Good morning, Dems!

the blog should be back up and running. we were doing some updates that took comments down for a while but all is well now.

Good morning fellow Democrats.

No problem, Jonah. It probably drove the midnight madman up a wall not being able to spew his racist crapola. Have you considered closing comments every night between midnight and 6AM? It would mean less cleanup every morning, and finally drive the troll completely around the bend.

4Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on July 10, 2009 at 11:24 AM

That's a great idea!It seems that is when the trolls try to take over.

• Why not single-payer health care?

• Why not single-payer health care?

Question: Why is Congress dancing around and avoiding single-payer health plans, which have proven worldwide to save gobs and gobs of money?

If people who have written anti-single-payer comments actually knew about the excellent level of quality health care available in Norway, the second most expensive health system in the world, they wouldn't have written those comments. The outcomes in nearly all categories -- life expectancies, childbirth deaths, cancers, heart ailments, and other outcomes are all very nearly the best in the world.

The United States, with the highest worldwide health care costs per capita, is about 37th worldwide in outcomes. Hey, we're not number one in anything except wasting money on insurer systems. It's disgraceful.

Despite insurance company propaganda, patients in countries with the most successful health systems are seen immediately -- there is not the delay (threatened by insurers) while the clinic determines the varying payer protocols, as we do in the U.S.. There is no waiting while payment is being verified. People can go to physicians of their own choice when they choose to -- they do not have an 85-page contract (that I have from Blue Cross) that spells out which PPO or providers are acceptable or not, and what co-pays or not for which approved procedures have been selected in advance for my undiagnosed conditions by actuaries and attorneys (not physicians).

Finally, the quality is outstanding for everyone, at one-half to one-third the cost per person that we have here (including the 45 million uninsured). That means that taxes and the costs of doing business would go down. If GMC figures a cost of $1,800 per car for health care expenses, and we had had a full public health system, GMC could have charged $1,800 less per car, and just maybe would not have gone under.

By the way, this is true in Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Singapore, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Canada and many many other countries that have more positive outcomes than our level of 37th. Get informed. Look up Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on the Internet for statistics about developed nations worldwide.

A healthy population is a productive, effective and intelligent population. Why are we letting the insurance world charge a 30 percent markup in extra administrative costs and profits to the tune of nearly $1 trillion per year, making our health care system extra complex, ineffective and super costly?

Answer to question first posed: Our elected officials in Congress do not want to offend their biggest source of campaign funds -- the paying insurance constituents have more financial clout than the general public.

Oregonian post

Good morning, all.

But does President Obama play softball?

Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on July 10, 2009 at 11:24 AM

DPD,

That is a great idea. Once the folks on the West Coast shut down for the night, why keep the blog open to frivolous racist attacks that just get washed away the next morning? It would open up the staff's time for other things I know they need to do with the health care fight in full gear and the Midterms coming up.

Guion on July 10, 2009 at 11:54 AM

Good question and good answer.

It's like there are forces that want to make us less competitive in the world...and there are. The Republicans have been catering to these foreign interests and promoting short-term profits to the detriment of our future economic strength.

It's entirely short-sighted and just plain defies common sense to continue of this dangerous course.

And then there's the fact that a lot of conservatives think that people are meant to suffer in this world (but not them of course). They need to keep their strained religious beliefs to themselves and start acting like responsible members of the human race.

We have to do what is best for ALL.

OREGON LOCAL NEWS
Real-Time updates and breaking news from Portland and OregonChinese startup based in Eugene wants to sell inexpensive solar panels in U.S.
by Amy Hsuan, The Oregonian
Thursday July 09, 2009, 8:39 PM
A Chinese startup vying for a piece of the U.S. solar market has landed in Eugene, hoping to become a national player in the state's growing photovoltaic industry.

Centron Solar, whose Web site went live Thursday morning, is moving fast to sell and distribute bargain-priced solar panels made in China to the U.S. market, expected to be the world's next big solar player.

Large solar plant planned

CLE ELUM, Wash. -- A Seattle-area company hopes to build one of the world's largest solar-power plants near Cle Elum in eastern Washington.

Teanaway Solar Reserve announced plans Thursday for the 75-megawatt plant made up of 400,000 photovoltaic panels. That would be enough electricity to power 45,000 homes.

The head of Teanaway, Howard Trott, of Kirkland, says the privately held company still has to get approval from Kittitas County to build the plant, which he says will cost more than $100 million. Trott told The Seattle Times that he expects the plant to be operational by 2011.

Teanaway has leased 400 acres of private land about four miles from Cle Elum, near the Teanaway Valley.

--The Associated Press

But the company didn't even have a name until last month. It leased its Eugene headquarters and 25,000-square-foot warehouse within two weeks. Its first shipment of solar panels, worth $1 million, arrived from China just five days ago.

The company, the brainchild of Eugene resident Ocean Yuan, is moving so fast that it caught state economic development officials -- and potential competitor SolarWorld -- by surprise.

"Honestly, this was news to us," said Tim McCabe, director of the Oregon Business Development Department, who learned about the company's launch on Thursday. "If it's true what I've heard, it's an exciting prospect."

With a mission to sell solar energy at $1 a watt within a few years, Centron represents the unconventional -- and aggressive -- tactics of Chinese companies, now driving competition in nearly all sectors of manufacturing.

The company, currently with 10 employees, plans to sell panels directly to installers, cutting out the middlemen. Although the bulk of its manufacturing will remain in China, it plans to build several assembly plants across the country within the next couple of years, including one in Eugene, which will be home to a customer-support division. By early next year, the company expects to have between 200 to 300 employees.

"We're moving at lightning speed," said Yuan, a former executive for Solarfun, a major Chinese solar manufacturer, who was born in China and moved to Eugene 20 years ago. "We are so excited to get this off the ground."

Chinese manufacturers are hungry to enter the U.S., which is expected to follow Europe's lead in solar energy in the coming years. They are able to produce solar panels at lower costs than Americans or Europeans because of their low wages. And Centron promises that it can beat any price by at least 10 percent.

"Our mission is very clear, we want to make solar panels so cheap that 80 percent of American households can use it without subsidies," Yuan said.

In the solar industry, lowering costs for solar panels has become a race to get to grid parity, the point at which solar can produce power to compete with conventional fossil fuels. It's typically been pegged at about $1 a watt, though it's higher in some areas.

Centron, despite being a newcomer to Oregon and the U.S., hopes to challenge SolarWorld and Sanyo, both now in Oregon. The company has already contacted 25,000 installers nationwide, Yuan said.

SolarWorld opened the United States' largest solar plant on a 100-acre Hillsboro campus last fall, putting Oregon on the map. The company, with a strong reputation in the industry, is one of the older solar manufacturers.

Competition, says spokesman Ben Santarris, is everywhere and Centron's foray into the U.S. may not make much of a difference.

"From our standpoint, we already have a lot of competition," Santarris said. "We'll have to see how big they are and how they operate. If it's good for Oregon, it's good for us. "

So far, Centron has gotten to where it is so quickly by doing everything unconventionally. Centron isn't vertically integrated like other big solar companies such as SolarWorld. It's horizontally integrated, Yuan said.

The modules sold in the U.S. are put together by 30 different companies in the solar hub of China, located in or near Jiangsu province on the outskirts of Shanghai. The companies specialize in manufacturing different components of a solar panel, from converting silicon to manufacturing cells.

They are assembled and then sold in the U.S. under the Centron brand, which was specifically created for the U.S. market with the help of Springfield-based marketing firm Polaris.

Yuan, 46, is an entrepreneur with experience in Chinese factories and the solar industry. In March, he left his two-year post as president of U.S. operations of Solarfun, one of China's largest solar manufacturers, to pursue his own venture. By then, he already had a good idea of what he wanted to do: sell quality solar panels to Americans at extremely low prices.

A former English teacher from a rural province, Yuan moved to the U.S. after meeting a Eugene woman traveling in China. They married in 1990, and he received his degree in business and finance from the University of Oregon, going to work initially importing and exporting antique Chinese replicas.

"I came to the States in 1990, wanting to make millions," Yuan said. "But I found the limited English I learned in China didn't even work at a grocery store."

Yuan worked his way to becoming the general manager of large Chinese factories making electronic components for companies such as Motorola. After moving to Shenzhen for eight years, he decided he missed the U.S. When the job offer from Solarfun allowed him to relocate, he moved back to Eugene.

With Centron, Yuan set about putting together a business model that cut out distributors in order to lower retail prices. Former Intel engineers helped him design the specifications for the modules. Then he went back to China this spring to find the companies who could make the panels with the specifications and quality he desired. The companies, he found, were thrilled at the opportunity to sell to the U.S.

"Instead of all these companies coming to the U.S. to compete independently," Yuan said, "we decided to try to do something completely new."

Centron's leap into Oregon causes some to question its sky-high ambitions. And as a newcomer, it will take time to build a trusted brand and it will face perceptions that China's cheap prices equal poor quality.

Bob Warren, business development officer for the state's Business Oregon in Lane County, said he met with Yuan and some Chinese representatives several months ago and at the time they had yet to form a concrete plan.

Centron didn't ask the state for any tax incentives or grants in their startup, though if they locate a manufacturing facility in Eugene, they could qualify.

"Really, we don't know what's real here and what's not real," Warren said. "It doesn't look to me in the immediate future there are manufacturing jobs."

Already, Centron has given samples of its panels to some installers, including the state's largest solar contractor and designer Advanced Energy Systems, which is currently testing them.

"We're doing a comparative analysis with all the best equipment in the world," said Chad Biasi, a business development consultant with AES. "But they absolutely have a chance. Our market is just beginning."

Are we behind or are we ahead of the curve?

Good Morning.
There has been a lot of talk on MSNBC about "Don't ask, don't tell."
It's not a good system, and was at best a compromise between die hard gay bashers, and more liberal, but unsure about gays, progressives. Compared to what it replaced, it was an improvement, and that's what's getting ignored. I was in the WACs before "Don't ask, don't tell" and I know that it was. I've seen the effects of the Criminal Investigative Division (CID) "investigations" of WAC detachments; witch hunts actually. I was married and out of the Army before they hit the WAC detachment where I had been stationed, but I had some friends who got their careers ruined.
This isn't a defense of "Don't ask, don't tell", which leaves gay people open to problems caused by hostile superiors, it's an explanation of why it was adopted.
What I am getting to, though, is the cold hard fact that all this focus on "gays in the military" is ignoring a one ton gorilla that is a bigger problem, a much bigger problem.
Thanks to the looser lower recruiting standards of the Bushiato, there are people getting in who shouldn't. Those are the white supremacists/neo-Nazis who are now coming out and showing up on websites and blogs. These guys are not only proud of being racist assholes, but they advocate violence against their fellow soldiers based on race/ethnicity.
These domestic terrorists are not only learning military tactics to use on domestic civilian targets, they are attacking the cohesion of our military from the inside like rot in a tree.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has a new report on it that just came out. They've reported on it before, BTW. Anyway, go to
http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=384&splcnewsletter=newsgen-071009
and read about it. They are wanting Congress to take action against this rot. Read it and contact your legislators!

Republicans facing tough elections in 2010 don’t want Sarah Palin campaigning with them.

Though the soon-to-be-former Alaska governor is seen as popular with the conservative grass roots, several Republicans said she’d help them by staying home in Wasilla.

What's most interesting here is that several of the Republicans, including Lee Terry (R-NE), Frank Wolf (R-VA), Mike Castle (R-DE), went on-the-record to tell Palin to stay away...

Worried House Republicans to Palin: Stay in Wasilla

HAHAHA!! Sorry Failin' is toast.

Palin's popularity within the GOP doesn't matter a bit. Getting elected requires votes from more than the Rovian base - Palin has even managed to get longtime registered Republicans to leave the party. If anyone thinks Palin can help, they either forgot why or never figured out why the GOP is losing elections.

17
peaceman on July 10, 2009 at 03:33 PM

If Huckabee decides to run again the Fundie base is going to him. The Mormons will never back her, and the Moderates / Independents will flee in droves from her. She won't be able to raise enough cash to mount much of a campaign, and she has zero ground operatives to fall back on. None of the McCain camp is going to hitch their wagon to that falling star and the RNC, having been burned by GarbGate, won't be all that willing to shovel any more money toward that scatter brained Diva.

