Democrats, saying that most of the jobs under the program have been created in the United States, despite the dominance of foreign manufacturers in the green-technology sector.

The dispute marks a rare public split among Democrats over the $787 billion stimulus package, and comes as party leaders have mounted a full-throated defense of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as crucial to saving jobs and easing the recession's impact. Republicans have spent the past year attacking the package as a wasteful boondoggle that created few, if any, jobs.

Joined by Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Jon Tester (Mont.), Schumer said at a news conference that the Obama administration has ignored concerns about foreign involvement in the clean-energy program and halt further funding of it until Congress can pass legislation to deal with the problem.

Schumer and the other lawmakers focused particular criticism at Cielo Wind Power of Austin, which has said it may apply for up to $450 million in stimulus funding for a massive wind farm that would be powered by turbines built by a Chinese partner.

"It is a no-brainer that stimulus funds should only go to projects that create jobs in the United States, rather than overseas," Schumer said. "These wind projects have a lot of merit, but the manufacturing should be happening here, not in China."
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Obama administration officials and wind-energy industry representatives say the senators' complaints are misguided and based on faulty data, including a controversial American University study which estimated that up to 80 percent of stimulus money spent on wind turbines so far had gone to foreign-owned companies. Energy Department officials also said that Cielo, the Texas wind company, has not applied for any stimulus funds.

Examining the first $1 billion spent under the clean-energy stimulus program, the American Wind Energy Association calculated that 53 percent of the value of wind turbines -- and 63 percent of other equipment on wind farms -- came from the United States.

Energy Department spokeswoman Stephanie Mueller also said a moratorium "would cause immediate layoffs of American workers" at U.S. manufacturing plants, including some in the home states of the complaining senators.

"Other countries are not pressing the pause button on clean-energy industries, and they will move quickly to capture America's share of the global market while we sit on the sidelines," Mueller said. "The longer we delay, the longer we remain dependent on foreign oil instead of America's home-grown, clean-energy resources."

WaPo

man, I can hear OLoofa and Hannity now....laughing their asses off...

Secret RNC fundraising plan depicts Obama, Reid, Pelosi sending America into 'Socialism,' targets 'ego-driven' wealthy donors
by John Aravosis (DC) on 3/03/2010 04:54:00 PM

UPDATE: I just found this on page 31 of the secret RNC fundraising plan. They made a photo of Obama as the joker (not sure painting a black man in white face is entirely wise) and under Obama's face wrote the word "Socialism." That alone deserves an apology from Michael Steele directly to the President.

From Ben Smith:

The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on “fear” of President Barack Obama and a promise to "save the country from trending toward socialism."

Their motivations include: “Peer to Peer Pressure”; “access”; and “Ego-Driven.”

And just an aside. I've been arguing for a good year that the Democrats need to nip this "socialism" crap in the bud. The Republicans have taken a bizarre slur and made it real for many people. It's sick, and it's crazy. And when you don't respond, it gets worse.

http://www.americablog.com/2010/03/secret-rnc-fundraising-plan-depicts.h...

toniD's Ya Think?

Medicare physician fees: the Senate kicks the can further down the road

Yesterday the Senate passed a bill extending unemployment and other benefits and subsidies for another month; one of the less well known provisions prevented imposition of a 21% cut in Meducare physician reimbursement.

'Prevented' isn't exactly correct; the bill merely delayed implementation of the cuts till the end of March.

For years Congress has avoided implementing Medicare reimbursement decreases, bowing to intense lobbying by physian groups and other parties outraged at the very idea that their income will be reduced. I can't really blame the docs; as I've reported here in the past physician income, especially generalist physician income, has not kept pace with inflation for several years.

What I'm less impressed with is the failure of physician advocacy groups to offer a reasonable alternative to the present fee-for-service system. Anyone with a clue acknowledges that FFS is one of the biggest problems in our health care system, rewarding providers for doing things to patients and not for keeping them healthy.

At some point we have to - must - adopt reimbursement methodologies that reward results not activity.

Don't expect this to happen before the end of March. No, we're much more likely to see the Senate boot this can once again, and with it the chance to fix a fundamental problem with our health care system.

http://www.joepaduda.com/archives/001754.html

toniD's Ya Think?

patooie
Submitted by dan on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 1:53pm.

Obama says replacing private insurance system with government-run system would not make sense for US - Reuters

---

Is it really as bad as it sounds or is there a context in the article that makes it sound less...er...republican...?

that was really sweet of you. I love it.

Chris Mathews and his guests seem sure that the Democrats are going to lose both houses in the fall. Largely because of anti-incumbency on the minds of the electorate. What makes them so sure.

Then he has on a Rep. Ryan who is dead seat on trimming Medicare and Social Security, because "they are going bankrupt". Of course the insane military spending is off limits.

Barack Obama must choose between high unemployment or large fiscal deficits. It's one or the other. If he chooses to increase government spending and provide a second round of stimulus; unemployment will fall, the output gap will narrow, business confidence will strengthen, and the economy will continue on the path of recovery. If he refuses to provide more stimulus; unemployment will hover around 10 per cent, credit will continue to contract, confidence will flag, and the economy will underperform for years to come. And--surprise, surprise--the deficits will balloon anyway, because household deleveraging is going to continue regardless of what the administration does. That will slow consumer spending and reduce tax revenues which will only add to the budget shortfall. So, it's not a matter of whether we will have deficits or not. We will, no matter what. The question is whether we'll suck-it-up and do what needs to be done (by investing in our future and putting people back to work) or follow some monkish austerity program which will only make matters worse.

The media has played a big role in fueling deficit hysteria. It's all part of a well-funded public relations campaign aimed at putting the government on a starvation diet. The long-term goal is to privatize public assets, crush the labor movement, and dismantle the social safety net. A recent article in CounterPunch by Ellen Brown exposes some of the people behind the "fiscal responsibility" movement and shows that what they really want is to divert Social Security benefits into a "mandatory savings tax" that would be automatically withdrawn from workers paychecks into an "investment pool" that Wall Street bankers would manage. Nice, eh? The banksters would rather skip the niggling task of fleecing their victims themselves and, instead, have the remittances posted directly to their accounts. It's more efficient that way. Here's an excerpt from Brown's article:

"When billionaires pledge a billion dollars to educate people to the evils of something, it is always good to peer closely at what they are up to. Hedge fund magnate Peter G. Peterson was formerly Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations and head of the New York Federal Reserve. He is now senior chairman of Blackstone Group... Peterson is also founder of the Peter Peterson Foundation, which has adopted the cause of imposing “fiscal responsibility” on Congress. He hired David M. Walker, former head of the Government Accounting Office, to spearhead a massive campaign to reduce the runaway federal debt, which the Peterson/Walker team blames on reckless government and consumer spending. The Foundation funded the movie “I.O.U.S.A.” to amass popular support for their cause, which largely revolves around dismantling Social Security and Medicare benefits as a way to cut costs and return to “fiscal responsibility. "

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney03032010.html

i don't like this approve the senate bill first and then the fix
Submitted by mire on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 5:15pm.

Economists: Another Financial Crisis on the Way: Nobel Winners Call for Stronger Financial Reforms

Source: ABC News

Even as many Americans still struggle to recover from the country's worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, another crisis -- one that will be even worse than the current one -- is looming, according to a new report from a group of leading economists, financiers, and former federal regulators.

In the report, the panel, that includes Rob Johnson of the United Nations Commission of Experts on Finance and bailout watchdog Elizabeth Warren, warns that financial regulatory reform measures proposed by the Obama administration and Congress must be beefed up to prevent banks from continuing to engage in high risk investing that precipitated the near collapse of the U.S. economy in 2008.

The report warns that the country is now immersed in a "doomsday cycle" wherein banks use borrowed money to take massive risks in an attempt to pay big dividends to shareholders and big bonuses to management -- and when the risks go wrong, the banks receive taxpayer bailouts from the government. "Risk-taking at banks," the report cautions, "will soon be larger than ever."

Without more stringent reforms, "another crisis -- a bigger crisis that weakens both our financial sector and our larger economy -- is more than predictable, it is inevitable," Johnson says in the report, commissioned by the nonpartisan Roosevelt Institute. The institute's chief economist, Nobel Prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz, calls the report "an important point of departure for a debate on where we are on the road to regulatory reform."

Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/03-0

If or when the next collapse happens, it will be laid at the feet of the Democrats for failing to hold banskters and fraudsters accountable and enact responsible and effective reforms.

toniD's Ya Think?

$5 fee to overthrow
the government
"Since 1951, South Carolina has had a law on its books requiring anyone looking to overthrow the government to, well, register with the government," CBS News reports. "No one had actually registered until February."

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/03/03/5_fee_to_overthrow_the_gove...

toniD's Ya Think?

IMF-Style Austerity Measures Come to America: What "Fiscal Responsibility" Means to You.

In addition to mandatory private health insurance premiums, we may soon be hit with a "mandatory savings" tax and other belt-tightening measures urged by the president's new budget task force. These radical austerity measures are not only unnecessary, but will actually make matters worse. The push for "fiscal responsibility" is based on bad economics.

When billionaires pledge a billion dollars to educate people to the evils of something, it is always good to peer closely at what they are up to. Hedge fund magnate Peter G. Peterson was formerly chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations and head of the New York Federal Reserve. He is now senior chairman of Blackstone Group, which is in charge of dispersing government funds in the controversial AIG bailout, widely criticized as a government giveaway to banks. Peterson is also founder of the Peter Peterson Foundation, which has adopted the cause of imposing "fiscal responsibility" on Congress. He hired David M. Walker, former head of the Government Accounting Office, to spearhead a massive campaign to reduce the runaway federal debt, which the Peterson/Walker team blames on reckless government and consumer spending. The Foundation funded the movie "I.O.USA." to amass popular support for their cause, which largely revolves around dismantling Social Security and Medicare benefits as a way to cut costs and return to "fiscal responsibility."
http://www.truthout.org/deficit-fear-mongering57346

From Roosevelt University, the Nobel Prize Economist talk finance Reform

Roosevelt Conference Sets the House on Fire

It was like the League of Justice gathered on the stage today at New York’s Time Warner Center.

Nobel laureate Joe Stiglitz, Chief Economist for the Roosevelt Institute, urged us not to give up the fight to fix our broken financial system. Rob Johnson, Director of the Institute’s Project on Global Finance, charged a do-nothing Administration with endangering our future as The Animals’ “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” played in the background. TARP overseer Elizabeth Warren denounced credit card companies for preying on the little guy and plunging hard-working families into debt.

They were from academia. And from the private sector. They were lawyers, judges, former regulators — and even billionaires, like the famed financier George Soros. They were people like financial analyst Josh Rosner, one of the first to call the subprime mortgage crisis — and who now says that the securitization market is stalling our economy like a broken car transmission. And Simon Johnson, who warned of a financial ‘Doom Cycle’ that will spiral out of control if we don’t wake up very soon. And Roosevelt fellow Mike Konczal, who forcefully showed how investment banks’ risky business puts the entire economy in jeaopardy.

Over and over, the participants warned that the banks — bigger and more dangerous than ever — are calling the shots. They have not been reigned in. And they are fighting with everything they’ve got to do things their way. “We’ve gone from ‘we the people‘ to ‘I the banks‘”, said Lynn Turner, former Chief Accountant of the SEC.

Rob Johnson made it clear: current proposals floating through Congress don’t cut it. “We are at a fork in the road,” he said, warning that we are inevitably headed for another, worse financial crisis if we don’t take serious steps to address the critical faults in the system.

Seeing such eminent figures gathered together on stage — one after the other pointing out how 18 months after the worst crisis since the Great Depression we are more vulnerable than ever – it would be IMPOSSIBLE to dismiss what they say.

They have given the public, and the Obama Administration, a comprehensive plan to fix what’s broken. No one can ever say “We didn’t know.” Read a full report of their recommendations here.

The question: Obama, are you listening?

http://www.newdeal20.org/?p=8698

Video should be up soon.

toniD's Ya Think?

KAREL doing a geat job exposing the abstraction of money which is used as the front for the Materialism Paradigm!

What I love about KAREL is what I love about our own Sam Seder: Both these guys are authentic and willing to publicly incorporate ethical/moral sensibilities in their discussion of politics and events.

As Karel points out, the healthcare summit was replete with discussion of the insurance corporations' survival through government policies and revealed nothing about the health and full possibilities of the future health of Citizens. The summit was about how much the corporations could get away with, even though medical care is the BIGGEST drain on the DOMESTIC front. The summit was NOT about solutions to the human issues and the domestic economic tragedy of those human issues. The summit was about helping to keep the Insurance Industry IN THE MONEY.

Folks like Sam and Karel are BALANCED when they reintroduce MORAL AUTHORITY into the discussion!

I'm loving hearing Karel call the MONEY/MaterialismParadigm on the carpet and working it over! ("It's a blight to be poor... But the overly rich are not embarrassed...What do they need THAT MUCH MONEY for?", "There's a disconnect!")

Because those who see nothing but the money (in absolutely everything -- including education, the available daily happiness of every citizen (no money, no happiness), having enough to eat, whether or not to do what is NECESSARY (like rebuilding crumbling infrastructure), the very access to life-saving medical assistance), are total materialists. They are frozen in the Materialist Paradigm.

And people who work to follow religious dogma only (like Pat Robertson, The Family, Dominionists, Theocrats et al) who see everything through their religious authoritarianism? It's all okay with them (money first) as long as the profiteering serves their purposes of forcing more and more people to adhere to their dogma and authority. That's their Religious Paradigm.

All individuals, like Karel (and Sam, for example, when he stood up for Social Security), who speak up for RECONNECTING our material activities with HUMANE, meaningful, ethical, moral CHOICES -- THESE are our NEW PARADIGM voices who are RECONNECTING to what a meaninful worldview should be!

This is that which the CORE of any new Progressive MOVEMENT will be based: Standing up against the sickness of the Pure Materialism of the Profiteering Class.

Yes. He actually said that and in that context.

My jaw dropped at the hypocrisy. I never really thought he wanted it to begin with. We have two parties. Both are corporate puppets. Disgusting.

Hightower at his best: Goldman Sachs Authors a Greek Tragedy

Another Greek-based cargo ship and its crew was recently hijacked by Somalian pirates, costing the Greek owners an undisclosed amount in ransom.

Such ongoing acts of brazen piracy off the coast of Somalia have riveted the establishment media's attention. But the same news hawks have missed (or ignored) a much more brazen, longer-running and far larger robbery in Greece by Gucci-wearing thieves who are more sophisticated than common pirates - but lack a pirate's moral depth.

I refer to - who else? - Wall Street financiers. Specifically, Goldman Sachs.

Goldman, a global financial conglomerate and America's largest banking fiefdom, is notorious in our country for its arrogant, anything-goes corporate ethic that is astonishingly avaricious, even by Wall Street's dissolute standards. The firm is villainous enough that it could be its own reality TV show, perhaps titled, "Bankers Behaving Badly." A few highlights:

- During the past decade, Goldman's wizards were particularly inventive monkey-wrenchers, devising much of the investment gimmickry that enriched crafty Wall Streeters like them, even as it led to the wrecking of our economy.

- In 2006, Goldman's CEO was considered such a whiz that he was elevated to treasury secretary and soon was handed the task of fixing the very economic mess he had helped create. His "fix" was the cockamamie, self-serving, multitrillion-dollar taxpayer bailout that did save Wall Street ... but has left our economy in shambles.

- Rather than apologizing for their failures and using their bailout funds to rush loans to America's credit-starved businesses, Goldman's debauched financiers immediately went back to playing the same old global game of high-risk craps that caused America's crash, this time rolling the dice with the backing of our tax dollars.

- Juiced by an infusion of federal funds, Goldman executives declared a profit this year and promptly lavished more than $16 billion in bonus payments on themselves.

- To keep the fun rolling, Goldman is now lobbying furiously in Washington to kill regulatory and consumer bills that could rein in its destructive greed.

- Moving from mere greed to naked narcissism, Goldman's current CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, has proclaimed that his bonus bonanza is warranted because he is "doing God's work."

Perhaps he was referring to one of the Greek gods.

It turns out that, for the past decade, Goldman has also been practicing its ethical flimflammery in Greece, a nation long mired in a sea of debt.

In 2001, Goldman's financial alchemists formulated a scheme to allow the Greek government to hide the extent of its rising debt from the public and the European Community's budget overseers. Under this diabolical deal, Goldman funneled new capital from super-wealthy investors into the government's coffers.

Fine. Not so fine, though, is that, in exchange, Greek officials secretly agreed that the investors would get 20 years' worth of the annual revenue generated by such public assets as Greece's airports. For its part, Goldman pocketed $300 million in fees paid by the country's unwitting taxpayers.

The financial giant dubbed its airport scheme "Aeolus," after the ancient Greek god of the wind - and, sure enough, any long-term financial benefit for Greece was soon gone with the wind.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/03-3

toniD's Ya Think?

So the Dems did not pass that draconian 21% cut in Medicare physician reimbursements. It may look like a win on paper. But in reality inflation is taking about that much from physicians anyway and the lawmakers are letting the Meicare participating practitioners suffer a flat line. No real help coming from the feds on this one to prevent the downhill slide in domestic healthcare.

Just now in fact

anyone trading in dollars suffers the inflation tax. Not just doctors.

mountain, meet mole hill.

Submitted by toniD on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 5:26pm.
Secret RNC fundraising plan depicts Obama, Reid, Pelosi sending America into 'Socialism,' targets 'ego-driven' wealthy donors
by John Aravosis (DC) on 3/03/2010 04:54:00 PM

This ad replaced one that from what I can gather, was a creepy recital by the Republican candidate's wife of a poem she wrote expressly for her husband's campaign. It can no longer be viewed on the net citing "deleted for copyright claim" by the Rethug.

http://virginiavirtucon.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/new-kerry-bolognese-for...

The special election was for Virginia state delegate.
The Dem Filler-Corn won the affluent Fairfax County seat by only 37 votes which was also enough to get her a dinner invitation from Governor McDonnell.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/02/AR201003...

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/03/post_621.html?...

Americans Afraid to Fight the Powers That Be

American mythology holds that citizens of the U.S. of A. are fighters, ever ready to defend themselves from tyrants of all kinds. But there's been little evidence of that in the current crisis. “While Greeks and Icelanders register disapproval with the people and institutions who bring them disaster, Americans behave as if they aren’t being mistreated at all.”

http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/freedom-rider-americans-afra...

toniD's Ya Think?

The Ethical Dog
Submitted by Alice on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 8:42am.
Looking for the roots of human morality in the animal kingdom? Focus on canines, who know how to play fair

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-ethical-dog

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

Looks like the corporatists like American Cup "winner" Ellison are proof that humans are DEVOLVING even though they have lots Money and can litigate for years on end!

Ha-ha!

This time, I'll share the whole goddamn thing! Funny!

Or not....I guess, depending on one's perception of "funny". This place is pretty touchy lately, so I thought I'd add a trigger warning. :)

TRIGGER WARNING!

Reconciliation a Go

"So reconciliation is on, and this has the usual suspects all in a huff:

So, go for it. I double dog dare you."

/TRIGGER WARNING!

"this machine kills fascists"

It was working fine til yesterday, now letters aren't showing up. I have to beat the keys for the letters to show and it slows me down more than my arthritic fingers.

toniD's Ya Think?

Submitted by toniD on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 7:18pm.
Americans Afraid to Fight the Powers That Be

American mythology holds that citizens of the U.S. of A. are fighters, ever ready to defend themselves from tyrants of all kinds. But there's been little evidence of that in the current crisis. “While Greeks and Icelanders register disapproval with the people and institutions who bring them disaster, Americans behave as if they aren’t being mistreated at all.”

http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/freedom-rider-americans-afra...
...
===================

Constant repetition by Bush/Cheney of "BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID" (counterpart of Bernays' World War I "HUN" posters), has mesmerized Americans to believe a falsehood.

And I notice that Barack Obama has not clarified that the "Global War on Terror" is just a war-profiteering device to institute Perpetual War.

Americans have been traumatized by this propaganda.

And the Dem president has not reassured the American people that there is no need to believe that propaganda (because he also wants Americans to be psychologically frozen? I wonder).

The American People are damaged goods until they wake up and UNDERSTAND the tools of propaganda and mind control!

I have to vacuum the keyboard frequently to prevent this problemo....

news to nora
Submitted by Fernando on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 7:10pm.
anyone trading in dollars suffers the inflation tax. Not just doctors.

mountain, meet mole hill.

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

Hey, I complained at least a couple a years ago about creeping inflation (still unacknowledged by our government it seems).

You are mistaken.

It affects all of us nora.

It's baked into the cake. George Bush made it so that inflation was the only way to float the dollar. Basic economics will tell you that nothing this or the next or the next after that can do to undo the disaster of the Bush debacle.

Complaining about it now isn't going to change anything. Doctors don't deserve any protection from it anymore than you do. We were all attacked by his idiot policies.

I don't even know that George is to blame. American's voted for him. Those that did should have known better. Their voting rights should be revoked immediately.

Obama's Georgia Nukes Selectively Penalize Black Communities

Can a black president be guilty of environmental racism? President Obama's new proposed nukes are in one of the poorest areas east of the Mississippi. Burke County Georgia is majority black, the home of existing commercial nuclear reactors and directly across the river from the Savannah River nuclear weapons facility. Its river is the 4th most polluted in the nation, and its residents are suffering a veritable epidemic of unexplained cancers, with no local, federal, public or private funds available to test their air, soil, water or environment for its causes. But Burke County's residents are neither silent nor powerless....

Environmental racism occurs when the powers that be single out poor nonwhite communities to bear the human and environmental costs that make their super profits possible. It's not as though the president and the nuclear industry don't know they've targeted a majority black and very poor community. The presidential announcement last month and his appearances at places like Savannah State University this week are replete with references to jobs, jobs and more jobs, as if the nuclear industry were in the business of creating employment opportunities in places like Burke County GA.

The truth is that most of the local jobs at nuke plants occur during construction, and bitter experience tells us that building something in a black community is no guarantee that the construction workers will be black. The only guarantee, if Obama's new nukes are built in Burke County Georgia, is that local black residents will pay a high price in sickness and early deaths from cancer, in their inability to drink from their own wells, fish from their own streams or eat the food from their own gardens. Black Agenda Report asked Hugh Esco, a state committee member of the Georgia Green Party whether this was environmental racism.....
http://www.open.salon.com/blog/bruce_dixon/2010/03/03/obamas_georgia_nuk...

..essentially it's a mechanical device and they can only last so long. An average day on your keyboard would take a month on a mere mortal's keyboard. ;-)

Bayh Endorses Public Financing For Campaigns As Retirement Nears

When Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) announced his pending retirement from Congress last month, he cited the power of moneyed interests over the legislative process, among other things, as a compelling reason to exit.

Now, on one important measure, he's backing up his words with action. The Indiana Democrat on Wednesday became the latest senator to sign on as a co-sponsor the Fair Elections Now Act, which would set up a public-financing system for national campaigns.

Bayh joins eight other senators -- all either progressive Democrats or those up for election in 2010 -- in signing on to the bill. The measure has far broader support in the House and has gained considerable momentum since the Supreme Court ruled that corporations could make unlimited expenditures in a federal campaign.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/bayh-endorses-public-fina_n_484...

toniD's Ya Think?

today.
Can't think o'anything I buy regularly that hasn't increa$ed
Submitted by nora on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 7:47pm.

My house insurance went up again this year (no claims, excellent credit). Meanwhile, for three straight years my property taxes have gone down because of the meltdown of MI real estate. My latest assessment drops the value of my home by 7 large. The insurance company argued they had to raise rates because home replacement costs continue to increase. Must be nice to be in a business where can just pass on real, or phony, cost increases to your customers.

Bloggers Get Access
By Azi Paybarah
March 2, 2010 | 11:55 a.m.

