Are Moderates No Longer Welcome In The Republican Party?

I think the United States would be better off with multiple parties and a coalition style government. The two-party system freezes out new ideas and limits the influence of the population in favor of maintaining the status quo. There probably should be a Conservative Party in addition to the Republican Party, and, for that matter, there should probably be a Progressive Party in addition to the Democrats.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Lieberman: "Nothing" Better Than Public Option (VIDEO)

Lieberman is a real piece of ... work.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Geithner On Meet The Press: Worried Banks May Be Too Timid

"A bright spot in the recovery identified by Geithner is the banking system, which he said is "dramatically more stable" because of the government bailout."



As long as you ignore the trillions of dollars in bad paper the Bank's are holding but aren't required to report as part of their bottom line.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

"TARP on Steroids"

David, Wall Street and the US Government are responsible for a fraud cloud of 500 trillion plus dollars in derivatives infecting the Global Economy ... a bubble that they can't afford to allow to pop because it would indiscriminately wipe out fortunes and Government treasuries around the world. Even in a best case scenario where they could deflate that cloud in a controlled fashion ... with the help of US Taxpayer dollars ... there will be some huge losers. Currently the situation is like having ten thousand people thinking they have the same right to bite of a ham sandwich.



The cynic in me thinks that Wall Street, the Fed, and the Treasury know that there will be some monumental losers, but they want to use Taxpayer dollars as a sort of throttle in order to insure that payouts are made to a chosen few before the whole Ponzi Scheme collapses.



A scary thought, but then this is Halloween ... Trick or Treat?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Ed Schultz: Obama Would "Sell His Soul" For GOP Support On Health Care (VIDEO)

How President Obama handles this will determine whether or not he will be a one or two term President. I see Rahm has got him moving into full DLC Triangulation mode and that is not what won the White House for Obama. I don't recall the campaign slogan being:



"The Audacity of Capitulation".



And before the Democrats think they can win in 2010 and 2012 without the Left, which is what the situation will be if the President caves on the Public Option, the White House better remember that in terms of grass root participation and energy "Moderate Activism" is an oxymoron.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Dierdre Scozzafava Drops Out Of NY House Race

The Cockfight is over? Too bad. Now the Republicans of NY-23 have to decide if they want a Right-Wing Carpetbagger, with his Conservative Clown Cortege, who doesn't understand their District, representing them.



Do the Republicans of Upstate New York really have the mindset of those from South Carolina?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

A Sad Day for Californians: Gavin Newsom's Withdrawl from the Race for Governor

I think California really needs Jerry Brown at this point, primarily because having been Governor before he understands how to work with the unique challenges of the State's political process. We don't need a novice who is going to spend their whole term complaining about the system, we need a Governor who understands how to make the system work.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Brian Williams From Afghanistan: How Kabul Changed Overnight, What The Troops Think, & Why He Had To Go

Excellent interview. I'm glad Huffpo was able to score it.



My instinct is that the United States would like to get to a state similar to South Korea, Japan or the Philippines in terms of occupying Afghanistan an Iraq. That would be that you keep troops in the countries for decades so that both the citizens in the occupied countries can't remember a time when they weren't occupied by the United States and the people of the United States forget they are occupying the country. Occupation becomes status quo for both sides. The US has an occupation force of 47000 in Japan. and 25000 in South Korea. There are only a few hundred stationed in the Philippines now, but from 1898 until 1992 the United States occupied the Philippines with multiple bases and tens of thousands of troops.



I'm sure the US Government wants to just create a situation in Afghanistan that isn't perfect, but is tolerable enough so the American people to put much thought into the situation any longer, and they can settle in for a decades long stay.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Dennis Kucinich Wants His Single-Payer Provision Reinstated In Health Bill

The States should have the right to decide the best approach for their citizens, put Kucinich's Single-Payer provision back in ... why are the Democrats having such a hard time meeting the needs of the citizens who elected them to office?



If our elected officials would rather be Prostitutes than Public Servants let them move to Nevada and set up shop ... but if you are talking Evan Bayh, Ben Nelson, Max Baucus, or Joe Lieberman in fishnets, don't expect me buzzing the Cathouse doorbell anytime soon.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Jeb Bush: Obama Trying To "Attack Capitalism"

The Bush Family has no sense and no shame.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Fox News Ratings Undamaged By White House War

Let me get this straight here.



The millions of viewers of Fox "News", who hate the President of the United States to start with and likely represent the voters who didn't vote for him last November, are suddenly going to stop watching Fox "News" when the White House of the President they hate suddenly calls them on their Right Wing Propaganda? I mean, Fox "News" viewers are watching BECAUSE of the Right Wing propaganda. I doubt the opinion of the White House is going to change their viewing habits.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Pelosi To Dems: Time To Take A Stand On Public Option

As far as the Public Option is concerned we simply can't accept "No" for an answer ... We should be fighting for Single Payer right now, but the President and the Democrats already ceded that ground to the opposition. Also, the Democrats have do understand that the excuse "We did the best we could" holds no water. If the Democrats cave on the Public Option the party becomes no more relevant than the Republicans.



