Morning Open Thread
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Comments (37) «
Kind of a sad week to see our present chairman apparently not invited to the announcement of the new one. Here are the words of his brother, Jim Dean, who seems pretty upset.
Jim Dean says his brother would have rescheduled his trip if he had been invited."
It is rather upsetting. Many of us got started in politics because of Howard Dean, and we stayed to support Kerry and now Obama. We have worked hard for the party.
This is upsetting to me as well, so I understand how Jim feels. It did not need to happen this way.
Happy New Year all and specious sundry!
Perhaps we can get on the path of peaceful sustainability? You know, the one that was missed when we were hijacked down the path of fear and war and greed that has a rather nasty and abrupt dead-end?
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How Efficiency, Conservation Can Cut Energy Demand by 2020
By Lest Brown
Plan B measures call for improvements in buildings, appliances and transportation.
Open Access Article Originally Published: January 06, 2009
Projections from the International Energy Agency show global energy demand growing by close to 30 percent by 2020, setting the stage for massive growth in the carbon dioxide emissions that are warming our planet. But dramatically ramping up energy efficiency would allow the world to not only avoid growth in energy demand but actually reduce global demand to below 2006 levels by 2020.
We can reduce the amount of energy we use by preventing the waste of heat and electricity in buildings and industrial processes and by switching to efficient lighting and appliances. We can also save an enormous amount of energy by restructuring the transportation sector. Many of the needed energy efficiency measures can be enacted relatively quickly and pay for themselves.
Is it still a crime if you are above the law, because no one can or will prosecute you, and you get away with it? Just like royal unjust privileges our constitution was determined to eliminate? And they all swore to uphold it, too.
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Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) Calls for Independent Counsel to Investigate Cheney and Rumsfeld for Violating Torture Laws
~snip~
REP. JERROLD NADLER: Well, the report is an official finding of the Senate Armed Services Committee on a bipartisan basis, essentially, that the United States government, through the high officials of the Bush administration, authorized torture and cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners. It found, in effect, that the United States government, through high officials of the Bush administration, deliberately and knowingly broke the law, broke the Convention Against Torture, which is an international treaty to which the United States is a signatory and which, therefore, under the Constitution, is the supreme law of the land; broke the Anti-Torture Act, which is a United States law.
And the morality of this aside, you cannot have high officials deliberately break the law without accountability. The Vice President, on that interview we saw a few minutes ago, talked about the oath of office that the President, the Vice President, others take, and that is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. You are not preserving it, and you are not defending it; you are, in fact, perverting it, if you deliberately break the law, which is the supreme law of the land pursuant to the Constitution. It is imperative, if the United States is to remain a country of laws and not men, that people who break the laws be held accountable.
Now, that’s why I called for—now, the administration is not going to investigate itself. I sent a letter to the Attorney General three years ago, when the illegal wiretapping without warrants against the FISA Act was first revealed, demanding that he appoint the special prosecutor. I repeated that to Mukasey when he became Attorney General. And they’ve ignored that. So I sent another letter, this time saying, “Here’s a prima facie case in terms of the findings of the Senate committee and, a few days later, the admissions by the Vice President, which is an admission of guilt in breaking the law, that they were deliberate violations of the law. It is your duty under the law to appoint the special prosecutor,” which is what I’ve asked for.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/23/rep_jerrold_nadler_d_ny_calls
unemployment jumps to 7.2 percent. worst since 1983 and no sign of getting better...nice job georgie...now get the hell out of here!
77gregg on January 9, 2009 at 08:34 AM
Remember what I said a few months ago - that the county I live in is used as a measuring stick for the rest of the country? I explained that when we go into a recession - it takes the rest of the country about 3 - 6 months to go into one but at the same time, when we start to pull out of it - we are always about 3 - 6 months ahead of the rest of you guys.
So where are we today? The last unemployment figures are at 12.6% and going way up!
