Hey, Joe! Where Ya Goin'...

With That Smoking Gun In Your Hand?

AN SUSTEREN: Even if it's -- first of all, is waterboarding torture?

LIEBERMAN: Well, I take a minority position on this. Most people think it's definitely torture. The truth is, it has mostly a psychological impact on people. It's a terrible thing to do...

Why do I think it was a mistake to give it out? I wasn't necessary. It just helps our enemies. It doesn't really help us.

Again, the president can decide what tactics he wants the CIA or the military to use on people we capture, suspects of terrorism. But to let our enemies know what we are going to do or not do, that's not a good idea.

Bullshit, Joe!

The President of the United States of America is subject to every single law and treaty that every single other American citizen is subject to. If his decisions are not legal within the framework of the law then he should be tried and found guilty of the crimes.

And those of you that participated in engineering these decisions to carry out these crimes of torture and rendition and/or participated in the cover up of these crimes are accomplices and just as guilty as the CIA officers, contractors and soldiers and prison guards that did your dirty deeds.

And it is no longer some BS debate about whether or not it was torture.

It was torture.

• There are guilty people in both political parties.
  
  
• There are guilty people in the military, the CIA and many other government agencies.
  
  
• There are guilty people on the civilian side.
  
  
• And there are even guilty people in other countries.
  

And you will all be served your just desserts at the end of the criminal investigations.

The one and only way to ensure that this never happens again is to prosecute every single one of the criminals and to ensure that they all do their time in jail.

And moving forward is impossible without looking back.

And Obama, the media and others can stop lying to yourself about bullshit catchphrases of "enhanced interrogations." This was torture.

Clearly torture. There is no rose on your bloomin' piles of BS.

Lobbyists Can Cry Me A River

From Think Progress:

Last Friday, the Obama administration released a directive stating that lobbyists “cannot meet or speak with executive branch officials regarding specific stimulus projects or applications.” The head of the American League of Lobbyists is now saying the rule “smacks of segregation, discrimination” and is vowing to “push back” against the rule. The group is keeping “all options open, including litigation.”

After the way they have lobbied politicians for legislation that tore the economy down... All I can say is that they should get out in this great job market they helped create and find some honest work.

So much for the Obama citizenship conspiracy nuts.

Throwing out the lunatic conservative fringes' lawsuit, U.S. District Judge James Robertson is going to decide how to penalize them for wasting everyone's time:

Robertson ordered plaintiff's attorney John Hemenway of Colorado Springs, Colo., to show why he hasn't violated court rules barring frivolous and harassing cases and shouldn't have to pay Obama's attorney, Bob Bauer, for his time arguing that the case should be thrown out.

If justice had any sense of humor with a serious twist of irony the judge would sentence these idiots to jail time in Kenya or, maybe, just take away all of their citizenships.

Dear President Obama

On Single payer health care

As a candidate you have promised to treat issues in a truly bipartisan manner. On most issues this has clearly been the case.



Single payer is the one single issue that transcends all politics of the American people and they are almost all (65%) clearly in agreement with.



We all want single payer health care.



In the last couple of years I have seen fundraisers for 4 local people in order to pay for their health care because either their insurance refused to cover legitimate costs or they had absolutely zero coverage.



We, as a country, are bound by United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, a treaty initiated and signed by the US government, under article 25 to provide health care to every citizen of the USA as a basic human right:



"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."



Treating this basic human right as vehicle for profit is irrational and unconscionable. None of the for-profit answers will ever address all of the issues we are duty bound to resolve. I refuse to watch any politician subsidize insurance companies' profits so that they can continue to provide their death insurance.



Only single payer health care will eliminate the immoral and distinctly unequal practice of rationing for profit.



At the very minimum, medicare - the most cost efficient program in the USA - should be opened up to all Americans that wish to participate and let it compete openly on the free market with the life threatening privatized options.



Everyone voted for real change in the last elections, and we voted for an honest reflection of what bipartisan answers should be. Bipartisan answers from politicians need to reflect the true wishes of the American people if they are ever going to be truly transformational. Not the faux bipartisan wish lists of politicians and their special interest lobbyists. 



Any attempts to "Stay the Course!" with the failed private death insurance for profit systems will be viewed as complete and utter failure on the Obama administrations part to fulfill their campaign promises of a responsive and accountable government to the citizens of the United States of America. And it will prove there is truly no bipartisan hand being outstretched to all. Just to the political elite that have sold out to lobbyists and their unethical corporate interests.

 

(Just a letter I sent to President Obama because nyceve is at it again over at dkos)

Note to the White House Dress Code Police:

The Emperor Wears No Clothes...

More feigned outrage from the fake conservative side of the aisle.

One day after President Bush's former Chief of Staff Andrew Card blasted President Obama for breaking the Bush dress code, which reportedly required that a jacket be worn by anyone entering the Oval Office, we've unearthed a photo of, well, a jacketless President Bush in the Oval Office.

We have had our laugh... The GOP talking-pointy-heads can go back to getting Cheetos' crumbs on their PJs in their mama's basement now.

An Economically Created Health Care Disaster

And your state is sure to be suffering:

“Medicaid rolls are surging, by unprecedented rates in some states, as the recession tightens its grip on the economy and Americans lose their employer-sponsored health coverage along with their jobs.” In many states, Medicaid rolls grew by 5 to 10 percent in the last year, often double the growth the previous year. Congress is likely to extend Medicaid aid to states in the upcoming stimulus package.

And, as early as March, Obama will be moving forward on health care reform, according to the Politico:

The move signals Obama’s intent to keep one of the most ambitious and politically crucial campaign promises at the top of his agenda. On the campaign trail, Obama pledged to provide universal health care by the end of his first term, but the severity of the economic downturn has raised doubts about how quickly he can deliver on that promise. Obama and his point person on health care, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, have staffed up like they plan to push forward with it, lining up a roster of communications and policy strategists to assist in the effort.