And I am pretty sure I won't be the only Progressive taking note of Democrats that vote against the Publc Option. I will support any candidate from either party that delivers the "Vichy Dem" backstabbers their Pink Slips their next election cycle..
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Senate Finance Committee Health Care Vote Today

I think Senator Snowe did herself a favor. Even if she votes against the final bill she can say to her constituents that are pro Health Care Reform that it was her support that got the Bill out of committee (for how long do you think Baucus would have stalled the process trying to get a Republican to vote with him so he could claim it was a bi-partisan effort?).



And when she votes against the final Bill she can tell her constituents that are anti-reform that she just couldn't go through with supporting a Final Bill she couldn't believe in.



I don't think Senator Snowe is going to be much of a story on this going forward ... she already covered all her bases.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Rahm: Dems Attacking Other Dems Are "Fucking Stupid"

Rahm is just being silly.



He knows this isn't about "Dems attacking other Dems", this is about a corporatis­t-conserva­tive DLC Chief of Staff to the President (Him) trying to intimidate Liberal/Progressive Activists into backing down on their obviously successful attack ads against his kennel of Blue Dog Vichy Dems. I'm sure Rahm believes that by dropping the F-Bomb he will be able to frighten the effete Libs into backing down and cowering in the corner with their glasses of Chardonnay ... but I don't think it works that way with the current batch of progressives. That's not the MO of MoveOn.



See, Conservative is Conservative whether it is of the Democrat or Republican variety, I feel Conservative Democrats and Republicans have done enough damage to this Nation over the last 30 years ... my guess is the Progressives Rahm was swearing at feel that way too.

I doubt they back down from his tantrum.



And just to make Rahm happy, I plan on sending a donation to the Republican opponent of Blue Dog Democrat Mike Ross of District 4 Arkansas who was just crowing with pride over killing Single Payer in the House Bill. See, Congressman Ross doesn't share my values so a Republican might as well have his seat.



Talk dirty to me, Rahm.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tampa Town Hall On Health Care Reform Disrupted By Violence (VIDEO)

America the Beautiful



"O beautiful, for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.



O beautiful, for pilgrim feet

Whose stern, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;

Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!



O beautiful, for heroes proved

In liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved

And mercy more than life!

America! America! May God thy gold refine,

Till all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!



O beautiful, for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years,

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!"





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_the_Beautiful
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Limbaugh: "Adolf Hitler, Like Barack Obama, Ruled By Dictate" (AUDIO)

Double Think:



"The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them....To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies — all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth."



Rush Limbaugh is a master of it.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublethink
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

DC Tea Party Protest Shut Down By Secret Service, Package Thrown Over White House Fence (VIDEO)

For those on the Right that thinks President Obama is such a Socialist/Fascist/Communist/Terrorist/Muslim/ Dictator ... let me give you a reality check.



I once met an Iraqi Exile who told me of an incident when Saddam was in power that is illustrative of how brutal dictators operate. According to this gentleman there was a well paved thoroughfare surrounding Saddam's Palace (one of the only smoothly paved roads in Baghdad, and the only road with stop lights as well). There was a driveway that led through the gates and up to the Palace. So the story goes a car turns off the road onto the driveway, past the guard station heading towards the palace. The guards at the gate start riddling the car with machine gun bullets, to be joined by guards on the palace roof that unleash on the unauthorized car with 50 caliber machine gun bullets. The smoking car, Swiss cheese at this point, slows to a stop in the middle of the driveway and a wounded individual exits the car and is quickly dispatched. Incident over.



The guards reward for their actions? The guards at the gate were ordered executed for allowing the car past them. The guards manning the 50 caliber machine guns were ordered executed because despite the number of bullets they pumped into the car someone was still capable to exit it.



This is an example of how a Brutal Fascist Dictator handles disturbances at his home.
About Tax Day Tea Parties
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The Problems of Nationalizing the Banks Remain

Hale, my problem is that off book toxic assets are not factored into the true health picture of the banks, and without that data it makes it hard to gauge the proper approach to their fate. I mean, the Banks may seem to be in good shape sans the toxic assets data, but that is an unreasonably rosy picture.



I was for Nationalization of Banks initially, but your arguments adjusted my opinion on that. William K Black, in his interview with Bill Moyers, mentioned that receivership, which I believe the FDIC engaged in twice this weekend alone, never ceased to be an option for the Big Banks as well. I do not believe a prolonged period of Government Control would be appropriate for the Banks because of issues you raised, but going forward in the current approach isn't feasible in the long term either.