Bloggers will now have a shot at getting press passes, thanks to new rules being implemented by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

It's in response to a lawsuit filed by reporter/blogger/gadfly Rafael Martinez-Alequin, editor David Wallis of featurewell.com and publisher Ralph E. Smith, of The Guardian Chronicle, a blog about correction officers, and their lawyer, Norman Siegel [names added].

"Online journalists will now be considered as 21st century journalists and be treated equally to print, television and radio journalists," said Siegel.

http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/bloggers-get-access

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a proposal by President Barack Obama to give people on Social Security a $250 bonus check.

Republicans and Democratic deficit hawks combined to reject the idea by a 50-47 vote.

Sanders said the $250 Social Security payment was needed to make up for the lack of a cost-of-living adjustment this year for beneficiaries. Disabled people and veterans also would have been eligible for the payments.

Seniors received an identical $250 bonus last year as part of the economic stimulus bill.

But economists say the payments don't do much to boost the economy since many seniors simply save the money rather than spend it.

From Town Halls To Twitter: The Long, Rocky Road To Destigmatizing Abortion

"A Florida woman tweeting her abortion is trying to take the shame out of the procedure. It's a high-tech twist on an evolving mission, one that's had limited success."

"this machine kills fascists"

Rhode Island Veterinarian Says Euthanasia Best for Feral Cats

The chief veterinarian of Rhode Island is frustrated with the efforts of animal welfare groups to humanely reduce the number of feral cats in the state. He thinks euthanasia is the best answer.
Scott Marshall DVM has been the state veterinarian in Rhode Island for three years. His views on feral cats are so outrageous that a story in The Providence Journal sounds like something you would read in a science fiction novel rather than a newspaper.
Dr. Marshall believes feral cats are a high risk to the health of people and other animals because they have the possibility of spreading diseases such as: parasites, feline HIV and rabies. He would like to see Animal-Control Officers roundup “roaming and feral cats” and deliver them to animal shelters where they would be put to death.

http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/rhode-island-veterinaria...

If people r willing to TRAP SPAY & NEUTER - What the hell
is his issue??? what a prick.

Builders of Baghdad Embassy strike again — in Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON — Another State Department construction project has gone awry, and once again the builders of the troubled U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad are involved. This time, the problem is in Saudi Arabia.

According to officials and documents obtained by McClatchy, work has ground to a halt on the new, $122 million U.S. consulate in Jeddah, the Red Sea port, amid allegations of unsafe practices, poor labor conditions and feuding between the two companies responsible for the project.

In a Feb. 17 letter, obtained by McClatchy, the State Department threatened to terminate the contract and throw the companies off the site this month. The consulate is supposed to be ready by July, but is only 52 percent complete.

First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting Co. is building the consulate under a subcontract from Aurora LLC of Rockville, Md. State Department officials have previously told McClatchy that they suspect Aurora was established as a U.S. front company to give First Kuwaiti access to the lucrative embassy construction business.

Aurora officials have denied the charge, and now the two companies appear to be at loggerheads.

The two firms have gotten in trouble more than once.

First Kuwaiti built the $736 million embassy in Baghdad well behind schedule. Last October, the State Department's Inspector General reported that the embassy has "multiple significant construction deficiencies" and recommended that the government try to recover more than $130 million from First Kuwaiti.

A year ago, the State Department terminated Aurora's and First Kuwaiti's work on a third troubled embassy project, this one in the West African nation of Gabon. Aurora currently is barred from bidding on new work.

First Kuwaiti didn't respond to a request for comment through its public relations firm. Maureen Britell, an Aurora official, referred questions to the State Department...
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/03/89802/builders-of-baghdad-embassy-...

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/608609545?z00m=19828201

"

Really, how much cat food can you buy with $250?
Submitted by ghettodefender on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 8:35pm.

going to bed for now - may be back later.

Get on skype if you can for Ya Think/ We're on live now.

toniD's Ya Think?

Really, how much cat food can you buy with $250?
new
Submitted by ghettodefender on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 8:35pm.
The Senate on Wednesday rejected a proposal by President Barack Obama to give people on Social Security a $250 bonus check.

Republicans and Democratic deficit hawks combined to reject the idea by a 50-47 vote.

Sanders said the $250 Social Security payment was needed to make up for the lack of a cost-of-living adjustment this year for beneficiaries. Disabled people and veterans also would have been eligible for the payments.

Seniors received an identical $250 bonus last year as part of the economic stimulus bill.

But economists say the payments don't do much to boost the economy since many seniors simply save the money rather than spend it.
========================

That's interesting.

Roughly ten cases (of 24 containers) of Caesar's dogfood. That's 12-pound Fluffy food for 3 months. And Grandma? Don't know. Is that with saltines or without? Brutal.

I think the $250 was an attempt to assuage seniors for the fact that the Dems denied a cost-of-living increase on seniors' fixed-income Soc. Sec. checks. They cannot even do the feel-good gesture that Bush faked?

It seems most of the things seniors buy are subject to inflation -- food, medicine, healthcare (including Medicare premiums which increased this year), utilities. Aren't those lucky enough to have homes usually scaling down?

I don't consider taxes a purchase. But also, taxes don't go down do for an owner, unless a property is reassessed; do I have thaqt right? Do they automatically decrease when property values plunge where you are?

property revenues are voted on by a council I believe. Bonds are sold for some projects. They seem to make subjective propositions about value.

We really ain't better off than chattel. Food for da machine. Some call us tax payers.

Did you know that Bodine built the sled?

Alice - I think U should read this
Submitted by smcgee43 on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 8:53pm.
Rhode Island Veterinarian Says Euthanasia Best for Feral Cats

The chief veterinarian of Rhode Island is frustrated with the efforts of animal welfare groups to humanely reduce the number of feral cats in the state. He thinks euthanasia is the best answer.
Scott Marshall DVM has been the state veterinarian in Rhode Island for three years. His views on feral cats are so outrageous that a story in The Providence Journal sounds like something you would read in a science fiction novel rather than a newspaper.
Dr. Marshall believes feral cats are a high risk to the health of people and other animals because they have the possibility of spreading diseases such as: parasites, feline HIV and rabies. He would like to see Animal-Control Officers roundup “roaming and feral cats” and deliver them to animal shelters where they would be put to death.

http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/rhode-island-veterinaria...

If people r willing to TRAP SPAY & NEUTER - What the hell
is his issue??? what a prick.
===============================================

smcgee43, you have a point -- he's got issues.

Some homeless people are struggling with health issues, too. Good health is hard to maintain when one tries to survive without shelter and without adequate food....

That would apply to either humans or domesticated animals.

Some problem solver he is: Killing the problem -- whether homeless cats or Iraqis in the way of the covetted oil fields -- that's the most heinous "solution". I hope the people of Rhode Island show him the door.

I hope your back calms down.

If only corporations would have to pay their fare share!

Here's a story about how, even in progressive San Francisco, businesses are given a free ride. This story is about how biotech is given city tax exemptions in San Francisco, and a Supervisor and the Mayor are in a struggle to see who gets credit for the give-away! Incredible!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/04/BAHJ1BS83V.D...

for several months ... that is bare minumin.

or 2 months of 6 boxes of 48 cans of wet food for many now are very old and have difficulty w/ dry food...
and 2 months of two bags of dry, at around $20.00 each ... if couldn't go to Costco, tiz very sad since regular grocery store does not have the same amount of food per price quota. ...kinda
;D

but taxes support our government and infrastructures. Big business has the luxury and simplicity of having people pay for the roads for them to take on their way to the tax subsidized company where we are satisfied to work for some scratch. The race to the bottom isn't new. I can't blame you for not liking it. In many ways "we" are also the problem for allowing it.

Lennon said all we need is love. Not sure how that's going to happen with teabaggers running around.

http://www.truthout.org/supreme-court-takes-up-appeal-enrons-skilling573...

[excerpt]

Skilling, currently in prison facing a sentence of over 24 years, is challenging the constitutionality of a 1988 statute that makes it illegal to commit fraud that deprives someone of "the intangible right of honest services." Prosecutors have used the law, which does not require them to prove that money or property has been stolen, to attack government and corporate corruption.
The statute's vagueness has prompted the Supreme Court to consider it in three cases this term, and in his appeal Skilling argues that "the statute is nothing more than a common-law fiduciary-breach statute, impermissibly criminalizing whatever wrongful or unethical corporate acts a given prosecutor decides to attack."
Skilling's lawyers argue that prosecutors must show that Skilling acted for his own personal gain at the expense of the company, instead of only showing that he was disloyal or dishonest with company employees and customers.
They are also asking that Skilling be given a new trial because of the massive amount of negative publicity that followed Enron's collapse. "As the trial approached, it became clear that the seismic effect of Enron's collapse on Houston - frequently compared by residents to the September 11 attacks ... eliminated any possibility that Skilling could receive a fair trial there," Skilling argued in a brief.
But the Justice Department, in a reply brief, argued that the Constitution does not guarantee, "a trial in a venue whose populace has no exposure to the effects of the defendant's crime or adverse pretrial publicity about it."
The Justice Department also argued, without success, that the Supreme Court should not hear Skilling's appeal after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld his conviction. The court also agreed to resentence Skilling because of an error by a lower court. Kenneth Lay, Skilling's predecessor as CEO, was also convicted, but died in 2006 before being sentenced.

[end excerpt]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration waded into negotiations over Wall Street regulations Wednesday, calling for limits on the size of financial institutions and insisting that consumer protections remain a central objective of legislative attempts to rein in the industry.

In the Senate, talks continued on how to create a consumer protection entity. Republicans pressing for a watered-down consumer agency even as they voiced optimism that they could reach a deal with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, within a week.

The Treasury Department circulated proposed legislation that would prevent commercial banks from carrying out high-risk trades and that would restrict the size of financial firms to holdings no greater than 10 percent of the entire financial industry's liabilities. That restriction would apply only to firms that grow through a merger or an acquisition.

Consumer protections and doing away with financial firms deemed too big to fail are two of the key elements of the legislative efforts to overhaul the rules that govern Wall Street and prevent a recurrence of the 2008 financial crisis. In reiterating its points, the administration was making certain its views were being heard in the Senate at a sensitive time in negotiations between Dodd and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.

The plan reiterated a proposal that the administration staked out in January. The measure is known as the Volcker Rule, after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, a vigorous proponent of limiting proprietary trading by commercial banks. Volcker has been advising the Obama administration.

Corker questioned the administration's timing. "It is not helpful to the process for the administration to be putting out positions right now on financial regs, especially as it relates to the Volcker rule," he told The Associated Press. "It's just not helpful."

Treasury waited until after the markets closed Wednesday to release details of the Volcker plan. When it announced the outline of its proposal in January, the administration spooked U.S. markets, contributing to several days of falling stock prices.
Story continues below

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett met with about 30 consumer and labor advocates to assure them that the administration was not backing away from demanding strong consumer protections in the bill.

The overhaul plan the administration put forward last year called for a freestanding Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The legislation that passed the House included such an agency although many in the industry oppose it as another layer of regulation.

Corker and Dodd had proposed housing an autonomous consumer agency inside the Federal Reserve, an idea that has been panned by liberal groups. It also received a skeptical reception from other Republicans and Democrats on the Banking Committee, including the top Republican on the panel, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., called the proposal "a joke." Many consumer groups believe the central bank did a poor job in protecting consumers in the lead up to the financial crisis.

On Wednesday, however, Shelby and Corker offered Dodd a revised plan with a consumer agency that had less independence to write its own regulations. Details were not available, but the offer came after Shelby, Corker and two other banking committee members -- Sens. Judd Gregg and Mike Crapo -- met with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday evening to decide how to proceed. Gregg has insisted that any consumer agency cannot be autonomous, a key condition for Dodd.

"The right concerns that Republicans have are being addressed, and those on the left are being addressed," Corker said. "And we have a chance to be in a good place with this."

Geithner insisted on an independent entity in his meeting with consumer advocates. "That means a dedicated authority with the independence and capacity it needs to be accountable," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/white-house-sends-volcker_n_485...

toniD's Ya Think?

I'm taking an ambian. Last time I did that was 16 years ago.

Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-Winning Economist, Says Federal Reserve System 'Corrupt'

One of the world's leading economists said Wednesday that the very structure of the Federal Reserve system is so fraught with conflicts that it's "corrupt."

Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, a former chief economist at the World Bank, said that if a country had applied for World Bank aid during his tenure, with a financial regulatory system similar to the Federal Reserve's -- in which regional Feds are partly governed by the very banks they're supposed to police -- it would have raised alarms.

"if we had seen a governance structure that corresponds to our Federal Reserve system, we would have been yelling and screaming and saying that country does not deserve any assistance, this is a corrupt governing structure," Stiglitz said during a conference on financial reform in New York. "It's time for us to reflect on our own structure today, and to say there are parts that can be improved."

Stiglitz made the remarks at a conference held by the Roosevelt Institute. He and other speakers, including Harvard Law Professor and federal bailout watchdog Elizabeth Warren and legendary investor George Soros, had bold ideas about reforming the nation's financial system.

After the conference, Stiglitz said that his remarks on the Fed were "maybe a little hyperbole," but then again made the case that if another country had presented a plan to reform its financial system, and included a regulatory regime that copied the makeup of the Federal Reserve system, "it would have been a big signal that something is wrong."

To Stiglitz, the core issue is that regional Fed banks, such as the New York Fed, have clear conflicts of interest -- a result of the banks being partly governed by a board of directors that includes officers of the very banks they're supposed to be overseeing.

The New York Fed, which was led by current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during the time leading Wall Street firms like Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, AIG, and Goldman Sachs were given hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts, presently has on its board of directors Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase. He's been there for three years. He replaced former Citigroup chairman Sanford "Sandy" Weill.
Story continues below

"So, these are the guys who appointed the guy who bailed them out," Stiglitz said. "Is that a conflict of interest?" he asked rhetorically.

"They would say, 'no conflict of interest, we were just doing our job,'" he answered. "But you have to look at the conflicts of interest."

A message left for a New York Fed spokeswoman after regular business hours was not returned.

"The reason you talk about governance is because in a democracy you want people to have confidence," Stiglitz said. "This is a structure that will undermine confidence in a democracy."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/stiglitz-nobel-prize-winn_n_484...

toniD's Ya Think?

Grayson, Bachmann Debate Health Care Reform On 'Larry King Live' (VIDEO)

Civility reigned Wednesday during a health care debate between Reps. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on "Larry King Live."

Both lawmakers, perhaps two of the House's most ideologically different members, were on their best behavior during a segment that had the potential to be a knock-down-drag-out fight.

Bachmann began the discussion by arguing that the Senate would be breaking it's own rules to pass a health care bill if it uses reconciliation.

Bachmann: An up or down vote is a good thing, Larry. It's just how many votes will it take. Will it take 50 votes or will it take 60 votes...

King: Well what's wrong with majority rules?

Bachmann: Well because that's not how the Senate works. The Senate works with 60 votes, and now what the president is promoting is a nuclear option which is 50 votes.

King: But it used the majority rules on the Bush tax cuts.

Bachmann: Well, the House uses straight majority rules, the Senate doesn't. So what this means is that the Senate has to break their own rules in order to pass the bill.
Story continues below

King: And that's wrong?

Bachmann: Oh, I think so. Sure.

Grayson responded:

My esteemed colleague from Minnesota is entirely wrong. There's nothing in the Senate rules that prevents reconciliation. It's been used 22 times overall and 14 times by Republicans. If it's good enough to provide tax cuts for the rich -- twice unter Bush -- it's good enough to provide health care for all Americans.

WATCH: at link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/grayson-bachmann-debate-h_n_485...

toniD's Ya Think?

"Kucinich Resolution to End Afghan War
Tomorrow, Thursday, March 4, Congressman Dennis Kucinich plans to introduce a privileged resolution to end the Afghan War. The resolution requires that the House debate, within the next week, the continuing war in Afghanistan, now the second longest war in American history."

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/50486

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4OWMPQA1pc&feature=player_embedded

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/

"this machine kills fascists"

in the presence of that vampira....

listening to o'drama talk about healthcare
Submitted by dan on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 2:10pm.
i just don't understand what sort of sick game he is playing. he provides one of those personal vignettes about someone who is fighting cancer and is worried about debt and says this shouldn't happen in america.

if he truly believed that he would be fighting for single payer healthcare, not for making sure the insurance companies can get every last drop of blood from us.

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

This reminds me why I am appreciating KAREL so much lately: KAREL has never let up the past week or so, saying that every time the lawmakers and O'Drama say they need to work on something about healthcare, or find consensus, or figure out the rules, or figure out how to pay for it, or WHATEVER -- PEOPLE ARE DYING from lack of healthcare, PEOPLE ARE BEING BANKRUPTED by health care costs. It is THAT clear, and KAREL has stayed on it, mentioning the deaths constantly. The number who died this year, while the so-called "debate on healthcare" continued and continued and continued. (Come to think of it, will EVERY issue O'Drama works on be JUST LIKE THE OVER-LONG DEM PRIMARY OF 2008???)

And even if the medical insurance reform package passes, it doesn't take effect until 2013 -- that's about 435,000 MORE Americans who will die due to lack of TIMELY healthcare coverage, correct?

And since the reform package is not Universal or Comprehensive, will Americans still be falling through the cracks after 2013 and still DYING? How many?

Do they scorn the American people?! It looks like it.

2009 was a 'good year' for killing Afghans? Horrible. And yet all the news is filled with this 'success'.

Plus, nothing in the coverage of Obama's surge in Afghan clarifies for me that these ARE NOT political assassinations, assassinations that assure noone remains who might challenge the USA or its puppets.

The multiple-tours-of-duty troops who are wound too tight (possibly with PTSD) and who can't speak in the Afghan's tongue, shoot approaching civilians? That is a telling description of a hellish occupation; but it is also the description of a successful DESTABILIZATION tactic.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/02/89707/airstrikes-kill-fewer-afghan...

[excerpt]

The number of Afghans killed in such incidents rose 43 percent in 2009 to 113, from 79 in 2008, while the total number of NATO coalition-caused civilian deaths and injuries declined 15.5 percent, to 535 from 633.

...

Shortly after Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal assumed command of all U.S. forces in Afghanistan in June, he ordered U.S. troops to back off some fights if civilian casualties couldn't be avoided. In the months since, the use of U.S. air power has dropped, even during the recent offensive in Marjah, where errant air strikes killed at least 35 civilians in incidents that Afghan President Hamid Karzai called "unjustifiable."

However, a similar order involving what McChrystal called "aggressive driving" hasn't cut the number of civilians killed when nervous U.S. troops on the ground warn approaching civilians to back away, then end up opening fire on them.

McChrystal's order, issued in August, was wide ranging, though it drew less attention than his July one about air power. It told American soldiers "to wave, smile and engage in friendly non-verbal interaction with local Afghans" and to lose the sunglasses "so Afghans can see your eyes." He said soldiers should take "stay-away" signs off their vehicles and "pull off the road periodically to allow civilian traffic to pass by."

"I also expect oncoming traffic to travel unimpeded by our movement," McChrystal said — a rejection of the common American tactic in Iraq of driving down the wrong side of a highway to prevent an oncoming suicide bomber from veering suddenly into a convoy.

Some soldiers think that the effort to be a more friendly force could put them at greater risk. They note that U.S. soldiers have been shot by the Afghan counterparts they train and live alongside of and by their interpreters — and that those incidents have taken place before they leave base.

[end excerpt]

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2010/03/congressmen_...

[excerpt]

Congressmen, tax collectors and Jesus
By David Waters

If every tax-exempt religious organization received the same scrutiny as Washington's now famous C Street rowhouse, the IRS would have its hands full. But given the evidence available, it's difficult to see why a boarding house for evangelical Congressmen should be classified as a church -- for the purposes of God or Caesar.

Until last fall, the C Street Center paid no property taxes in the District of Columbia because it received an E1, or religious, exemption. After D.C. officials inspected the $1.8 million townhouse near the U.S. Capitol, they declared 66 percent of it to be a taxable residence, not a tax-exempt church. "Portions are being rented to private individuals for residential purposes," a D.C. official told the Post.

Now the C Street house's federal tax status is being challenged. Last month, a group of 13 (interesting New Testament number) clergy asked the IRS to investigate. The complaint alleges the center is "an exclusive residential club for powerful officials may be masquerading as a church" and it lists five members of Congress as rent-paying residents.

It's unclear who actually lives in the house (at least two Congressmen say they have moved outt), who owns it or how much they charge for rent, or what sort of tax-exempt religious activities occur there. But given the house's clear connection to members of Congress, isn't it time for time for those questions to be answered?

DC tax records say the 130-year-old brick townhouse at 133 C St. SE was owned by Youth With a Mission D.C. Youth With a Mission, an evangelical Christian organization. But that group told the Post that the property was transferred 20 years ago to C Street Center Inc.

Some say the house is affiliated with Fellowship Foundation, a Virginia-based group that sponsors the National Prayer Breakfast. But foundation officials deny that. "C Street is a completely separate foundation with its own board. It's separate ownership, and I haven't been there personally in probably six years," Richard Carver, president of the Fellowship Foundation, told The Post. "We have no direct connection in any way with their status or what goes on at C Street."

The house has no affiliation with a particular church or Christian denomination, but residents and others say it does have a religious purpose. Residents have said they share meals and Bible study, and that other politicians come to the house for spirituality sessions, prayer meetings or to simply share their troubles.

Some of those troubles have biblical implications.
Last summer, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said (during his televised confession of an extramarital affair) he had sought spiritual advice there. Later, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said he had used the house to counsel fellow resident and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who admitted to an affair with the wife of a former aide. Meanwhile, according to court papers filed by his estranged wife, former resident and Rep. Charles W. "Chip" Pickering Jr., a Mississippi Republican, used the house to entertain his mistress.

I suppose you could argue that some of those activities would qualify as "exempt purposes" set forth in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. According to the tax code, charitable purposes can include "lessening the burdens of government" and "relief of the distressed."
And, technically, the C Street Center doesn't have to be a church to qualify for tax exemptions. The IRS distinguishes between "churches" as "places of worship" and "religious organizations" whose "principal purpose is the study or advancement of religion." Perhaps the men at C Street Center spend a lot of time studying the stories of David and Bathsheba, or Jesus' admonitions against adultery and divorce.

But even in the unlikely event that the house passes IRS muster for it's religious or charitable activities, what about its political activities? To qualify for tax exemptions, 501(c)3 organization's "may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates." Hard to imagine that a house that serves politicians could pass that test.

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." But the gospel doesn't say anything about Jesus charging rent, or asking for a tax exemption.

[end excerpt]

C Street House tax-exempt status mumbo jumbo

Submitted by nora on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 1:07am.

*******

Someone looked into these Tax Cheating Assholes !

**

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

MMRules

nora on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 1:07am.
:;D

This show talks about the sicko Dominator Culture round-ups, stockpiling and castration of wild horses. Eventually, this concentration camp system will add up to genocide. Obama does business as usual for the Beef Industry. Salazar seeks to stockpile ALL Native American Horses in the wild in the midwest and Obama SEEKS ACTIVELY to fund this zoo scheme.

Go Vegan Radio--

http://www.goveganradio.com/flashplayer/player32.html?showDate=2010-02-1...

And THAT PAINFUL SCENE from the movie "Hidalgo" --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZTfmaDxc7Q

Is a so-called religious group like The Fellowship of Doug Coe WHICH PURSUES THEOCRATIC change in the U.S. Government still a tax-exempt religious group?

In short, do theocrats get a tax exemption?

Hell no !

But,in this Country,who knows anymore..

The only reason its being looked at
is because the Rethugs are no longer in the majority,ofcourse..

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

MMRules

Mustangs are Native Americans, too. Stop the cruelty.

EXACTLY!