I wrote last week on a Tom Daschle statement that could be taken as a signal of which way Obama wants him to go:

Be still my single payer heart...

Via DCblogger at Corrente and emphasis mine:

Mercury News

Daschle, the point man for Obama's campaign to revamp the health care system, supports the concept of "a government-run insurance program modeled after Medicare." It would, he says, give consumers, especially the uninsured, an alternative to commercial insurance offered by companies like Aetna, Humana and WellPoint.

But the proposal is anathema to many insurers, employers and Republicans. They say the government plan would have unfair advantages, like the ability to impose lower fees, and could eventually attract so many customers that private insurers would be driven from the market. "The public plan option is a terrible idea — one of our top concerns in the health reform debate," said James Gelfand, senior manager of health policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Why would employers object to a public plan that would be better and cheaper for their workers?

Here, not only do we have the right wing Chamber of Commerce health care Czar telling you flat out that the for profit health care providers can not compete in a free market with Medicare, a government run single payer program... But the fact that it starts with a Tom Daschle hint of things to come that damn near made me have a heart attack.

If this is the starting point of the health care debate than it is already over... (And, for a change of pace from the last 8 years, America wins!)

Anok, over at identitycheck, expanded on what this looked like to herself. And President Obama has this up at the White House website:

HEALTH CARE

On health care reform, the American people are too often offered two extremes -- government-run health care with higher taxes or letting the insurance companies operate without rules. President Obama and Vice President Biden believe both of these extremes are wrong, and that’s why they’ve proposed a plan that strengthens employer coverage, makes insurance companies accountable and ensures patient choice of doctor and care without government interference.

The Obama-Biden plan provides affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, builds on the existing health care system, and uses existing providers, doctors, and plans. Under the Obama-Biden plan, patients will be able to make health care decisions with their doctors, instead of being blocked by insurance company bureaucrats.

Under the plan, if you like your current health insurance, nothing changes, except your costs will go down by as much as $2,500 per year. If you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of new, affordable health insurance options.

Make Health Insurance Work for People and Businesses -- Not Just Insurance and Drug Companies.

• Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums.


• Create a new Small Business Health Tax Credit to help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to their employees.


• Lower costs for businesses by covering a portion of the catastrophic health costs they pay in return for lower premiums for employees.


• Prevent insurers from overcharging doctors for their malpractice insurance and invest in proven strategies to reduce preventable medical errors.


• Make employer contributions more fair by requiring large employers that do not offer coverage or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of their employees' health care.


• Establish a National Health Insurance Exchange with a range of private insurance options as well as a new public plan based on benefits available to members of Congress that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health coverage.


• Ensure everyone who needs it will receive a tax credit for their premiums.

Reduce Costs and Save a Typical American Family up to $2,500 as reforms phase in:

• Lower drug costs by allowing the importation of safe medicines from other developed countries, increasing the use of generic drugs in public programs, and taking on drug companies that block cheaper generic medicines from the market.


• Require hospitals to collect and report health care cost and quality data.


• Reduce the costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and their employees.


• Reform the insurance market to increase competition by taking on anticompetitive activity that drives up prices without improving quality of care.

The Obama-Biden plan will promote public health. It will require coverage of preventive services, including cancer screenings, and increase state and local preparedness for terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

A Commitment to Fiscal Responsibility: Barack Obama will pay for his $50 - $65 billion health care reform effort by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000 per year and retaining the estate tax at its 2009 level.

In the boldly reddened part the key part of the plan is the opening up of the plan available to Congress members. The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) offers many different choices for people that all include prescription drug benefits. While wildly varying in co-pay costs depending on the plan, the FEHBP offers no savings over a plan such a Medicare.

Another problem is the fact that NOWHERE does Obama's plan address the serious issues with private plans that create "Death by Spreadsheet", clearly the most immoral aspect of private plans.

• No indication of how they would address insurance workers being paid bonuses for depriving clients - patients - of services that they have paid for in their premiums. Some have suffered for long periods of time battling for their rightful services to be paid for. Other people have died under these scenarios. That is a fact.


• No indication of addressing caps on services - either over single delivery of a service, a short period of time (a month? a year?) or over a lifetime. I.E.: Last year I had some dental surgery done. That one procedure maxed out my benefits allotted for the year for surgical procedures. I have had to wait for January to roll around in order to schedule work that I needed done because I could not afford the costs out of pocket above the severely low maximum.

Similar problems are seen in all private plans.

A "maximum annual cap" on a health insurance policy is actually the total amount that the insurer will pay during a year. If you see this on your policy benefits sheet, you'll want to pay attention; a low maximum annual cap makes the policy nearly worthless. After all, the idea of insurance is to protect someone from high medical costs.

The black ink in the ledgers is being balanced by the red blood of those that die in the name of profitability.

I discussed Daschle's previous statement that would, IMHO, begin the end of private health plans that prey on its victims through their various uses of "Death by Spreadsheet." It is the long road plan to single payer and will expose the fact that the for-profit plans can not compete on a level playing field with any single payer program in the free market. The far right wing knows this and, considering the fact that 65% of Americans want single payer health care, the rest of America knows this as well.

Sixty-five percent of those polled said the United States should adopt universal health insurance that covers everyone under a program such as Medicare that is run by the government and financed by taxpayers. Fifty-four percent went where politicians dare not tread, saying they supported a "single-payer" health system whereby all Americans would get their health coverage from a single government plan financed by taxpayers.

To be clear, Medicare is a form of a single payer program.

