The Lies Have Not Improved

Republicans are assholes

2012-02-02T20:20:00.002-06:00

Santorum to sick kid: Don’t complain about $1 million drug costs

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told the mother of a child with a rare genetic disorder on Tuesday that she shouldn’t have a problem paying $1 million a year for drugs because Apple’s iPad can cost around $900.

Speaking to more than 400 people at Woodland Park, Colorado, the former Pennsylvania senator said that demand should set prices for drugs.

“People have no problem paying $900 for an iPad,” the candidate explained. “But paying $900 for a drug they have a problem with — it keeps you alive. Why? Because you’ve been conditioned to think health care is something you can get without having to pay for it.”

The mother replied that she could not afford her son’s medication, Abilify, which can cost as much as $1 million a year without health insurance.

“Look, I want your son and everybody to have the opportunity to stay alive on much-needed drugs,” Santorum insisted. “But the bottom line is, we have to give companies the incentive to make those drugs. And if they don’t have the incentive to make those drugs, your son won’t be alive and lots of other people in this country won’t be alive.”

“He’s alive today because drug companies provide care,” the candidate continued. “And if they didn’t think they could make money providing that drug, that drug wouldn’t be here. I sympathize with these compassionate cases. … I want your son to stay alive on much-needed drugs. Fact is, we need companies to have incentives to make drugs. If they don’t have incentives, they won’t make those drugs. We either believe in markets or we don’t.”

Republicans are idiots

2012-02-02T19:58:00.002-06:00

Alabama Republican Senator: Low teacher pay mandated by God

By Stephen C. Webster Thursday, February 2, 2012 12:10 EST

A Republican State Senator from Alabama claimed this week that keeping teacher salaries low is actually an order from the Christian deity figure, imparted in ancient texts written by Jewish tribesmen thousands of years ago.

Speaking at a prayer breakfast recently, Alabama state Senator Shadrack McGill praised giving pay raises to politicians, saying that it helps to prevent bribery. Then he shifted gears and went in the opposite direction with regards to teachers, arguing against a bill that would increase their salaries.

“Teachers need to make the money that they need to make,” he said, according to Alabama newspaper The Times-Journal. “There needs to be a balance there. If you double what you’re paying education, you know what’s going to happen? I’ve heard the comment many times, ‘Well, the quality of education’s going to go up.’ That’s never proven to happen, guys.

“It’s a Biblical principle. If you double a teacher’s pay scale, you’ll attract people who aren’t called to teach. To go and raise someone’s child for eight hours a day, or many people’s children for eight hours a day, requires a calling. It better be a calling in your life. I know I wouldn’t want to do it, OK?”

He continued: “And these teachers that are called to teach, regardless of the pay scale, they would teach. It’s just in them to do. It’s the ability that God give ‘em. And there are also some teachers, it wouldn’t matter how much you would pay them, they would still perform to the same capacity. “If you don’t keep that in balance, you’re going to attract people who are not called, who don’t need to be teaching our children. So, everything has a balance.”

McGill voted in favor of a 67 percent pay raise for lawmakers in 2007.

Alabama ranks 31st in the nation in average teacher salaries, although the state did see an 11 percent increase in teacher pay from 2007-2009. The state’s Republicans have adopted so-called “right to work” laws that forbid public employees from collectively bargaining for better wages and benefits.

$16 Trillion in Secret Bailouts

2011-10-26T09:21:00.004-05:00

Audit of the Federal Reserve Reveals $16 Trillion in Secret Bailouts:
The first ever GAO (Government Accountability Office) audit of the Federal Reserve was carried out in the past few months due to the Ron Paul, Alan Grayson Amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill, which passed last year. Jim DeMint, a Republican Senator, and Bernie Sanders, an independent Senator, led the charge for a Federal Reserve audit in the Senate, but watered down the original language of the house bill(HR1207), so that a complete audit would not be carried out. Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, and various other bankers vehemently opposed the audit and lied to Congress about the effects an audit would have on markets.

What was revealed in the audit was startling: $16,000,000,000,000.00 had been secretly given out to US banks and corporations and foreign banks everywhere from France to Scotland. From the period between December 2007 and June 2010, the Federal Reserve had secretly bailed out many of the world’s banks, corporations, and governments. The Federal Reserve likes to refer to these secret bailouts as an all-inclusive loan program, but virtually none of the money has been returned and it was loaned out at 0% interest. Why the Federal Reserve had never been public about this or even informed the United States Congress about the $16 trillion dollar bailout is obvious — the American public would have been outraged to find out that the Federal Reserve bailed out foreign banks while Americans were struggling to find jobs.

View the 266-page GAO audit of the Federal Reserve(July 21st, 2011): http://www.scribd.com/doc/60553686/GAO-Fed-Investigation
Source: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-696
FULL PDF on GAO server: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11696.pdf
Senator Sander’s Article: http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9e2a4ea8-6e73-4be2-a753-62060dcbb3c3

Chinese Traffic Cameras In Heze City, Shandong Capture Gruesome Accidents (VIDEO)

2011-03-30T13:28:00.001-05:00

It looks like, in many cases, that both parties are at fault. Do the people on the 2-wheelers not look to the left or right as they drive thru the intersection? In any case they are ALL idiots who do not know how to drive.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tax Season is Almost Upon Us--But Just You and Me Because Corporations Do Not Pay Taxes

2011-03-04T11:54:00.005-06:00

GE had $10.3 billion in pretax income, but paid NOTHING to Uncle Sam. Exxon Mobil had $45.2 billion PROFIT, paid none of it to the IRS. Corp tax shelter tricks shift a $100 billion annual tax burden onto US taxpayers. In 2008 the GAO found that “2 out of every 3 US corps paid NO federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005."

I know the argument from the Right about "oh they create jobs and if yuo tax them they'll hire fewer people or increase the prices on their products." But guess what, when you tax the common worker he can't buy as much so the corps sell less and that causes corps to make less. You must tax someone, so why is always joe six pack who has to pay the tax adn not the mega-corp?

This is how anti-tax Republicans are, at least for corporations. They literally think that even when corps pay ZERO taxes, the corps are being taxed too much.

At the Tea Party summit last weekend, THINKPROGRESS spoke to former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), a prospective GOP presidential candidate, about corporate tax cheats. Asked about Bank of America, another wildly profitable American bank that paid nothing in corporate taxes in 2009, Pawlenty simply relied “Well actually the corporate tax rate in Minnesota and around the country is too high.” Reminded several times that Bank of America doesn’t pay it’s corporate taxes, regardless of rates, Pawlenty said that both exemptions and rates should be lowered. However, he again emphasized that he was not troubled, or even aware, of corporate tax dodging, and that corporate tax rates should be reduced:

FANG: Governor, today liberals are demonstrating all over the country in what CBS has called a liberal version of the Tea Party. Their main complaint is that a lot of corporations aren’t paying their fair share. For example, Bank of America, in 2009 paid nothing in corporate income taxes, same with ExxonMobil, GE, and a lot of other big corporations. Do you think corporations like Bank of America should pay their fair share? What are your thoughts on that?

PAWLENTY: Well actually the corporate tax rate in Minnesota and around the country is too high. And I think one thing we could and should do is–

FANG: You think zero is too high with Bank of America paying nothing?

PAWLENTY: We have the highest corporate tax rate, or one of them, in the world–

FANG: But they use loopholes and offshore bank accounts to pay nothing.

PAWLENTY: The things I’ve called for is reducing tax rates and looking at exemptions or special deals within the tax code that give certain companies privileges or benefits. I can’t speak individually to any country, company would get in that regard, but I think one goal or direction is to simplify and reduce tax rates and clean out as many of the special deals as possible.

FANG: To be clear, do you think Bank of America pays too much in taxes already?

PAWLENTY: I don’t know what Bank of America pays in taxes. I’ll just say, setting aside Bank of America, the corporate tax rate in America is too high compared to our competitor nations.

Watch the video here:http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/02/pawlenty-bofa-taxes/

Palin's Homer Moment: Celebrity Sarah Confronted by Citizen (WATCH)

2010-08-09T19:38:00.001-05:00

Why couldn't she have been happy with her 15 minutes. She's going to try to drag this on for 15 years. God help us.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Defiant Brit struts through Dubai mall in a bikini

2010-08-05T17:38:00.002-05:00

This is what happens when the government is ruled by Religion.

Defiant Brit struts through Dubai mall in a bikini
By The Associated Press
Thursday, August 5th, 2010

A British woman stripped down to her bikini and strutted defiantly through a swanky Dubai mall after an Emirati woman covered head-to-toe in black confronted her for wearing a low-cut shirt, police said Thursday.

Mall security detained both women and took them to a police station for questioning Wednesday. They were released later in the day after the Emirati woman lodged a complaint for public indecency against the Briton, said a police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Police said the British woman, whose name was not released, was shopping in the five-star Dubai Mall when the Emirati woman approached her and criticized her for wearing a shirt she felt violated the conservative dress code followed by most women in this Muslim country.

The two argued, then the Briton stripped down to her bikini and walked through the mall filled with luxury shops and near hotels with swimming pools.

The mall, one of the world's largest, has signs asking shoppers to dress modestly, although Westerners routinely ignore the advisories.

The incident is the latest in a string of cases involving Westerners in Dubai, a cosmopolitan, city-state with the most lenient social codes in the Gulf but a tendency to crackdown on foreigners who ignore the rules.

In March, a British couple was sentenced to a month in jail for kissing in public while an Indian couple was sentenced to three months' prison for exchanging steamy text messages.

In 2008, two Britons accused of having sex on the beach got three months behind bars, though their sentences were later suspended.

Source: AP News

Let this be a lesson to all the Tea-Partiers and Right-Wing extremists that want the rule of God before the rule of the Constitution.

Validation that Factcheck.org is Fair and Balanced

2010-07-23T10:35:00.003-05:00

Factcheck.org is a fantastic source for ferreting out the truth in statements that politicians make. The right always attacks Factcheck.org as a liberal, smear outlet.
This recent email from Factcheck.org shows that they call bullshit on ANY politician, regardless of party.

FactCheck.org's Friday Update

Have we missed something? If you have been targeted by a false or misleading political message that we haven't covered -- such as a dubious campaign mailing, a robocall or chain e-mail -- send it to us at editor@FactCheck.org

The FactCheck Wire posted these new items during the week ending July 23, 2010
(Follow the links to read complete posts)

Whitman: Brown Is Plan-Free
A new ad in the California governor's race misleads viewers just a bit.

Let's Get to Work -- On the Facts
The political committee backed by Florida gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott's wife falsely attacks Attorney General Bill McCollum, again.

Shirley Sherrod’s Contextual Nightmare
The USDA employee lost her job for words taken out of context.

Mud and Oil Don’t Mix in Wisconsin Senate Race
Democrat Feingold and Republican Johnson make misleading, dueling claims about drilling in the Great Lakes.

Obama Wrong on GOP, Small Business Criticism
The president falsely says Republicans repeatedly blocked small-business help.

A False Attack on a Palin-backed “Mama Grizzly”
In the GOP gubernatorial primary in Georgia, Oxendine's attack on Handel falls well short of the truth.

Anti-Reid Ad Distorts Truth on Stimulus, Unemployment
A Republican political committee falsely attacks the Nevada senator.

Congress wants $33 Billion supplement for Afghanistan War

2010-06-24T08:58:00.004-05:00

American taxpayers can't afford the endless occcupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. We've already borrowed over $1 trillion and sacrificed over 5,535 soldiers.

Sorry, but with Triliions of dollars of debt and no way to finance the wars, we have no other choice but to say No to more money for the wars. That is unless the American people agree to start paying for the wars with a special War-Tax.

The American people do not get it, they don not understand that we have Triliion dollar debts BECAUSE of the un-funded wars that Bush started but did not come close to finishing.

A vote for NO for more war supplements is a vote YES for reducing the red ink in which our country is drowning.

Republicans want YOU! To Pay for the clean up in the Gulf

2010-06-18T11:12:00.005-05:00

This is unbelievable. Republican Congressman Joe Barton personally apologized to BP in a congressional hearing this week.

Earlier this week Minnesota Republican Michelle Bachman called the $20 Billion BP escrow fund that will be used to pay for the oil clean up and damages to residents a "redistribution-of-wealth fund" and that BP was being "fleeced" by the government and the people of the Gulf who can no longer fish, serve seafood in restaurants, fill hotel rooms, and get tourists to come to the Gulf in the summertime and are therefore going out of business.
AND even worse, on his June 10 radio address, GOP Leader John Boehner said that Taxpayers Should help Pay For This BP Oil Mess.

Also, the Republican-supporting US Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue said he opposes efforts to stick BP, a member of the Chamber, with the bill.

Donohue said "Everybody is going to contribute to this clean up. We are all going to have to do it. We are going to have to get the money from the government (taxpayers) and from the companies and we will figure out a way to do that."

While Congress and President Obama are working hard to ensure that BP provides relief to the victims in the Gulf region -- and that the oil giant is held accountable for the damage it's done -- Republicans are saying they're sorry. A committee of 114 Republicans in the House even called the $20 billion victims' relief fund a "shakedown."

These apologies are offensive -- and they need to stop.

Join me in telling Republicans that the American people support holding BP accountable -- and we're not going to apologize for it!

http://my.barackobama.com/NoApologies-auto

Thanks.

Hooray for us. Please don't move here.

2010-05-28T13:09:00.003-05:00

Thursday, May 27, 2010, 7:56am CDT
Austin called 'crucible for small business

Austin was picked as the No. 1 best city to live in for the next 10 years in a Kiplinger’s Personal Finance ranking Wednesday.

The magazine cited the capital city's innovative thinking, plentiful music venues, lakes, parks, unique business climate and job-creation tendencies. The report said "arguably the country’s best crucible for small business, Austin has spawned many companies with unique twists that have gone nationwide."

Kiplinger's chose cities with positive business climates, but also unique livability appeal. Others on the list, included No. 2 ranked Seattle; Washington D.C. (No. 3); Boulder, Colo. (No. 4); Salt Lake City, Utah (No. 5); Rochester, Minn. (No. 6); Des Moines, Iowa (No. 7); Burlington, Vt. (No. 8); West Hartford, Conn. (No. 9); and Topeka, Kan. (No. 10).

"Creativity in music, arts and culture, plus neighborhoods and recreational facilities that rank high for ‘coolness,’ attract like-minded professionals who go on to cultivate a region’s business scene," Kiplinger's Senior Editor Robert Frick said.

Austin was also recently ranked 2nd "most innovative" by Forbes.com, 10th most fit in the U.S. by the American College of Sports Medicine, and ninth best quality of life by Portfolio.com.

Thursday, May 27, 2010, 2:09pm CDT
Many Texans paid zero income tax in '08

Texas had the second-highest number of individuals in the country who did not pay any federal income tax in 2008, after allowing for credits and deductions.

A May 24 report from the non-profit Tax Foundation found that 4.2 million of the state’s 10.8 million tax filers had no income tax liability, according to Internal Revenue Service data.

Only California, the most populous state in the country, had a higher number of filers with no income tax liability. Six million of that state’s 16.4 million tax filers paid no income tax in 2008.

A record 52 million tax filers in the U.S. had no tax liability in 2008, IRS figures show, because their credits and deductions reduced their liability to zero.

Overall, 39 percent of Texas tax filers paid no income tax, giving the state a No. 8 ranking overall based on percentage. Mississippi had the highest percentage of tax filers who paid no income tax, at 45 percent, followed by Georgia and Arkansas at 41 percent.

At the other end of the spectrum, Alaska had the lowest percentage of tax filers with no tax liability, at 21 percent. Massachusetts and Connecticut were slightly higher, at 27 percent.

Scott Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation, noted that tax credits such as the child tax credit or earned income tax credit have increased to the point that a family of four with total income of up to $52,000 could expect no tax liability.

Mississippi, which topped the nation in filers with no tax liability, also has the lowest median family income in the country at $46,668.

When the millions of other Americans who have some income but not enough to file a tax return are factored in, some 47 percent of all households pay no income taxes.

All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.

It's Not a Tea Party 'Til Someone's Crazy

2010-04-20T09:58:00.007-05:00

The next election cycle will be very, very telling. We will know, from the number of votes cast, just how large the Tea Party movement is, where it is, and finally be able to put a number to how many Americans are flat out nuts.

I also support feeding their fear so they splinter the GOP, thereby ensuring democrats win any election that has a dem, a republican, and a tea party candidate.

Oh, and there's no way that the Tea Party are a bunch of mindless racists, that's just a bunch of crap made up by the lame stream media.

"Look, I’m a tolerant person. I don’t care about your private life, Lindsey. But as our U.S. senator, I need to figure out why you’re trying to sell out your own countrymen, I need to make sure you being gay isn’t it."

former GOP presidential candidate Tom Tancredo asked, "If his wife says Kenya is his homeland, why don't we just send him back?"

I'm Just Sayin'

2010-04-05T16:53:00.006-05:00

Is the Catholic Church anti-abortion because abortion depletes the Catholic priests' toy boxes?

Health Care Reform Costing Big Bucks?

2010-03-30T11:15:00.003-05:00

Wow, have you heard that some really big U.S. companies are filing SEC documents stating that the newly enacted health care reform is costing them big bucks?

AT&T says it is booking $1Billion in costs; Caterpillar $150 Million, AK Steel $31 Million! That sounds to me like the health care reform is really not doing what politicians said it would do, namely LOWER health care costs for employers. So what’s going on?

Well, if you’ve taken college level accounting (and know a thing a two about these booking costs you would know what the news isn’t telling you.

The “costs” that these companies are “booking” are tax-free government subsidy payments that the companies receive to help these companies pay the cost of health care for their employees. The health care reform has taken away these tax-free government subsidy payments to these companies. In other words, these companies are no longer receiving these HUGE tax-free government checks that they used to get.

It’s NOT that the companies are having to PAY OUT in cash the $1Billion or $150 Million or $31 Million, it’s that these companies are no longer getting government checks, they cannot “book” these checks as tax-free income anymore. The checks issued to these companies by the government are really your tax dollars.

Don’t you feel sorry for them?

The Tea Party loves to vilify the federal government, but have the Partiers stopped Teabagging long enough to realize that maybe the private sector is poorly managed, greedy, and inept as well? Enron, MCI WorldComm, AIG, Arthur Andersen, Global Crossing, Tyco, Qwest,PG&E, Bernie Madoff, etc.

How Healthy is the Rest of the World?

2010-03-22T08:46:00.013-05:00

Republicans have been claiming over and over and over again that the United States has the best health care in the world. But is that a true statement? How do you measure or rate a healthcare system? Do you go by the number of people seen by doctors? The number of people who come to your country for care? The cost? The access? Well a very good measure of how good a country's health care is how long the people live--Life Expectancy. Another great indicator of good health care is how many babies die-- Infant Mortality. Guess where the U.S. is on both those lists.

Top Ten Countries with Highest Life Expectancy:
1.Andorra (near France): 83.51
2.Macau (near China): 82.19
3.San Marino (in Italy): 81.71
4.Singapore: 81.81
5.Hong Kong: 81.59
6.Japan: 81.25
7.Sweden: 80.51
8.Switzerland: 80.51
9.Australia: 80.50
10.Guernsey (in the English Channel): 80.42

Worst Ten Countries by Life Expectancy:
1.Swaziland: 32.63
2.Botswana: 33.74
3.Lesotho: 34.40
4.Zimbabwe: 39.29
5.Liberia: 39.65
6.Mozambique: 39.82
7.Zambia: 40.03
8.Sierra Leone: 40.22
9.Malawi: 41.70
10.South Africa: 42.73
11.Djibouti: 43.17

Other Countries of Interest:
1.Canada: 80.22
2.Italy: 79.81
3.France: 79.73
4.Germany: 78.80
5.United Kingdom: 78.54
6.United States: 77.85
7.Mexico: 75.41
8.China: 72.58
9.Iraq: 69.08
10.Russia: 67.08

Here's another list by the U.N. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

Infant Mortality Rate by Country (source: the U.S. C.I.A.)
This entry gives the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year; included is the total death rate, and deaths by sex, male and female. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.

On the Infant Mortality list, the closer to #1 you are, the more baby deaths you have. In infant mortality, the U.S. has MORE baby deaths than the U.K., ALL the Nordic countries, South Korea, and even Slovenia. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html

Rank # of deaths/1,000
180 United States 6.22 2009 est.
194 United Kingdom 4.85 2009 est.
198 Netherlands 4.73 2009 est.
203 Denmark 4.34 2009 est.
204 South Korea 4.26 2009 est.
221 Japan 2.79 2009 est.

Below is a list of industrialized countries with some form of universal health care.

Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United Kingdom
Japan
Finland
Australia
New Zealand
Czech Republic
South Korea
Hungary
Poland
Slovakia

Now please refer to the list “Top Ten Countries with Highest Life Expectancy” How many countries with highest life expectancy are also on the list of countries that have Universal, government-run health care? Coincidence? No.

The only “modern” country without UHC? The United States.

The lesson of the day is Sometimes it’s okay to go along with the crowd, because the crowd may know better than you do.

America does not have the best health care in the world. We do have great health care, among the best in the world, but not the best in the world for ALL of our citizens. But with the passage of Health Care Reform we might become the best.

Fox Needs a Liberal Dose of Education

2010-03-17T19:26:00.005-05:00

Oh My God!

The Liberals have finally gone too far. Or has Fox News not gone far enough (in hiring fact checkers and journalists with integrity)? This is yet another example of Fox News screwing up the story, spreading lies, causing hysteria and mayhem. When will the madness stop?

Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson says the State Board of Education is considering eliminating Christmas and the Constitution from textbooks Ciara O'Rourke PolitiFact Texas Staff Writer

After spending most of Wednesday gathering public comment, the Texas State Board of Education began hashing out how history, government and economics are taught in Texas public schools.

The board's efforts to revise social studies curriculum standards had drawn national attention, from the Fox News Channel in particular. On Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 Fox & Friends co-anchor Gretchen Carlson sounded scandalized by what the network dubbed the "Texas Textbook Wars."

"Stage set for a bitter debate — the Texas Board of Education begins hearings today on proposed changes to textbooks that could change what students across the country learn," Carlson said. "About history!"

Addressing Jason Moore, a Texas parent who planned to speak at Wednesday's hearing, Carlson said: "So, one of the proposed changes, Jason, is actually to start history class in the year 1877, which would be a big problem for a lot of people, would it not? And eliminate references to certain holidays, Founding Fathers, the Constitution! I mean, no surprise that Christmas, they want to get rid of that because they've been doing that for the last couple of years, but c'mon, the Constitution?"

Come again — we the people will not study the Constitution in school? Christmas nearly kaput?
Moore corrected Carlson on one count — he said the board had made clear that it's not considering eliminating references to the Christian holiday. Carlson didn't acknowledge her goof.

The Texas Education Agency, which oversees primary and secondary education, blasted Fox News for distorting the facts.

"The Fox Network in recent days has repeatedly broadcast highly inaccurate information about the State Board of Education’s efforts to adopt the new social studies curriculum standards," the agency said in a press release.

On Thursday, "Fox & Friends" co-anchor Steve Doocy backpedaled on his colleague's earlier statement. According to a Fox News transcript, Doocy said on the show: “I just want to clarify some stuff, a couple of points. First of all, they were upset that what we said that what they are doing down in Texas is they are developing standards for new textbooks. Technically, what they are doing is they are developing curriculum standards that will set what is taught in classes, and then those standards will become part of a framework that textbooks are based on. We were just trying to make it simpler…

"Also," Doocy said, "we talked about a suggestion that was made that history is, American history starts in the year 1877. That was a suggestion, made first of all, in North Carolina, and we thought we were pretty clear that these were just suggestions, and there have been a lot of suggestions, regarding the founding fathers, and some different dates that may or may not be included in the text . . . . We want to make sure you understand, they were just suggestions, and that is our clarification.”

So Fox admits it erred on what the Texas board is debating: curriculum standards, not textbook content.