{When I had contacted FORD, since they use the sacred MUSTANG as their symbol for FORD MUSTANG, they advised me they were planning on getting more involved. This was done a few years ago. Grrr BAH HUMBUG! AGAIN, To Be... :}

;D "...so funny I forgot to laugh."

Southern Congressman wants Ronald Reagan to replace Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill

Republican Rep. Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina wants to sub Reagan on the nation's $50 bill for President Ulysses S. Grant, a union general during the Civil War who led the North to victory and later became the nation's 18th POTUS. Grant, a champion for African Americans, died broke, so he probably appreciates the money. But if McHenry has his way, Grant will be retired to the dustbin of history.

===

why would we ever honor the individual who kicked off the 30 year drive to destroy the middle class with failed conservative governance?

Heard on the news: President Obama said the healthcare overhaul would "curb the waste and abuse in healthcare".

Say waht, Mr. Prez? "Curb"? Merely curb? Not END the waste and abuse?

Oh, right. In order to END the waste and abuse we would need to make for-profit health insurance ILLEGAL like it is illegal in other countries.

Sheesh.

http://www.grassrootsnetroots.org/articles/article_20337.cfm

[excerpt]

Genetically Modified Corn: Crime Against Humanity
Inauguration of "Transgenic contamination of maize: crime against humanity?"
First public hearing to prepare the presentation of the GM Maize case before international courts
La Via Campesina, March 2, 2010

Guadalajara, March 2, 2010.

Faced with the international "technical" conference of the FAO in Guadalajara, "Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries," which is little more than just the promotion of GM crops - today we inaugurated the "First public hearing to prepare the presentation of the GM Maize case before international courts," organized by La Via Campesina North America Region, Red en Defensa del Maíz (Network in Defense of Maize, Mexico), and Asamblea Nacional de Afectados Ambientales (Assembly of People Displaced by Environmental Impacts, Mexico), with the participation of 276 people, mostly members and leaders of peasant, family farm , and indigenous peoples' organizations from 19 Mexican states, the USA, and Canada.

The hearing was inaugurated by Alberto Gómez Flores of La Via Campesina, Eutimio Díaz of the Wixarika People (in the name of the Network for the Defense of Maize), and Octavio Rosas of the Asamblea Nacional de Afectados Ambientales. Alberto Gómez said that the peasant and indigenous people of Mexico feel it is an act of aggression for the FAO to come here to promote GMOs, called the GM contamination of maize "a crime against humanity." He was followed by Pat Mooney of the ETC Group (Canada), who denounced that "GMO contaminated and transnational corporations (TNCs) have now contaminated the FAO and the UN, which is another crime against humanity." He noted that "what is a crisis for people - hunger - is cynically seen by TNCs as an opportunity, to push new products, like GM crops."

Camila Montecinos of GRAIN in Chile sent her regrets that the terrible recent earthquake in her country made it impossible for her to travel. But in her document, which was read to the audience, she stated that "GMO contamination is an intentional strategy by TNCs to open new markets for their seeds," using the argument that once local crops are already contaminated, there is no longer any reason to maintain bans on legal GMO plantings. George Naylor, ex-president of the National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) in the USA, told an anecdote from his neighbors, who found that their cows refuse to eat GM maize, and he argued that this exposes the lie by industry when they claim there are no negative health effects of GMOs.

[end excerpt]

Union of Concerned Scientists report--

http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/nuclear_power_and_global_warming/nuc...

This is a political issue since government policy and subsidies work to support this industry.

http://www.hfa.org/factory/index.html
[excerpt]

Factory Farming: The True Costs
Despite overwhelming scientific evidence presented during the past 2 decades demonstrating a relationship between meat consumption and disease, the amount of animal flesh consumed in the U.S. has not dropped. In fact, it has increased slightly. The per capita consumption of mammal and bird flesh rose from 196 lbs. in 1980 to 213 lbs.
Americans continue to eat large amounts of animal flesh – far more than what could be considered necessary for nutritional purposes – because it is aggressively marketed to seem desirable and essential, it is readily accessible and convenient, and because it is relatively cheap.

The take-over of agriculture in the U.S. by large corporations has allowed a larger number of animals to be produced more quickly and for less money. Agribusiness has reaped great profits while keeping consumer prices low. But the real costs of factory farming – in terms of the loss of family farms, food-borne illness, damage to the environment, and animal suffering – have been tremendous.

[end excerpt]

clearly the author of the hit piece on meat doesn't do the family shopping.

That's what I used to think. Then I worked at an ag publication for awhile. The system is geared for favorable laws and subsidies galore. I don't know how to make the argument to convince you that the price of say, meat, is kept low by design, though; so I'll ask an old friend if he can give me an update and a short explanation about how our food prices are low by design and (similar to petroleum products) don't always reflect the real costs.

Although we can assume that, now with agriculture being taken over by giant corporations, we have an agricultural industry that "internalizes profits and externalizes costs" like other big corporate operations. This is definitely true when it comes to factory farm water pollution which is left to the public to grapple with.

Hello? Sunshine Jim? This is a good one for your file!

http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/03/state-crimes-against-democracy/

[excerpt]

State Crimes Against Democracy
by Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff / March 3rd, 2010

New research in the journal American Behavioral Scientist (Sage publications, February 2010) addresses the concept of “State Crimes Against Democracy” (SCAD). Professor Lance deHaven-Smith from Florida State University writes that SCADs involve highlevel government officials, often in combination with private interests, that engage in covert activities for political advantages and power. Proven SCADs since World War II include McCarthyism (fabrication of evidence of a communist infiltration), Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (President Johnson and Robert McNamara falsely claimed North Vietnam attacked a US ship), burglary of the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist in effort to discredit Ellsberg, the Watergate break-in, Iran-Contra, Florida’s 2000 Election (felon disenfranchisement program), and fixed intelligence on WMDs to justify the Iraq War.1

Other suspected SCADs include the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald, the shooting of George Wallace, the October Surprise near the end of the Carter presidency, military grade anthrax mailed to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, Martin Luther King’s assassination, and the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 on September 11, 2001. The proven SCADs have a long trail of congressional hearings, public records, and academic research establishing the truth of the activities. The suspected SCADs listed above have substantial evidence of covert actions with countervailing deniability that tend to leave the facts in dispute.1

The term “conspiracy theory” is often used to denigrate and discredit inquiry into the veracity of suspected SCADs. Labeling SCAD research as “conspiracy theory” is an effective method of preventing ongoing investigations from being reported in the corporate media and keep them outside of broader public scrutiny. Psychologist Laurie Manwell, University of Guelph, addresses the psychological advantage that SCAD actors hold in the public sphere. Manwell, writing in American Behavioral Scientist (Sage 2010) states, “research shows that people are far less willing to examine information that disputes, rather than confirms, their beliefs … pre-existing beliefs can interfere with SCADs inquiry, especially in regards to September 11, 2001.”2

Professor Steven Hoffman, visiting scholar at the University of Buffalo, recently acknowledged this phenomenon in a study “There Must Be a Reason: Osama, Saddam and Inferred Justification.” Hoffman concluded, “Our data shows substantial support for a cognitive theory known as ‘motivated reasoning,’ which suggests that rather than search rationally for information that either confirms or disconfirms a particular belief, people actually seek out information that confirms what they already believe. In fact, for the most part people completely ignore contrary information.”3
....

[end excerpt]

...that if you moderate and balance your intake of meat, especially red meat...you can afford to step up to the "organic" meats

"this machine kills fascists"

{I cannot use "link" since it is addressed to me - & that is not the issue.}

Dear XXX

{...see calling HELPS}
In my job as a grassroots organizer for Repower America here in Ohio, I know just how many everyday Americans want a switch to clean energy and the jobs it will bring our workers -- and how important it is for us to make sure our elected leaders hear those voices.

That's why I'm so inspired to hear that in just 24 hours, we've blown past our ambitious goal of over 20,000 calls for the whole week -- with more than 21,000 of us nationwide calling our Senators yesterday.

But we need to keep the pressure on all the way through our Thursday deadline! To reach our new goal of 50,000 calls, we're depending on people like you to make this campaign even bigger by asking your friends and family to get involved?

Ask your friends to make a call during this urgent campaign.

Thanks for your commitment to our clean energy future. Let's keep it going until that future becomes our reality.

Thanks,

Ben Famous
Field Organizer
Climate Protection Action Fund's Repower America campaign

P.S. Last night, when we kicked off this week's massive call-in campaign with a phone bank in Columbus, the energy in the room was amazing -- dozens of Repower America supporters like you came and made thousands of calls, asking Ohio constituents to call our Senators and demand the strongest possible Senate clean energy and climate bill. Please, join them and call your Senators now!

*** ***
It's our life. It's our breath
--gotta go and again see if I can find an injured feral Meow. *poof*

And Glenn Beck?

http://www.alternet.org/news/145902/glenn_beck_is_still_smearing_van_jon...

[excerpt]

Glenn Beck Is Still Smearing Van Jones, Even After Jones Takes High Road Preaching 'Love' for Fox Host
Six months after Gateway Pundit forced Jones' White House resignation over a 9/11 petition, Beck revives ridiculous red-baiting act.
March 4, 2010 |

The following is an adapted excerpt from Alexander Zaitchik's forthcoming book, Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance (Wiley, 2010).

Last Friday, the environmental activist Van Jones re-emerged on the public square, ending a six-month self-imposed gag order. For the first time since resigning from the White House in September, Jones was heard chatting with reporters and seen flashing his trademark easy smile.

Jones' rollout was marked by a sense of triumph, and Obama's former green jobs czar had good reason to grin. The controversy that led to his temporary withdrawal from public life had merely forced Jones to switch tracks, but did not appear to have reduced his speed. He rejoins the national energy discussion clasped as tightly as ever to the bosom of the progressive establishment, and begins his post-White House career with twin fellowships at Princeton University and the Center for American Progress.

One detail of Jones' return drew the most attention. It was not the prestige of his new posts. Nor was it his Image Award from the NAACP. Rather, it was his Christian air-kiss to Glenn Beck, who famously hounded Jones last summer during his final weeks working in the White House Council on Environmental Quality. At the close of his speech last Friday to the NAACP, Jones directly addressed his serial-lying Fox News antagonist for the first time.

"To my fellow countryman, Mr. Glenn Beck, I see you and I love you, brother," Jones said. "I love you, and you cannot do anything about it. Let's be one country. Let's get the job done."

Beck's response the following Monday made it clear that the host is not and never has been interested in any "one country" that includes the likes of Van Jones. If Jones had spent the last six months imagining a new dialogue with Beck and his Tea Party base—perhaps one based on a shared concern over national and personal debt and America's attenuated manufacturing base—Beck obviously had not. At the first opportunity, Beck returned to the lies that he mouthed without cease the previous summer. In his response to Jones' olive branch, Beck tartly declared, in the face of all available evidence, "You, sir, are a self-avowed communist."

Though a lie, this charge was actually an improvement over the original lie with which Beck launched his crusade against Jones....

[end excerpt]

Congressional Pay Cut Gains Support
By JANIE LORBER

An increasing number of lawmakers are pushing to dock their own salaries by 5 percent in an effort to show that Congress is prepared to sacrifice as the economy stumbles.

A dozen members — three Republicans and nine Democrats – have already decided to cosponsor the legislation since Representative Ann Kirkpatrick, Democrat of Arizona, introduced the bill Tuesday.

“I think it’s encouraging to see that members of Congress really get that Americans are suffering,” Ms. Kirkpatrick said, adding she was confident that she would win even more support given the climbing national debt and persistent unemployment. “I think there’s a lot of people who share my concern about this historic debt.”

If passed, the bill, which would take effect Jan. 1, would reduce Congressional salaries for the first time since April 1933 during the Great Depression. Rank-and-file lawmakers currently earn $174,000 per year, so the measure would reduce their salaries by at least $8,700. Lawmakers receive a cost-of-living raise every year, but voted last year to skip the automatic increase and are considering doing the same this year.

Similar legislation has been introduced 25 times since 1973 by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, but only once has such a proposal made it out of committee, according to Ms. Kirkpatrick’s office. That bill, introduced by Senator Don Nickles, Republican of Oklahoma, never got a floor vote.

It’s not clear whether Democratic leadership will pay any more attention to this bill than in the past, but Ms. Kirkpatrick said her conversations with House leaders have been encouraging.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/congressional-pay-cut-gain...

toniD's Ya Think?

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/03/03/cruelty-humane-society-gi...

[excerpt]

Cruelty: Humane Society Gives Top Honors Tonight to Champion of Mountaintop Removal

This might be one of the Humane Society’s cruelest acts against animals, and humanity.

In the face of one of the most irreversible and egregious environmental and wildlife catastrophes in the hemisphere, and a blatant disregard for the human rights violations of mountaintop removal, the Humane Society announced today that it will give its “2009 Humane Legislator of the Year” to the greatest congressional defender of mountaintop removal–House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, (D-W.Va.).

While Rahall defiantly leads the campaign to detonate over 3.5 million pounds of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil explosives in his state every day for mountaintop removal and strip mining operations–that’s over 5 billion pounds of explosives detonated in West Virginia alone since 2004, give or take a few million–wiping out historic mountain ranges and all flora and fauna in its way, the Humane Society is sucking up to Rahall’s powerful role on the Natural Resource Committee to honor him “for his leadership on the Restore Our American Mustangs (ROAM) Act to overhaul the Interior Department’s management of wild horses on public lands and restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild horses and burros; and for skillfully guiding eleven wildlife protection measures successfully through that Committee and to approval by the full House.”

Wow, wild jack asses and horses can run free in the West.

But wildlife and American citizens, as part of one of the largest forced removals since the mid-19th century, are being rounded up and moved off their land to appease outside coal companies.

What is the Humane Society thinking? Don’t they know about the nightmare of mountaintop removal–just check out this upcoming documentary, On Coal River, from Rahall’s district:

[end excerpt]

Congressional Pay Cut Gains
new
Submitted by toniD on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 8:13am.
Congressional Pay Cut Gains Support
By JANIE LORBER

An increasing number of lawmakers are pushing to dock their own salaries by 5 percent in an effort to show that Congress is prepared to sacrifice as the economy stumbles.
....

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

They denied seniors a cost of living increase. What's that? 10 percent?

But for themselves, only 5 percent?

Am I understanding this correctly?

Will the Massa Story Get Bigger?
"Though he strenuously denied it in a conference call yesterday," The Hotline notes that allegations about Rep. Eric Massa's (D-NY) behavior "continue to swirl, and when a politician doesn't come clean early, he sets the journalistic hounds on the case. This story isn't over yet, and it can only get worse."

"It's not like Dems didn't have a heads up. House Maj. Leader Steny Hoyer said yesterday he knew of allegations against Massa and made sure the charges made their way to the House ethics committee. And while Massa is no Mark Foley, a disturbing pattern is emerging for Dems: They are making their political problems worse by making unforced errors."

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/03/thursdays_star...

toniD's Ya Think?

Everything seem bass ackwards. Wierd!

Dutch far right extremist wins in elections
by Chris in Paris on 3/04/2010 06:17:00 AM
This is a very bad sign for what's to come in the Netherlands. A few years ago when right wing extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen finished ahead of the Socialist candidate to make the two in the presidential campaign, voters united to crush him in the elections. Whether something like this happens in Holland remains to be seen. It's a serious blow to the general image of the Netherlands being a country of openness and tolerance. He makes the teabaggers look moderate.

The popularity of Wilders, who compares Islam to fascism and the Koran to Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf," has dented the image of the Netherlands as a country that has often portrayed itself in the past as a bastion of tolerance.

The PVV has been pitching its policies to a nation of 16 million that is turning increasingly inward as the economy struggles and social tensions rise. There are nearly 1 million Muslims in the Netherlands.

"The leftist elite still believes in multi-culturalism, coddling criminals, a European super-state and high taxes," Wilders told cheering supporters at a rally in Almere after polling ended Wednesday.

"But the rest of the Netherlands thinks differently. That silent majority now has a voice," he said.

http://www.americablog.com/2010/03/dutch-far-right-extremist-wins-in.htm...

toniD's Ya Think?

And yet another reason why the FDA needs to get back to its mission
by Chris in Paris on 3/03/2010 11:15:00 PM
It's too expensive to do otherwise. This new study shows how expensive it is for consumers. The Republicans always love to talk about the high cost of regulations and oversight for business but they conveniently forget about the cost to everyone else. Sure business wants to cut costs but as this study shows, the costs are pushed out to others. Obama has been moving the FDA in the right direction and Democrats in Congress have been leading the way since coming back into power but there's more to be done.

Food-borne illnesses, such as E. coli and salmonella, cost the United States $152 billion annually in health care and other losses, according to a report released Wednesday by a food safety group.

The report comes as the U.S. Senate considers legislation that would require more government inspections of food manufacturers and give the Food and Drug Administration new authority to order recalls, among other things. The House passed a similar bill last year.

The government estimates 76 million people each year are sickened by food-borne illness, hundreds of thousands are hospitalized and about 5,000 die. Recent outbreaks have resulted in large recalls of peanuts, spinach and peppers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/03/AR201003...

toniD's Ya Think?

There are answers but so far no one has even offered them.

I think RAHALL's office and he should be contacted and complained to even local offices...

SOME eco-oligists (MOST) can only handle one issue ONLY - lasting 1 to 3 years - (NOT DEFENDING)!

Yet still WTF RAHALL! * e-write Rahall * & EDUCATE HIM NOW! wow ...
*** ***
REGARDING: Another strike against the Humane Society of the United States
Submitted by nora on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 8:18am.
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/03/03/cruelty-humane-society-gi...

[excerpt]

Cruelty: Humane Society Gives Top Honors Tonight to Champion of Mountaintop Removal

This might be one of the Humane Society’s cruelest acts against animals, and humanity.

In the face of one of the most irreversible and egregious environmental and wildlife catastrophes in the hemisphere, and a blatant disregard for the human rights violations of mountaintop removal, the Humane Society announced today that it will give its “2009 Humane Legislator of the Year” to the greatest congressional defender of mountaintop removal–House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, (D-W.Va.).

While Rahall defiantly leads the campaign to detonate over 3.5 million pounds of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil explosives in his state every day for mountaintop removal and strip mining operations–that’s over 5 billion pounds of explosives detonated in West Virginia alone since 2004, give or take a few million–wiping out historic mountain ranges
Another strike against the Humane Society of the United States
Submitted by nora on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 8:18am.
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/03/03/cruelty-humane-society-gi...

[excerpt]

Cruelty: Humane Society Gives Top Honors Tonight to Champion of Mountaintop Removal

This might be one of the Humane Society’s cruelest acts against animals, and humanity.

In the face of one of the most irreversible and egregious environmental and wildlife catastrophes in the hemisphere, and a blatant disregard for the human rights violations of mountaintop removal, the Humane Society announced today that it will give its “2009 Humane Legislator of the Year” to the greatest congressional defender of mountaintop removal–House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, (D-W.Va.).

While Rahall defiantly leads the campaign to detonate over 3.5 million pounds of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil explosives in his state every day for mountaintop removal and strip mining operations–that’s over 5 billion pounds of explosives detonated in West Virginia alone since 2004, give or take a few million–wiping out historic mountain ranges

Is a voting machine merger too big to stand? Updated at 7:03 AM

Source: Associated Press

The largest voting machine company in the country bought its biggest competitor six months ago without advance fanfare. Now the Justice Department is investigating whether to unwind the merger that put a privately held Nebraska company in control of the voting machines in nearly 70 percent of the nation's precincts.

With midterm elections looming and a battle for control of Congress under way, a coalition of election officials from several states and voter advocate groups is pressing the Justice Department to unscramble the combination of two companies. Critics say the merger could cause foul-ups at the polls on Election Day, and some even characterize it as a national security risk.

The emergence of one megaplayer in the electronic voting machine industry may be an unintended consequence of reforms enacted after the presidential election debacle in Florida a decade ago. Few companies can afford to get into the business due to the expense of developing the electronic voting safeguards that reformers insisted on.

Senate Rules Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has raised concerns about the purchase, in which Election Systems & Software Inc. of Omaha, Neb., bought the voting machine subsidiary of Diebold Inc. of North Canton, Ohio.

The Justice Department's antitrust division is doing a post-merger review that could result in the government's trying to persuade ES&S to sell off some of its assets or face a court suit to force a sell-off. An announcement could come soon.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2011250641_apus...

toniD's Ya Think?

US lawmakers challenge US Army decisions on KBR

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday questioned the Army's continued use of KBR Inc (KBR.N) for logistics work in Iraq in the face of confirmed reports of poor past performance.

Representative Edolphus Towns, who heads the House Oversight Committee, wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates to question the Army's decision to award KBR a new contract valued at up to $2.8 billion despite a wide array of problems.

Towns, citing problems with KBR's maintenance of electrical systems at bases where U.S. troops were fatally electrocuted and "numerous allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse," asked Gates to provide the committee with a wide array of documents about the KBR contract by March 17.

"It seems inconceivable to me that the Defense Department would award this new contract to KBR in Iraq," Towns said, citing the company's "poor past performance."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0311566620100304

toniD's Ya Think?

Jobless Claims Fell to 469,000, Showing Slow Improvement in Labor Market Claims for U.S. jobless benefits dropped last week from a three-month high, pointing to an improvement in the labor market that is slow to develop.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aoourDn8Y__I

toniD's Ya Think?

Pandit Thanks U.S. Taxpayers for Citigroup's $45 Billion in Bailout Funds Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit thanked American taxpayers for the $45 billion bailout the bank got in late 2008 that helped it stave off a deposit run.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aJ4GapXWDjRI

toniD's Ya Think?

Productivity in U.S. Climbed 6.9% in Fourth Quarter, Labor Costs Fell 5.9% The productivity of U.S. workers kept surging in the fourth quarter as companies squeezed more out of remaining employees to boost earnings.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aBfas1fS3Ds0

toniD's Ya Think?

Mossad support 'soars' after murder

"Don't mess with Mossad".

T-shirts with hard-hitting messages relating to the Israeli spy agency have been selling like hot cakes throughout Israel.

And the agency's official website has reported a "soaring" number of people applying to be agents.

The drastic increase in popularity follows the murder of a Hamas leader in Dubai, in which Mossad has neither confirmed or denied involvement.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/03/201034103033623353....

FDA warns 17 food companies of misleading claims on labels

"In an open letter to the food industry released Wednesday, FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg made it clear that accurate food labeling is a priority, considering the national battle against obesity and diet-related diseases. She wrote that she wants to work with the food industry to improve nutritional information available to consumers.

'Mislabeling is a real disservice to consumers because people are cheated and are led to believe their food is healthier than it is," said Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, who said he had been asking the agency for such action since 1970. "We're delighted that the FDA has issued an unprecedented flock of warning notices to companies big and small to clean up their labels.'"

"this machine kills fascists"

Greece's Financial Aid Plea Snubbed by Merkel in `Historic Moment' for EU
Greece’s pledge to deepen planned budget-deficit cuts failed to yield an offer of assistance from Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, as protesters in Athens seized the finance ministry building and blocked roads in the city center.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=arLVpE91TYVk

----

Europe's Recovery Almost Stalls as Investment Declines, Spending Stagnates
Europe’s recovery almost came to a halt in the fourth quarter of 2009 as companies continued to cut investment while consumers held back spending, countering a gain in exports.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aj8srEzPP.Sc

-----

ECB Will Switch to Variable Rate on Three-Month Cash Offers Starting April
The European Central Bank said its offerings of three-month cash will return to variable interest rates on April 28. President Jean-Claude Trichet made the announcement at a press conference in Frankfurt.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aPyQiXocFrWw

----

China's Wen Blocked by Politics in Search for Fixes to `Unstable' Economy
Premier Wen Jiabao calls China’s economic growth path “unbalanced, uncoordinated, and unsustainable.” This week’s annual parliament session may prove he is unable to change its course.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=azn.DA6kutfc

-----

Japan's Fourth-Quarter Capital Spending Slides 18.5%, 11th Quarterly Drop
Japanese businesses cut spending for an 11th quarter even as their earnings rebounded, signaling a revival in exports remains insufficient to prompt investment that would spur the recovery.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aFRJnjpPL0jM

toniD's Ya Think?