But the republicans have so polluted discourse on this subject in the past that some Americans think that Single Payer is socialist. A blatant lie that the majority has seen through as they became better educated on this issue. Hell... There is even a Republican group for single payer, now. That is how mainstream this demand is becoming.

Via DCBlogger at Corrente, America has changed a lot in the last few years:

Let me explain where we are right now, it is like 1989 in Moscow. Glasnost is in effect, the old regime has lost what ever legitimacy it ever had and ordinary people are losing their fear. It still looks very formidable, but it is about to crumble.

That is where we are with health care. Everyone is still refighting 1994 without noticing that the entire political landscape has shifted. We didn't have anything like HealthCare-Now, Physicians for a National Health Plan, or California Nurses in 1994. We didn't have a National Day of Action with picketing in cities across the country. Single payer activists are playing the same role dissidents played in the fall of the Soviet Union. We are saying the unsayable and we keep saying it until it becomes obvious.

Specifically how do we get a bill passed? Given our support in the House of Representatives, I am confident that we can get a bill to pass. So how do we win the Senate? Well, to switch historical analogies, we need a Republican Senator to play de Klerk to Conyers Mandela. Someone needs to break ranks, and if we maintain pressure, someone will do so.

Which Republican Senators do you think we have the best shot of winning over?

The people want single payer and we need a strategy on how we can go about getting them one or two Republican Senators to support a plan like H.R. 676. The most popular single payer health care solution and one that will be a direct route to the holy grail of health care and eliminating the need to wait for the free market to prove what everyone already knows and aknowledges on all sides, as evident even by the other sides arguments.

It is all the cover the Democratic party needs to pass single payer and that is what it may come down to if we want to get what we deserve.

Which Republican Senator is really bi-partisan or, at least, bi-partisan enough to walk away from the insurance company Astroturf groups and the far right wing corporatists to support what the vast majority of Americans want and really do need if we are going to weather the shitpile created economic shitstorm?

Arlen Specter and the women on the Republican side of the aisle have shown a more reasonable record of supporting women's rights issues (Equal Pay - Pro-Choice) in the recent and distant past. Is it possible to exploit this for our important issue? I honestly don't know if the statistics of women's support for single payer would make this a feasible avenue to explore?

A good healthy portion of the information linked here is unashamedly and liberally taken from Corrente, though, this piece is written/assembled by myself (blockquoted text excepted) for my Blog and to share in ePpluribus Media's ongoing health care discussions - I believe that Corrente deserves a lot of props for the great work they are doing FOR YOU right now. You could thank them by financially supporting their efforts. Or even just stopping by their site and saying thanks. We need to kick the tires on all of the proposed health care solutions so we know what, exactly, they are trying to sell us.

Previous ePluribus Media pieces:

by Carol White:

1. An Addition to the Discussion on Health Care Coverage

by Connecticut Man1:

1. Be Still My Single Payer Heart


2. How do you know Obama's health plan is bad for YOU?, Tue, 01/13/2009


3. All That I Want..., Wed, 12/24/2008


4. Single Payer Health Care Would Help Auto Industry, Tue, 11/18/2008

And a MUST-MUST read by DrSteveB:

1. The Most Complete & Honest Comparison of Health Proposals...so far, Tue, 01/13/2009

[ed note] 1. 12:44 A.M. Jan. 23rd, 2009 - Extensive edits from the White House information on down to the end. 2. 4:32 P.M. Jan. 30th, 2009 Bumped to the top for more views - originally written 1/22/09 2:05 PM. CM1

Dodd and Larson Get an Earful on Healthcare

Via Mark Pazniokas of the Hartford Courant, 675 angry and frustrated people showed up to this healthcare forum at Goodwin College:

On the first day of a listening tour on health care, an issue pivotal to the new Congress and his own re-election, U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd got an earful Friday.

The first comment came from a furious homeless shelter manager: He and his clients have no coverage, yet insurance giant American International Group got an $85 billion federal loan.

Over 90 minutes, the Democratic senator heard from a string of constituents, who waved their hands, hoping for a chance to describe a struggle to hang onto middle-class lives after losing jobs and affordable health care. A few were angry, others just scared.

On the way out, Dodd embraced one woman who burst into tears as she described losing health coverage for her disabled 2-year-old. Dodd held her until she stopped sobbing.

Dodd says that Tom Daschle, Obama's pick to guide healthcare reform, will be coming to Connecticut to discuss the issue. I say that they better be prepared to get another earful because the incremental changes being proposed will not answer the massive problems we are facing.

Problems like this:

"[the forum] included the president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, a reassuring signal to Connecticut's insurance industry."

Yep! Dodd and Larson think that these people are supposed to be our allies on this issue.

MA regulators: Did Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Partners HealthCare collude to fix prices and raise rates 75%?

Partners, insurer under scrutiny

Attorney General Martha Coakley has launched an investigation into whether the state's largest health insurance company and its largest healthcare provider may have illegally colluded to increase the price of health insurance statewide over the last nine years, according to several legal and government sources.

The attorney general sent formal demands for information to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Partners HealthCare late last week, the sources say, calling for a detailed account of their contract negotiations in recent years.

Since 2000, Blue Cross has boosted the rate it pays for medical care by Partners doctors and hospitals by 75 percent, dramatically more than the increases given to most other Massachusetts hospitals. Blue Cross now pays $2 billion a year to Partners, parent company of Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's hospitals.

Why do we put up with this?

I don't want these insurance industries' input into my healthcare in any way, shape or form. This the kind of health care the insurance giants have provided us thus far:



H/t nyceve for the video, where I encourage you to go read the entire piece and watch all the videos:

We all know that during the Bush regime, American citizens never saw the coffins of our fallen heroes coming back from Iraq.