How about this? What if the Government were to take these big Financial Services Corporations into receivership long enough to split them up into their Banking, Insurance, and Investment lines and then relinquish control? Currently we have a situation where money is given to aid the banks but is finding its way into the Investment loss area ... I'm thinking that is why we aren't seeing the kind of success from TARP we had hoped. If we split the Banking units off, money given to the Banks will stay with the Banks.
About Economy
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Cheney May Have Mole In Obama Government: Sy Hersh

Just one? And what's all the focus on Cheney? He's been nothing but a henchman for the Bush family his whole career. I'm sure the Bushes have no interest in reliquishing power even if they are out of the White House. Russ Baker's "Family of Secrets" is worth a read on how Poppy Bush surrounded Nixon in the White House with henchmen loyal to him (I wonder if the New York Times will ever review the book? Doubtful ... no spine in that organization any longer)



If I were President Obama I would be very cautious with Secretary Gates (A Poppy Bush choice for his son) and that guy, Austan Goolsbee, that Chris Matthews likes, who is on Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. Goolsbee was the member of the Obama Campaign Team during the primary that allegedly claimed at the Canadian Consulate in Chicago that Obama's comments on renegotiating NAFTA was just political rhetoric not meant to be taken seriously and gave Hillary's campaign life in Ohio. Goolsbee is also a member of Skull and Bones ... at least according to his Wiki page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austan_Goolsbee



Anyway, President Obama should be wise in terms of whom he trusts even in his inner circle ... to be prudent.
About Dick Cheney
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The Real Crime in the Bailout -- Naked CDS Deals

Cenk, what we are watching is a Shadow Play that is covering for a good, old-fashioned Mexican Standoff.



The Banks say they are fine, showing profit ... doing better all the time, but, the thing is, under late 90's deregulation, the banks are allowed to hold their CDS exposure off the books. So the semi-miserable state the Banks are in is what is being portrayed, while the bank's catastrophic levels of exposure are out of sight. Basically, we are looking at two sets of books that tell different tales.



Why not just dump the Naked CDS Deals and call it a day? That's the 64 trillion dollar question. I believe there is a tremendous amount of fake wealth, supported by a pittance of actual wealth. This actual wealth is from the four corners of the world, and should the fake wealth collapse it would evaporate the real wealth with it ... the effect would be a level of ugly beyond belief with not just the little folks being devastated.



So in the small circle the Banks are looking at Wall Street, which is looking at the Fed, which is looking at the President, which is looking at the Treasury, etc ... while in the Great Circle the US is looking at England, looking at Japan, looking at the EU, looking at China ... each are waiting to see who will pull the trigger first.



We are living in interesting times.
About The Bailouts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Krugman On Geithner's Toxic Asset Plan: "The Zombie Ideas Have Won"

There is no way the US can cover all the bad bets of Wall Street, and I'm certain that is exactly what Wall Street has in mind. We must not forget that these companies we are emptying our Treasury for are Multi-National Companies, not American Companies.



The way this game goes is these mega corporations play the "How Dare You, Sir!" card when the US Government wants to regulate them in good times ... using their Multi-National status as a tool of blackmail, but when they screw the entire World Economy up they crawl like beggars back to the US Treasury and defiantly state "You HAVE to help us ... if you DON'T help us we will BLOW UP THE WORLD ECONOMY!!!"



Multi-National business can't have it both ways. The Taxpayers of the United States can't be rendered serfs to the World due to the irresponsible antics of some bad actors of the corporate world.



I think the Administration actually gets it. It's subtle, but I like what I am seeing from the Administration in terms of directly backing SBA loans that have been frozen and the recent trillion dollar allocation that bypasses the bankers entirely.



cont:
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Feingold To Death Penalty: Drop Dead

Right on, Senator Finegold!!



The Death Penalty is a primitive ritual that legitimizes vengeance in the guise of Justice. With a Justice System as flawed and corrupt as we have in the United States, where Judges, DAs and Cops have all been found wanting of ethics and morality at one time or another, in a Nation where some States are willing to execute minorities or the retarded for the sheer pagentry of it ... there needs to be another way to punish the guilty besides a system where the accidental execution of an innocent is an acceptable byproduct.



Barry Sheck's "The Innocence Project" has already rescued 234 wrongfully convicted citizens from Prison, including a good percentage from Death Row. (www.innocenceproject.org/) so wrongfully convicted citizens on Death Row isn't a myth, and the bottom line is that the United States cannot murder the innocent due to Judicial incompetence or malfeasance.



Good for you, Senator Finegold.
About Bill Richardson
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Heartbreaking Footage: Dateline Follows Police Evicting Families From Their Homes

There was a judge in Ohio that prevented the foreclosure of some properties by a Bank because the Bank couldn't furnish the paperwork for the properties in question because of the way they were sliced up for investment purposes. The Bank was shocked that the judge wanted to see the paperwork before allowing the foreclosure ... seems the Bank never had a judge ask for the paperwork before.



Maybe more people should demand to see the paperwork the Bank has for the property they are foreclosing on before they submit to leaving. And maybe Judges that are allowing Banks to foreclose on properties without the proper documentation should be removed from the bench.



Just a thought.
About Housing Crisis
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Kathleen Parker: Limbaugh "Dittoheads" Killing Newspapers

I think Parker misses the point. Newpapers have lost their aura because of media consolidation. It's not like you are going to find an inherently different message in one Newspaper over another, and the Newspaper message overlaps with the message on cable or network news. It is all homogenized and staid. and frankly, limited in relevant scope. With the Internet, only the grasp of language limits the capacity to obtain other views of what is happening in the World. American News covers an American view of the World, which is tightly regulated by the interests of the corporate owners. My supporting example of this is how Al Jazeera became the mortal enemy of the Bush Administration because it was broadcasting an alternative view of the Iraq war from the ground which didn't support the American narrative, When Newspapers all fall under the same corporate umbrella, parallel the same narrative, and begin to appear as little more than social engineering tools their necessity is diminished.