The best she can hope for is a local morning TV gig called "Wake Up Wasilla" where she can do moose run updates and feature pieces about the Idiot-ride. I doubt FOX would even want her.

And Pawlenty isn't much of a threat at this time either.

The numbers: Obama 51%, Pawlenty 40%, with a ±2.5% margin of error. This isn't all that different from the 54%-44% margin by which Obama defeated John McCain in Minnesota for the 2008 election.

Still, Pawlenty does better here than Sarah Palin: Obama leads her in this state by 56%-35%.

Poll: Pawlenty Trails Obama By Double Digits In Home State Of Minnesota

Now this is an interesting take ! Hmmmmm, he lived in with the family?? guess he did not need to fornicate out in the old jalopy after all! Mama Palin put out the welcome mat!

Well, we know she doesn't have a pot to piss in---had to take clothing for herself and family from RNC donors! No self esteem it would appear.

I WATCHED her interviews and unscripted speechs----she has about as much common sense as a raving idiot!

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The former fiance of Gov. Sarah Palin's 18-year-old daughter says he thinks he knows why the Alaska governor is resigning _ concerns over money.

Levi Johnston, 19, whose wedding to Bristol Palin was called off earlier this year, says he believes the governor is resigning over personal finances.

Johnston says he lived with the Palin family from early December to the second week in January. He claims he heard the governor several times say how nice it would be to take advantage of the lucrative deals that were being offered, including a reality show and a book.

"I think the big deal was the book. That was millions of dollars," said Johnston, who has had a strained relationship with the family but now says things have improved.

Palin has a book deal, but compensation details haven't been disclosed. The governor has said she is facing more than $500,000 in legal fees.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/09/levi-johnston-palin-resig_n_229182.html

Nice to know any books she does sell, will go towards old legal fees !! hahahahaha

back later, Dems. Just got in and have some things to do, like feed the pets, etc.

Good afternoon fellow Americans.

PamB on July 10, 2009 at 04:32 PM

The retiring governor of AK has a book deal? It must be something along the lines of a coloring book. That's all she is intelligent enough to write.

obsessed????? with Palin???

nahhhhh, I just have not had such a great laugh at anybody (outside of you) in years!!!

She is the gift that kept on giving last year.

Do you remember how excited Repugs, and even Independents were at the beginning, then slowly watch as even McCain would not be seen with her, and even now will not say he would support her????

What kind of common sense do you think he thinks she has? Just because she is a holy roller, and doesn't like abortion, does not mean common sense----it means a narrow minded, bigot who doesn't know enough to tend to her own family problems!! And gawd, does she have them.

Hi Bob

LOL, maybe Chimp Bush will want to buy one of them there color books when Mama Palin is done with it. OF course she will have a ghost writer, she can't put two words together outside of a teleprompter.

Maybe she will tell how she gets up each morning and looks over at Russia from her window! Can even see Putin in his PJS, I'll betcha !

Of course she will put in how she would have won, had it not been for the big bad media who did not like her. And how those people who do not want Church Start making our laws again , were so mean to her. She was a joke. Ask the McCain/Palin campaign aidss! They called it right-----Wasilla Hillbillies came to town!

back later, Dems. Just ordered pizza, going to pick it up.

Bob, Dahlia Lithwick has an article on just that subject. She totally eviscerates Sorry Failin' and her "how to say nothing in 10,000 words or more" spiel.

Whatever you may think of Sarah Palin, she's widely celebrated as a rare and perhaps raw political talent. She's gorgeous, charismatic, warm, and funny. She has a remarkable ability to connect with her listeners. But—with the exception of a well-scripted performance at the Republican National Convention—it's tough to find an extemporaneous Palin speech, statement, or tweet that contains a coherent message. From her acceptance speech last August in Dayton, Ohio, when McCain first tapped her as a running mate, to her circular and swooping prime-time interviews, Palin's political skill lies in selling a persona but not a message. And in the end, this may explain why she quit.

Palin's completely inscrutable resignation speech last week was only the most recent example of a lengthy political communication from her that explained nothing, clarified nothing, and expounded upon nothing, save for the fact that she speaks in riddles and koans. Watch it as many times as you like; you still come away feeling you've been treated to a cozy chat with the Mad Hatter. The media are bad. Those ethics complaints are expensive. Alaska was a great idea. She is not a dead fish. Put it all together and what do you get? A born fighter who has given us no sense whatsoever of what she's fighting for.

Lost in Translation. Why Sarah Palin really quit us.

It's not too long, and a great read!

Good afternoon, all.

I see the GOP cheerleader is getting in as many posts as possible today (under various personalities) in anticipation that Jonah might pull the plug on his one-troll nightly tirades. Would anybody miss those fake climate change and birth certificate press releases from the Hertitage Foundation?

Certainly nobody at the RNC. They are still trying to figure out what went so wrong with their ideology and economics.

Maybe if the big money guys took a closer look at what represents their base on this blog, they might get a clue...that is when they aren't being stunned speechless by the sheer stupidity of the stooges that they have put into office in the last 15 years.

Gee, most of these Republican office holders are so busy quitting their jobs these days or cheating on their wives that they aren't even aware that they might be considered less than responsible by large conservative contributors.

When is the last time Romney held a job?

Huckabee can at least play a guitar and stand on a corner entertaining passerbys with a Bush Great Depression sign saying "Buddy Can You Spare a Dime." Nor does the lovely and talented Sarah mind getting her Prada originals stained with fish blood.

What's up with the Flipper? Is he performing at Sea World? Sarah, throw him a fish.

Lost in Translation. Why Sarah Palin really quit us.

Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on July 10, 2009 at 05:10 PM

DPD,

Who cares as long as she made herself look ridiculous again.

Maybe it's all those hot flashes? She can't handle menopause any better than the Alaskan economy? Oh, this is just too easy. I'm going to leave her alone till she gets on hormone replacement therapy.

Beyond the Palin

Why the GOP is falling out of love with gun-toting, churchgoing, working-class whites.

The conservative opinion elite is divided—irreconcilably so—about Sarah Palin's decision to quit the Alaska governorship. One faction says good riddance: The Washington Post's Charles Krauthammer had already judged her unfit for national office 24 hours before her announcement, and The New York Times's Ross Douthat now refers to her "brief sojourn on the national stage" in the past tense. On the other side, the Post's William Kristol called Palin's quitting a "high-risk move" designed to catapult her to greater public prominence. Taking the longer view, though, the clash is symptomatic of the deepest strategic debate in Republican circles since the disciples of the Reagan revolution captured Congress in 1994.

For decades it has remained a Republican article of faith: white, lower-middle-class, "heartland" masses, fundamentally socially conservative, were an inexhaustible electoral resource. So much so that Bill Clinton made re-earning their trust—he called them the Americans who "worked hard and played by the rules"—the central challenge in rebuilding Democratic fortunes in the 1990s. And in 2008 the somewhat aristocratic John McCain seemed to regard bringing these folks back into the Republican fold so imperative that he was moved to make the election's most exciting strategic move: drafting churchgoing, gun-toting unknown Sarah Palin onto the GOP ticket.

But beneath the surface, some Republicans have been chafing at the ideological wages of right-wing populism. In intel-lectual circles, writers like David Brooks and Richard Brookhiser have argued for a conservatism inspired by Alexander Hamilton, the least democratic of the Founding Fathers, over one spiritually rooted in Thomas Jefferson, the most democratic. After Barack Obama's victory, you heard thinkers like author and federal judge Richard Posner lamenting on his blog that "the face of the Republican Party had become Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber. Conservative intellectuals had no party."...

http://www.newsweek.com/id/206098

So, the GOP elite has had enough with their knuckle-dragging white trash supporters such as Gov. Palin (R-AK). This is rich. By the time the GOP get finished making itself over, there'll be no one left in their rank and file. But one thing is for certain about the current GOP rank and file; it sure is rank.

Couldn't be any flash of brilliance, that's for sure.

BobVADemocratHawk on July 10, 2009 at 04:47 PM

Bob,

The RNC keeps thinking she could be one of The Transformers for the party. They certainly need someone to transform their greedy, irresponsible, and incompetent image.

Unfortunately, she could only transform herself from a ethics-tarnished politician to an out-of-work governor.

Who fires themself? In this economy? She's going to create jobs...by quitting every one she ever gets? Now that's innovative thinking you don't see very often except on the Three Stooges.

It might make a great coloring book..."The GOP Transformer Meets the Stooges".

BobVADemocratHawk on July 10, 2009 at 05:33 PM

Are you saying there was a stealth reason why the RNC never allowed sally* to post over there on the GOP blog? Love them (at least publicly on Faux News) and then leave them when they become an embarrassing burden?

Christians wouldn't do that.

The lazy nitwit couldn't even come up with her own attack lines. How's she going to "write" a book?

McCain camp ordered Palin to use "palling around" line

After Barack Obama's victory, you heard thinkers like author and federal judge Richard Posner lamenting on his blog that "the face of the Republican Party had become Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber. Conservative intellectuals had no party."........

If the conservatives had ever been intellectual, there would never have allowed Sarah Palin on the ticket. They most definitely would have insisted that she be pulled after the Couric interviews became public and put Romney in her place.

So why is that idiot Bill Kristol still championing her cause? Isn't he supposed to have taken over as head of that wing of the Republican Party when Buckley died?

Speaking of the wisdom of Bill Kristol and others of his ilk like Jeb Bush. Here's a golden oldie for a TGIF afternoon...

Letter to President Clinton from the PNAC

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

It's a pretty good guess that Palin won't be writing a science book.....

Only Six Percent Of Scientists Are Republicans: Pew Poll

Sahil Kapur
07-10-09

A new study by the Pew Research Center finds that the GOP is alienating scientists to a startling degree.

Only six percent of America's scientists identify themselves as Republicans; fifty-five percent call themselves Democrats. By comparison, 23 percent of the overall public considers itself Republican, while 35 percent say they're Democrats.

The ideological discrepancies were similar. Nine percent of scientists said they were "conservative" while 52 percent described themselves as "liberal," and 14 percent "very liberal." The corresponding figures for the general public were 37, 20 and 5 percent.

Among the general public, moderates and independents ranked higher than any party or ideology. But among scientists, there were considerably more Democrats (55%) than independents (32%) and Republicans (6%) put together. There were also more liberals (52%) than moderates (35%) and conservatives (9%) combined.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/10/only-six-percent-of-scien_n_229382.html

There are as many as 6%?

Afternoon all Great Dems!
Sandy: Our Cardinals just won 8-3

Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on July 10, 2009 at 05:50 PM
Are you kidding me? What idiot on McCain's team came up with that bright idea? I mean really ... McCain had done Liddy's radio show and nobody from his team realized that Liddy had been convicted of crimes tantamount to domestic terrorism. Talk about an inept campaign!

I see sally* is part of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Wasilla Fish Wader Pants.

Hi, mary.

Albert is determined to go into the All Start break in first place if he has to hit 31 more home runs between now then to do it.

Are you coming up for any of the festivities? Sheryl Crowe and Elvis Costello are doing a free concert under the Arch Saturday night...and then there are all the Bastille Day fun, too, in addition to the MLB baseball stuff. The new "Let Them Eat Cake" contest looks interesting in addition to the annual beheading (mock and mockery for all Bushies, thank you very much.)

We entered the lottery for tickets, but were kind of glad we didn't win any because the price was pretty dear. Oil men and AIG executives need only apply?

When Will The Recovery Begin? Never.

July 9, 2009, 5:02PM

The so-called "green shoots" of recovery are turning brown in the scorching summer sun. In fact, the whole debate about when and how a recovery will begin is wrongly framed. On one side are the V-shapers who look back at prior recessions and conclude that the faster an economy drops, the faster it gets back on track. And because this economy fell off a cliff late last fall, they expect it to roar to life early next year. Hence the V shape.

Unfortunately, V-shapers are looking back at the wrong recessions. Focus on those that started with the bursting of a giant speculative bubble and you see slow recoveries. The reason is asset values at bottom are so low that investor confidence returns only gradually.