Americans are also shielded from the brutal ugliness of our collapsed healthcare system. The traditional media is ill-informed (what else is new?), and rarely, if ever, give us frank and candid reporting about the grotesque realities of the U.S. healthcare catastrophe. So the BBC picks up the slack.

One last quote from Dodd:

"I hear people talking about a single-payer plan and the like," Dodd said. "That isn't going to happen. It's going to be a combination of public, private."

We already have a failed combination of public and private. We need the proven model of single payer and private practitioners. You want to stay in Congress with these kinds of answers, Senator Dodd?

"That isn't going to happen."

Why not send Senator Dodd a message?

"Single payer IS on the table!"

U.S. Senator Chris Dodd
448 Russell Building | Washington D.C., 20510
Tel: (202) 224-2823 | Fax: (202) 224-1083

Ya might want to mention the problem with his Blue Cross buddies, as well.

Irrational Lampoon

If you play "yes we can" backwards it sounds like "nuke U.S.A." The real reason the right wing thinks he is not American is because they found a message hidden on one of the campaign song album covers: "bur ac i5 code"... They are all certain it is really his until-now unknown evil twin, Barry "the communist" Obama, from Kenya that is currently occupying the White House - just so you know where the name Barry really comes from.

ERrRrRP! Excuse me: The voice in my head now tells me that No Quarter - in conjunction with Red State - will provide proof of all of this right after the 2012 elections.

This hour has 22 minutes...

22 minutes into the Obama presidency and the failed wingnuts are already blaming Obama for Iraq?

I believe you'll find Goldfarb and his disciples of extreme ignorance among these Americans:

The White House has a Blog...

Via Crooks and Liars, I am trying to imagine what it would have looked like under the criminal bush administration?

THE BLOG:

TUE, JANUARY 20, 12:01 PM EST

Change has come to WhiteHouse.gov

The first post on WhiteHouse.gov.

TUE, JANUARY 20, 12:01 PM EST

A National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation

President Barack Obama's first proclamation.

TUE, JANUARY 20, 12:01 PM EST

Honoring Dr. King’s Legacy and Serving America

The President, Vice President, and their families attend service events in Washington on Martin Luther King Day, one day before Inauguration.

TUE, JANUARY 20, 12:01 PM EST

Read The Inaugural Address

The full text of President Obama's Inaugural Address.

TUE, JANUARY 20, 12:01 PM EST

The Whistle Stop Tour

Following the same route that Abraham Lincoln rode 150 years ago, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Dr. Jill Biden made their way to the inauguration on a whistle stop train tour that wove its way from Philadelphia through Delaware and Maryland on its way to Washington.

We have yet begun to fight...

I was over at The Field Negro's Blog - reading how he was going to live up to his promise of running through the streets of Philly nekid if Obama won - Anyways, I did have a little suggestion for him:

"To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high."

It is an inscription on the wall of the dressing room of the Montreal Canadiens and is often used as rallying call for sports teams up north. It is taken from the poem "In Flanders Fields".

You might want to consider carrying a torch on your run, my friend. There is a lot of talk kicking around the news and the Blogs about the historic nature of this day. How this is such a huge positive change. But there is still a lot to do, and a lot of different battles that we all have ahead of us.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— Lt.-Col. John McCrae

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

The poppies referred to in the poem grew in profusion in Flanders where war casualties had been buried and thus became a symbol of Remembrance Day. The poem is part of Remembrance Day solemnities in Allied countries which contributed troops to World War I, particularly in countries of the British Empire that did so.

The line is appropriate for everyone, liberal activists pushing for change, minorities and Black activists that still have a long way to go... Everyone that has been on the outside looking in at the dismal failures in American politics.

Yeah. I am stoked for change. And I have a dream too.

The real fights are just about to begin and the real challenge is to keep the torch burning as we move forward.

This is the end of the bush years. The worst president in the history of the USA.

The end of the worst government ever to enter into power in Washington, D.C.. Power hungry fools with a reckless disregard for the needs of the people.

The end of the of the neoconservative reign of terror. Modern day Jacobins that use terror to instill fear in the American population.

We have begun the change. And started to live up to the possibilities of so many dreams.

But it is, still, only the beginning.



[update] Via joesaho at MLN, How appropriate for this post:

The Bushes Depart | 12:56 p.m. The helicopter steps are folded up. The blade begins to rotate. The Obamas and Bidens are standing still, holding each other’s hands, as they watch the helicopter rev up. We now have lift-off; the Bushes have left the Capitol at 12:55 — almost half an hour ahead of time. The Obamas wave.

The helicopter is swinging out over the Mall first instead of heading directly to Andrews. Surely the Bushes can’t hear the crowd below, but the chant is one that sports fans jeer to the opposing team: “Na Na Na Na/Na Na Na Na/Hey Hey Hey/Good-bye.”

A cheer that started at the old Forum in Montreal. :)

Thousands of FREE tickets to Inaugural Parade

Via afterdowningstreet.org - Ya gotta love a Pink Lady!

http://arrestbush2009.com

While they are involved in this typically bold action, Via the WaPO, there is an air of excitement evident in other positive actions that they will be undertaking at this historic event:

Code Pink, Arrest Bush, the Coalition for Peace and other liberal activist groups plan to jam the Mall and line the parade route on Inauguration Day. They will hoist banners, wave signs and call for action. It might look a lot like a protest rally. But don't call it that.

"It's not a protest; it's a celebratory event," said Jose Rodriguez, a longtime activist who is coordinating an Arrest Bush demonstration in front of the FBI building Tuesday.

...snip...

"We don't want to be seen as protesting against [Obama] so much as pushing him to fulfill his promises," said Medea Benjamin, founder of Code Pink. "It's totally, totally different."