Now, what about those Christmas and Constitution deletions Carlson bemoaned?

Let's start with the Christmas brouhaha, which broke out last summer. In standards under revision for sixth-grade world culture courses, the board's Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills review committee recommended replacing Christmas and Rosh Hashanah with the Buddhist and Hindu holiday Diwali as examples of significant religious holidays.

Here's the wording of the committee's proposed July revision with deletions in parentheses: "Culture. The student understands the relationships among religion, philosophy, and culture. The student is expected to a) explain the relationship among religious ideas, philosophical ideas, and cultures; and b) explain the significance of religious holidays and observances such as (Christmas and) Easter, Ramadan, (and) Yom Kippur (and Rosh Hashanah) Diwali in (selected) various contemporary societies."

Critics immediately called the proposed changes "the war on Christmas." When the board met in September, it made clear that those holidays would be put back in — and they were restored in the committee's October revision. Upshot: The board isn't considering removing Christmas from the list of holiday examples.

What about starting the teaching of American history in 1877, leaving out the drafting of the Constitution in 1787 and decades of events after that?

Doocy said on "Fox & Friends" that Carlson was referring to suggestions in North Carolina. He didn't elaborate on why his colleague referred to the Tar Heel State while talking about Texas. We confirmed that while updating its curriculum standards, North Carolina's education board came under fire for a proposed change to spread its teaching of history over several grades so that high school juniors would only study U.S. history post-Reconstruction, after 1877. Currently in that state, U.S history after 1789 is taught in high school.

Texas has long spread its teaching of history over several grades. The Texas Education Agency said: "Texas has and always will teach U.S. History from the beginning until present day. U.S. History through Reconstruction is taught in eighth grade... U.S. history since 1877 is taught in 11th grade."

We found eight references to the Constitution being taught in the proposed revisions to the high school standard, and more than 20 in both the draft middle school and elementary school standards.

So let's review.

First, the board is hammering out changes to state curriculum standards, not textbooks. Second, the board is not considering removing Christmas from a list of various religious holidays. And third, the board has never considered removing the Constitution from history textbooks or the state's curriculum. Nothing is final yet — the board is expected to give final approval to the standards in May.

The "Fox & Friends" anchor made things simple and irresponsibly far-fetched and wrong. We rate Carlson's ridiculous statement as Pants on Fire.

Sarah Palin Makes grandson, Tripp, Use Socialized Indian Health Care System

2010-02-23T10:31:00.003-06:00

I do not understand this. Palin is a millionaire, yet she makes her grandchild use the government-run, taxpayer funded, socialized Indian Health Care System?

Palin has said that "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care," "Such a system is downright evil."

But court documents submitted by lawyers for Bristol Palin show that Levi had not paid health insurance premiums for his son, and that exemptions claimed by Levi were invalid because Tripp is covered by Indian Health Service (IHS). See page eight of the court documents. The IHS is a govt.-run health care system.

The full story is at Rawstory.com

Crazy Republican of the Day: Disabled Kids-- Punishment from God

2010-02-22T18:03:00.004-06:00

SO when did his mom have her abortions? Um, what about the women who have never had an abortion but have a child with a disability?

Disabled kids are God's punishment

RICHMOND — Republican State Delegate Bob Marshall of Manassas says disabled children are God's punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy.

"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children," said Marshall, a Republican.
"In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There's a special punishment Christians would suggest."

According to Marshall, Planned Parenthood receives "about $500,000 a year" from the state.

But Jessica Honke, director of public policy for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, said the only state funding Planned Parenthood receives is from Medicaid reimbursements. That amount was about $35,000 in the 2009 fiscal year, according to the Department of Medical Assistance Services.

America Needs Health Care Reform

2010-02-20T08:22:00.011-06:00

Why does America need Health Care reform?

Top Ten Countries with Highest Life Expectancy:
1.Andorra : 83.51
2.Macau (near China): 82.19
3.San Marino (near Italy): 81.71
4.Singapore: 81.81
5.Hong Kong: 81.59
6.Japan: 81.25
7.Sweden: 80.51
8.Switzerland: 80.51
9.Australia: 80.50
10.Guernsey (in the English Channel): 80.42

Worst Ten Countries by Life Expectancy:
1.Swaziland: 32.63
2.Botswana: 33.74
3.Lesotho: 34.40
4.Zimbabwe: 39.29
5.Liberia: 39.65
6.Mozambique: 39.82
7.Zambia: 40.03
8.Sierra Leone: 40.22
9.Malawi: 41.70
10.South Africa: 42.73
11.Djibouti: 43.17

Other Countries of Interest Not in the Top 10:
Canada: 80.22
Italy: 79.81
France: 79.73
Germany: 78.80
United Kingdom: 78.54
United States: 77.85
Mexico: 75.41
China: 72.58
Iraq: 69.08
Russia: 67.08

Another list from the U.N. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

Infant Mortality Rate by Country (source: the U.S. C.I.A.)

This entry gives the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year; included is the total death rate, and deaths by sex, male and female. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.

On this list, the lower you are on the list, the more baby deaths you have.
In infant mortality, the U.S. has MORE baby deaths than the U.K., ALL the Nordic countries, South Korea, and even Slovenia. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html

180 United States 6.22 2009 est.
194 United Kingdom4.85 2009 est.
198 Netherlands4.73 2009 est.
203 Denmark4.34 2009 est.
204 Korea, South4.26 2009 est.
221 Japan2.79 2009 est.

Below is a list of industrialized countries with some form of universal health care. These countries are populated with borderline Commies who have outrageous taxes and horrendous doctors. These countries are full of waiting rooms, which are filled with sick, sick pinko people. This is sarcasm. Please refer to the list “Top Ten Countries with Highest Life Expectancy” How many countries with highest life expectancy are also on the list of countries that have Universal, government-run health care? Coincidence? No.

Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United Kingdom
Japan
Finland
Australia
New Zealand
Czech Republic
South Korea
Hungary
Poland
Slovakia

The two “modern” countries that do not have UHC?
United States
Mexico

Why do we need health care reform? We need it so that a bureaucrat doesn't get between you and your doctor, like below.

Parents of five-year old sue health insurance company
By Diana Sweet Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 -- 2:32 am

A health insurance provider is under fire for refusing to pay for a treatment that might save a young boy's life.
Five-year-old Kyler VanNocker of Pennsylvania is ailing from a lethal childhood cancer known as neuroblastoma, and his insurer HealthAmerica is refusing to pay for the only known treatment that can save his life, reports Ronnie Polaneczky for the Philadelphia Daily News. Let me repeat, his insurer--not the govt.--is ignoring what his doctor is prescribing--treatment for neuroblastoma.

In response, VanNocker's parents Paul and Maria have filed a lawsuit against the insurance company (not the govt.) claiming its alleged decision to refuse coverage for their son is based on "a biased, self-serving misreading and misinterpretation" of his medical records and their own policies.

"These companies have to be brought to the courthouse to get them to do the right thing," David Senoff, the attorney representing the VanNockers told the Daily News, suggesting the five-year-old will die if he does not receive care.

HealthAmerica's apparent rationale is that the efficacy of the treatment in question, MIGB therapy, has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is not substantiated strongly by "peer-reviewed" medical literature.

17-Pound, 4-Month-Old Baby Denied Health Insurance for Being Too Fat
Tuesday , October 13, 2009

Nothing brings a smile to an adult's face quicker than the sight of a happy, chubby baby.

But the sight of 4-month-old Alex Lange, who measures 25-inches long and weighs 17 pounds, is bringing a frown to the hypothetical face of insurance company Rocky Mountain Health Plans, The Denver Post reported on its Web site Monday.

Insurance Underwriters, the people who are in charge of assessing risk for insurance companies, have decided that baby Alex's pre-existing condition — obesity — makes him a high-risk patient and have denied him coverage.

His parents were shocked.

"I could understand if we could control what he's eating. But he's 4 months old. He's breast-feeding. We can't put him on the Atkins diet or on a treadmill," joked his frustrated father, Bernie Lange, a part-time news anchor at KKCO-TV in Grand Junction. "There is just something absurd about denying an infant."

Bernie and Kelli Lange tried to get insurance with Rocky Mountain Health Plans when their current insurer raised their rates 40 percent after Alex was born.

Why do we need health care reform?

So that insurance companies that make billions in profits already cannot become even more greedy.

Anthem Blue Cross Raises Rates Up To 39 Percent
By Kenny Goldberg February 5, 2010

California — Californians who have individual policies with Anthem Blue Cross will soon be paying much higher premiums. The insurer will raise rates up to 39 percent beginning next month.

About 800,000 Californians have individual health policies with Anthem Blue Cross. They've been receiving letters notifying them of premium increases, and some customers will pay thousands more a year.

Shana Alex Lavarreda is with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. She says individual policy holders have to pay whatever the insurer wants.

"When you don't have a big group negotiating on your behalf, it's entirely set based on your own medical history, in most cases," Alex Lavarreda points out. "I mean, these pre-existing conditions. I mean, living is a pre-existing condition in many cases."

Anthem Blue Cross says it shares its members' concerns over the rising cost of health care. At the same time, the insurer says it may increase premiums a number of times during the year.

Crazy Republican of the Day

2010-02-18T17:56:00.002-06:00

Yes, this makes total sense. Browning's guns set the stage for King's non-violent approach to civil change. Oh yeah, and wasn't King murdered by a gun-weilding right wing nutjob.

Utah lawmaker wants MLK Day to honor gunmaker
By Daniel Tencer Thursday, February 18th, 2010 -- 5:51 pm

Supporters say John Browning's guns secured 'freedom that allowed King to do his work'

The NAACP has condemned a Utah lawmaker's bill that would add the name of a local gunmaker to Martin Luther King Day.

Under state Sen. Mark Madsen's proposed law, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., would share his holiday with John Moses Browning, an early 20th-century gunmaker behind such famous gun brands as Browning, Colt and Winchester.

The new holiday would be called "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr./John M. Browning Day."

The head of the local chapter of the NAACP is "furious," reports Salt Lake NBC affiliate KSL channel 5.

"Here you have a man, Dr. King, who was assassinated -- and then you're going to put his name along with a person who was a gun manufacturer?" Jeannetta Williams said, noting that King was assassinated using a gun.

"The whole state of Utah would be looked at in a very bad way if something like this were to pass," Williams added. "We're hoping that maybe it goes away."

"Supporters of the idea say Browning's inventions, which included the most sophisticated automatic and semi-automatic weaponry of the early 20th Century, were instrumental in US wars against tyranny and partially responsible for the continued freedom that allowed King to do his work," writes Paul Rolly at the Salt Lake Tribune, though Rolly doesn't attribute that talking point to any one person.

State Senate leaders "say they like the idea of honoring the late Utah gun inventor John Moses Browning with a state holiday, but aren't set on having it share a day with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday," reports Brandon Loomis at the Tribune.

Republican state Senate Majority Leader Scott Jenkins said it's "appropriate" to honor Browning, and he "personally sees no conflict in doing so on a day that already honors a Nobel Peace Prize winner," according to the Tribune.

"Guns keep peace," Jenkins said.

"There is the question of whether a man who held 128 gun patents should share a holiday with a reverend who, before he was shot and killed, used non-violence to promote civil rights," notes Lisa Riley Roche at the Deseret News.

The final shape of the proposed law is not yet known. Under Utah tradition, bills are tabled blank and filled in later. The Tribune reports that a version of the bill combining Martin Luther King Day with the new holiday has been circulating around the state capitol.

The Tribune's Rolly notes that Utah has long had a problematic relationship with the holiday celebrating the life and death of a black civil rights leader.

The Utah Legislature has a contentious history with the holiday honoring King. After President Ronald Reagan signed the legislation creating the federal holiday, bitter debates resulted in a compromise, calling the holiday "Human Rights Day."

Utah changed the name to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 2000, becoming the last state to do so.
Martin Luther King Day is celebrated on the third Monday of January. King's birthday was January 15. Browning's birthday is estimated to have been January 21 or 23.

The gun used to kill Dr. King was a Remington Gamester Model 760 .243 caliber rifle -- not one of the guns descended from Browning's designs.

Joe Stack Manifesto

2010-02-18T14:06:00.004-06:00

If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.

While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.

Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.

And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!

How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.

How did I get here?

My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.

The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.

That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.

Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.

On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.

The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.

In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.

Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.

For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report (http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport) regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).

SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.

(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.

Note: "another person" is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.

· "taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.

· "individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.

Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.

During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.

After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.

Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.

Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.

Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.

By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.

To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.

So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.

When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.

This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.

I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.

As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

Joe Stack (1956-2010)
02/18/2010

Here's the TCAD info on his house that he burned down at 1827 Dapplegrey Ln
Austin, TX 78727 http://www.traviscad.org/travisdetail.php?theKey=362591

The manifesto was originally located on the Web at http://www.embeddedart.com/

Crazy Republican of the Day

2010-02-17T17:00:00.003-06:00

This guy is a traitor. Republican Representative Pitts would rather see anarchy than a strong America.

South Carolina Lawmaker Seeks to Ban Federal Currency
2.17.10

South Carolina Rep. Mike Pitts has introduced legislation that would mandate that gold and silver coins replace federal currency as legal tender in his state.

As the Palmetto Scoop first reported, Pitts, a Republican, introduced legislation this month banning "the unconstitutional substitution of Federal Reserve Notes for silver and gold coin" in South Carolina.

In an interview, Pitts told Hotsheet that he believes that "if the federal government continues to spend money at the rate it's spending money, and if it continues to print money at the rate it's printing money, our economic system is going to collapse."

"The Germans felt their system wouldn't collapse, but it took a wheelbarrow of money to buy a loaf of bread in the 1930s," he said. "The Soviet Union didn't think their system would collapse, but it did. Ours is capable of collapsing also."

The lawmaker believes that a shift to an economy based on gold and silver coins would give the state a "base of currency" should that collapse come. As one expert told the Scoop, however, his bill would likely be ruled unconstitutional because it "violates a perfectly legal and Constitutional federal law, enacted pursuant to the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, that federal reserve notes are legal tender for all debts public and private."

In addition, since gold and silver regularly fluctuate in value, they could not easily function as stable currency.

But Pitts maintains that his state is better off with something he can hold in his hand and barter with as opposed to federal currency, which he described to the Scoop as "paper with ink on it." He says he resents what he considers the federal government's intrusions on states' rights.

Though he did not offer a timeframe, Pitts told Hotsheet that he anticipates a nationwide economic collapse "if our federal government continues the course it's been traveling under the previous administration and this administration."

Let this Un-American nutcase know how you feel:

Representative Michael A. Pitts
District 14 - Abbeville, Greenwood & Laurens Cos.
Contact Address: (H) 372 Bucks Point Rd., Laurens, 29360
Bus. (864) 681-0238 Home (864) 575-2917
(C) 327C Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201

Bus. (803) 734-2830

Pro-Rape Republicans Cry For Help

2009-12-03T14:59:00.003-06:00

this is an update to this story :http://thelieshavenotimproved.blogspot.com/2009/10/compassionate-conservatives-with-cocks.html

GOPers want Franken to defend them in opposing anti-rape amendment
By Daniel Tencer Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 -- 9:20 pm

Some Republican senators are taking heat for voting against an amendment that would allow employees of military contractors to sue their employers if they are raped at work -- and they want the Democratic senator who wrote the amendment to help them fight off the bad publicity.

In October, 30 Republicans voted against Sen. Al Franken's amendment to a defense appropriations bill that would de-fund contractors who prevent their employees from suing if they are raped by co-workers. Since then, those Republicans have faced outrage for what critics say amounts to support for rape.

A Web site called RepublicansForRape mocks the thirty senators as "legislators who were brave enough to stand up in defense of rape." Louisiana Sen. David Vitter took heat recently for walking away from a woman who was questioning him about his vote against the amendment.

Now, some of those GOP senators want Sen. Franken (D-MN) to come to their rescue.

An article at Politico reports, "Republicans argue that Franken should make it clear that GOP senators don’t support assault or rape — especially since the amendment deals only with civil claims, making it possible for alleged rapists to be prosecuted criminally."

“I think it would be helpful for Sen. Franken to come forward and say, ‘I’m not suggesting that anybody who votes for my amendment is indifferent to crimes against women or anybody else,’” Politico quoted Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) as saying. “What’s going on politically with the amendment Sen. Franken can’t control, but I think it would be helpful for him personally to just let the rest of us know that’s the views of others — not him.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) accused Franken exploiting the story of Jamie Leigh Jones -- a former KBR employee who says she was locked in a container in Iraq after alleging she was raped by co-workers -- to further his political agenda.

“Trying to tap into the natural sympathy that we have for this victim of this rape, and use that as a justification to frankly misrepresent and embarrass his colleagues, I don’t think it’s a very constructive thing,” Cornyn told Politico.

But Politico notes that Franken's spokespeople have come to his defense, saying that Franken hasn't been exploiting the Republican senators' opposition to the anti-rape amendment.

"Despite attacks on Republicans by liberal commentators like Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann and on blogs such as Daily Kos, Franken never appeared on any of the shows or on the blogs to make a partisan argument about the matter, saying that the senator turned down entreaties to do so," Politico reports. "Also, [Franken's aides] point to the 10 Republicans who voted for the amendment as proof that it wasn’t a partisan measure."

Whah!

Obama to Take Away Bibles and Religious Freedom

2009-12-02T19:35:00.005-06:00

Imagine...

*The government prosecuting a small business owner -- perhaps a Christian bookstore -- for declining to hire an open-homosexual or cross-dresser.

*Your employer telling you to remove the Bible from your desk because it is offensive to the homosexual or cross-dresser he was forced to hire.

*Your church being forced to choose between hiring a man who dresses as a woman to work in the Mother's Day Out or preschool program or facing federal investigation.

*Your teen coming home from his faith-based summer camp and telling you his councilor was an openly-practicing homosexual.

Unimaginable, you say? The government can't force churches to do that, can it?

It can -- if ENDA becomes law.

Except, that it can't. All of that is completely untrue.

Far-right Christian fundamentalist group Family Research Council has a clever idea for raising money: convince supporters that President Barack Obama will take away their Bibles and turn their kids gay.

That's essentially what the group's newest fundraising alert amounts to, with its claim that the president has a "plan" to "impose homosexuality" and "silence Christianity."

The group's four-page letter, available here [PDF link] courtesy of Think Progress, reads like end-of-days fiction, with Godless liberals on the march and only your dollars keeping America from the fires of hell.

In truth, it's a lengthy, deceptive rant about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would ensure gay, lesbian and transgendered people have a right to work alongside other Americans without fear of reprisal by the employers due solely to their sexual orientation or appearance.

According to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), "ENDA exempts all religious organizations, which includes corporations, associations, and religious societies from all of the ENDA laws. In addition, all educational institutions are exempt if the educational institution is at least substantially controlled or owned by a religious organization or if the institution's curriculum is directed towards the propagation of a religion."

The Religious exemption even allows religious organizations to discriminate on the basis of faith. For example, in a 1987 Supreme Court case the Court ruled that a gym operated by the Mormon Church could require its janitor to be a Mormon in good standing. ENDA permits religious organizations to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

ENDA specifically says that religious bookstores and day care centers areexempt from the following the ENDA provisions.

http://www.frc.org/

for FULL story go to http://rawstory.com/2009/12/farright-fundraising-tack-obama-plans-impose-homosexuality/

The Number of the Day

2009-12-02T09:25:00.003-06:00

Apart from the human toll, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost $768.8 billion and by the end of this fiscal year (October 2010) the price tag will approach $1 trillion. The new 30,000 troop surge is expected to add another $30-$35 BILLION.

Happy Thanksgiving (unless you're a Native American)

2009-12-01T18:30:00.003-06:00

Bradford described the night of fire, pain and death:

“It was a fearful sight to see them frying in the fire and the streams of blood quenching the same and horrible was the stink and stench thereof. But the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice and they [the militiamen] gave praise thereof to God.”

The colony's famous minister, Reverend Increase Mather, rejoiced and called on his congregation to give thanks to God "that on this day we have sent six hundred heathen souls to hell." Mather and Bradford are still celebrated in school texts as colonial heroes.

The Real Thanksgiving Day

To Europeans, native people and other humans who were neither Christian nor white – no matter how much they helped – were considered undeserving of recognition. Since the colonists classified their dark-skinned, 'infidel' neighbors as inferiors, they were asked to bring and serve – not share – the food, notes William Loren Katz.

Thanksgiving Day remains a most treasured holiday in the United States. Work comes to a halt, families gather, eat turkey, and count their blessings. A presidential proclamation blesses the day.

But we must never forget that the holiday pre-eminently serves political ends.

Remember in 2003 when President George W. Bush flew into Bagdad on Thanksgiving Day to visit and celebrate with U.S. troops. He stayed a few hours and brought in a host of media photographers to snap his picture bearing a glazed turkey.

No one ate the turkey, of course. It was cardboard, a stage prop.

However, this exploitation of joyous thanksgiving began almost four centuries ago, with a mythology that dates back to the first Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day memorializes the Pilgrims' survival of their first winter in New England. One hundred and forty-nine people had arrived in November 1620 aboard the Mayflower and were saved from starvation and disaster because the Wampanoug nation brought them corn and meat and taught them wilderness survival skills.

This truly was an effort worthy of gratitude. And in 1621 Governor William Bradford of Plymouth proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving – not to the Wampanougs but to his fellow Pilgrims and their omnipotent God.

In Bradford’s view, the Christians had staved off hunger through their devotion, courage and resourcefulness. And to this day American politicians, ministers and most educators would have the people see it this way.

Bradford's fable is an early example of "Eurothink" – a grotesque lie encased in arrogance. To Europeans, native people and other humans who were neither Christian nor white – no matter how much they helped – were considered undeserving of recognition.

The heroic scenario of determined and righteous European settlers overcoming hardships and travails had no room for the others.

Bradford's tale has his Pilgrims inviting the Native Americans as guests to celebrate the Europeans’ victory over famine, an act of Pilgrim generosity as the settlers and their Wampanoug friends sat down to dine on bread, turkey and other treats.

Since the colonists classified their dark-skinned, “infidel” neighbors as inferiors, they were asked to bring and serve – not share – the food.

As the English pursued their economic goals in the 1620s, they increasingly turned to outright aggression against their Native American neighbors and hosts.

Matters came to a head one night in 1637 when Governor Bradford, without provocation, dispatched his militia against his Pequot neighbors. With the Pilgrims seeing themselves as devout Christians locked in mortal combat with infidels, the officers and soldiers made a systematic assault on a sleeping Pequot Indian village.

Bradford described the night of fire, pain and death:

“It was a fearful sight to see them frying in the fire and the streams of blood quenching the same and horrible was the stink and stench thereof. But the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice and they [the militiamen] gave praise thereof to God.”

The colony's famous minister, Reverend Increase Mather, rejoiced and called on his congregation to give thanks to God "that on this day we have sent six hundred heathen souls to hell." Mather and Bradford are still celebrated in school texts as colonial heroes.

The 1993 edition of the authoritative Columbia Encyclopedia states of Bradford, "He maintained friendly relations with the Native Americans." [p. 351]

The authoratative Dictionary of American History states of his rule: “He was a firm, determined man and an excellent leader; kept relations with the Indians on friendly terms; tolerant toward newcomers and new religions.” [p. 77]

The views of Native Americans were not recorded, but can be imagined.

The Mayflower, renamed the Meijbloom (Dutch for Mayflower), continued to make notable voyages. In May 1657, it carried a crucial message to Amsterdam that the new Dutch colony of South Africa needed supplies as Europeans sought to gain control of another piece of the world.

Along costal Africa, the renamed Mayflower also became one of the first ships to carry enslaved Africans to the West Indies.

For these and other reasons, those opposed to oppression and favoring democratic values in the Americas have little to celebrate on Thanksgiving Day. It stands as an affirmation of barbaric racial beliefs and actions that soon shaped the world's most unrelenting genocide.