That's where the more sober U-shapers come in. They predict a more gradual recovery, as investors slowly tiptoe back into the market.

Personally, I don't buy into either camp. In a recession this deep, recovery doesn't depend on investors. It depends on consumers who, after all, are 70 percent of the U.S. economy. And this time consumers got really whacked. Until consumers start spending again, you can forget any recovery, V or U shaped.

Problem is, consumers won't start spending until they have money in their pockets and feel reasonably secure. But they don't have the money, and it's hard to see where it will come from. They can't borrow. Their homes are worth a fraction of what they were before, so say goodbye to home equity loans and refinancings. One out of ten home owners is under water -- owing more on their homes than their homes are worth. Unemployment continues to rise, and number of hours at work continues to drop. Those who can are saving. Those who can't are hunkering down, as they must.

Eventually consumers will replace cars and appliances and other stuff that wears out, but a recovery can't be built on replacements. Don't expect businesses to invest much more without lots of consumers hankering after lots of new stuff. And don't rely on exports. The global economy is contracting.

My prediction, then? Not a V, not a U. But an X. This economy can't get back on track because the track we were on for years -- featuring flat or declining median wages, mounting consumer debt, and widening insecurity, not to mention increasing carbon in the atmosphere -- simply cannot be sustained.

The X marks a brand new track -- a new economy. What will it look like? Nobody knows. All we know is the current economy can't "recover" because it can't go back to where it was before the crash. So instead of asking when the recovery will start, we should be asking when and how the new economy will begin. More on this to come.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/robert_reich/2009/07/when-will-the-recovery-begin-n.php?ref=fpblg

Geez Prof. Reich, now I feel better. We do need a new economy, one not based on carbon, but the GOP rank and file aren't smart enough to realize it because they can't understand basic scientific principles.

The GOP, for decades, have attempted to dumb down the electorate and have been fairly successful at it. We get the morons who deny man-made global warming though they see places like the North Pole disappearing right before their eyes. We get hypocrites like Gov. Sanford (R-SC) and Sen. Enisgn (R-NV) who talk about family values whilst having illicit affairs. And we get the trailer park yahoos like Gov. Palin (R-AK) who couldn't find their arses with both hands and a hunting dog hollering that they should be allowed to be armed to the teeth because they think they can see a Russian invasion on the horizon.

First and formeost, the U.S. needs to return to a state of self-sufficiency. Let China and India sell their widgets to their own peasants. Second, we need to get off of carbon based energy sources as soon as possible unless we like smog and global warming. Investing in hydrogen, solar, and wind is the way to go here. Next, we need a social safety net for those less fortunate. I do not propose we let them live like kings or welfare queens however, the alternative is these people kicking your door in looking for ways to survive. Finally, we need a uniform education system that rewards intelligent people and leaves those less than intelligent to do the menial work. There are far too many smart people who can't catch a break because of their last name or lack of connections and far too many dumb people who are where they are only because their fat cat daddies bought that diploma on the wall.

Mr. President, I hope you're listening. With all due respect, you haven't done too well on the listening part of your job to date. You're only hearing those in your inner circle who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Because if all of us who have been getting crapped on by the upper class all of our lives finally decide to stand up for ourselves, we'll elect someone, anyone, who will listen.

SandyH on July 10, 2009 at 05:46 PM

Republicans aren't true Christians. They only play such on TV.

Report: Bush program extended beyond wiretapping

By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer – 28 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration authorized secret surveillance activities that still have not been made public, according to a new government report that questions the legal basis for the unprecedented anti-terrorism program.
It's unclear how much valuable intelligence was yielded by the surveillance program started after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to the unclassified summary of reports by five inspectors general. The reports mandated by Congress last year were delivered to lawmakers Friday.
President George W. Bush authorized other secret intelligence activities — which have yet to become public — even as he was launching the massive warrentless wiretapping program, the summary said. It describes the entire program as the "President's Surveillance Program."
The report describes the program as unprecedented and raises questions about the legal grounding used for its creation. It also says the intelligence agencies' continued retention and use of the information collected under the program should be carefully monitored.
Many senior intelligence officials believe the program filled a gap in intelligence. Others, including FBI, CIA and National Counterterrorism Center analysts, said intelligence gathered by traditional means was often more specific and timely, according to the report.
The Bush White House acknowledged in 2005 that it allowed the National Security Agency to intercept international communications that passed through U.S. cables without court orders.

SandyH on July 10, 2009 at 05:56 PM

People like Bill Kristol still champion nitwits like Gov. Palin (R-AK) because they think they can be the proverbial power behind the throne. It worked that way for Karl Rove. Kristol is trying to be the next Karl Rove.

Major Silent Demonstrations Expected In Iran

By Leah Wawro

Thousands are expected to protest in cities throughout Iran in defiance of the regime's ban on demonstrations, and have been told to carry nothing heavier than a rose. According to reports from the Internet, demonstrators started to gather in the streets on Thursday, the tenth anniversary of violent clashes between students and police in Iran, to protest Ahmadinejad's claimed victory in the June 12 elections and the violent aftermath.

These would be the first major protests in two weeks. There is no formal leadership and the organization has been mostly online, but Moussavi called for participation in "prayer ceremonies."

Tehran's governor Morteza Tamaddon announced Thursday that any protests will be "smashed," and national authorities said that they will not tolerate demonstrations, which have been deemed illegal. More than 500 people remain in jail, and while the official death toll is less than 20 the actual numbers are likely to be much higher.

But the demonstrations are likely to continue despite the government crackdown, say Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim of the LA Times:...

http://airamerica.com/blog/2009/jul/09/major-silent-demonstrations-expected-iran

They certainly haven't been silent every night on the roof tops shouting in protest. I pray this stays non-violent. The voters can outlast this corrupt government.

Remember those women in Argentina that sat everyday in the Plaza Mayor with photos of their missing (imprisoned/dead) sons? It took years but they toppled that military junta.

BobVADemocratHawk on July 10, 2009 at 06:30 PM

Bob,

Rove was at least cunning and clever. Kristol acts like a blooming idiot. Palin should be pulling his strings...and maybe she is.

Cleveland on July 10, 2009 at 06:01 PM

To a certain extent, you're correct. We do fear people like Gov. Palin for one very good reason. After eight years of being governed by someone who wasn't up to the intellectual challenge of being POTUS, we do not want to repeat that mistake. No one, except the insane, would want to repeat that mistake as the very definition of insanity is to repeat the same mistakes over and over.

marymac_memphis on July 10, 2009 at 06:28 PM

mary,

I thought it was already established that Bush tortured people. What else could he have been doing? Committing rapes and disfiguring faces and body parts? I wouldn't put it past a man who tortured animals as a child...according to his brother who should know.

I bet the Bushies were grabbing American citizens and beating them up saying they were gang members or The Mob. Oh, but bringing something like that to light would be compromising our national security?

I think Pelosi is well within her authority as the House Speaker to demand that the CIA needs more accountability to Congress. How can we trust that a future dictator might not use this loophole to unleash a secret police? Maybe someone already did?

Sandy: I will not be able to get up there at all this year, unfortunately! It will be great watching on TV. I love to go to the museum in the base of the arch. I haven't done that in the last 3 or so years; but, it is wonderful. St. Louis is such a great city and it's been my experience that the people who live there are friendly and polite.
I didn't know about the "Bastille Day" stuff. I'll keep that in mind for a future trip!

Regarding Albert - make that 32 - he hit another one today, on top of a triple!

And, your use of the term 'nitwit' really hits the spot when it comes to Silly Sarah.

First and formeost, the U.S. needs to return to a state of self-sufficiency...

BobVADemocratHawk on July 10, 2009 at 06:26 PM

Bob,

As always you recognize and state the essential point.

We aren't producing any capital in this country. We have given our competition an unholy advantage. Our corporate profits and even physical plants/equipment were re-invested overseas. It’s a club that is being used against us without mercy by our competitors.

All the conservative policies that allowed that stupid habit to take hold must be fettered out and destroyed asap.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just a habit. It was a carefully crafted bit of treason, imho. Why aren’t we shouting it from the roof tops like those people in Iran?

It’s not about any deficit. We HAVE to invest in our own country again no matter what the cost.

I'm outta here. Good night, all. Have a good weekend.

55
SandyH on July 10, 2009 at 06:35 PM

Kristol just has a boner. That's all. He recognizes the ability to fail upward because he is the poster child of it.

And, has he EVER been right about a single thing? Ever? In his entire life?

The answers to all of those questions is an unmitigated and forcefully stressed NO!!

BobVADemocratHawk on July 10, 2009 at 06:41 PM
You are - as you often are ;-) - 100% correct!

Hi Bob! How are things in the commonwealth today? I hope that all is well.

marymac_memphis on July 10, 2009 at 06:55 PM

And I love traveling to Memphis for a long weekend. The food, music, and museums are great. It's a real family-friendly city. Love Mudd Island and Graceland. Long live the King of Rock and Roll.

Bye.

"Kristol just has a boner. That's all."
Doobie:
That's probably right. It sort of seems - especially in light of recent events - that Republican Men 'think' with the wrong part of their anatomy!

marymac_memphis on July 10, 2009 at 07:01 PM

Good evening, my good friend, from the great state of TN. All is well here in the Commonwealth for the most part. We expect our gubnetorial race to heat up after Labor Day. AG McDonnell (R-VA) is running against State Sen. Deeds (D-Bath Co.). Sen. Deeds was the guy who tore Terry McAuliffe a new one in the primary last month and lost to AG McDonnell by less than five hundred votes in 2005 for the position of AG. Current polling has him down by six though. Sen. Deeds' success, or lack thereof, will hinge on the POTUS' performance over the next three and a half months. Time will tell.

Evening all good Dems,

It's 96 degrees with 14% humidity. It must be that Man Made Republican Global Warming.

I was just watching an old movie this morning and it was about prohibition and the fact that it ruined millions of American lives. Liquor flowed faster than ever after prohibition was instituted.

Guess what folks, the PARTY OF NO!!! brought us
Repbulican Prohibition in 1920. Many young lives were ruined including my father's because this suddenly made drinking attractive and it was the cool thing to do. The only thing that Republican Prohibition achieved was to make the Republican's gangster friends rich.

Then shortly after my father and mother were married, the same asshole republicans brought us the Great Republican Depression of 1929. Talk about getting slapped around. No wonder my father had a drinking problem.

I blame it squarely on the holier than thou republican assholes that infest our once great nation. TheY profess to be for "family values" but they don't give a shit so long as they get their illicit sex from a prom queen lover. They profess to be the party of law and order yet the incidence of corruption among republicans stands way above the national average.

The party of NO professes to be religious. What a laugh. The party of NO hates poor people and wouldn't help their mother's if they were lying in the street with a broken pelvis. They would probably be too cheap to call an ambulance and take them to the emergency room in the trunk of their car and make our socialized medicine pay for the emergency room. Once in the emergency room they would bitch about the high cost of the drugs and hospital. "Can we get a senior discount?" of "Screw everyone else, I am first because I am a republican asshole and I just have to get reelected."

THE PARTY OF NO CAN JUST SHOVE THEIR IDEA OF WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT. THEY TOTALLY SCREWED IT UP AT LEAST TWICE IN THE LAST CENTURY AND NOW WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF ANOTHER GREAT REPUBLICAN DEPRESSION AND ALL THEY CAN WORRY ABOUT IS MARRIAGE AMENDMENTS, ANTI-SWEARING AMENDMENTS, GAYS IN THE MILITARY AND PISSING ON TREES.

SCREW THEM ALL! WYO NEEDS THEM!

I disagree about shutting the blog down for the evening. I sometimes get up very early and like to post.

miserable dan and harponeverything are on during the day...should we shut it down then too?

They quit putting straps on boots many years ago so it is difficult for anyone to pull him/herself up by their bootstraps.

I just heard on the news this morning that young working class college students will be in debt for many years after graduation. This is totally insane.

I have an idea. The GI bill was approved over REPUBLICAN objections giving GI's full college tuition. Remember that President Obama called for a civilian corps of people to be useful to the nation doing good the people's work. Why couldn't we offer them a full college education after serving a set number of years either before or after college.