If Newspapers want to avoid extinction they simply need to rediscover their core principles and reason for being ... then circulation won't be a problem.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Rush Limbaugh Answers Me As Other Republicans Email Calling for Civil War

Frank. we live in a Nation of idiots ... that is our Achilles' heel. You. sir, fall in the category of individuals described by Plato in "The Allegory of the Cave". You have escaped the cave and seen the light of day, but when you return to the cave and try to describe what you have seen to the cave-dwellers, who are mesmerized by the dancing shadows on the cave wall which form their comprehension of reality, you are met with hate, scorn and ridicule. I don't envy your position, but I appreciate you for making a difficult stand. Thank you.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama's New Strategy: Blaming Bush For Financial Mess

Of course the Republicans (and that Blue Dog/DLC Clinton) own this economy. It's not President Obama ... it's not the Liberals, or Progressives, or others on the Left who are responsible for what occurred in the United States since 1980.



The Republicans and Vichy Democrats own our economic predicament and are the reason for the low standing the United States has in the world today.



And the Vichy Democrats are still acting as obstructionists, putting their closet Republican ideology ahead of what is the best for the country.



A person would have to have a pretty low IQ (or be a Republican which is about equivalent) to blame President Obama for the dire economic crisis we are in.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Majority of Voters View Limbaugh Negatively, 45 Percent "Very, Very Negatively": Study

I don't see how this can be accurate, I mean the Republicans made Rush the ideological leader of their party. Rush stands for what the GOP stands for.



This idea that Rush is unpopular strikes me as just some kind of tree-hugging Liberal plot to undermine him. I know that Rush is the man the GOP crawl to everyday and beg for direction. Rush is the GOP present and Rush is the GOP future.



I'm sure I am not alone when I say that I am very happy with Rush in his current role and I hope he is the leader of the GOP for decades to come.



I wouldn't take this poll too seriously. Rush is loved by the GOP ... he completes them.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Christina Romer: Obama Not Overwhelmed By Bad Economy

The Right is used to a Democratic President picking one high-profile issue they could focus on and attack. The Obama Administration's inundation of ideas and initiatives makes it nearly impossible for the GOP and their fellow travelers in the MSM and Chamber of Commerce to mount an effective counter attack on the Obama Administration's agenda.



In short Obama Administration .... POUR IT ON!!!! MORE!!! MORE!!! MORE!!! FASTER!!! FASTER!!!FASTER!!! ... do not let up!



The Obama Administration has succeeded in reducing the opposition to Lucy and Ethel racing the conveyor belt in the chocolate factory.



SPEED IT UP ... we need more Nuts and Chews!!!!
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Alan Greenspan: The Fed Didn't Cause The Housing Bubble

The toothpaste is out of the tube, Mr. Greenspan, and you smell like Fresh Mint.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

McCaskill: I'm Not Sure We Have Votes On Employee Free Choice Act

American workers have been more than patient in terms of expanding and solidifying worker's rights. If the Democrats can't get the EFCA passed then it is time to work for the creation an activist Labor Party whose membership uses financial boycott as well as walkouts and strikes to get business to sing the proper tune.



Of course that would kill the Democratic Party, but if they aren't willing to get the job done, so be it.



And Mr Donohue knows that there has never been an easier time in the history of the Republic to organize people quickly ... and times they are a-changing.



I say the Chamber should wise up, expansion of the Unions is the least of their worries.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Igor Panarin: U.S. Will Collapse By Next Year

If the United States were to collapse why would Panarin assume that whomever was controlling the US at the time (likely a Military/Industrial Politburo, that would have vanquished American Civil Authority and imposed martial law by Military Contractor) would allow any world economic competitor to survive unscathed if their own dreams of being rulers of the New World Order were destroyed? If I were China, Russia, India, the EU or any other competitor nation to the US I would be doing all I can to preserve US stability and cohesion, for there will be no winners should the US collapse. I am positive of that.



Remember the way messianic megalomaniacs and their brainwashed minions operate ... Hitler supposedly was constructing a "Doomsday Device" to shoot a warhead into the center of the earth in an attempt to destroy the earth should his plans fail, obviously it didn't work. Panarin should pray for the stability of the United States rather than muse over the fanciful beneficial outcomes for his country should American collapse come to pass.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Touts Main Street Success As Wall Street Plunges

"I'm not saying, 'Mr. President, go stare at the Bloomberg quote machine and come to your senses,'" said CNBC's Jim Kramer. "I just want some sign that Obama realizes the market is totally falling apart. And that his agenda has a big hand in that happening."



I call BULLSH*T!!!!



Cramer, President Obama is not responsible for the Securities Kiting/Ponzi Scheme that is now collapsing ... Wall Street is. There is nothing that this President ... or any President ... could do at this point to prevent this scam from collapsing and rescue investors from losing their shirts. The die is cast, Cramer, and it was you and your Wall Street buddies who were running the forge.