Hold on to your hats ladies and gentlemen - you haven;'t seen anything yet! This country is heading for the worse unemployment rate in 60 years.
And we should ALL hold the Republican Party and George Bush for trashing this country to the point where a man can't even find a job.
God help us all.
Good afternoon, all.
God help President George W. Bush to accept the mess he's made and find a way to make amends to those who are suffering because of it.
At 62 years old, he may not have much time to redeem himself. He must first admit his faults and mistakes and then spend the rest of his life working for the less fortunate. He had all the advantages and power to make something good happen in this world and chose to do nothing for others.
There is salvation for even torturers if they repent their evil to the Lord and humble themselves to those they have intentionally hurt.
I'm pulling for you, George. I can't believe any of God's children would not want to glorify His Name with deeds that illuminate His love. Be an instrument of His mercy. Humble yourself before it's too late. Make something good out of all the bad.
Hey Doo Bee, Read this one!
Jump in Alaska teen birth rate tops U.S.
BIRTH RATE: Year saw figure jump 19 percent.
(read some of the other facts about births in Alaska. Not a place one would be proud to live in)
4
TomN on January 9, 2009 at 12:16 PM
Three years ago the Attorney General was a Bush appointee.
Once the new AG is in place we need to start pressuring the Congress and the Department of Justice to indict these criminals.
One advantage to waiting until the criminals are out of office is that Bush can't pardon his co-conspirators.
well, the Hawkish, tough boy way did not work, let's see if some compromise, negotiations, diplomacy may make some headway. The entire mess in the Middle east stems from Israel/Palestine. It must be fixed.
Obama Camp "Prepared to Talk to Hamas
madfloridian on January 9, 2009 at 11:18 AM
madfloridian,
Obama needs to be sworn into office fast. There is a Chief of Protocol who knows what qualifies as good manners in all circumstances and advises the president and his staff.
This is one more example of recent missteps and oversights that could make things harder for our President-Elect if it continues. They obviously need good counsel from outside as well as inside the bubble. You are right to feel letdown by this gaffe on the part of such a loyal and trusted Democrat.
I'm not too sure who in the transition team has been calling the shots, but they must have been raised by apes.
But I doubt Howard is all that perturbed. The way he was treated by MSM with that "shout" thing was far worse. I'm sure the good doctor doesn't hold grudges. He's too competent not to accept the faults in others with a grain of salt and take them in stride.
Doctors deal with a lot worse in life than unintentional slights. Shit really happens when you have to deal with terminal patients.
PamB on January 9, 2009 at 02:36 PM
Pam,
If Obama wants to end the violence, he's going to have to deal directly with Syria instead of brokering something between the combatants.
The Golan Heights is the key to getting Syria to defanging Hamas and Hezbalah, so negotiations can actually are entered into in good faith. Every time in the past when Israel and the Palestinians got close, Syria pulled the plug.
It's time to stop doing the same old thing that never works. Now that Hillary has found her own voice, I bet she's ready to show everyone that she's always been the smarter and more capable Clinton.
More corrupted agencies:
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/fda-scientists-complain-obama-corrupt
Bless the grandmothers who have made it possible for their children to pay the bills without having to worry that someone hasn't there to supply the care and love they would if they didn't have to work outside the home. In this economy, they will become even more important.
To think the Republicans would like to pull Social Security right out from under them.
Obama mother-in-law to join family in White House
WASHINGTON – Get ready for the in-law in chief.
Transition officials said Friday that President-elect Barack Obama's mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, is moving into the White House to join Michelle Obama and their two children.
It's not clear whether the move will be permanent.
Katie McCormick Lelyveld, the press secretary for Michelle Obama, said Robinson would decide in coming months whether she wants to stay in Washington.
Robinson retired from her job as a bank executive secretary to help with her granddaughters during the campaign.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090109/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_mother_in_law
I have a feeling Mrs. Robinson will be indispensable in more ways than one.
I bet she could also help with this current banking fiasco. An executive secretary knows more than most CEOs. She could tell her son-in-law's people where to look for the bailout money and how it was used.
Are you listening to Blago? He's just been impeached and it sounds like he's running for re-election. He does sound like he's done a better job than Spunky did.
My, he's even throwing cancer patients into the mix. This guy is a saint. Kidney transplants and Canadian drugs....all for price of a Senate seat?
bbl.
Sandy, I just listened to the whole thing. I always thought he was a pretty good governor with the things he muscled through in spite of opposition from both parties, including free public transit for elderly and Military and disabled. It got those people out and about spending money in their local communities instead of sitting at home waiting to die. And I like his "fill birth control prescriptions or lose your business license" dictum that he gave to those fundie pharmacists.
That being said, if he's guilty toss his ass in the slammer.
13
BlueinIdaho on January 9, 2009 at 03:03 PM
Pam, don't forget, Alaska is the rape capital of the US too.
That being said, if he's guilty toss his ass in the slammer.
I agree. It is time to show ALL politicians that the days of abuse, corruption, crimes are over. They work for us ! This is why Caroline Kennedy is such a good choice. Does anyone really think a lobbyist can coerce her with trips and money, like they do freaks like Lieberman? Or Sarah Palin. (today's Alaskan Daily News has an article about how much McCain candidacy paid just to transport her litter around the country!)
And DooBee, Rape Capitol of the country, and they charge for rape kits, and want to ban abortion caused by rape! What a bunch of back woods crazies.
DooBee, I am getting a kick out of the Moose Queen trying to make it out to be the Media's fault she did not win! ahahahaha. A Pres candidate who was older than dirt. A VP candidate who did not even know how to find the rest of the USA on a map, and she thinks the media did her in!
Peggy Noonan eight years ago:
There was something portentous to the day. The unrelenting overcast, the gloomy skies, the bone-chilling wet; through the slightly tinted glass of the Fox studios the heavy skies made things look like they were happening in a Martian atmosphere. It was dark early. At 4 p.m., the lights of the limousines shone on the slick blacktop of Pennsylvania Avenue. The inaugural parade was marked by protests. It was as if fate, or God, had decided to tell Mr. Bush one last time: Nothing in this will be easy.
Peggy Noonan today:
The Founders, who were awed by the presidency and who made it a point, the early ones, to speak in their inaugural addresses of how unworthy they felt, would be astonished and confounded by the over-awe with which we view presidents now. We treat them as if they are the Grand Imperial Czar of the Peacock Throne, and we their 'umble servants. It's no good, and vaguely un-American. Right now patriotism requires more than the usual candor. It requires speaking truthfully and constructively to a president who is a man, and just a man. We hire them, we fire them, they come back for photo-ops. They're not magic.
Hmmmmm. Wonder what's caused the change in her prose.
Hey, what perfect timing, as a follow up to my last post about the Canadian drug companies and the Canadian government checking out those Chinese factories, as opposed to Chimpy letting the companies fudge numbers and saying "O.K.".
Beginning this month, drug companies also will voluntarily submit to a host of marketing restrictions in an attempt to preempt stricter regulations that lawmakers in both parties are pursuing."We had better self-police and stop doing the things that cause so much criticism, or we're going to get legislated and regulated by government," said W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, the Republican former congressman who runs the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a trade association. The changes, he said in an interview, are an effort to move away from the industry's "slash-and-burn kind of policy" in response to previous regulatory and legislative efforts.
(emph added)
With More Oversight on the Horizon, Drugmakers Work to Polish Image
Well well. So they have finally figured out that they had better start doing things the right way because the Chimp is gone and the intelligent people will be running the show? Why weren't they doing it all along?
Oh, that's right. We had a crack head running the show for the last 8 years.
19
BlueinIdaho on January 9, 2009 at 04:14 PM
What has changed is that she was one of the biggest Shrub family boosters, and now that name is DIRT. (She wrote that "1,000 points of Crap" speech.)
Also, she seems to have her shrieking points mixed up. The Peacock Throne is in Iran, so the Czars wouldn't ever have been sitting on it anyway.
What a dolt.
watch in a couple years as they try and pin this on Obama! Don't let em folks........
Republicans SUDDENLY discover that we have a big debt. Holy Smokes! How did that happen?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x257540
Afternoon all good Dems,
I just heard on CNN radio news that unemployment is the worst since 194f'n5. Great job bush.
Sixteen lawsuits have been brought by the f'ing religious freakazoids saying that Obama is violating the Constitution because he is not a citizen. They don't give a flying f that bush and cheney are war criminals and violated out Constitution every f'ing day they were in office. They have murdered hundreds of thousands of people around the world and have taken away our rights. These bastards say not a word about these assholes running our government. There is a good chance that chief justice asshole scalia will allow the lawsuits because he is the original violator of the Constitution by appointing bush and cheney in 2000.
If they succeed, I wouldn't be surprised if people take to the streets and take our government back from these religious freakazoids.
Johne: What happened? When was Scalia elevated above Roberts to Chief Justice? Is Roberts still on the court? Was this a result of his siezure disorder? I had NO idea! Please fill in details!
President Bush Saved US Lives? That's Only More Karl Rove-Style Spin
Thursday 08 January 2009
»
by: Richard Clarke, The New York Daily News
George Bush, still President, is engaging in a legacy tour of media outlets. This comes despite his earlier having said he did not know how history would judge the Iraq war "because we'll all be dead."
Actually, many people are already dead because of Bush, and that is the point to keep in mind when he talks about his legacy.
Among the themes Bush is striking are that through action at home and fighting "them" over there, not over here, his administration stopped terrorist attacks and prevented another 9/11. There is a surface plausibility to those claims, as there has often been with the messaging served up by the Karl Rove spin machine. But let's look beneath the surface of the assertions.
HAH! Was a clown Chimpy has been.
Letterman's Top 10 moments of the Bush years
With all the screw-ups of the Chimpster, Letterman would need to be on 10 hours a day for months just to cover them.
Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on January 9, 2009 at 04:28 PM
I'm finding it downright amusing how these authoritarian bootlickers are adjusting to life without their king in power. All of a sudden the president shouldn't use executive privilege. All of a sudden government shouldn't be sticking their noses up our rear ends. On Obama's first day in office these ranting conservatives will likely discover global warming and the piss poor state of our infrastucture and declare his presidency a failure for allowing those things to occur.
Can't wait until Limbaugh debunks his ice cube trick.
Obama Uses Poll, Focus Groups to Sell Stimulus Plan to CongressBy Lorraine Woellert and Hans Nichols
Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama’s top political aides are transplanting their campaign tactics to the policy arena, using data from polls and focus groups to shape the debate over a stimulus plan that may cost at least $775 billion.
David Axelrod, Obama’s chief political adviser, along with campaign media adviser Jim Margolis, are encouraging lawmakers to use the word “recovery” instead of recession, and “investment” instead of “infrastructure.” Those recommendations came from focus-group research indicating that such framing would make the package more appealing to voters.
The Obama camp is trying to build support for the stimulus proposals, which have encountered resistance from lawmakers of both parties over size and cost. Republicans have employed similar tactics in past policy debates, notably when they labeled the estate tax as the “death” tax in arguing for its repeal.
“Not unlike news organizations, we poll public attitudes about where the economy is,” Robert Gibbs, Obama’s choice for White House press secretary, said in an interview. “We’re not polling to see what should be in an economic-recovery plan.”
Axelrod and Margolis briefed Senate Democratic leaders yesterday morning and their House counterparts at lunch today on the details of the research, participants in the meetings said...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aHNaiptix3lk&refer=home#
Oh my goodness, what a novel approach, actually polling the public to see what the majority wants and the most effective means in communicating policy to the sheeple. "We the people" may actually hold some real meaning in the Obama Adminstration.
35 years after the fact, but the House has FINALLY passed the "Equal Pay for Equal Work" law. Now it's on to the Senate and the Pugs will scream bloody murder.
Ledbetter/Pay Equity Bills Pass in House; Now on to the Senate
I wonder how they voted?
Only 3 Pug "yeas". And what the Hell is Boyda doing voting "nay? She is 1 of 5 so called Dems to do so. Her District is a College town and Ft. Leavenworth. It's not like there aren't any women in that CD who would be screwed by its failure.
I hate Blue Dogs.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Run for your lives ... Yellowstone's going to explode!
Hundreds of small earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park in recent weeks have been an unsettling reminder for some people that underneath the park's famous geysers and majestic scenery lurks one of the world's biggest volcanoes.In the ancient past, the volcano has erupted 1,000 times more powerfully than the 1980 blast at Mount St. Helens, hurling ash as far away as Louisiana. No eruption that big has occurred while humans have walked the earth, however, and geologists say even a minor lava flow is extremely unlikely any time soon.
Some observers are nonetheless warning of imminent catastrophe.
"To those of us who have been following these events, we know that something is brewing, especially considering that Yellowstone is over 40,000 years overdue for a major eruption," warned a posting on the online disaster forum Armageddononline.org.
Another Web site contained a page entitled "Yellowstone Warning" that encouraged "everyone to leave Yellowstone National Park for 100 miles around the volcano caldera because of the danger in poisonous gasses that can escape from the hundreds of recent earthquakes."
That site, which carried the U.S. Geological Survey logo, has since been taken down...
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090109/D95JJIGG0.html
This has been getting significant attention in the "tin-foil hat" communities as we approach the infamous 21DEC12 prophecy date. Those of you out west would be advised to keep an eye on this, though. It's one of those one in a million things but you just never know.
Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on January 9, 2009 at 05:30 PM
Doo-Bee, the vast majority of us Blue Dogs were in favor of this bill. There will always be dissenters in any group. I agree wiht you that there was no logical reason to vote against this bill unless one is opposed to equality or one is in the pocket of the Chamber of Commerce. Rep. Boyda (D-CO) probably fits into one of those categories.
ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss wealth manager UBS AG (UBSN.VX) (UBS.N) is closing all the offshore accounts of its U.S. clients, the bank said on Friday, as it comes under pressure from U.S. tax authorities.
The Swiss bank decided in July last year to stop offering offshore accounts to U.S. citizens after it was targeted by a U.S. tax investigation which challenges Switzerland's famous banking secrecy laws.U.S. prosecutors have alleged UBS helped clients hide $18 billion of untaxed American money in undeclared accounts. This amounts to around $300 million of annual unpaid taxes, the newspaper said.
UBS spokesman Serge Steiner said the decision to close offshore accounts for U.S. domiciled clients was taken in November 2007. The bank started last year to close cash accounts of U.S. clients holding less than 50,000 Swiss francs ($45,660), he added.
"This is an ongoing process. It started last year and accelerated since last summer," Steiner said, confirming a New York Times report.
As part of the investigation, U.S. authorities indicted UBS's wealth management chief last year.
UBS, which U.S. authorities say helped wealthy Americans hide cash in offshore bank accounts, will shut about 19,000 offshore accounts, the paper said, quoting unnamed U.S. clients...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090109/bs_nm/us_ubs_1
And the fat cats are sent scrambling for cover. Bravo! $300 million could've gone a long ways to some very noble endeavors like unemployment benefits, food stamps, and the like. Lock all 19,000 account holders up. It's time for the fat cats to pony up or go to jail.
Obama camp 'prepared to talk to Hamas'Incoming administration will abandon Bush's isolation of Islamist group to initiate low-level diplomacy, say transition sources
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 January 2009 03.18 GMTThe incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon George Bush's doctrine of isolating Hamas by establishing a channel to the Islamist organisation, sources close to the transition team say.
The move to open contacts with Hamas, which could be initiated through the US intelligence services, would represent a definitive break with the Bush presidency's ostracising of the group. The state department has designated Hamas a terrorist organisation, and in 2006 Congress passed a law banning US financial aid to the group.
The Guardian has spoken to three people with knowledge of the discussions in the Obama camp. There is no talk of Obama approving direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on, but he is being urged by advisers to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, and there is growing recognition in Washington that the policy of ostracising Hamas is counter-productive. A tested course would be to start contacts through Hamas and the US intelligence services, similar to the secret process through which the US engaged with the PLO in the 1970s. Israel did not become aware of the contacts until much later.
A UN resolution was agreed last night at the UN, calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between Hamas and Israeli forces in Gaza. The resolution was passed, though the US, represented by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, abstained...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/08/barack-obama-gaza-hamas
Mr. President-elect, I have reservations about this as it gives the appearance of negotiating with terrorists. None the less, like the other 62 million+ who voted for you, I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt in this case because what is happening now is not conducive to peace in the Middle East. But don't be surprised if this blows up in our face. Negotiating with religious fundamentalists is like negotiating with a rock, IMHO.
Bob:
I realize that Hamas is a terrorist organization; however, they are also the freely-elected leaders of the Palestianian Community in Gaza. So while I, too, am against negotiating with terrorists, my attitued was softened by the article written by President Carter. In case you want to check it out:
An Unnecessary War
Thursday 08 January 2009
»
by: Jimmy Carter, The Washington Post
I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.
After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn, and I declared their launching from Gaza to be inexcusable and an act of terrorism. Although casualties were rare (three deaths in seven years), the town was traumatized by the unpredictable explosions. About 3,000 residents had moved to other communities, and the streets, playgrounds and shopping centers were almost empty. Mayor Eli Moyal assembled a group of citizens in his office to meet us and complained that the government of Israel was not stopping the rockets, either through diplomacy or military action.
Knowing that we would soon be seeing Hamas leaders from Gaza and also in Damascus, we promised to assess prospects for a cease-fire. From Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who was negotiating between the Israelis and Hamas, we learned that there was a fundamental difference between the two sides. Hamas wanted a comprehensive cease-fire in both the West Bank and Gaza, and the Israelis refused to discuss anything other than Gaza.
We knew that the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza were being starved, as the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food had found that acute malnutrition in Gaza was on the same scale as in the poorest nations in the southern Sahara, with more than half of all Palestinian families eating only one meal a day.
And as John Cole points out, 'What's the harm in talking to both sides?'
And now that I have thought about it- even if the sources are correct, so what? How could things possible be any worse for Palestians and Israel than they are right now? Folks in Israel live in constant fear that the next person who walks into their pizza shop or enters their bus could be wearing a bomb, or that at any minute while they are sleeping a rocket could come crashing down on them. Folks in Gaza have nothing going for them and are being massacred. How could things get worse?
(P.S., this ALL seems to be a "planted" "crisis" so keep your powder dry Bob.)
Screw that old tired "what message will that send?" shit.
It'll send the message that the entire world is fed up with both of those collective assholes and their constant drama, and the USA no longer "negotiates" at the point of a gun barrel.
Diplomacy is once again taking over.
Chimpy, despite ALL warnings to the contrary, DEMANDED elections. He got them, they didn't go as he "planned" (HAHAHAHAHAAHAAAA!, as if that coke monkey ever "planned" a single disaster that he caused).
That's what happens when a drunken kid sneaks into the tool shed and "thinks" "Gee, I wonder if I can blow stuff up with this here stuff?" And "heh heh, HEY look! What will happen if I push this button?"
And several neighborhood kids are either dead or blind and most of the local pets are missing.
Such has been Chimpy's life.
Putz.
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Julissa
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