I, for one, am always impressed by the bold actions they have taken on behalf of those that think just writing about all of these problems will make things happen. Actions that some of these same "thinkers" would denigrate because they think things will just suddenly change if we ask nicely. Politics in the USA is a push and shove game and the media will ignore those that are passively watching the real shakers and movers that bring much needed attention to these thoughtless idealists. You need to take a carrot and stick approach. And CodePink is the stick that has been shoved so far up the asses in Washington - much to others bemusement and my admiration.

Dissent is patriotic and these ladies are some of the most active patriots in modern American history.

Bottoms up and here is to you and everything you do, CodePink:

15

15 Days
13 hours and 30 minutes
Of GOP Criminals in
the White House

Of course, that is 15 more days that they can continue to fuck things up more...

GOP Voters Were Wishing McCain Would Die

Via Crooks and Liars, Glen Beck didn't think that these sick and crazy GOP voters were newsworthy:

Glenn Beck had Erick Erickson on his radio show today to talk about his plans for a Republican bloodbath over Sarah Palin, of which Beck thoroughly approves.

Indeed, Beck believes most conservatives voted for John McCain in the hopes that he would soon die:

I mean, I have to tell you if I heard once, I heard 1,000 times from people, and I never said this, never said this on the air because you just don't say these things, but I heard a million times from people, "I'm going to vote for John McCain and, you know, I mean, he's old. Maybe we get Sarah Palin in the first term." You know what I mean?

Imagine how these whack job Palin voters Glen Beck talks to all the time feel about Barack Obama being the President of the United States of America? You know what I mean?

Note To Chris Healy and Chris Shays

Healy is, still, clearly "Fat, drunk and stupid" if he thinks anyone is buying the Republican snake oil he sells. CT Bob has an "Obama endorsing Himes" ad at the top of his Blog, but if you scroll down you find this tear on the perpetually drunk with stupidity statements of Chis Healy that have come to represent the idiotic thought process of Republicans everywhere:

Yeah, it's just noise when Chris Shays tries to hitch his wagon to the Obama juggernaut in his mealy-mouthed ads. If the senator's endorsement means so little, why does Shays use the phrase "The hopefulness of Barack Obama" in his ads? Healy continues:

"Barack Obama talking about Jim Himes, whom I doubt he's ever met, it won't draw flies."

Uh, Chris, I hate to break it to you, but if you pull your head out of your butt long enough to look at Jim's website or catch his ads on TV, you might see this:

Oh well Chris, maybe you can photoshop your buddy Mr. Shays into the image where Jim Himes is standing right next to Barack Obama.

Unlike the spastic and erratic John McCain... Barack Obama actually takes the time to vet candidates BEFORE he endorses them. And, clearly, the Connecticut Republican party would do well to take away the keys from their 3 time DUI leader that has been integral in driving the local GOP into the ditch.

There is a huge difference between Jim Himes and Chris Shays, no matter how much the rubber stamp Republican, Shays, would like you to believe the opposite of reality:

There's no Republican in the House who has tried this exact same tactic more forcefully than Chris Shays of Connecticut. Shays is the last Republican member of the House from the 6-state New Hampshire region and his Connecticut congressional district has a PVI of D+5, the bluest district in America represented by a Republican.

Like his close ally, Joe Lieberman, Shays has managed to stay in office by persuading Democrats that he isn't really that Republican. His voting record, however, paints a very different picture. When Bush and the Republicans needed his vote-- no matter what the harebrained scheme they were pushing, he was always there for them. Take Iraq, for example. "Mr. Moderate" participated in 63 roll calls regarding Iraq since he voted 4 times on October 10, 2002 to authorize the use of force there. And "Mr. Moderate" voted against the Bush-Cheney agenda in Iraq exactly... 3 times, once to require competitive bidding on oil contracts when Cheney was caught trying to steal all of Iraq's oil, as did more than 4 dozen other Republicans, once to turn an Iraqi reconstruction grant into a loan (which was supported by 84 Republicans), and once on an inconsequential and unsubstantive budgetary matter. This week Shays, who is co-chairman of McCain's pointless Connecticut operation (he is polling just 36% against Obama) released an ad, very much like Gordon Smith's, trying to capitalize on Obama's immense popularity in Connecticut. Take a look-- and then consider donating to Blue America endorsee Jim Himes' campaign to replace him.

And Senator Obama's response?

"In this race, the good people of Connecticut should know that Barack Obama supports Jim Himes and believes Himes is the candidate who will bring the change American families need to Washington."

You want real change...

Not a desperate to hang onto his seat Republican like Chris Shays that is running from the McCain campaign that he has failingly chaired in the state of Connecticut. Both the national and the local Connecticut Republican party have proven, over and over again, that they are a top down driven failure. And none of them are willing to take responsibility for any of their own failures.

Republicans blame Obama for policies and ideas that are as American as apple pie. They blame those evil liberals and progressives for pointing out hypocritical Republican voting records. They blame their own ownership society that is ruining middle class Americans. They blame the economy that they ran into the ground with their free market run amok deregulation. They blame failed foreign policies that they created and chose to support. They even try to blame Bush for implementing their own ideas. And, now, some of these Republicans blame the incompetent and erratic McCain campaign and, even more so, the entirely absurd choice of Palin... The candidates they chose as their standard bearers and have failingly led the charge for themselves.

Not one of these Republicans are honest enough to look in the miror and see the failure that was and always will be theirs to own.

And that is what they try to call change?

That is Republican politics per usual... Connecticut and the rest of this nation cannot afford to remain on the same course that Republicans have, yet again, chosen. Their divisive political games and outright lies on the campaign trail to nowhere have caused nearly as much harm to America as their disastrous policies have. America needs real change.