How could the republicans oppose this? If they tried, they would be crucified by the electorate.

Let's shove this up their bony butts and see if it sticks.

Good night fellow Ameircans. Keep the Faith and keep the faith. Yes we can, yes we will, and yes we did!

I never fail to be amazed and amused that many right-wingers and Palinatics genuinely believe that everyone who thinks Palin is a grifter or a clown is actually afraid of her. As in when Bill Kristol recently wrote that Palin's critics "tend not only to dislike and disdain Palin, they also want to bury her chances now as a presidential possibility. What are they so scared of?"

Terra of Sarah

We don't fear her, we LAUGH at the clown show!

thanks for all your help, johne. I think I'll be able to have a "knowledgeable " conversation about the new garage with the carpenter when he arrives home from his fishing trip tonight about footers, stem walls and slabs. I think we will need about 9 yards. ???

speaking of which, he just pulled in. bbl.

Good evening Johne! I hope that you are well today.

Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on July 10, 2009 at 07:35 PM
I can't speak for anyone else but I find Palin offensive. As a female, I am particularly offended by the way that she tries to 'flirt' her way through things. Have you ever noticed that, when she doesn't know the answer or doesn't want to answer a question, she responds with all of the winking, kissy clicking noises and the phalic gestures with her hands. This embarresses me beyond belief. To me this type of behavior just calls attention to the fact that she is inept, undereducation and basically unqualified.

Mary,

I agree. palin is an opportunist. I'll bet that old lecher who owns faux news will be smitten with her and put her on tv with ann coldsore.

I have tuned in to hannity for a few seconds this week and almost every time he is being challanged a caller. Of course he either humiliates them, shouts them down or hangs up. Maybe people are finally catching on.

Well, Mary, she "cuted" her way into coming in third in the Miss Wassilla contest (and lied about it saying that she actually won), and then "cuted" her way into a sportscasting job at some local TV station (although it took her about 35,000 tries to finish College because she just kept a-quittin', doncha know, and then she "cuted" her way onto the Wassilla town board with the help of the John Birch Society and a handful of domestic terrorists backing her, and then she quit being Mayor so she could get on Ted Stevens' Energy Panel, and eventually made it to the position of "Chair" because she pissed off everyone else on it, and then she uit because being a professional Diva and bitch was no fun anymore when she only had one other person to abuse, andthat left the Energy Board with only 1 person left; then she ran for Governor using her entire life as a quitter as some kind of bona fides and got elected only to QUIT AGAIN because she saw the lights of the big city.

She's a professional quitter and a perpetual Diva.

Good riddance to bad trash.

She's a professional quitter and a perpetual Diva.

Good riddance to bad trash.

74
Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on July 10, 2009 at 08:33 PM

And that's why the Republicans love her so much! LOL

Just a fly by....

Forum User

Post subject: Re: What do you think about Obama throwing out first pitch? (All Star game)

Posted: 07 Jul 2009 02:57 am

Whereas a moron like Bush was allowed to throw out the first pitch, a statesman and true leader like Obama should be required to pitch 3 innings at least.
________________

Amen.

You wouldn't be constantly talking about her if you didn't fear her.

45Cleveland on July 10, 2009 at 06:01 PM

and here I thought you merely lusted after her, but it doesn't surprise me that you fear her, as you do the dark and the end of times.

SandyH on July 10, 2009 at 09:00 PM
Besides - with President Obama's athletic ability - he might post a "k" or 2! LOL

As usual - Republican = Hypocrite!

Former Bush ‘domestic policy czar’ Karl Rove now rips czars as a ‘giant expansion of presidential power.’
Today on Twitter, former Bush White House adviser Karl Rove responded to questions posed by CopyChaser asking “@KarlRove What’s going on with all the czars? Is Obama’s strategy to change the engine of our success as a nation: freedom & capitalism?” and “@KarlRove And do we need both a ‘green’ czar and a ‘climate’ czar?” In response, Rove had this to say: "Darned if I can figure out all the czars except a giant expansion of Presidential Powers."

It is surprising that Rove finds the appointment of czars to be “a giant expansion of presidential power” because he actually served as the “domestic policy czar” in the Bush White House. In fact, President Bush himself appointed numerous czars in order to deal with various public crises and controversies, including a “cybersecurity czar,” “regulatory czar,” “AIDS czar,” “bird-flu czar” and “Katrina czar.” Moreover, Rove’s criticism of Obama is ironic, given his role in an administration that was marked by the expansion of executive power.

http://www.electioncenter.org/Legislation/S1415-Schumer-UOCAVA.pdf

anybody on this blog or in the DNC ranks tracking this?

to me, the big picture is that secured internet voting will be made available once it's approved for military use.

it might be awhile, but it will get here. for the present, vote by mail/voting centers are growing fast.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
— Philippians 4:11

enjoy the evening, everyone.

I don't particularly like Peggy Noonan - truth be told, I can't stand her, but this is interesting:

A Farewell to Harms
Palin was bad for the Republicans—and the republic.
By PEGGY NOONAN

Sarah Palin's resignation gives Republicans a new opportunity to see her plain—to review the bidding, see her strengths, acknowledge her limits, and let go of her drama. It is an opportunity they should take. They mean to rebuild a great party. They need to do it on solid ground.

Her history does not need to be rehearsed at any length. Ten months ago she was embraced with friendliness by her party. The left and the media immediately overplayed their hand, with attacks on her children. The party rallied round, as a party should. She went on the trail a sensation but demonstrated in the ensuing months that she was not ready to go national and in fact never would be. She was hungry, loved politics, had charm and energy, loved walking onto the stage, waving and doing the stump speech. All good. But she was not thoughtful. She was a gifted retail politician who displayed the disadvantages of being born into a point of view (in her case a form of conservatism; elsewhere and in other circumstances, it could have been a form of liberalism) and swallowing it whole: She never learned how the other sides think, or why.

In television interviews she was out of her depth in a shallow pool. She was limited in her ability to explain and defend her positions, and sometimes in knowing them. She couldn't say what she read because she didn't read anything. She was utterly unconcerned by all this and seemed in fact rather proud of it: It was evidence of her authenticity. She experienced criticism as both partisan and cruel because she could see no truth in any of it. She wasn't thoughtful enough to know she wasn't thoughtful enough. Her presentation up to the end has been scattered, illogical, manipulative and self-referential to the point of self-reverence. "I'm not wired that way," "I'm not a quitter," "I'm standing up for our values." I'm, I'm, I'm.

In another age it might not have been terrible, but here and now it was actually rather horrifying.

McCain-Palin lost. Mrs. Palin has now stepped down, but she continues to poll high among some members of the Republican base, some of whom have taken to telling themselves Palin myths.

More Peggy Noonan

Read Peggy Noonan's previous columns.

And click here to order her new book, Patriotic Grace.
To wit, "I love her because she's so working-class." This is a favorite of some party intellectuals. She is not working class, never was, and even she, avid claimer of advantage that she is, never claimed to be and just lets others say it. Her father was a teacher and school track coach, her mother the school secretary. They were middle-class figures of respect, stability and local status. I think intellectuals call her working-class because they see the makeup, the hair, the heels and the sleds and think they're working class "tropes." Because, you know, that's what they teach in "Ways of the Working Class" at Yale and Dartmouth.

What she is, is a seemingly very nice middle-class girl with ambition, appetite and no sense of personal limits.

"She's not Ivy League, that's why her rise has been thwarted! She represented the democratic ideal that you don't have to go to Harvard or Brown to prosper, and her fall represents a failure of egalitarianism." This comes from intellectuals too. They need to be told something. Ronald Reagan went to Eureka College. Richard Nixon went to Whittier College, Joe Biden to the University of Delaware. Sarah Palin graduated in the end from the University of Idaho, a school that happily notes on its Web site that it's included in U.S. News & World Report's top national schools survey. They need to be told, too, that the first Republican president was named "Abe," and he went to Princeton and got a Fulbright. Oh wait, he was an impoverished backwoods autodidact!

America doesn't need Sarah Palin to prove it was, and is, a nation of unprecedented fluidity. Her rise and seeming fall do nothing to prove or refute this.

"The elites hate her." The elites made her. It was the elites of the party, the McCain campaign and the conservative media that picked her and pushed her. The base barely knew who she was. It was the elites, from party operatives to public intellectuals, who advanced her and attacked those who said she lacked heft. She is a complete elite confection. She might as well have been a bonbon.

"She makes the Republican Party look inclusive." She makes the party look stupid, a party of the easily manipulated.

"She shows our ingenuous interest in all classes." She shows your cynicism.

"Now she can prepare herself for higher office by studying up, reading in, boning up on the issues." Mrs. Palin's supporters have been ordering her to spend the next two years reflecting and pondering. But she is a ponder-free zone. She can memorize the names of the presidents of Pakistan, but she is not going to be able to know how to think about Pakistan. Why do her supporters not see this? Maybe they think "not thoughtful" is a working-class trope!

"The media did her in." Her lack of any appropriate modesty did her in. Actually, it's arguable that membership in the self-esteem generation harmed her. For 30 years the self-esteem movement told the young they're perfect in every way. It's yielding something new in history: an entire generation with no proper sense of inadequacy.

"Turning to others means the media won!" No, it means they lose. What the mainstream media wants is not to kill her but to keep her story going forever. She hurts, as they say, the Republican brand, with her mess and her rhetorical jabberwocky and her careless causing of division. Really, she is the most careless sower of discord since George W. Bush, who fractured the party and the movement that made him. Why wouldn't the media want to keep that going?

Here's why all this matters. The world is a dangerous place. It has never been more so, or more complicated, more straining of the reasoning powers of those with actual genius and true judgment.

i appreciate the trolls concern for my well being. how unbelievably altruistic given the way fate has struck down his heroes like palin and ensign and sanford and so many others. it makes one weep. and then the final affront to have al franken take his senate seat after the troll had given us another "take it to the bank" prediction about how the united states supreme court would overturn the election and so forth.....it is truly heartening to see the troll care so much for a left winger when it is bleeding from it's ears. almost god like!

meanwhile national health care is slowly moving foward, environmental and banking and investing and fda regulations are being strengthened...a woman of puerto rican american woman will be appointed to the supreme court in a walk and obama laughs at his critics whose ranks continue to be decimated by sins of the flesh.

as for the goat, it just left with the troll's mom heading for a mildewy motel outside of town where the two of them will try to create her first real kid.

good morning, everyone.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20090711-154153.html

Obama gets jubilant welcome in Ghana

http://www.startribune.com/politics/50534237.html

Obama rejects 2nd stimulus, urges patience to let recovery 'work the way it's supposed to'

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-ap-us-domestic-surveillance,0,953685.story

Gov't report: Bush secret surveillance effort extended beyond wiretapping, lacked oversight

it's a late start, so I have to be on my way.

Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.
— Proverbs 16:20 (NIV)

Thoughts on Today's Verse...
Those who seek the instruction of God's wisdom and who trust in God for their life's blessings and values will find joyful prosperity. While this philosophy doesn't play well in the world of commercials, this understanding is the key to a blessed and prosperous life!

My Prayer...
Wise and Eternal God, open my mind to your wisdom and my heart to your gracious presence. I trust my future with you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Good morning, all.

Now that some in the MSM are finally looking into the questionable "political" influence of The Family in that C Street townhouse, why don't they look into the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church?

This foreign nutcase has been operating in this country since the 1960's without any close examination of how he manipulates our Washington politicians and MSM. He's had an entirely free ride.

His close association with the Bushies may explain some of it. But now that they have beaten back into the bushes, I'd like the "common folk" to know what this foreigner has been doing in our country....right under their noses. He's a lot more stealth than Murdock but just as greedy and arrogant.

Think of Kim Jong-il working his Moonie magic/madness from deep within the bowels of Washington for 50 years without any restraint. I'm really surprised the White Supremacist and fundies haven't figured it out.