What is worth giving thanks to is the alliance between Native Americans and Africans that sprang forth to resist the English, Spanish and other foreign invaders.

In 1619, a year before the Pilgrims' arrival in Massachusetts, 20 Africans were unloaded in Jamestown, Virginia, and traded for food and water. They were sent out to work in the colony's tobacco fields as unpaid laborers.

Enslaved and persecuted together, people of color fought back together, and often united in armed maroon colonies beyond the white settlements that dotted the coastline. But above all, this alliance initiated an American tradition of resistance to tyranny, a demand for self-rule and equality.

Those ideas would appear centuries later written on a parchment celebrated on July 4, 1776.

Copyright 2009 by William Loren Katz< and adapted from his Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage. His website is: www.williamlkatz.com.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=35930

More Bullshit From Fox News and Hannity

2009-11-11T12:09:00.004-06:00

On Nov 5, Sean Hannity covered the rally on Capitol Hill against Health Care reform. He showed footage of the event several times, exclaiming how large the crowd was and how excited the organizers were about the crowd of up to 45,000, although the WASH POST pegged it at less than 10,000. Trouble is the footage was from Glenn Beck's Sept. 12 rally in DC, which WAS attented by a huge crowd. Hannity used Beck's footage to make people think there was a HUGE rally against Health Care reform, which was a lie.

GO TO Rawstory.com for full story and video.

In other Glenn Beck is a moron news, the Cryer has lost a WIPO battle for a Web domain which asked whether Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990.
Isaac Eiland-Hall, the sites creator, was shaming the host for assaulting the First Amendment.

Again, Rawstory.com has the full story, read it.

Now THAT'S Scary!!!

2009-10-29T19:28:00.003-05:00

Life is like a box of chocolates and Crazy is as Crazy does.

Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) Warns Against 'Demonic' Halloween Candy

Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network posted a blog by Kimberly Daniels recently that warns Christians to forgo celebrating Halloween because of its evilness. Daniels specifically calls out candy as a source of soul-molestation:

"During this period demons are assigned against those who participate in the rituals and festivities. These demons are automatically drawn to the fetishes that open doors for them to come into the lives of human beings. For example, most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches."

Obviously, we shouldn't be buying Halloween candy, but what about getting it by trick-or-treating?

"Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference."

Americans DO Want the Public Option!!

2009-10-29T12:43:00.004-05:00

Recent (October 2009) CBS News Polls have shown that a majority of Americans consistently support the Public Option.

Although support has dropped from 72 approval in June, in the post town hall and death panel bullshit 62 percent still want the Public Option, while just half as many, 31 percent, oppose the Public Option.

Other recent polls by other organizations also prove that MOST Americans favor the Public Option.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll released in late October found 57 percent supported the government creating "a new health insurance plan to compete with private health insurance plans."

So every day, when Boehner or some other lying Republican gets in front of a TV camera and says that "Americans oppose the Public Option", those Republicans are doing what they do best, lie. Flat out lies.

Federal Funding of Abortion

2009-10-28T18:32:00.008-05:00

The latest Republican attack against health care reform is that it might allow federal funds to be allowed to fund abortions.

Abortion is legal in this country, so there is NO reason to whine that federal funds cannot be used to fund abortion. Abortion is legal, so people who are anti-abortion are out of luck about how it is funded.

How about federal funding of the war in Iraq or Afghanistan? The latest poll shows only 39 percent of Americans favor the war in Afghanistan, while the majority of American, 58 percent, oppose to the war. So, with 58 percent opposed to the war I believe there is a very, very good argument that the American people DO NOT want federal money to fund our wars.

Abortion is a legal activity, so who cares about federal funding for something LEGAL!

Think about it.

Dude, Just Get a Room!

2009-10-28T17:28:00.002-05:00

This isn't that big of a deal but for the fact he decided to do it in a cemetary (well, he is 66, maybe he was thinking ahead) and on his lunch break.

Posted on Wed, Oct. 28, 2009
Police: SC state attorney caught with stripper
By MEG KINNARD Associated Press Writer

A republican deputy assistant attorney general who said he was on his lunch break when an officer found him with a stripper and sex toys in his sport utility vehicle has been fired, his boss said Wednesday.

Roland Corning, 66, a former republican state legislator, was in a secluded part of a downtown cemetery when an officer spotted him Monday, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.

As the officer approached, Corning sped off, then pulled over a few blocks away. He and the 18-year-old woman with him, an employee of the Platinum Plus Gentleman's Club, gave conflicting stories about what they were doing in the cemetery, Officer Michael Wines wrote in his report, though he did not elaborate.

Corning gave Wines a badge showing he worked for the state Attorney General's Office. Wines, whose wife also works there, called her to make sure Corning was telling the truth.

He then searched the SUV, where he found a Viagra pill and several sex toys, items Corning said he always kept with him, "just in case," according to the report.

Corning and the woman were let go without charges. Wines' wife reported the call to her supervisor, who told Attorney General Henry McMaster.

"We received credible information about inappropriate behavior Monday afternoon," McMaster said Wednesday. "And by the close of business, he was no longer working here."

Such a trip to the cemetery "would not be appropriate, at any time, for an assistant attorney general," McMaster said.

There was no answer Wednesday at a number listed for Corning, who was a Republican legislator in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was hired in 2000 by the attorney general's office, where he worked on securities cases.

South Carolina has had its share of scandal lately, most notably Gov. Mark Sanford's disappearance in June. His office told reporters he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but he was really in Argentina visiting his mistress.

Rush Limbaugh Stands Behind fake Obama Quote

2009-10-27T14:16:00.005-05:00

In another blow to journalism (and a well informed public's ability to make informed decisions) Rush Limbaugh ran with a hoax story that Obama's college thesis called for redistribution of America's wealth. Limbaugh cited an excerpt from the fake Obama thesis that stated,

"The Constitution allows for many things, but what it does not allow is the most revealing. The so-called Founders did not allow for economic freedom. While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned."

But even worse than being stupid enough to run a fake story as truth, Limbaugh was informed by his producer that the story was a spoof.

Did Limbaugh Man-Up and say OOOPS, that was a fake story? No Limbaugh KEPT on going with the story and said,

It may have been fake but we know he thinks it. Good comedy, if it's comedy, must contain an element of truth. ... So we stand by the fabricated quote, because we know Obama thinks it anyway."

OK people, get out your thinking hats and start slandering Limbaugh with impunity because the bar is now set at So we stand by the fabricated quote, because we know Limbaugh thinks it anyway.

Compassionate Conservatives (with cocks)

2009-10-23T08:27:00.005-05:00

If you have a sister or a mother, and most of us do, please write a letter to these Compassionate Conservatives. I suggest that their daughters get lucrative contractor jobs with Halliburton or KBR and head on over to the Middle East for a bit.

GOP senators who voted against anti-rape law refuse to explain why
By Daniel Tencer Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 -- 9:40 pm

Not one of the 30 Republican senators who voted against Sen. Al Franken's anti-rape amendment agreed to explain their rationale when MSNBC came calling, news host Rachel Maddow told her audience Wednesday evening.

Jamie Leigh Jones, the woman whose alleged gang rape at the hands of co-workers at defense contractor KBR was the inspiration for the amendment, appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show Thursday night to laud its passing in the Senate earlier this month. The amendment prohibits the government from contracting with companies that refuse to allow employees to pursue rape allegations in court.

As Jones explained to Maddow, that was the case with KBR -- then a subsidiary of Halliburton -- when the company responded to Jones' allegations of rape by locking her in a shipping container and refusing to give her access to medical treatment or contact with the outside world.

"I cannot even understand the reasoning as to why anyone would vote against" the Franken amendment, Jones told Maddow. "I'm thrilled it's gotten as far as it has gotten."

But, according to a report at the Huffington Post, the amendment -- though considered to be wildly popular -- may have trouble getting any further. Reporter Sam Stein cites "multiple sources" who told him Sen. Daniel Inouye, Democrat of Hawaii, is considering watering down the amendment, or eliminating it altogether, when it goes to a vote on the Senate floor as part of a defense appropriations bill. Stein reports:

Inouye's office, sources say, has been lobbied by defense contractors adamant that the language of the Franken amendment would leave them overly exposed to lawsuits and at constant risk of having contracts dry up.
As Rachel Slajda reported at TalkingPointsMemo, despite the horrible optics of appearing to be in favor of rape, both the White House and the Pentagon are opposed to the amendment, at least in its current form.

The [Pentagon] argued that it and its subcontractors "may not be in a position to know about such things," i.e., whether contractors employ the mandatory arbitration clauses. "Enforcement would be problematic," the note read, because contractors may not be privy to what's in their subcontractors' contracts.

The department suggests that "it may be more effective" to seek a law that would prohibit the clauses in any business contracts within U.S. jurisdiction.
A White House spokesman told Slajda that President Obama supports "the intent of the amendment," and is working with legislators to rewrite the amendment so as "to make sure it is enforceable."

But even as the wheeling and dealing over the Franken amendment continues inside the Beltway, on Main Street the GOP's opposition to it has been turned into a powerful talking point for Democrats and progressives. A Web site entitled Republicans For Rape has sprung up, satirizing the 30 senators' opposition to the amendment.

On her show Thursday night, Maddow listed the names of all 30 senators who voted against the amendment, and suggested she continues to hope they will eventually speak up about their vote.

"Senators, I want you to know, the invitation [to appear on the show] remains open," she said.

DNC Sued By Man Ousted From Town Hall

2009-09-23T13:44:00.001-05:00

Sounds like a "Frivilous Lawsuit" to me!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Shit Spills out of Santorum as He Tries to Lie About Reconciliation

2009-09-15T20:10:00.007-05:00

Santorum Ties Himself Into Knots Justifying Congress’ Use Of Reconciliation During The Bush Years

On an RNC conference call today, Politico’s Ben Smith asked former Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum why he believes it would be an “abomination” for Congress to use the budget reconciliation process — which requires 51 instead of 60 votes — to pass health care reform, considering that the Republican Congress also used it to pass bills, such as President Bush’s tax cuts.

Santorum tried to name every way he could think of that might justify his position, including: 1) unlike health care, a tax bill is a “revenue bill” and “affects the budget,” 2) health care is “major policy initiative,” and 3) the reconciliation process will make a “huge and complex” bill even “more complex.”

When Smith pointed out that Republicans used the reconciliation process to push through drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — which is also arguably a major policy initiative that isn’t just a revenue bill — Santorum tried to argue that it wasn’t AS major, so it was accceptable:

SANTORUM: Well, again, you’re talking about a situation where, again, the biggest thing about drilling is certainly it has an impact on a small chunk of land in northern Alaska, and it has an impact on the federal revenue, but it’s not a particularly complex thing. You’re talking about drilling holes, as opposed to rejiggering and rewriting and reconstructing the entire health care system of this country. And the impact on the 350 million Americans for drilling a few holes in Alaska is fairly minor, as far as how it affects their daily lives. As opposed to — and by the way, it’s fairly minor on the economy, certainly in the short term, a little more in the long term. But again, nothing compared to what we’re talking about here with health care.

That’s not what Santorum argued at the time. In 2006, he wrote that Arctic drilling “has the potential to play a significant role in reducing our dependence on foreign oil.” Cantor also admitted that tax cuts would have more than a “minor” effect on the economy, saying in 2001, “There is nothing better that we can do for long term growth of our economy to lower these oppressive tax rates we have in place right now.” Basically, reconciliation is okay for any bill EXCEPT for Obama’s health care legislation — which is both too big and too small.

Congress has used reconciliation nearly 20 times since 1980 for everything from the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to student aid efforts, to expanding Medicaid eligibility. In 1995, Santorum was the GOP’s point person to push welfare reform through the budget reconciliation process. “This is a bill the president has absolutely no reason not to sign,” argued Santorum. He is also in no place to be lecturing Democrats on the proper use of reconciliation, considering that under Bush, Republicans fired two successive Senate parliamentarians who disagreed with what they were doing.

Transcript:
SANTORUM: You know, a tax bill, by definition, is a revenue bill; it affects the budget, and that’s what reconciliation was for. It was for doing things that have an impact on the balance sheet of the federal government. And health care reform — while certainly an aspect of health care reform will have that — this is a major policy initiative in an area that goes beyond the federal government’s balance sheet, and that to me, makes it an abomination that they would try to write a bill.

In my opinion, what makes it an abomination is because you have to write every provision of the bill score, otherwise it’s subject to the Byrd rule — those of you who hang around Washington know what that’s all about. And so you have to — as we — it’s a difficult thing to do, even with a tax bill. Imagine if you have to do with the government option or whole bunch of other things. You’re going to have to create very Rube-Goldberg kind of language that will make it — a bill that’s already going to be huge and complex — more complex because it has to get through the trip wire of the Byrd rule.

I just think that it’s taken an already difficult and overwhelming task of trying to rejigger the entire health care system of this country and now having to do it with the idea of every provision of the bill has to have some impact on the federal government. I just think makes it a wholly unworthy thing to try to accomplish.

SMITH: And reconciliation during the Bush years was also used for drilling in ANWR. Does that not have some of the same problems?

SANTORUM: Well, again, you’re talking about a situation where, again, the biggest thing about drilling is certainly it has an impact on a small chunk of land in northern Alaska, and it has an impact on the federal revenue, but it’s not a particularly complex thing. You’re talking about drilling holes, as opposed to rejiggering and rewriting and reconstructing the entire health care system of this country. And the impact on the 350 million Americans for drilling a few holes in Alaska is fairly minor, as far as how it affects their daily lives. As opposed to — and by the way, it’s fairly minor on the economy, certainly in the short term, a little more in the long term. But again, nothing compared to what we’re talking about here with health care.

And 100% of Assholes are Against the Public Option

2009-09-15T09:09:00.002-05:00

Most US doctors back public health option: poll
Published: Monday September 14, 2009

Most US doctors approve of a "public option" to supplement private health care insurance in the United States, as proposed by President Barack Obama, a poll showed Monday.

A total of 62.9 percent of physicians who participated in the survey by the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) said they favored a public option, or government insurance plan, against 27.3 percent backing a private system alone.

Another 9.6 percent favored a completely government-owned health care coverage system.

"It's clear that the majority of US physicians support both public and private options to expand coverage," NEJM said, noting that between 52 and 69 percent of Americans favor a supplemental public option.

The journal described physicians as "critical stakeholders" in health care reform.

Obama has vowed to pass legislation by the end of the year that would spread coverage to America's 47 million uninsured by making insurance obligatory and affordable for all.

But he has faced strong criticism, especially from Republicans, who have jumped on the 880-billion-dollar price tag and stoked fears that a mooted public option would lead to a federal takeover of health care -- anathema to many Americans who abhor the idea of big government.

The NEJM poll found that 58.3 percent of physicians favor expanding Medicare, the public government-run health insurance plan for seniors over 65 years old, to people aged 55 and over.

This option is among a set of proposals being considered by the Senate Finance Committee, which has played a key role in legislating the health reform plan.

In the traditionally more conservative South, 58.9 percent of US physicians favored a public option, compared to 69.7 percent in the generally more progressive Northeast.

NEJM surveyed 2,130 general physicians, specialists and surgeons who work in a private practice or with hospital groups.

A Washington Post-ABC News opinion poll meanwhile showed Americans remained almost deadlocked in their opinion of the health care initiative, with 46 percent of [sic]educated, well informed in favor of the proposed changes and 48 percent of [sic]uneducated, uninformed opposed.

Conservatives Fake Tea Party Crowd

2009-09-14T20:58:00.005-05:00

"Tea party" photo shows huge crowd — at different event
By Catharine Richert
Published on Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 11:34 a.m.

...supporters of Saturday’s “tea party” protests against President Barack Obama were quick to highlight their big turnout. To bolster countless claims on blogs and Facebook, many posted a photograph that showed a gargantuan crowd sprawling from Capitol Hill down the National Mall to the Washington Monument.

But it turns out the photo is more than 10 years old, apparently taken during a 1997 Promise Keepers rally.

On Saturday, estimates about the crowd spread quickly through the conservative blogosphere. Many writers, including author Michelle Malkin, pegged the number of people between 1 million and 2 million. Those reports were largely based on information from people in the crowd.

Malkin, for example, updated her blog at 12:34 p.m. noting that, “Police estimate 1.2 million in attendance. ABC News reporting crowd at 2 million,” and she cited a Twitter post from Tabitha Hale, writer of Pink Elephant Pundit, who was in Washington for the protest.

Many bloggers said the media was unfairly reporting much smaller numbers, and many included the photo.

“I have no doubt that Washington Democrats are well aware of how many people turned out, even as their media outlets try to downplay the event,” said Power Line, a conservative blog that linked to the photograph from Say Anything, another conservative Web site.

“ 'Media’ estimates range from 60,000 to 500,000 to around 2 million (yes, 2,000,000),” wrote John G. Winder for the conservative blog Cypress Times. “Those estimates, the language employed, and the visuals chosen for use in reporting the rally and representing the people gathered, vary greatly based solely on bias.”

...Pete Piringer, public affairs officer for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Department, said the local government no longer provides official crowd estimates because they can become politicized. But the day of the rally, Piringer unofficially told one reporter that he thought between 60,000 and 75,000 people had shown up.

We asked Piringer whether there were enough protesters to fill the National Mall, as depicted in the photograph.

“It was an impressive crowd,” he said. But after marching down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, the crowd “only filled the Capitol grounds, maybe up to Third Street,” he said.

Yet the photograph so widely posted showed the crowd sprawling all the way to the Washington Monument, which is bordered by 15th and and 17th Streets.

There’s another problem with the photograph: It doesn’t include the National Museum of the American Indian, a building located at the corner of Fourth Street and Independence Avenue that opened on Sept. 14, 2004. (Looking at the photograph, the building should be in the upper right hand corner of the National Mall, next to the Air and Space Museum.) That means the picture was taken before the museum opened exactly five years ago. So clearly the photo doesn’t show the “tea party” crowd from the Sept. 12 protest.

Also worth noting are the cranes in front of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. According to Randall Kremer, the museum’s director of public affairs, “The last time cranes were in front was in the 1990s when the IMAX theater was being built.”

It appears that the photo was actually taken in 1997 at a rally for Promise Keepers, a group for Christian men. According to the group’s Web site, nearly 1 million people attended the event. Photos of the Oct. 4, 1997, event that were posted on various Web sites in 2003, 2008 and earlier this year show either the same picture or a similar photo that has identical tents and what appear to be TV screens in the same locations.

GOP legislator describes affair with lobbyist on live mic

2009-09-09T14:17:00.003-05:00

News sources in California have recently learned that a conservative Republican member of that state’s Assembly was recorded without his knowledge earlier this summer describing lurid details of his affair with a lobbyist.

Orange County Assemblyman Michael D. Duvall apparently didn’t realize that his mic had gone live just before a committee hearing. At the time, he was telling a Republican colleague, “We had made love Wednesday — a lot! And so she’ll, she’s all, ‘I am going up and down the stairs, and you’re dripping out of me!’ So messy!”

“So, I am getting into spanking her,” Duvall continued. “Yeah, I like it. I like spanking her. She goes, ‘I know you like spanking me.’ I said, ‘Yeah! Because you’re such a bad girl!’”

Duvall, a former president of the Yorba Linda Chamber of Commerce, is married with two children. According to R. Scott Moxley of OC Weekly, his paramour, with whom he has frequently been seen at restaurants and even at fund-raising events, is Heidi DeJong Barsuglia, a “hot blonde” 18 years his junior. Barsugla was hired last spring to lobby for a major energy company soon after Duvall became vice-chairman of the Utilities and Commerce Committee.

Duvall’s recorded comments reveal, however, that he is even cheating on Barsuglia. “She is hot!” Duvall said of this other woman, who is also a lobbyist. “I go, ‘You know about the other one [Barsuglia] but she doesn’t know about you.”

Moxley wrote on Tuesday, “Repeatedly asked to explain his recorded sexual boasting, a red-faced Duvall fled me and another reporter, Dave Lopez of KCBS in Los Angeles, three times this afternoon in capitol hallways. He also ignored three handwritten interview requests that were delivered to him on the floor of the assembly. Said one assembly employee who witnessed the scene, ‘It definitely looks like he is afraid of you guys.’”

In his own tv segment on the story, Lopez noted that sources told him Duvall “loves to talk about his ’sexual conquests.’ The source goes on to say, ‘It makes us all feel very uncormfortable, but it’s very difficult to get him to change the subject.’”

According to Lopez, Duvall even told this source at one point, “You know, you’ve got to be real careful what you say up here, because they could have microphones hidden in a salt shaker.”

Duvall has a reputation as a vocal opponent of gay marriage and announced last spring that he was working to protect “California families” from “constant assault in Sacramento.”

On that occasion, the president of the conservative Capitol Resource Institute — which was a major backer of the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 — said of Duvall, “For the last two years, he has voted time and time again to protect and preserve family values in California. We are grateful for his support of California families.’”

This video is from KCAL 9 News in Los Angeles, broadcast September 8, 2009. It can also be viewed here.

By Muriel Kane
Published: September 9, 2009 Rawstory.com

America Already has Rationing of Healthcare

2009-09-09T11:23:00.004-05:00

America already has a bureaucrat standing between you and your doctor. It's called your Health Insurance Company. Health insurance bureaucrats deny medical treatments HUNDREDS of times a day because it's too expensive, and if your medical care is going to be really, really expensive the health insurance bureaucrats take away your medical care completely and leave you to die.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/07/AR2009090702455.html

When Your Insurer Says You're No Longer Covered
Firms Defend 'Rescissions' as Fraud Control

By Karl Vick Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, September 8, 2009

LOS ANGELES -- The untimely disappearance of Sally Marrari's medical coverage goes a long way toward explaining why insurance companies are cast as the villain in the health-care reform drama.

"They said I never mentioned I had a back problem," said Marrari, 52, whose coverage with Blue Cross was abruptly canceled in 2006 after a thyroid disorder, fluid in the heart and lupus were diagnosed. That left the Los Angeles woman with $25,000 in medical bills and the stigma of the company's claim that she had committed fraud by not listing on a health questionnaire "preexisting conditions" Marrari said she did not know she had.

By the time she filed a lawsuit in 2008, she also got a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and her debts had swelled beyond $200,000. She was able to see a specialist by trading office visits for work on the doctor's 1969 Porsche at the garage she owns with her husband.

"I've had about 10 visits," Marrari said of the barter arrangement that has proved more reliable than her insurance. "The car needs a lot of work."

Rescission -- the technical term for canceling coverage on grounds that the company was misled -- is often considered among the most offensive practices in an insurance industry that already suffers from a distinct lack of popularity among the American public. Tales of cancellations have fueled outrage among regulators, analysts, doctors and, not least, plaintiffs' lawyers, who describe insurers as too eager to shed patients to widen profits.

Those sentiments have become central to the health-care debate, as President Obama tries to tap into dissatisfaction with the insurance industry to build support for reform efforts. Each of the bills pending in Congress would prevent insurers from rejecting clients because of preexisting conditions.

No one claims to know how often policies are canceled -- in large part, congressional investigators say, because insurance companies are regulated by a patchwork of state laws and policies. But the practice is common enough to spur lawsuits and state regulatory action.

In the past 18 months, California's five largest insurers paid almost $19 million in fines for marooning policyholders who had fallen ill. That includes a $1 million fine against Health Net, which admitted offering bonuses to employees for finding reasons to cancel policies, according to company documents released in court.

"This is probably the most egregious of examples of health insurers using their power and their resources to deny benefits to people who are most in need of care," said Gerald Kominski, associate director of the Center for Health Policy Research at the University of California at Los Angeles. "It's really a horrendous activity on the part of the insurers."

Insurance company officials say they need to be able to cancel policies to control fraud, which by some estimates reaches $100 billion annually.

"We do not rescind a policyholder's coverage because someone on the policy gets sick," said Peggy Hinz, a spokeswoman for Anthem Blue Cross, a subsidiary of WellPoint. "We have put in place a thorough process with multiple steps to ensure that we are as fair and as accurate as we can be in making these difficult decisions."