Real change will come from electing Jim Himes.

Don't Let This Be YOU!

Do you really want to be that person?

Palin On Stevens Guilt

Via Think Progress:

Hotline reports that Sarah Palin issued a statement about the guilty decision in the Ted Stevens corruption case:

Thanks for your patience there. It’s a sad day for Alaska, and a sad day for Senator Stevens and his family. The verdict shines a light though on the corrupting influence of the big oil service company up there in Alaska that was allowed to control too much of our state. And that control was part of the culture of corruption that I was elected to fight.

Just exactly how did Palin fight this corruption in Alaska?


Yep... She has an image as some kind of political reformer but she is just another booster of the Corrupt Bastards Club. Obviously the feelings are mutual:

I bet Governor Palin wishes she could take this commercial back.

Ted Stevens Endorses Sarah Palin

Oh yeah... And Palin was groomed by the criminal as the director of a Stevens organized 527:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin began building clout in her state's political circles in part by serving as a director of an independent political group organized by the now embattled Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

Palin's name is listed on 2003 incorporation papers of the "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors. The group was designed to serve as a political boot camp for Republican women in the state. She served as one of three directors until June 2005, when her name was replaced on state filings.

snip

At the time Stevens revealed the existence of the 527 group -- a type of independent political corporation named for its the section of the tax code -- ethics experts questioned whether it was appropriate.

The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported that several experts called the group an example of the fine legal line between a legal effort to conduct political activity and then-new prohibitions against raising unlimited soft-money.

The same kind of "maverICKY" 527 groups that are skating on the edge of election laws and attacking Barack Obama with outrageous lies for the McCain campaign. Both John McCain and Sarah Palin are prime examples of everything that is wrong and needs to be reformed in politics... Hypocritical sell outs to the big corporations that are corrupting the system.

Banking Scam: Hate To Say I Told Ya So...

But I told ya so... Long before anyone else was telling you the truth:

60 Minutes' Steve Kroft examines the complicated financial instruments known as credit default swaps, and reveals how these little-known derivatives played a central role in precipitating the current market meltdown. In essence, speculators bet that homeowners wouldn't be unable to pay back their mortgages, and when those people started defaulting and the speculators tried to cash in their wagers, there was no money to cover the literally trillions of dollars in payouts. What it really boils down to is an unregulated gambling racket that Congress voted unanimously to create and legalize.

The world's financial system teetered on the edge again last week, and anyone with more than a passing interest in their shrinking 401(k) knows it's because of a global credit crisis. It began with the collapse of the U.S. housing market and has been magnified worldwide by what Warren Buffet once called "financial weapons of mass destruction."

They are called credit derivatives or credit default swaps, and 60 Minutes did a story on the multi-trillion dollar market three weeks ago. But there's a lot more to tell.

As Steve Kroft reports, essentially they are side bets on the performance of the U.S. mortgage markets and the solvency on some of the biggest financial institutions in the world. It's a form of legalized gambling that allows you to wager on financial outcomes without ever having to actually buy the stocks and bonds and mortgages.

It would have been illegal during most of the 20th century, but eight years ago Congress gave Wall Street an exemption and it has turned out to be a very bad idea.

Crooks and Liars has the video. And yep!

I told ya so.

Information and facts are the only things that will protect you from any attempts by the government to take your money and hand it over to the support the lavish lifestyles of these corrupt, reckless and foolish investors.

Bank Crisis 101 - The Simplest Explanation You Will Find

'Warren Buffett once called derivatives,
"financial weapons of mass destruction"'

They try to hide what it is using fancy words like credit derivatives. Over and over again they tell you it is too complicated for the average person to understand. They are lying to you. You can easily understand this if you read these pieces together. They keep talking about mortgages but they are the smallest part of this entire "shitpile." It is a scam and the bushies have been waiting for months to unleash this "crisis" as an election issue.

rdf at The EuroTrib sums it up in the simplest of terms for those of you that don't understand what the supposed bank crisis is all about:

The Crisis Explained - Really
by rdf
Thu Sep 25th, 2008 at 10:24:14 AM EST

Analogies are never perfect, but here's one using horse racing. Don't expect a perfect correspondence to the banking situation, but I think it is close enough for government work.

Joe goes to the track and bets $2 on a horse.

Two guys standing nearby get into a discussion and Fred says to Sam, "I'll bet you $5 that Joe wins his bet."

Next to them are Bill and Bob. Bill says: "I'll bet you $10 that Fred welshes on his bet if he loses."

Next to them is Sally. Sally says: "For $3 I'll guarantee to Bill that if Bob fails to pay off, I'll make good on the bet."

Sally then goes to Mary and borrows the $7 needed in case she has to ever pay off and promises to pay back $8. She doesn't expect to every have to pay since she believes Bob will always make good. So she expects to net $2 no matter what happens to Joe.

A quick calculation indicates that there is now 2+5+10+3+7 = $27 riding on the outcome of the horse race.

Question how much has been "invested" in the horse race?

Answer:

$50,000 by the owner of the horse who is expecting to recoup his investment from the winnings of the horse and other future deals. Everyone else is gambling, not investing.

The issue with the home market is that the only "investor" was the person who bought the home. All those engaged in the meaningless derivatives spun off from this are gambling. You can see how quickly the face value of all these side bets can exceed the underlying investment. Who is holding these side bets - not the homeowner? It is the people at the failing investment banks, hedge funds and similar enterprises. Notice that the bailout is being directed at them not the homeowners.

The real world is, of course, even more complicated. Over the last 30 years people have been allowed to place bets on everything starting with the value of stock averages. They might as well bet on the temperature in Newark at 8:00 AM.