Top defense contractors warn that genocide measure will hurt business
By Kevin Bogardus - 03/03/10 07:41 PM ET

Executives for the nation’s top defense contractors say billions of dollars in business with Turkey could disappear if a genocide resolution advances on Capitol Hill.

Formally recognizing the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks during World War I as genocide could have “unintended consequences,” chief executives for Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and United Technologies Corp. warned in a Feb. 26 letter to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.).

“There is reason to believe committee passage of the resolution risks a rupture in U.S.-Turkey relations. Alienating a significant NATO ally and trading partner would likely have negative repercussions for U.S. geopolitical interests and efforts to boost both exports and employment,” the letter says.

The executives told Berman that U.S. defense and aerospace exports to Turkey in 2009 were more than $7 billion and that tens of thousands of American jobs depend on “strong relations” between the two countries. It follows a Feb. 24 letter from the Aerospace Industries Association to Berman that expressed similar concerns about the resolution.

[...]

The Hill

More "practical" reasoning from the Military Industrial Complex...

There is no Justice...just-us...

Fed May Lose Supervision of Small State Banks to FDIC, Senator Reed Says
The Federal Reserve, which is urging Congress to let it keep its bank supervising role, may lose oversight of smaller state banks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Democratic Senator Jack Reed said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aULZ2lXCy9Y8

toniD's Ya Think?

Individual health plan costs soar in Illinois
March 4, 2010 8:10 AM | No Comments
By Bruce Japsen | Consumers in Illinois who lose their jobs and have no other option but to buy their own health insurance will get socked this year with premium increases of up to 60 percent, according to state records.

That group of consumers has been growing, as the recession has created more uninsured Americans looking for ways to protect themselves and their families.Now, Illinois consumers will get a glimpse into just how wide-ranging rate increases among individual health plans can be. The data, obtained by the Tribune, also provide a window into the overall trend of premium increases at large and small employers.

For the state's more than half-million consumers in individual health plans, base rates will go up from 8.5 percent to more than 60 percent, according to state data. Base rates do not take into consideration health status, gender, age, place of residence and length of a policy -- all factors that could raise premiums further.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-individual-health-insuranc...

toniD's Ya Think?

Greece should sell islands to keep bankruptcy at bay, say German MPs

• Fire sale of Greek islands, Acropolis and Parthenon suggested
• Greek public reacts with outrage and boycotts German goods

Greece must consider a fire sale of land, historic buildings and art works to cut its debts, two rightwing German politicians said today in a newspaper interview that is bound to exacerbate tensions between Athens and Berlin.

Alongside austerity measures such as cuts to public sector pay and a freeze on state pensions, why not sell a few uninhabited islands or ancient artefacts, asked Josef Schlarmann, a senior member of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, and Frank Schaeffler, a finance policy expert in the Free Democrats.

The Acropolis and the Parthenon could also fall under the hammer, along with temptingly idyllic Aegean islands still under state ownership, in a rush to keep bankruptcy at bay.

"Those in insolvency have to sell everything they have to pay their creditors," Schlarmann told Bild newspaper. "Greece owns buildings, companies and uninhabited islands, which could all be used for debt redemption."

Only yesterday the ruling socialist government in Greece published its third attempt to reduce the country's debts and please EU governments, which have pledged to support the beleaguered economy if austerity measures are enacted.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/04/greece-sell-islands-germa...

Looks like an article for Naomi Klein.

channel :D "It's a jungle out there..."

Alexi Giannoulias talked at length with the Tribune editorial board on Wednesday, hoping to quiet the public relations storm over the mounting troubles of his family's Broadway Bank.

The Democrats' nominee for U.S. Senate opened the meeting with a promise to "clear the air," to address the questions that reporters — and his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk — have accused him of ducking, and to correct what he called misperceptions about the circumstances that have brought the bank to the brink of collapse. Under an FDIC consent decree, Broadway has until the end of April to raise a daunting $85 million in capital. Perhaps the most portentous disclosure of the meeting was Giannoulias' forthright acknowledgment that "it's quite likely the bank will fail."

The 72-minute meeting ended with no smoking gun and more than a little smoke — on balance, a productive but incomplete exercise. Here are the three questions voters are likeliest to ask, and the essence of how he handled each:

• Should Giannoulias be blamed for the bank's dilemma?

Giannoulias took great umbrage at the suggestion that risky lending practices precipitated the bank's decline. Though he acknowledged that in retrospect the bank was overinvested in real estate, he insisted that his now-deceased father, an immigrant who founded the Edgewater bank in 1979, placed great faith in the stability and safety of property as an investment.

Giannoulias didn't challenge often-cited figures that place Broadway further out on the limb than its peer institutions: Of 240 banks its size, it ranked second in percentage of loans that went to real estate and 10th in loans for construction and development. Its reliance on volatile brokered deposits was far higher than the industry average. All of those measures climbed dramatically between 2002 and 2006, when Giannoulias left the bank to run for state treasurer. That year, Broadway was the fifth most profitable community bank in the country, and young Giannoulias' campaign capitalized on that success.

He defended the real estate concentration as a sound business strategy that the bank pursued with eyes wide open, and one that was enormously successful for years. The bank was more than adequately capitalized by FDIC standards, he said. He believes it was prepared to weather a 10 percent to 20 percent drop in the real estate market, but not the 40 percent Category 5 hit that occurred.

Giannoulias also bristled at questions about nearly $70 million in dividends paid to the bank's shareholders — all family — in 2007 and 2008. Before the February primary, he refused to answer questions about the payouts, except to say they were triggered by the terms of his father's will. On Wednesday, he said about $40 million went to pay income taxes, consistent with previous bank practice, while the family elected to move $29 million to other investments. Giannoulias says the bank was well capitalized at the time and his family was not "looting" it — his word — in anticipation of trouble. more...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-alexi-2010...

This could be very bad for Giannoulias. GOP jumping on this.

toniD's Ya Think?

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

Blue Roots Radio

Admiral Mullen: foreign policy is too dominated by the military

Source: CSM

The Pentagon’s top officer said the military cannot continue to do the bulk of the heavy lifting overseas, and it’s time for the State Department and other agencies to step up.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday evening that there are limits to American military power and diplomatic efforts must be just as important if not more so. But despite recognition of this, the military has become the default for American foreign policy.

“It’s one thing to be able and willing to serve as emergency responders, quite another to always have to be the fire chief,” Mullen said in prepared remarks at Kansas State University.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2010/0303/Admiral-Mullen-foreign-p...

toniD's Ya Think?

US, EU, urge Syria to drop nuclear secrecy

Fiercely backed by allied Iran, Syria on Thursday denied hiding nuclear activities from the world and said Israel was the source of suspicious uranium particles found at a Syrian desert complex bombed two years ago by the Jewish state.

The Syrian and Iranian comments to the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors came in response to Western demands that Damascus stop stonewalling IAEA attempts to investigate suspicions that it ran covert nuclear programs — some with possible weapons applications.

Delegates inside the meeting told The Associated Press that Bassam Al-Sabbag, Syria's chief IAEA delegate offered a new theory Thursday, suggesting that Israel had dropped uranium particles from the air after the bombing to implicate his country.

Separately, Iranian chief delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh said Israel — not Syria — should be criticized at the meeting, describing the bombing of the Dair Alzour desert site as "an aggressive act, committed by the Zionist Regime." He accused the US and its allies of making an issue of "a few uranium particles."

But the U.S and the European Union said the onus was on Syria to disprove suspicions by cooperating with the agency.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8973976

(Countries cooperating with the IAEA. Interesting idea.)

Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) became the 35th senator to commit to voting for a public health insurance option if it comes to a vote on the floor under the rules of reconciliation. That leaves advocates of the option 15 votes short with no official whip action from either the White House or Senate leadership.

Senate leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) have expressed support for the movement, but the White House has concluded, according to press secretary Robert Gibbs, that the public option doesn't have "political support."

The steady climb in named supporters undermines the White House's conclusion.

While it refuses to push for the public option, the White House is attempting to muscle through several measures that have almost no political support within the Democratic caucus and, in fact, are vociferously opposed.

The excise tax on benefits, which hits unions hard, has extremely little support yet the White House has managed to include it. The administration is now pushing to include health savings accounts, a GOP priority that amounts to the creation of significant tax shelters for the wealthy. Democrats have fought hard in the past to oppose them and weaken them but the White House now intends to give them to the GOP in exchange for nothing.

"I find that ironic -- something that we had fought to keep out, and indeed were successful, gets back in as part of reconciliation. And a public option that enjoys great support in the House and up to 30 senators gets left out. That's something I just don't understand," Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) the co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told Salon Wednesday.

Obama's campaign arm, meanwhile, is arguing that "at this point, the public option is detrimental to our efforts," according to Chris Bowers.
Story continues below

The administration's efforts notwithstanding, Cantwell said that if the parliamentarian determines that the public option can be voted on under the rules of reconciliation, which require only 50 votes, she's on board.

"If the parliamentarian says you can and it can all work, yes," she told HuffPost when asked if she'd vote for it. "If it works, fine."

Progressive groups pushing for the public option are keeping a running tally here.

"This is great news," said Adam Green, a lead organizer with Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has been pressuring senators to commit. "I think a lot of Americans are wondering: Why are senators like Ted Kaufman and Maria Cantwell showing more leadership and being more in touch with where the American people are than the White House? As Anthony Weiner asked yesterday, 'What votes did President Obama win by retreating on the public option?'"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/public-option-picks-up-35_n_485...

toniD's Ya Think?

poppies. {check out poppies-from "coast-to-coast" locally and/or OnLine: Territorial Seed Company.

your table is waiting...hahahahahaah, Mr. Bunning!!!

Everything was good but my RA factor which was way up.

My new meds? Omega 3 Caps and Vitamin D

I did get a prednisone shot to bring down the inflammation though.

That's why I like him. He uses natural ingredients and takes away the meds that would and have hurt me.

toniD's Ya Think?

officials

The Government is to announce plans to stop politically-motivated campaign groups using British courts to secure arrest warrants for visiting foreign officials.

The move follows an outcry over a series of attempts to detain high-profile figures during trips to London, including the war criminal and fucking asshole Tzipi Livni, the former Israeli foreign minister.

...I'm still trying to find a regular doctor...that holisitic guy didn't work out...After sending me off to find out myself if the blood tests were covered I never went back after I told the front office I would rather die than deal with the insurance people on the phone...

thanks Ms_A but i was really just thinking about the poppy seeds you use in muffins and other bakeries; they're called mohn in german and there are several types of delicious cakes and pastries based on them. I was just wondering if instead of eating them you just drop them in potting soil if anything would grow; i'd like to try.

to find out about my knee now...I went to this dr. yesterday...and I had seen his assistant last time...So I had an appt with him at 4 and I got there at 4 and after like 10 minutes I asked how long the wait was...She said, "Honestly, 30-40 minutes, e likes to spend a lot of time with patients"...I was first wondering why they don't spread out his appts then...No reason I should have to wait that long to see him when I have an appt...

So I decided to see the assistant again which is better b/c he saw me before...I asked if even if they find something in the mri what can be fixed? He said arthroscopic (sp?) surgery could fix my knee....But at least THEY call to find out if it's covered or not...which is as it should be in an imperfect medical insurance system...

Gotta go drive UP HILL in the snow now..I offered to drop off and pick up books from a patron who is disabled...Hope I make it...

Have a nice day, all.

Jon Stewart Exposes Fox News 'Balance,' Goes After Sarah Palin And Megyn Kelly (VIDEO)

It looked like Jon Stewart was going for some of his bread-and-butter Sarah Palin jokes on Wednesday night, mocking her appearance on NBC's Tonight Show and tossing in a little ribbing of Jay Leno.

But the quips about a Palin "Fair and Balanced" remark quickly turned into an amusing -- if not scathing -- indictment of Fox News programming, particularly host Megyn Kelly and her new mid-day program, America Live.

Stewart hounded the network about an apparent lack of balance, ranging from the show's promos (showing a clean-cut man in a Jesus t-shirt evidently representing the right, juxtaposed with an "angry nose-ring liberal lady" pointing at his face) to the actual reporting and clips that only showed one-sided opinions from a very homogeneous group. He emphasized that this was one of the few programs held during the network's allotted news time, as opposed to shows that are explicitly opinion.

The Daily Show segment ended with a flourish, showing clips that seemed to indicate an inconsistent approach at Fox News to polling, endorsing or dismissing polls depending on the results.

WATCH: at link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/jon-stewart-fox-news-sarah-pali...

toniD's Ya Think?

i was thinking of this; soooo yummy!

Michael Moore: There's Going to be a Second Crash (And Glenn Beck Can F--k Off) Hotlist
We interviewed Michael Moore on The Young Turks today and he was not shy about sharing his opinions. Anyone surprised? He had very strong words for the Democratic Party, the state of our political system and Glenn Beck.

* Cenk Uygur's diary :: ::
*

What he thinks of Democrats and Republicans:

You know, I tell you, these Democrats are disgusting. Wimps and wusses and weasels. You know, get some spine. This is why I have to admire the Republicans. They at least stand for something. They at least have the courage of their convictions. They get elected to office, they come into town, and they go "Get outta my way, there's a new sheriff in town. This is the way we're doing things. Get outta here." And then they do it. You know. I mean what they do is crazy. But dammit, they are good at it. We should take a page out of their book.

Can we fix the broken political and economic system in America?

It's not going to get fixed. There's going to be another crash. The commercial real estate bubble hasn't burst yet. That's going to burst. The credit card debt is so huge right now, it will never be repaid. That's a house of cards waiting to fall. So the crash of '08 is going to look like coming attractions. And we're in for a much, much worse time.

What he would have said to Glenn Beck if he was in Van Jones place:

Fuck off! That's what I would have said. But again, you mentioned Glenn Beck, and of course, he's the guy that's called for my removal from the planet Earth, so...

There's one thing you know about Michael Moore, he's going to come strong. Unfortunately, I share his pessimism about the system. But I believe there is hope at the end of that tunnel. And as corny as it sounds, that hope is with the American people. We have to stop letting corporate interests buy our politicians and government officials. Make a change.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/3/842616/-Michael-Moore:-Theres-Goi...

news has a habit of mislabeling dems and repubs when it comes to wrongdoing or villainries; if there's a pedophile congressman on the screen, you can bet fox is gonna slap a d after his name

'Operation Exodus': Louisiana Sheriff Taps Locals For Emergency Security Plan
Zachary Roth | March 3, 2010, 5:55PM

A Louisiana sheriff plans to arm volunteers with shotguns, riot shields, batons, and a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on a "war wagon," as part of "Operation Exodus," a program to provide security in the event of a terrorist attack or civic unrest. "It's a calling," he says.

The office of Sheriff Larry Deen of Bossier Parish, near Shreveport in the northwest part of the state, last month selected for the program 200 local residents -- mostly ex-law-enforcement personnel -- and began training them in "defensive techniques in the event of a struggle," reports the Shreveport Times. The plan calls for the new recruits to be sent to protect food from grocery stores, gas from gas stations, and other crucial local resources, should the situation demand it.

A press release from Deen's office announcing the program declared that "recent terror threats" had made clear that "homegrown terrorists are in our midst." It continued: "With the easy accessibility of the internet, it is quite possible that these local and international terrorists can form a national or multiple location attack on our nation at any given moment."

"The buck stops with Larry Deen," the sheriff, who didn't immediately respond to our interview request, told the Times. "I am the chief law enforcement officer in this parish, and it is incumbent upon me protect all of the people in it."

The press release added that Operation Exodus got its name in part "because of its Biblical relevance," explaining that "[i]n the book of Exodus, the Israelites were totally on their own, learning to be self-sufficient and handle everything alone, just as the plan provides."

In a video of the first training session, posted on the sheriff's office's website, the recruits -- almost all white and male, and many appearing to be past middle-age -- gamely practice their hand-to-hand combat techniques:

Doyle Dempsey, a sheriff's deputy, explains in the video that the training session is designed to "set up a prevention mode to implement during Operation Exodus." The idea, says Dempsey, is to "show an overwhelming show of force prior to any incident taking place."

The video also shows a sign, apparently posted at the training session, which reads: "Hard In Drill Easy In Battle. Somewhere Right Now Your Enemy Is Training So That When He Meets You He Defeats You."

Deen said that the program will cost just $4,500, in part because weapons, such as a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on what the sheriff's office calls "the war wagon," have previously been bought.

Deen added he'd been mulling such a plan since the 9/11 attacks -- but he denied to the Times that he was creating a militia. "We run from that word," he said. "We're just the opposite [of] that word."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/operation_exodus_louis...

toniD's Ya Think?

Detroit homes sell for $1 amid mortgage and car industry crisis

One in five houses left empty as foreclosures mount and property prices drop by 80%

"I was living in Chicago and a friend told me that houses in Detroit could be had for $500," said Brumit, a financially strapped artist who thought he had little prospect of owning his own property. "I said if you hear of anything just a little cheaper let me know. Within a week he emails me a photo of a house for $100. I thought that's just crazy. Why not? It's a way to cut our expenses way down and kind of open up a lot of time for creative projects because we're not working to pay the rent."

Houses on sale for a few dollars are something of an urban legend in the US on the back of the mortgage crisis that drove millions of people from their homes. But in Detroit it is no myth.

One in five houses now stand empty in the city that launched the automobile age, forged America's middle-class and blessed the world with Motown.

A third of the population are unemployed. Property prices have fallen 80% or more in large parts of Detroit over the last three years. The average price of a home sold in the city last year has been put at $7,500.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/02/detroit-homes-mortgage-fo...

There are more details of Bunning's baseball career here – including Bunning's appearance in the best book about baseball ever written, Ball Four, by Jim Bouton:

Ted Williams, when he was still playing, would psyche himself up for a game during batting practice, usually early practice before the fans or reporters got there.

He'd go into the cage, wave his bat at the pitcher and start screaming at the top of his voice, "My name is Ted fucking Williams and I'm the greatest hitter in baseball."

He'd swing and hit a line drive.

"Jesus H Christ Himself couldn't get me out."

And he'd hit another.

Then he'd say, "Here comes Jim Bunning. Jim fucking Bunning and that little shit slider of his."

Wham!

"He doesn't really think he's gonna get me out with that shit."

Blam!

Williams hit more home runs off Bunning than anyone else.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/mar/02/jim-bunni...

Here's a chance for Farrakhan to actually be useful.
'Howdy sheriff, I brought you some fine young men.'

;D ... now I am hungy ;0
;)

Entering the Larry Craig Pantheon

Sen. Roy Ashburn (R)

It's no good for a family values Republican to get picked up on a DUI. But substantially worse to get picked up for a DUI after leaving a gay nightclub with an unidentified man in a state vehicle.

That's the sorry state that befell California state Senator Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) early Wednesday.

Read more »

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/03/entering_the_larry_cra...

toniD's Ya Think?

Ryan 'Roadmap' Earns Positive Congressional Testimony And New Co-Sponsors
Christina Bellantoni | March 3, 2010, 6:14PM

Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) testified today before the House Budget Committee that a proposal to dramatically overhaul entitlement programs is "bold" and signed on as a co-sponsor of Rep. Paul Ryan's budget "roadmap" plan which cuts and then partially privatizes Social Security and creates a voucher system for Medicare.

Inglis said in testimony today that he's "comfortable" with the plan, which he said would help "get our fiscal house in order." The Ryan plan also has new co-sponsors: Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN).

TPMDC has been tracking where House Republicans stand on the Ryan "roadmap." Yesterday we detailed the lawmakers we've gotten on the record, with nearly a dozen refusing to say where they stand despite repeated requests.

As supporters of the Ryan plan, Inglis, Flake and Paulsen are joining Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and the nine original co-sponsors of the plan.

We also got a rejection of the plan from Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL). A spokesman said Rooney "won't support any plan which makes cuts to Social Security and Medicare," adding, "these programs are crucial to seniors in the 16th district."

It's illustrative of the tough politics of the issue as the White House attempts to tackle entitlement reform. Democrats are putting the squeeze on Republicans in Washington and candidates across the country to see if they'd back the changes. But some Republicans say the GOP should go for it as the "courageous" way to cut the deficit.

Inglis said today the federal debt has reached a crisis and "this is a truly unique moment where the people are rising up and demanding of the Congress that we get the situation under control," according to a transcript of the testimony provided by his office.

"It's a very bold plan and perhaps some on the Democratic side of the aisle that don't like it and think it goes too far. But if that's the case then what we should is expect from those on the other side of the aisle is to give us their ideas and then let's come together and solve this challenge," Inglis said.

"Our challenge here is to have the courage to talk about those things," he said.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/south-carolina-republican-tes...

toniD's Ya Think?

The evil that men do....
Submitted by cent on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 9:39am.

White House presses to stop Armenian genocide vote

The Obama administration is urging a House panel not to offend Turkey by declaring that the Ottoman-era killing of Armenians was genocide. But the committee chairman pressed ahead Thursday.

The administration stepped in despite a campaign promise by President Barack Obama to brand as genocide the killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks. The vote by the congressional committee could alienate Turkey, which plays an important role for U.S. interests in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman on Wednesday that such a vote would jeopardize reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia, White House spokesman Mike Hammer said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8974087

maybe someone can offer an ammendment to the bill that names bush and cheney as war criminals.

BARACK OBAMA CALLS FOR PASSAGE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

“America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides. I intend to be that President.”

2008-01-20

WASHINGTON, DC – Presidential candidate Barack Obama shared with the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) a strongly worded statement today calling for Congressional passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 & S.Res.106), and pledging that, as president, he will recognize the Armenian Genocide.

[...]

Link

thank god for the distraction too...I'm not sure how much more of this I can take....

Later...

*

is another word for work...

I used to say "Off to the saltmine." or "Time to make the donuts."

One day 60th and mire combined them and I somehow ended up in a pretzel factory...considering I do primarily network backbone and WAN stuff, untwisting pretzels is probably a more accurate description...

c youse later...

Last night, Cenk was surprised an actual liberal was replacing Rangel. Progressivism triumphed for a day.

Ways & Means: Stark Out, Levin In

After about a day of serving as acting chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) is out and Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) is in, Speaker Pelosi confirmed this morning.

Roll Call reported the move earlier, writing that "Democrats on the committee resisted the idea" of the the outspoken liberal taking over the reins in place of Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who stepped down amid a number of ethics investigations against him -- including one that ended in a public admonishment of his actions.

Stark, who represents the Bay Area-based 13th District, is known for "his incendiary debating style" and remarks that he concedes are at times "unnecessary," according to the Almanac of American Politics. The 69-year-old is serving his 19th term in Congress.

At least Stark won't have to be Massaed.

.
.
.

.
.
.

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

Blue Roots Radio

...for passing along this as of yet, unsubstantiated, claim...

dare we dream?

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Considering Stepping Down

"John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court
, is seriously considering stepping down from the nation’s highest court for personal reasons, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.

The decision paves the way for President Barack Obama to make his second appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court following his first, Sonia Sotomayor."

Of course, it's WAY too good to be true...

"this machine kills fascists"

From the Murdoch Journal--
Let's Bring Back the Robber Barons
By Daniel Henninger

......Finally, Barack Obama's government now may force companies to raise wages and benefits by squeezing their federal contracts if they don't.

Maybe there's a better way.
***

Let's bring back the robber barons.

"Robber baron" became a term of derision to generations of American students after many earnest teachers made them read Matthew Josephson's long tome of the same name about the men whose enterprise drove the American industrial age from 1861 to 1901.

Josephson's cast of pillaging villains was comprehensive: Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Morgan, Astor, Jay Gould, James J. Hill. His table of contents alone shaped impressions of those times: "Carnegie as 'business pirate'.'' "Henry Frick, baron of coke." "Terrorism in Oil." "The sack of California."

I say, bring 'em back, and the sooner the better.....

THERE IS A GOD!!!

Don't hate me...
Submitted by 60th Street on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 12:51pm.

I hope he was having an affair with Rove.

Of course, the Rethugs will demand a conservative replacement and barack...

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2007
Chief Justice Roberts Leaves Hospital
Day After Suffering Seizure, Roberts Tells Bush He's Fine

The Supreme Court was mum on whether Roberts would need anti-seizure medication. But specialists say his doctor would have raised that possibility because someone who has had two seizures is at high risk of having another.

Roberts, 52, cheerfully waved to onlookers outside the Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport, Maine, before heading by pontoon boat to his summer home on Hupper Island, off Maine's middle coast. Hours earlier, he had assured President Bush by phone that he felt fine.

Roberts joins millions of adults who have had seizures for no apparent reason. The court said doctors had found no tumor, stroke or any other explanation.

Seizures are essentially little electrical storms in the brain. The resulting symptoms can range from a muscle twitch to loss of consciousness. They generally last 30 seconds to two minutes, and most people report feeling back to normal just minutes after that.

While they're most commonly associated with children, one in 10 adults will have one at some point, according to the Epilepsy Foundation. Roberts' first was in 1993.

Officials would give no details on the chief justice's diagnosis or treatment.

But the definition of epilepsy is having two or more seizures without any other cause.

About 3 million Americans meet that definition....
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/31/supremecourt/main3117012.shtml

U.S. lawmakers launch push to repeal NAFTA

A small group of U.S. lawmakers planned to offer legislation Thursday to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement in the latest sign of congressional disillusionment with free-trade deals.

U.S. | Barack Obama

The bill spearheaded by Rep. Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat, would require President Barack Obama to give Mexico and Canada six months notice that the United States will no longer be part of 16-year-old trade pact.

The move comes as Obama says he wants to resolve problems blocking congressional approval of long-delayed trade deals with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. The strongest opposition to those agreements comes from Obama's fellow Democrats.

The United States also will begin talks later this month with Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Chile, Peru, Vietnam and Brunei on a regional free-trade agreement in Asia Pacific.

Taylor blames NAFTA for a loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs that he believes threatens national security, a spokesman for the conservative 10-term congressman said.

Obama criticized NAFTA during the 2008 presidential election campaign but has not followed through on threats to withdraw from the agreement if Canada and Mexico did not agree to revamp the pact's labor and environmental provisions.

But many Democrats are pushing for that and other changes to existing trade deals before considering any new deals such as the deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is expected to vote later this year on whether the United States should remain a member of the World Trade Organization.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6233MS20100304

It's about time they are making changes to those trade agreements.

toniD's Ya Think?

I'd like to see that happen this year so we can get a judge in and as we know it can be done through reconciliation, because that how Bush did it, to redo this corp personhood fiasco.

toniD's Ya Think?

Well it's something to hope for anyway. It would be good just to get a floor debate- fight- started.

So nervous about possible end of Robert's tyranny my stomach is hurting. This is worse than a Charger game.

Rep. Levin tapped as acting Ways and Means chairman

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) -- Rep. Sander Levin, D-Michigan, has been named acting chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, a committee spokesman said Thursday.

The Ways and Means Committee is responsible for crafting tax legislation.

Levin replaces Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-New York, who temporarily stepped aside Wednesday until the conclusion of an ongoing ethics investigation.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/04/levin.rangel/index.html?hpt=T2

toniD's Ya Think?

RNC donors to gather at Blackwater compound Updated at 1:04 PM

Source: Politico

RNC donors to gather at Blackwater compound

The Republican National Committee is planning to raise $60,000 at a fundraiser next month at the North Carolina compound owned by the company formerly known as Blackwater.

According to the RNC fundraising presentation I wrote about yesterday, the committee will hold a gathering of its "Young Eagles" -- major donors under 40 -- at the U.S. Training Center in Moyock, North Carolina April 16, an astute reader points out.

The center, which offers training courses to civilians, law enforcement, and the military, is owned by Xe Services, the embattled private military company formerly known as Blackwater, whose ties to the Republican Party helped made it central to the Bush Administration's operations abroad.

The RNC document doesn't say what the donors will be doing at the North Carolina compound, which describes itself as the nation's "premier weapons and tactics training facility."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&add...

toniD's Ya Think?

US taxpayers hit as TARP takes a new turn

Source: Reuters

4 Mar 2010, 1242 hrs IST, REUTERS

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON: A small Midwestern bank has negotiated with the U.S. Treasury for taxpayers to essentially buy the bank's shares at an above-market-value price, in an unusual transaction reflecting how the government's bank investments are entering a new phase.

Midwest Banc Holdings Inc agreed to swap $84.8 million of preferred shares it sold to the U.S. government in 2008 for securities that will convert into about $15.5 million of common shares -- roughly an 80 percent loss to taxpayers.

To some analysts, the transaction is an outrageous giveaway to an ailing bank, and its investors.

"There's a lot of funny stuff going on here," said James Ellman, president at hedge fund Seacliff Capital in San Francisco.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/US-taxpa...

toniD's Ya Think?

Senate Panel Approves Johnsen Nomination

Source: Main Justice

The Senate Judiciary Committee today endorsed Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel nominee Dawn Johnsen along a party line vote after a tense debate over her views.

The panel voted to report Johnsen out of committee by a 12-7 vote. Republicans sharply criticized her vocal opposition to the President George W. Bush’s national security policies and support for abortion rights.

http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/03/04/senate-panel-approves-johnsen-nomi...

Now this moves to Senate floor for a vote.

toniD's Ya Think?

Energy Department Files to Withdraw Yucca Mountain License Application

Source: WSJ

WASHINGTON—The Energy Department filed to withdraw an application for a nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, formally seeking Wednesday to reverse a Bush administration policy.

The Obama administration's Energy Department has said that it hopes to develop a new plan for long-term disposal of nuclear waste. The Energy Department has established a blue-ribbon panel to make recommendations.

The application has been pending with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission since June 2008, when the Bush administration applied for a license for the first national repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The Environmental Protection Agency later set radiation standards for the proposed facility, and the government awarded a $2.5 billion contract to a URS Corp. unit to manage the facility.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870418720457510133222742310...

toniD's Ya Think?

Howard Dean: 2010 won't be as bad for Dems as people think
Howard Dean, the former governor who served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee until last year, believes things might not be as bad as they seem.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/howard_dean/index.html?story=/news/fe...

toniD's Ya Think?

The days when "Archie Bunker" was a jackass and not an economic adviser:

March 4th, 1933 Inaugural Address

"...This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

...... Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.

Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.

Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.

Our greatest primary task is to put people to work....."
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/

Read it all if you get the chance. Consider where we are now against where we should be.

(From the Murdoch Journal--
Let's Bring Back the Robber Barons
By Daniel Henninger
Nice timing.)

Dem vows: Republicans who filibuster will ‘have pain, too’

By David Edwards and Muriel Kane

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow appeared frustrated on Wednesday. She'd called out Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) the night before for what she described as a "total, utter, complete, 100%, unambiguous lie’" on health care reform. He'd responded by twittering that her accusation was a "wonderful badge of honor."

"People who want health reform to not happen are becoming even less afraid and even less embarrassed about lying about health reform," Maddow complained. She added, "The reason that health reform opponents are freaking out ... is because this process is almost done. They're desperate."

Maddow turned to Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) for insight on what the Republican might do next, asking, "Do you know what they`re going to pull out their hat to try to kill it?"

"They`re going to try to do amendments, as many as they can get away with," Brown replied. "And I think we keep them here all night. Tonight, the next night, the night after, the night after. If they`re going to try to filibuster in the traditional sense or in the more modern obstructionist sense that they do... they're going to have pain, too."

"They`re going to have to stay all night," he continued, "and we`re going to have quorum calls and we`re going to do whatever we need to do to get this passed within the Senate rules and within fair play."

Brown also explained why he believes the Republicans are so desperate. "I think they look back in history and they understand that they had to explain away their opposition to Medicare for two or three decades, and it cost them at the polls," he told Maddow. "And I think Republicans, the ones that .. have more insight than some of the others, perhaps, understand that they vote no on this, they`re going to be explaining it 10 and 20 years from now as a real bad vote."

"This may help them short-term in one election, this opposition," Brown summed up. "But ... I think they know this is a troublesome situation they`re putting themselves in. So, they want to keep pushing back, keep delaying, keep stopping this any way they can."

This video is from MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, broadcast March 3, 2010. at link

http://rawstory.com/2010/03/brown-pain-gop-delay-health-reform/

toniD's Ya Think?

I have always had the feeling his tenure was not going to be as long as everyone was predicting, since he's young and bla bla s'posed to be decades, lifetime, etc. Since he had that passing-out incident shortly after having been installed, remember, he had some sort of seizure and there was controversy at the time about his not having it disclosed at confirmation, that he suffers some sort of epilepsy or something like that. So since then every time i hear about the horrible work he's doing on the court and everyone moaning about him being so young and all the evil he can still pile on, in the back of my mind it's been lurking "well sometimes even young people can get sick and retire, no?..." not that i was wishing it, just reflecting that this installing young people so that they can inflict maximum harm on the country, this plan is not necessarily always going to work as intended

i never mentioned this thought of mine but now it seems like an appropriate moment to mention it.

Update x3: Radar has retracted their original story. Not happening, people!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/4/842920/-John-Roberts-NOT-planning...

what a farce

when did they ever go away?

but my premonition persists; i'm not saying immediately, but he aint' gonna be there on the court into his nineties, i just don't think...

UPDATE: John Roberts NOT Resigning; 'RadarOnline' Retracts Claim Supreme Court Chief Justice Considering Quitting

UPDATE 1:45 AM ET-- RadarOnline retracts story. RadarOnline has added an update saying that Chief Justice John Roberts is not resigning:

Update: RadarOnline.com has obtained new information that Justice Roberts will NOT resign. The justice will be staying on the bench.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/john-roberts-stepping-dow_n_485...

toniD's Ya Think?

Michael Bennet's Lobbying Reform Proposals Would Spoil Some Careers

The lobbying reforms proposed by freshman Sen. Michael Bennet on Wednesday would end up crushing many a Capitol Hill career path.

As part of a package that includes filibuster reform, a freeze on salaries and earmark transparency, the Colorado Democrat is seeking a lifetime ban on members of Congress becoming lobbyists and a six-year ban on former staffers lobbying their old bosses or staff colleagues.

A lifetime lobbyist ban will surely disappoint some of Bennet's retiring Senate colleagues. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) all but asked K Street firms to make offers when he announced his retirement in January, and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) refused to rule out a K Street gig when he made his announcement in February.

Retired senators are already prohibited from lobbying their colleagues for two years, and retired House members have to "cool off" for one year. Staffers are also required to wait a year before bugging their former peers on behalf of their new clients.

he existing restrictions are pretty significant, since headhunters for K Street firms say former staffers and members have a limited "half life" before their knowledge and contacts become less useful. But plenty of ex-congressmen, such as former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, find them easy to ignore. Bennet's reforms would put a stop to that, too: He'd create stricter rules and penalties for lobbyists who don't register.

Bennet would also prevent lobbyists from returning to the Hill for six years. It's a typical phenomenon that gets less attention than staffers "cashing out" to become lobbyists. For instance, as HuffPost reported in December, 16 of the 86 current staffers on the House Financial Service Committee worked as registered lobbyists sometime in the previous decade.

Ivan Adler is a principal for the McCormick Group who helps lobbying firms hire Hill talent. He said Bennet's ideas threatened the constitutional right to petition the government. more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/michael-bennets-lobbying_n_4854...

toniD's Ya Think?

Google: Desktops Will Be Irrelevant In Three Years

According to Google, the end of the desktop is nigh.

John Herlihy, European Director of Google's online sales, told audiences at the Digital Landscapes conference in Dublin that he believes desktops are going the way of the dinosaurs.

'In three years time, desktops will be irrelevant. In Japan, most research is done today on smart phones, not PCs,' Herlihy told a 'baffled' crowd.

'Mobile makes the world's information universally accessible,' Herlihy explained, according to SiliconRepublic.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt's articulated a similar stance at last month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where he explained that Google is moving forward with a 'mobile first' mantra.

'It's like magic. All of a sudden you can do things that it never occurred to you was possible. The implication that has not been expressed here or in the industry now is Mobile First - the principal of everything being developed for mobile first,' Schmidt said.

He added:

Our programmers are working on products from a 'Mobile First' perspective. That is in fact a major change. Every recent product announcement we have made - and of course we have a desktop version - is being made from the point of view of it being used on a high-performance mobile phone on all the browsers that are available. Now the programmers want to work on those apps for mobile that you can't get on a desktop - applications that are personal and location-aware.

Story continues below

Google's hardware development has certainly been focused on non-desktop devices. Earlier this year, the company launched its own branded Android smartphone, the Nexus One, and Google is rumored to have its own tablet device in the works (See a first look at Google's 'iPad killer' here).

So is the desktop really on its way to 'irrelevance'?

PC World argues that the 'conventional PC' will 'have a longer, healthier life than Google anticipates. [...] The smartphone is great for many things, but it's no desktop-replacement device, either in the home or office.'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/google-desktops-will-be-i_n_485...

toniD's Ya Think?

Palin At Oscar Gift Suite: Sarah Palin And Entourage 'Like Locusts'

Sarah Palin aligns her public image with the heartland, but it appears the former Alaska Governor has gone Hollywood. And when she leaves, she may be taking some of it with her.

On top of an appearance on the Tonight Show and rumors that she's shopping around a TV show with reality producer Mark Burnett, Palin and her entourage were seen partaking in one of celebrity's lushest rituals -- the Oscar gifting suite.

While the group was loading up on freebies, the Los Angeles Times reported that, "Palin's middle child, Willow, got her hair styled, receiving a blowout from Erick Orellana of the Chris McMillan Salon (Jennifer Aniston's longtime hairstylist)."

The Times also indicated that Palin was supposed to donate $1,700 along with all of her gift items to the Red Cross, which is currently helping with relief efforts in Haiti and Chile.

But E! Online insists, "we can assure you she did not give up any of her swag." They quote an unnamed vendor who claims that upwards of 20 people from the Palin camp swarmed the event. "They were like locusts," he told the entertainment news outlet.

According to AOL's Pop Eater, publicist Ben Russo of EMC/Bowery said, "she kind of cleaned the place out." They list out a number of her swag-grabs, including United Hair Care products, jewels from Pascal Mouawad, Skagen watches and a whopping 40 pairs or AIAIAI earphones.

It didn't stop there. HollywoodLife.com reports that she also picked up a blue Kenya robe from designer Jenna Leigh, facewash and a pair of foam Bandal sandals.
Story continues below

Or, in common-sense language, Palin and her handlers, "practically cleaned out the suite."

Another unnamed source, from HollywoodLife.com, says that the former Vice Presidential candidate was intent on spreading all that wealth around her own circle. "She insisted every person in her huge entourage get something, and there were assistants, nannies, security - insanity!" The same source also said that security swept the venue and would not allow photos, which are often expected by companies to use as promotion in exchange for the free products.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/palin-at-oscar-gift-suite_n_485...

toniD's Ya Think?

Hey, who knows what just happened.

R 'Anthon, I can't be up there having a gd seizure.'
S 'Fuck you, and fuck your so-called epilepsy. We need you. . HE needs you. Get it together man!'

get to decide what the rest of the country learns?

When I was talking to my doc yesterday, he asked if I had tried any of the inject-able new meds for RA. I told him they are too expensive and even with Medicare part D, when you hit the donut hole, you can't afford it any more. I said that maybe if that health care bill would pass I'd be able to get the meds I need.

He said "It's going to pass!"

Do't know if he's for or against the bill, I didn't ask. But it sure sounds like he's for it. Or maybe not but thinks there is too much forward motion for it not to pass.

toniD's Ya Think?

ask lynn cheney and kenneth starr, they somehow appropriated the process back in the bush days with their religious hocus pocus

can pry it from my cold dead hands google.

don't get into a political discussion with your doctor

i am sure i already told here several times my story of getting into a political debate with my hairdresser as he was cutting my hair, big mistake!

i am very intrigued by this contraption this guy put together, i am thinking of giving him a call tomorrow; it'll be interesting just to look at it, what d'ya think?

http://neworleans.craigslist.org/sys/1626083459.html

http://crooksandliars.com/

Sean Hannity: Sarah Palin is Smarter Than Obama
By Heather Thursday Mar 04, 2010 1:00pm

Sean Hannity is starting to sound a lot like Grandpa Pat Buchanan with his praise of his girlfriend Sarah Palin. Juan Williams tells Hannity that "he's really out there tonight" with his praise of Palin and when he dares to point out that the reason for his fawning might be Hannity being physically attracted to her Hannity gets a little bit defensive.

Hannity: I think she’s gone a long way to opening the door for people to say alright, maybe she was treated unfairly.

Williams: No but she was very human and funny in that segment. It’s not going to convince seventy five percent of the American people who don’t think she’s qualified to be president but clearly she’s a warm, attractive and I know that you think extremely attractive human being.

Hannity: What does that mean? I think… what is that all about?

Williams: I think she is a superstar centerfold for conservative men…

Cupp: Eeeewww…. Centerfold…

Hannity: Why are you making this… I think she’s great. I think she’s gutsy. I think she’s courageous and I’ll tell you what… I think she’s smarter than Barack Obama. She wouldn’t lead us into this socialist utopia. She wouldn’t bow before…

Williams: You are just so wild on this point. That’s why I just excuse you my pal. I will say go right ahead Sean. You know, your libido is getting in the way of your thinking…

Hannity: You ask me I’ll take Gov. Palin as president over Barack Obama. Who do you think?

Williams: Come on.

Hannity: Come on?

Hannity goes on to slam the president and say he's the worst since Jimmy Carter and Williams responds.

Oh my god you are really out there tonight.

No Juan, he's out there every night. I just found it humorous that someone actually called one of these guys for allowing the wrong brain to lead them with their love of her. No matter how lame you are as the supposed “liberal” on ClusterFox I would like to thank you for giving Hannity a hard time in this segment. Buchanan gets called out for his Palin infatuation on MSBNC so often that it’s pretty much a running joke on that network. I’d like to see Williams do the same thing to Bloody Bill Kristol on Fox News Sunday on a regular basis.

House Passes $15 Billion Package For Job Creation Updated at 3:52 PM

Source: CNBC/AP

Congressional Democrats on Thursday made headway on their top legislative priority—job creation—when the House of Representatives approved a $15 billion package of tax credits and highway construction.

The 217 to 201 vote gave Democrats a much-needed victory after weeks of delay caused by Republican tactics, a record-setting snowstorm and internal bickering.

More job-creation efforts are in the pipeline, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

"Today's legislation is ... one key element of our agenda to get Americans back to work and strengthen our economy," Pelosi said on the House floor.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/35712396

toniD's Ya Think?

Waterboarding Too Dangerous, Internal DoD Memo Reveals

Thursday 04 March 2010

by: Jeffrey Kaye, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis

In recent weeks, former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen has been on a public relations campaign defending the efficacy of waterboarding, going so far as to say that the torture technique sanctioned by the Bush administration is not only safe, but is in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church.

......................

In his defense of the practice, Yoo cited the thousands of US servicemen who have undergone SERE training and said, "we don't think it amounts to torture because we would not be doing it to our own soldiers otherwise."

However, a previously unreleased internal Department of Defense (DoD) memo, summarizing a review of the Navy SERE program in late February - early March 2007, reveals that there was fierce criticism within the DoD of the Navy SERE school in North Island, San Diego, for being the only SERE facility to still use waterboarding in its training program.

The memo, obtained by Truthout, stated that the use of waterboarding left students "psychologically defeated" and impaired in the ability to develop "psychological hardiness."

http://www.truthout.org/waterboarding-too-dangerous-internal-dod-memo-re...

The Clare memo stated, in part:

3. Area of Concern: The JPRA official stance is that the water board should not be used as a physical pressure during Level C SERE training. This position is based on factors that have the potential to affect not only students but also the whole DoD SERE program. The way the water board is most often employed, it leaves students psychologically defeated with no ability to resist under pressure. Once a student is taught that they can be beaten, and there is no way to resist, it is difficult to develop psychological hardiness. None of the other schools use the water board that leaves the San Diego school as a standout.

toniD's Ya Think?

Ezra Klein has a big exclusive: He's gotten hold of a consulting firm's report projecting that Wellpoint insurance would be the big winner if health care reform fails to pass. It's not hard to see why, as Ezra explains:

"Wellpoint's business model is uncommonly concentrated in the individual and small-group markets. Those are the exact markets that health-care reform will drastically change. Those are the markets where people get rejected for preexisting conditions, where insurers spend 30 cents of every premium dollar on administration and where rate hikes are volatile and constant. Health-care reform wants to change all of that, and if it does, Wellpoint's business model will be changed, too."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/03/exclusive_consulting...

Of all the big political players in the health care industry, Wellpoint has been among the most hostile to reform. This helps explain why.

http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-treatment/wellpoint-wins-if-reform-loses

toniD's Ya Think?

Republicans like a politician who stands up for what he believes -- even if he believes the Republican Party is populated by a bunch of "knuckle-dragging Neanderthals."

The candidate leading the Florida GOP primary to determine who will take on Rep. Alan Grayson, the Democrat who represents the Orlando-based district, is none other than Grayson himself, according to a poll paid for by his campaign. Grayson is a freshman congressman who has drawn scorn from the GOP and has quickly built a nationwide following of progressives.

The poll has Grayson leading the 13 Republicans -- among Republicans -- with 27.8 percent of the vote. The congressman who mocked the GOP health care plan by saying that it amounts to telling people not to get sick and if they do, to die quickly, received more support than all of the Republican candidates combined.

No GOP candidate scored above 3.7 percent; 57.7 percent said they were undecided. Grayson did particularly well with women, undercutting the notion that referring to a Washington lobbyist as a "K Street whore" would turn female voters away. (Grayson later apologized for the word choice.)

The poll was conducted on Feb. 26th. There were 324 respondents, all registered Republicans in Florida's eighth district. The poll was conducted by Middleton Market Research.

Naturally, the national GOP establishment dismissed the results -- "This is the most bogus thing I've ever seen in my life," said Andy Seré, Regional Press Secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Grayson told HuffPost that some of the support comes from Republicans who appreciate that he speaks his mind, while some is due to his far-superior name recognition. But the poll also found at least one area where Republican voters thought favorably of him.
Story continues below

In 2009, Grayson, who carries a copy of the Constitution with him, passed a resolution calling on schools to teach the document for one week in September each year.

Over half of the Republicans polled said that they were more likely to vote for Grayson because of the resolution. He has distributed tens of thousands of copies of the Constitution throughout the district, including one to each high school senior. This September, he said, he plans to go to high schools and teach the Constitution personally in the district.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/grayson-leading-in-republ_n_486...

toniD's Ya Think?

Have a great evening.

Later

toniD's Ya Think?

We had a sign out front for the book selling area of the lib. it said among other adjectives it said Reading Is Sexy

Some fucking douchebag called the Chead of the county and asked the lib to remove it...

Can you even believe that?!!!!!!!!!

I hate people so so much....

http://www.openmediaboston.org/node/1179

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=Pb2oXxvvfMw

My laptop is tilting like a table with a short leg now...I musta banged into something with it...or it warped from heat...

Sorry about the repressives in your community, but some people don't even like books, much less the library, and will find any reason they can to screw with you...

looks like someone at Radar was wishful blogging...

a wish I wish would come true....

hmmm...think I'll leave that one to someone more qualified...

I call this one a wok yuk!

industrial strength IBM "clackers". An outfit in Lexington Ky still makes em. I've used them exclusively when I was a PC user. Matter of fact, I took one to use at work I can't stand those cheesy HP keyboard we get with our systems.

ones are all there so it should be balanced...I'll have to study this further after I get home tonight..
Luckily I found out that the 85 yr old hard core dem lady who made the sign is going to fight this...she has called the office of the head five times and had no return calls...this lib. cannot let this decision stand...if I let my "authorities" like teachers just be right because they are teachers I'd have a fucking b or c or worse from not questioning them...it takes more time to double check their results, but it's always been worth it, grade-wise, but for once they actually were correct and I admitted it right off the bat...

That was the first answer I got when I came back here after lunch to ask wtf?..She said well he is the head of this county...I was all SO WHAT?...

http://www.cracked.com/funny-4328-roller-derby/

Vatican hit by gay sex scandal

Vatican chorister sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for papal gentleman-in-waiting

The Vatican was today rocked by a sex scandal reaching into Pope Benedict's household after a chorister was sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for a papal gentleman-in-waiting.

Angelo Balducci, a Gentleman of His Holiness, was caught by police on a wiretap allegedly negotiating with Thomas Chinedu Ehiem, a 29-year-old Vatican chorister, over the specific physical details of men he wanted brought to him. Transcripts in the possession of the Guardian suggest that numerous men may have been procured for Balducci, at least one of whom was studying for the priesthood.

The explosive claims about Balducci's private life have caused grave embarrassment to the Vatican, which has yet to publicly comment on the affair.

While Catholicism does not condemn homosexuality outright, its teaching is that homosexual acts "are intrinsically disordered". The Catechism of the Catholic church states unequivocally: "Under no circumstances can they be approved.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/04/vatican-gay-sex-scandal

House panel approves Armenian genocide resolution

After an extended debate that awoke many old ghosts, the committee approved the resolution by 23-22. The measure would put the House of Representatives on record as applying the word "genocide" to a man-made catastrophe in which, by some estimates, 1.5 million Armenians died from 1915 to 1923 during the final days of the Ottoman Empire.

The Turkish government in Ankara recalled its newly appointed ambassador to the United States, Namik Tan, shortly after the House committee voted, for what were described as "consultations." The Turkish government took a similar step in 2007 after an earlier committee vote.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/04/89857/house-panel-approves-armenia...

hyper repressive freaks....still, this could be a cool experiment for you guys...maybe next time try something like "Reading is The Shizzle" and see if you get the same response...just keep changing the adjective...eventually the Big Dog will just give up and stop answering his phone....

:)

AHHHOOOOOO....

heh - draw blood....

Suspect also wounded; feds say shooting not an act of terrorism
BREAKING NEWS
NBC, msnbc.com and news services
updated 7:59 p.m. ET, Thurs., March. 4, 2010
Two Pentagon police officers were shot Thursday at the Metro transit entrance to the Pentagon, and the gunman was wounded by return fire, Defense Department officials told NBC News.

The shootings happened around 6:40 p.m. outside the Metro entrance to the Pentagon when the suspect approached a checkpoint and opened fire, Pentagon officials said.

"It appears to be a random shooting" and not an act of terrorism, one official told NBC News.

The motive for the shooting was not known.

All three shooting victims were taken to George Washington Hospital. None of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening.

The Pentagon was on lockdown for more than an hour after the shooting. Pentagon Metro Station was closed and trains were being diverted to another station.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35716821/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

I guess this means General Atomics is going to just have to start selling it's Predators to the Kurds instead...

Good for the House...showing some backbone for a change...

Disturbing story of Fallujah's birth defects
Fallujah General Hospital
By John Simpson / BBC News

Six years after the intense fighting began in the Iraqi town of Fallujah between US forces and Sunni insurgents, there is a disturbingly large number of cases of birth defects in the town.

Fallujah is less than 40 miles (65km) from Baghdad, but it can still be dangerous to get to.

As a result, there has been no authoritative medical investigation, certainly by any Western team, into the allegations that the weapons used by the Americans are still causing serious problems.

The Iraqi government line is that there are only one or two extra cases of birth defects per year in Fallujah, compared with the national average.

'Daily cases'

But in the impressive new Fallujah General Hospital, built with American aid, we found a paediatric specialist, Dr Samira al-Ani, who told us that she saw two or three new cases every day.

Most of them, she said, exhibited cardiac problems.

When asked what the cause was, she said: "I am a doctor. I have to be scientific in my talk. I have nothing documented. But I can tell you that year by year, the number [is] increasing."

The specialist, like other medical staff at the hospital, seemed nervous about talking too openly about the problem.

They were well aware that what they said went against the government version, and we were told privately that the Iraqi authorities are anxious not to embarrass the Americans over the issue.

There are no official figures for the incidence of birth defects in Fallujah.

The US military authorities are absolutely correct when they say they are not aware of any official reports indicating an increase in birth defects in Fallujah - no official reports exist.
More here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8548961.stm

all over the Hood.

Don't care cuz if I live it'll save my bacon from becoming charcoal for the time being.

Do you think it would be a problem to go door to door off the clock, say starting now, and encourage people NOT to fill out their forms so I can work for a long long long long time?

JKJKJKJKJKJKJKJKJKJKJKJK

Hit and run. FON.

till you can locate those missing rubbers.

(Sorry...)

ARSFON

(No...not arse FON, ono...before you ask.)

The evil that men do....
new
Submitted by cent on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 9:39am.
Top defense contractors warn that genocide measure will hurt business
By Kevin Bogardus - 03/03/10 07:41 PM ET

Executives for the nation’s top defense contractors say billions of dollars in business with Turkey could disappear if a genocide resolution advances on Capitol Hill.

Formally recognizing the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks during World War I as genocide could have “unintended consequences,” chief executives for Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and United Technologies Corp. warned in a Feb. 26 letter to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.).

“There is reason to believe committee passage of the resolution risks a rupture in U.S.-Turkey relations. Alienating a significant NATO ally and trading partner would likely have negative repercussions for U.S. geopolitical interests and efforts to boost both exports and employment,” the letter says.

The executives told Berman that U.S. defense and aerospace exports to Turkey in 2009 were more than $7 billion and that tens of thousands of American jobs depend on “strong relations” between the two countries. It follows a Feb. 24 letter from the Aerospace Industries Association to Berman that expressed similar concerns about the resolution.

[...]

The Hill

More "practical" reasoning from the Military Industrial Complex...

There is no Justice...just-us...
=====================

Just read the other day that TURKEY has the second biggest troop force in NATO; USA is first biggest.

It even goes beyond corporate pocket change. The whole Central Asia Imperialist Push relies on the NATO toehold via the Turks.

..and we came "this" close to having Sam on. ;-)

One of the main World War I goals of the European Imperialists/Colonialists was to break up the remaining strength of the Ottooman Empire. So, the atrocity against Armenians during that time -- how much of that was useful to the Western Imperial Powers? Would internecine strife have benefitted their goals?

I think I need to watch this documentary again (here's part 1):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr7oBJIWyBc&NR=1

Submitted by SEDER on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 11:27am. Not the funniest thing I've seen but its for a good cause:

___________

It's more sad than anything else. Jesus. Ackroyd and Chevy Chase look like they belong in wheelchairs. Jim Carey is god awful as Reagan. Does he think that the accent works? A random guy on the street has a better Reagan voice.

"You look so tired-unhappy
Bring down the government
They don't, they don't speak for us"
-Radiohead.
www.sigzone.blogspot.com

Had a good visit with my doctor yesterday
Submitted by toniD on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 10:32am.
...
===================

Sounds like you found a doc who is willing to open more options for you. That's positive.

I liked the sound of it before I really even knew where it came from. Perhaps I had even heard it in WSS but if so I didn't remember hearing it there. I also knew the basic meaning (or sense, I guess. Interjections often don't have a "meaning" per se).

Before there was an internet (to speak of), I liked it so much I used to want to name my first child that. (I was fairly serious...).

I finally Googled it when a professor asked me about it. He was Polish and assumed it was a Polish thing.

Here is what I wrote about it recently to a friend in Mexico. Can you understand it?

"Mi nombre en este blog es el mismo que mi apodo de email 'gloryoski.' Es una palabra bastante arcaica (jerga arcaica)pero más o menos se la puede traducir como
'jíjole' ;)"

Which I still think is a pretty good translation of some uses...I dunno though...second guessing...

Got home a little late tonight. Lots happening at work and it was all problems. I hate nights like this!

Evening all!

toniD's Ya Think?

We need more inequality. They ain't subtle.
Submitted by ghettodefender on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 12:53pm.
From the Murdoch Journal--
Let's Bring Back the Robber Barons
By Daniel Henninger

......Finally, Barack Obama's government now may force companies to raise wages and benefits by squeezing their federal contracts if they don't.

Maybe there's a better way.
***

Let's bring back the robber barons.

"Robber baron" became a term of derision to generations of American students after many earnest teachers made them read Matthew Josephson's long tome of the same name about the men whose enterprise drove the American industrial age from 1861 to 1901.

Josephson's cast of pillaging villains was comprehensive: Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Morgan, Astor, Jay Gould, James J. Hill. His table of contents alone shaped impressions of those times: "Carnegie as 'business pirate'.'' "Henry Frick, baron of coke." "Terrorism in Oil." "The sack of California."

I say, bring 'em back, and the sooner the better.....
====================================

Very interesting!

And it wasn't just Josephson's tome that exposed the materialism of the USA that aoccurred in the 1800s. The people of that time recognized the obsessive greed and fraud of the U.S. profiteers, speculators and industrialists: Dickens wrote "Martin Chuzzlewit" in the 1840s about U.S. hucksterism; and there was Mark Twain's "The Gilded Age" as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gilded_Age:_A_Tale_of_Today

[excerpt]

The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today is an 1873 novel by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner that satirizes greed and political corruption in post-Civil War America. The term gilded age, commonly given to the era, comes from the title of this book. Twain and Warner got the name from Shakespeare's King John (1595): "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily... is wasteful and ridiculous excess." Gilding a lily, which is already beautiful and not in need of further adornment, is excessive and wasteful, characteristics of the age Twain and Warner wrote about in their novel. Another interpretation of the title, of course, is the contrast between an ideal "Golden Age," and a less worthy "Gilded Age," as gilding is only a thin layer of gold over baser metal, so the title now takes on a pejorative meaning as to the novel's time, events and people.

Although not one of Twain's more well-known works, it has appeared in more than 100 editions since its original publication in 1873. Twain and Warner originally had planned to issue the novel with illustrations by Thomas Nast. The book is remarkable for two reasons–-it is the only novel Twain wrote with a collaborator, and its title very quickly became synonymous with graft, materialism, and corruption in public life.

[end excerpt]

The unethicalness of The Gilded Age did not sneak up on the people of that time; they watched it with awareness. In contrast, it seems the 21st Century Robber Barons have snuck up on us these days.

ACORN Strikes Back!: 'Accountability' Campaign Demands Media Corrections for 'Pimp' Hoax Stories Updated at 7:20 PM

Edited on Thu Mar-04-10 07:19 PM by BradBlog
Source: BRAD BLOG

ACORN Strikes Back! 'Accountability' Campaign Demands Media Corrections for 'Pimp' Hoax Stories
Group asks '100,000 supporters' for 'Letters to Editor'
Cites BRAD BLOG coverage of NYTimes Editors' outrageous justifications for refusing to retract repeated misreporting...

Following on our weeks-long coverage here at The BRAD BLOG, and at other sites who've similarly jumped in demanding accountability from the New York Times, ACORN itself is now launching a "Letter to the Editor" campaign to "Demand Accountable" from the paper for their repeated misreporting of the James O'Keefe/Andrew Breitbart ACORN "pimp" hoax.

An email blast is being sent to "over 100,000 ACORN supporters" today, according to spokesman Kevin Whelan, calling on them to "send an email to the Times' Public Editor and tell him to retract the Times' erroneous reporting about O'Keefe and ACORN". (Campaign page is here: http://tr.im/QF8o )

The community group's heavily-footnoted email blast, signed by "CEO and Chief Organizer" Bertha Lewis, quotes several articles from The BRAD BLOG's detailed coverage, including NYTimes Public Editor Clark Hoyt's outrageous emailed justifications for refusing to recommending the paper correct their multiple misreports.

Whelan says the group is "asking people to contact either the New York Times OR their local paper and ask for a correction to the erroneous reporting regarding O'Keefe and his video scams."…

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7728

toniD's Ya Think?

Study Says Undersea Release of Methane Is Under Way

Source: The New York Times

Climate scientists have long warned that global warming could unlock vast stores of the greenhouse gas methane that are frozen into the Arctic permafrost, setting off potentially significant increases in global warming.

Now researchers at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and elsewhere say this change is under way in a little-studied area under the sea, the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, west of the Bering Strait.

Natalia Shakhova, a scientist at the university and a leader of the study, said it was too soon to say whether the findings suggest that a dangerous release of methane looms. In a telephone news conference, she said researchers were only beginning to track the movement of this methane into the atmosphere as the undersea permafrost that traps it degrades.

But climate experts familiar with the new research reported in Friday’s issue of the journal Science that even though it does not suggest imminent climate catastrophe, it is important because of methane’s role as a greenhouse gas. Although carbon dioxide is far more abundant and persistent in the atmosphere, ton for ton atmospheric methane traps at least 25 times as much heat.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/science/earth/05methane.html

toniD's Ya Think?

;):(

Reasons I oppose taser use:

o Our police are already trained by design to believe their authority exceeds the integrity and freedom of the Citizenry, and so their sense of opposition to their Employer (us citizens) is adversarial, that is, out of wack.

o Tasers have been classified as a physically and psychologically excruciatingly painful, proven lethal TORTURE DEVICE by the U.N. Committee on Torture. (I assume there must be uses of the device to actively torture victims in illegal actions by criminals and governments).

o I believe ALL these lethal capacity electronic stun guns should be ILLEGAL and PROHIBITED so that No one can have one (that includes criminals).

o I have seen videos on youtube showing police during traffic stops repeatedly tasering people (even after the individuals have already been incapacitated), and police killing unarmed individuals with taser charges. Our police obviously are not of the caliber to be able to judge how to use their billy clubs and feet (as the beating of Rodney King shows) and police use of the Taser, yet another lethal device, only decreases the margin of error of police activities! Police brutality and police error are already unacceptable; adding another lethal device is no solution to that problem, but rather an aggravating addition for growth of the problem.

===========

Resource on U.N. Committee on Torture position:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/26/un_taser_verdict/
[excerpt]

Further Taser-related deaths fuel controversy

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Science, 26th November 2007 11:48 GMT

The UN's Committee Against Torture has declared that Taser use can constitute a form of torture, contrary to the UN's convention against the same.

The committee last Friday delivered its verdict after examining the Portuguese police force's adoption of the TaserX26, described as a weapon with "proven risks of harm or death" by an expert called to testify. The committee's statement said: "The use of TaserX26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture, and that in certain cases it could also cause death, as shown by several reliable studies and by certain cases that had happened after practical use."The UN's verdict comes in the wake of several Taser-related deaths in the US and Canada. On 19 November a man in Frederick City, Maryland, died in controversial circumstances after a deputy "struck [him] with a Taser and administered multiple shocks for several seconds".

[end excerpt]

"Kiptin, but Warp Speed is suicide!"

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/17/star_trek_scuppered/

In case you were wondering about that Justice Roberts resignation rumor...
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/2good2btrue.html

I REPEAT
DO NOT CLICK THE LINK BELOW
(Although you have put grosser in open mics still I feel obliged to disclaim.)

Many fun people, most with protected FB pages, so that all I learn is that they are creepy.

For example, this young lady...

http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/v230/37/20/n1574790101_85.jpg
------
I guess I don't have to tell you one person of whom she is a fan...

I can sea your house from hear!!!

[Apologies if this is a repost.]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/03/89799/general-sounds-alarm-on-us-a...

[excerpt]

General sounds alarm on U.S. Army training
By Nancy A Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The Army's ability to train its forces is "increasingly at risk" because of the nation's protracted commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan, the general in charge of training has told the Army's chief of staff.

In a Feb. 16 memo to Gen. George W. Casey, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, says that the Army has lost thousands of uniformed trainers because of troop demands in Iraq and Afghanistan, has had to put junior officers in charge of some key training functions and has delayed initial instruction for nearly 500 pilots because it doesn't have enough trainers.

Only 30 percent of the instructors at Army training schools are in the military, Dempsey says, with the Army increasingly dependent on outside contractors.

"We are behind in integrating lessons learned, developing training and updating doctrine," Dempsey wrote in the memo, a copy of which McClatchy obtained. "We are undermanned in our efforts to design the future Army."

Dempsey's warning comes as the Obama administration presses ahead with plans to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan by 30,000 and has committed a growing number of military trainers to doubling the size of the Afghan security forces. Since Dempsey took command of TRADOC in December 2008, the command has sent 889 troops, contractors and civilians to Iraq and 675 to Afghanistan.

Casey, who's frequently warned that the long-term commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan have strained the Army, said in an interview this week that Dempsey's memo didn't surprise him.

He said, however, that the military didn't have enough soldiers to commit more troops to training, and that relief would come from two developments: the continued U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and the planned expansion of the Army by 65,000 soldiers by the end of 2011.

"This is his way of getting it on my radar," Casey said of Dempsey's memo.

Entitled "Erosion of TRADOC's Core Competencies and Functions," the memo contains a litany of how keeping a large troop presence in two war zones while committing to train foreign troops has hurt the military's training efforts.

There are 96,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and 78,000 in Afghanistan.

Dempsey wrote that since September 2001, the number of soldiers assigned to training and other planning responsibilities has declined by 7,300, while the number of civilian employees has declined by 4,500. To fill the gap, Dempsey says, his command has hired 9,000 outside contractors.

He complains that the result is a "de-greening" of training, meaning less reliance on Army personnel. For example, he wrote, outside contractors are teaching 68 percent of the courses at the Army's Intelligence School.

[end excerpt]

The words below by former Secty. of Defense Cohen spoken in 1997.

http://www.moneyteachers.org/HAARP.htm

[excerpt]
"some scientists in their laboratories trying to devise certain types of pathogens that would be ethnic specific so that they could just eliminate certain ethnic groups and races; and others are designing some sort of engineering, some sort of insects that can destroy specific crops. Others are engaging even in an eco- type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves." (source)

[end excerpt]

------------------------

Trying to track down the above quote, this is the closest I get, and it isn't clear to me if Cohen is referring to information related in Toeffler's writings or to the existence of government programs Cohen himself officially knew about.

------------------------

http://current.com/items/92246163_defense-gov-news-transcript-dod-news-b...

[excerpt]

http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=674

I think this pretty much ends the debate on whether governments can control the weather, cause earthquakes or even volcanoes using HAARP type of electro-magnetic waves! Now, can we quit calling it a 'conspiracy' and Chavez is crazy and do something about it?

This is straight from Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen

Others are engaging even in an eco- type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves.

The rest of his speech at the DoD News Briefing can be read at the link above:

Remember the word, HAARP. No, not global warming, not accidental earthquakes, eco-terrorism using electromagnetic waves. This is coming from the freaking SECRETARY OF DEFENSE.

Debate over, hear me, debate over, HAARP can cause earthquakes, alter the climate and even trigger volcanoes. This is crimes against humanity and must be stopped.

[end excerpt]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/33866_Page2.html

[excerpt]

The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on “fear” of President Barack Obama and a promise to "save the country from trending toward socialism."

The strategy was detailed in a confidential party fundraising presentation, obtained by POLITICO, which also outlines how “ego-driven” wealthy donors can be tapped with offers of access and “tchochkes.”

The presentation was delivered by RNC Finance Director Rob Bickhart to top donors and fundraisers at a party retreat in Boca Grande, Florida on February 18, a source at the gathering said.

In neat PowerPoint pages, it lifts the curtain on the often-cynical terms of political marketing, displaying an air of disdain for the party’s donors that is usually confined to the barroom conversations of political operatives.

...

Manipulating donors with crude caricatures and playing on their fears is hardly unique to Republicans or to the RNC – Democrats raised millions off George W. Bush in similar terms – but rarely is it practiced in such cartoonish terms.

...

Under Steele, the RNC has shifted toward a reliance on small donors, but the document reveals extensive, confidential details of the strategy for luring wealthy checkwriters, which range from luxury retreats in California wine country to tickets to a professional fight in Las Vegas.

The 72-page document was provided to POLITICO by a Democrat, who said a hard copy had been left in the hotel hosting the $2,500-a-head retreat, the Gasparilla Inn & Club. Sources at the event said the presentation was delivered by Bickhart and by the RNC Finance Chairman, Peter Terpeluk, a former ambassador to Luxembourg under President George W. Bush.

The RNC reacted with alarm to a question about it Wednesday, emailing major donors to warn them of a reporter’s question, and distancing Steele from its contents.

[next page]

...

The most unusual section of the presentation is a set of six slides headed “RNC Marketing 101.” The presentation divides fundraising into two traditional categories, direct marketing and major donors, and lays out the details of how to approach each group.

The small donors who are the targets of direct marketing are described under the heading “Visceral Giving.” Their motivations are listed as “fear;” “Extreme negative feelings toward existing Administration;” and “Reactionary.”

Major donors, by contrast, are treated in a column headed “Calculated Giving.”

Their motivations include: “Peer to Peer Pressure”; “access”; and “Ego-Driven.”

The slide also allows that donors may have more honorable motives, including “Patriotic Duty.”

A major Republican donor described the state of the RNC’s relationship with major donors as “disastrous,” with veteran givers beginning to abandon the committee, which is becoming increasingly reliant on small donors.

The party’s average contribution in 2009, according to the document, was just $40, and the shift toward a financial reliance on the grassroots may help explain Steele’s increasingly strident tone toward the Obama Administration.

While the crude portrayal of Obama may be - as Steele ‘s spokesman put it - “unacceptable,” other elements of the presentation may be of equal interest to close political observers.

The RNC plans to raise $8.6 million from major donors alone in 2010, less than 10% of its total 2009 fundraising take, which was primarily from small donors."

The center of that plan is an extensive, and colorful, schedule of events. Along with traditional fundraisers with conservative luminaries including Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, the party plans to raise $80,000 for a trip to London to meet David Cameron, the British Conservative Party leader, on September 17.

The RNC’s “Young Eagles” – younger major donors and the only group, according to a major donor, continuing to pull its weight financially – are invited to a “professional bull riding event” in October, expected to raise $50,000, and to a no-holds-barred Ultimate Fighting Championship fight in Las Vegas the same month, expected to raise $60,000.

The RNC’s aim, according to one section of the document: “Putting the Fun Back in FUNdraising.”

CORRECTION: The RNC raised a total of $81 million in 2009. An earlier version of this story understated that figure.

[end excerpt]

...Glory...U knew how to BAIT me, and I bit -- Hook, Line. & Sinker ;D hahaha )
*** ***

your pic reminded me that I wrote a bit about the "ones" as in your pix...in a paper, IN 1996c.e.:

"...and they teach their children how to kill..."

Malloy was talking about the strange vibrations tonight.

Do you feel anything?

Actually, lately I've been seeing some things that feel like (or I interpret as) a POSITIVE release of energy -- like the student protests:

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION TO DEFEND PUBLIC EDUCATION protests reported at Democracy Now--

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/4/students

Ft. Detrick Army Bio-lab poorly planned; lacks safeguards; why build it in close proximity to populations, housing?, etc., says report. However, no recommendation was made to halt the project expected to be completed by 2014.

http://wjz.com/local/panel.lab.regs.2.1537179.html

http://www.rense.com/general90/hsor.htm

[excerpt]

...mad-deer disease, or Chronic Wasting Disease, has come to Missouri, right where I predicted it would first be found, in one of those deer pens where they try to raise giant antlers by feeding an herbivorous creature a diet that includes meat by-products.

The first deer with Chronic Wasting Disease was found on such a place in north Missouri. I will write more about this later. Rest assured, it is the first, but not at all the last. Missouri's wild deer will not escape it, as it is widespread in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

[end excerpt]

... why yes dear Nora ... ;D ... JUST EVEN RECENTLY "manifesting" in the few following ways:

1. I SAID IN DIFFERENT PLACES repeating that we Have to get Angry -- Not Violently (oops-I never put correct word;) but Verbally -- To Let All Know that "We Are Not Just Going To Take The "verbal abruse" from abusive rethugs...

Usually I seem to me to be the only one thus now satirically said with a grrr -- yet now even on Jeff Farias show certain "folks" with a name -- are calling for the EXACT ACTION...

2. MAJOR amount of callers via Gore's CALL TO ACTION = amount received in one day, what was expected for all week. ...Saying to Senators, To Save The Life & Breath of Our World {my words - prob too "artsy" :} of words.

{just to name a few} Sorry it took so long to answer & sorry Cranky ;) = Cranky Poo = Crank B = Crank Bait - for all typos ;)

p.s. Good luck, Alice!

Excerpts:

Nujood is a Yemeni girl, and it’s no coincidence that Yemen abounds both in child brides and in terrorists (and now, thanks to Nujood, children who have been divorced).

Societies that repress women tend to be prone to violence.

For Nujood, the nightmare began at age 10 when her family told her that she would be marrying a deliveryman in his 30s.

“In our country it’s the men who give the orders, and the women who follow them,” Nujood writes in a powerful new autobiography just published in the United States this week,

“I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced.”

Her new husband forced her to drop out of school (she was in the second grade) because a married woman shouldn’t be a student.

. . .

The United States last month announced $150 million in military assistance for Yemen to fight extremists.

In contrast, it costs just $50 to send a girl to public school for a year — and little girls like Nujood may prove more effective than missiles at defeating terrorists.

---
Link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/opinion/04kristof.html

Finally!!! Dawn Johnson approved!!
Submitted by toniD on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 2:00pm.
Senate Panel Approves Johnsen Nomination

Source: Main Justice

The Senate Judiciary Committee today endorsed Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel nominee Dawn Johnsen along a party line vote after a tense debate over her views.

----------
needs to say this:

"Interesting timing."

FWIW.

If I were a scientifically minded person (but of course, I am not) I would start making charts to see if I could discern some pattern...

Do you think if mire said "infrastructure" with her accent, it would be especially hot for Rachel?

the right wing extremists have a new campaign out this morning about the gitmo7. their claim is that eric holder at the department of jihad has hired lawyers who defended gitmo detainees and we all know that only terrorists sympathizers would want to defend those evil scum at gitmo.

with me ipod and the still warm yathink podcast; looking forward to the workout for a change

http://www.naturalnews.com/028306_Greg_Caton_FDA.html

Greece told to sell islands and art by German politicians
by Chris in Paris on 3/05/2010 06:22:00 AM
How do you say "go Cheney yourself" in Greek? For some strange reason, German politicians love to attack Greece and pretend as though the financial situation there is radically different from elsewhere in Europe. Maybe they (and a large majority of German voters) somehow believe that Europe revolves around Germany. It doesn't so get over it. Important, yes, but not the center of the universe. The German economic heyday was a few decades ago no matter how much bashing they deliver.

Two senior German MPs have demanded that Greece sell off some of its islands, historic buildings and art works as a condition of receiving a financial lifeline from the EU.

The call for a Big Fat Greek Auction – which would also include ancient artefacts and stakes in state-owned companies – to repay some of the country's debt mountain came on the eve of crucial talks between the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, in Berlin tomorrow and takes the mudslinging between the two countries to a new level.

Frank Schaeffler, an economics specialist and member of Germany's Free Democrats, said Athens should sell stakes in companies and "assets, such as uninhabited islands". Marco Wanderwitz – a member of Merkel's conservative CDU party – went even further: "If the European Union, and therefore Germany, helps out Greece economically, it will need to give something in exchange … some islands, for example, might be a solution.''

http://www.americablog.com/2010/03/greece-told-to-sell-islands-and-art-b...

It's that German superiority. Got them into trouble before, didn't it.

toniD's Ya Think?

The FDA has issued a consumer warning for a type of flavoring that is contaminated with salmonella bacteria.
The flavoring is called hydrolyzed vegetable protein and is used in the production of a wide array of processed foods.
The flavoring is manufactured by Basic Food Flavors Inc. located in Las Vegas, Nevada.
So far no cases of salmonella poisoning have been reported.
hydrolyzed vegetable protein is used in processed foods such as canned soups, sauces, dips and dressings.
“Our investigators were able to identify this problem before any illnesses occurred,” FDA commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said in a statement.
“FDA collected and analyzed samples at the facility and confirmed the presence of Salmonella Tennessee in the company’s processing equipment. The company is recalling all hydrolyzed vegetable protein in powder and paste form that it has produced since Sept. 17, 2009.”
___________

Many people get reactions to this MSG which they label as hydrolyzed vegetable protein. I would avoid this stuff always

I my opinion the FDA should warn against this product from the get go.

US endorses plan to ban sale of Atlantic bluefin tuna
by Chris in Paris on 3/05/2010 03:31:00 AM

This is a very big deal. Until now, the Monaco-proposed plan had been looking for international support. Now they have it and the EU will be under much more pressure to support the ban. While there have been plenty of disappointments with this administration, moves such as this are to be applauded.

The U.S. government will announce Wednesday that it supports prohibiting international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna, according to sources familiar with the decision. The move that could lead to the most sweeping trade restrictions ever imposed on the highly prized fish.

Sushi aficionados in Japan and elsewhere have consumed bluefin for decades, a demand that has caused the fish's population to plummet. In less than two weeks, representatives from 175 countries will convene in Doha, Qatar, to determine whether to restrict the trade of bluefin tuna-- valued for its rich, buttery taste -- and an array of other imperiled species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

http://www.americablog.com/2010/03/us-endorses-plan-to-ban-sale-of.html

toniD's Ya Think?

Is Obamacare a Favorite to Pass?
by Nate Silver @ 6:17 AM

That's what the punters at Intrade think right now, where the 'Obamacare' contract is just barely better than even-money to pass at 52 percent. It has moved up fairly significantly within the past 72 hours, as the contract was mostly trading in the 30-40 percent probability range before.

Back in January, in the immediate aftermath of Scott Brown's victory when the contract was trading at around 33 percent, I examined the evidence in detail and concluded that, although passage was easy enough to envision, "I'd probably take the short side of those odds if forced to put money on it". That meant I thought the bill had perhaps a 25 or 30 percent chance of passing. So how do I feel about the contract at its more expensive price now?

Let's look at the factors which have changed since January 27th, when I wrote the original analysis. First, here are the ways in which conditions have improved for the Democrats; they are listed in declining order of importance.

Positive Factor #1: The White House has gone "all-in". The Administration was sluggish to get involved for much of the health care debate, preferring to let Congress do its own bidding. However, the White House has pretty clearly made a decision to invest its political capital now, between putting a (fairly) specific proposal on the table, holding a bipartisan summit, taking meetings with reluctant lawmakers, making the case to the public for reconciliation, and explicitly invoking the idea that the presidency depends upon the passage of the bill.

Positive Factor #2. Smooth sailing in the Senate. Open Left's whip count on use the reconciliation process in the Senate is now up to 46 committed votes. Moreover, just one Democrat (Blanche Lincoln, naturally) has expressly objected to the use of reconciliation whereas several others who were thought to be problems for ideological reasons (e.g. Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson) have failed to rule it out. In addition, "process hawks" like Robert Byrd, Kent Conrad, and Russ Feingold have been relatively warm to the idea, deeming the relatively minor changes the Senate would exact to its original bill germane under reconciliation rules. It's hard to see how Democrats aren't bound to get at least 50 votes plus Joe Biden for a reconciliation fix, although they'll probably want a couple of spares in the event that the procedural fight gets messy on the floor.

Positive Factor #3. Few substantive disagreements about the nature of the reconciliation bill itself. The basic parameters of what would be included in the reconciliation sidecar are more or less agreed upon: scaling down the estate tax; removing the Cornhusker kickback; re-jiggering the formulas for subsidies, and perhaps adding some additional oversight provisions and closing the Medicare donut hole. Some further provisions -- like national versus state exchanges -- are still being debated but are unlikely to break the back of the legislation. The more controversial issues, meanwhile, are probably out of the way. To the non-delight of some liberals, Jay Rockefeller and now the President himself have put the kibosh on the latest public option boomlet. And neither pro-Stupak nor anti-Stupak forces are of the belief that the abortion language can be addressed in the reconciliation process. In addition to all of this, the House now seems to have acknowledged that it must move first on health care reform.

Positive Factor #4. Rate increases by Anthem and other private insurers. This makes the moral case stronger and gives nervous Democrats a good talking point for the campaign trail.

Positive Factor #5. One additional 'no' vote planning to retire. This is Eric Massa, who is retiring either because he had a recurrence of cancer or because he sexually harassed a (male) staffer, depending on who you believe. Massa's no vote was a bit strange before -- he said he opposed the bill from the left, but he is in a moderate district and has opposed other parts of the Democratic agenda from the right -- so nothing is to be taken for granted. But clearly this would seem to be an easier vote to swing now, especially if there's some kernel of truth behind the harassment allegations and he feels guilty for having created a minor P.R. nightmare for his colleagues. There's also a chance that Massa could decide to (or be pressured into) vacating his seat immediately, which would reduce the number of votes needed for passage from 217 to 216.

Here, on the other hand, are the factors that have worsened or at least are continuing to work against passage of the bill.

Negative Factor #1. Key 'anti'-blocks not budging. Bart Stupak certainly hasn't backed down from his threat to vote against the bill because of its abortion language, and continues to claim that he might take as many as 11 other Democrats with him. As before, I tend to think that with the possible exception of Stupak himself, the abortion language (which is fairly restrictive in the Senate's bill anyway) is mostly just an excuse for Congressmen who don't want to vote for the bill for other reasons, such as because they're in a tough district or because they're a Republican (Joseph Cao). Therefore, I'm not sure how many of these votes are beyond the reach of persuasion. Nevertheless, the Stupak fight greatly increases the Democrats' degree of difficulty. In addition, although the Blue Dogs have been somewhat quiet, we've seen very little of the sentiment that some like Jason Altmire expressed in the pre-Scotty Brown era, which is that they might vote for the revised bill precisely because it was more moderate. Finally, Dennis Kucinich -- always a party of one -- still seems inclined to vote against the measure.

Negative Factor #2. Attrition. Jack Murtha has died, and Neil Abercrombie has retired. When coupled with Robert Wexler's earlier retirement, this takes the Democrats down to 217 votes from the 220 they had in November. The slight mitigating factor is that, because of the retirements, there are now only 432 sitting Representatives so 217 votes rather than 218 are required for passage.

Negative Factor #3. Continued distress from national environment. Although the health care bill itself has not become more unpopular since the House voted on it, there has been some decline in the Democrats' generic ballot standing, and the number of retirements among prominent members (Evan Bayh, Bill Delahunt, etc.) will do little to quell fears among Democrats who think the bottom is falling out. Nor will the Charlie Rangel and (alleged) Eric Massa scandals.

Negative Factor #4. Bipartisan summit was underwhelming. Although the decision to proceed with the Blair House Summit may later have some utility in mollifying concerns that the Democrats are "ramming the legislation through" without consulting Republicans, there was no immediate P.R. victory nor any manifest change in public opinion on the health care bill. If Democrats were holding out hope for some paradigm-shifting moment in which the health bill suddenly became more popular in the near-term, they are not likely to get one.

Negative Factor #5. The ticking clock. The best-case timetable for completion of the health care bill now appears to be the end of March, which is barely seven months away from the November elections. Some states are already starting to have their primaries, lots of filing deadlines are passing -- the attention paid to electoral politics are increasing. Moreover, some Democrats might not want to vote against a bill that they voted for before, but also might not want to take another vote on an unpopular bill if they can avoid it -- these Democrats might have some incentive to delay the process.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/03/is-obamacare-favorite-to-pass.htm...

toniD's Ya Think?

Vast amounts of methane are bubbling up from the East Siberian sea, raising fears of a massive hike in global warming.

Permafrost in the seabed has been previously assumed to act as an effective cap for the enormous amount of methane in the area.

But researchers at the Russian Academy of Sciences, the University of Alaska and Stockholm University have found that eight million tonnes of methane are currently leaking into the atmosphere every year.

"The amount of methane currently coming out of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is comparable to the amount coming out of the entire world's oceans," said Shakhova, a researcher at UAF's International Arctic Research Center. "Subsea permafrost is losing its ability to be an impermeable cap."

It's not known how long the methane release has been going on. But models suggest that if just one percent of the methane contained in the region were released, it would cause rapid warming.

Earlier periods of rapid climate change have been associated with sudden releases of methane from the seabed.

During the ISSS expedition measurements of methane were made in the seabed, at different depths in the water and in the overlying air at over one hundred locations.

Combined with measurements from previous expeditions, it was found that methane concentrations in seawater are elevated in 80 percent of sea bottom samples and in more than half of the surface water samples and air samples.

Some areas had concentrations up to 100 times above the natural background levels, and the ISSS expedition discovered methane chimneys on the ocean floor and fields of methane bubbles that rose to the surface of the sea so fast that the methane did not have time to dissolve in the seawater.

"Our concern is that the subsea permafrost has been showing signs of destabilization already," she said. "If it further destabilizes, the methane emissions may not be teragrams, it would be significantly larger."

The full study appears in Science.

have to be careful, especially with Chinese food. no MSG!
And I have to read labels.

toniD's Ya Think?

SEOUL, March 5 (UPI) -- South Korea will lower the alert level to yellow for the H1N1 flu Monday because the virus is showing signs of subsiding, health officials said.

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said yellow is the second-lowest level in South Korea's four-step alarm system, Yonhap News Agency reported Friday.

In addition to lowering the alert level, the health ministry said it will disband a task force charged with monitoring the pace of the infection and ease restrictions that were imposed on festivals and gatherings to keep the disease from spreading.

Officials said 243 people have died from the H1N1 flu in South Korea since the first infection was reported in April of 2009.

Submitted by toniD on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 8:07am

What really annoys me toniD in this warning over the Salmonella Tennessee
is that the additive is not desrcibed as MSG which many of us stay away from
anyway. Why not mention that this HVP is more commonly known as MSG?

+++++++++++
Here is a second article on food flavoring recalled. I think that the major food production companies DON'T WANT IT KNOWN how much of this HVP is used.
Many people have a negative experience with MSG and if they knew how many companies try to disguise their use of MSG by calling it hydrolyzed Veg Protein sales would go down and possibly more people would seek out alternative "organic" products.The FDA continues to front for big business and It is not looking out fore the people.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6234JW20100305

Senator Bunning’s Universe
By PAUL KRUGMAN

So the Bunning blockade is over. For days, Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky exploited Senate rules to block a one-month extension of unemployment benefits. In the end, he gave in, although not soon enough to prevent an interruption of payments to around 100,000 workers.

But while the blockade is over, its lessons remain. Some of those lessons involve the spectacular dysfunctionality of the Senate. What I want to focus on right now, however, is the incredible gap that has opened up between the parties. Today, Democrats and Republicans live in different universes, both intellectually and morally.

Take the question of helping the unemployed in the middle of a deep slump. What Democrats believe is what textbook economics says: that when the economy is deeply depressed, extending unemployment benefits not only helps those in need, it also reduces unemployment. That’s because the economy’s problem right now is lack of sufficient demand, and cash-strapped unemployed workers are likely to spend their benefits. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office says that aid to the unemployed is one of the most effective forms of economic stimulus, as measured by jobs created per dollar of outlay.

But that’s not how Republicans see it. Here’s what Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, had to say when defending Mr. Bunning’s position (although not joining his blockade): unemployment relief “doesn’t create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work.”

In Mr. Kyl’s view, then, what we really need to worry about right now — with more than five unemployed workers for every job opening, and long-term unemployment at its highest level since the Great Depression — is whether we’re reducing the incentive of the unemployed to find jobs. To me, that’s a bizarre point of view — but then, I don’t live in Mr. Kyl’s universe.

And the difference between the two universes isn’t just intellectual, it’s also moral.

Bill Clinton famously told a suffering constituent, “I feel your pain.” But the thing is, he did and does — while many other politicians clearly don’t. Or perhaps it would be fairer to say that the parties feel the pain of different people.

During the debate over unemployment benefits, Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat of Oregon, made a plea for action on behalf of those in need. In response, Mr. Bunning blurted out an expletive. That was undignified — but not that different, in substance, from the position of leading Republicans.

Consider, in particular, the position that Mr. Kyl has taken on a proposed bill that would extend unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies for the jobless for the rest of the year. Republicans will block that bill, said Mr. Kyl, unless they get a “path forward fairly soon” on the estate tax.

Now, the House has already passed a bill that, by exempting the assets of couples up to $7 million, would leave 99.75 percent of estates tax-free. But that doesn’t seem to be enough for Mr. Kyl; he’s willing to hold up desperately needed aid to the unemployed on behalf of the remaining 0.25 percent. That’s a very clear statement of priorities.

So, as I said, the parties now live in different universes, both intellectually and morally. We can ask how that happened; there, too, the parties live in different worlds. Republicans would say that it’s because Democrats have moved sharply left: a Republican National Committee fund-raising plan acquired by Politico suggests motivating donors by promising to “save the country from trending toward socialism.” I’d say that it’s because Republicans have moved hard to the right, furiously rejecting ideas they used to support. Indeed, the Obama health care plan strongly resembles past G.O.P. plans. But again, I don’t live in their universe.

More important, however, what are the implications of this total divergence in views?

The answer, of course, is that bipartisanship is now a foolish dream. How can the parties agree on policy when they have utterly different visions of how the economy works, when one party feels for the unemployed, while the other weeps over affluent victims of the “death tax”?

Which brings us to the central political issue right now: health care reform. If Congress enacts reform in the next few weeks — and the odds are growing that it will — it will do so without any Republican votes. Some people will decry this, insisting that President Obama should have tried harder to gain bipartisan support. But that isn’t going to happen, on health care or anything else, for years to come.

Someday, somehow, we as a nation will once again find ourselves living on the same planet. But for now, we aren’t. And that’s just the way it is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/opinion/05krugman.html?partner=rssnyt&...

toniD's Ya Think?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/04/vatican-gay-sex-scandal

Vatican hit by gay sex scandal
Vatican chorister sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for papal gentleman-in-waiting

Dems' 'Up-or-Down Vote' Meets GOP's 'Up Is Down' Tricks
posted by Leslie Savan on 03/04/2010 @ 3:57pm

A few weeks ago, Talking Points Memo started asking a question that now seems so obvious you wonder why you hadn't heard it before: Instead of blabbing on about filibusters, cloture, reconciliation, and other "arcana," as Josh Marshall put it, why aren't the Dems trying to pass health care reform with red-blooded American words like "up-or-down vote"? Or "majority vote"? After all, though the reconciliation procedure has been used 22 times, mostly by Republicans, since 1980 to pass major legislation, most Americans have no idea what it means (outside, perhaps, of a happy ending to divorce). But they do know up-or-down vote: Thumbs up, thumbs down, count 'em. Next.

Which is essentially what the White House has finally decided to say. Yesterday, President Obama called for an "up-or-down vote" on health care, without once mentioning "reconciliation." "The American people, all they want is an up or down vote," David Axelrod said earlier, adding a few other clear, slogany phrases, "let the majority rule and let's move on."

Oh, the Democrats aren't shouting "up-or-down vote" with as much bully-boy gusto as the Republicans incessantly did during the 2005-2006 battles over the Supreme Court nominations of John Roberts and Sam Alito. Then, the constant cries from conservative politicians and media was that the two judges deserved a "fair up or down vote," the frequent fillip of "fair" tapping the put-upon resentment of the populist heart (and not seen much from Dems these days). But the daintier D's are at least now deigning to use some punchy, Germanic, monosyllablic words. By comparison, and with the aid of aggressive Republican dissembling, the Latinate, multisyllabic "reconciliation," has been made to seem serpentinely sneaky, if not also overeducated elite.

But no matter how much Fox & GOP Friends repeat that Obama is trying to "ram," "jam," and/or "cram" the health care bill through by reconciliation, it's hard to make the word sound downright evil. So, in a coordinated talking-point fulsilade, the right is trying, and often succeeding, to redefine reconciliation as something it's not, a "nuclear option."

"What used to be called the nuclear option is now kind of a warm and fuzzy phrase called 'reconciliation'" (Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett). "Reconciliation is what it's called now. It used to be called the nuclear option" (Fox anchor Bret Baier). "[Sen. Dick] Durbin said, the Senate could make changes to the bill by using the nuclear option, known formally as 'reconciliation'" (FoxNews.com). Durbin, of course, never used those words.

The right didn't just begin trying to ram/jam/cram the redefinition through. Fox was on the case back in May, when Chris Wallace prompted Senate minority Mitch McConnell to say reconciliation=nuclear option; by the Town Hall days of August, Sean Hannity, Dick Morris, and other Foxers were barking it in a redefining frenzy.

Maybe it's time for a glossary, starting with the best-known of the barely-known terms: more...

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/537304

toniD's Ya Think?

where she brings it all back around to Liz Cheney....

A little over the top, and very eccentric, but it gave me a chuckle...

http://washingtonindependent.com/77476/blackwater-the-senate-and-south-p...

Employees of the CIA-connected private security corporation Blackwater diverted hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles, from a U.S. weapons bunker in Afghanistan intended to equip Afghan policemen, according to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee. On at least one occasion, an individual claiming to work for the company evidently signed for a weapons shipment using the name of a “South Park” cartoon character. And Blackwater has yet to return hundreds of the guns to the military.

(article continues)

the Nation articles....

The Republicans' big lie about reconciliation

By E.J. Dionne Jr.
Thursday, March 4, 2010; A21

For those who feared that Barack Obama did not have any Lyndon Johnson in him, the president's determination to press ahead and get health-care reform done in the face of Republican intransigence came as something of a relief.

Obama's critics have regularly accused him of not being as tough or wily or forceful as LBJ was in pushing through civil rights and the social programs of his Great Society. Obama seemed willing to let Congress go its own way and was so anxious to look bipartisan that he wouldn't even take his own side in arguments with Republicans.

Those days are over. On Wednesday, the president made clear what he wants in a health-care bill, and he urged Congress to pass it by the most expeditious means available.

He was also clear on what bipartisanship should mean -- and what it can't mean. Democrats, who happen to be in the majority, have already added Republican ideas to their proposals. Obama said he was open to four more that came up during the health-care summit. What he's (rightly) unwilling to do is give the minority veto power over a bill that has deliberately and painfully worked its way through the regular legislative process.

Republicans, however, don't want to talk much about the substance of health care. They want to discuss process, turn "reconciliation" into a four-letter word and maintain that Democrats are "ramming through" a health bill.

It is all, I am sorry to say, one big lie -- or, if you're sensitive, an astonishing exercise in hypocrisy.
(the "L" word again)

In an op-ed in Tuesday's Post, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) offered an excellent example of this hypocrisy. Right off, the piece was wrong on a core fact. Hatch accused the Democrats of trying to, yes, "ram through the Senate a multitrillion-dollar health-care bill."

No. The health-care bill passed the Senate in December with 60 votes under the normal process. The only thing that would pass under a simple majority vote would be a series of amendments that fit comfortably under the "reconciliation" rules established to deal with money issues. Near the end of his column, Hatch conceded that reconciliation would be used for "only parts" of the bill. But why didn't he say that in the first place?

Hatch grandly cited "America's Founders" as wanting the Senate to be about "deliberation." But the Founders said nothing in the Constitution about the filibuster, let alone "reconciliation." Judging from what they put in the actual document, the Founders would be appalled at the idea that every major bill should need the votes of three-fifths of the Senate to pass.

Hatch quoted Sens. Robert Byrd and Kent Conrad, both Democrats, as opposing the use of reconciliation on health care. What he didn't say is that Byrd's comment from a year ago was about passing the entire bill under reconciliation, which no one is proposing. As for Conrad, he made clear to The Post's Ezra Klein this week that it's perfectly appropriate to use reconciliation "to improve or perfect the package," which is the only thing that Democrats have proposed doing through reconciliation.

Hatch said that reconciliation should not be used for "substantive legislation" unless the legislation has "significant bipartisan support." But surely the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, which were passed under reconciliation and increased the deficit by $1.7 trillion during his presidency, were "substantive legislation." The 2003 dividends tax cut could muster only 50 votes. Vice President Dick Cheney had to break the tie. Talk about "ramming through."

The underlying "principle" here seems to be that it's fine to pass tax cuts for the wealthy on narrow votes but an outrage to use reconciliation to help middle-income and poor people get health insurance.

I'm disappointed in Hatch, co-sponsor of two of my favorite bills in recent years. One created the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The other, signed last year by Obama, broadly expanded service opportunities. Hatch worked on both with his dear friend, the late Edward M. Kennedy, after whom the service bill was named.

It was Kennedy, you'll recall, who insisted that health care was "a fundamental right and not a privilege." That's why it's not just legitimate to use reconciliation to complete the work on health reform. It would be immoral to do otherwise and thereby let a phony argument about process get in the way of health coverage for 30 million Americans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/03/AR201003...

toniD's Ya Think?

thanks cent

AIG employees make the case for letting them go bankrupt
by Chris in Paris on 3/04/2010 11:25:00 PM
What a bunch of arrogant, self-serving, ungrateful jerks. There's no sense of appreciation for the fact that their entire company - bonuses, salaries, insurance, etc - was saved by taxpayers who were already in trouble due to AIG's behavior. Screw your contracts folks. What kind of contract would they have had if the company no longer existed? The unemployment line doesn't pay quite as well. They still have no idea how angry the rest of the country really is.

" But behind closed doors, employees at AIG's Financial Products division -- the very unit whose trading had hastened the insurance giant's collapse -- were defiant, saying they were merely getting what they were due, recoiling at public accusations that they were behind their capitalizing on the company's massive taxpayer bailout.

"I will stand behind every action I have taken in this company from Day One," one employee said, according to a newly obtained transcript of a conference call the division's head held last March with some of his staff.

But when another employee asked whether the staff would be getting a second round of bonuses promised for March 2010, his colleagues burst into laughter, apparently considering this a preposterous notion amid the public outrage. "

But of course, those bonuses will be paid after all. None of the pampered Wall Street types felt very much of the financial pain they inflicted on the rest of the world so it's no wonder they have such a sense of entitlement. Not letting more companies fall or at least trashing every last contract before taking them over remains a major mistake of both the Bush and Obama administrations.

http://www.americablog.com/2010/03/aig-employees-make-case-for-letting.h...

toniD's Ya Think?

Obama promises to pursue a public option later

Raul Grivalja, co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, made some waves the other day by suggesting he was leaning against voting for the health-care reform bill. I've stopped covering daily statements like that one, as it's too difficult to figure out whether they mean "I don't want to vote for this bill" or "I want something in exchange for voting for this bill." A statement just released by the Grivalja press office makes this look like a case of the latter:

“The meeting with President Obama today was productive and necessary, and I was glad to hear him speak frankly about where we stand on health care legislation. He said the public option – a well-known and long-standing progressive priority – lacks enough Senate support to be included in the final package. However, he personally committed to pursue a public option after passage of the current bill.

I remain concerned about elements of the bill, but was encouraged by the president’s outreach and interest in a substantive discussion. We agree that expanding health care access and quality, while bringing down costs, is a top priority this year, and I intend to continue playing a constructive role until Congress holds its final vote.”

I've long wondered why Obama didn't promise this a while ago. A bill offering a public option and Medicare buy-in to age 55 would be a popular bill, and a good bill, and could be done after health-care reform had passed. The administration and others like to say that the Senate legislation is just a start, and they should begin acting on that belief. Pass the start, and then begin trying to make it better with smaller, discrete bills that are easier to message and pass.

By Ezra Klein | March 4, 2010; 5:46 PM ET

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/03/obama_promises_to_pu...

I hope, if the progressives go for this that Obama keeps his word. Social Security and Medicare hit the same brick wall and Medicare was passed through reconciliation. It did and does today have to be tweaked but it is a good program for the Seniors. Do we pass a bill that's less than perfect and change things later, or do we let it die and risk that we will all beat the mercy of the Insurance companies?
It's easy to ay let it die, but which will be worse?

toniD's Ya Think?

CHRISTIAN HATE GROUP TERRORIZES TOWN
'Repent Amarillo' fashions itself as a sort of militia and targets a wide range of community members they deem offensive to their theology: gays, liberal Christians, Muslims, environmentalists, breast cancer events

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/04/texas-taliban/

toniD's Ya Think?

Blanche Lincoln condemns her own party in ad
A conservative Democratic senator may have angered more than just the progressive base with her new ad.

http://rawstory.com/2010/03/democratic-touts-opposition-progressive-prio...

toniD's Ya Think?

Chilcot Inquiry
Brown - Iraq war was the right decision despite deaths

Gordon Brown today voiced his sadness at the huge loss of life in the conflict in Iraq.

Making his long-awaited appearance before the Chilcot Inquiry, the Prime Minister expressed "regrets" at failures to plan properly for the aftermath of the invasion.

"Any loss of life is something that makes us very sad indeed," he said.

"Nobody wants to go to war, nobody wants to see innocent people die, nobody wants to see their forces put at risk of their lives.

"Nobody would want to make this decision except in the gravest of circumstances where we were sure that we were doing the right thing.

Video: Brown at the Iraq Inquiry

"I think it was the right decision and made for the right reasons."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/brown--iraq-war-was-the-right...

FBI paid racist shock jock Hal Turner ‘in excess of $100,000′

By Stephen C. Webster

Turning informant on your fans can be lucrative, if you're a shock jock by the name of Hal Turner.

Amid a trial where Turner faces criminal charges for making threats of violence against public servants, he disclosed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation paid him "in excess of $100,000" over a five-year period.

Turner, a long-time racist radio host who attracted an audience of white supremacists and neonazis, was first revealed as an FBI informant in 2008. After becoming the subject of ridicule on infamous Internet forum 4chan, Turner was confronted by hackers on his site's discussion boards with copies of e-mails he'd allegedly sent to the FBI, bragging about how he'd helped in "flush[ing] out another crazy."

The arrest came after Turner called for the murder of three judges.

"Let me be the first to say this plainly: these Judges deserve to be killed," he wrote on his Web site, according to MSNBC. "He included their pictures, phone numbers, work address and room numbers along with a photo of the courthouse in which they work and a map of its location, the FBI says."

"In gripping testimony on Tuesday, all three Chicago appellate court judges took the stand and said they felt threatened by Turner’s blog posting..." NorthJersey.com reported. The publication also revealed details about Turner's compensation on the public's dime.

According to Turner's lawyer, the shock jock was specially trained to incite fringe individuals. "His job was basically to publish information which would cause other parties to act in a manner which would lead to their arrest," attorney Michael Orozco said.

Turner's famously vile broadcasts began in 2002, though the one-time Pat Buchanan campaign coordinator did not begin his relationship with the FBI until 2003. Before Turner began his work in radio, he was a frequent guest on the Sean Hannity radio show in New Jersey. Turner ceased broadcasting in 2008 amid an investigation into his increasingly violent rhetoric.

A judge in December declared proceedings against Turner a mistrial after the jury became deadlocked on an argument of whether hate speech is protected under the First Amendment. The trial was postponed and moved to Brooklyn, where it resumed on March 1.

http://rawstory.com/2010/03/fbi-paid-racist-shock-jock-hal-turner-in-exc...

toniD's Ya Think?

Mubarak's challenger can't rely on a fair race

".....t now the former head of the UN's nuclear agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, says that if there's a fair election next year, he might stand for president. "If" is a big word in Egyptian politics, however, and the saintly ElBaradei shows no sign of appreciating just how tough are his chances. He has called for changes in the Egyptian constitution and an end to emergency laws. But even he must realise that Hosni Mubarak will not be shaking in his shoes at this news."

But ElBaradei has other problems. Some opposition politicians in Egypt believe that he did not do enough to prevent the US invasion of Iraq, accuse him of wanting to play Hamid Karzai in a new pro-American Egypt, and even suggest that there should be a mock trial of the Nobel Prize winner for his failure to stop the American occupation of Iraq. Egyptian politics is an unkind sport.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-mubar...

Official: Pentagon shooter
was well armed
The well-dressed gunman mortally wounded after firing at and injuring two Pentagon police officers was armed with two 9 millimeter semiautomatic weapons and carried several magazines of ammunition, the chief of the Pentagon police said Friday.

LINK

toniD's Ya Think?

Submitted by toniD on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 9:31am.
CHRISTIAN HATE GROUP TERRORIZES TOWN
------

Did you see Rachel Maddow last night? She did a segment on a group similar to the one above. Frank Schaeffer was a guest and gave commentary. I most say ToniD, I found it hilarious. It was a bunch of old white guys. Some appeared definitely to have one foot in the grave- and the other on a banana peel.

However, we can expect another mass shooting. You know it's coming.

By James K. Galbraith
(2 pages)

...the deficit phobia of Wall Street, the corporate media and the right-wing economists. Bankers don't like budget deficits because they compete with bank loans as a source of growth. When a bank makes a loan, cash balances in private hands also go up. But now the cash is not owned free and clear. There is a contractual obligation to pay interest and to repay principal. If the enterprise defaults, there may be an asset left over--a house or factory or company--that will then become the property of the bank. It's easy to see why bankers love private credit but hate public deficits.

All of this should be painfully obvious, but it is deeply obscure. It is obscure because legions of Wall Streeters--led notably in our time by Peter Peterson and his front man, former comptroller general David Walker, and including the Robert Rubin wing of the Democratic Party and numerous "bipartisan" enterprises like the Concord Coalition and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget--have labored mightily to confuse the issues. These spirits never uttered a single word of warning about the financial crisis, which originated on Wall Street under the noses of their bag men. But they constantly warn, quite falsely, that the government is a "super subprime" "Ponzi scheme," which it is not.

We also hear, from the same people, about the impending "bankruptcy" of Social Security, Medicare--even the United States itself. Or of the burden that public debts will "impose on our grandchildren." Or about "unfunded liabilities" supposedly facing us all. All of this forms part of one of the great misinformation campaigns of all time.

The misinformation is rooted in what many consider to be plain common sense. It may seem like homely wisdom, especially, to say that "just like the family, the government can't live beyond its means." But it's not. In these matters the public and private sectors differ on a very basic point. Your family needs income in order to pay its debts. Your government does not.

Private borrowers can and do default. They go bankrupt (a protection civilized societies afford them instead of debtors' prisons). Or if they have a mortgage, in most states they can simply walk away from their house if they can no longer continue to make payments on it.

With government, the risk of nonpayment does not exist. Government spends money (and pays interest) simply by typing numbers into a computer. Unlike private debtors, government does not need to have cash on hand. As the inspired amateur economist Warren Mosler likes to say, the person who writes Social Security checks at the Treasury does not have the phone number of the tax collector at the IRS. If you choose to pay taxes in cash, the government will give you a receipt--and shred the bills. Since it is the source of money, government can't run out.

It's true that government can spend imprudently. Too much spending, net of taxes, may lead to inflation, often via currency depreciation--though with the world in recession, that's not an immediate risk. Wasteful spending--on unnecessary military adventures, say--burns real resources. But no government can ever be forced to default on debts in a currency it controls. Public defaults happen only when governments don't control the currency in which they owe debts--as Argentina owed dollars or as Greece now (it hasn't defaulted yet) owes euros. But for true sovereigns, bankruptcy is an irrelevant concept. When Obama says, even offhand, that the United States is "out of money," he's talking nonsense--dangerous nonsense. One wonders if he believes it....
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100322/galbraith

Jon Stewart Chatroulette: Daily Show Host Runs Into Brian Williams, Katie Couric, Keith Olbermann (VIDEO)

An online service called Chatroulette has caught the attention of Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who took a spin on the site for a segment on Thursday's program.

The service, which randomly matches two webcam users for a conversation, somehow managed to connect Stewart with a number of prominent newscasters and members of the Daily Show cast. What are the odds?

WATCH: at link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/05/jon-stewart-chatroulette_n_4867...

toniD's Ya Think?

MSG recallled because of salmonella Tennessee
Submitted by taozen on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 7:50am.
http://samsedershow.com/node/5693#comment-398759

The story on Hydrolyzed veg protein
Submitted by taozen on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 8:29am.
http://samsedershow.com/node/5693#comment-398765

...I've been noticing how I was feeling after eating Chinese food. With the help of your posts and others, and realizing I am not getting any younger :/, I've been paying attention to what I am eating and how I feel by keeping a food diary. I read labels when I shop and even started cooking (I have never been domestic so I look for simple and quick recipes) instead of relying on processed foods. For Christmas, I got a fitness gym membership for my niece and got one for myself (although she doesn't want me to be there when she is or acknowledge her if I am--teenagers:\) at a discount because she attends the neighborhood school.

You all are an inspiration in sooooo many ways!

Wall Street Vet Involved In 1998 Long-Term Capital Management Bailout Says Nothing Has Changed

Ten years before this latest crisis, the U.S. government engineered the bailout of a financial firm that had borrowed billions of dollars to make big bets on exotic securities. The firm was a hedge fund called Long-Term Capital Management.

James G. Rickards, as the firm's top lawyer, negotiated the terms of the $3.6 billion deal, organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, that forced other Wall Street firms to bail out LTCM. And now, in an interview with a brokerage newsletter, he says the federal government has failed to apply any of the lessons learned from that epic 1998 bailout -- a failure that led to the current crisis and could lead to more.

Rickards also says that megabanks should be broken up, all derivatives should be traded via a clearinghouse, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be liquidated, and more financial regulation is needed.

"Western capital markets came to the brink of collapse in 1998, when hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, with a trillion dollar web of counterparty risk at all the major banks and brokers of the time, failed," Rickards said in an interview with Welling@Weeden, a publication of Weeden & Co., an institutional broker. "Then Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and Robert Rubin, who at that juncture was Treasury Secretary, called it the worst financial crisis in 50 years.

"What strikes me now, looking back, is how nothing was changed; no lessons were applied. Even though the lessons were obvious, in 1998," he said. "Risk models needed to be changed, or abandoned. Leverage had to be slashed. Derivatives had to be traded on exchanges or cleared through clearinghouses. Regulatory oversight needed to be ramped up."

But instead, he notes, "the government did just the opposite. Glass-Steagall was repealed in 1999, so that banks could become hedge funds. The Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000 permitted the creation of more unregulated derivatives. The Basel II Accords [a global bank regulatory framework] and changes in SEC regulations 2004 permitted more leverage.

"The U.S., in effect, stared near-catastrophe in the eye, with LTCM, and decided to double-down."
Story continues below

The financial blog Zero Hedge spotlighted the published interview on Thursday.

Rickards also expresses concern about the greater concentration of money in Wall Street. He says the toxic assets are still there, although the Fed and the Treasury have "helped paper things over by changing the accounting rules."

And he outlines two possible scenarios: "Either the slide resumes and we finally get to the market bottom that we never hit in 2009, or they keep printing money to paper it over, eventually destroying the dollar and undermining the entire economy."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/05/wall-street-vet-involved_n_4866...

toniD's Ya Think?

Greece Bonds Sell Off The Charts As Nation Raises Badly-Needed Cash

ATHENS -- (Nicholas Paphitis, AP): Greece raised badly needed cash with a successful bond issue Thursday, passing a key test of its ability to avoid a disastrous debt default and dig out of a financial crisis that has shaken the European Union.

The bond was oversubscribed -- meaning more takers than there were bonds available -- within an hour of the book opening.

A Finance Ministry statement said the bond has been three times oversubscribed, with 15 billion euros ($20.5 billion) in offers received. The government took 5 billion euros ($6.8 billion), offering a 6.3% yield.

The ministry said the high level of offers "shows that despite the extremely difficult circumstances, investor confidence in the Greek economy remains strong."

The sale is a key test of Greece's ability to raise money to pay off expiring bonds and avoid default. The offering came a day after debt-ridden Greece detailed a new round of painful austerity measures, including salary cuts for civil servants, pension freezes and tax hikes on cigarettes, alcohol, luxury goods and gems.

Labor unions fiercely oppose those measures, and have announced protests for Friday, when parliament is set to approve draft legislation on the new austerity plan that aims at euro4.8 billion ($6.55 billion) in budget savings this year.

The measures were intended to show markets that the government is serious about getting spending under control and will have the money to pay its debts.
Story continues below

Greece has to borrow some euro54 billion ($74 billion) through sovereign debt issues this year, and has so far raised around euro13 billion ($18 billion), including treasury bill sales. It has around euro20 billion ($27 billion) worth of debt maturing in April and May. But low market confidence in the country has translated into extremely high borrowing costs for Athens, and the government has been seeking a way to borrow at more reasonable rates.

Greece is pressing its European Union partners for stronger support in return for its harsh austerity plan, saying it needed a vote of confidence that would calm the markets. Prime Minister George Papandreou is to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel whose country has the 16-nation eurozone's biggest economy, in Berlin Friday, and with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris Sunday. more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/05/greece-bonds-sell-off-the_n_487...

toniD's Ya Think?

CNBC Panel Freaks Out At The Suggestion That Predatory Lending Happened At Any Time Ever (VIDEO)

CJR's Ryan Chittum posts this great video of CNBC anchor-droids just straight up losing their minds the moment Janet Tavakoli, president of Tavakoli Structured Finance, dares to suggest that predatory lending ever existed on the Planet Earth.

Tavakoli even moderates her comment, telling the other CNBC boxes that there is "plenty of blame to go around" in the housing crisis, but no matter! As soon as she reports that people "were preyed upon," Larry Kudlow and Melissa Francis just go nuts, pretending as if the entire lending industry was not "set up to be more profitable when loans fail." And check out Tavakoli's blog, in which she brilliantly dissects the absurdity of her co-panelists' arguments on the show.

WATCH: at link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/cnbc-panel-freaks-out-at_n_4864...

toniD's Ya Think?

even offhand, that the United States is "out of money," he's talking nonsense

of course he is

if you're out of money for real you always are, not only when it comes to social programs; you also are when it comes to starting wars and bailing banks out

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for becoming a citizen co-sponsor of my SOS, Stop Outsourcing Security, bill

. Not a week goes by that we don't learn of serious misconduct by a private military contractor. We're talking here about murder, stealing weapons, jeopardizing missions, putting our soldiers at risk, ripping off taxpayers, alienating allies, sexual abuse and more.

SOS, which is sponsored in the Senate by Bernie Sanders (I-VT),would require the phasing out of armed mercenaries who engage in sensitive mission-related activities including guarding convoys, training troops and police, administering military prisons, performing military intelligence and repairing weapons. The bill numbers are H.R. 4650 in the House and S. 3023 in the Senate, and so far we have 18 co-sponsors in the House, Representatives Baldwin, Conyers, Ellison, Filner, Gonzalez, Grijalva, Gutierrez, Hall, Hinchey, Holt, Lee, Maloney, McGovern, Gwen Moore, Polis, Shea-Porter, Stark and Woolsey.

The latest episode to be revealed would be funny if it weren't so serious. An employee of Paravant (aka Blackwater) named Eric Cartman was issued weapons intended for the Afghan Army. Just a few problems with that. There is no such employee of Paravant, but there is a South Park cartoon character (pretty crude guy) with that name. Ha, ha. Mr. Cartman was pretty excited to get "sidearms for everyone" in his Paravant group even though employees weren't authorized to use weapons. Overall, more than 500 weapons ended up issued under this scam.

Most Americans aren't aware that up to 30% of our armed forces in Afghanistan are hired guns who are not subject to the same rules, oversight or accountability as our uniformed military. It is estimated that 40 cents of every dollar spent on the wars goes to all contractors. When the war dead are counted, contractors are left out. When Americans are told of troop increases, these mercenaries are not counted. The scope of our involvement and the size of the U.S. footprint in Iraq and Afghanistan are masked by the use of these taxpayer funded private contractors. It's clear that we have become reliant on them to conduct war.

What can you do? Plenty - and you have taken the first step. We need to build a constituency around this issue with the goal of passing the SOS bill. In addition to your name, I need your help to gather more citizen co-sponsors.
http://salsa.mydccc.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1Z%2Be%2BSEoyqCAmNY3ferFxp8Y...

One more fact: It is reported that Blackwater is in line for a $1 BILLION contract to train the Afghan National Army. We need to stop it. Thanks for your help!

Jan Schakowsky

toniD's Ya Think?

#1 evariste at 10:59 pm on Mar 04, 2010
Who needs teleprompters when a studio can simply insert canned laughter?

I’ve dealt with sound engineering for 30 years, as a film maker, interviewer, musician, working with master reel to reel tapes/decks at EMS Music in Seattle in the 80’s as a sound duplication engineer, or setting sound levels for my and other bands in live situations at shows. I won a Hollywood award for animation in 2000. I know sound. And it’s my opinion that audio portions of Sarah Palin’s March 2nd appearance on Jay Leno’s Tonight show were added or amplified, edited before broadcast to make it appear that Sarah Palin was more welcome than she was.

I know. I was there.

They added laughter where there was none during uncomfortable portions. Well, there was some laughter. Mine, of derision. During those pregnant pauses in her performance I was laughing long and loud, couldn’t help myself as much of what she was saying was utterly surreal, ridiculous, hypocritical - nonsense, spewed platitudes, pushed buttons. I was seriously thinking of leaving as it was getting hysterically unfunny.

After sitting through the taping of the show in the studio I can recount many portions where there was little or no laughter or response, but at the later broadcast they are smoothed over with applause and laughter that WERE NOT THERE at the taping. Groans, hoots, grumbling, or just dead silence - all missing.

Soon after leaving the studio I basically tweeted, “Hey, was in the belly of the beast, attended taping of Palin on Tonight show, she bombed.” Retweets abounded, let folks know that they could listen to my jeering laughter during dead spots in the interview, jokes no one laughed at, etc, and many folks cursed me for making them think about watching her on Leno that night. We all had a good chuckle - but I wasn’t laughing at the broadcast, because selective miking during a “live edit” or later additions made it appear as if I’d lied nearly as much as Sarah Palin does.

http://discardedlies.com/entry/?52891_the-tonight-show-crowd-hated-palin...

Thanks, glad learn that audience wasn't insane.

Methane is leaking into the atmosphere from unstable permafrost in the Arctic Ocean faster than scientists had thought and could worsen global warming, a study said Thursday.

Methane is leaking into the atmosphere from unstable permafrost in the Arctic Ocean faster than scientists had thought and could worsen global warming, a study said Thursday.

"This discovery reveals a large but overlooked source of methane gas escaping from permafrost underwater, rather than on land," the study said.

"More widespread emissions could have dramatic effects on global warming in the future."

Earlier studies in Siberia had focused on methane escaping from thawing permafrost on land.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/05-6

by Dave Zirin

.....Ground zero of the student protest movement is the University of California at Berkeley. Over at Berkeley, students are facing 32% tuition hikes, while the school pays football coach Jeff Tedford 2.8 million dollars a year and i