Much of that process was a condition of settlements with state overseers, who fined Blue Cross $11 million over the past two years and required it, and all other major insurers in California, to restore canceled policies. Insurers still face court challenges, including a class-action suit targeting Blue Cross on behalf of 6,000 canceled policyholders.

"These cases are very, very good in front of a jury," said Bill Shernoff, whose Claremont law firm has settled 90 cases and has 130 cases pending. "I wish I could tell you the amount of money they throw at us just to make it go away and keep quiet."

In the only case to go to trial in California, an arbitration judge awarded $9 million to a beautician who had to stop chemotherapy for her breast cancer after Health Net dropped her policy. Company officials declined to comment.

In a pending case, Blue Shield searched in vain for an inconsistency in the health records of the wife of a dairy farmer after she filed a claim for emergency gallbladder surgery, according to attorneys for the family. Turning to her husband's questionnaire, the company discovered he had not mentioned his high cholesterol and dropped them both. Blue Shield officials said they would not comment on a pending case.

Officials from three insurance companies told a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee this summer they had saved $300 million by canceling about 20,000 policies over five years.

Critics charge that companies, rather than vetting applicants, wait until a claim is filed. "It only happens if you create this bill. Then they go back into your application," said Dev GnanaDev, president of the California Medical Association, which lobbied Democratic House leaders to include restrictions on cancellations in their legislation. "Costco doesn't let me take something back after 90 days," he said. "If they want to investigate, let them do it within 90 days."

Regulators say many omissions appear to be honest mistakes on forms that are needlessly complex. Others result from ambiguous conversations between patient and doctor.

Yvette Thomassian of Glendale, Calif., lost her Blue Cross policy because she did not declare a deviated septum. She questioned why a common misalignment of the nostrils would disqualify anyone but emphasized that her doctor never clearly indicated she had the condition. They spoke Armenian in the exam room, she said, where the physician's words were "You have a bone in your nose."

"It's been three years of hell," said Thomassian, whose suit over the $31,000 in bills is scheduled for trial in January. Blue Cross officials said they would not discuss specific cases.

For Teresa Dietrich, it was fibroids. The Northern California real estate agent was left to pay $19,000 after Blue Cross said she did not disclose a diagnosis of the benign uterine tumors. But Dietrich said the doctor who had written "fibroids" on her medical record never mentioned his suspicions to her. The bills destroyed her credit and cost her her home -- and, in a comically cruel twist, the surgery proved the doctor was wrong.

"They said I had a condition I didn't even have," Dietrich said. "And they canceled me."

If federal health-care reform bars companies from screening for preexisting conditions, insurers note that cancellations will no longer be an issue. But Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, an economist at the Rand Corp., said that unless for-profit companies are compensated for taking higher-risk patients, the firms will continue to look for ways to unload them.

"They wouldn't be able to overtly kick you out, but that doesn't mean that they might not put, for example, more onerous preauthorization requirements on services that people who are at risk might need, and that might discourage you from re-enrolling next year," Buntin said.

She said one solution would be for Washington to subsidize insurers that take on higher-risk patients. The government does such "risk adjustment" for the private insurance provided through Medicare Advantage -- though Obama has called for ending those subsidies to finance reform.

"You can ban rescission," Buntin said, "but what we really want is a system under which insurers' incentives are aligned with treating all of their patients well, whether they're sick or healthy."

Health Care Consumers Give Medicare Higher Marks Than Private Plans

2009-09-04T14:05:00.002-05:00

Consider some results obtained by a Kaiser poll. When asked how much they trust various health care players "to put your interests above their own," respondents rank doctors (78 percent trust "a lot" or "some") and nurses (74 percent) at the top of the list.

Among those insured through Medicare, however, respondents liked and trusted "the Medicare program" (68 percent). Among those with private insurance, "your health insurance company" earns much less trust (48 percent).

Medicare is government run health care!

The Unwitting Birthplace of the 'Death Panel' Myth

2009-09-04T13:56:00.002-05:00

LA CROSSE, Wis. -- This city often shows up on "best places to live" lists, but residents say it is also a good place to die -- which is how it landed in the center of a controversy that almost derailed health-care reform this summer.

The town's biggest hospital, Gundersen Lutheran, has long been a pioneer in ensuring that the care provided to patients in their final months complies with their wishes. More recently, it has taken the lead in seeking to have Medicare compensate physicians for advising patients on end-of-life planning.

The hospital got its wish this spring when that provision was inserted into the health-care reform bill -- only to see former Alaska governor Sarah Palin seize on it as she warned about "death panels" that would deny care to the elderly and the disabled. Despite widespread debunking, those warnings have led lawmakers to say they will drop the provision.

"It's really distressing," hospital official Bud Hammes said. "These things need to be addressed."

President Obama's health-care initiative was nearly consumed by the furor over that provision, and Republicans continue to argue that the legislation would ration care for the elderly. The debate has underscored how fraught the discussion is on end-of-life care in a country where an optimistic ethos places great faith in technology and often precludes frank contemplations of mortality. That tendency has a price tag: A quarter of Medicare costs -- totaling $100 billion a year -- are incurred in the final year of patients' lives, and 40 percent of that in the last month.

But the controversy has had most resonance where it arguably took root, in this town of 52,000 where nearly everyone of a certain age has an advance-care directive.

La Crosse became a pioneer in addressing end-of-life questions in the mid-1980s, after Hammes, a native of the city who has a doctorate in philosophy from Notre Dame, arrived at Gundersen as the director of medical humanities, charged with educating resident physicians about ethics. He noticed a "troubling pattern," he said, in which family members struggled to make medical decisions, such as whether to continue dialysis after a stroke.

"We'd turn to the family and say, 'We need your input. If your mother or father could speak now, what would they tell you?' And the family would say, 'If we only knew,' " said Hammes, 59. "I could see the distress. They were going to have to live with themselves, with the worry about making a mistake. This was unacceptable."

The hospital began urging families to plan while people are healthy. For those who want help writing a directive, a physician will discuss the powers and limits of medicine and explain to family members what it means if they agree to serve as the "health-care agent." They will also help people define the conditions under which they would no longer want treatment. Hammes said people often define this as "when I've reached a point where I don't know who I am or who I'm with, and don't have any hope of recovery."

The directives are power-of-attorney forms that protect physicians and family members against liability, and the hospital makes clear to its doctors that they are expected to follow them. Today, more than 90 percent of people in town have directives when they die, double the national average.

The reliance on directives has an impact on the type of care people receive: Gundersen patients spend 13.5 days on average in the hospital in their final two years of life, at an average cost of $18,000. That is in contrast with big-city hospitals such as the University of California at Los Angeles medical centers (31 days and $59,000), the University of Miami Hospital (39 days, $64,000) and New York University's Langone Medical Center (54 days, $66,000).

Those disparities are not explained just by the hospital's end-of-life philosophy. Under Medicare formulas, Gundersen and other Upper Midwest hospitals receive lower reimbursements. The high-spending hospitals argue that they are also dealing with a more diverse and costly patient base.

Gundersen and other Upper Midwest providers are also less costly in general, partly because they follow a model of integrated care where doctors work closely together to minimize waste. At Gundersen, doctors receive a salary instead of being paid for each procedure they perform.

But locals say the city uses less health care in large part because of how people view the end of life. Some of this may be rooted in the down-to-earth sensibility of their German and Scandinavian forebears. (Hammes said his late mother, who had dementia, was a "pragmatic German" who thought that paying to keep herself alive was a "waste of her money.")

Mostly, though, locals say it is because Gundersen and the town's other hospital, Franciscan Skemp, have urged planning. "People here have their feet planted in the ground," said Barbara Frank, a retired teacher. "They're no-nonsense sorts of people, without a lot of illusion. That was the fertile soil upon which it was planted. But there's no question it was helped by the two medical centers taking the lead and saying, 'This is a good thing for you to do.' "

She and her husband, Donald, a retired train engineer, signed a directive 10 years ago, when they were in their 60s. "You increasingly realize that they're not going to make an exception in your case. We all die, and we want to do so with the most dignity and most control," she said. "It seemed a no-brainer. And it spares our children from making those decisions."

Over time, the practice caught on. "People talk to people who talk to people. They say, 'Do you have one?' 'Yeah,' or 'I have to get that done,' " said Ann Kotnour, a nurse whose 89-year-old mother is receiving care at home for her advanced Parkinson's after signing a directive in 2001 saying she did not want aggressive measures taken.

Financial planner Jeff Lokken's parents had met with their children and doctors in the mid-1990s to draw up directives, a step that was helpful a few years later, when he and his siblings needed to decide whether to keep their 77-year-old father on a ventilator after heart surgery. The living will also helped when his mother's health failed when she was 82. "There needs to be a conversation. In our case we had good conversations," he said.

But Gundersen staff members say those conversations take a lot of time -- a good hour, plus follow-up talks to alter directives as medical situations evolve. And Medicare does not reimburse doctors for the time spent on such discussions.

Backed up by a few other hospitals, Gundersen set out to change the federal rules to reward end-of-life planning. A Gundersen administrator testified on Capitol Hill last fall, and, with the help of a lobbyist, reached out to lawmakers such as Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.).

After sporadic bipartisan attempts in recent years to add consultation payments to Medicare, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) submitted legislation this spring, with several Republican co-sponsors, that included a provision to reimburse doctors for consultations. A few months later, House Democrats tucked similar language into their health-care reform bill -- a legislative triumph for the small hospital in La Crosse.

Then the uproar began, capped by Palin's "death panel" remark. Gundersen officials and town residents were aghast. "It's totally absurd," Frank said. "It's just the opposite -- it's giving you a choice of how you want to be treated."

Gundersen officials were particularly upset when Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), whom they had considered an ally, said that the government should not "pull the plug on Grandma" and that the provision would be dropped. They were also dismayed when the provision was criticized by former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who had been open about how much he appreciated the end-of-life care his father-in-law received at Gundersen.

Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) admires Gunderson generally but said it erred in pushing for Medicare to cover consultations. "It's right and proper for Gundersen to innovate in these directions, but it's a wholly different thing for the federal government" to endorse end-of-life planning, he said.

Gundersen officials are still fighting to keep consultation payments in the bill, with support from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who has become a leading advocate for such planning. But this week, word came that the White House is willing to drop the provision. The hospital officials are even less hopeful about more ambitious terms they sought to add -- changing Medicare payments for end-of-life care so that they are based not on the procedures a patient receives in the final months but on whether care complied with the person's wishes.

No matter what, they will keep trying to get payment for consultations into future legislation. "The [directive] itself doesn't really matter very much -- it's the clearly expressed belief and shared understanding that it represents," Hammes said. "The family members have to believe that what they do is not only legally right, but personally right. If Mom said, 'Don't do this or do do this,' it's much easier for them to say, 'I'm doing a loving thing,' and it's a decision you can live with."

The discussions do not promote less aggressive care, he said: "We're not trying to talk them into anything. We're trying to understand their values and goals, and tell them what medical science can and can't do." But many people do settle on less care. "In our community," he said, "people don't want to die hooked up to machines."

By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 4, 2009

Dumb, Dumber, and Just Plain Assholes

2009-08-31T19:08:00.004-05:00

This is one more piece of proof that Republicans are scum-sucking pieces of lying trash and that the people who believe talking points without doing their own research are moronic sheep.

Preying on Fear and Predicting the Final Solution
by Lou Dubose | September 1, 2009
The Dalles, Oregon

WHEN DEMOCRAT JEFF MERKLEY WAS THE UNDERDOG challenging Republican incumbent Gordon Smith in 2008, he promised that if elected he would hold one town hall meeting a year in every county in Oregon. Because they usually begin with a 3,000-mile flight from Washington, D.C., congressional town hall meetings in Oregon are a heavy lift. And there are thirty-six counties in the state. So Senator Merkley was meeting with constituents months before claques of red-faced white men kicked off their summer of hate.
The senator had scheduled four town hall meetings (across 610 highway miles) for August 2 and 3—on the weekend after the House Energy and Commerce Committee completed a 1,000-page health care reform bill. Merkley's August meetings occurred just as right-wing fanatics were preparing to hijack the national health care reform discussion.

I caught up with the senator at his first meeting on Saturday morning in Tillamook and proceeded up the coast for an afternoon meeting in Astoria. On the following day Merkley held meetings in The Dalles and Madras, two smaller towns east of the coastal range.

Ten minutes into the meeting at the Tillamook library, a man asked the question that would be asked at least twice, in one form or another, at each of the four meetings: "I hear if you're a certain age, you're going to have to go before a committee where they're going to try to convince you that it's not in the interest of the country for you to get the medical care that you need."

The senator explained that a provision in the House bill would require the government to pay private physicians for one voluntary counseling session regarding end-of-life decisions every five years. The questioner didn't buy it. It reminded him of Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan physician who served seven years in prison for assisting terminal patients to end their lives.

End-of-life counseling was the topic of the moment. That afternoon in Astoria a woman asked, "Why do we have to have mandatory end-of-life counseling?" The senator again explained the provision in the House bill: an optional consultation with your private physician paid for by the government. His explanation was followed by a variation on the same theme from yet another woman. "Would you be willing to let me counsel your parents without knowing what my belief system was and I encourage them to end their life?" she asked. "I think the government has no business making end-of-life decisions." She angrily refused to accept the senator's explanation that counseling would be provided by private physicians.

It was evident that these questions had little to do with the actual content of any health care bill. It was also evident that the most vocal opponents of reform were literally reading from the same script. In this case, a script that revealed the influence of Christian extremists, whose sloppiness in dealing with facts and programmatic deceit has been largely ignored by the media.

I spoke with one of the women who had asked about mandatory end-of-life counseling. She said she knew the counseling was mandatory because "it's in the bill." Yet she hadn't read the bill. She was reading from a memo posted on the website of the Liberty Counsel, a Christian law firm and advocacy group related to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Virginia.

Among the 112 talking points in the Liberty Counsel's ten-page electronic samizdat were the following:
Sec. 2511, Pg. 992 - Government will establish school-based "health" clinics. Your children will be indoctrinated and your grandchildren may be aborted!

Sec. 1233, Pg. 429, Lines 10-12 - "Advanced Care Consultation" may include an ORDER for end-of-life plans - from the government.

Sec. 1713, Pg. 768, Lines 3-5 - Nurse Home Visit Services – Service #1: "Improving maternal or child health and pregnancy outcomes or increasing birth intervals between pregnancies." Compulsory ABORTIONS?

Sec.1751, Pg. 800 - The government will decide which Health Care conditions will be paid. Say "RATION!"
None of these claims are true. Nor were they compiled by the Liberty Counsel's staff. They were provided by right-wing blogger Peter Fleckenstein and posted under the imprimatur of the Liberty Counsel.

HITLER, OBAMA, AND MALTHUS—Sunday meetings in The Dalles and Madras were more angry and volatile.There was a lot of concern about a nonexistent provision in the House bill that would provide free health care for illegal aliens. And the end-of-life questions continued.

In The Dalles, a seventy-four-year-old woman wearing a nasal oxygen tube held in place by a retaining headband asked about "this new House measure in the bill which says the government will determine when I stay and when I go." When I asked her about her sources, she handed me a printout of the Liberty Counsel talking points, which she said she "got from a pastor on the Internet." She also said that "getting rid of the old people was how Hitler got started."

In Madras, where the crowd was extremely vocal and angry, an elderly woman linked the House's proposed solution to the nation's health care crisis to the final solution. "In Germany when Hitler came in, he started out with the insane and mentally retarded," she said. "And nobody ever saw them again. Then he came for the senior citizens. Later word got out that they were all euthanized. Hitler said we'll have more food for the healthy people." (She neglected to mention six million Jews.)

The woman said she is Christian and believes in "the End Times," in which she fears Obama is playing a role. When I spoke to her, I found that she, too, was reading from the Liberty Counsel talking points, printed out from Rick Joyner's Web site.

Rick Joyner is "the pastor on the Internet" who somehow managed to inform much of the debate in Oregon. He is a South Carolina evangelical with a large church and an even larger Web-based ministry. He derives his spiritual authority from a claim to have been transported to Heaven for an extended conversation with Jesus. Joyner has done eight "National Health Scare Bulletin" Webcasts that are also available in transcript format. They all provide links to the Liberty Counsel memo, which he continues to promote.

Joyner insists that it is a Christian duty to speak out about Obama's health care reform plan. In his health care homilies, the pastor links reformers to Nazis in Hitler's Germany:

"They started with abortion. Then they started with all the retardeds; they gathered up all the retarded and said the state can do a better job taking care of the retarded than families: No one ever saw them again. Then they went on, to the elderly to the infirm…. Nobody knew what happened to them.

"You may have heard the one German who said when they came for the Jews I didn't complain, because I wasn't Jewish. When they came for the Catholics, I didn't complain because I wasn't Catholic. When they came for the union leaders I didn't complain because I wasn't in a union. When they came for the Protestants, I didn't care because I wasn't a Protestant. When they came for me, nobody complained because there was nobody left."

Joyner admits that there are errors in the Liberty Counsel memo and said that its executive director, Mat Staver, and Staver's staff are working on a revised copy. Two weeks after the Oregon hearings, I called to ask about the inaccuracies. Joyner's administrative assistant told me they would get back to me. I called the Liberty Counsel, where a woman in the press office told me she knew nothing about any revisions and that Mathew Staver would call me with a further explanation. As this issue went to press, neither Joyner nor Staver had returened calls. These are organizations that enjoy non-profit status under the IRS Code, are fully engaged in the health care debate, yet answer to no one.

In his Webcasts (http://www.morningstarministries.org) Joyner persists with his claims about Nazi Germany, a historical moment he claims to have studied extensively.

I found it odd that a pastor who is an authority on Nazi Germany would have missed Pastor Martin Niemöller, the "one German" quoted by Joyner. Joyner might be surprised to learn that Niemöller was in fact a Protestant, a Lutheran pastor and theologian.

Niemöller actually said:

"First they came for the communists, but I was not a communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the socialists and the trade unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
If you would like to read the Health Care Bill for yourself (instead of letting liars tell you what is in the bill, when it really isn't) go here to read the Bill.

BTW, the kicker about the Death Panels--- you're going to love this--the End of Life Counseling language was put in the Bill by Republican Olympia Snowe, and, and similar End of Life Counseling language in the 2003 law which created the Medicare prescription drug benefit was supported by and voted for by Republicans Senators Grassley, Lugar, and Collins, and Republican Reps. Patrick Tiberi of Ohio, Geoff Davis of Kentucky, and Charles Boustany, R-La.

In fact Rep. Charles Boustany, a heart surgeon and a co-sponsor of the counseling bill, says the legislation is aimed at promoting important discussions between doctors and their patients about critical end-of-life issues, such as having a living will. He says those discussions are a "good medical practice," and doctors who spend time counseling their patients about their wishes should be reimbursed through the Medicare system, as the legislation allows.

Dumb, Dumber, and Just Plain Assholes.

MEDICARE IS RUN BY THE GOVERNMENT

2009-08-27T10:26:00.009-05:00

In South Carolina, an enraged constituent told Republican Rep. Bob Inglis to "keep your government hands off my Medicare!" Rep. Ingliss explained to the man that,"Actually, sir, your health care is being provided by the government,"but the man did not believe Ingliss, shouting "You're lying, you're lying".

A woman sent a letter to the White House furiously stating, "I don't want government-run health care, I don't want socialized medicine and don't touch my Medicare."

Republican pundit Arthur Laffer quipped, "If you like the post office and the Department of Motor Vehicles, and you think they're run well, just wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid and health care done by the government."

Now, this isn't brain surgery. Listen carefully, people...MEDICARE IS RUN BY THE GOVERNMENT. That means that Medicare IS GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTHCARE. If you are on Medicare, then you use government-run healthcare already. If you like Medicare, then you like government run healthcare.

So stop whining about how government-run healthcare will use euthanasia or will make you sick or will deny life-saving treatment. Does Medicare do any of those things? No? Then pull your heads out of your asses and stop saying idiotic things like "Keep government out of Medicare". It cannot be done, kind of like Republicans cannot pull their heads out of their asses in order to think clearly and do their own research on healthcare issues.

Go Jesse, Go Jesse!

2009-08-26T07:50:00.003-05:00

This interview occurred back in May, but it worth re-reading. Jesse made a lot of sense, and King just didn't get it.

On Larry King Live, Jesse Ventura takes on the Bush administration chickenhawks and Rush Limbaugh, and defends Colin Powell. After being waterboarded himself in the SERE program, Ventura makes no bones about it-- Waterboarding is torture. I'd like to see Hannity (who offered to be waterboarded to prove it was NOT torture)have Ventura on his show to debate the issue.

King's reaction to Ventura's straight talk on how terrible of a President W was is amusing. He's shocked...just shocked I tell you, that anyone would talk so badly about our former President.

KING: Joining us now, Jesse Ventura, former wrestler, former governor of Minnesota, former Navy SEAL, the author of "Don't Start The Revolution Without Me." That book is now out in paper back. Welcome to have you back, Jesse. There you see the cover of the book. How's Obama doing?

JESSE VENTURA, FMR. GOV. OF MINNESOTA: Too early to tell, Larry, really. In my opinion, George Bush is the worst president in my lifetime.

KING: Have an opinion, will you? (Does King sound like Yoda?)

VENTURA: I will. I will. And he's the worst president in my lifetime. So Barack Obama, President Obama inherited something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. You know? Two wars, an economy that's borderline depression. So it's far too early to judge him 100 days in. I think if you have me back about two years from now, I can give you a much better of how he's doing.

KING: He poked fun at himself at the White House correspondents' dinner Saturday night. Let's watch. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Finally, I believe that my next 100 days will be so successful I'll be able to complete them in 72 days. And on the 73rd day, I will rest. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: He's very likable.
VENTURA: Oh, yes.
KING: Right?
VENTURA: Very intelligent, which is a change from our previous president.
KING: All right already with Bush.
VENTURA: No, I live in Mexico now, Larry. So I do a lot of reading. I don't watch much TV. This year's reading, I covered Bush's life. I covered Guantanamo and a few other subjects. And I'm very disturbed about it.

I'm bothered over Guantanamo because it seems we have created our own Hanoi Hilton. We can live with that? I have a problem. I will criticize President Obama on this level; it's a good thing I'm not president because I would prosecute every person that was involved in that torture. I would prosecute the people that did it. I would prosecute the people that ordered it. Because torture is against the law. KING: You were a Navy SEAL.

VENTURA: That's right. I was waterboarded, so I know -- at SERE School, Survival Escape Resistance Evasion. It was a required school you had to go to prior to going into the combat zone, which in my era was Vietnam. All of us had to go there. We were all, in essence -- every one of us was waterboarded. It is torture.

KING: What was it like?
VENTURA: It's drowning. It gives you the complete sensation that you are drowning. It is no good, because you -- I'll put it to you this way, you give me a waterboard, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.

KING: Even though you know it's not going to happen -- even though before it, you know you're not going to drown.
VENTURA: You don't know it. If it's -- if it's done wrong, you certainly could drown. You could swallow your tongue. You could do a whole bunch of stuff. If it's it done wrong or -- it's torture, Larry. It's torture.

[.....]
KING: A lot of things to go into, Jesse. What do you make of the Cheney/Limbaugh --
VENTURA: I don't have a lot of respect for Dick Cheney. Here's a guy who got five deferments from the Vietnam War. Clearly, he's a coward. He wouldn't go when it was his time to go. And now he is a chickenhawk. Now he is this big tough guy who wants this hardcore policy. And he's the guy that sanctioned all this torture by calling it enhanced interrogation.

KING: Do you think Rush Limbaugh's a better Republican than Colin Powell?
VENTURA: No, not at all. In fact, if you compare the two, let's look at Colin Powell, who's a war hero, who strapped it on for his country, and didn't run and hide.