So when you hear everybody saying this is a crisis caused by the housing collapse, be skeptical. We are in the midst of a classic pyramid or Ponzi scheme and there is no way out except for people to lose a lot of money. All that is different this time is that it is the taxpayers who are being asked for the cash.

I keep trying to explain to people how this is a scam and how the American people are going to be victims of it if they don't pay attention to it. They don't want you to know how simple this ripoff is.

Does that explanation above sound so complicated? That is an explanation that needs to go viral!

And all you really need to know about this now is that the bushies have been holding on to this to use it as an election issue for quite a while.

The thing that really pisses me off - and that most of the people, journalists and politicians don't seem to get or, at least, some of them intentionally ignore - is that the mortgage aspect is just a tiny little part of the entire shitpile.

The mortgage part of it is what really started to show the cracks in this scam, and it is one of the very few parts of this ponzi scheme with real and tangible assets to show at stake - the bulk of the shitpile are scraps of paper with absolutely zero value.

While it may look superficially similar to the recent implosions of such investment giants as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman, the takeover and bailout of AIG is quite different, and means that the market is entering the next and even more dangerous phase. What is driving the fall of AIG – and potential government losses that may far, far exceed the $85 billion bailout announced late on September 16th - is not mortgages or real estate (directly), but fears that AIG’s huge, global credit-default swap positions will unravel. The $62 trillion dollar credit derivatives market is 50 times the size of the subprime mortgage derivatives market, and is indeed larger than the entire global economy.

Unfortunately, few people understand credit derivatives, or the full risks to the United States and global markets and economies. In this article, I will take a Credit Derivatives Primer that I published in the spring of 2008 - which anticipated this exact type of event - and update it for the current situation. Through reading this article, you should be able to greatly increase your knowledge of what credit derivatives are, and why they are a far greater danger than subprime mortgages. We will end with introducing some concepts about how individuals can protect themselves and even profit from these unprecedented market conditions – something you won’t find in recent financial history or conventional investments.

...snip...

On September 1st, few knew that AIG, the largest insurance company in the world with over $1 trillion in assets, was in deep trouble. By September 12th, the rumors about major trouble were everywhere. By September 15th AIG’s corporate life expectancy was being measured in days, and the question was: bankruptcy, buyer or bailout? By the evening of September 16th, the federal government had massively intervened, making an $85 billion loan to AIG in exchange for a controlling 79.9% equity share of the company.

Welcome to the brave new world of credit derivatives driven collapses. A world that is far more dangerous than the world of subprime mortgage derivatives. A complex world that because of its sheer size can potentially cause more damage in a matter of days than the subprime mortgage derivatives caused in their first year in the headlines.

Go to the following link and apply what you learned from the horse race to it remembering that a credit derivative is just a bet or a side bet. Bets where the oddsmakers start messing with the odds in unreal ways: The people that were selling and buying these scraps of paper, their managers, partners and firms profiting from and behind it all are negligent in their dealings - criminally negligent, IMHO - AND the Feds that backed all of this are equally criminal.

But whom exactly will all of the taxpayer money benefit?

A little clue to Joe and Suzy Sixpack: Unless you own a bank or one of these other failing businesses, it ain't you!

They gambled, they lost... And now they want you to pay off their gambling debts.


Previously Brewed in New Milford:

Buy Your Shitpile? HELL NO!

Given what we know about the closed door meetings on Capitol Hill, I want to know what the meeting insiders - from the corrupt Bush administration on down to the supposedly surprised Senators and Representatives and including all of the other government officials that have known or just found out about this - have done with their own investment portfolios in the last little while.

I say "supposedly surprised" since the Bush administration had fought tooth and nail to keep investigations into a big part of this financial fraud under wraps until their recent pre-election extortion demands to rape the American taxpayers:

Sure, Spitzer should have de-socked before his career-ending indiscretion. But we should revisit the prophetic message that was lost to the tsunami of Spitzer's scandalization two weeks later.

Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime: How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers,
Feb. 14, 2008. Washington Post.

Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders...These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets.

Spitzer's omen went further to note that not only did the White House do nothing, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye after 50 state Attorneys General and many legislative attempts failed to halt the worst of the predatory lending excesses.

The AGs and their banking superintendents fought the Bush Administration's use of a Civil War era banking provision which established federal preemption of all state predatory lending laws and the new rules which emasculated state consumer protections from national banks.

Shortly before Stone's November tip finally mobilized national law enforcement to rescue Americans from the perverse activities of Spitzer and his calf-length socks, he left a final warning:

When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners, the Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still unfolding, but when the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing accomplice to the lenders who went to any lengths in their quest for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers.

We're now to let Industry's insider dictate the terms under which we'll spend the heritage of our grandchildren to repurchase the bloody bag of instruments of our rape?(em. mine -CM1)

The Spitzer investigations were dogging just the mortgage aspects of the entire shitpile that bushies are trying to sell to us... Which would have eventually exposed the entire underbelly of this well before the Bush administration wanted to.

They try and tell you, over and over again that it is too complicated to understand. BULLSHIT!

All you really need to know is that the bushies have been holding on to this to use it as an election issue.

The thing that really pisses me off - and that most of the people, journalists and politicians don't seem to get or, at least, some of them intentionally ignore - is that the mortgage aspect is just a tiny little part of the entire shitpile.

The mortgage part of it is what really started to show the cracks in this scam, and it is one of the very few parts of this ponzi scheme with real and tangible assets to show at stake - the bulk of this shitpile are scraps of paper with absolutely zero value.