Morning Sandy. I hope that you are well today. It's already getting hot and hotter here in Memphis, with no end in sight! Did you happen to see this over on Think Progress:

Rove diggs in: Obama trying ‘to avoid oversight’ by appointing czars.
Yesterday, ThinkProgress reported that former Bush adviser Karl Rove made his critical views of President Obama’s various “czars” known on Twitter. Rove called them a “giant expansion of presidential power.” Rove, though, was actually the “domestic policy czar” in the Bush White House, serving as just one of many czars in that administration. In response to various messages from other Twitter users, Rove has been digging in today, saying that Obama is trying to skirt “oversight” and “transparency” by appointing the czars.

Of course, Rove was never actually approved by the Senate either. As Steve Benen points out, Bush had so many czars that “it quickly became the butt of jokes. Newsweek satirist Andy Borowitz suggested in 2007 that the White House needed a ‘lying czar’ to ‘oversee all distortions and misrepresentations.’”

Committee Votes to Reverse Global Gag Rule
Friday 10 July 2009
by: Andrew Taylor and Mary Clare Jalonick | Visit article original @ The Associated Press

Obama's reversal of American abortion-aid policy impacts medical outreach around the world. Here, a clinic in Nairobi's Kibera slum is supported by UN international funding. (Photo: CBS News)
Washington - Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee voted Thursday to permanently reverse a policy in effect under recent Republican administrations that banned giving US taxpayer money to international groups that perform abortions or provide abortion information.

The 17-11 vote would give the current policy - which President Obama set by executive order days after taking office - the force of law. That means the next Republican president could not restore the ban with the stroke of a pen as has been recent practice.

http://www.truthout.org/071009K

Part of "Trapped In Linen Sheets" struggle in Walking Wounded in Corporate PTSD Terminated for Poetry. The wounds that bleed open America redefined.

Epitaph Truth buried naked grave prefabrications
Washington Lies in regurgitated communication
Haunted Holocaust Abu Ghraib secret justifications
Position Crucifixion moralization in Scaled Justice.

American Inquisition Judeo Christian Bible redefinition
National Security Patriot Act warrant less definition
Loss of Due Process, Habeas Corpus, Civil Liberties
Guantanamo Geronimo interned Military Tribunal Liberty.

Constitutional bleeding amputation White House tort
Severed sliced off arms - Congress and Supreme Court,
Lady Liberty crushed, Katrina hurricane bulldoze remains,
President John Yoo bushwhack attacked eminent domain.

CD

GFY~~~~~ AND ESAD!!!!!!!

The way that President Obama talks about changing Africa, is the way I wish he would talk about changing America. Sometimes with his world vision, I wish he had a Main Street answer.

One awakes trapped in reality’s Guantanamo interned Freedom rights
With a Free Press Patriot Act White House controlled chokehold might.
CorPolitical Country Club Think Tank Tory Royal elite fraternity blight
Fashion model of political Lords, who look down on commoner’s plight.

Has America’s Terminated for Poetry Dead Poets Society body bags,
Become Constitutional coffins of torn linen sheets Bill of Rights rags?
Rest in Peace Scales of Supreme Court Justice - Military Tribunal President,
America’s “At Will” Executive Privilege Autocratic Diplomacy residency,
Plantation mansion Master of Home Sweet Home civilian enslaved edicts.
Thou shall torture thy fellow neighbor Liberal label.
Thou shall kill those against Conglomeration.
Thou shall support Corporate Blackwater militias.
Thou shall not have Human and Civil Rights opposition.
Thou shall not gamble, drink, smoke, create art in America.
Taliban-America United States of Conservatism oppression,
In the compost pyre of the Constitution redefinition,
One sleeps in the linen coffin box “We the people” dream,
Awaiting Lady Liberty Phoenix of America’s Artmosphere
With Angels of the Uni-Verse of Civil Liberties, Free Speech spirit
Spread the wings of America’s future.

marymac_memphis on July 11, 2009 at 11:23 AM

mary,

Sorry I didn't see your post. I've been finishing a project and just looked back in.

The Bushies are just being themselves. They've never had a problem finding fault and accusing others of doing things that they did regularly. It's Rove-speak. Why they think people are interested in what they have to say is beyond me. Who would ever trust them again except uneducated bigots?

Complete denial has set in. Only by lashing out wildly can they ignore the knowledge of their complete incompetence and survive the pain of their failures. It's not going to change history or the economic and military mess they created. It's only going to make voters more angry as they begin to realize how long-term the damage is to this country.

They sold this country out to foreign interests and strengthen our competitors at the expense of our own economy. They wasted their entire mandate on greed, fostering prejudice, and neglecting our infrastructure needs. When they weren't destroying our economy and weakening our military, were trying to divide us socially and making us more dependent on foreign energy.

So much effort...all of it negative.

They have no idea how to build anything of worth...only graft, monopolizes, and bubbles which cause worldwide chaos on a regular basis. They were even so inept that they almost killed capitalism last fall.

Stupid and dangerous is what the Republican Party has become.

No wonder Kathleen Parker is so intent on stopping Palin. btw, thanks for posting those excerpts from her columns yesterday. I quit reading Parker and most of the rest of the conservatives a long time ago. I find them a big waste of time.

I see the conservatives are promoting the virtues of continuing a Second Great Depression in response to Democratic efforts to stimulate the economy. Only endangered species don't fight to survive. Them fundies sure love their failed dinosaur ideology.

bbl.

I just saw July 10th Bill Moyer's Journal with Wendell Potter on Health Care. This is something every person should see.

Watch Bill Moyer's Journal, Friday July 10th with Wendell Potter, it's an eye opener.

I have one thing to say about the Repugs with their bad mouthing of Obama:

After eight years of trying to tell every Democrat that any attitude other than getting 100% behind the US President, no matter who he may be, means you are a traitor, your frenzied antipathy toward Obama makes you all seem like the most ridiculous of hypocrites on the American political scene. You might want to think about that some.

Funny, too, they will sit back and take and enjoy all the great things Obama and the Democrats will get for them, but try and pretend they really didn't want it!

Must be Dufus Dan finally got his ass out of that lawn chair finally! Must have been embarassing to have the firetruck have to come and unweld him!

Like we really give a shit what Eric Cantor or any other Party of No Republican, has to spin about this Economy, jobs, etc!!! I watched Boner on CSpan yesterday, cripes the crapola coming out of his mouth was ridiculous!!!

While Obama is not perfection, all you have to look at Bush and see the "hell," in the difference of Blackwater redefinitions. But Obama is not a "We the people" Saint but a Tory White House savior, aligning more with Bush, than the Constitution. Rather than restoring the arms of Congress and the Supreme Court checks and balances, he uses them in "At Will" puppets of Executive Privilege.

Finding the trail of pillows fears in the Shame Same Ole Thing that no one cares about Civil Liberties. America, where it has to hide the Truth of Cheney's Inquisition Holocaust National Security needs in Abu Ghraib Judeo-Christian water boarding and more Crucifixion images. That Cheney say we must hide the Truth like the Catholic Church.

Pope, please stand and say abuse is a form of torture, whose scars also last a lifetime in fecal memories.

Trapped In Linen Sheets

I lie in the mattress of swimming delusions
Screaming nails bear haunted retribution
Scarlet Letter Walking Wounded wounds
Impregnating sword piercing point rounds.

Swallowing suffocation reigning quicksand
Sandstorm time skeletal bleach blade sand
Leach bed filtered cesspool quagmire drain
Swirling nightmare sweating fury cane rain.

Time’s whipped wail quivers sorrow harrow
Furrows dicing seeds depressions vile horror.
Blasting peace, sharp shattered piece body bag
Bleeding recycled repetitive refrain torn rag.

Box spring black hole coffin gravity time bomb
Motel room termination retirement rant tomb
Determinate lines struggle reality comprehension
Striking fiber fabric heartbeat core beat retention.

Epitaph Truth buried naked grave prefabrications
Washington Lies in regurgitated communication
Haunted Holocaust Abu Ghraib secret justifications
Position Crucifixion moralization in Scaled Justice.

What Judeo-Christian religion would sign on to John Yoo religious of Biblical Justice? Yet, the pulpits scream about abortion and decry a need for Abu Ghraib Inquisition family value system.

If Jesus walked today, in most areas he would be Judged and Labeled Liberal, that He did not have a Reagan, Bush, or GI haircut. Also since he had a tan, they would call Him an illegal needing a passport for the Country Club Kingdom of Tory America Blackwater membership. In fact today all Patriot act Founding Fathers whould have a Patriot Act filter of Free Speech Censorship needing a Conglomerate Media Pass to be heard.

I guess in a Microsoft World, Jesus, and the Founding Fathers get filtered like Holocaust Abu Ghraib images of History denied Truth.

103YoungPoet on July 11, 2009 at 02:37 PM

Thank you, David.

Where is the public outreach program of the Democratic Party, it seems that it has become select on who can be members.

Good evening, all.

I see the fear-monger is doing his lying best to convince himself that we now have the best health care system in the world. Like what trust fund did he inherit? The rest of us deal with insurance companies or have no coverage.

So you don't think those who have a pre-existing condition or a chronic condition should be offered any health insurance?

With our plan a new tax will only be levied on the rich who can more than afford it. And everyone will finally have the same choices that those in government have had for decades plus the choice of keeping our current plans if we want.

That's a Real choice.

And it will result in a reduction in costs for all but the top 2%. By putting all Americans in the same pool, introducing competition and cost controls with a public option, and sandardizing and digitalizing all medical records, we'll save even more.

All we have to fear is sally*'s fear itself...the fear that voters will find out just how much of a fraud the GOP has been forcing on us since the Reagan Revolution.

The only suckers left in this country are those who think Republicans ever cared about the middle class or Jesus.

Catch you all tomorrow.

Good night, all.

The danger of a public option for Health Care Reform is that the Insurance Companies will dump all of the high risk members, who need Health Care the most, and have only healthy low risk Members. People in this Great Country of ours, the U.S.A., should all have a Health Care Card like the one in the pocket of all of our Legislators. Please go for a Universal Single Payer Health Care System and People will be willing to pay the tax for the Quality that they will then get!
Israel has the best Health Care, and the lowest cost of their Health Care, for all of its Citizens? Does the Israeli Government just think a lot more of its Citizens, than the U.S. Government thinks of its Citizens? Why not send some of your Medical Experts to Israel and do an Official Report to Congress, and we the People? Health Care Cost in the U.S. is completely out of control! In just a very few years (6 to 10) Health Care cost will be 20% of GNP!
*
Everyone should have Health Care, just as we provide for our Government Legislators; it’s a Human Right and Responsibility!
Congress had better step up to the plate and do as Canada did, because our Health Care Problem is going to get progressively worse, it will not go away on its own the Insurance Companies will see to that, with a 9% increase on January 1, 2010.
*
If the Insurance Companies were completely out of the Health Care Business, I would support a Federal Sales Tax to cover Health Care.

The only suckers left in this country are those who think Republicans ever cared about the middle class or Jesus.

117SandyH on July 11, 2009 at 07:54 PM

they are still waiting for that "trickle down thingy" that those Repugs promised them! They are not sure how it works, but if they are told that helping the Corporations somehow helps THEM save their beer and cig money, then they fall into line, just like the Repugs hoped they would.

Judging by the stupidity shown here, one can only thank God that the American people finally got sick of 8 years of failure and voted in a Democrat, who will save them again ! And if they are told that Jesus rode around on a dinosaur, then by golly, you betcha Jesus rode a dinosaur!!!!

There is one born every minute so they say, and judging by comments here by troll fools, there certainly was !

Good night Dems.

Have a great weekend. I am.

Blog ya tomorrow...........

If we can afford to give Iraq and Afganiatanfree health care for all why not here?

Evening Sandy, Pam and Essie,

Trolls GFU and ESAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, lookey here.....

AP source: Holder considering torture probe

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder is considering whether to appoint a criminal prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's interrogation practices, a controversial move that would run counter to President Barack Obama's wishes to leave the issue in the past.

Holder plans to make a final decision within the next few weeks, a Justice Department official told The Associated Press on Saturday night. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on a pending matter.

Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller said Holder planned to "follow the facts and the law."

"We have made no decisions on investigations or prosecutions, including whether to appoint a prosecutor to conduct further inquiry," he said. "As the attorney general has made clear, it would be unfair to prosecute any official who acted in good faith based on legal guidance from the Justice Department."