CNBC has no credibility. Nobody on CNBC warned their investor Viewers they were about to lose 40-60% of their wealth last year. The talking heads on CNBC with their faux bluster acted like carnival barkers getting the Savvy PC Investor Set into the big tent to see the bearded lady and the cat with two heads.



I know Cramer has a job to do ... and it isn't an easy one ... but you would think at some point conscience would come into play for some of these CNBC Corporate Breast-beaters and they would recognized they have far more to do with the people who have been financially wiped out than the President has.



Cramer, CNBC deal in reality once in a while, huh?
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Liberal Groups Pressure Congress On Foreclosure Bill (VIDEO)

To paraphrase John McCain ... take the names of the lawmakers, Democrat or Republican, that stand in the way of this and make them famous in their home districts through ads. Then start canvassing for challengers to these lawmakers in their next elections. Time to get as punitive with the Lawmakers as the Banks are with the mortgage holder's in default.
About Video On HuffPost
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

"Slumdog" Kids Back To School, One Taken Ill, Father Demands More Cash (PHOTOS)

Is this a case of the "Butterfly Effect" or "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished"?



I once saw a great Tagalog film by Kidlat Tahimik called "Turumba" of how the life in a Philippine Village is turned upside down when their local paper mache crafts are noticed by a German Tourist who hires the villagers to create souvenirs of the mascot of 1972 Munich games. It is really worth seeing the damage outsiders can cause when they interrupt the traditional dynamic of a people's culture. This is really the case with these slum kids, for life will never be the same for them again now that they have lived in another world.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Rush Limbaugh At CPAC: Doubles Down On Wanting Obama To Fail (VIDEO)

"... They hoped George Bush failed. So what is so strange about being honest and saying I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation?"



Capitalism and Liberty isn't what Rush is afraid of losing ... it's the Collapse of the Corporate Oligarchy that funds him and the loss of his place at the table of the New World Order's Global Banquet of Born Again Feudalism.
About President Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama To Lobbyists: I'm Ready To Fight (VIDEO)

Anyone who thought the fight for what's right ended on November 4th, 2008 was mistaken ... that was just one battle won.



We must not let the fire we brought to the campaign die. President Obama gets it so must we.



Lobbyists, Corporations, MSM, those embracing the Status Quo, they are our adversaries and will be for the foreseeable future. We must scan the horizon for the next ploy. We must bare our incisors, ready for confrontation ... we must maintain the desire to win. We must continue the fight for nothing of lasting value for the American people has come without a fight.



To Fight is to Win!



Let's Win.
About Obama Budget
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Budget Projects $1.75 Trillion Deficit

I feel that one thing Obama really needs to do, in addition to rolling out the Stimulus and his Budget Proposals, is keep hammering on the legacy nature of the problems the Nation faces. Already the GOP is trying to spin the crisis as something Obama caused. I have even heard the argument that Obama's responsibility predates his taking office because he was the "Real President" after November 4th and Bush was just a lame duck.



I like what the Obama Administration is doing so far but I would frame this huge crisis as a multiple car auto accident with severe injuries. The Obama Administration is like the Fire, Police and EMT personnel that arrives on the scene and tries to do the best they can for the injured ... but they didn't cause the accident, whose aftermath they are addressing, to start with.



The Republicans own this mess ... the Wars, the Economy, everything. The Obama Administration must not give them any opportunity to wriggle out of that responsibility.
About Obama Budget
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Tax Raise: Looks To Raise Taxes On The Affluent To Pay For Health Care

Raising Taxes on the Rich is a good idea in general. The American People, through their government, have provided a system where individuals and corporations can convert their talents and efforts into wealth like no other place on Earth. That opportunity should be considered "pay to play" with taxes being the buy in to the game. If the wealthy don't like it they can move abroad and try to compete in other systems where hiding their wealth from the taxman would be the least of their worries.



Insofar as paying for Universal Single Payer Health Care by taxing the rich, I don't agree. A Universal Single Payer Health Care program would be best served by a slight, across the board, consumption tax. In a design like that everyone pays a little into the service every time they buy something, and you can do away with further problems of wealthier Americans claiming they carry the weight of Health Care for everyone. Tax the Rich for sure, but tax everyone for Universal Health Care so no one group can use their economic leverage to tamper with the system in the future.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why Healthcare Can't Wait

Gentlemen thank you for sharing your opinions. There is no good argument against Universal Single Payer Health Care for all Americans. Every argument uttered is the same old stale talking points that don't stand up to intelligent analysis.



Our major economic competitors have health care for their citizens, which takes the burden off of their businesses and makes them more successful. A Universal Health Care program would eliminate the tragic stories of Americans having to declare bankruptcy while dealing with a catastrophic illness. We would be able to eliminate future Medicare and Medicaid shortfalls. We would be able to grant access to our Veterans in a new Universal System so they could go to whatever doctor they choose instead of dealing with the limitations of the VA system. It's a win all the way around.