While it may look superficially similar to the recent implosions of such investment giants as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman, the takeover and bailout of AIG is quite different, and means that the market is entering the next and even more dangerous phase. What is driving the fall of AIG – and potential government losses that may far, far exceed the $85 billion bailout announced late on September 16th - is not mortgages or real estate (directly), but fears that AIG’s huge, global credit-default swap positions will unravel. The $62 trillion dollar credit derivatives market is 50 times the size of the subprime mortgage derivatives market, and is indeed larger than the entire global economy.

Unfortunately, few people understand credit derivatives, or the full risks to the United States and global markets and economies. In this article, I will take a Credit Derivatives Primer that I published in the spring of 2008 - which anticipated this exact type of event - and update it for the current situation. Through reading this article, you should be able to greatly increase your knowledge of what credit derivatives are, and why they are a far greater danger than subprime mortgages. We will end with introducing some concepts about how individuals can protect themselves and even profit from these unprecedented market conditions – something you won’t find in recent financial history or conventional investments.

...snip...

On September 1st, few knew that AIG, the largest insurance company in the world with over $1 trillion in assets, was in deep trouble. By September 12th, the rumors about major trouble were everywhere. By September 15th AIG’s corporate life expectancy was being measured in days, and the question was: bankruptcy, buyer or bailout? By the evening of September 16th, the federal government had massively intervened, making an $85 billion loan to AIG in exchange for a controlling 79.9% equity share of the company.

Welcome to the brave new world of credit derivatives driven collapses. A world that is far more dangerous than the world of subprime mortgage derivatives. A complex world that because of its sheer size can potentially cause more damage in a matter of days than the subprime mortgage derivatives caused in their first year in the headlines.

The people that were selling and buying these scraps of paper, their managers, partners and firms profiting from and behind it all are negligent in their dealings - criminally negligent, IMHO - AND the Feds that backed all of this are equally criminal.

But whom exactly will all of the taxpayer money benefit?

A little clue to Joe and Suzy Sixpack: Unless you own a bank or one of these other failing businesses, it ain't you! And the beneficiaries of said scam are already out there trying to seed the blogosphere with disinformation on it:

Everybody's An Expert

I get emails like this sometimes, from insiders who know what they're talking about, and over time I've learned that while they may be insiders all that means is they have access to more gossip. That gossip often doesn't turn out to be true.

In any case, a straw man is being erected. There is no crisis which requires $700 billion to Hank Paulson's friends THIS WEEK. That's the argument. There may be serious problems in the financial sector which require government attention. There isn't something which requires an insane act of Congress NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW.

-Atrios 10:40

It is a fucking election fabrication and a scam, and I still say...

Fuck the banks - Let them fail

I am sitting here listening to the hearing on this and all I keep hearing is “think about this from the American taxpayer who is already on the hook”… BS

The only people already on the hook are the one’s that own these banks.

The Europeans are having the same problem and their answer? Let the banks get through it on their own. If that doesn’t clue everyone into how much of a fallacy this whole issue is, I don’t know what will?

Rush into the Iraq war…
fear! fear! FEAR!
Rush into the patriot act!
fear! fear! FEAR!
Rush into fixing (PRIVATIZE IT, DAMNIT!) social security…
fear! fear! FEAR!
Rush into a bailout of incompetent banks...
Fuck the fearmongering!

Banking disaster? Only if you own one of these failed banks… I am not buying this “bush reality” - not even a little bit.

It all looks like a massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich for no other purpose than to support their failure at our expense.

The fear of a looming recession? We are in it whether or not these banks fail and it is going to get worse whether or not these banks fail. I have a great idea! Let a couple of these banks go under and watch what happens? If I were a betting man, I would be willing to bet someone will profit off of it, and we will still be in a recession.

You want me to buy your shitpile? Not just NO! But...

HELL NO!

You can buy our shitpile instead:

Buy My Shitpile

With our economy in crisis, the US Government is scrambling to rescue our banks by purchasing their "distressed assets", i.e., assets that no one else wants to buy from them. We figured that instead of protesting this plan, we'd give regular Americans the same opportunity to sell their bad assets to the government. We need your help and you need the Government's help!

Use the form to submit bad assets you'd like the government to take off your hands. And remember, when estimating the value of your 1997 limited edition Hanson single CD "MMMbop", it's not what you can sell these items for that matters, it's what you think they are worth. The fact that you think they are worth more than anyone will buy them for is what makes them bad assets.

I have a stack of papers sitting beside my desk - not to mention the rolls of it in the bathroom - that I can value at trillions of dollars too!

Something I thought I'd never see...

And NOPE! I am not talking about the millions of people supporting a black man for president - even though there are some seriously bigoted people still out there screeching in America, times have changed enough that I figured that it could very likely happen in my lifetime... Just a matter of the right candidate to answer the call - and I am not talking about the many conservatives I know - Republican, Indy and unaffiliated - voting for a Democratic candidate. That happens all the time. It happened even more so in the last few years as people have watched the "Conservative party": bring in huge deficits; fail in one war and in one illegal invasion and occupation; admit to illegally spying on Americans; tear down an economy with deregulated bank failures, a mortgage crisis brought on by the "ownership society" they extol, unemployment surges from companies shutting down and made even Joe and Suzy Sixpack's income shrink faster than choice for women and civil rights.

Nope. I am not talking about that.
I am talking about this:

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Ohio McCain Supporter Outdoes Other Bigots

Villager at Electronic Village gets a clear picture of her neighbor:

It turns out that I'm living a few miles away from a racist guy in Fairfield (Ohio) who decided that it would be a wonderful sight for children on Halloween night to see an effigy of Barack Obama hanging from his tree.

Mike Lunsford is the racist fool who decided to hang this display at his home over on Symmes and Hicks Road in Fairfield.

There are some really sick people crawling out from under their rocks for this election...