KING: Twice.
VENTURA: And then you look at Dick Cheney who ran and hid. I have no respect for Dick Cheney. I have tremendous respect for General Powell.

Well said Jesse.

"Deficits Don't Matter"

2009-08-25T17:41:00.003-05:00

Cheney to Treasury: "Deficits don't matter"

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone-posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. "You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don't matter," he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: "We won the midterms (congressional elections). This is our due." A month later, Cheney told the Treasury secretary he was fired.
Source: [X-ref O'Neill] Adam Entous, Reuters, on AOL News Jan 11, 2004

And the Hits Just Keep Coming

2009-08-20T13:52:00.003-05:00

At another angry townhall beating, I mean meeting, the angry mob of informed citizens screamed at Florida Dem. Rep. Allen Boyd that they were outraged that the proposed healthcare reforms would, wait for it.... "let the government access bank accounts".

Just as Barney Frank had done with his outraged, Obama-with-Hitler-moustache-weilding, hysterical nutjob, Allen responded in good form, Allen said, "That's not true. When someone sends you something on the Internet that sounds crazy, how about just checking it a little bit?"

Here is the story on CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/20/health.care.bad.info/index.html

Rumors influencing health care debate

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A woman asked Rep. Allen Boyd at a town hall meeting the other day if health care reform proposals would force people to let the government access their bank accounts.

"That's not true," the Florida Democrat responded. "When someone sends you something on the Internet that sounds crazy, how about just checking it a little bit?"

The CNN Truth Squad, which fact-checks political claims, has debunked the bank-access rumor as false. Yet that claim, and others that have been disproved, keep coming up in the national debate on health care reform, inflaming an already emotional issue.

Heated protests have disrupted town hall meetings nationwide, with people shouting at legislators and venting anger at President Obama.

While the anger is genuine, some of it is based on misunderstandings of the actual proposals, said Kenneth Thorpe, a health policy expert at Emory University.

"People are freaked out because there's a lot of bad information and misinformation being ... put out there by opponents of health care reform," Thorpe told CNN.

Obama and the Democrats say misleading information sows fear and anger, particularly among senior citizens who are worried about how changes in health care could affect Medicare. The White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have set up Web campaigns to refute what they describe as provably false information.

"It is now evident that an ugly campaign is underway not merely to misrepresent the health insurance reform legislation, but to disrupt public meetings and prevent members of Congress and constituents from conducting a civil dialogue," Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wrote in a recent commentary.

Republican opponents respond that the emotional reaction is due to Democratic efforts to rush through legislation that amounts to a government takeover of the health care system. They say the proposals eventually will lead to a system that rations treatment based on an individual's ability to contribute to society.

"We've actually started a national debate about exactly what is at stake here," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said Wednesday.

Speaking on MSNBC, Steele said the town hall meetings across the country are reflecting that debate. However, when asked directly about one of the most controversial statements by some Republicans -- that a House bill would create so-called "death panels" to decide who gets treatment -- Steele refused to acknowledge that such language was misinformation.

The CNN Truth Squad determined the "death panel" claim was false, along with others spread by conservative commentators and activist groups who say Democratic proposals would promote euthanizing elderly Americans and mandate free health insurance for illegal immigrants.

One of the most disputed provisions, contained in a House health care proposal, would pay doctors for consultations with patients on end-of-life issues, such as living wills. The proposal is similar to one originally written by Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia.

Opponents have implied or said outright that consultations would be required -- even though the proposal says they would be voluntary.

Some Republicans and Democrats have rejected the "death panel" language, but the issue keeps coming up. At a town hall meeting Tuesday night in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, powerful House Democrat Rep. Barney Frank called the notion that health care legislation required killing elderly people "the single stupidest thing I've heard."

Obama says the misinformation confuses people over an already complex issue that requires public understanding.

"The notion that somehow I ran for public office or members of Congress are in this so that they can go around pulling the plug on grandma ... when you start making arguments like that, it's simply dishonest," the president recently said.

Wendell Potter, a former insurance company communications executive, told CNN that the insurance industry deliberately spreads false information with the goal of disrupting the debate.

The insurance industry hires public relations firms that create front groups to try to "destroy health care reform by using terms like 'government takeover of the health care system' or we are heading down toward a 'slippery slope toward socialism' or 'we're going to kill your grandpa' because of these health care regulations," said Potter, now a senior fellow at the Center for Media and Democracy, which calls itself a nonpartisan watchdog group on public relations spin.

Asked to respond to Potter's accusation, the president of America's Health Insurance Plans, Robert Zirkelbach, acknowledged in an e-mail Wednesday that the group opposes some aspects of Democratic health care proposals.

"We have been very clear and up front since day one about our opposition to a government-run insurance plan that would dismantle employer coverage, bankrupt hospitals, and increase the federal deficit," Zirkelbach's e-mail said. He denied that employees of his group, which is the national association of health insurers, were "responsible for disruptive and inappropriate tactics at health care town hall meetings."

However, some of the language cited by Potter is used by politicians, including Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who told the NBC program "Meet the Press" on Sunday that "the Democrats want a government plan, where the government will take over health care."

Democratic proposals call for creating a government-funded health insurance plan for people who otherwise lack coverage. That is the so-called public option, which they say would compete with private insurers.

Hatch and other Republicans argue the public option would create a subsidized competitor that would drive private insurers out of business, leading to the government taking over the health care system.

Though Democrats deny that Republican assertion, it touches on broader fears among conservatives.

Many conservatives consider the proposed health care overhaul an irresponsible and dangerous expansion of the federal government. They liken it to socialist-style control over private issues, at a cost of nearly $1 trillion over 10 years.

At the same time, Americans facing an economic recession and costly government responses -- such as the $787 billion economic stimulus package and billions more paid to bail out the financial services and auto industries -- are fearful of further change and additional federal debt. Such concerns come up repeatedly at the town hall meetings held by Democrats and Republicans.

The deficit recently topped $1 trillion for the first time; Obama has said he hopes to cut it in half by the end of his first term.

"When the economy is hurting, people are more inclined, I think, to be skeptical, nervous," Frank said.

The misinformation, while refuted, has brought changes in the debate.

Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh exulted Monday when Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said that Senate negotiators dropped the end-of-life consultation provision from their proposal because Grassley said he worried it "could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly."

Limbaugh said on his radio show that no matter what the health care proposals say, they will result in less money available for health care.

"It will forever transform the relationship between Americans," he said. "We will instantly become rivals. We're going to become competitors vying against each other for precious health care dollars."

Grassley, who is one of three Republicans negotiating a possible bipartisan health care agreement, has used controversial language himself. He told a town hall meeting last week he couldn't support a provision that would "pull the plug on grandma."

Former Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle called such comments part of the problem.

"It's hyperbolic, it's fear-mongering, it's actually politics at its worst," Daschle said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "That's the kind of thing that generates the kind of anger and fear and anxiety that people have today."

Can I get an A-MEN!

Democracy in America is Officially Dead

2009-08-20T09:42:00.007-05:00

"We know from survey results that two-thirds of people in the United States cannot even name all three branches of the national government"--Supreme Court Justice David Souter

A wise man once noted that a Democracy can survive only if the voting population is well informed of the facts and issues. Well, I am sorry to say, Democracy in America is Officially Dead.

According to the Web site ThinkProgress, a New poll finds that a sickening 39 percent of Americans want government to ‘stay out of Medicare.’

The rest of the article paints an even bleaker picture of the sad state of the ability of Americans to participate in their own political system.

As ThinkProgress has noted before, conservatives have frequently obscured the fact that Medicare is a government-run single-payer program. Constituents appearing at health care town halls have even demanded that their members of Congress keep their “government hands off of Medicare.” Now, a new Public Policy Polling poll finds that millions of Americans do not realize that the federal government runs Medicare:

One poll question indicative of how difficult it is to gain public understanding on a complicated issue asked if respondents thought the government should ‘stay out of Medicare,’ something inherently impossible. 39% said yes.

The poll also shows that an additional 15% of respondents were “not sure” if the government should be involved in Medicare. Only 46% of respondents disagreed with the proposition that the government should stay out of the government-run program.

Update The poll also finds that only 62 percent of respondents believe that President Obama was born in America. Of the 38 percent who either don't believe or are unsure, some think he was born in Indonesia, Kenya, the Philippines, or France. Six percent of the total poll respondents also don't think Hawaii is a U.S. state.

If you don't know that Medicare IS a government run program, I am sorry, but you should not be allowed to express an opinion because your opinion is based on a faulty brain. I say a faulty brain because any person, if they are not sure, can do 30 seconds of research and determine that Medicare IS a government run program.

With poll results like those above, it is obvious to me that we are witnessing the decline of the American Empire. Next stop, The United States of Idiots.

Lesson Learned--- Religion in Politics and Law, Rules

2009-07-21T11:18:00.001-05:00

Beer-drinking model faces caning in Malaysia
July 21, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR — A religious court in Malaysia has sentenced a tearful Singaporean Muslim model to six strokes of the cane after she drank beer in a nightclub, reports said Tuesday.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, pleaded guilty to consuming alcohol at a hotel nightclub in the eastern state of Pahang last year, the New Straits Times newspaper reported.

“We feel the sentence is fair after going through the prosecution’s argument and since the rotan (cane) is provided for in the law,” Pahang Sharia High Court judge Abdul Rahman Yunus said, according to the paper.

“The rotan is aimed at making the accused repent and serves as a lesson to Muslims,” he added, also fining Kartika 5,000 ringgit (1,412 dollars).

The model, who cried when the judgement was delivered, said she would appeal.

State religious officials could not be reached for comment on the case.

Malaysia, which has large Indian and Chinese minorities freely enjoying alcohol, has a two-track legal system. Civil courts operate alongside state-based sharia courts, which can try Muslims for religious offences.

C is For "Cheat" Not "Christian" Bwah-ha-ha-ha

2009-07-17T19:09:00.007-05:00

Third alleged affair tied to C Street Christian dorm
By Raw Story Published: July 17, 2009

The last month has been tough for some Republicans. But, apparently, even worse for their wives.

After a sitting governor and a senator both admitted marital infidelities, the wife of a former congressman is alleging that an affair her husband rekindled with an old flame not only broke up his marriage, but also ruined his political career.

Strangely enough, all FOUR(see addendum below) have ties to the same house on C Street.

“A Capitol Hill townhouse that serves as a dormitory and meeting place for a band of conservative Christian lawmakers has been linked to a third episode of marital infidelity, this time in a Mississippi court filing by a former lawmaker’s estranged wife,” Jonathan Allen reports for CQ Politics.

Allen notes, “In an ‘alienation of affection’ lawsuit, former Rep. Charles W. Pickering Jr.’s estranged wife, Leisha, alleges that he carried on an extramarital affair with a onetime college sweetheart while he lived at a house at 133 C Street in Southeast Washington. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Gov. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., both of whom admitted to cheating on their wives in recent weeks, are members of the Christian fellowship of lawmakers known as ‘C Street’ for the address of the house where several of the members live at any given time.”

According to Roll Call’s Jackie Kucinich, “Leisha Pickering alleged in the court document that the Mississippi Republican’s decision to leave the House at the end of the 110th Congress came after Creekmore-Byrd told him ‘as long as he remained in public life that she and he could not have a private life together.’”

More from Roll Call:

The complaint also asserts that Creekmore-Byrd’s ultimatum led to Pickering’s decision to not seek the Senate seat vacated by Lott.

“Ultimately, Creekmore-Byrd gave Pickering the option to remain a public servant or become a private citizen and continue relations with her,” the complaint reads.
Politico notes, “Pickering is now a lobbyist for Cellular South, a telecom company owned by Creekmore Byrd’s family.”

At Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall observes, “You remember the C Street Group, the combo Bible fellowship and group home for members of Congress up on Capitol Hill. But it’s been occurring to us that the C Street Group, which is an emanation of a shadowy religious outfit called ‘the Family’, might not be a religious fellowship at all so much as a covert 12 Step Group from Republican Hound Dogs, womanizers and sex addicts trying to get clean during their tenure in the hallowed halls of Congress.”

A PDF of Leisha Pickering’s complaint can be accessed at this link.

ADDENDUM: Republican Louisiana Senator David Vitter is also a part of this Cheat Street Cabal.On July 10, 2007, Jeanette Maier, the "Canal Street Madam", testified that Vitter was a customer on more than one occasion in the 1990s, when Maier was identified by federal prosecutors as operating a $300 per hour brothel and that he favored one prostitute in particular, Wendy Cortez.

Republican senators gave Vitter a "loud standing ovation", which is hypocritical becauseof the Republican attitude toward Clinton's marital infidelity. The applause came after Vitter privately apologized to his colleagues for the affair with the prostitute.

Republican Senator Sam Brownback saidn on October 5, 2007 that Vitter should be censured by the Senate. He said, "I think you could see something like that taking place. If you look at the actual crime itself and the discussion across the country – and as a Republican – this is bad."

Sotomayor Quote Scam a Right Wing Sham(E)

2009-05-29T14:00:00.006-05:00

Former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo-- said LA RAZA is just like the "KKK without the hoods and nooses". Well No, the KKK killed and intimidated people. LA RAZA doesn't. By Tancredo's reasoning (or what little reasoning he can do with his tiny, shriveled, weak, puny mind) the VFW is an old man version of the KKK.

The other Right Wing talking point, that Sotomayor is a racist because she said, and here is the PARTIAL quote that the Right keeps using,

a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male

The beginning and the end of that quote are very disingenuously left off the bullshit that the Right is spewing. The ENTIRE quote is

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O’Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O’Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.

During his confirmation hearing Sam Alito made basically the same remarks

And that's why I went into that in my opening statement. Because when a case comes before me involving, let's say, someone who is an immigrant -- and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases -- I can't help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn't that long ago when they were in that position.

And so it's my job to apply the law. It's not my job to change the law or to bend the law to achieve any result.

But when I look at those cases, I have to say to myself, and I do say to myself, "You know, this could be your grandfather, this could be your grandmother. They were not citizens at one time, and they were people who came to this country."

When I have cases involving children, I can't help but think of my own children and think about my children being treated in the way that children may be treated in the case that's before me.

And that goes down the line. When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.

The Right makes kneejerk comments w/out knowing the full quote. She said white men cannot make the same judgments I make as a latina woman.

New Posts Coming Soon

2009-05-11T21:43:00.002-05:00

I thought i had nothing else to say but then they pulled me back in. (sorry for ending the sent. in a prop., but it was for effect.)
The GOP has decidded to not play nice. Rather than do what is necessary for America the GOP is halting all progress and is obstructing the great revolution that will establish America as the world light in prosperity, kindness, success, and leadership.

Don't Lie To Me, Man

2009-02-24T08:45:00.004-06:00

This is GREAT. Write to your state Reps and Senator to ask that the similar legislation be introduced here in Texas. I believe in Free Speech but LYING is not protected speech.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/401179_lies24.html

State House approves ban on campaign lies
By CURT WOODWARD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS February 23, 200

OLYMPIA -- Political candidates in Washington would once again be banned from telling lies on the campaign trail under a proposed law approved Monday by the state House.

The bill, passed out of the House on a 92-2 vote, seeks to reinstate an old law that was thrown out on free speech grounds by the state Supreme Court in 2007. The court said the state's former ban on lying in campaigns violated the First Amendment because it did not require proof that campaign falsehoods were defamatory.

Rep. Mark Miloscia, D-Federal Way, said this year's attempt at reinstating the ban on campaign lies addresses the court's problems with the old law. Specifically, the bill approved Monday would prohibit false statements that are libelous or defamatory, and committed with actual malice - a key legal test in free speech case law.

"This bill simply establishes some overdue minimum standards of honesty and decency in political campaigning," said Miloscia, the bill's prime sponsor. The bill, which was requested by the state Public Disclosure Commission, now moves to the state Senate for further consideration.

One of the "no" votes Monday was cast by Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle. Pedersen, an attorney, said the bill still doesn't go far enough to cure the potential infringement on First Amendment protections of speech.

"I think the court was very clear that political speech is at the heart of what the First Amendment is about," Pedersen said.

Lawmakers should leave it to voters to determine whether a candidate is being truthful, and keep government regulations out of the mix, Pedersen said. Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, cast the other "no" vote.

A (Twisted) Sign of the Times

2009-02-17T09:22:00.003-06:00

Rich Cut Back on Payments to Mistresses
You know times are tough when the rich start cutting costs on their mistresses.

According to a new survey by Prince & Assoc., more than 80% of multimillionaires who had extra-marital lovers planned to cut back on their gifts and allowances. Still, only 12% of the multimillionaire cheaters said they plan to give up on their lovers altogether for financial reasons.

“Rich people are getting hit, and they’re all expressing the need to curtail unnecessary spending,” said Russ Alan Prince, president of Prince & Assoc., a wealth-research firm based in Connecticut. “Lovers are part of the same calculation.”

Of course, any study of millionaires and their mistresses should be taken with a large grain of salt. The survey–a subset of a larger wealth study–polled 191 individuals with a minimum net worth of $20 million who said they had lovers of at least a year or more (this to screen out the one-night stands, etc.). About two thirds of the respondents were men and one third women. All were married and all had personal control over their finances, meaning the women and men surveyed were the primary wealth holders in their homes.

The most surprising stats in the study relate to gender and what might be termed “length of service.” Fully 82% of men in the study said they planned to lower the allowances to their mistresses, while more than three quarters planned to provide fewer gifts, less expensive gifts and fewer perks, like jet rides, resort vacations and top restaurant meals.

Women were far more generous to their paramours in the face of financial crises. Less than 20% planned to lower allowances, gifts and perks, while more than half planned to raise them.

Susan Shapiro Barash, who teaches gender studies at Marymount Manhattan College and wrote “Little White Lies, Deep Dark Secrets,” about why women lie, said women value their lovers more than men in a time of economic trouble. “For the women, lovers matter more than ever now because the rest of life is so dreary,” she said. “For the men, they’re just cutting across the board.”

Ms. Barash added that women may value their lovers more today because their husbands are so miserable. “If your husband lost his job on Wall Street and he’s miserable, you need the escape,” she says.

The duration of the relationship also seems to play a role in the economics of high-end cavorting. The study found that more than two thirds of the millionaires who had been with their lovers for three or more years planned to cut back. That compares with less than half for those with a tenure of one to three years.

“What we found in talking to the respondents is that the magic of the relationship with their lover fades after a while, so they’re more willing to let them go,” Mr. Prince says.

The survey doesn’t mean to suggest that all, most or even a large minority of rich men and women have affairs. It simply is a snapshot of a certain sample at a certain time. Yet it suggests that in a time of financial crisis, it is better to be a kept man than a compensated woman.

UPDATE: Since so many readers asked about the survey’s methodology, I called Russ Prince to get the specifics. The mistress questions were added to the end of a much larger survey on wealth and wealth management polling a control group of 518 people. Of the 518 people surveyed as part of the broader study, 191 opted to answer the mistress question. The 518 respondents were all private jet owners — since this was done in conjunction with a private-jet-related business — and all the respondents were paid for their time.

Permalink | Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2008/11/18/rich-cut-back-on-payments-to-mistresses/trackback/

If You Haven't Done Anything Wrong You Have Nothing to Fear--NOT

2009-02-09T12:06:00.003-06:00

CIA Confuses Rolling Stone satire story as Dirty Bomb Plot--Tortures Man in Gitmo

John Byrne Published: Monday February 9, 2009

'How to Build an H-Bomb' was a joke, but apparently helped buttress CIA case
A British citizen held at Guantanamo Bay who the Pentagon accused of plotting to build a dirty bomb had actually been reading a satirical article re-posted from Rolling Stone, according to a British newspaper report.

Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopan janitor who was seeking asylum in Britain, allegedly admitted to browsing a story that instructs readers how to building a nuclear bomb. Trouble is, that story was apparently a joke.

Mohamed says that he made the admission -- and others relating to purported terrorism -- after being beaten, hung by his wrists for a week, having a gun held to his head, and held in a dungeon-like cell at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay.

A British newspaper reported Sunday that the "offending article," "How to Build An H-Bomb," was actually published in Rolling Stone and re-posted on other websites.

"Written by Barbara Ehrenreich, the publication’s food editor, Rolling Stone journalist Peter Biskind and scientist Michio Kaku, it claims that a nuclear weapon can be made ‘using a bicycle pump’ and with liquid uranium ‘poured into a bucket and swung round,'" the Daily Mail wrote Sunday.

"We can reveal that the story which apparently led to Mohamed’s ordeal could not possibly have been used by a terrorist to build a nuclear weapon," the paper added. "The satirical article, published in Seven Days magazine, says its authors were given ‘three days to cook up a workable H-bomb. They did and we have decided to share their culinary secrets with you.’

"Not that Seven Days supports nuclear terrorism," it adds. "We don’t. We would prefer to die from familiar poisons like low-level radiation, microwaves, DDT or food dyes, rather than unexpectedly, say as hostage to a Latvian nationalists brandishing a home-made bomb.'"

A Google search did not immediately reveal the original Rolling Stone piece.

The CIA decided that despite its humorous intentions, the reading of the piece was enough to accuse the 30-year-old janitor of plotting a dirty bomb attack, Mohamed's lawyer said. Mohamed was also accused of being trained at an Al Qaeda paramilitary camp in Afghanistan; his lawyer says he visited Afghanistan to see the Muslim world for himself.

"Unclassified evidence corroborates Binyam’s claims that he was threatened – at the time the White House was obsessed by the idea terrorists had access to nuclear materials," said Mohamed's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith. "Binyam said that he told them about a website he had once seen on the internet called How To Build An H-Bomb. He said that this was a joke but they thought it might be serious.

"I am speculating but I think this news was sent up the line to the White House, which is when the paranoia kicked in," Stafford Smith added. "This is how they made their huge mistake, thinking he was a major terrorist as opposed to a London janitor."

Mohamed was subject not simply to apparent torture but also to the Bush Administration's extraordinary rendition program, in which terrorist suspects are kidnapped and put on private jets, then dropped in third-party countries that condone torture.

The charges of a dirty-bomb plot were later dropped -- just as they were against US citizen Jose Padilla, who was held in a military brig without charges for several years. Padilla was later convicted of other terror charges.

"The Foreign Secretary is refusing to release classified documents relating to Mohamed’s detention," the Mail added. "Last week, the High Court ruled that the 42 intelligence papers must remain secret. However, the judges insisted they had no choice because the Government had informed them of a ‘threat’ by the US to withdraw all intelligence co-operation with Britain if the papers were published by the court."

It Ain't Easy

2009-01-28T10:02:00.000-06:00

"Fair" is a relative term.

Obama's "Socialist" Plan Same as Clinton's

2008-10-28T15:53:00.003-05:00

Republican presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan were huge supporters of what McCain has called "income redistribution."

Roosevelt was one of the greatest advocates of progressive taxation in the years immediately preceding the enactment of the current income tax.

Reagan was responsible for enacting the Earned Income Tax Credit, an extremely successful redistribution program which returns money to the working poor.

Obama is going to REDUCE the taxes of 95 percent of Americans by taxing only the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans at the same rate they paid under President Clinton, when we saw the greatest economic expansion in U.S. history.

Right now the Bush tax breaks are a virtual lottery for the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans. They have enjoyed huge rebates and tax loopholes for years, Obama simply, and justly, wants to instead give the those tax breaks to people who earn less than $250,000. So again, if you make LESS THAN $250,000 Obama will give you a tax break.
If you make more than $250,000 you will pay the same tax rate that was in effect under Clinton.
So tell me why Obama's tax plan is bad. Tell me how this is even remotely socialist.

FYI, Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to call for universal health care and national health insurance.

Will McCain "Fuck You"?

2008-10-24T09:57:00.002-05:00

It seems that irrational anger runs in the family, the McCain family that is.

Early this week John McCain's brother Joe, while in Alexandria, VA, called 911 because he was irritated with traffic. When the operator asked him if he was really calling the emergency line to complain about highway conditions, Joe McCain responded, "Fuck you" and hung up.