If it were my plan I would pay for it all with a slight consumption tax ... it would be painless, spread the cost to everyone and likely provide a surplus to help finance new procedures and even aid in financing R&D for companies like Mr Kindler's.



The wailing and gnashing of teeth about the dreaded "Canadian System" is such a red herring. We already have successful HMO models that can be utilized for a government plan, so it wouldn't be reinventing the wheel. The Kaiser Permanente model strikes me a good place to start ... I have been more then pleased with there services for decades.



Let's get Health Care for all Americans done!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Bank Of America CEO Lewis: We Can "Make It Through This Downturn On Our Own"

Let's make one thing perfectly clear ... The Bank Lewis runs is NATIONS BANK, not Bank of America.



AP Gianini's Bank of America was an actual bank ... Hugh McColl's Nations Bank was a fake bank that owed its success to Merger and Acquisition not banking. Hostile Takeovers and leveraged buyouts are Nations Banks success story, its only innovations those it acquired.



The story goes that McColl commissioned multiple focus groups to determine the name of the post BofA takeover ... the story was he wanted them to declare Nations Bank the winner but they kept on choosing Bank of America, so McColl begrudgingly accepted Bank of America and relocated the headquarters from San Francisco to Charlotte, North Carolina (World Class City There).



A friend of mine who was at a post merger meeting with a Nations Bank Executive heard him drawl out to the Bank Americans in attendance "We might be called Bank or America, but don't kid yourselves, We're Nations Bank."



So the bank on the brink of collapse is Hugh McColl's monstrosity not AP Gianini's jewel.



McColl, Lewis, and the Coulter, the last CEO of BofA who was bamboozled by McColl had better hope there isn't an afterlife, because if there is, AP is waiting there to escort them to the Gates of Hell.
About Bank Of America
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

No Longer A Forgotten War

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Limbaugh: Trying To Understand A Dem Like Trying To Understand A Murderer Or Rapist

Rush is starting to meltdown like the character in Poe's "Tell Tale Heart" ... he hears the beating of the heart beneath the floorboards of his studio ... oh, he'll try to ignore it ... he'll try ...



but the ,,, th-thump ... th-thump ,,, th-thump ... will continue. He'll rail on the President, on Pelosi, Reid, MoveOn .... the liberals .... but the th-thump ,,, th-thump ... th-thump will continue ...



"Why won't it stop?" Rush's eyes will dart about the room. "Why won't it STOP!?!"



it's only a matter of time ... th-thump ... th-thump ... th-thump ... before you know it he'll be on his knees, sweating, tearing at the floorboards ... foaming ... ranting ... "The Fairness Doctrine!!!!!" .... "LIBERALS!!!!"



"DAMN YOU!" .... DAMN YOU!!!"



His fingernails gone ... his linoleum floor shredded ... "STOP!!!" ... "STOP!!!!"



But the disembodied heart of Edward R Murrow will continue to beat beneath his Studio Floor ... mocking him.



th-thump ... th-thump ... th-thump ...
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Opposes 'Fairness Doctrine' Revival

The argument against the Fairness Doctrine is asinine. "Well, we have the internet now so why do we need balanced content on the public airwaves?" Answer, there are still millions of more Americans getting their information via the radio on an hourly basis than from the internet. If we were so amazingly wired coast to coast then the transition from analog to digital television signals wouldn't have been postponed.



Another point, Rush didn't get a 400 million dollar contract because he is a quaint novelty ... he received it because he is a potent propaganda weapon for the Right. There are vast areas of the United States that are only covered by Right Wing radio. A constant drone of Rightest, Corporate propaganda hour after hour after hour.



You know what it is called when a subject is bombarded with a message until they accept it? Social engineering ... brain washing, if you will. There is no difference between the monotone Rightest message pumped into the back waters of America and what the Allies did against the Nazis with Radio Free Europe and the US did against bastions of communism during the Cold War through Voice of America ... Propaganda ... Domestic Psy-Warfare.



You want to flush the Fairness Doctrine? You want to leave the uneven distribution of ideas in America as it stands? Fine ... but don't kid yourself, in a very meaningful way, Rush Wins.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

New York Post Chimp Cartoon Compares Stimulus Author To Dead Primate

Well, the New York Post needs to maintain their subscriber base of right wing mental deficients so they throw a fistful of racist peanuts into their reader's cage in the form of this cartoon.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Mining The Gold Of Their Own Disaster.

James, President Obama is really caught between a rock and a hard place on this one. First, the last time the American people were in this type of situation was the 1930's, so there is an awful lot of denial still within the population as to the extent of the crisis, which gives traction to GOP criticism of the President's strategy to those who still think there is an easy fix I also understand that President Obama probably feels that he has to keep the optimism up and not let on all he knows about the severity of our predicament in order to prevent panic ... this I think is a mistake.



President Obama needs to build a direct bridge with the American people in a non-partisan fashion ... no one asks the political alignment of the EMT. Police Officer, or Fireman that responds to their 911 call. President Obama needs to be the nation's first responder in order to get the government moving in a direction to resolve this problem ... that requires honest disclosure of where we find ourselves and who is at fault, be it Republican or Democrat.