A move to appoint a prosecutor is certain to stir partisan bickering that could create a distraction to Obama's efforts to push health care and energy reform. Obama has repeatedly expressed reluctance to having a probe, saying the nation should be "looking forward and not backwards" when it came to Bush-era abuses...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090712/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_holder_interrogations

If the Republicans are so intend on looking backwards about such issues as civil rights, energy, and health care, I suppose we'll just have to look backwards about such things as the legality of the Bush torture program...among others.

Gee, wouldn't be be a shame if Bush and Cheney become the focus of the MSM again right before the Midterms? It might be wiser for the GOP to concentrate on the future instead?

Sandy,
The best thing that could happen to this country is to investigate the Bush/Cheney administration before the mid term elections. It would remind all Americans what worthless, greedy, arrogant pieces of sh*t the republicans have been and will be again if given the chance.
This country deserves better.
G'nite

Chicago,

And the plot thickens....

AP sources: Cheney told CIA not to discuss program
…
By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Dick Cheney directed the CIA eight years ago not to inform Congress about a nascent counterterrorism program that CIA Director Leon Panetta terminated in June, officials with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

Subsequent CIA directors did not inform Congress because the intelligence-gathering effort had not developed to the point that they believed merited a congressional briefing, said a former intelligence official and another government official familiar with Panetta's June 24 briefing to the House and Senate Intelligence committees.

Panetta did not agree.

Upon learning of the program June 23 from within the CIA, Panetta terminated it and the next day called an emergency meeting with the House and Senate Intelligence committees to inform them of the program and that it was canceled.

Cheney played a central role in overseeing the Bush administration's surveillance program that was the subject of an inspectors general report this past week. That report noted that Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington, personally decided who in Bush's inner circle could even know about the secret program.

But revelations about Cheney's role in making decisions for the CIA on whether to notify Congress came as a surprise to some on the committees, said another government official. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the program publicly.

An effort to reach Cheney was unsuccessful...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090712/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_cheney_counterterrorism

Eight years ago? That was before 911.

Well, if you want to reach Cheney, all you have to do apparently is ask the NSA. They know where everyone is...except Bin Lauden. And someone gave them a license to act like a secret police? And threatened anyone in the CIA who tried to comply with the law and tell Congress?

And this was before 911? It sure must have come in handy to have this “counterterrorism program” in place when Valerie Plame's husband started questioning too many things about the intel used to justify an entirely unwarranted invasion. Having advance notice of Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson’s intentions must have been invaluable to someone trying to cover their tracks.

Not only would it have raised questions just as people were finding out about the torture at Abu Graibe, it might have raised questions about why Bush used so many shock and awe bombs to destroy the infrastructure of Iraq. Who needs sewers and electricity anyway?

And the war profiteering? Someone couldn’t have people asking too many questions about that when Halliburton and the rest of the no-bid contractors were just beginning to go into high gear in Iraq. It was just like all that TARP money that was hastily stuffed into the pockets of a bunch of very rich people before we had a chance to know where it was going and how it was going to be used.

All that deficit spending.

Deficit spending that ended up in Swiss and Cayman Island bank accounts to avoid paying taxes that are automatically taken out of the paychecks of the rest of us middle class and working poor Americans.

So let's sum this up so even our resident troll can understand. Someone in the Executive (and/or Fourth Branch) created a secret police force BEFORE 911 and told them to keep their existence and their methods secret from Congress.

That sounds sort of...illegal...and maybe the act of a tyrannical dictator?

But who wants to talk about the past? It could never happen again even though the same forces might seize power and direct all their resources against domestic political enemies instead of the Iraqis next time...or did they do it this time in the Plame affair?

If you think President Obama paled around with domestic terrorists, I present you with the handiwork of someone far more diabolical...Dick Cheney, torturer and manipulator extraordinaire.

And it works. Just ask his daughter.

it's a beautiful slacker Sunday here in SE OH. We need some rain though.

Satanic freaks like Holdren are now running the USA. It would be impossible to overstate the danger we face.

126Cleveland on July 12, 2009 at 02:36 AM

oh my goodness. you afraid of yet another person.

it's ok, it's daylight now...you can go to sleep.

time for me to cook a big country breakfast & hang the laundry on the line.

[Jesus said] "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
— Matthew 7:13-14

enjoy the day, everyone.

Good Sunday Morning, Dems.

Looks like the pretend Christian troll, likes to spend his Sunday morning spewing out hatred towards Gays, which are God's creations too. Maybe it does not occur to him, if his GOD created a sick brain like he has, that he also created those that he may not agree with, but judge not, lest ye be judged!

Stevie boy has become shriller and shriller since November 4th! His little dark spot of hate in his gut, just overflows. As he watches the Republican Party just continue to self implode. And his idol, Missy Sarah, looking more and more like the quitter she is. I know if she decides to run for President, I shall certainly remind everyone of how she just walked away from her job when people were criticizing her. And of all of her stupid naive remarks!

ps, I think when I am on the roof of my house, I think I can see Sarah Palin's house way off the the Northwest!

Common Sense means:

"Sound judgment not based on specialized knowledge; native good judgment"

I think Missy Sarah proved beyond a doubt, she has NO sense, outside of Nonsense, at all! Just an airhead, trying to use her looks to get ahead.
I saw a post on a blog the other day, I think it was Cafferty. The guy was extolling Palin being 'just like us' !

I wrote him back a response, asking did he WANT someone just like him running our country???
I think NOT!

bbl in the day, Dems.........

Have a good one.

That would make her family a lot smaller. Pammy's too.

136Cleveland on July 12, 2009 at 08:19 AM

don't say you know what I'm thinking. for one, it is not going to happen. you are reading hypothetical measures to population control. duh...I live in the real world where as you don't.

my granddaughters have their fathers surnames and are being raised in a family unit. has your daughter brought a bastard in the world yet, or is she smart enough not to let you know. she may be discouraged to have children, knowing mental illness runs through her genes.

there, you got your attention, now run off to your straw bed on the wooden floor. I've got a big breakfast to cook for my loving husband.

;P

for johne, when he stops by. thanks so much for all the info. the carpenter was impressed with the knowledge I obtained. he wondered how in the world I knew about a stem wall. he was pleased.

thanks! xoxoxo

Morning Essie,

You are welcome. I hope your garage turns out well.

Tell your husband that I can't cut a piece of wood straight and would make a lousy carpenter. I really appreciate the skills necessary to be a master carpenter.

This is an excerpt from the University of California alumni association on the budget cuts by the f**king conservatives assholes in California. Soon, California prisons will have a larger budget the the university and comunity college system. This is all because the flaming asshole conservatives are driving the state into the ground. They will not allow ANY tax increases of any kind. They would rather see the state go into the hopper.

WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN. It is happening across the entire nation. We are being dumbed down by the f**king neotards.

STOP THEM NOW!!!!!!!!

"… The country that uses this crisis to make its population smarter and more innovative—and endows its people with more tools and basic research to invent new goods and services—is the one that will not just survive but thrive down the road. We might be able to stimulate our way back to stability, but we can only invent our way back to prosperity. We need everyone at every level to get smarter."

I thought this was important enough to run again.

I was just watching an old movie this morning and it was about prohibition and the fact that it ruined millions of American lives. Liquor flowed faster than ever after prohibition was instituted.

Guess what folks, the PARTY OF NO!!! brought us Repbulican Prohibition in 1920. Many young lives were ruined including my father's because this suddenly made drinking attractive and it was the cool thing to do. The only thing that Republican Prohibition achieved was to make the Republican's gangster friends rich.

Then shortly after my father and mother were married, the same asshole republicans brought us the Great Republican Depression of 1929. Talk about getting slapped around. No wonder my father had a drinking problem.

I blame it squarely on the holier than thou republican assholes that infest our once great nation. They profess to be for "family values" but they don't give a shit so long as they get their illicit sex from a prom queen lover. They profess to be the party of law and order yet the incidence of corruption among republicans stands way above the national average.

The party of NO professes to be religious. What a f**king laugh. The party of NO hates poor people and wouldn't help their mother's if they were lying in the gutter with a broken pelvis. They would probably be too cheap to call an ambulance and take them to the emergency room in the trunk of their union made car and make our "socialized" medicine pay for the emergency room. Once in the emergency room they would bitch about the high cost of the drugs and hospital. "Can we get a senior discount?" or "F**k everyone else, I am first because I am a republican asshole and I just have to get reelected."

THE PARTY OF NO CAN JUST SHOVE THEIR IDEA OF WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT. THEY TOTALLY SCREWED IT UP AT LEAST TWICE IN THE LAST CENTURY AND NOW WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF ANOTHER GREAT REPUBLICAN DEPRESSION AND ALL THEY CAN WORRY ABOUT IS MARRIAGE AMENDMENTS, ANTI-SWEARING AMENDMENTS, GAYS IN THE MILITARY AND PISSING ON TREES.

F***********************CK THEM ALL!

Oh America of Poetic Censorship Patriot Act that the media and Internet must be Cheney approved, and Microsoft filtered.

The lamest excuse to deny Freedom and Democracy is National Security that takes away our Civil Liberties and the Security of Free Speech questioning to get a Cheney White House that runs amuck in "At Will" Inquisitions.

Oh America of Poetic Censorship Patriot Act that the media and Internet must be Cheney approved, and Microsoft filtered.

The lamest excuse to deny Freedom and Democracy is National Security that takes away our Civil Liberties and the Security of Free Speech questioning to get a Cheney White House that runs amuck in "At Will" Inquisitions.

Cheney’s Secret Government Inner Circle

Inquisition of the Constitution into the Dark Ages,
Vice President - head of CIA secret covert actions.
American Lies in prefabricated inner circle secrecy,
Severing the arms of Checks and Balances Congress.

Cheney Holocaust members of Abu Ghraib images,
Right wing extreme hawks of excrement and bile,
Using Judeo-Christianity needs for torture screams,
Crucifix positions in American Scale of VP Justice.

Cheney direct orders to the CIA secret Inner Circle
To withhold information of counterterrorism fight.
Patriot Act abuse to override Human and Civil Rights,
Paramount Lies of Washington’s inner circle thugs.

Bush Administration above the law of accountability,
Secret Intelligence police water boarding legal authority.
“At Will” run amuck VP Executive Privilege tyranny
Inner circle Cheney Wild West vigilante’s reign of terror.

The Constitution WMD explosive abuse of Concrete Truth.
David Addington, VP Chief of Staff, John Yoo type lawyer,
Redefiniting the boundaries of Constitutional government
Into Tyrannical Autocracy of overstepping civilian elected rule.

The Monumental Destructive WMD of a selected Fraternity
Bohemian Club of robbing hoods upon staged Inquisition,
Lies in Dark Ages of Secret Societies power of ruling Earth,
Who are sworn to secrecy counter to “We the people“ rule.

Look at the makeup of the Inner Circle of Cheney Royalty,
Select loyal members with layers of need to know limitations,
And you have, John Yoo time bomb of Constitution’s destruction.
Where a White House Enron CEO Premier rules King Supreme.

Supreme Court Commander Legislator CEO merged President
Of “At Will” might, overriding all branches of accounting,
Monarch without the Magna Carta electoral protection.
Cheney as President totalitarian despot iron fisted diplomacy
Into Armageddon using their Blackwater political goD,
Instead of “We the people” human God Bless Made in America faith.
.
President Obama, “We the people” demand a large-scale oversight,
With a large contingent of Congress and the Federal Courts power,
With Constitutional scholars, and lawyer safeguard civilian patriots.
This must be beyond the Cheney White House, Holocaust future.
Congress and the Supreme Court must hold hands united together
To counter the Scales of John Yoo, David Addington’s
White House In Justice, who need to be disbarred
From Constitutional “At Will” law Executive Privilege edicts.

How many Cheney disciples are their still in Washington,
Who like Oliver North have other commander of secrecy
Counter to the oversight of Constitutional Concrete Accounting.
In Washington today some report to Cheney,
Rather than President Obama.
In Washington yesterday some reported to Cheney.
Rather than Ex-President Mr. George W. Bush.
Bush’s disastrous legacy would improve,
If Bush divorced Cheney.