According to WJLA Newschannel 8 in Alexandria, the operator dialed the caller back. Shockingly enough, Joe McCain's voicemail answered.

Audio transcript of the call plays out as such:

Operator: "911, state your emergency."

Caller: "It's not an emergency but, do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95 traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic's coming the other way?"

Operator: "Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic?"

Caller: "Fuck you."

When the emergency operator called back, she was greeted with, "Hi this is Joe McCain. I can't take this message now because I'm involved in a very (inaudible) important political project... I hope on Nov. 4th we have elected John."

It's good to see that Joe McCain is following his brothers "strategery" to win over voters.

Block the Vote

2008-10-23T16:52:00.002-05:00

Will the GOP's campaign to deter new voters and discard Democratic ballots determine the next president?

These days, the old west rail hub of Las Vegas, New Mexico is little more than a dusty economic dead zone amid a boneyard of bare mesas. In national elections, the town overwhelmingly votes Democratic: More than 80 percent of all residents are Hispanic, and one in four lives below the poverty line.

On February 5th, the day of the Super Tuesday caucus, a school-bus driver named Paul Maez arrived at his local polling station to cast his ballot. To his surprise, Maez found that his name had vanished from the list of registered voters, thanks to a statewide effort to deter fraudulent voting. For Maez, the shock was especially acute: He is the supervisor of elections in Las Vegas.

Maez was not alone in being denied his right to vote. On Super Tuesday, one in nine Democrats who tried to cast ballots in New Mexico found their names missing from the registration lists. The numbers were even higher in precincts like Las Vegas, where nearly 20 percent of the county's voters were absent from the rolls. With their status in limbo, the voters were forced to cast "provisional" ballots, which can be reviewed and discarded by election officials without explanation. On Super Tuesday, more than half of all provisional ballots cast were thrown out statewide.

This November, what happened to Maez will happen to hundreds of thousands of voters across the country. In state after state, Republican operatives — the party's elite commandos of bare-knuckle politics — are wielding new federal legislation to systematically disenfranchise Democrats. If this year's race is as close as the past two elections, the GOP's nationwide campaign could be large enough to determine the presidency in November. "I don't think the Democrats get it," says John Boyd, a voting-rights attorney in Albuquerque who has taken on the Republican Party for impeding access to the ballot. "All these new rules and games are turning voting into an obstacle course that could flip the vote to the GOP in half a dozen states."

To read the rest of this excellent, important, and informative article by ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. & GREG PALAST go to
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/23638322/block_the_vote/print

Get it out there. Call. Write. Talk. Inform.

Palin---"What Does the VP Do?" Wear Expensive Clothes!

2008-10-22T18:16:00.003-05:00

For the love of God, this is the SECOND time that Palin has not been able to answer the question "What does the VP do?" On CNBC she (in)famously asked “What is it exactly that the VP does every day?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4gkPXSDtGQ You would think that after he first screw up somebody in McCain camp would have told her!!

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

October 22, 2008
Palin takes heat for saying VP 'in charge' of the Senate
Posted: 01:18 PM ET

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
(CNN) – Sarah Palin is taking heat Wednesday for appearing to overstate the role of vice president, saying in a recent interview that she would be "in charge of the Senate" should John McCain win the White House.
The comments came in an interview with Colorado TV station KUSA in response to a third-grader's question, "What does the Vice President do?”

"[T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom," she said.

The comments have drawn criticism from Democrats and liberal blogs which note the actual role of the vice president when it comes to the Senate is simply to cast a tie-breaking vote in the event of a stalemate. According to Article I of the U.S. Constitution, the vice president is the "President" of the Senate, but has no executive position when it comes to presiding over the chamber.

Donald Ritchie, a historian in the Senate Historical Office told CNN that Palin's comment was an "overstatement" of what her role would be.

"The vice president is the ceremonial officer of the Senate and has certain ceremonial functions including swearing in new senators and can vote to break a tie," he said. "It’s a relatively limited role. It's evolved into a neutral presiding officer of the Senate.

Ritchie also noted recent vice presidents have played a behind-the-scenes lobbying role on Capitol Hill for an administration's policies, but called it "somewhat limited."

"It's not comparable to the Speaker of the House who is certainly in charge of the House," he said. "The slogan that political scientists use is that the House is ruled by the chair and the Senate is ruled by the floor…the senators are in charge of the Senate."

Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for Palin, said the Alaska governor was simply answering the question in a way a third-grader could understand.

"Governor Palin was responding to a third grader's inquiry," she said. "She was explaining in terms a third-grader could understand that the vice-president is also president of the U.S. Senate."

In an interview with CBS earlier this month, Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden also said he hoped to play an influential role in the legislative branch if Barack Obama wins the White House.

"I hope one of my roles as vice president will be as the person actually implementing Barack Obama's policy. You gotta get the Congress to go along with it," he said. "And it's presumptuous to say, but I know it pretty well. And I think I am fairly respected on both sides of the aisle."

Palin is doing a lot to improve our image abroad. She got dressed up in $150,000 in designer clothes from Niemen Marcus and Saks 5th Ave. And she will donate the clothes to charity after the election. Bag ladies in $3,000 Oscar de La Renta leather jackets and homeless people in $5,000 skirts.

GOP voter fraud scandal 'really serious'

2008-10-20T18:55:00.000-05:00

David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Monday October 20, 2008

The Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday that dozens of voters have complained they were duped by a firm working for the GOP into switching their party registration to Republican while being told they were signing a petition for tougher penalties on child molesters.

The switches could impede Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts and could prevent those affected from voting in next year's Democratic primaries. Some of the voters were even switched to absentee status, meaning they could lose their vote entirely if they show up at the polls on Election Day without bringing an absentee ballot.

The story began last summer, when California Democrats noticed sudden, unexplained turnarounds in Republican registration in certain counties and obtained a list of the new registrations from the San Bernardino County registrar's office. They found that more than 75% of the phone numbers given were invalid, and of those voters who could be reached, over 80% said their registrations had been switched to Republican without their knowledge.

A single group turned out to be behind the "slamming" -- Young Political Majors, which was previously found to be using similar tactics in Florida in 2004. In that election, YPM was employed by another firm called JSM Inc., which was working for conservative powerhouse Arno Political Associates. Similar stories involving all three have surfaced in Arizona, Massachusetts, and Ohio.

MSNBC's Contessa Brewer asked legal analyst Susan Filan on Monday about the case. "This is really serious," Filan responded. "This is a very specific, deliberate intent to mislead." She contrasted it with the far more trivial accusations of voter fraud against the anti-poverty group ACORN, which has handed in occasional fake registrations under names such as "Mickey Mouse."

Late on Saturday, the owner of Young Political Majors, Mark Jacoby, was arrested on charges of having fraudulently registered himself to vote at a California address where he lived as a child so that he would meet California's legal requirement that signature gatherers be eligible to vote in that state.

Jacoby's attorney called the charges "baseless" and part of a "long pattern of harassment," saying that his client travels a lot and has continued to use his parents' home as his legal address.

The California GOP issued a statement claiming that "California Secretary of State Debra Bowen has decided to once again show her partisan colors and charge an individual for questions surrounding his own, personal voter registration. ... The charges we've seen today suggests that this is politically motivated. ... It is evident that Debra Bowen is using her office to play politics with the public's perception."

Filan's comment on this claim was, "To say this is politically motivated is just nonsense. To not prosecute something like this would be an extreme dereliction of a public official's duty." However, she did not address the question of whether there was any impropriety in arresting Jacoby for his personal actions rather than because of the accusations of fraud against his firm.

Bradblog has been following the Jacoby case and is posting regular updates.

The More Things C.H.A.N.G.E.

2008-10-09T09:57:00.005-05:00

I am sooooo disappointed that the Obama campaign has decided to bring race into this election. How dare Obama play the race card!

Wednesday October 8, 2008
A Monroe, Louisiana man is facing a felony terrorizing charge after a racially charged, profane exchange with his Registrar of Voters and police officers who would later arrest him.

75-year-old Wade Williams, arrested Wednesday morning, was angry that he hadn't yet received his voter registration card. According to the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office, Williams threatened a state official over the phone that he would "empty his shotgun," stating an urgent need to vote to "keep the nigger out of office." On the way to be booked at the Ouachita Correctional Center, Williams reportedly "continued his 'tirade' about niggers and also stated that he had a shotgun, but had hidden it at his residence."

The affidavit also states that Williams was informed over the phone that he would be able to vote simply by showing a form of identification at the polling place.

Friday October 3, 2008
A Florida middle school teacher faced disciplinary action after using the word "nigger" to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The 7th grade teacher, Greg Howard, asked his students what "change" stood for in relation to the Obama campaign and proceeded to write out the acronym "come help a nigger get elected."

The school suspended Howard without pay for 10 days and removed him from his position at the school.

September 13, 2008
An exhibitor at the 2008 Value Voters Summit - sponsored by the Family Research Council and counting among its speakers former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been selling seemingly racist anti-Obama waffles.

"I asked the 'chef'... if he was at all concerned that this might be viewed as a white man putting a black man into a frying pan," Raw Story reporter Larisa Alexandrovna wrote Saturday. "He laughed and said, 'I hope so.'"

The first image shows a gaping caricature of Obama under the words "Obama Waffles," with the tagline "Waffling the World Over." The second shows Obama in a turban with the words, "Point box toward Mecca for tastier waffles."

Yes, how dare Obama bring up race in this election. Shameless.

When Faux Journalism Attacks!

2008-10-09T09:34:00.007-05:00

This morning on America's Newsroom on Fox, Megyn Kelly and Bill Hemmer had their panties in a wad because the new Newsweek cover had used a close up picture of Sarah Palin for its cover. The Fox duo accused Newsweek of being biased and trying tomake Palin look bad. I wonder where Newsweek got the idea?

On the July 2, 2008 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Doocy and Kilmeade showed Photoshopped pictures of New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe without telling viewers that the photos had been altered.

In their piece Doocy and Kilmeade put pictures on screen that made Reddicliffe look like he had dark circles under his eyes, had yellow teeth, and balding hair.
For Steinberg's photo they squished his head into an oval, enlarged his nose, ears and chin, and yellowed his teeth.

To not disclose that these pictures had been digitally altered and to portray the pictures as real is completely dishonest, journalistically unethical, and just plain petty.

This is just another example of how Fox does not employ real journalists.

Recall that Fox News has a habit of being duped into running news stories that turn out to be fake:
1) Phony story about a 13 year-old boy in Texas who used his father's credit card to go on a $30,000 spending spree, culminating with a game of Halo at a motel with a couple hookers. (The kid convinced the hookers he was a midget traveling with the circus.) The story was nothing short of genius, and it got picked up far and wide -- it made into a segment on Fox News (in which Jeanine Pirro made a passionate argument for the prostitutes' arrest).

2)“Fox & Friends” aired at least eight segments on a purported “news” story that was actually a parody article written by a publication similar to The Onion.
The backstory: In the town of Lewiston, Maine, a group of Somalian Muslim middle school students were the subject of a cruel prank when their peers placed a ham steak next to them in order to personally offend the students. School officials filed a report because the students considered the act to be a hate/bias crime.
Fox & Friends reported the details as actual news. Poking fun at the students, hosts asked whether ham was “a hate crime…or lunch?” and showed screen shots of ham sandwiches, starving Somalians, belching, animal noises, and mock “reenactments” of the incident. Ironically, the hosts assured viewers several times, “We’re not making this up!”

3) Carl Cameron, a Fox reporter who covered the Kerry campaign, wrote an item that looked like a news story with made-up Kerry quotes. The item was posted on the Fox News site.
The phony item read in part:

'"Didn't my nails and cuticles look great? What a good debate!'

Kerry said Friday.
"Aides say he will step up attacks on the president in the next few days, and pivot somewhat to the domestic agenda, with a focus on women and abortion rights.
'"It's about the Supreme Court. Women should like me! I do manicures,' Kerry said."
Kerry was quoted as saying of himself and President Bush: "I'm metrosexual — he's a cowboy."

So there you have it, Fox is not a real News organization.

Palin Lets "Kill Him" Go Unpunished

2008-10-08T17:28:00.004-05:00

Bill Kristol, in today's New York Times, advises Palin to bring up the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Palin, of course, believes that's a darn good idea:

“To tell you the truth, Bill, I don’t know why that association isn’t discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country, and to have sat in the pews for 20 years and listened to that — with, I don’t know, a sense of condoning it, I guess, because he didn’t get up and leave — to me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up.”

So why then didn't Palin get up and leave at her rally in Clearwater, Florida someone shouted "Kill him" when Palin mentioned Obama's name. And why did Palin and McCain both stay at a rally they had on Tuesday when someone yelled "Terrorist" when McCain mentioned Obama's name.

Not only did McCain and Palin not leave the rallies, they didn't even tell the hate-shouters to stop inciting illegal acts and hate-speech.

I guess we know where McCain and Palin stand on hate-speech and death threats.

The National Debt, GOP Lies, and Our Children

2008-10-06T11:26:00.004-05:00

Sure, the GOP promises lower taxes for you and me but what the GOP hides is the fact that in exchange for lowering our taxes the GOP is going to saddle us (and even our children) with a massive debt that will take generations to pay off.

In 1982, under that shining star on a hill, Ronald Reagan amassed for the first time ever a national debt that exceeded $1 Trillion. The amount of the debt was unfathomable to almost everyone--$1 Trillion was now owed by American Taxpayers.
In the Keynesian economics theory, which the GOP strongly believes in, there is tolerance for fairly high levels of public debt to pay for public investment in lean times, which can be paid back with tax revenues that rise in the boom times. Well, right now there are two huge problems with that theory.

First, we are not getting anything tangible for our “public investment” right now. We are not getting improved roads, improved schools, improved healthcare, etc. Basically we are getting nothing for a LOT of something—our tax dollars.

Second, when are the “boom times” going to happen? As I write this the DOW has just fallen below 10,000 for the first time in 4 years. About one year ago the DOW was at 14,000. That is a 4,000 point drop in one year. Where and when are the boom times? Certainly the boom times are not here, not now, when we have lost Trillions and Trillions, and Trillions of dollars in the stock market, our home values, and in government spending on two wars.

So here we are now under Bush, another two-term Republican president. And he too, like Reagan has managed to hit another first; Bush has for the first time ever, a grown a national debt that exceeds $10 Trillion. But it’s even worse because Bush started out with national debt of ZERO. Bush has managed to saddle us and our children with the largest national debt in the history of the world.

Historically and factually, Democratic presidents have managed the economy of the United States much, much more responsibly and for the betterment of real tax-paying Americans. Since 1946, Democratic presidents increased the national debt an average of only 3.2% per year. The Republican presidents stay at an average increase of 9.2% per year. Republican Presidents out borrowed and out spent Democratic presidents by a three to one ratio.

Putting that in very real terms; for every dollar a Democratic president has raised the national debt in the past 63 years, Republican presidents have raised the debt by $2.84 [1]. So let’s put that old GOP lie of “tax-and-spend Democrats” to rest right here, right now. The GOP outspends the Dems 3 to 1. But the GOP doesn’t tax us. No the GOP just leaves us with the largest debt in the world and pretends that the bill never has to be paid.

Here is a link to see what the current debt is, show it to your kids because they will be paying on it soon.
http://brillig.com/debt_clock/

[1] This number is derived from an average of the six Republican and five Democratic Presidents’ average debt increase for their terms.

What is McCain Hding in His Campaign Finances and Contributions?

2008-10-05T11:21:00.007-05:00

Unlike the Republicans, the facts do not lie.

Where is the much vaunted transparency of the McCain campaign? McCain has fully disclosed only 86.8% of his campaign contributions, whereas Obama has filed with the Fed Elect Comm full disclosure for 92.4% of his contributions? 86.8% vs. 92.4%. The facts don not lie. Who has been more forthcoming and transparent with their campaign? Obama has been over 5% more honest about his campaign money. What is McCain hiding? Campaign finance tranparency once was a priority for McCain, but I guess that was before he wanted to be president. McCain's flip flop on camapign finance disclosure and ethics reveals to us the real McCain, and he is no maverick.

McCain
Full Disclosure $149,978,607 (86.8%)
Incomplete $5,347,819 (3.1%)
No Disclosure $17,504,399 (10.1%)

Individual contributions $184,758,250 80%
PAC contributions $1,346,385 1%
Candidate self-financing $0 0%
Federal Funds $0 0%
Other $43,935,187 19%

Obama
Full Disclosure $241,496,372 (92.4%)
Incomplete $5,645,434 (2.2%)
No Disclosure $14,294,243 (5.5%)

Individual contributions $426,902,991 94%
PAC contributions $450 0%
Candidate self-financing $0 0%
Federal Funds $0 0%
Other $27,152,882 6%

NOTE: Figures are for the 2008 election cycle. Summary and Fundraising by Quarter numbers are based on Federal Election Commission data released electronically on September 20, 2008. All other figures are based on data released electronically on Monday, September 29, 2008.

UPDATE OCTOBER 21:
McCain camp solicits Russian envoy for donation

No later than the newest attack on Sen. Obama for accepting contributions from possible foreign nationals, the McCain campaign, it appears, has hit up the Russian mission to the United Nations for a cash injection.

According to Russian news outlet RIA-Novosoti:
Russia's permanent mission to the UN has received a letter from U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain asking for financial support of his election campaign, the mission said in a statement on Monday.

"We have received a letter from Senator John McCain with a request for a financial donation to his presidential election campaign. In this respect we have to reiterate that neither Russia's permanent mission to the UN nor the Russian government or its officials finance political activities in foreign countries," the statement said.

According to Ruslan Bakhtin, press secretary of the Russian mission, the letter dated September 29 and signed by McCain, was addressed to Vitaly Churkin, Russia's envoy to the UN, and arrived on October 16.

The ambassador's title was not included in the letter, and was not clear why the letter had taken over two weeks to arrive.

Enclosed was a request for a donation of up to $5,000 to McCain's election campaign to be returned with a check or permission to withdraw the money from the donor's credit card until October 24.

Individual donations to candidates' election campaigns are capped by law at $2,300, and it is illegal to accept donations from foreign nationals.

"Bakhtin confirmed the story to Politico, and wouldn't comment on the added oddity of the error coming from the anti-Russian McCain," reports Ben Smith. "'We just find it amusing,' he said."

The (unfortunate) Passing of The Torch

2008-10-01T09:54:00.004-05:00

When asked by Katie Couric to tell us some of the magazines or newspapers that you read to shape your world view, Sarah Palin “Um all of them, any of them, that ,fth, have been in front of me all these years.”

That’s the type of non-answer that you would expect from either a polished politician trying to evade the question or from a person who doesn’t actually read the news. I am betting she doesn’t read the news. Palin was asked in 2006, way before she was the GOP VP nominee, (so it could not have been “Gotcha Journalism”) what she thought about the Surge in Iraq. Palin’s answer: I’ve heard bout it on the news but I don’t have much of an opinion about it. This was when Palin was the much vaunted Commander–In-Chief of the Alaska National Guard, her supposed Commander–In-Chief and Foreign Affairs experience!

I know exactly which newspapers and magazines I read, and do you know why? Because some news sources are more credible and are better than others. It matters not only that you do read at least some news, but it also matters that know the credibility of each one you do read. Does Palin read the National Enquirer or does she read the WSJ, or the NYT? Even she doesn’t know.

Palin just doesn’t know enough about the great big complicated world outside of Alaska to be VP, and possibly president. I know that a ton of people like her because she’s “one of them” but I must ask with all seriousness, do those same people think that they themselves are good enough to be VP, and possibly president?

You don't Impulse Buy the VP. Palin just isn't ready for the big leagues. Period.

Now That's Cheesy!

2008-09-30T15:15:00.002-05:00

So if a political candidate is at a photo-op event in public (say a cheese steak shop in Philly) and one of the guys in line to get his cheese steak asks Palin "What about the Pakistan situation? What's going' on over there. And Waziristan?" and Palin can only spit out "We're all together to, uh, stop the bad guys from coming in. And Waziristan, yeah, things are, uh the economy is blowin' up over there" this is, according to both McCain and Palin, "Gotcha Journalism."

Really?

So now the general public (which has no prior knowledge that Palin would be there) are "gotcha journalists" trying to trip her up.

Palin knows less about world affairs than some random schmuck ordering a cheese steak and we are expected to believe she is a viable candidate?
President Palin. America is lost. God save us.

The Bailout Must Go Forward-- Sans Section 8

2008-09-24T13:51:00.002-05:00

For some reason I did not have my usual knee-jerk, negative reaction (that I have when anyone from the Bush Administration opens their mouth) when I heard about the $700 Billion bailout. I didn’t really know what to think about it one way or the other; is it a good idea or a bad one? It would be nice to believe that I was reserving judgment because I wanted more facts about the plan, but I think the truth is that I just didn’t grasp the scope and necessity of the bailout. Fortunately I caught Steven Pearlstein on Hardball.

Steven Pearlstein writes about business and the economy for The Washington Post. His journalism career includes editing roles at The Post and Inc. magazine. He was founding publisher and editor of The Boston Observer, a monthly journal of liberal opinion. He got his start in journalism reporting for two New Hampshire newspapers -- the Concord Monitor and the Foster's Daily Democrat. Pearlstein has also worked as a television news reporter and a congressional staffer. Pearlstein was honored with the Pulitzer Prize for commentary for his columns about mounting problems in the financial markets.

Pearlstein made a very, very convincing argument as to why this bailout MUST happen, and happen within the next week or so. The gist of Pearlstein’s argument is that this bailout isn’t so much a bailout of the greedy Wall Street idiots as it is a bailout of our entire American economy. Yes the $700 Billion is going to go to buy “bad” debt from Wall Street, but in reality taking the bad debt off the books allows Wall Street and the other banks to get their balance sheets in a much healthier position that will enable them to stave off failures (which would destroy the economy) AND more importantly start the flow of capital again so that we don’t disrupt business and economic health in our country and around the world.

Getting money flowing again into businesses and other investments is the only way that America can survive this economic crisis. The only way to get the money moving is to stabilize Wall Street and the Banking Industry. If we don’t we will see businesses collapse, job losses, capital will dry up, and we all will be in a really, really bad place.

The $700 billion bailout also gives the taxpayers (through the Govt) ownership and shares in most of these companies, so there is a good chance the $700 Billion will not just go down the drain. The bad debt that we are going to buy could even go up in value. Think of it as buying into a very risky deal that may or may not go up in value.

Pearlstein figures the most likely scenario is that we will either lose or gain about $200 Billion on our $700 Billion bailout. So, on the downside we could lose about $200 Billion of that $700 Billion, but the downside of NOT doing the bailout is not a recession but an absolute depression. It may suck, but not doing it will be even worse.

I am appalled by Section 8 of the Paulson proposal which gives the Secretary of the Treasury (Paulson) complete personal discretion as to how the $700 Billion is used and that his decisions cannot be reviewed or challenged in any court or by any administrative agency. That means not even the slightest bit of oversight. None at all. That’s absolutely ridiculous and it must be removed in the final version of the bailout.

Yes, once again the Bush Administration has gotten us into a situation where it’s going to cost us a fortune and nobody really wants to do it, but it’s too late now to do nothing at all.

McCain's Keating Five Comes Back to Bite Him in the Ass: "You're a Liar"

2008-09-23T20:05:00.004-05:00

The $700 Billion Wall Street bailout debacle should remind you (and McCain) of something. McCain's proposed "fix" is basically a rehash of the Resolution Trust Corporation that came about because of the S&L disaster in which McCain was a central figure. The RTC was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush and poured $400 billion into hundreds of faltering savings and loan institutions in the late 1980's and early 1990's. About $3 billion was used to bailout Charles Keating's Lincoln Financial. McCain was investigated by the Senate when he interceded with federal regulators on Keating's behalf.