The only way to prevent the GOP from commandeering the national dialogue is complete, brutal explanation and disclosure from the Bully Pulpit. Full, non-partisan disclosure from President Obama would disarm any Republican gamesmanship they had planned in my opinion, and put them on notice to get to work.
About President Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Winning the Economic Argument: Show Opponents This Graph, and Ask Them to Explain

Paul, the Republicans require Americans to be ignorant and frightful in order to maintain a base and further their aims. The graph is marvelously, and dramatically demonstrative of FDR's success at pulling the United States out of the Great Depression, however, those traditional supporters of the GOP you would share this graph with would need the capacity to accurately interpret its findings. There was a time when American School Children could name the capitals of Europe, now identifying the United States on the map of the world is iffy for even some American adults.



For anyone of reasonable education your graph explains the facts of FDR's success ... but we don't live in a nation of reasonably educated people.
About Taxes
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Japanese Finance Minister Appears Drunk At G7 Meeting (VIDEO)

If I were the Japanese Finance Minister ... I'd be drunk too.
About Japan
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

GOP 'Salt Marsh Mouse' Stimulus Strategy Assailed By Conservatives

The Republicans are currently bereft of talent at the money positions of their party. It seems appropriate they would utilize the Salt Marsh Mouse to gird their political loins for battle with President Obama and the Dems.



And nothing rallies the GOP troops like the muffled, seemingly semi-inebriated sobs which constitute John Boehner's battle cry.
About Stimulus Package
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

"The House GOP Is Back": Republicans Promote Stimulus Opposition With Aerosmith

Probably the 200th time it has been mentioned, but wouldn't the Fixx's "Saved by Zero" be more appropriate than Aerosmith?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Nouriel Roubini: Only Way To Save US Banking System Is To Nationalize It

How can the US Government hope to cover the Banking System's trillions upon trillions upon trillions of dollars in toxic assets at a few measly hundred billion at a time? Let's get serious here.



If President Obama's economic team wants to pull a Slim Pickens and "yippy-ay-aay" its way to a complete world financial meltdown riding Milton Friedman's warhead of failed economic policy then they need to be replaced.



Nationalize the Banks and lets stop pretending we can resurrect the dead.
About Federal Reserve
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Congress Sets New Limits On Wall Street Bonuses

It's satisfying to obtain a pound of flesh from the CEO's, but let us not forget that this is one of the reasons for their huge paychecks to start with ... the willingness to take the fall.



If we want to get at the heart of the problems of Corporate America and draw a keener focus on the area screaming for reform we need to roll up our sleeves and get into the muck of interlocking corporate boards and the outside organizations the ubiquitous board members belong to,



An online database of corporate board members and their affiliations would go a long way towards resolving the picture of who controls the corporations and what the driving force of their direction might be.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Putting Kids In Jail For Profit

Dave, the problem is the laws are too lenient in the United States for heinous acts such as this. These judges and the authorities of these for profit detainment centers and, for that matter anyone having direct knowledge of this practice, should face capital punishment. These Judges and their cohorts in crime are institutional kidnappers who have taught 5000 children the opposite of Justice.



Let the punishment fit the crime, these Judges have betrayed their oaths and used the authority of the bench to engage in criminal conspiracy which perverted Justice for benefit of personal profit.



And lets not kid ourselves, just like Corporate America wants to take over the public schools and create centers of controlled knowledge that will produce a pliant labor force with a monochrome worldview... the ultimate goal of these privately run Prisons, with inmates of dubious guilt, is the creation of an incarcerated corporate slave labor force whose work product falls under the auspices of "paying one's debt to society."
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

WATCH LIVE: Senators Discuss Tentative Stimulus Deal

I have to say, when I see the polls of Americans that are against this Stimulus Bill, and I look at the reasons forwarded I am amazed. It is obvious that people are not recognizing the gravity of the situation. Trillions upon Trillions of dollars in value have evaporated from the Markets and the evaporation of capital can only get worse if efforts to stabilize the economy aren't applied. When a conservative like Ben Stein appears on multiple business shows and is screaming that money has to be pumped into the economy immediately he isn't playing around. This type of approach towards managing the economy is not Ben Stein's way. He is frightened, Economists from all sides of the political spectrum are terrified. We are looking at a Worldwide Economic Meltdown that the American approach over the last 29 years has caused. The ramifications are huge in both the short and long term.



As Obama said "This is not a game." The current mindset displayed by many Americans reminds me of those who went to picnic at the first skirmish of the Civil War.



"War! How grand, we must see!"



They saw, and after the first skirmish there weren't many picnics held going forward. Folks, this is bad with the potential of being far worse than most of us can imagine ... we should not pretend that this is a normal part of the Business cycle anymore than Katrina was your run of the mill Hurricane.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

<i>NYT</i>: Daschle Should Step Aside

If Daschle were to step aside there is this other guy ... I think he used to be the Governor of Vermont ... A DOCTOR even ... who might be a good fit for the job.