Feinstein: CIA concealment may have broken the law

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090712/ap_on_go_co/us_feinstein_cia_1

President Obama you cannot deny Congress and the Attorney General the right to investigate the Bush White House for illegal actions. In doing you, you become a Dick Cheney that supports John Yoo actions that "We the people" have no right in YOUR White House. IN other words that as President, you are above the law of the land.

US, Swiss ask for delay in UBS secrecy case

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090712/ap_on_bi_ge/us_ubs_secrets

Actually it is time for a real President to say that Tory tax cheats, need an Concrete Accounting. Like things in Washington they are trying to stretch it into non-existence of people forgetting it.

Washington is a closet casket of (Cheney) secrecy that opens up like a clam for momentary scrutiny, then snaps of the fingers of those that go further. I wish Congress hiney's were in the way, with all that gluttony they would not feel a thing.

Look at AIG and Citibank bankruptcy, those CEO's still do not get it that there are no bonuses in bankruptcy. It is time Congress learns what bankruptcy is, it seems their fringe benefits have stimulus addict tracks.

It seems that Bush and Cheney still are Good "At Will" Ambassadors members of Washington's Country Club. It seems they are still declaring edict of Fraternal silence in loyalty Cheney pledges. I guess Cheney did have Bush shackled, as a subordinate.

trolls ESAD and GFY! while you are at it!

well i guess we all now know why uncle dick has been frothing at the mouth about how obama is endangering the nation....it was all a ruse to distract us from the fact that uncle dickie ignored his constitutional duties regarding the congress and will now have to have an extensive proctological exam done by a garden rake dipped in hot sauce....poor uncle dickhead....it almost worked but then again maybe all his teeth gnashing ( must be a full set of implants by now i figure) and yelping caused the new crowd to look deeper into the pile of shit he left behind....oops!!!

Good afternoon, DEMS!

So, Sorry Failin' ain't satisfied with threatening to bust up the Greedy Obstructionist Pedophile Party, now she says that she will actively campaign for Democrats! I doubt many will want her; after all, a lot of Pugs are telling her to stay as far away as possible.

The self-described hockey mom plans to write a memoir but declined to discuss any potential deal for her to become a television commentator.

"I can't talk about any of those things while I'm still governor," she said.

Yet she's already reminding audiences of her bipartisan and family-oriented appeal.

"People are so tired of the partisan stuff even my own son is not a Republican," Palin said.

Like his father, 20-year-old Track Palin is registered as "nonpartisan" in Alaska, she said.

Palin Will Campaign For Democrats

Sheesh, talk about a petty, vindictive little Diva. She wasn't shit until the Fundies forced her on to McLame's ticket and now she thinks the world will stop spinning without her flapping her gums all the time.

Afternoon DPD and gregg,

failin is a real shole.

afternoon Dems,,,,,

Just got home from one daughter's, getting some food together to go to the other's for a cookout.

We have to enjoy each sunny day when we can---the freaken rain and thunder and wind is like nothing we have ever seen here before !

So Stevie boy still is harping about my grandson! Ahhhh, Stevie boy, if you only knew the truth of this miracle baby, high risk pregnancy, you would bless yourself! (hahahahaha)
What do you want to bet, your little sweetie who took 19 years to get out of school, is spreading her legs for her boyfriend, and this is with or without any birth control!! AND when she gets pregnant, she and her Mother will never tell YOU when they go to get rid of it!!! I can not tell you how many girls I know, with a father like you. ONE guy I know, has no idea one son is gay and that is why he moved out of state, and his daughter went not once, but TWICE for abortions with Mama. You think you are so holy, you old Criminal, but guess what----you have more marks against you than God can count!

THOMASS, get yourself a life, won't you? You arrogant pompous ignorant little man, with a scrotum that looks like a raisen!

heading back out Dems. may bbl..........

hey pam it looks like we are finally in for some actual summer weather.

not sure why the troll doesn't explain two things for us;

1. how the palin resignation is great for her chances in 2012 and...

2. how all those scientists keep faking the fossil record to try to support the theory of evolution...

i fully expect a huckster/paleman ticket in 2012 and to see both of those folks ride into the repelican convention on a brontosaurus....

Palin Hints At Independent Conservative Movement

One thing I will say, the Washington Times with their headline for this exclusive interview reveal an anti-Palin stance. She is, don’t doubt, a threat to every existing political status quo. I hope the Washington Times and their editors realize, sooner than later, that the Palin movement is unstoppable and their credibility would be saved simply by reporting the news instead of becoming a GOP version of the NYT.

Cleveland on July 12, 2009 at 08:07 AM

So even the Rev. Moon feels that Palin is toxic to the Republican Party? Just like her first spiritual adviser, that African witch hunter who tried to drive the evil spirit out of her, Moon sees her as some kind of Jezabel.

When a woman only attracts whacked out religious crazies and lovesick far right trolls (of both sexes), she isn't much of a mainstream threat to any political competitor. She's definitely third party material.

So I wonder if Richard Clarke was kept in the dark about Cheney's secret police "counterterrorism" program, too? If the terror czar was shut out from any knowledge of this project, it stand for reason that it was being used in ways it shouldn't have been.

We already know that the Bushies came into office gunning for Saddam. Was this secret unit set up purely to further that goal? Was that the reason Cheney insisted that Congress no know about it? It's sole purpose was to manufacture bogus intel any way it could?

I wonder if Addington will fall on the sword for Cheney like Scooter did? There isn't a President Bush in power who could commute a conviction.

Palin Hints At Independent Conservative Movement

One thing I will say, the Washington Times with their headline for this exclusive interview reveal an anti-Palin stance. She is, don’t doubt, a threat to every existing political status quo. I hope the Washington Times and their editors realize, sooner than later, that the Palin movement is unstoppable and their credibility would be saved simply by reporting the news instead of becoming a GOP version of the NYT.

Cleveland on July 12, 2009 at 08:07 AM

So even the Rev. Moon feels that Palin is toxic to the Republican Party? Just like her first spiritual adviser, that African witch hunter who tried to drive the evil spirit out of her, Moon sees her as some kind of Jezabel.

When a woman only attracts whacked out religious crazies and lovesick far right trolls (of both sexes), she isn't much of a mainstream threat to any political competitor. She's definitely third party material.

And if Cheney set up a special anti-terrorism initiative before 911 why didn't it stop Atta and Company? More incompetence? Or maybe all resources were not directed at Al Quedaa?

That would be gross negligence.

The Bushies had been strongly warned by both Clinton and Clarke to keep their eye on the ball after the bombings against the Cole and those African embassies. Any new Chief Executive would have pursued the real threat, wouldn't they have?

My, my, my. This gets more interesting all the time.

Great, let her run as a third rate third Party candidate. She will end up splitting the Fundie vote with Huckabee and then the Muttster will walk to sure defeat in the General. Who else do teh Pugs have left? Pawlentt? He's getting trounced in hs home state by Obama in a head to head poll. Bobby the Exorcist? He's nuttier than Sorry Failin' and more boring than tofu. Haley Barbour? He's a D.C. insider who can't get any support from the mouth breathers and yay-hoos that make up the rest of that shrinking Party.

Rudy and Newt (sounds like a prop comedy duo somewhere off the LV Strip that warms up the crowd before the strippers com on stage). They are toast.

Fred "the Savior" Thompson? HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA! Did anyone wake him up yet and tell him he can stop "running"? The only reason the brain dead Pugs thought he was going to be "the Savior" is because he played a smart Lawyer on TV.

Just like with Sorry, they went for style over substance, dazzle over depth, and phony folksiness over sound thinking and strong policy.

More of the same ChimpCo failure and idiocy didn't cut it last time, and won't cut it for the Pugs for a LONG time to come.

Let her run...AWAY!

Hello fine Dems.

troll doesn't talk politics anymore...all it's heroes have gone belly up...all it's ideology has been refuted and abandoned by voters...there is nothing left for the troll....very sad....

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Romans 12:9-10

time to put my broom to use, then make the bed with the line dried sheets. ahhh, so fresh!

so sad....the poor pelicans have to send al franken money...talk about rubbing tabasco in the wound...

ST. PAUL, Minn. - In the last chapter of a stinging loss to now-Sen. Al Franken, Minnesota's Republican Party has sent the Democrat almost $96,000 to cover lawsuit costs.

Republican Party spokesman Mark Drake said a check was sent via courier Monday to Franken's campaign committee. It arrived Tuesday, the same day Franken took his oath for a seat held open during an eight-month recount and court fight.

Minnesota law required Republican Norm Coleman to reimburse Franken for some costs because the election lawsuit didn't change the outcome. The judgment excluded Franken's attorney fees.

The Republican and Democratic parties have each chipped in to help pay candidate legal bills.

The check included $872 in interest that accrued in the month since Coleman was ordered to pay up.

good night esmeralda.

oh yeah, the judge from the bronx gets confirmed with ease...take it to sally's bank....

ST. PAUL, Minn. - In the last chapter of a stinging loss to now-Sen. Al Franken, Minnesota's Republican Party has sent the Democrat almost $96,000 to cover lawsuit costs.

ahahahahahahahaha..........

OMG, I love to think of all those MN Republicans, parting with their greasy little dollars to the MN Republican Party, and watching it go to Al Franken!! You can't make this stuff up, can you, Gregg? They thought it was such a great idea, for Coleman to drag his feet, drag this through court after court, and NOW---they have crow feathers sticking out their fat lips! The Gods are indeed smiling on the Democratic Party these days !

I am so glad this will be televised, so the Party of NO, can again be seen being obstructionists and the American Public will see WHO has made this country fail!

WASHINGTON – Sonia Sotomayor has decided advantages as she begins the most important trial of her long legal career, a nationally televised consideration of her nomination to be the first Hispanic and just the third woman on the Supreme Court.

Beginning Monday, she will tell her compelling up-from-poverty personal story to a jury tilted strongly in her favor — Democrats hold a comfortable majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a filibuster-resistant 60 votes in the Senate

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090712/ap_on_go_su_co/us_sotomayor_senate

have to head out, Dems.

Funny how the old MN troll does not like to think of what his little girlie is doing out with her first boyfriend! After all, didn't she take an Abstinence pledge??? Oh, that'll stand up after her first six pack of beer! :) get real, old man, get real.

blog ya tomorrow , Dems........

"I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they are Yours"
John 17:9

July 12, 2009
Source: Holder considers prosecutor to probe interrogations

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Attorney General Eric Holder is leaning toward appointing a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's interrogation practices, a source familiar with the process confirmed to CNN.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/12/source-holder-considers-prosecutor-to-probe-interrogations/

It's about time. Let's get the investigation under way and let the facts lead where they may. People must be compelled to testify under oath. The American people have a right to know the truth. The law is subject to the whim of no man, be he president or pauper. This country was founded and survives based on her adherence to the rule of law and its application blindly without respect for class or office.
The world is watching and wondering. Will our actions demonstrate our continued support for the principles on which our country was founded? Or has the Bush administration so courrupted our government, that we must hide their actions from the world in embarrassment?
Obama/Holder, show the world, we stand strong and proud and we will investigate and bring to justice those who broke the law even if they were Vice President of the United States of America.
BRING IT ON!

Evening Chicago,

Holder will bring them to justice on by one.

Remember the old adage. "The wheels of justice turn exceedingly slow but they grind exceedingly fine."

bush and cheney and their gang will be literally dust in no time at all.

Chicago,

Looks like the pedophile republicans are trying to deflect their lascivious behavior onto the Democrats.

It won't work. We all know the republicans are the perverts here and in most cases.

Hi Johne,
Good to see you.

Chicago,

Republican Man-Made Global Warming has kicked in. It's been hot the last week. It is now 94% with 10% humidity.

We are also thankfully working our way out of the Great Rethuglican Depression of 2009. It looks like President Obama is putting regulations back in place so the POS bankers won't start another bubble. President Obama is also investigating the commodity trading business who have been screwing us for the last eight years. The price of gasoline has dropped 10 cents in the last week.
We'll reign them in and put some of them in jail along with madoff where they belong.

Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on July 12, 2009 at 05:34 PM

Hi, DPD.

I was watching Karen Hughes on ABC this morning. To think her only mission in life has always been to put a Bush in the White House. That makes her one of the biggest sinners of all time.

Remember when Hughes wrote the "legal opinion" about stem cells that Spunky used to stall a cure for diabetes and spinal cord injures by at least a decade? That had to be one of the cruelest cuts those psycho Texans ever made.

It's getting pathetic. The Bushies are so desperate to find a way to give Jeb the chance his brother never should have had. But getting him the nomination would just be in vain as most voters are now convinced that insanity runs in that family. "Read my lips." hahahah

However, we must never stop reminding people of all their dastardly deeds. It's almost fun as there are so many choice examples. Don't you just love shutting up a Republican with just one example of the Bush/Cheney irresponsibility?

I mentioned Enron the other day in a doctor's office waiting room and everyone groaned. The anger is still there. It's like re-opening a wound that will never heal.

And Sarah will do the rest for us.

Did any of those Reagan Revolution programs work as they were advertised?....

U.S. Wiretapping of Limited Value, Officials Report

By ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN
Published: July 10, 2009

WASHINGTON — While the Bush administration had defended its program of wiretapping without warrants as a vital tool that saved lives, a new government review released Friday said the program’s effectiveness in fighting terrorism was unclear.
Skip to next paragraph
Susan Walsh/Associated Press

John Yoo in 2001 issued an endorsement of warrantless wiretapping from the Justice Department’s office of legal counsel.
Multimedia
Document Viewer: Surveillance Program ReportInteractive
Document Viewer: Surveillance Program Report

The report, mandated by Congress last year and produced by the inspectors general of five federal agencies, found that other intelligence tools used in assessing security threats posed by terrorists provided more timely and detailed information...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/us/11nsa.html?th&emc=th

The Republicans bended the law and stomped all over the Bill of Rights for nothing. Gee, that Reagan, Newt, and Spunky were real big idea men.

They had no idea what they were doing.

The only stem cells 41 ever fostered were with 43 and that experiment was a complete failure.

I'm going to watch the rest of the baseball game. There's nothing like a close Cards/Cubs game.

And I'm looking forward to the Sotomayer hearings this week. It should be interesting watching Sessions channeling that racist Jesse Helms from the grave. The GOP just can't help cutting their own throats with Latinos with the Midterms coming up.

Even George Wallace finally figured out what he was doing wrong.

Good night, folks.

raygun was an demented asshole.

failin is a prima donna.

Palin is a good woman and I like her so does all my latinas friend i know so why do people`still attack her@@i wish people shut up and we are tired of the crap !!sonamayer we latinos know she hates white people and she racist i don't want that bitch in office...........who does after the racist she has shit comes out of her mouth that la raza loving witch!!people we are different kind of hispanics we are good demos not far left like chavez and castro!!sonya is too far left !
viva los latinos

i see the troll has taken on a new and even more scatological persona. this is good news because at this rate the last refuge of the troll scoundrel will not be flag waving but rather the out house. and once the troll moves down into the pit and we toss in the lime it will melt away.

Sotomayor will be confirmed in a walk. even with senator sessions wearing his kkk garb. take it to the bank.

hmmmm dickie seems to have stopped shooting off his mealy mouth lately...could it be that he is hearing footsteps??

July 13 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Democrats said former Vice President Dick Cheney may have broken the law when he ordered information about a secret counterterrorism program withheld from Congress.

“I think you weaken your case when you go outside the law,” Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in an interview on the “Fox News Sunday” program yesterday. “We should have been briefed before the commencement of this kind of sensitive program.”

Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the majority whip, called for an investigation to determine whether Cheney violated a law requiring the Central Intelligence Agency to notify Congress of covert intelligence operations.

“There is a requirement for disclosure,” Durbin told ABC’s “This Week” program. “To have a massive program that is concealed from the leaders in Congress is not only inappropriate, it could be illegal.”

Feinstein said CIA Director Leon Panetta briefed lawmakers late last month about the secret program, which he said he had canceled. Panetta told lawmakers that Cheney had ordered the program be kept secret from Congress, she said.

Lucy Tutwiler, a spokeswoman for Cheney, declined to comment yesterday. Cheney’s role in ordering information about the program withheld was first reported by the New York Times on its Web site.

Good morning, Greg.

It is looking more and more likely that that story of Cheney's hit squad may have some meat to it.

Morning gregg and DPD,

failin said on the news over the weekend that she is going to stay in politics and campaign for republican candidates in 2010. Who the hell would want this prom queen speaking for them? What a laugh.

They we have sessions saying that a supreme court candidate must enforce the rule of law and not legislate from the bench. What an asshole. He never said a word when his butt buddies cheney and bush were f**king the American people and ignoring the law.

What good news, cheney is going DOWN "if you will".

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

dpd,i hope it has enough meat to attract the turkey buzzards....kinda be one old buzzard getting eated by a bunch of young ones....

All we need now is for scabia and coke can pubic hair (brain) to step down, then we would get the PEOPLES court back and get the country back on track.

I've heard some talking heads saying that Sotomayor will get between 70 and 75 votes. All this whining by the red state racist Pugs is just raw meat for the knuckle draggers and mouth breathers back home to eat up.

Here is the racist side of sessions. It seems that raygun nominated him for the supreme court but was rejected. This was before bork. HAAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

From the Huff Post:

From an article in The New Republic from 2002 (which is worth reading in full, to understand Sessions' unique position on the committee), here is a list of statements attributed to Jeff Sessions during his confirmation battle:

•Sessions called the NAACP and the ACLU "un-American" and "Communist-inspired." Further said these groups had "forced civil rights down the throats of people."

•Sessions called a white civil rights lawyer "a disgrace to his race" for litigating voting rights cases.

•During his confirmation hearing, called the Voting Rights Act of 1965 "a piece of intrusive legislation."

•Sessions told colleagues that he "used to think [the Ku Klux Klan] were OK," until he discovered some of them were "pot smokers," showing a rather strange set of priorities.

•A black former assistant U.S. Attorney who worked with Sessions said Sessions had called him "boy," and after hearing him chastise an assumably-white (the story doesn't say) secretary, Sessions told him to "be careful what you say to white folks."

•Sessions called Charles Pickering, a George W. Bush nominee who had in 1959 written a paper defending Mississippi's anti-miscegenation law, "a leader for racial harmony," and "courageous."

More............

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-weigant/senator-sessions-judge-so_b_211135.html

It looks like PNAC is at it again, in drag. This morning they were interviewing some asshole on Westside One who wrote a book about how an nuclear bomb set off at high altitude over the US would fry all our electronics and on and on and on. Ninety percent of the American people would be dead within a year. Yata Yata Yata.

He was referring of courst to North Korea sending their missiles in our direction.

Don't these people ever sleep? It's the same all scare tactics crap. Maybe this guy uses a pseudonym and the writer is actually cheney in drag.

PNAC and its ilk must be brought to justice. We can start by declaring them enemy combatants and calling the organization a subversive organization.

Good morning johne,Doo-Bee, and fellow Democrats.

IN OTHER WORDS, JEFF SESSIONS IS A BIGOT OF THE FIRST ORDER AND A FLAMING ASSHOLE RACIST.

Come on people, is this really how you want your state represented in Washington? Have you people not advanced at all beyond the "n****r" haters who represented you in the Civil War?

I wonder where sessions gets his KKK sheets laundered or dry cleaned?

MOTHER SPEAKS OUT-- Says She Would Have Boxed Obama's Ears For Ogling Her Teen

This is proof that ole Stevie boy does not read a newspaper, nor get internet news. The video of that occurrence was all over the internet, and shows that Obama was NOT staring at that girl at all, merely helping her up the step. It was the french man who ogled ! Get a life, Stevie boy, your ignorance is embarassing.

Oh, and just for the record, one more time, my daughter's baby was a miracle birth, and almost lost numerous times. Nothing you blather nor rant can take away what has been a blessing to us all. Just keep your eyes on what your own slow witted gal is up to! You don't want to have to start supporting another kid at this old age! Another birthday next weekend! Hope to live to see it! at your age, each day is a miracle!

Morning Peaceman.

A little bit of history met the wrecking ball recently. The CBS studios>/a> where they held the Kennedy / Nixon debate was torn down to make way for a (all together, now) CONDO building.

It was also home to Phil Donahue, and Siskel & Ebert for about 20 years.

Morning Pam.

so i am confused who exactly is the leader of the repelican party...rush? palin? vitter? ensign? sanford? Kim Jong ?....please help...

Off to work. bbl.

Morning Fine Dems....

Have a great day at work, Johne. We retired folks will think of you! heehee

Gregg, I too, wonder who will finally be crowned as leader of the RNC. Much as Michael Steele likes to think that as Uncle Tom, he is the leader, he is mostly laughed at by racist Republicans who would not follow his lead for anything. Nahhh, right now it is Rush Limbaugh who LOVES that title, with his sidekick of Dicky Cheney and Adultry boy, Gingrich who would LOVE for America to have amnesia and forget his past so he could again step forward with some bogus Contract with America part II.

Me thinks that the Repugs protest too much over Global Warming! They are so afraid that something will be done by this administration that will finally show some affect on the weather changes we have had, so they are getting more and more scared that they will be shown to be the ignorant idiots we know them to be ! WHY anyone would not want clean air and water and the oceans back to their eco balance, and these monster storms eliminated have to have a screw loose! (ooops, I forgot who we are talking about!) He acts as though it is going to cost him some money or something. You cannot get blood out of a deadbeat father stone! wouldn't even pay child support, the cheap prick !

Pam, ignore the ignorant. That was just more BS from the GasBag PudNut with no attribution.

Here's what he was really looking for.

Chimpy makes an ass of himself (again) at the Olympics

Good morning, all.

I nominate Sessions as the new/old leader of the Republican Party. Doesn't he already think he's Jessie Helms?....

Setting the stage on TV

Stuff happens. That old adage (substitute the word "stuff" if you like) sums up the Republican strategy to slow Sonia Sotomayor's fast train to confirmation: Hope that something goes wrong.

Here's how Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, summed up Sotomayor's prospects for CBS this morning:

"I do think there are some very real questions, fundamental questions about the nominee," he said.

But will she be confirmed?

"I think you just don't know," Sessions said. "Odd things happen at hearings and there are moments you don't expect."

He hopes...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20090713/ts_ynews/ynews_ts491

The Party of Shit Happens speaks.

So the old codgers of the GOP want to trip up the uppity woman. I hope she's gentle with them. Maybe Sessions will get confused and think she's McCain's new nurse.

Let's all keep in mind that Sarah of Wasilla didn't like the way the men of the GOP treated her either. Nor did Kaye Bailey Hutchinson. Nor Justice O'Connor. Nor Jenny Sanford....

It's almost like these C Street family-values men don't like women at all. Bring on the He-man Women Haters Club and display their arrogance on TV. Women voters of America want to see the real, new GOP at work.

Johne on July 13, 2009 at 08:31 AM

Johne,

Sessions is in a quandary. He can't figure out what motivates him more...his sexism or his racism. As for his ideology? That failed him so badly he's having to go back-to-basics in the true Confederate sense.

These hearings are going to have those fine Southern gentlemen acting so condenscending toward Sotomayer that it will have women all across the South voting against them in 2010.
It will bring out the Scarlett O'Hara and Miss Jane Pitman in them.

Lights, camera, action.

Gotta run. later.

One for the road....

Demjanjuk charged over WWII killings

By ROLAND LOSCH, Associated Press Writer Roland Losch, Associated Press Writer – 3 mins ago

MUNICH – Retired auto worker John Demjanjuk was formally charged Monday with 27,900 counts of acting as an accessory to murder — one for every person who died at the Nazi death camp where he is accused of serving as a guard.

The charges by prosecutors a Munich state court are one of the final steps before an expected autumn trial for the 89-year-old, who has been fighting a variety of Nazi-era charges since 1977....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090713/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_demjanjuk

Didn't they actually mean to indict Dick Cheney?
Well, at least Dick knows where he's headed 30 years from now. Our grandchildren will be handing him over to the Iraqis when the time comes.

Don't ever leave our shores or the rest of the world will be trying you and Spunky for war crimes, you compassionate conservative torturers.

Good morning. New open thread is going up right now.