McCain met Keating in 1982 when McCain ran for Congress. McCain began accepting offers from Keating to fly McCain's family on Keating's corporate plane to Keating's house in the Bahamas at Cat Caye. McCain did not pay for most of the trips until years later, when the matter became public.

Keating, meanwhile, complained regularly to McCain that a proposed regulation would hurt his business. Known as the "direct investment" rule, it limited the amount that S&L's could invest from their assets. In 1985, after having "heard frequently from Charlie on the matter," McCain decided that Keating's complaints "were sound enough to warrant our assistance." So McCain cosponsored a resolution sought by Keating, but it was too late to postpone the regulation.

By then, Keating was one of McCain's most important benefactors; McCain received $112,000 in campaign donations from Keating and his Lincoln associates, mostly between 1982 and 1986.

On Oct. 8, 1989, The Arizona Republic revealed that McCain's wife and her father had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators.

When the story broke, McCain did nothing to help himself.

"You're a liar," McCain said when a Republic reporter asked him about the business relationship between his wife and Keating.

"That's the spouse's involvement, you idiot," McCain said later in the same conversation. "You do understand English, don't you?"

He also belittled reporters when they asked about his wife's ties to Keating.

"It's up to you to find that out, kids."

Why is it that all these financial crises (Great Depression, S&L Scandal, Black Monday 1987, Credit Crunch 2008) happen when the Republican Party is in charge?

And let's not forget about McCain's son, Andrew. I wrote about Andrew McCain back in July.
Andrew K. McCain, son of John McCain, has resigned two high posts in the banking industry.

Andrew McCain stepped down from the boards of Silver State Bancorp and Silver State Bank of southern Nevada for "personal reasons". Uh-huh, like he doesn't want to be dragged down with a failing bank that the American Taxpayers will have to bail out.
Families lost $20 million in the Silver State failure (becuase they had over the FDIC insured $100,000).

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

2008-09-23T18:36:00.004-05:00

This just makes me SICK. It is one thing to make attack ads that twist the truth and take comments out of context, but it is an entirely despicable and new trash tactic to now make attack ads based solely on what you think the other party will eventually have to do in the future, regardless of what that party has said it would do. Keep with me here.

In light of the attacks ads that McCain has been running with flat out falsehoods and lies there have been many, many news organizations (AP, McClatchy, CNN, Wash Post) that have contacted the McCain campaign to ask why certain ads have absolutely no truth to them. The McCain campaign response to these inquiries--the McCain campaign argues in its documentation for these attack ads that, whatever Obama says he would do, he will eventually be forced to break his promises and, for example raise taxes more broadly to pay for his promised spending programs or that.

Read that again. McCain says that regardless of what Obama says he will do, “WE THINK he will not do that and that he will do XYZ instead and that XYZ is what we say it is. That is ludicrous, that is pure opinion on McCain’s part, there is no fact in what McCain thinks Obama will do, but McCain’s attack ads don't say that. Instead, the ads simply put forward the McCain camp's OPINION as a FACT, and the ads fail to alert viewers that the claims are based on what the McCain campaign THINKS MIGHT happen in the future. Passing off your own opinion of what you think someone might do is not a fact, and to present your opinion in an ad and claim it to be someone’s actions is beyond despicable. Even Karl Rove has stated that McCain’s ads are untruthful.

This “my opinion of what someone will do regardless of what the truth is” has worked so well for the McCain campaign that the campaign has gotten other allies to use the same anti-logic in their attack ads on Obama.

The NRA is circulating printed material and running TV ads making utterly false claims that Obama plans to ban firearms for home defense, ban possession and manufacture of handguns, close 90 percent of gun shops and ban hunting ammunition. That is complete BS.

Much of what the NRA passes off as Obama's "10 Point Plan to 'Change' the Second Amendment" is actually contrary to what he has said throughout his campaign: that he "respects the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms" and "will protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport, and use guns."

The NRA, however, simply dismisses Obama's stated position as "rhetoric" and substitutes its own interpretation of his record as a secret "plan." Said an NRA spokesman: "We believe our facts."

Read that again. "We believe our facts." What facts? How is the NRA interpretation of what Obama said, especially when that interpretation is completely opposite “facts”! This is totally absurd.

LATEST INSANITY UPDATE:
A new McCain-Palin ad says that "McCain and his congressional allies led" on the financial crisis while Obama was "mum." That's simply not true:
1.Obama has in fact made several statements about the crisis on Wall Street in recent days, delivering his most specific remarks on Sept. 22 on how government regulations should be changed, a full day before McCain’s lying ad was released.
2.McCain gave his most detailed speech on a response to the crisis on Sept. 19, a few days before Obama did. Obama, however, had been pushing for what he called a “21st century regulatory system” back in March.
3.The "mum" quote is from a Sept. 20 Washington Times story, which went on to say Obama did "not to divulge details of his recovery plan ... fearing it would stir Wall Street jitters." The ad falsely says that Obama stayed quiet because "no one knows what to do."
4.The ad ends by saying: "More taxes. No leadership. A risk your family can’t afford." Actually, most "families" would pay less taxes under Obama's tax plan. An independent analysis shows 95.5 percent of households with children would get a tax cut under his tax proposals.

$13 Billion in Iraq Aid Wasted Or Stolen, Ex-Investigator Says

2008-09-23T14:30:00.006-05:00

HOORAY, MORE MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN

REPRINTED FROM THE WASHINGTON POST

$13 Billion in Iraq Aid Wasted Or Stolen, Ex-Investigator Says
By Dana Hedgpeth Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, September 23, 2008
A former Iraqi official estimated yesterday that more than $13 billion meant for reconstruction projects in Iraq was wasted or stolen through elaborate fraud schemes.

Salam Adhoob, a former chief investigator for Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity, told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, an arm of the Democratic caucus, that an Iraqi auditing bureau "could not properly account for" the money.

While many of the projects audited "were not needed -- and many were never built," he said, "this very real fact remains: Billions of American dollars that paid for these projects are now gone."

He said a report that went to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top Iraqi officials was never published because "nobody cares" about investigating such cases. Many investigators, he said, feared for their safety because 32 of his co-workers have been murdered.

Adhoob said he reported the abuses to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an agency charged by Congress with helping to root out cases of waste, fraud and abuse in the nearly $50 billion U.S. reconstruction effort. SIGIR spokeswoman Kristine Belisle said her agency continues to "actively follow up" on Adhoob's information, but she would not discuss ongoing investigations.

Adhoob was one of three Iraqi men who testified before the Democratic panel yesterday. Abbas S. Mehdi, a former Iraqi official who held a cabinet-level post, told of widespread corruption. And an Iraqi American who for five years has been a senior adviser to Defense and State department officials in Iraq testified in silhouette by video from an undisclosed location because, he said, he feared for his safety. In a modified voice, he said Iraqi government officials worked with al-Qaeda terrorists at the Baiji refinery to steal oil to sell on the black market.

Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), who chairs the committee, said that "taxpayers have been bled dry with massive misuse of public dollars."

"It is all pretty sobering," he added later. "Our country cannot continue to be blind or oblivious to what is happening."

Adhoob, who worked for three years at the Iraqi agency and oversaw 200 investigators and other employees, said he had a "firsthand, up-close look at corruption" and eventually had to flee the country because of death threats. He said his agency -- the Commission on Public Integrity, which U.S. government officials say is the equivalent of the FBI -- estimates that an additional $9 billion in U.S. funds was lost because of corruption and waste. Because the $13 billion figure came from the Iraqi auditing bureau and the $9 billion figure came from Adhoob's agency, Dorgan's staff members said there could be some overlap.

Adhoob's agency has been accused of pursuing investigations against political rivals.

In one scheme described by Adhoob, Iraqi Defense Ministry officials helped set up two front companies that were to buy airplanes, armored vehicles, guns and other equipment with $1.7 billion in U.S. funds. The companies were paid, but in some cases they delivered only "a small percentage" of the equipment that had been ordered and, in one case, delivered bulletproof vests that were defective and could not be used.

The companies also overcharged for military helicopters and tried to deliver aircraft that were more than 25 years old, he said. Instead of demanding the money back, Adhoob said, the Defense Ministry renegotiated with the companies for "a series of mobile toilets and kitchens -- which have never been delivered."

Adhoob said some of the investigations conducted by his agency and others uncovered "ghost projects" that never existed or instances in which Iraqi and U.S. contractors did poor-quality work. In one case, $24.4 million was spent on an electricity project in Nineveh province but an oversight agency found that it "existed only on paper."

Investigations by Iraqi oversight agencies also found that some of the money sent to the Defense Ministry was diverted to al-Qaeda in Iraq, Adhoob said, and deposited into banks in Jordan and elsewhere.

Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

BONUS NEWS:
Fury at $2.5bn bonus for Lehman's New York staff

Up to 10,000 staff at the New York office of the bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers will share a bonus pool set aside for them that is worth $2.5bn (£1.4bn), Barclays Bank, which is buying the business, confirmed last night.

The revelation sparked fury among the workers' former colleagues, Lehman's 5,000 staff based in London, who currently have no idea how long they will go on receiving even their basic salaries, let alone any bonus payments. It also prompted a renewed backlash over the compensation culture in global finance, with critics claiming that many bankers receive pay and rewards that bore no relation to the job they had done.

McCain gets Alzheimer’s, I mean Confused. Again.

2008-09-18T15:41:00.015-05:00

In light of the recent financial market crisis and $800 Billion of taxpayer money that the Bush Administration has transferred to Big Corporations to bail them out of making stupid, greedy decisions in an unregulated economy (breath) John McCain said that if he were president he would fire SEC Chairman Chris Cox for his “betrayal of trust.” There’s only one problem. The president cannot fire the chair of an independent regulatory commission. Having been part of the Washington Establishment for the last 25 years one would think that McCain would know this.

But one would also expect McCain to know the difference between Sunnis, Shi’ites, and al Qaeda. He doesn’t:

McCain Confuses Shiites And Sunnis on Tue Mar 18 2008.

McCain Confuses Iran/al Qaeda Link In Speech Marking 5th Anniversary of Iraqi Invasion on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

McCain blunders on Iraq again: Confuses Iraqi cleric with Prime Minister on ceasefire deal -Sunday April 6, 2008

McCain Confuses al Qaeda in Iraq with Shi’ites. AGAIN on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008.

Voters would also think that McCain would know who Gen. David Petraeus was and what his role was. Not so. Speaking Monday at the April 2008 annual meeting of the Associated Press, McCain was asked if elected would he shift combat troops from Iraq to Afghanistan to intensify the search for Osama bin Laden.

“I would not do that unless Gen. Petraeus said that he felt that the situation called for that,” McCain said, referring to the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

Petraeus, however, made clear in testimony before four congressional committees, including the Senate Armed Services Committee on which McCain is the ranking Republican, that he has nothing to do with the decision. Petraeus said the decision about whether troops could be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan was not his responsibility because his portfolio is limited to the multi-national force in Iraq.

Well maybe McCain knows the difference between Sudan and Somalia? Nope.
John McCain misspoke and confused his African countries while talking to reporters June 30, 2008 on the Straight Talk Express today. This time, he was bailed out not by Joe Lieberman, but by his close aide Mark Salter. “How can we bring pressure on the government of Somalia?” McCain asked, which prompted Mark Salter to correct him. “Sudan,” Salter said. “Sudan,” McCain repeated.

Lose Your Home, Lose Your Vote

2008-09-18T15:41:00.014-05:00

If you are one of the 5 million Americans in a home that is in foreclosure is it fair that you lose not only your home but also you Right to Vote? Well if you fall for lies and dirty tactics you will lose both.

You have been kicked around enough already. Know your Voting Rights and don’t let dirty and illegal tricks at polling places this November keep you from electing the people who can help you recover and punish those who have caused your suffering.

According to Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Donald L. Fowler, a member of the NoVoterLeftBehind.net board of advisors, "You don't lose your right to vote when you lose your home. I have been studying and fighting Republican voter suppression tactics for 30 years now and, no matter what the GOP is saying today to the news media, the truth is that they won't be able to resist using a combination of fake stories, targeted mailings, physical intimidation and other sleazy tactics to discourage the maximum number of home foreclosure victims from voting."

4 VOTING RIGHTS TIPS FOR HOME FORECLOSURE VICTIMS
NoVoterLeftBehind.net is emphasizing four things every American going through foreclosure needs to know about their vote:

1) Voting is an inalienable right that you can't lose due to an inability to meet mortgage payments. If any Republican tries to tell you differently, don't listen to him or her!

2) If you are in the foreclosure process -- but still living in your home -- you still vote where you live. The foreclosure process itself does not bear on your right to vote or where you exercise that right.

3) If you are forced to move due to foreclosure before the voting registration deadline, you should re-register at your new home location. Go to http://novoterleftbehind.net/knowrules.cfm to find your states rules on voter registration.

4) If you move due to foreclosure after the voting registration deadline -- but before the election -- go to vote where you were last registered to vote. Keep in mind the following: You have the right to vote by signing an affirmation (or similar form) if your right to vote is challenged for any reason; and if your name isn't on the registered voter list, you have the right to vote by provisional ballot.

Disenfranchising millions and millions and millions of legal voters is as unAmerican as cheating someone out of the American Dream of owning their own home.

DO NOT FALL FOR IT. IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE.

Getting to Know the Real Sarah Palin

2008-09-11T15:21:00.005-05:00

So Sarah Palin is a Washington Lobbyist-hating, earmark-declining, lipstick-wearing hockey mom?

Are we sure?

As someone famously said “You are entitled to your own Opinions but you are not entitled to your own Facts”. And the facts are that from 1996 to 2002 as Mayor of Wasilla (population about 6,000 and, according to the 2000 Census, 84.56% white) Palin aggressively sought earmarks for Wasilla, going so far as to hire big-time Washington LOBBYISTS to squeeze as much taxpayer money out of Washington as possible. Palin and her hired Lobbyists were so good that they managed to get $600,000 for a bus facility, $1.75 Million for dispatch center equipment, $2.4 Million for water and sewer facilities, and much, much more.

According to Taxpayer’s for Common Sense, in Palin’s last 4 years as Mayor she netted the 6,000 residents of Wasilla a whopping $27 million in earmarks! That $27 million in earmarks includes the money for the Bridge to Nowhere which Palin backed when she was running for governor in 2006, before Palin was against it in 2007 after wasteful spending watchdog groups attacked it! But here’s the kicker--Palin KEPT the money for the Bridge to Nowhere.

This year Alaska had more requests for earmarks per person than any other state. The fact is that Palin asked for $256 Million in earmarks her first year in office and for $195 Million her second year.

Because Palin has such an anemic public service record and she refuses to be interviewed and answer in-depth question, in order to know what she truly stands for we can rely only on her actual past actions rather than her future promises and hype.

Oh, and while Palin was Mayor of Wasilla she forced the rape victims to pay for their own rape kits, which cost as much as $1,000 each. For years, Alaska has had the worst record of any state in rape and in murder of women by men. The rape rate in Alaska is 2.5 times the national average. That's compassionate covservatism!

Osama Bin Laden? No Big Deal

2008-09-11T10:40:00.003-05:00

In a Whte House press conference today a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Dana Perino about the Bush administration’s efforts to find Osama bin Laden. Perino interrupted the reporter, claiming bin Laden was not the true “mastermind” of the attacks:

Q But Osama bin Laden is the one that — you keep talking about his lieutenants, and, yes, they are very important, but Osama bin Laden was the mastermind of 9/11 –

PERINO: No, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind of 9/11, and he’s sitting in jail right now.

Perino is saying that the White House’s failure to catch bin Laden is no big deal because he was not the “mastermind.”

Nice one, George.

Playing Hard to “Get”

2008-09-10T20:01:00.001-05:00

Nobody is knocking small-town America or small-town people. There is absolutely nothing wrong with small-town people. What people are concerned about is a Vice Presidential candidate who has only small-town experience, qualification, education, and worldview. People are simply asking that the candidate wanting to be Vice President of the most powerful country in the world have more than the qualifications of just a small-town person, no matter how likable that person may be. The majority of Americans realize that when it comes to world affairs America really does need someone who has a worldview and experience greater than what most mayors hold. Palin doesn’t even know what the VP does. On CNBC she (in)famously asked “What is it exactly that the VP does every day?”

Getting to Know the Real Sarah Palin is not easy. Strangely, the GOP is hiding Palin from the media. Don’t we, the voters, have a right to know what Plain’s positions on everything are? When running for the highest office in the most powerful country in the world you no longer get to keep to yourself. You are required to answer tough questions and tell everyone who you are and what you believe.

Teaching Kids to Fornicate

2008-09-09T16:48:00.004-05:00

Planned Parenthood is teaching kids to fornicate, teaching people to have adultery, every kind of bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism -- everything that the Bible condemns.

- Pat Robertson, The 700 Club television program, April 9, 1991

Really? So I guess that Bristol Palin was a frequent visitor at the Juno Planned Parenthood office?

Radio Caller: Would you tend to think that a family in this position, though, wouldn't you think that there would be a more watchful eye as
a parent to be watching over these kids so this doesn't happen to
them?

RUSH LIMBAUGH: I would certainly hope so, but it's long past time for this to
happen. The parents here are the culprits!

Bill O'Reilly "Now most teens are pinheads in some ways. But here the blame falls primarily on the parents of the girl, who obviously have little control over her..."

Harsh criticism of Bristol Palin and her parents? Hell no. These are comments about Jamie Lynne Spears when she got knocked up.

So what exactly did Loudmouth Limbaugh and Bloviating Bill have to say about the similarly knocked up Bristol Palin?

Bill

Millions of families are dealing with teen pregnancy, and as long as society doesn't have to support the mother, father or baby, it is a personal matter. It's true that some Americans will judge Governor Palin and her family, and she will have a hard time running for vice president if there is much more chaos. For the sake of her and her family, we hope things calm down. This country needs a vibrant policy debate, not a soap opera.

What's at Stake for Our Country

2008-09-08T18:49:00.002-05:00

A vote for McCain equals more of Bush, Cheney, and Republican failed government.

A vote for McCain equals more War.

A vote for McCain equals more dead American soldiers.

A vote for McCain equals Billions more spent on War instead of domestic issues.

A vote for McCain equals No universal health care.

A vote for McCain equals a continued collapsing economy.

A vote for McCain equals no help for the housing market.

A vote for McCain equals a further erosion of woman’s rights.

A vote for McCain equals ideologue judges being placed on the Supreme Court for life.

A vote for McCain equals ideologue judges being placed throughout the country.

More Grist for the Mill

2008-09-07T22:59:00.002-05:00

In Levi Johnston's MySpace entry, the teenager hints that fatherhood was not in his immediate plans.

Johnston says he is ``in a relationship,'' but on the question about how he feels about children he said: ``I don't want kids.'' He also says his true love is ice hockey.

Here's part of his entry before it was made private: 'I'm a fuckin' redneck who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes. But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some shit and just fuckin' chillin' I guess. Ya fuck with me I'll kick ass.''

Now is that any way for a father/VP son-in-law-to-be to talk? I think not. Where are this kid's manners (and his condoms)?

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24286746-2703,00.html

Hit Me One More Time

2008-09-07T22:36:00.002-05:00

NewsMax has a new hit piece out on Obama about a misstatement he made on the George Stephanopoluos' Sunday talk show. On the show Obama said:

"Let's not play games," he said. "What I was suggesting -- you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. And you're absolutely right that that has not come." "My Christian faith," Mr. Obama said quickly.

Then, Sunday night NewsMax sent out a story that said:

He (Obama) then claimed McCain's campaign is working behind the scenes, saying the Islamic talk is "being promulgated on Fox News ... and Republican commentators who are closely allied to these folks."

"What I think is fair to say is that coming out of the Republican camp there have been efforts to suggest that perhaps I'm not who I say I am when it comes to my faith," Obama said, which he described as "my Muslim faith" in apparent verbal gaffe.

Why did the NewsMax article titled Obama's Muslim Past Dogs Campaign not use the actual Obama quote when he acccidentally said "my Muslim faith"? It seems deceitful for the article to be a about that misstatement but then not run the context and the actual quote.

NewsMax is owned by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp, which is of course FOX News.

Shame on McCain

2008-09-05T16:11:00.002-05:00

Now that McCain has secured Sarah Palin as his running mate and both are running as ethics champions and reformers, will they start fixing things by denouncing and correcting all the vicious lies and character assassinations that have been spread about Obama? If McCain and Palin truly are ethical people, as they claim, then McCain and Palin should demand that the truth be told, and they themselves should be the ones to do it.

For instance, they both know that Obama is not a Muslim. They should tell the unfortunate people who have heard and also believe this smear that it is not true at all.

Slightly related to this lie, which may be why some people are so confused is the absolute lie that Obama took his oath of office for the U.S. Senate using the Quran instead of the Bible. The fact is that Obama was sworn in using his family Bible. It was Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim sworn into Congress, who used a Quran—the one that once belonged to Thomas Jefferson!

And to continue the theme of lies, if you heard that Barack Obama attended a madrassa as a child growing up in Indonesia you have been lied to. During the time he spent in Indonesia Obama attended a public school that did not focus on religion. On January 22, 2008 CNN went to the school and aired a lengthy report debunking the story.

Shame on McCain, one of McCain’s own ads repeats the false claim that Obama is “the most liberal member of the Senate.” In fact, that ranking comes only from the ultra-Right Wing magazine the National Journal which looked at only some of the Senate votes, not ALL of the Senate votes. A more accurate independent study by political science professors Keith Poole and Jeff Lewis that used every non-unanimous vote cast in the Senate in 2007 to determine relative ideology -- in other words, not a subjective assessment of which votes are "key" -- placed Obama in a tie for the ranking of 10th most liberal senator.

Please, if you are on the fence about who to vote for or you have decided your vote based on these lies, for the sake of Democracy and this country do not take my word as the truth (although it is). Go and do the research yourselves. Electing the president is too important a task to do on faulty information based on lies and political smears. There about 20 more lies (yes, really) but I don’t have room to put them all here.

Five Things We Learned about Sarah Palin Last Night

2008-09-04T11:13:00.004-05:00

Lesson One: Palin is FOR windfall taxes. Palin awarded each and every Alaskan an extra $1,200 on top of the $2,200 that they already get from oils and gas(Palin’s family receives over $22,000).

Lesson Two: Although Palin said in her speech that she would be an advocate for Special Needs Children, the fact is she CUT MONEY TO SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN in Alaska by 62%. The Annual budget for 2007, which preceded Gov. Palin was $8,265,300.
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/...
The Annual budget for 2008, enacted by Gov. Palin is $3,156,000.
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/...
The Annual budget for 2009, enacted by Gov. Palin is $3,156,000.
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/...
This is a cut in special needs services to children in Alaska of 5,109,300 , or 62%.
So, as the Alaska State Budget description states, "Without the supplementary services the child’s needs would not be met by the local school district in most cases."

Lesson Three: Palin was FOR the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against the Bridge to Nowhere.
The Anchorage Daily News interviewed Palin during her 2006 campaign for governor. At the time, federal funding for the bridge had been stripped by Congress. The Daily News asked if she was in favor of continuing state funding for the project. "Yes,” she responded, noting specifically her desire to renew Congressional support:
"Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now–while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."

That assistance never materialized. When Palin finally canceled the $400 million project, Palin lamented the fact that Congress was not more forthcoming with federal funding. She said in a statement at the time:
"Despite the work of our congressional delegation, we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island."

Lesson Four: Palin is FOR Earmarks from the United Stated Congress.
Palin’s documented record on requesting earmarks is:
In her second term as Wasilla mayor she got a total of $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of fewer than 9,000 people.
As governor she requested $254 million in earmarks last year and $197 million in earmarks this year. As a Seattle Times story notes, that’s more per capita than requested by any other state in the union:
“Palin’s requests to Congress came at a time of huge federal deficits while Alaska state revenue was soaring due to rising oil prices and a major tax increase on oil production that Palin signed into law in late 2007.
As a result, Alaska this year was in such a money-flushed condition — with no state income tax or sales tax and total state revenues of $10 billion, double the previous year’s — that Palin gained legislative approval for $1,200 cash payments to every Alaskan.”
This, from the candidate who said Wednesday night that she “championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.”

Lesson Five: Palin has quickly learned how to be part of the Washington Republican Establishment that has given us Eight Years of terrible governance.

Resume Inflating, Part I

2008-09-02T16:27:00.003-05:00

How about more coverarage and info on Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard?

While Maj. Gen. Campbell did say Palin is “extremely responsive and smart” and says she is in charge when it comes to in-state services, such as emergencies and natural disasters, Maj. Gen. Campbell also said that Palin plays no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. The entire operation is under federal control and the governor is not briefed on situations.

She is inflating her resume, big-time.

Palin?

2008-08-30T00:15:00.003-05:00

A PTA mom and former sportcaster now VP of the United States who McCain has met only ONE time? Fox News said she has foreign policy experience because her son is about to go to Iraq. That means that that half the people in America have foreign policy experience. Think about it.

Oh the HORROR of it all!

2008-08-28T16:53:00.006-05:00

The Faux outrage over the Temple at Invesco Field is beyond ridiculous. Does Fox News have nothing better to report on? How about some political issues (this is, after all, campaign season) or economic news, or hurricane news?

August 27, 2008-- BILL HEMMER, CO-HOST: All right. Bill, what about that Barack-opolis? It's similar to the ancient building on the top of Athens, Greece. How do you respond to that charge?

August 27, 2008-- by FOXNews.com “Out of the Senate and into . . . the Parthenon?”

And on-and-on-and-on it goes. For the love of God people, this is a non-story. As Bill O’Reilly would say, “SHUT UP, CUT THEIR MIKE!”

Who WANTS To Be Millionaire? Good Luck.

2008-08-27T15:50:00.007-05:00

Newsflash-- June 9, 2005 The number of U.S. millionaires jumps almost 33%, world's fastest growth rate. The total number of U.S. millionaires came to nearly 8.2 million.

Newsflash-- March 29, 2006 The number of U.S. millionaires jumps almost 10%. The total number of U.S. millionaires came to nearly 8.9 million.

Newsflash-- 2007 Number of U.S. millionaires jumps 5%. The total number of U.S. millionaires came to nearly 9.3 million.

Truthflash--August 27, 2008
Bankruptcy filings surge to 1 million - up 29%. The number of bankruptcy filings in recent 12-month period rises to nearly 1 million.

There Are Too Many Lobbyists In Washington

2008-08-21T13:54:00.003-05:00

Oh the Flip-Flop. This derogatory term was used by Conservatives to bash the hell out of John Kerry by looking at about 30 years of Kerry’s comments and sucker-punching Kerry any time he changed his mind on an issue, ever.

But when Dems point out McCain’s Flip-Flops, guess what, these aren’t Flip- Flops! No, McCain has simply changed his mind based on new revelations or changing times.

McCain: ‘There Are Too Many Lobbyists In Washington’ — But 160 Of Them Run My Campaign
Earlier this week John McCain held a fundraiser organized by Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition head connected to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The same week McCain ripped lobbyists as “birds of prey,” saying, “I think there are too many lobbyists in Washington,” even though McCain’s campaign employs over 150 Lobbyists!

“Whenever there’s a corrupt system, then you’re going to have these birds of prey descend on it to get their share of the spoils. … Lobbyists don’t come to my office. Because they know they’re not going to be an earmark. They know they’re not going to get a pork-barrel project…”

McCain flips again, this time flattering the Lobbyists:

“Having worked in Washington for so long, I can claim with gratitude a good number of lobbyists as friends and supporters, many of whom supported my presidential campaign.”

“Lobbying is an honorable profession. I have no problem with it. I have no problem with people working in order to bring the people’s interests and agenda and priorities to the attention of Congress. Almost all of us who I know of rely on their input on various issues. Many supply us with policy papers, with data, et cetera.” [Congressional Record, 12/16/05]

“I’m going to thank some corrupt unscrupulous lobbyists that are destroying America as we speak, everything we stand for and believe in.” [6/9/08]

On his top aide’s past lobbying for Georgia: “I’m proud to have supported them. … And I’m so proud that so many of my friends have done so, who also believe in freedom and democracy.” [8/19/08]

John McCain SUPPORTED efforts in 2000 to close the gun show loophole.
But in his quest for the presidency, McCain signed onto a brief OPPOSING D.C.’s gun ban.

May 2008 Offshore drilling is not the answer because it “would take years to develop.
But in June 27, 2008 Drilling off the coast of Florida will help in the short term.

Sen. John McCain said Thursday that he supports an initiative that would change Arizona's Constitution to BAN GAY MARRIAGES-- Aug 26, 2005
“I think that GAY MARRIAGE SHOULD BE ALLOWED.” – McCain on Hardball in 2006
“I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT GAY MARRIAGES SHOULD BE LEGAL.” – McCain on the same Hardball in 2006

Abortion—In 1999 McCain SUPPORTED Roe v. Wade in a debate with Bush.
ABortion In 2000 McCain wrote a letter to the National Right to Life anti-abortion group saying that he supported their cause.

In 1983 McCain voted AGAINST making MLK Day a federal holiday.
In 2008 McCain says that he is FOR MLK Day.

This isn’t a flip-flop, it’s just a lie:
“In 1986, we passed a law and said we would secure the borders and gave amnesty to a couple — three million people. I SUPPORTED that legislation way back then.” -- John McCain
In fact, McCain voted AGAINST this legislation. McCain was a vocal OPPONENT of this bill: The Arizona Republic newspaper in 1986 reported that he had called the bill racist and quoted him as saying the bill’s requirements for employers to verify workers “would institutionalize discrimination.” He said employers would refuse to hire Hispanics to avoid running afoul of the law.

OK, this one isn’t a flip-flop either, it’s just dim-witted:
“In just a few years in office, Sen. Obama has accumulated the most liberal voting record in the Senate.”
But McCain’s campaign also pointed out recently that Barack Obama votes with President Bush about half the time.

Do you believe that Bush has a liberal record?

How High Can John McCain Count?

2008-08-21T10:07:00.006-05:00

When you own a home you usually have to buy a stove, a refrigerator, a dishwasher, a coffee maker, a microwave, sets of dishes, linens, beds, dressers, televisions, dining room table and chairs, couches, lamps, etc.

And if you are lucky enough to own two homes you will have had to buy 2 stoves, 2 refrigerators, 2 dishwashers, 2 coffee makers, 2 microwave, 2 sets of dishes, 2 sets of linens, more beds, more dressers, more televisions, etc.

But sheesh! When you own 10 homes you will have had to buy 10 of everything. I can’t imagine how much it costs to buy 10 refrigerators and 10 dishwashers, let alone 10 homes!

But John McCain owns at least 10 homes. In fact, when asked how many homes he owns, McCain wryly replied, "I think — I'll have my staff get to you. It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you."

Good Lord! How rich, elitist, and senile does one have to be to not know how many HOMES one owns? John McCain, just NOT like you and me.

Leaning To the Correct

2008-08-20T10:13:00.004-05:00

I'm leaning towards voting for the presidential candidate NOT endorsed by the worst president in American history.

"Presidential ambition is a disease which can only be cured by embalming fluid."

2008-08-19T19:26:00.008-05:00

McCain has apparently been cured of his Presidential ambition. (Or he sure looks like it)

Yesterday McCain attacked Obama, accusing Obama of wanting to be president not for patriotic reasons or for the good of the country, but because of blind, selfish ambition.

But what did John McCain write in his 2002 book? McCain wrote:
"I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president. . . . In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time.

McCain is a hypocrite, pure and simple!

Also, John McCain apologized on April 20, 2000 for lying about his true feelings about the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina Statehouse when he campaigned in the state's Republican presidential primary, saying he had compromised his principles out of political self-interest.

Mr. McCain, who built his presidential quest on a reputation for candor and patriotism, said he had lied on the flag issue because he feared that if his true feelings had been known it would have ruined his chances to wrest the nomination from Gov. George W. Bush of Texas. McCain untruthfully said on the campaign trail that the divisive issues should be left to the state, just as Bush had said.

''I feared that if I answered honestly, I could not win the South Carolina primary,'' Mr. McCain said. ''So I chose to compromise my principles. I broke my promise to always tell the truth.''

McCain is a calculating, say anything-to-get-elected liar. McCain himself admitted it.

Funny Liberals Smarter than Serious Conservatives

2008-08-19T14:00:00.003-05:00

A new Pew Survey on News Consumption reveals that viewers of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are more knowledgeable about current events than those who watch Bill O’Reilly, Lou Dobbs, Larry King, and the “average consumers of NBC, ABC, Fox News, CNN, C-SPAN and daily newspapers.” Thirty percent of Daily Show and 34 percent of Colbert viewers correctly identified Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the majority party in the U.S. House of Representatives, compared to the national average of just 18 percent.

About half of Americans (53%) can correctly identify the Democrats as the party that has a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. In February 2007, shortly after the Democrats gained control of the House after a dozen years of GOP rule, many more people (76%) knew the Democrats held the majority.

The public is less familiar with the secretary of state (Condoleezza Rice) and the prime minister of Great Britain (Gordon Brown). About four-in-ten (42%) can name Rice as the current secretary of state. The public’s ability to identify Rice has not changed much over recent years: In April 2006 and December 2004, shortly before she was sworn in, 43% could correctly identify her.

The prime minister of Great Britain is not well known among the public. Just more than a quarter (28%) can correctly identify Gordon Brown as the leader of Great Britain.

Overall, 18% of the public is able to correctly answer all three political knowledge questions, while a third (33%) do not know the answer to any of the questions.

Why are Americans so stupid?

She's So Hot, He is Definitely Not

2008-08-06T08:19:00.005-05:00

OK, regardless of whether you hate her, like her, or are indifferent (notice I did NOT say “don’t know her”, cuz come on, who doesn’t know her!), Paris Hilton has shot back at McCain for using her in the “Celebrity” ad. The Paris ad is fall-down hilarious because she is using actual sarcasm and a bit of wit to completely make fun of “the old wrinkly white-haired guy”. Methinks that Paris’s mother had a hand in this, it is just too damn clever and funny.

I've got to hand it to her; She's So Hot, He is Definitely Not!

Bush Declares Masturbation & Condoms Abortion

2008-08-01T09:18:00.005-05:00

On page 17 of a secret memo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is a new definition of Abortion that the Bush Administration is secretly trying to push. Bush's new definition of abortion is "ANY prescription of drugs or any procedure that terminates human life between conception and natural birth, whether before of after implantation."

This new definition makes birth control pills, IUDs, the "morning after pill," and (in my opinion) masturbation and condoms acts of abortion. This is very critical because there are already certain state and federal restrictions on abortion. This new definition seeks to expand the definition of abortion not by the procedure itself, but by the

Furthermore, the secret memo would deny federal money to any health care center that tries to punish or reprimand health care professionals who refuse to offer abortion services or even birth control prescriptions. The new proposal also has a section that would allow insurance companies to stop paying for all contraceptives if they wish.
What insurance wouldn’t take up the offer to reduce expenditures!

Federal regulations don't need approval from Congress, but your Representative and S enator can call on the Bush Administration to change course.
Take ACTION; sign the petition at
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/123393979

Jack-Booted Thugs Gone Wild

2008-07-31T22:31:00.005-05:00

This is disgusing on so many levels. It would be difficult to believe that the mayor doesn't have a good case for entrapment. Deliver drugs mayor's house, wait till mayor's mother takes package inside, break door down, shoot dogs. Unreal.

Maryland Mayor's Dogs Killed By SWAT Team After Cops Deliver Pot

BERWYN HEIGHTS, Md. — A SWAT team raided the home of a Washington, D.C.-area mayor, killing his two black Labrador retrievers and seizing an unopened package of marijuana delivered there.

Prince George's County Police said Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo brought a 32-pound package of marijuana into his home that had been delivered by officers posing as delivery men. The Tuesday evening raid was conducted by county police narcotics officers and a sheriff's office SWAT Team.

The package was addressed to Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic. His mother-in-law had asked the supposed delivery men to leave the package outside. Calvo has not been charged, though police said he, his wife and his mother-in-law are "persons of interest" in an ongoing investigation.

"We never opened the box. We have nothing to do with this box," Calvo said.

Sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. Mario Ellis says deputies "apparently felt threatened" when they shot the dogs.

Calvo said officers entered about 7:30 p.m., first shooting 7-year-old Payton. They then pursued 4-year-old Chase, who ran away and was shot by police from behind, he said.

Calvo said he doesn't have any idea how the package ended up at his house. He called the raid "the most traumatic experience" of his life.

Calvo, who called his town "Mayberry inside the Capital Beltway," gets a small stipend as mayor and works at the SEED Foundation, a nonprofit that runs public boarding schools for at-risk students. His wife works as a state finance officer.

"These were two beautiful black Labradors who were well-known in the community. We walked them twice a day; little kids knew their names and would come up to them and pet them," he said.

Stop Your Whining about Taxes

2008-07-28T17:13:00.008-05:00

Right now, July 2008, the tax rate for the wealthiest Americans is at it lowest level since the Great Depression. The Super-Rich are being taxed at such a low rate, in fact, that Warren Buffett (the 3rd richest man in the world) has said that the Super-Rich need to start paying their fair share of taxes.

Buffet has offered $1 million to ANY of his fellow CEOs who can prove that they pay a higher tax rate than their secretaries. Buffet admitted that he himself pays at a tax rate of 17.7 percent but that the secretaries in his office pay a tax rate of about 32.9 percent. Buffet says that he doesn’t use accountants or tax shelters to decrease his tax rate he only uses the normal tax code.

The change in people’s After-Tax Income from 1979 to 2005 illustrates just how much the rich are getting richer and the poor getting nowhere at all. The amount of income that people have left over after they have paid their taxes has increased:
228% for the richest 1%
80% for the top fifth
30% for the fourth fifth
21% for the middle fifth
16% for the second fifth
6% for the bottom fifth.

The top .01 percent of the Richest families have 22% of the nation’s wealth.
Let me make that easier for you: 14,000 families have almost a quarter of all the wealth in America.

Contrast that with the bottom 90% of families. These 133, 000 families (yes, this is the category you are probably in) have just 4% of the nation’s wealth!

14,000 families have 22% of all the wealth.
133,000 families have 4% of all the wealth.

Both the wars we are fighting right now, in Afghanistan and in Iraq, are costing $10 to $12 Billion per month. Think about that--Every month we spend over $10 Billion dollars. To date, American Taxpayers have spent $628 Billion on the wars. I wonder what else America could do with $628 Billion?

America needs everyone to pay their fair share for these wars. Who do you think has more difficulty spending $80 to fill up the gas tank, someone who makes $35,000 a year and pays a tax rate of 32.9 percent or someone who makes $500,000 a year and pays a tax rate of 17.7 percent?

The White House has predicted a record $482 Billion deficit for the 2009 budget year.

The federal deficit is the difference between what the government spends and what it takes in from taxes and other revenue sources. The government must borrow money to make up the difference.

While the deficit would be a record in absolute dollar terms, it would be below the 2004 deficit, 3.6 percent of GDP, and the record deficit of 1983, 6 percent of GDP, when compared with the size of the overall U.S. economy. (Notice those years folks, ALL with Republican presidents and Republican controlled Congress.)

So if you are one who complains about taxes, you should ask yourself why 14,000 families who have 22% of all the wealth and pay less in taxes (as a percentage of income) than you do.

Like Father Like Son

2008-07-28T11:30:00.006-05:00

Uh oh, it seems that trouble is a brewin' for the McCain's.

Andrew K. McCain, son of John McCain, has resigned two high posts in the banking industry.

Andrew McCain stepped down from the boards of Silver State Bancorp and Silver State Bank of southern Nevada for "personal reasons". Uh-huh, like he doesn't want to be dragged down with a failing bank that the American Taxpayers will have to bail out?

Shares of Silver State Bancorp, of which Andrew McCain owns 1,226, closed at $1.28 a share on Friday. The stock's 52-week high on Nasdaq (symbol SSBX) is $24.10.

John McCain was one of the "Keating Five," congressmen investigated on ethics charges for strenuously helping convicted racketeer Charles Keating after he gave them large campaign contributions and vacation trips. McCain intervened on behalf of Charles Keating after Keating gave McCain at least $112,00 in contributions.

Keating was convicted of racketeering and fraud in both state and federal court after his Lincoln Savings & Loan collapsed, costing the taxpayers $3.4 billion. His convictions were overturned on technicalities; for example, the federal conviction was overturned because jurors had heard about his state conviction, and his state charges because Judge Lance Ito (yes, that judge) screwed up jury instructions. Neither court cleared him, and he faces new trials in both courts.)

Is Andrew getting out while the gettin's good?

Stay tuned...

The Very Picture of Success

2008-07-21T09:49:00.002-05:00

OK, now I get why Republicans think everything from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the economy is great, never been better; these pictures of oilrigs after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the gulf of Mexico, according to John McCain,“have survived, very successfully, the impacts of hurricanes.”

Really? These are success stories according to McCain? What the hell does a disaster look like? Click on the picture for a larger view, and keep in mind that McCain said, "I’m aware that off the coast of Louisiana and Texas there are oil rigs, as we well know, and those rigs have survived, very successfully, the impacts of hurricanes – hurricane Katrina as far as Louisiana is concerned."

The U.S. Minerals Management Service offshore damage assessment of Hurricanes Katrina and Rite found that: 113 platforms were totally destroyed, and - more importantly - 457 pipelines damaged, 101 of those major lines with 10" or larger diameter. At least 741,000 gallons were spilled from 124 reported sources (the Coast Guard calls anything over 100,000 gallons a "major" spill).

Hurricane Katrina resulted in 70 spills from outer continental shelf structures with a total volume of approximately 5,552* barrels of oil and petroleum products, including damage to 27 platforms and rigs that resulted in the spilling of approximately 2,843* barrels of petroleum products, including 2,252 barrels of crude oil and condensate. Damage to 43 pipelines resulted in the spilling of approximately 2,710* barrels of oil and petroleum products.

Further, regarding the combined impacts of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on outer continental shelf structures in the Gulf of Mexico, the report stated, "124 spills were reported with a total volume of roughly 17,700 barrels of total petroleum products." The report further noted that "about 13,200 barrels were crude oil and condensate from platforms, rigs and pipelines, and 4,500 barrels were refined products from platforms and rigs."

This, to the Republicans, is success! This is "not one drop of oil was spilled off of those rigs out in the Gulf of Mexico." -- Mike Huckabee and John McCain.

Are Republicans just idiots, or are Republicans just lying?

Cindy and John McCain--JUST Like You and Me!

2008-07-15T14:28:00.011-05:00

Cindy’s fortune: An asset and a liability
By: Kenneth P. Vogel July 3, 2008

In 2004, Republicans demanded fuller disclosure about the considerable fortune of Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Now, the GOP is reaping what it sowed.

While Cindy McCain, her dependent children and the trusts and companies they control made as much as $29 million — and likely substantially more — from her family’s business interests from 2004 through last year, data from the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Center for Responsive Politics also reveals that they spent $11 million purchasing five condominiums for the family, hired additional household help and racked up progressively larger credit card bills almost every year.

Their credit card bills peaked between January 2007 and May 2008, during which time Cindy McCain charged as much as $500,000 in a single month on one American Express card and $250,000 on another, while one of their two dependent children had an AmEx card with a monthly balance as large as $50,000.

The McCains each have a Black Centurion AmEx Card . The Centurion Card (how appropriate for McCain)has an annual fee of $2,500, a one-time $5,000 initiation fee for the first year, and is only offered to people who spend at least $250,000 a year on the card. Yes, the McCain's spend at least $250,000 a year on their card, and I don't think it's because they can't afford to pay cash at the time.

“It has been the McCains’ practice and procedure, as previously indicated, to pay off the balance of credit cards on a monthly basis, so they do not carry credit card debt,” the aide said in a statement.

The affluent lifestyle and free-spending habits of the McCain clan.

UPDATE: July 31, 2008

McCain's $520 loafers put 'elitist' shoe on the other foot
McCain has worn a pair of $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes on every recent campaign stop — from a news conference with the Dalai Lama to a supermarket visit in Bethlehem, PA. I wonder if McCAin think these are now his "Lucky" shoes?

Michelle Obama onde told Access Hollywood during a family interview that Obama was wearing ten year old pants and a worn-out belt and hurriedly adding, "Don't pan down to the shoes -- because we've talked about getting new shoes for him."

Who's the Elitist Bitch now?

Does Having Alzheimer's Qualify One to be President?

2008-07-15T09:34:00.005-05:00

It is brutally obvious that if (as McCain himself has said) Foreign Policy is McCain's forte and domestic economic stability (as McCain himself has said)is his weakness, then John McCain is not at all fit or qualified to be president.

"The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should,"--John McCain, December 17 in New Hampshire.

McCain is running on his supposed foreign policy superiority, which, in fact, is inferiority:

McCain Confuses Shiites And Sunnis-- Tue Mar 18 2008

McCain Confuses Iran/al Qaeda Link In Speech Marking 5th Anniversary of Iraqi Invasion--Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

McCain blunders on Iraq again: Confuses Iraqi cleric with Prime Minister on ceasefire deal--Sunday April 6, 2008

McCain Confuses al Qaeda in Iraq with Shi’ites, AGAIN--Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

McCain Confuses Sudan and Somalia-- June 30, 2008

McCain AGAIN Refers To A Non-Existent Country.
At his press conf on July 14, John McCain referenced current relations between Russia and, um, a non-existent country. From a transcript... "I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia.
Apparently that is in reaction to the Czech's agreement with us concerning missile defense, and again some of the Russian now announcement they are now retargeting new targets, something they abandoned at the end of the Cold War, is also a concern."

Czechoslovakia, as any 5th grader knows, hasn't existed in over 15 years. McCain CONTINUES TO MAKE this mistake. Three months ago, McCain told Don Imus that he would "work closely with Czechoslovakia and Poland and other countries" to install the European Missile Defense System in Poland.

And AGAIN during debate in October 2007, McCain said: "The first thing I would do is make sure that we have a missile defense system in place in Czechoslovakia and Poland, and I don't care what his objections are to it."

update:
on Good Morning America, Sen. John McCain refused to call the situation in Afghanistan “precarious and urgent,” but admitted that “We have a lot of work to do.” He warned of a “very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the IRAQ-PAKISTAN border.”

Of course, Iraq is nowhere near Pakistan. In fact, Baghdad — the capital of Iraq — is over 1,500 miles from Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad:

Can we afford a president who doesn't even know where the bad guys are? McCain would bomb the wrong country. McCain would get confused and bomb Nebraska or some other place that he thought was a Middle Eastern country!

Lying Hypocrites to the Right.

2008-07-10T14:59:00.004-05:00

In an interview with the Washington Times, McCain's TOP ECONOMIC ADVISER Phil Gramm bashes America, calling America a "nation of whiners."
How dare Phil Gramm slander America! How dare Phil Gramm say that we are just a bunch of little babies! Why does Phil Gramm HATE America so much?

"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," he said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. "We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet."

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," he said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline" despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.

McCain's campaign responded:
"Phil Gramm's comments are not representative of John McCain's views."

What? How can Gramm be McCain's TOP ECONOMIC ADVISER but "Phil Gramm's comments are not representative of John McCain's views."

I smell a lie and a hypocrite. Why is it when Wesley Clark makes a comment, it is "OOOO, Obama is attacking McCain's war record!" But when McCain's TOP ECONOMIC ADVISER speaks in an interview for a major newspaper, "Phil Gramm's comments are not representative of John McCain's views." BULLSHIT.

p.s. See my previous post aboout the Enron Loophole:

Phil Graham's Enron loophole put limits on the ability of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to prevent speculative trading in energy and commodity markets. Ine the time since Graham created the Enron loophole in 2000 the price of oil has risen by nearly 500 percent.