His name is Dean ... Howard Dean ... has anyone besides me heard of him?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Bailed Out Banks Sought Foreign Workers For High-Paying Jobs: AP

I recall during the High Tech Boom Times of the 90's that American tech employees had Corporate America wrapped around their finger. There wasn't enough tech talent available. The tech talent that was available was flighty and would jump from job to job in order to ladder up their incomes creating instability for Corporate IT departments. Frankly US Business got sick and tired of acquiescing to the demands, cost and arrogance of American Tech employees. Add to that that in the drought of tech talent there were so many impostors floating around with padded résumés that many employers couldn't tell what they hired until they screwed something up or never produced.



Enter India, China, and Russia ... Nations hungry for opportunity and turning out high quality engineers like puppies from a puppy mill.



Corporate America had it's answer.



I would argue that today's foreign tech workers exhibit the same qualities as the chinese workers that were brought over by American Business to work on the railroads.



1. The had the requisite skills.

2. They were plentiful.

3. They were cheap.

4. They were disposable.



Add to that the benefit of diluting the power of American Labor (always the goal of Corporate America) and we arrive at the place we are now.
About Recession
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Industrial Policy

Senator Hollings, right on target, sir!



Here's an oldie but a goodie:



"The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them." Vladimir Ilyich Lenin



What the titans of Wall Street, Corporate America, the Banks, the MSM have managed to do with their shortsightedness is murder their own way of life. In the victory over American Labor that American Capitalists have achieved, during the last twenty nine years, their unfettered power has delivered them from being manacled in paradise to wandering, parched in the desert. Here is a short itemization of their self defeating, willful blindness:



1) Outsourcing to foreign countries with standards of living so low they could never afford the products they manufactured for export to the United States.



2) Not recognizing that the well paid American Worker was the ultimate consumer of their products that sustained their wealth.



3) That extending consumer credit was a finite process.



4)That a housing bubble, which enhanced domestic purchasing power, wouldn't collapse.



5) That fraudulent wealth can never replace actual wealth.



6) That tomorrow never comes.



The Titans of the Economy have failed, the only way forward is to leave them wandering in the desert and identifying a new way forward. I hope the President has a good compass.
About Economy
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Generation Jones: Our Time is Now

If the Baby Boomers constituted a Parade then Generation Jones constitutes those who watched the parade pass by, leaning on a broom, and then sprang into work cleaning up the decorations, dismantling the crowd barriers and sweeping up the horse manure.



We Jonesers know our place in the world,
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Cost Of Shoring Up Banks May Reach $4 Trillion

It would be cheaper to Nationalize the entire banking system ... President Obama had better be very careful with this "Bad Bank" nonsense, because there are 68 Trillion Dollars of Credit Default Swaps and an estimated 1.144 Quadrillion in Derivatives and no one can say what the actual value of any of it is. So the American Taxpayer starts swallowing bad assets thinking they are only mortgage related CMOs ... then it is the CDOs ... then it is the CLOs ... then it is the CBOs and all of the sudden generations of Americans are on the hook for the debt, because I have no confidence at all that the Banks have fully disclosed the extent of their exposure.



Stupid ... Stupid ... Stupid ...



Call this mess what it is ... Massive Institutional Fraud ... Nationalize the Banks ... Identify the individuals responsible and prosecute them either in the US or the World Court. But do not pretend that the US can create a "Bad Bank" to eat the losses generated during over a decade of Institutional fraud. The approach will fail. 100%
About The Bailouts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Had To Try Bipartisanship This Time -- Next Time Will Be Different

Mr. Brodsky, the Republicans and Bluedogs just let it be known to their constituents that the hard times they are facing are not as important to remedy as is standing firm on repudiated principles. If I were represented by these Obstructionists I'd be on the phone to my representative saying "You better fight for me, for bettering my situation or you're FIRED!"



All of these Republican and Bluedog Obstructionists were elected to their positions and until they get the message from their voters they will continue to be the problem, in terms of getting the United States back on track, as opposed to being part of the solution.



People responsible for these Obstructionists, if you don't think your needs are being met, Let your Representatives know how you feel ... it's cathartic!
About President Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Bailout Recipients Hosted Call To Defeat Key Labor Bill

The pompous Eloi ...



What can you say about these parasites? The "civilization" they want to preserve is Multinational Corporate Feudalism ... with them as the venerated "Lords". I'm sorry, no one was put on this planet to serve these esteemed individuals.



Ultimately, there needs to be a Multinational Labor Movement to counter Multinational Business ... so if a factory of workers in Vietnam or Bangladesh is being ill treated by their employer the blow back is the boycott of the products this company produces by workers in the US, EU, etc.



Until a very simple reality is understood ... that Workers=Consumers (therein lies the power) ... we are going to have to endure these pompous self promoters, their inflated sense of importance and their transgressions against us.
About Bank Of America
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Karl Rove Subpoenaed By John Conyers: 'Time To Talk'

I am extremely pleased that Conyers didn't jump the gun on this and indict Rove while Bush was still in office ... that would have been a regrettable mistake.



I think, however, the plot may thicken. I am of the the opinion that President Bush indeed pardoned some of his henchmen (and women) but didn't announce it publicly. We will certainly find out if that is the case soon enough.
About Karl Rove
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost